Good grief are we ever loaded.

[RichZ]

Yes, we have a lot of sophomores.

But they are sophomores that have played 40 games.

They are sophomores that have played in 14 tournament games.

They are sophomores that have played in 11 elimination games.

These are very old sophomores.

They are sophomores who have never lost an elimination game in a Husky uniform. I'm thinking they don't expect that trend to reverse itself.

 

[zymurg]

As a League, I believe the Big East is stronger than last season. The improvement has come at the bottom. That means that road games against even the Big East bottom feeders will be very tough. One can always point out single factors that turned things around last season. The obvious on court change from the BE tournament on was the dominating quality of the defense. Suprisingly the defense got better as time passed down the stretch. Still that doesn't adequately explain why the HUskies suddenly seemed invincible in close games.

Let's go back to causes. I would have to say that the period between the end of the regular season and the begining of the Big East tournament is the best bit of coaching of JC's career. Remember that the team had struggled the second half of the Big East season, particularly in close games. More than anything I believe the team came out of that period with a renewed commitment to defense and rebounding, but perhaps more important with a very positive attitude. It didn't hurt tha Kemba had a spectacular Big East Tournament,
without that UConn doesn't have the great momentum and confidence going into the NCAAs.

The UConn is down at halftime to Butler in the Championship game after scoring only 19 points. I have to credit Calhoun again at halftime. That was as good a half of defensive basketball as I have ever seen in college. UConn broke Butler's will.

Kemba didn't have a good offensive game against Butler; however, his leasership skills were paramount.

It is reassuring to start the season with some quality tangibles, but the margins between mediocre and good, good and excellent, and excellent and near great, are so fine and are intangible that it confounds our ability to predict.

Calhoun is a great coach, those who know me know I almost never use great, but even he can't reach every group of players. Why couldn't he do in 2010 what he did in 2011 before the Big East tournament? So for now the tangibles look good, but the intangibles
are well intangible.

aka zymurg

 

[ctchamps]

If anyone really believes they know what will happen this year, they are deluding themselves. We are all making extrapolitions about players and conditions that are significantly different from last season. I'm absolutely excited about this season. But that doesn't imply I can predict how things will play out.

The world was coming to an end two years ago. And look what happened last season. It's fun to argue about what will take place each season, but anyone insisting they know how things will play out is not being logical imo. And worse they are setting the team up to be the targets of anger and resentment should the team not live up to their projections.

Kemba, and the season he had last year, was a once in a lifetime player and situation We have no way of knowing how everyone will respond without him. I'm very positive. But I know my hopes and expectations are personal. I have no say how the world runs. So I excited as heck. And I'm prepared for whatever outcome takes place.

 

[buckley503]

Wow.

Heck of a retort.
Other than the Cincy game, similar point totals, with Lamb shooting a heck of a lot better and delivering clutch shots in the AZ game (clutch 3), SDSU game (2 beautiful runners in crunch time), and once he showed up offensively in the second half for the Butler game, game over. Just go look at the game by game boxscores. That is why he got into the jumping to the NBA conversation.
Now if I said BET or the season than your well thought out response would have been fitting.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Same as it ever was:

1) Defensive stops
2) Free throws
3) Turnovers

Everything else is for ticket sales.

 

[8893]

Heck of a retort.
Other than the Cincy game, similar point totals, with Lamb shooting a heck of a lot better and delivering clutch shots in the AZ game (clutch 3), SDSU game (2 beautiful runners in crunch time), and once he showed up offensively in the second half for the Butler game, game over. Just go look at the game by game boxscores. That is why he got into the jumping to the NBA conversation.
Now if I said BET or the season than your well thought out response would have been fitting.

Sorry for the terse retort. I was stunned at the assertion and still am. Don't get me wrong: Jeremy was huge for us in the NCAAs. But if you thought he was more clutch than Kemba, I guess I just saw it differently than you. What I saw was a very good player who benefited immensely from the incredible attention and pressure being directed to Kemba. The fact that they had similar point totals is very telling imo, when you consider that Kemba was usually fighting through an army to get his points, and more often than not Jeremy was exploiting a mismatch. Jeremy is calm, cool and extremely talented, and he was a critical part of the unprecedented run we accomplished. I think his make-up is such that he will probably be a pretty clutch player even with increased attention and coverage, and without Kemba drawing all that pressure. But to say that Jeremy was more clutch than Kemba in the NCAAs is to overlook the circumstances each one of them faced, imo. I just don't think it's a fair comparison. It's not even apples to oranges; it's apples to oceans.

 

[buckley503]

Sorry for the terse retort. I was stunned at the assertion and still am. Don't get me wrong: Jeremy was huge for us in the NCAAs. But if you thought he was more clutch than Kemba, I guess I just saw it differently than you. What I saw was a very good player who benefited immensely from the incredible attention and pressure being directed to Kemba. The fact that they had similar point totals is very telling imo, when you consider that Kemba was usually fighting through an army to get his points, and more often than not Jeremy was exploiting a mismatch. Jeremy is calm, cool and extremely talented, and he was a critical part of the unprecedented run we accomplished. I think his make-up is such that he will probably be a pretty clutch player even with increased attention and coverage, and without Kemba drawing all that pressure. But to say that Jeremy was more clutch than Kemba in the NCAAs is to overlook the circumstances each one of them faced, imo. I just don't think it's a fair comparison. It's not even apples to oranges; it's apples to oceans.

Appreciated response. Either way, it's better to disagree about a championship trip than otherwise.

 

[DMW88]

I'm just excited for the season to start...key will be chemistry and leadership...and I trust JC and coaches to develop it early...depth is great early, but I don't see him going past 7-8 deep regular rotation as we get into Feb/march...MB, Tyler and Niels will get minutes based on matchups and foul trouble...

I suspect we'll have a few WTF losses as most teams do every year...