FIVE SEED

[superjohn]

Whaley has emerged as this year’s surprise spark in a way that was almost too good to be true. Up until today he was shooting a high high percent from the paint. Today was a hiccup. He’ll be back on Thursday.

He played great after missing all those first half layups.

 

[navery12]

I plan to watch on ESPN app phone on Thursday and work from home friday.

Pretty much my plan as well I think. Since I don't have ESPNU/DVR it severely limits my options to turn off the phone and watch a few hours later

 

[g_smith]

My only fear lies in the fact that with the top of the conference as it stands - only Houston is truly guaranteed an at large. The rest of us are in the fight for the conference tournament title.

 

[g_smith]

He played great after missing all those first half layups.

He seems to have a short memory of his mistakes. You gotta love that in a player.

 

[gsmooth]

Terrible because I can't watch now

I am coming up with a BS excuse to work from home on Thursday. I will get a lot of work done, well before 3:00 that is.

 

[UconnFanDC]

Hurley and his staff have done a great job developing these guys/team! Now let that energy flow through AAC tourney

 

[gsmooth]

Had Wichita on one of my smaller TV's during our game. Really impressive showing for them today. Other than Houston, they scare me the most.

And they will have a home court advantage as they are close by Fort Worth and their fans travel well. But first UConn has to get by Tulane-that is not a guarantee. One game at a time.

 

[Kenny11]

We were tired today and got it done. I think we will beat them more handily on Thursday. I feel great about the 5 seed. I agree that Witchita may be the toughest test so I would rather get them early than after a few days of soreness and fatigue.

 

[gsmooth]

We’ve gone on to beat the top of the AAC in our current streak. Every team we lost to originally, we’ve won the rematch. This year we didn’t play in Kansas, so this would be our rematch with Witchita. There’s mojo potential there.

UConn has been good on the rematches no doubt including a win at Tulsa. But let's not pencil a win over Tulane-that is far from automatic. Both times Tulane played UConn close. Bouk and Gaff have to play better than today. IMO, Vital, Gilbert, and Whaley were the best players today for UConn. Vital and Christion Thompson were the two best in the game.

 

[JimHurley]

Crazy but the 7 seed would’ve been better. We get Wichita second round if we win and then Cincy after that. Playing Cincy for our 3rd game in 3 days is not ideal.

 

[Leebo]

The game is almost early enough for me to watch and get to work on time (Japan time), but I was planning to take the day off anyway. Might as well be able to watch the rest of the day 1 games.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

We just didn’t play well. We’ll dust them next time. I’d put money on it

I suspect you are correct, but they've got a few guys that are awkward to play one-on-one. It'll take much better team defense. Hightower, Lawson and Thompson are pretty good at getting to the rack.

 

[gsmooth]

We played like the game after our most important game of the year. It also was less than 72h after said game and included a fairly long plane trip.

We looked tired, a step slow, and a little emotionally drained. All game.

Kudos to them for holding it together enough to grind out an important win!

I expect a completely different team next Thursday!

exactly. I wasn't thinking this game was going to be a cakewalk by any means. Tulane beat SMU on this court. I know road teams have not been good in the American games, but beating SMU and the other factors which you mentioned in your post had me thinking this would be a tough win, which it was.

 

[Hamms30]

Tourney is gonna be a dog fight. Everyone but Houston fighting for postseason lives.

 

[Ajs120102]

The travel sucks but it shouldn’t be a factor by game two. I found this quote Hurley had in his postgame about our conference finish quite interesting:
“The way the conference schedule was set up and loaded up to try to break us early, but it didn’t happen.”

 

[navery12]

I was gonna ask @tcf15 for a spoiler free link to a rewatch for Thursday but I see that's already a thing. How soon do you think that replay would be up?

 

[ctchamps]

We played like the game after our most important game of the year. It also was less than 72h after said game and included a fairly long plane trip.

We looked tired, a step slow, and a little emotionally drained. All game.

Kudos to them for holding it together enough to grind out an important win!

I expect a completely different team next Thursday!

That was an important win and although a step back from recent games teams need to win these type of games to do well in a tournament. I hope we play better. I don't like our chances of beating Tulane two in a row playing like today. Let's just hope Thompson has the let down next week.

 

[Peacefrog]

The team was probably due for a clunker and we saw that today. Perhaps its an illustration of the improvement that they could win a road game on an off night. I bet we lose this game last year. Heck, I bet we lose this game 6 or 7 weeks ago.

 

[tzznandrew]

Crazy but the 7 seed would’ve been better. We get Wichita second round if we win and then Cincy after that. Playing Cincy for our 3rd game in 3 days is not ideal.

If we beat Wichita, they might not make the NCAAs. Same with Cincy.

Let's get to 20 wins, though, and go from there.

 

[crazyUCfan23]

where are the times for the game posted?

 

[navery12]

where are the times for the game posted?

 

[JimHurley]

If we beat Wichita, they might not make the NCAAs. Same with Cincy.

Let's get to 20 wins, though, and go from there.

Yeah playing teams that either win or miss the tournament. Not ideal. But that’s where we’re at. There’s no way around it.

 

[SwingDog]

A five seed is fine, but I'm with Doctor Hoop; let's just get past Tulane first. To me, although we were active on the boards, we looked a little jet-lagged or a step slow on defense. The good thing is we won a game we easily could have lost. This Tulane team may be in the basement of the AAC but closer inspection reveals a team that has been in nearly every game this season and has beaten some good teams, including Cincinnati. Not a team to be taken lightly, not that you should ever take a team lightly. That said. I expect the Huskies to be better prepared for the Green Wave on Thursday.

 

[gtcam]

Plus there was that odd situation where it was senior night for the Tulane player. Hurley’s an emotional guy and if you watched URI senior night before we picked him up, they lost their Senior night. He chalked it up to him being too emotional. With that behind us, I like our chances.

He better be able to shut out the senior night sentimentality for a former player while coaching his current team in a game with post season (NIT) implications
UConn looked like they did today because the two freshmen - Bouk and Gaff - had horrid games and the bigs deserted the team in the 1st half
If Whaley hits his 1st half shots as he has the past 5 games - UConn leads by double figures at the half
I hate blaming the refs but they were horrid and too many calls went against UConn at the most unfortunate times
But the officiating throughout college hoops has been real bad
If refs were made to face the press and answer some tough questions after a game - IMO the quality would improve

 

[FatHank]

View attachment 51744

Can't wait to be off ESPNU and CBSSN.... It has been a getting games on in my household this year. Streams have been a fight for me recently and my network package is not gonna change. At least FS1 and the BE will be available.