How Many of You

[AdamaNation]

I'm more of a Football guy so I have no opinion. I just need to know if it's a Barbara Eden genie or a Robin Williams genie?

More of a kazaam guy. Love that shaq

 

[Guapo]

Addendum - if the genie would have offered 7-2 after nine games rather than 6-2 after eight, I probably would have taken it.

I didn't choose 6-2 arbitrarily.

I think we all agree the Syracuse game is an important benchmark in our season.

 

[Bonk]

UConn’s new motto is “a win is a win”. That’s what Edsall said after barely beating Holy Cross, that’s what we’re saying now. Stop accepting mediocrity.

 

[jibsey]

The Arkansas game was awful and we gotta beat Syracuse. I'll be good with 7-2 tues night.

Syracuse is a crappy shooting team but they have long athletes that will drive, rebound and put back. I’m pretty worried. We’ll be underdogs.

 

[Guapo]

I don't know how this thread turned into me accepting mid major mediocrity.

I'm legitimately interested in all you answers and still am

 

[formerlurker]

UConn’s new motto is “a win is a win”. That’s what Edsall said after barely beating Holy Cross, that’s what we’re saying now. Stop accepting mediocrity.

Richard

 

[Jaker]

When we make the tourney, how many of you negative Nancy's stop posting?

 

[80shusky]

You are what your record says you are. The team is young, or new, or transfers, or recovering from injury. The idea that you people thought we were going to be some juggernaut is more ridiculous than thinking Larrier is a power forward. The tough games against these teams are character building wins. The kids are leatning to play competitive games where every shot matters. That said, each one is no more and no less than one more W. Take the W and stop whining about it.

 

[mdkhusky]

I don't know how this thread turned into me accepting mid major mediocrity.

I'm legitimately interested in all you answers and still am

We suck. It's not good

 

[mdkhusky]

When we make the tourney, how many of you negative Nancy's stop posting?

We have the talent so if we had a coach it would happen

 

[JellyBean]

Of course I am taking the 6-2 record. One of those losses (Arkansas) we really hurt ourselves with some horrible shot selection and overall lack of effort. I will take this 6-2 record over what many "experts" were predicting going forward. Looking at the next five games, the test will come when we play the Auburn and Coppin State. If we do not impose our will and go out there and dominate those two teams, we do not stand much of a chance against Syracuse, Arizona, and Wichita State. Unless we are one of those teams that play down to competition level and play up when we face tougher teams. But I am taking this 6-2 record knowing that many had us being a .500 team, or worse, at the start of the season.

 

[Paesano]

Of course, without context, you'd take it. But having been blessed with the gift of eyes, I can identify fool's gold in a 6-2 record when I see it.

Extremely well said! As I mentioned in another thread, this team is ranked 82nd in the Sagarin rankings and was 81st at the end of last season. 6-2 is nice but unbiased analysis of those 8 games confirms what your eyes see and it isn't good.

 

[Brochacho]

Only because I don't know where to find it, what were Wagner and Northeastern ranked last year?

Wagner finished at 247 in the kenpom, Northeastern 159.

 

[Waquoit]

Just to clarify

This is not an endorsement of our play thus far

Simply a thought experiment

This post simply isn't pretentious enough for my taste.

 

[SubbaBub]

No, there is no reason to lose to Arkansas. No reason for the other games to have been anything less that 20 point wins. If you can't see that this isn't a good team then I don't know what it will take to convince you. They are one-dimensional offensively, can't shoot and sloppy on defense.

They need Top 50/100 wins to make the tournament. Right now they aren't beating Top 100 teams.

 

[Guapo]

This post simply isn't pretentious enough for my taste.

Would it help if I told you I posted this while sipping wine and eating the finest cheese?

 

[Huskybass]

Unless you just started watching Uconn basketball over the last two years i don't know one fan who would be satisfied with 6-2. 5 of the wins came from teams with losing records. The real problem is that the Coaches and players seem to be ok with this. Clearly this Genie came from a Mid major Genie school with mid major genie expectations. i'd have stuffed it back into its bottle.

While I agree with what you are saying, 6-2 still keeps us in the hunt for a tourney bid. I really like a lot of the players and hope great things for them. At least there is still POTENTIAL for this to be the best season since 2014.

That said, the struggles against Stony Brook, Columbia and Monmouth combined with getting blown out of the gym by Arkansas are concerning. But at least at this point there is some hope for a good season. I don't think KO is the guy to get us to another Elite Eight or better, but I would be very happy to be proven wrong.

 

[DogMania]

Of course, without context, you'd take it. But having been blessed with the gift of eyes, I can identify fool's gold in a 6-2 record when I see it.

Let's see...hum...two consecutive OT wins over teams with a combined record of 4-11, I'd say that's one of the most terrifying 6-2 early season records I've seen from a UConn team ever.

I agreed Dave, the eye test is quite telling.

Now I realize that the team is down a couple players the last few games. Fear that Gilbert might not return again this season makes that 6-2 record even more scary. What might have been that record if he was not available the games he did play?

I hope I'm wrong, but the team looks like a middle-of-the-pack at best P5 type team. Adams, Larrier and Gilbert are P5 type talent. Seems the rest of the roster looks like mid-major or lower P5 type talent. Now some of them might be diamonds in the rough that will develop into very good players down the road. The 5th year senior transfers all look like solid contributors, but are not what you would expect from top half P5 starting 5 type talent.

I don't blame any of this on KO. It's more the byproduct of not being a member of one of the P5 conferences. I think if UConn was in one of them, KO would be getting more of his top recruiting targets.

It is very hard to witness what has happened to our program. I feel that we're back in the early 80s trying to win with less talented players then many of the teams we will be facing. Calhoun knew how to find Diamonds in the Rough and to coach his teams to out will and outwork their opponent. KO seemed to capture that in a bottle during our last National Championship run.

Before witnessing the last two amazing Championship runs, I had believed that those teams had a lot of talent but just had to learn to put it together to make a deep March run.

Does anyone really see this team having anywhere close the same type of talent to make any sort of deep run into the tournament or even getting there? I think even with a healthy Trio of Larrier, Adams and Gilbert, the margin of error to string together many quality wins is shaky at best.

Maybe if Gilbert can play out the season somewhat healthy and the team is able to play at full strength, they can be a tough out if they play hard like they did in the first half against Michigan State. We've seen some stretches where they play some very tough defense, which is encouraging. It just doesn't seem they have enough offensive weapons to compete night in and night out with tournament level teams. I hope I'm wrong! I've never been shy about eating Crow and would gladly do so. It's still early in the season, but the signs thus far have been alarming.

 

[Goat]

I like watching the games so I would have said no. I'm ok with 6-2 though.

On this board there are some who thought this was a top 25 team and others who thought it would be another "ugly" losing season.

Remember, only 3 kids played real minutes in D1 last year. In these responses I see folks simultaneously saying KO has recruited a team that sucks AND that if he didn't suck they would be 7-1.

I think Alterique is a very important piece, maybe our 2d best player. Is he lost again? Will KO grow a big or two like he grew Christian last season? This will be mostly fun to see, the exception being my worries about AG.

I predict those wanting to sack KO will be sorry if he doesn't get more of a chance. I think he will.