Fast Break Preview Show: Marquette reactions, "what would define a successful season?", and what to look for in the Providence game

[McLovin]

Another weekly episode of the Fast Break Preview show just dropped on YouTube.

The guys give their reaction to the Marquette win, discuss what UConn needs to do in the postseason for fans to look back on this season as a "success" and talk about what to look for in the Providence game this weekend (foot stays on the gas!)

Video:

 

[Tenspro2002]

Before the season, I would have said a successful season is defined by:

• top 15 all year
• #2 or better in the Big East
• top 4 seed
• 2nd weekend

At this point, we've cleared the regular season bars by a lot and I would say that Final Four is a bare minimum for the remainder of this season to be a success.

Edit: apropos of nothing, I tried to search for a predictions/expectations thread from preseason and couldn't find one, but I did find this gem from nearly 2 years ago, right after the NMSU game:

I think Hurley very clearly and concertedly went with a high-floor but low-ish ceiling strategy by bringing in guys like Cole and Martin, and retaining veterans like Whaley and Polley, to get us back to respectability quickly, even if it meant we would have a lower chance of getting lucky on some players and maybe making a deep run quickly.

But what that respectability bought us was credibility among recruits that the program was back, and that's clearly paying dividends in the last few recruiting classes.

The next step, yes, is to make good on those high-ceiling recruits and piece together a coherent roster with skills that mesh.

 

[DaMuttzNutt]

We have seen this team fire on all cylinders, run good teams out of the gym, run bad teams out of the gym, with a mash unit play in one of the hardest places in the country and bring it to the final minutes.

It's a deep and wide team. Bad night by the star freshman, AK can put up 20. AK and Newton are struggling, Castle can be an impact player, Spencer is an assassin. We can run up and down the court, we can also run our fluid sets. Our center stays out of foul trouble, he's a top 3 defensive impact player in the country

Battle tested with championship experience

It's a team that has earned a #1 seed in the east. It's a team that will only lose IF they beat themselves.

Final Four is the bar this year. That's a lot of pressure but reality is this team can handle it

 

[McLovin]

We have seen this team fire on all cylinders, run good teams out of the gym, run bad teams out of the gym, with a mash unit play in one of the hardest places in the country and bring it to the final minutes.

It's a deep and wide team. Bad night by the star freshman, AK can put up 20. AK and Newton are struggling, Castle can be an impact player, Spencer is an assassin. We can run up and down the court, we can also run our fluid sets. Our center stays out of foul trouble, he's a top 3 defensive impact player in the country

Battle tested with championship experience

It's a team that has earned a #1 seed in the east. It's a team that will only lose IF they beat themselves.

Final Four is the bar this year. That's a lot of pressure but reality is this team can handle it

Yeah, and I feel like the team is most comfortable when the pressure the highest. I bet us fans will have more nerves than the team haha

 

[McLovin]

Before the season, I would have said a successful season is defined by:

• top 15 all year
• #2 or better in the Big East
• top 4 seed
• 2nd weekend

At this point, we've cleared the regular season bars by a lot and I would say that Final Four is a bare minimum for the remainder of this season to be a success.

Edit: apropos of nothing, I tried to search for a predictions/expectations thread from preseason and couldn't find one, but I did find this gem from nearly 2 years ago, right after the NMSU game:

I think those were pretty spot on expectations considering the roster turnover we had after last year. But I agree the bar has been raise.

For what it’s worth (your second weekend expectation), the last time we made it to the sweet 16 in back-to-back years was 2003 and 2004.

Last time we even WON a game in back-to-back tournaments was 2005 and 2006. Which is kind of wild considering we have 4 Final Fours and 3 Titles since then…

 

[JMick]

I think a loss in the elite eight would sting but after a couple weeks it would be easy to look back on the season and call it a success. Anything more and it's incredible. Anything less and it would be a bit disappointing