Expectations? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Expectations?

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.
 
Towney007 said:
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.
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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.
 
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.
 
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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.
 
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.
 
Irish Loop said:
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.
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IS Akinjo still a possibility?
 
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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.
 
Matrim55 said:
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?
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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.
 
JSB60 said:
First Year: None. Anything is gravy.

Second Year: Winning record, post season.

Third Year on: NCAA Tournament pretty much every year.
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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.
 
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.
 
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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.
 
Far too early to tell regarding the roster. Just want to see the team play hard, with some cohesiveness and get better as the season goes on. As crazy as the last two seasons have been, and if Gilbert can stay healthy, we probably have the most talent in the conference. We really need to patch up the frontcourt though.
 
HooperScooper said:
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.
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Honestly, if JA is back, next year might be a bit of fools gold. I can see them getting 22 wins or something because of a weaker AAC next year and the brilliance of a senior JA/better coaching of Hurley, and then falling back a bit as new players are integrated.

We can win national titles again. But I think we're one solid recruiting cycle away from being in that mix.
 
HooperScooper said:
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.
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If we haven't done better than the sweet sixteen four years from now, I bet you there will be "Bring Back KO" posts citing his tournament success.
 
glastonbury50 said:
IS Akinjo still a possibility?
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Well as of today he hasn't committed to any school so yes Akinjo is a possibility. His attachment was to KO according to his tweets so Dan Hurley is going to have to do a great sales job to get him here. He had an offer from Virginia before he committed to UConn.
I'd guess he is somewhat of a long shot at this point but recruiting 18 year old kids is crazy so you never know.
 
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Danzz said:
Well as of today he hasn't committed to any school so yes Akinjo is a possibility. His attachment was to KO according to his tweets so Dan Hurley is going to have to do a great sales job to get him here. He had an offer from Virginia before he committed to UConn.
I'd guess he is somewhat of a long shot at this point but recruiting 18 year old kids is crazy so you never know.
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Racking up a lot of offers the last couple of days: Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Providence, Tennessee, Georgetown, Wichita State, Arizona, Seton Hall, Utah, Baylor, and Gonzaga
 
Some of yall have some really high expectations. This team was one of the worst teams in America last year. Going from that, to making the tournament is one hell of a jump. If a bunch of things break right, they've an outside shot to do so I guess. But to expect it is ludicrous.

My expectations have to do with product on the floor. Play for 40 minutes. Do not get down 10-15 from the tip. Play good, hard, mostly man to man defense; 3pt D % at least average, hopefully more. Run some semblance of offense with good spacing that eliminates bad shots; do not rely solely on JA. Rebounding: fix technique issues, box out and hit the glass with aggression. etc etc

Do not lose by 20+ eight times or whatever it was.

Basically reverse all the bad basketball trends and habits we had the last couple seasons.
 
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intlzncster said:
Some of yall are way have some really high expectations. This team was one of the worst teams in America last year. Going from that, to making the tournament is one hell of a jump. If a bunch of things break right, they've an outside shot to do so I guess. But to expect it is ludicrous.
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Yeah. There's a lot that would have to break their way. Adams returns. Gilbert stays healthy. Wilson is legit (and isn't involved in the NCAA issue that we used to just cause fire KO). We get another good guard to handle the ball. Our bigs develop a little. We get a recruit--maybe the URI 4*, maybe someone else--who can bring some firepower.

A lot has to go our way, and tempering expectations is good. But I'd catch a game again downtown next year, whereas last year just felt like the game would be garbage if we caught it.
 
tzznandrew said:
Yeah. There's a lot that would have to break their way. Adams returns. Gilbert stays healthy. Wilson is legit (and isn't involved in the NCAA issue that we used to just cause fire KO). We get another good guard to handle the ball. Our bigs develop a little. We get a recruit--maybe the URI 4*, maybe someone else--who can bring some firepower.

A lot has to go our way, and tempering expectations is good. But I'd catch a game again downtown next year, whereas last year just felt like the game would be garbage if we caught it.
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True. As of now, we also can't shoot the ball nor rebound it. Best case scenario of Gilbert being healthy and Sid being a beast, along with development of the other returnees, and maybe we're talking about going dancing but that's a hell of an optimist's view.
 
It's really difficult to have expectations for at least this coming season when you don't know who will be on the team. Without making any assumptions about the roster, because you really can't, you'd have to say a winning season with an NIT berth would be a step in a more positive direction.
 
I'll reiterate that we have to wait one whole recruiting cycle here for another reason: a lot of kids who like Hurley in theory may not like him in reality. Who knows, but these kids signed up to play for KO, and even if they stay one year, some kids may want to head to the exits after one season with a coach they didn't expect. The next year plus is going to be a time of big shifts, and we need to be patient.

Like we largely were in the first few years of KO (for those who don't remember, even before his miracle run people were frustrated in 2014 but gave him slack).
 
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