How Big is Our Next Game?

[jibsey]

We are 20 in the RPI playing 11, and based on what's left, a win leaves us in good shape going forward. Need a do or die effort here.

 

[Gurleyman]

Doesn't matter. The NCAA will retroactively declare the RPI meaningless and choose at-large teams solely by winning percentage in the 2012 calendar year.

 

[-Huskiediehard-]

It's big.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Our first of 2 chances to nab a signature win. If we don't win Saturday, Cuse becomes basically a must-win.

If we don't win either of those, we had better make the BET quarters to feel good about our chances.

 

[DogMania]

I might be proven wrong, but win, the team goes on a run and dances. Lose and I don't think they recover.

 

[mauconnfan]

I might be proven wrong, but win, the team goes on a run and dances. Lose and I don't think they recover.

I would not give up DM but I feel pretty much the same.......they need to win at home as even the Nova, Pitt and PC games are far from W's with the inconsistency they play with. Need to see some balls tomorrow and some real passion to be a believer they can make the required run to dance...........

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Our first of 2 chances to nab a signature win. If we don't win Saturday, Cuse becomes basically a must-win.

If we don't win either of those, we had better make the BET quarters to feel good about our chances.

There's no doubt that tomorrow's game is huge. But if we lose to Marquette and Syracuse - but beat Nova, PC, and Pitt - we make the tournament.

It may seem to some that Uconn played a soft schedule and doesn't have any signature wins, but that's not the way the committee will interpret our resume. They'll look at a top-5 SOS in the country, an RPI in the 20's, and a handful of "top 50" wins (Harvard, FSU, Seton Hall, WVU, ND). Sure, the RPI is flawed, but it's very much flawed in our favor this year and the committee takes it very seriously.

The only thing our resume is missing is ENOUGH wins - it doesn't matter who those wins are against. Unless something crazy happens (i.e. Pitt, Tennessee, and Northwestern win their conference tourneys to take at-large bids away), 19 wins gets us in pretty safely.

 

[suzyq]

I would not give up DM but I feel pretty much the same.......they need to win at home as even the Nova, Pitt and PC games are far from W's with the inconsistency they play with. Need to see some balls tomorrow and some real passion to be a believer they can make the required run to dance...........

I th ink they n eed to be prepared to get punched in the face. Marqueete is going to come in and be physical and how our guys respond will be the key. Hopefull this will allow Alex to thrive. Do we know who the officials sre yet?

 

[mauconnfan]

I th ink they n eed to be prepared to get punched in the face. Marqueete is going to come in and be physical and how our guys respond will be the key. Hopefull this will allow Alex to thrive. Do we know who the officials sre yet?

Agreed suzy definitely physical and Alex will need to respond. Problem I have is can we play Alex and Andre a lot at the same time...or Tyler and one of them? Ths Marquettes team strength is strong, fast and physical but small. We can get hurt without being able to run and without being able to guard people. Think Roscoe (if healthy) and Deandre play a big part in this one.

 

[AJC88]

HUGE

 

[aceboon]

Agreed suzy definitely physical and Alex will need to respond. Problem I have is can we play Alex and Andre a lot at the same time...or Tyler and one of them? Ths Marquettes team strength is strong, fast and physical but small. We can get hurt without being able to run and without being able to guard people. Think Roscoe (if healthy) and Deandre play a big part in this one.

If Marq starts Crowder and Gardner up front(I'm pretty sure they do but I'm not positive) then I think we can get away with playing AO & AD up front together without a problem. I think it would be similar to WVU, have AD guard Crowder because of his ability to go outside and handle the ball and have AO deal with Gardner who is a load inside. I'm most worried about defending their guards, like Syracuse they're pretty big and should be able to shoot over ours pretty easily. Its really got to be driven home to Bazz and to a lesser extent Boat and Lamb that they can't play the man down/hand down technique in this one and stop going for steals that aren't there. Also worried about who is going to check DJO, Giffey would probably be the best option on the perimeter but having him out there means one of Bazz/Boat/Lamb are on the bench and that weakens us offensively.

 

[dpross]

There's no doubt that tomorrow's game is huge. But if we lose to Marquette and Syracuse - but beat Nova, PC, and Pitt - we make the tournament.

It may seem to some that Uconn played a soft schedule and doesn't have any signature wins, but that's not the way the committee will interpret our resume. They'll look at a top-5 SOS in the country, an RPI in the 20's, and a handful of "top 50" wins (Harvard, FSU, Seton Hall, WVU, ND). Sure, the RPI is flawed, but it's very much flawed in our favor this year and the committee takes it very seriously.

The only thing our resume is missing is ENOUGH wins - it doesn't matter who those wins are against. Unless something crazy happens (i.e. Pitt, Tennessee, and Northwestern win their conference tourneys to take at-large bids away), 19 wins gets us in pretty safely.

I looked at the RPI yesterday (and yes, it is flawed) and UConn was tied with a handful of other teams for 15th most "top 50" wins in the country at 5. From an at-large perspective, that helps, and if the RPI is a factor, the top 50 wins and overall RPI ranking will go a long ways in favor of UConn's bid, assuming, of course, we don't have a letdown against the softer 3 games remaining on the schedule.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

I don't believe Gardner is playing tomorrow. Marquette will have a very small lineup, likely starting Crowder and Jamil Wilson (a Roscoe-type player) at the 4/5. The nice thing about Drummond is he can hold his own against a face up player like Crowder.

We need a big defensive effort against DJO - I guess it would be Lamb and maybe Giffey mostly guarding him. I don't like the idea of our smaller guards defending him - he's too strong and can shoot over the top.

 

[bobbygt]

I agree about Roscoe. I just have a bad feeling (I also have good feelings, but let me roll with the bad one) that Crowder is going to draw fouls on AD and AO.

I read that Gardner is out against uconn, so that means Marquette is only 6 deep. We've seen small Marquette teams in the past as well. It's going to be a tough game, but uconn simply must take advantage not only of their size advantage but also Marquette's lack of a bench.

HT Player PPG


6-2 Darius Johnson-Odom 18.4
6-6 Jae Crowder 16.2
6-4 Vander Blue 8.7
6-3 Todd Mayo 8.4
6-7 Jamil Wilson 6.8
6-1 Junior Cadougan 6.6

 

[Kitaman]

Win is a statement, putting us off the bubble. Lose and its desperation time. We need a more recent signature win, and time is running out, so I'd say its important.

btw: I don't trust the RPI for automatic selection when there is the risk of unexpected tourney winners getting an automatic bid.

 

[huskymagic]

If Marq starts Crowder and Gardner up front(I'm pretty sure they do but I'm not positive) then I think we can get away with playing AO & AD up front together without a problem. I think it would be similar to WVU, have AD guard Crowder because of his ability to go outside and handle the ball and have AO deal with Gardner who is a load inside. I'm most worried about defending their guards, like Syracuse they're pretty big and should be able to shoot over ours pretty easily. Its really got to be driven home to Bazz and to a lesser extent Boat and Lamb that they can't play the man down/hand down technique in this one and stop going for steals that aren't there. Also worried about who is going to check DJO, Giffey would probably be the best option on the perimeter but having him out there means one of Bazz/Boat/Lamb are on the bench and that weakens us offensively.

Good stuff here ace especially about being worried about defending their guards like DJO and Vander Blue who are much bigger than Bazz and Boat, and something I always worry about especially with Napier's defensive abilities.

However, I think we will win tomorrow against Marquette. We are a good matchup for Marquette and it will be close the whole way but we will win this game. Marquette doesnt want to see us because after we beat them we usually go on runs. Jerel McNeal is still hurting after the nastiest crossover in the history of college basketball courtesy of AJ Price. Marquette was also Jeremy Lamb's coming out party. It is time for the asension to occur. This is a game where Roscoe will excel as will Alex O as Marquette suits their style of play. Unleash the Boat, Unleash the Alex, Unleash the Scoe

 

[aceboon]

I would rather Gardner play because I think it would play into our hands better to have AO and AD together out there against a more traditional lineup. Crowder has some wing skills and can shoot from outside but AD has shown he can check those guys(Kevin Jones in the 2nd half against WVU once Jones' prayer 3s stopped falling, Cleveland Melvin the last gime). AO on the other hand cannot and it seems like his post game gets worse when he goes up against smaller guys. Marq already plays small as it is, a very small lineup would probably pose the same issues as the Cincy game.

 

[RoderickSpode]

It's huuuuuge. It's a golden opportunity to grab a HIGH quality win and get back to .500 in league play at the same time. Perhaps more importantly it would blast the team's confidence level (which is already rising) through the roof.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I think this is a game where AO could be exposed pretty badly. We need to go with a smaller lineup, with AD getting the bulk of the minutes at the 5. TO or Roscoe should play the 4, or maybe even go small and give Daniels or Giffey some minutes in a small lineup.

If we go with AD + AO, they will be shooting 3's all day, and we don't need to encourage that any more than our perimeter defense already does.

 

[SlicinNDyson11]

It certainly is a big game but not do or die, if we lose it just makes the Cuse game that much bigger to us. We win its a signature win that can propel this team to a nice run to the end the season. I fully expect to see Drummond on Crowder and Oriakhi or Wilson tomorrow and i think that favors us but a big concern is stopping DJO, and stopping the other guards penetration I'm not fully confident we have the guys to do this but we'll see. It should be a close one and will tell us a lot about where are team is this late in the season.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...9732/ncaa-providing-glimpse-selection-process

"There are frankly a lot of good basketball teams out there that are playing very good basketball and that adds to the challenge for the 10 committee members here in the selection room," NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee chairman Jeff Hathaway said Wednesday during a teleconference.

 

[Huskybass]

Tomorrow's game is HUGE. A win puts us in very good shape for the tourney.

 

[Marat]

Getting a win tomorrow would be B I G ! The game is on the table, so lets take it and the home crowd will definately help. Their guards are tough and a pain to deal with (like Nova's used to be), but I think UConn matches up better against them.

 

[Henry]

A win against Marquette would be a huge boost. Not only for tournament standing but the team will see that they can play against good competition. They have a little bit of a confidence issue but Ialso think they have not learned how to play a 40 minute game. They seem to lose focus and play sloppily partway into the game. If they can keep it together and beat Marquette it would show them and us that they are starting to get it.

 

[husky99]

Either cuse or marq we need to win