give me the 8/9 seed!!!!

[Silk City]

A lot of people talking about how it's better to have the 10, and how it statistically gives us a better shot at reaching the Sweet 16 since we avoid the 1 seed. Those arguments are valid, but this just seems like the type of year where I'd rather not take the best "on paper" route, and go for something bigger.

Think about what the future was looking like after Providence less than two weeks ago..our NCAA hopes were getting real slim and to be honest right now I'm just happy to be in. So at this point we're all playing with house money, and I'm fine with throwing all my chips on the table.

With a win in the first round, we'll either play a really tough 2nd round game that will fly nationally under the radar (the 2 seed game) or likely play THE marquee game of the weekend (defending national champs vs a 1 seed). Maybe it hurts our chances of winning a tiny bit, but I'd love to see this team stepping into a Sunday primetime slot against one of basketball's best, and the whole nation watching. And the way this season has gone, I can't help but think this team will deliver and give us a really good game on a big stage.

I don't care if it's a road game (Kentucky in Louisville, UNC in Greensboro, Kansas in Omaha) this is the type of situation our players live for and as a fan it'd be a lot of fun. Just my opinion.

 

[seanmc94]

You really want UK or UNC that early?

 

[businesslawyer]

no. Absolutely not. I still not want to win the tournament, and think the individual talent is there to do it if things click mentally. I could care less about making a splash on national TV. We're friggin defending champions -- who cares about making a splash.

A win over a Duke or a Michigan State can give this team the confidence that can make this team ready to beat a UNC or KU. I want the easier game first and to build from there.

 

[Brochacho]

Only scenario I would like to see UConn on the 8/9 line is with OSU at the 1.

 

[Waquoit]

Those arguments are valid, but this just seems like the type of year where I'd rather not take the best "on paper" route, and go for something bigger.

What does that even mean? What type of year is this?

 

[businesslawyer]

What does that even mean? What type of year is this?

I would ask the OP this -- if your post caused both W and I to jump all over it without turning against each other, maybe, just maybe, you should reconsider the premise!

 

[Silk City]

What does that even mean? What type of year is this?

A year where nothing has gone as expected for UConn.

By the way, I really think people are exaggerating the difference between the 1 and 2 seeds. Two number 1 seeds are straight up for grabs at this moment, which should say something

 

[metsfan2323]

I don't want Kentucky in the second round, but I can see it happening. It's a way for the NCAA to have either Calipari or Calhoun out early. Plus it creates a primetime TV matchup in round 2.

 

[Silk City]

I would ask the OP this -- if your post caused both W and I to jump all over it without turning against each other, maybe, just maybe, you should reconsider the premise!

It's just an opinion, I don't care if some people disagree. Look, we can't be lined up with Syracuse, and I highly doubt the committee will want to penalize Kentucky as the likely #1 overall by matching them up with a team of our capability. Which leaves a loglam of teams at the edge of 1 and 2 seed capability, that have all shown some serious flaws this year. You're telling me there's a huge difference between UNC/Kansas/Mizzou/OSU? At least two of those teams are gonna be two seeds.

 

[TexanMark]

Hear me out: kinda stupid but 8/9 only benefits if you upset the #1 then you get the defacto #1 seed...personally I'd rather take my chances on a 2 seed in round two. Better odds to win vs this group of 2 seeds. Duke vs UConn next weekend...LOL that would be like shooting fish in a barrel.

 

[Prezidint]

My reverse order:

NOT UK.
NOT UNC.
NOT SYRACUSE.
NOT OS.
ANYBODY ELSE.

The longer we go without facing one of these teams, the stronger we get.

 

[Silk City]

All I'm saying is, if you think think Kansas is better than Mizzou or UNC is better than Ohio State just because the NCAA committee has to pick one, you should step back and think about it.

I think people are overanalyzing the gap between a 1 and 2 seed this year.

 

[Jaker]

Put us in Dooks bracket

 

[champs99and04]

Really don't understand those who want Kentucky this year...if we play UNC you know the refs will *k us over. Give me a ten, please. I want to play MSU, Duke, Kansas, Missouri in that order. If worst comes to worst you take your shot at UNC, OSU, or Cuse, but please, just keep us away from Kentucky.

 

[DogMania]

All I'm saying is, if you think think Kansas is better than Mizzou or UNC is better than Ohio State just because the NCAA committee has to pick one, you should step back and think about it.

I think people are overanalyzing the gap between a 1 and 2 seed this year.

Your point has a lot of validity with all the top ranked, high major conference regular season champions losing in their conference tourneys. I don't know what it is, if it's wear-and-tear over the long season, injuries, peaking at the wrong time or whatever, but it doesn't seem there is a lot of separation between the 1 and 2s or even the 2s and 3s.

I really think it's going to come down to match-ups and location (home court scenarios). Teams that pressure the perimeter, especially with big athletic guards tends to be our Achilles's Heal. Good offensive rebounding teams scare me as well, but I haven't payed much attention to which ones excel in that area.

With that said, I would not want to be matched up with UK in the 2nd round. When they play well, they're are very, very good and not a great match-up for us.

The 1s and 2s that I lick my chops at are Dook and maybe UNC (with a possibly hobbled Henson). Neither team seems to have big athletic guards that get up in your grill. The problem with these two is the contest would be in Greensboro. As some pointed out, that arena is often filled with UNC fans and they will root for anyone who plays dook. But with Dook on the 2 line and UConn seemly likely a 9, UNC is the more likely match-up and I just feel the crowd will influence the way the officials will call that game in the Tar Heels favor. If it were a more neutral court, I'd welcome that match-up since I think the Heel's are overrated.

I wouldn't mind another crack at SU, but that would only happen if we're seeded as a 10, which from what we're hearing isn't likely.

I'm a tad concerned with having to face OSU or MSU who tend to play a more physical brand of basketball and are both well balanced teams. Neither are big time scarey though.

Mizzu, which I'm hearing will be on the 2nd line even though they won B-12 tourney and are on a roll, is a team that scares me as much if not more than UK. As much as I like an up and down type of game, we've not been playing that way at all this season and we haven't done very well when athletic teams pressure us. They have some smallish guards though, but the way we've handled pressure has me concerned.

I thought KU was a team I didn't want to face and I think they're a team that some might be sleeping on a bit. When they play well they can be scary.

All in all, I do agree, that none of the top 8 teams are all that scary. I wish UConn shot the ball better. If they improve their efficiency they can play with all of these teams. The problem is they struggle to score during too many stretches in what seems like every game, enough to put them on the wrong end of the point total at the end of the game. Hopefully they'll begin to convert more of those lightly and un-contested shots to be a more dangerous team than most expect.

 

[UCweCONN]

FEAR THE BROW.

 

[Silk City]

You're point has a lot of validity with all the top ranked, high major conference regular season champions losing in their conference tourneys. I don't know what it is, if it's wear-and-tear over the long season, injuries, peaking at the wrong time or whatever, but it doesn't seem there is a lot of separation between the 1 and 2s or even the 2s and 3s.

I really think it's going to come down to match-ups and location (home court scenarios). Teams that pressure the perimeter, especially with big athletic guards tends to be our Achilles's Heal. Good offensive rebounding teams scare me as well, but I haven't payed much attention to which ones excel in that area.

With that said, I would not want to be matched up with UK in the 2nd round. When they play well, they're are very, very good and not a great match-up for us.

The 1s and 2s that I lick my chops at are Dook and maybe UNC (with a possibly hobbled Henson). Neither team seems to have big athletic guards that get up in your grill. The problem with these two is the contest would be in Greensboro. As some pointed out, that arena is often filled with UNC fans and they will root for anyone who plays dook. But with Dook on the 2 line and UConn seemly likely a 9, UNC is the more likely match-up and I just feel the crowd will influence the way the officials will call that game in the Tar Heels favor. If it were a more neutral court, I'd welcome that match-up since I think the Heel's are overrated.

I wouldn't mind another crack at SU, but that would only happen if we're seeded as a 10, which from what we're hearing isn't likely.

I'm a tad concerned with having to face OSU or MSU who tend to play a more physical brand of basketball and are both well balanced teams. Neither are big time scarey though.

Mizzu, which I'm hearing will be on the 2nd line even though they won B-12 tourney and are on a roll, is a team that scares me as much if not more than UK. As much as I like an up and down type of game, we've not been playing that way at all this season and we haven't done very well when athletic teams pressure us. They have some smallish guards though, but the way we've handled pressure has me concerned.

I thought KU was a team I didn't want to face and I think they're a team that some might be sleeping on a bit. When they play well they can be scary.

All in all, I do agree, that none of the top 8 teams are all that scary. I wish UConn shot the ball better. If they improve their efficiency they can play with all of these teams. The problem is they struggle to score during too many stretches in what seems like every game, enough to put them on the wrong end of the point total at the end of the game. Hopefully they'll begin to convert more of those lightly and un-contested shots to be a more dangerous team than most expect.

@Dogmania: Good point about Mizzou. Their guards pressure the ball and run like crazy, and their 3 point shooting would doom us. They're the last team I'd want us to run into in this tourney. I think we can at least get into a half court game with MSU/OSU and lessen their advantages, while even UNC has shown they can be slowed down at times this year. Kentucky is talented and tough..but they have a small bench and other than Lamb they don't scare me a ton from outside.

@everyone else arguing this: how'd your fearsome 1 seeds (projected that is) look this week? UNC falling behind by 16 to a team that already beat them by 30, Cuse falling down by 17 to an unranked team, Kansas falling down 14 in the semis, and Kentucky getting bounced by an unranked team...

There have been years where #1 seeds wouldn't trail by double digits all season, let alone 3 of them in tourney week alone. Let's get things straight: if UConn loses to a 1 seed, it won't be because that 1 seed is much better than a potential 2 seed.

I still like our squad, and I have no problem with trying to take out one of the committee's top four overall.

 

[RIHusky13]

Talk about getting what you wished for. Love it, absolute war-zone in the dirty south bracket.