Expectations?

[fatlucy]

I expect to see 1-3 departures replaced with significant upgrades to the roster between now and the start of classes. With those changes, the growth of the remaining players, and high level coaching, I expect a 20 win season and substantial improvement.

Given the talent available in NY, NJ, and New England over the next 4 years, I expect top 10 recruiting classes beginning with 2019.

Its time to take our region back.

 

[Ewekon]

Well we'll see who we've got coming back.

If Adams is back for sure, then... I think we already stand a chance to be really, really good. Adams/Gilbert/Vital in the backcourt is a pretty incredible back court for a down year.... Sid Wilson is a big help. If we get Diarra back, you're looking at a real, actual core.

I'm not really crazy about Cobb even though I love his energy. I have no idea about Polley, Whalley or Carlton. We'll see. I'm interested to see what the scoop is on Akinjo and whether there'd be any interest in re-committing, but he seems like a pretty hard line Ollie guy. I THINK we'll see Matthews and Kisinius get here.

Of his current recruits - I mean holy smokes would Harris be an incredible piece to follow him here to Storrs and just what we'd need. And apparently Brendan Adams is a huge Hurley guy, too - so who knows - it'd be nice to have a solid bench PG for four years after three years of not having a GD point guard at all.

Then there's transfers.

But yeah I mean I think all things considered - we should be good although I think Adams is a monster piece of that. If he comes back and Diarra is back - we've got a shot to take a really big step forward. I think people will be shocked at how much more Hurley can get out of this group than Ollie did.

I don't get all the Diarra love for his game. Seems like a great kid but I don't expect much.

 

[Matrim55]

I don't get all the Diarra love for his game. Seems like a great kid but I don't expect much.

Long arms, thiccc, protects the rim & rebounds. Obviously needs some coaching, but everybody on every UConn team for the last 4 years needed more coaching than they got.

Dude can be a quality role player and doesn't need touches on offense to contribute. What's not to like?

 

[Lynyrd]

I will repeat what I said when asked preseason what my expectations were in regards to Ollie...

Beat Cuse
Feel like I am watching a prepared basketball team

AND the rest will take care of itself

 

[bblanco15]

Assuming everyone is back. If Gilbert isn’t healthy and Hurley doesn’t bring in another guard we are going to run into the same exact problem we did this year on offense.

If Gilbert is healthy and playing at a high level I think we should win 20+. Having a year of experience and another year of offseason workouts I expect all the freshmen will be much better.

I would love to see what Polly can do once he gets a little stronger and starts playing with some confidence I think he has a lot of potential.

The defense should be much improved just by not having Larier out there anymore.

Hopefully Hurley can bring in another guard and big next year

 

[Travelman6]

18 total D1 wins
9 wins in the AAC, maybe 10
Less than 3 losses by 20
No bad losses to the bottom of the AAC, ECU, Tulane, USF
1 Upset win over a top 25 team
No overtimes vs "cupcakes" and no games under 10 vs cupcakes.
1 win in the AACT and a close loss in the quarters
NIT bid and 1 win there

Maybe a 5th place (tied counts) finish in the AAC, something like this:
Cincy
WSU
Houston or UCF
Mystery team most likely, could be Temple or Memphis or UCF or something
Uconn

Year 2:
Meet those year 1 benchmarks and I think we can start to expect 20-22 wins, 10 to 12 wins in the AAC, semi finals in AACT, bubble team for tourney, at least 2 upset wins, etc.

 

[JMick]

If the roster stands as is I wouldn't be surprised to see 20 wins and an NIT bid. It's all going to depend upon how players react though. There are a lot of bad habits to break

 

[MattMang23]

18-20 wins Year 1.
20-22 wins Year 2.

Maybe a win over a team that makes the tourney? A competent offense? That would be nice.

 

[Travelman6]

Oh, I forgot, more than anything, something to be excited about.

 

[Mokum]

Well we'll see who we've got coming back.

If Adams is back for sure, then... I think we already stand a chance to be really, really good. Adams/Gilbert/Vital in the backcourt is a pretty incredible back court for a down year.... Sid Wilson is a big help. If we get Diarra back, you're looking at a real, actual core.

I'm not really crazy about Cobb even though I love his energy. I have no idea about Polley, Whalley or Carlton. We'll see. I'm interested to see what the scoop is on Akinjo and whether there'd be any interest in re-committing, but he seems like a pretty hard line Ollie guy. I THINK we'll see Matthews and Kisinius get here.

Of his current recruits - I mean holy smokes would Harris be an incredible piece to follow him here to Storrs and just what we'd need. And apparently Brendan Adams is a huge Hurley guy, too - so who knows - it'd be nice to have a solid bench PG for four years after three years of not having a GD point guard at all.

Then there's transfers.

But yeah I mean I think all things considered - we should be good although I think Adams is a monster piece of that. If he comes back and Diarra is back - we've got a shot to take a really big step forward. I think people will be shocked at how much more Hurley can get out of this group than Ollie did.

Spot on. We have to see what the roster is before making predictions. Adams is of course a key piece to the puzzle. We do have some decent players with potential that just need good coaching ( assuming they stay) . Plus he has 2 four stars recruited to URI. Maybe we get them.

 

[FartMan69]

Waiting until the roster shapes up and I expect quite the shake up in that regard with some positive additions and subtractions. There won't be any miracles next season but I'd bet everything we'll compete in every game.

 

[goskis2018]

Things are shaping up for a strong American in 2 years. UConn should be contending for a tournament spot in 2019-2020, Cinci and Wichita State should stay strong, Memphis could have a ridiculous class come in as they are favored for the number one kid in 2019, Houston, SMU and UCF could build off their momentum and Temple and Tulane I think are on the rise. It could be a solid 5 bid league that year.

 

[A10 fan]

That UConn-Memphis game might soon be what we expected when the current incarnation of the league came together.

 

[UC313]

Im expecting not to nod off before halftime.
Im expecting more big red chants.
Im expecting that the past 2 years of apathy fade away.
Im expecting my 6 year old to cover his ears from the noise when i take him to games.

 

[JSB60]

First Year: None. Anything is gravy.

Second Year: Winning record, post season.

Third Year on: NCAA Tournament pretty much every year.

 

[glastonbury50]

It'll be a rough transition year, especially if Akinjo doesn't come in or we don't get some sweet URI/postgrad transfers. But I want to see player development and a decent showing in AAC Tournament. I have higher expectations for 2019-2020.

Obviously pretty dependent on what Adams does.

IS Akinjo still a possibility?

 

[jorge34]

I expect the desire to throw the remote through my TV 5 minutes into most of Ollie's games the last 2 years to be diminished.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

No 20+ point losses to anyone.

No nail biting wins/losses to low-major teams.

Toughness 100% of time on court. Nothing easy for opposing team.

Offense that doesn’t do iso ball until game is on the line at which time JA is handed the ball and delivers.

 

[3rdbass]

Long arms, thiccc, protects the rim & rebounds. Obviously needs some coaching, but everybody on every UConn team for the last 4 years needed more coaching than they got.

Dude can be a quality role player and doesn't need touches on offense to contribute. What's not to like?

He also has a good touch around the basket and seems to be able to work in a pick and roll offense. I like his potential even more than Carlton who is a big body who keeps the ball high but seemed to regress a lot at the end.

 

[firstnline]

Simple, get that SWAGGER back baby.

 

[auror]

First Year: None. Anything is gravy.

Second Year: Winning record, post season.

Third Year on: NCAA Tournament pretty much every year.

The roster is a bit of a mess. I wouldn't be surprised if we're better this year than the year after that since we don't have much coming in this year and our young talent now isn't great. But I agree that following 3rd year we need to be NCAA tournament mainstays.

 

[huskyinfl]

Fundamentals. Assists, decrease in turnovers, team basketball. Logical coaching.

That's all I want to see.

 

[UConnRock]

More energy, better overall defense (especially 3pt defense). More coherent sub packages. Awarding on court results with playing time. More player development. A better team at the end of the year than at the beginning.

 

[HooperScooper]

I was thinking about this last night also. I think we need to be careful on the expectations or else we might be trying to run Hurley off in 2 years. I know people are joking that we want #5 shortly but that's probably not realistic. Gotta walk before you can run. Need to give him some time.

The good thing is that there is talent on the roster and most of the players played with each other this past season and got good experience. Blend in a couple good pieces, get these guys to improve in the offseason, do some coaching and play the right players and we could be pretty decent next year. And then Hurley can build from there.

At the very least we're all excited for a change! The last 2 seasons took a lot of me.

 

[Waquoit]

More team ball