Final Four or Championship #6 | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Final Four or Championship #6

Will you be satisfied with a Final Four or Championship?

  • I’ll be satisfied with at least making it to the Final Four.

    Votes: 70 28.9%

  • With how great this team is, Championship or bust.

    Votes: 172 71.1%
  • Total voters
    242
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navery12 said:
They're not as good, they're much much better
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We’re much better than last year’s regular season team and there’s no way to dispute that earnestly.

But something changed when we got to the dance. Are we better than the team we saw in MM that beat the crap out of everyone by at least 15pts? That remains to be seen.
 
I'd never thought I'd be in this camp, but even if they didn't make the final four I don't think I could ever consider this a disappointing year. Such a tremendous regular season, they exceeded expectations and accomplished everything they possibly could with a dominating regular season title and conference championship. First ever #1 overall seed in NCAA's as well. This year in certain ways legitimized the program further than last years team.
If they lay an egg of a game or lose due to on fire shooting or poor matchup, I'd chalk it up to bad timing and look forward to the rebuild for next year.
 
Before the brackets came out I likely would have said, "Final Four - though it would hurt" - but after the release getting there will likely be more challenging than winning once there.
 
Of course I want to win it all again, but back-to-back is so hard. If we lose I'll be disappointed, but not as disappointed as the guys on the team will be.
 
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If they win a game the second weekend they're going to be further than any defending champ since Florida in '07. Any loss is going to be crushing but, again, only one team left ends its season with a win. This has been a fantastic season that's been great for the brand. If happens, it happens. Life goes on. They gotta win one 4 team tournament this weekend and go from there.
 
BigErnMcCracken said:
If they win a game the second weekend they're going to be further than any defending champ since Florida in '07. Any loss is going to be crushing but, again, only one team left ends its season with a win. This has been a fantastic season that's been great for the brand. If happens, it happens. Life goes on. They gotta win one 4 team tournament this weekend and go from there.
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Right. The goal has to be to get to Boston and then let the chips fall where they may.

I think they got a great draw in Stetson and FAU/Northwestern. They should beat each of these teams by a lot. Once we're in Boston, things get more difficult. Even if the bracket is absolutely busted, we've seen an 11-seed can ruin what looked like an obvious path the the Final Four.
 
So who is setting up the Boneyard Bracket Challenge at ESPN this year?
 
Maybe it’s just me but I don’t see how any fan could be happy with anything less than #6 given that we are the overall #1 seed.

#arrogant #spoiled
 
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Obviously, I'd be thrilled to see them win another championship, and for Cam to win his first, but I am taking this one game at a time. With the very best of teams going head to head and lesser known ones believing they have a chance to slay a giant, anything can happen which is what makes this time of year so exciting. I am proud of the team for their incredible accomplishments thus far and as I get older I find the character building and player development aspects very satisfying to witness. Looking forward to the matchup versus Stetson on Friday and we'll see what happens after that. I love how Hurley has this team zeroed in on their next game without looking ahead.
 
Just want everyone here to be real and make sure you understand every team out there has a great team that falls short. We are incredibly lucky as a fanbase to have our record in the final four, it’s almost unheard of.

I think that’s why so many of us are in the “somewhat satisfied with a FF” bucket. If you demand every team win the championship you’re a sore loser and a bad fan of a good team
 
RayIsTheGOAT said:
If you say you won't be disappointed if this team loses a game from here on out, you're lying. No matter how great of a year they have, the lasting stinging memory would be losing in the tournament, if it happens. Unfortunately that's the nature of the business, especially when you've proven to be the best team in the country. They are just having a preposterously, historically great season, so no matter what it would be disappointing if they lose.

If they do lose, it doesn't change the stature of the program, though. Not as long as Hurley is around. This 2 year run will pay dividends on the recruiting trail for years to come.
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Pretty much. That's why we remember the 05-06 team the way we do.
 
Shamon30 said:
Pretty much. That's why we remember the 05-06 team the way we do.
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We remember them the way we do because they sleepwalked through all the post-season games. Lost first BET game and then nearly lost every single game in the NCAAT. They were down way too much to Albany late, struggled with a mediocre UK team, needed a miracle to beat Washington.

That, and as much we really like our own guys—and as much as I enjoyed watching Marcus play—we had a real villain vibe that year. Marcus & AJ with the laptops, others accusing us of buying Gay, etc. It was a year we had to embrace being the bad guy, but then they didn't come to play in a single post-season tournament. And still nearly stumbled into the Final Four.
 
Tenspro2002 said:
It would be disappointing not to win the championship given how far we've gotten, but I would absolutely be satisfied with the season to "only" make the Final Four.
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This team gets to the Final 4 and theyll win it all. My fear and ive said for a month is whoever we face in the Sweet 16. We shouldve had Duke as a 4 seed but they were put into witness protection from us and we got stuck with Auburn. Auburn is extremely dangerous and theyll get a week to prepare for us with a coach like Bruce Pearl. If we get passed that game i think we win it all because honestly i think one of these two is cutting down the nets. Maybe im wrong and over estimating them but this was the one team that actually concerns me. I think we`ll win but if their backcourt gets hot from the outside we will have our hands full.
 
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Only 2 schools have repeated since the Wooden dynasty. Much tougher to do in the modern game. It would be a tremendous feat to be in that company.
 
BugsyCT said:
Only 2 schools have repeated since the Wooden dynasty. Much tougher to do in the modern game. It would be a tremendous feat to be in that company.
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Programs that have won back-to-back championships:

Oklahoma State (then A&M) (1945-1946)
Kentucky (1948-1949)
San Francisco (1955-1956)
Cincinnati (1961-1962)
UCLA 7x (1964-1965, 1967-1973)
Duke (1991-1992)
Florida (2006-2007)

It's a small list, filled mostly with all-time great programs, coaches, or players.
 
tzznandrew said:
Programs that have won back-to-back championships:

Oklahoma State (then A&M) (1945-1946)
Kentucky (1948-1949)
San Francisco (1955-1956)
Cincinnati (1961-1962)
UCLA 7x (1964-1965, 1967-1973)
Duke (1991-1992)
Florida (2006-2007)

It's a small list, filled mostly with all-time great programs, coaches, or players.
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Duke and Florida returned their squads for year 2

We are going to run it back after losing 4 of our top 7 players
 
tzznandrew said:
Programs that have won back-to-back championships:

Oklahoma State (then A&M) (1945-1946)
Kentucky (1948-1949)
San Francisco (1955-1956)
Cincinnati (1961-1962)
UCLA 7x (1964-1965, 1967-1973)
Duke (1991-1992)
Florida (2006-2007)

It's a small list, filled mostly with all-time great programs, coaches, or players.
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Wonder if this motivates Danny :)
 
DaMuttzNutt said:
Duke and Florida returned their squads for year 2

We are going to run it back after losing 4 of our top 7 players
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Agree but also the game is so different now. No powerhouse team ever returns their players anymore + the portal changed everything. Not saying it will happen, but there’s a scenario where a few steller portal recruiters who can also coach (Danny obv one of them) can reload every year and always be super competitive.

Not saying it’s not amazingly impressive, just that we’re not playing the same game that Coach K and Billy D were playing.
 
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Title or bust. We have a perfect record in championship games. If we were say, 4-1, then a loss in the final wouldn’t other me as much. I like the clean sheet in finals matchups.
 
KembaRunner said:
Agree but also the game is so different now. No powerhouse team ever returns their players anymore + the portal changed everything. Not saying it will happen, but there’s a scenario where a few steller portal recruiters who can also coach (Danny obv one of them) can reload every year and always be super competitive.

Not saying it’s not amazingly impressive, just that we’re not playing the same game that Coach K and Billy D were playing.
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Donovan was already playing a different game than K. Noah would have been #1 in 2006, but only came back because he was someone who didn't need the cash. Most players by mid-2000 who were great prospects weren't coming back for junior years.

K coached and pretty much everyone stayed 4 years. Mid-90s became 3. Late 90s became 2 as they competed with HS prospects.
 
tzznandrew said:
Donovan was already playing a different game than K. Noah would have been #1 in 2006, but only came back because he was someone who didn't need the cash. Most players by mid-2000 who were great prospects weren't coming back for junior years.

K coached and pretty much everyone stayed 4 years. Mid-90s became 3. Late 90s became 2 as they competed with HS prospects.
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Billy on the OGs podcast was great. He said the 3 headed monster came back because Taurean Green wasn’t going to get drafted and they felt a sense of responsibility to him. It was all of them or none.

And I’m sure Noah having money didn’t hurt his decision to come back. :)
 
HuskyHawk said:
So who is setting up the Boneyard Bracket Challenge at ESPN this year?
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no idea if there's a private group yet, but there was a the-boneyard.com which i'd joined before and threw in with again, although there's only one other in it at the moment
 
Ripper32 said:
I don't think this team is as good as last year's, in terms of raw talent. Sanogo was automatic when we needed a basket and Clingan was brought in after the tenderizing began. Cam is a high IQ shooter with great fundamentals, but he's not Hawkins. I guess Castle can be compared to Andre but Andre was an intangible machine that the entire team fed off of. The road should be harder this time.
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I loved watching last year's team compete. I think that they over achieved. I think that this year's version is far far deeper than last year's team. Both teams share the toughness and commitment to defense and overall team play that you have to buy in to if you are going to play at UCONN. I think that it is a program that is separating itself from others. Not every AAU star across the land can play here. I think that they represent all of New England very well and if you are good enough and you choose another destination other that UCON - God bless you it is your loss.
 
It's tough because UConn got a challenging bracket. Theyve already had a good year though. I don't know who I'd rather see in the second round, nwestern or FAU, leaning towards nwestern and Auburn is very good if they reach the s16. Then another solid b10 team or Iowa State potentially in the e8. (Hope Washington st and duquense pull off some upsets, uab and Yale too. Imagine Yale getting to the s16 like Princeton did a few years ago to face uconn, that'd be amazing!
 
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