ESPN - Top 10: Teams outside of our No-Longer-Way-Too-Early Top 25

[BankShot]

Hey Eamonn, until you actually know the team you are critiquing, KEEP THE NAME UCONN OUT YO MOUTH

 

[OkaForPrez]

@champs99and04 Share that workbook man!

 

[James]

Maybe we should start a thread about media off their freaking rocket -- http://mweb.cbssports.com/ncaab/eye...st-chance-of-success-over-the-next-five-years


Wichita state and zaga have a better future than the huskies ? reaching trolling territory and CBS is joining the party. Laughable. This wasn't meant to be a world against us post , just pointing out more asanine writers

 

[UConnSwag11]

It is meaningful.

I think this Sport starts with a false positive: Power 5 Basketball is better than others (and the Big East is not far). Then the early season happens and a couple of Intra-conferenceIntra-regional games. It builds. And then March Joe Lunardi crap is a fait accompli.

Let us see what we have on the court. And past history should matter. Like ... if Villanova goes 30-4 two years in a row and fails to beat a 6-11 Seed, I think we need to recalibrate your annual start.

This I believe ... I think Temple, Cincinnati, SMU, Tulsa are better than a whole bunch of P5/BE. And, let's push through the ESPN/Eamonn Brennan bias.

I agree I think temple Cinci smu Tulsa and UCONN are better than certain conferences and teams, mainly sec and pac-12. I could careless about this but the lack of respect year in and year out is annoying. Even within season. I was watching espn last year and they had the AAC as a mid major. This year we have to kick a s s and I think we will asking as the chemistry is there. The talent is

 

[auror]

This year, I have UConn #2 in my preseason poll. In the coming weeks, I will share in excruciating detail the basis for this ranking, and maybe of the three people who read my work, one of them will be one over. For now, though, any poll that renders us outside the top 25 is music to my ears.

Do you account for the diminishing returns of high-usage newcomers in new roles? I think this UConn team will be good, but that seems lofty.

 

[James]

Do you account for the diminishing returns of high-usage newcomers in new roles? I think this UConn team will be good, but that seems lofty.

Gibbs is a high usage player , but he is also an elite shooter in every facet. A prospect like that should be more malleable than maybe a player who thrives with only attacking the paint etc. This goes for miller as well since he has a clear distinct skill set in rebounding and mobilility on defender. These guys should be able to pump the breaks on trying to create all the time I would think.

I can understand worry about Gibbs it could go anyway . Our big time usage guy should be purvis clearly because that's what he is , a volume scorer with the ability to explode. Everybody else should be focused on being the best passers they can be , while choosing spots in catchnshoots/weakside attacks.

 

[auror]

These guys should be able to pump the breaks on trying to create all the time I would think

Meant more from an analytics standpoint. I think they'll be great Huskies. But if he developed a projection system, just wanted to make sure he didn't just dump in the translated stats without adjusting them for usage considerations.

 

[James]

Meant more from an analytics standpoint. I think they'll be great Huskies. But if he developed a projection system, just wanted to make sure he didn't just dump in the translated stats without adjusting them for usage considerations.

Yes that's a good point and hard to gauge I would imagine. When you adjust certain metrics , who knows what other skillsets rise to the top via data?

I have an inkling miller will bring our highest offensive rebound % as well as steal rate.

 

[gtcam]

I don't care where UConn Mens BB is ranked until its tourney time and where the seeding is at that time
No matter the ranking-get UConn past that 1st NCAA tourney weekend and we all know what history has taught us

 

[polycom]

Who does Maryland have?

Honestly. I look at that Roster and they are top 5 ... and sometimes top 3. I don't see any history that tells me that they are going to be anywhere in March and I would bet a large pile of dollars that they won't be in the Final Four.

UConn gets into March and goes far. Learn that ESPN and stop the Syracuse love.

I'm fine with it I put down $100+ on UConn this weekend at the Wynn at 60/1

 

[Kitaman]

Why do we have to prove it, but a team like Kentucky that brings in a ton of freshman every year are always preseason top 5? Talent is talent, and at least ours has proven it at this level (outside of Jalen and Enoch, who will be bench players).

I'm guessing that these are regular season predictions. We lately perform well during tournaments and post season. Many other teams have good regular season and are a safe pick.

We need to string together a couple 25+ win back to back seasons like we used to. Wining (i.e. dominating) our conference would help as well.

'On paper' this squad should start the trend. Plus we UConn fans know something others don't.

 

[jibsey]

Brennan graduated in 2009 so he doesn't exactly have great long term credibility or experience. The article was about teams he undervalued originally, a bunch of them so can't take this too seriously. The analysts and writers are paid to put something out there, and we are unpaid to criticize it, but none of us are sure how our new players are going to integrate or perform in pressure situations against real competition. A big time matchup vs a ranked team will be our first clue and we are still about 2 months away right? That won't stop the crazy conclusions as we play early cupcakes though. Gonna get dribs and drabs from KO and Amore from now on but I only believe my eyeballs.

 

[Goat]

The early disrespect leads to poor seeding and annoying commentary as talking heads stand their ground saying "I don't know how Ollie won that game, but they surely can't beat ...." it was turrible in 2014. That's why I get worked up preseason.

 

[willie99]

who cares what communications / English majors think?

half of them are still creating stories about the Patriots, like playing with headsets, maybe even putting a roofy in the Pitt Pk's Gatorade

 

[Huskybass]

What amazes me is how little importance the so-called experts have placed on the addition of Gibbs and Miller in addition to Jaylen Adams that strengthens the the nucleus of the team. Veterans can make a huge difference in terms of resolve and toughness.

Look back to the 2014 national championship. Bazz and Boat solidly outplayed a bunch of talented underclassmen resulting in a national championship. I am not saying this team will get that far, but the additions of Gibbs and Miller make it far more likely.

 

[UconnFanNVa]

The early disrespect leads to poor seeding and annoying commentary as talking heads stand their ground saying "I don't know how Ollie won that game, but they surely can't beat ...." it was turrible in 2014. That's why I get worked up preseason.

My only real concern is I personally feel like the refs will favor teams that are supposed to win. So playing against Maryland becomes that much more of an uphill battle for Uconn because we arent supposed to be able to beat them (being that we arent in the top 25). Hopefully we can overcome even that with good ole hard work and hustle, in addition to the talent we have.

 

[CL82]

I agree that good on paper isn't good on the court, but preseason polls are about good on paper and on paper we look pretty good.

(For what it is worth, his assessment is fair. There's promise but the personnel changes that we like about this team also mean that we're unproven.)

 

[CallMeBruce]

I agree that good on paper isn't good on the court, but preseason polls are about good on paper and on paper we look pretty good.

(For what it is worth, his assessment is fair. There's promise but the personnel changes that we like about this team also mean that we're unproven.)

While that's true, he's highly-ranked a number of teams that are going to be largely driven by freshmen. Kentucky is #3, and their entire backcourt rotation will be a sophomore who didn't start last year, and two freshmen. Our two best new pieces are already successful college players.

I don't really care about a Brennan article; he's a nice guy who half-asses his research and writes what 'feels right' too often. But I don't want to hear some crap about how UConn needs to prove they can play together while a team of freshmen is in the top-5 every year.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

It will be interesting to see what Florida State can do this year mixing in a very good recruiting class with good returning talent. You have to wonder if Benji Bell can carry over his shooting from JUCO to the ACC. So many moving parts to that team. Beasley can really get up...Tulsa vs. Florida State could be a match-up early. Correct?

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

I don't care where Eamonn Brennan thinks. Actually, scratch that. I do care what he thinks. I hope that he is as pessimistic as possible in assessing UConn's prospects for the 2015-16 season. That is why college basketball is the easiest sport to profit off of from a gambling standpoint - you can unveil flagrant market inefficiencies by deploying nothing other than common sense.

Honestly, I get it. Common sense dictates that these Huskies' - following an NIT berth and the loss of their best player - have a lot to prove. And that's true. There are a lot of college basketball teams with a lot to prove, though, and attempting to handicap their odds purely by virtue of that subjective qualification is probably not the best way to go about it.

If I were a college basketball blogger examining the cursory components of every team in the country, I truthfully may not rank this UConn team in the top 50. That's as much a function of how preposterously middle-heavy college basketball is going to be this year (get ready for me to make this point hundreds of times before and during the season) as it is UConn's roster deficiencies, but nonetheless, the optics paint a picture that veers in the direction of modesty, and frankly, that is probably the approach you should take.

I hope that you will choose me to view me as mentally unstable rather than conceited when I say this, but I feel I have a better grasp on the sport than most anybody that is paid to discuss it (and the same could be said of some posters here). Simply put, I feel that way because of the inexhaustible research I have devoted to the subject. I have an excel document that contains the records of virtually every principal statistic you can imagine. Where were they ranked in KenPom to finish last season? What percentage of their scoring returns? How many five star sophomores does the roster possess? Four star seniors?

From there, I broke things down into even more fragmented pieces. What is the average PER of a five star sophomore? What is the average PER of a four star freshman? This way, I'm familiar with the specific composition of roster that tends to forecast success in addition to the less covert indicators - who their coach is, what they were the year prior, etc.

In totality, I've spent ten or more hours studying tape on last years UConn team, twenty or more attempting to articulate my observations - and, more importantly, my projections - in a manner that would read as transparently as possible. I adhered to the same process last year, and the year before that. How accurate was I? Semi-accurate, I guess. I anticipated that they would struggle last season more than many - including the national media - let on. To the extent of those struggles, I was purposely unclear on, because I had no earthly idea. But the season did not surprise me. The year before? I had us billed as a top ten team (I think I ranked them seventh preseason), but also put my foot in my mouth by claiming there was no way they could win a national championship.

"All this time and work for something the casual fan may have been able to predict," some might think. Yeah, you're not wrong. I regurgitate my past not to boast my qualifications but to assure you that I try really, really hard not to be a homer.

This year, I have UConn #2 in my preseason poll. In the coming weeks, I will share in excruciating detail the basis for this ranking, and maybe of the three people who read my work, one of them will be one over. For now, though, any poll that renders us outside the top 25 is music to my ears.

Great stuff. Keep on doing what you love to do. We are all looking forward to your next piece of work. Enjoy the evening.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Do you account for the diminishing returns of high-usage newcomers in new roles? I think this UConn team will be good, but that seems lofty.

He looks at every team in the country using his system before the comparative analysis. That is how he can find value (UConn per Champs) relative to the field. Unless you engage in this painstaking task it leaves outsiders at a competitive disadvantage to evaluate teams (national media included).

 

[Rocktheworld]

Can agree that we need to prove ourselves first.

Because Cal, Indiana, Vandy, Baylor, and A&M have proven anything recently

Three of those teams didn't make the NCAA tournament last year too. The other two took first round exits.

 

[BJ_Toscano]

http://mweb.cbssports.com/ncaab/eye...st-chance-of-success-over-the-next-five-years

Anyone listen to the CBSsports.com "Eye on College Basketball" podcast? They discuss why UConn was left off the top 15 list (the article above) in the 9/10 episode.

 

[auror]

http://mweb.cbssports.com/ncaab/eye...st-chance-of-success-over-the-next-five-years

Anyone listen to the CBSsports.com "Eye on College Basketball" podcast? They discuss why UConn was left off the top 15 list (the article above) in the 9/10 episode.

What did they say?

 

[tcf15]

http://mweb.cbssports.com/ncaab/eye...st-chance-of-success-over-the-next-five-years

Anyone listen to the CBSsports.com "Eye on College Basketball" podcast? They discuss why UConn was left off the top 15 list (the article above) in the 9/10 episode.

What did they say?

Some good discussion on that podcast after this linked post: http://the-boneyard.com/threads/public-perception-of-the-uconn-program.66658/page-4#post-1415221