How big is this Cincy game?

[mauconnfan]

Curious as to everyone's thoughts on this one. Is it a must win, pretty close or we're ok in your mind if we stumble here?

I tend to lean towards pretty crucial rather than "must." Protecting one's home turf agains a team with similar thoughts and needs at this point looking forward is a sign of strength. If they are playing better and are finding their way then this will separate them from the pack a bit. Cincy is tough as we know, really goes to get it on the o-boards so everyone needs to stick their nose in and rebound. I've been seeing Rodney get in an rebound on occasion well in this one I think we need all crashers and less leakers for obvious reasons.

Bog one for DHam, at least it would be if he suddenly finds his offense, but also a game where it would be nice if Shonn muscled up and grabbed 10 boards and Steve got a few minutes hitting some people.

Looking forward to seeing where these guys are tonight.

 

[BFieldHusky]

I look at it this way...only so many opportunities left for what would be considered "quality wins." Here is an opportunity on your home court to not only get one of those, but start to put some distance between yourself and other teams in the conference. I agree it is not a must win, but lose this and you might have to win a couple more road games against good teams, and we really only have 2 games left like that.

 

[amory]

It's pretty important. A win gives us 4 in a row which is a nice little run, and another win against a name-brand opponent gives us a better shot at a single digit seed.

We've already seen we can win a championship as a 7 seed. I'm not so confident we could do it as a 10 or 11.

 

[Jaybo]

A win here looks good on the ole eyeball test,Cincinnati's brand Carrys a little more weight then say,Tulane or USF in the basketball world so I think it's a win we need.

 

[Kembacity]

I'm in agreement with most of you, its not a must win but its certainly a big game. On top of what it means for conference standings, tourney resume, etc., I feel like Cinci is our main rival here. Sure SMU is always a big gun in the conference and we want to beat them, but I think of Cinci and UConn as the older brothers in the conference constantly fighting for alpha status. I'm sure this game to our players and theirs is bigger than a W or an L and I hope our teams keep that mindset going forward in this conference or a different one.

Games aren't just a chance to win and look good to make the tournament, its also personal, and Caupain is a senior now right? That guy is pulling a Scottie Reynolds, seems like he's been there 6 years

 

[RayRay19]

It's a must win.........


But we are........


Doomed!!!!!!!!

 

[OkaForPrez]

5-5 vs the top 100 feels a whole lot better than 4-6.

 

[80shusky]

Very important I think to win every game we can now. I think we can only afford a few more losses this year. We have to win our home games especially.

 

[Rocktheworld]

After getting minimal work done in Atlantis and too sub-par losses in a bad conference, you could argue every game since Tulsa is a "big" game.

 

[August_West]

For me its the season.

Does it mean we pack it in if we lose and we are NIT bound? Obviously not.....BUT if we want to be who we thought we could be this season we have to start ripping off some wins, no matter who the opponent, especially at home. A win tonight and Sunday and I am back on the "we could be going places" bandwagon. A home loss is just more of the same of the last 2 years. a couple wins, a crippling loss, rinse repeat, and it will really temper some already muted enthusiasm and expectations.

 

[Sibeerian]

Curious as to everyone's thoughts on this one. Is it a must win, pretty close or we're ok in your mind if we stumble here?

.

Big McLargeHuge

 

[uchusky32]

Home game, already bad lose poor outing at home vs Temple. Not saying it's a must. But that could mean going 0/4, 1/3 with Cincy/SMU.

 

[Penfield]

It's also about standings. If we have to play in the American we might as well win it.

SMU has 1 loss. We have 2.

Cinci, Tulsa, Temple, Memphis, UCF all have 3. Let's stay above the fray.

 

[Palatine]

Two steps forward, one step back will not get us into the NCAA. We need to get on a roll and stay there.

Just win.

 

[Tenspro2002]

A loss here really reduces the number of different routes we can take to locking up an NCAAT bid.

As far as an at-large bid is concerned, we already have 5 losses, plus 1 more in the AACT (otherwise this discussion is moot). I think if we lose only 2 more games (8 total), we're probably safe. If we end up with 9 losses, that's iffy. 10 losses and we're definitely out.

Basically, if we lose this game, we can afford at most 1-2 more regular season losses before it's AACT or bust. Considering we still have SMU twice, @ Cincy, @ Memphis, @ Temple, yeah I'd say this is as close to must-win as you can get in January.

 

[upstater]

Must win.

UConn has another bad loss coming on the road. We all know it. Have to go on a run and win some we're not expected to.

I see things happening like ECU beating Temple and UCF winning games, and you know there's a loss out there somewhere.

That big lug on UCF looks better than ever. Caught some of his game the other night and he was posting up and then shooting turnarounds kissing it off the glass.

I'm not saying these teams are any good, but ECU and UCF can beat the Temple's, Memphis's, Cincy's so why not UConn?

 

[Ricker]

I'm ok with 2-2 vs Cinci & SMU and 1 stumble against the field, but 2-2 is uphill if we don't win this game at home vs the lesser of the 2 opponents.

 

[8893]

 

[Hugo]

A loss here really reduces the number of different routes we can take to locking up an NCAAT bid.

As far as an at-large bid is concerned, we already have 5 losses, plus 1 more in the AACT (otherwise this discussion is moot). I think if we lose only 2 more games (8 total), we're probably safe. If we end up with 9 losses, that's iffy. 10 losses and we're definitely out.

Basically, if we lose this game, we can afford at most 1-2 more regular season losses before it's AACT or bust. Considering we still have SMU twice, @ Cincy, @ Memphis, @ Temple, yeah I'd say this is as close to must-win as you can get in January.

THIS sums it up as well as you can.

 

[tcf15]

I'm calling it a must win. Have to take care of the home games, especially against the top half of the AAC.

 

[intlzncster]

Not making fun, but we've had the same question damn near every game for the past two months! The fate of the world seems to rest on the knife edge of a UCONN MCBB contest.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

It's pretty important. A win gives us 4 in a row which is a nice little run, and another win against a name-brand opponent gives us a better shot at a single digit seed.

We've already seen we can win a championship as a 7 seed. I'm not so confident we could do it as a 10 or 11.

Not to be that guy but a 10 seed would be in the same position as a 7 seed on the bracket. Though I get your point.

 

[MexicoHusky]

I thought the Georgetown game was bigger.

 

[August_West]

I thought the Georgetown game was bigger.

It wasn't . For national profile and casual fans, I get it. But in the scheme of things conference home games much bigger. We have beaten better teams than gtown in our ooc.

 

[UConnStats]

I'm calling it a must win. Have to take care of the home games, especially against the top half of the AAC.

This. We can't be losing games at home in conference, period. It shouldn't happen to UConn against any of the programs in the AAC. If we are going to be stuck here, I want it to be an old Memphis or Gonzaga situation where people just expect us to run away with it because we have earned the reputation. Hopefully we start building up to that this year. With SMU out, not winning the conference would be a big disappointment in my opinion.