I'll Say It...

[Deepster]

Some of our fanbase loves the little engine that could story with UConn even though we have the best program in the country.

Agreed. It was a cute story when we just broke out of the Fieldhouse and were happy to get into a Sweet 16. I'm not condoning we turn into a bunch of elitist d bags, but here on our message board? Let's stop playing like we're gonna jinx things if we say we're really really good. Acknowledge where we are and enjoy it.

 

[Chin Diesel]

During the USC game last night Casey Jaobsen said UConn is the most complete team.

Odd considering the roster is incomplete right now.

 

[tzznandrew]

Yeah but only a B1G school could lose a game and move up. And if the voters were only looking at computer rankings what is Kansas doing in the top 5. KP 19 and NET 16. So he is just making excuses and playing favorites.

He updates daily I believe. So he dropped them, and then raised them after the Kansas loss. So it's more after a DNP than a loss.

 

[F101Voodoo]

If we're gonna compare him to equines, Cooley is more jackass than horse.

Wasn’t Wilber the the owner of the talking horse? He’s Mr. Ed was the horse.i unless you are talking about a different TV. show.

 

[tzznandrew]

That's a defeatist attitude.

We're the defending national champs. They already have the bullseye on their back. We're the best team in the country so get to #1, don't give it up and run through March to a repeat. Stop being Chicken Littles.

Our fan base wants to be under the radar so they can continue to be aggrieved about the most miniscule perceived slight. It's absurd.

I like being number 1. 1999, 2004, 2006, 2009. Those were some of my favorite years. 2 titles, 3 , 1 E8. Honestly, even last year they spent two weeks #2 and probably should have been #1 but got jumped early by Purdue after they beat Duke (like Arizona this year). If they weren't ranked so low in the pre-season, they'd have been #1 for almost the whole of 2022. That's a good thing. Good teams are ranked highly and usually sustain it. People make it seem as if 2011 was some miracle, plucky-underdog tale, but that Kemba team spent 11 weeks in the Top 10.

I want to be #1, and I want to stay #1. It means you're winning, and I want UConn to win every single game it plays.

 

[Waquoit]

Agreed. It was a cute story when we just broke out of the Fieldhouse and were happy to get into a Sweet 16. I'm not condoning we turn into a bunch of elitist d bags, but here on our message board? Let's stop playing like we're gonna jinx things if we say we're really really good. Acknowledge where we are and enjoy it.

Man, that drives me nuts. I remember in 2005, I'm at lunch with a crew and one of them is going full "Poor me, I'm a Red Sox fan" after a bad loss. I was forced to say "we won last year, you can't do that anymore". He started "Yeah butting" but I wasn't having it. Like now.

 

[businesslawyer]

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

Outside of the UConn men's basketball team's victorious locker room on Wednesday night, not long after the Huskies had completed their Midwest sweep of Butler and Xavier, Hassan Diarra was informed that Kansas had just been beaten by UCF.

"Kansas lost!?," Diarra shouted. "Oh, wow!"

Then, the realization seemed to enter the senior guard's mind. Kansas' loss, along with losses by Purdue and Houston the day before, meant that all three teams ranked ahead of the Huskies in the AP Top 25 poll had suffered losses in a 24-hour span. Even the team ranked right behind the fourth-ranked Huskies, Tennessee, had lost.

That meant ...

"Nobody say anything," Diarra exclaimed. "We don't want to jinx anything!"

UConn men's basketball team could soon be No. 1 in national rankings for the first time in 15 years

If UConn handles business against Georgetown on Sunday in Hartford, Huskies could be ranked No. 1 for first time in 15 years.

www.nhregister.com

The way he’s playing, it surprises me not at all to know that, among his other skills, Hassan Diarra understands not to screw up or dare the mojo.

 

[TheChamps990411]

It took a legendary Joey California performance to beat the Hoyas at home last year.

Yeah, I'm nervous.

We're doomed.

Honestly, i think we are going to lay a smackdown. The arena is going to be buzzing. The coaches, the players and the fans know what a win means. One thing this team has shown is it can rise to the occasion.

 

[Leebo]

There's nothing disrespectful about someone having Purdue at #1. If we win this weekend, I'm sure we'll get some #1 votes as well.

 

[TheChamps990411]

It's not that hard. They beat UConn at home by 3. Great win for them, but not necessarily indicative that they are significantly better than UConn.

I do think it is possible UConn doesn't hit #1, but not because they don't jump Kansas. UCF is the worst loss of the trio, and the worst loss of the teams ranked 1-4. Kansas also has pretty bad advanced metrics for a team with 2 losses.

Uconn will be #1 when they win on Sunday knock it off. What is wrong with some of you?

 

[temery]

so after we beat Georgetown...let's say it together: "We're # 1!"

Ah, don't do that. Very bad mojo.

 

[notEwekon]

Ah, don't do that. Very bad mojo.

This is going to be a hard pill to swallow for the people who don't want to believe Hurley is a lunatic, but magic isn't real.

 

[mauconnfan]

Agreed. It was a cute story when we just broke out of the Fieldhouse and were happy to get into a Sweet 16. I'm not condoning we turn into a bunch of elitist d bags, but here on our message board? Let's stop playing like we're gonna jinx things if we say we're really really good. Acknowledge where we are and enjoy it.

So Deep I go back to the Field House, the “Top25” as well as “Also ReceiviyVotes” days it was fun. In the 90s it was fun seeing where we were going to land no doubt. For me don’t care in January any more and even March because we can do it from anywhere. Is it a jinx per se to get to 1, nah but you can only lose from there so great if we are but let’s get healthy, take a couple bumps and then be the UConn no one wants in their region in a couple months that ball that matters.

 

[uconnyankee]

Objectively hard to justify putting us ahead of Kansas if both of us have the same amount of losses. I defend us in that game whenever I get the chance but in the end they have the W.

Apparently, some dont have issue putting UNC ahead of us…

 

[tennmike]

During the USC game last night Casey Jaobsen said UConn is the most complete team.

Not bad for an incomplete team. Just wait until the big guy gets a green light.

 

[homunculus]

There's nothing disrespectful about someone having Purdue at #1. If we win this weekend, I'm sure we'll get some #1 votes as well.

I disagree, it would absolutely be disrespectful. The AP and coaches polls are a really dumb system of ranking, but there is definite consistency in how teams are treated after losses. You lose, you drop. It’s (seemingly) either us or them (assuming we win Sunday), but they lost. So if it’s them, to me there is no other way to read it than a direct snub of UConn, because Purdue isn’t some generational dream team worthy of rising above the standards of the past several decades.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Odd considering the roster is incomplete right now.

i suspect he was saying it more in the context of the whole season as Clingan is due back and not as much of the right now. But idk.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Not bad for an incomplete team. Just wait until the big guy gets a green light.

Yeah, he's probably thinking we don't even have Clingan back yet, but we're still winning most conference road games that other top 10 teams aren't.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

If only there existed something, anything between "nothing disrespectful" and "absolutely disrespectful."

 

[homunculus]

If only there existed something, anything between "nothing disrespectful" and "absolutely disrespectful."

Well, that little word “be” between “absolutely” and “disrespectful” is doing a lot of work for me. At least I didn’t say it was 1000% disrespectful.

 

[navery12]

The AP and coaches polls are a really dumb system of ranking, but there is definite consistency in how teams are treated after losses. You lose, you drop.

Did you have this same complaint 3 weeks ago when we lost to Seton Hall and stayed at #5? I didn't think so

 

[jibsey]

If Johnson shows himself to be more productive and dominant in the future I see us going to #1 at some point. If he doesn’t we will be losing some games because some of these close ones will go the other way. That said, I’d like some disrespect coming our way before we start the tourney, Hate being a favorite and am not obsessed with being #1.

 

[Leebo]

I disagree, it would absolutely be disrespectful. The AP and coaches polls are a really dumb system of ranking, but there is definite consistency in how teams are treated after losses. You lose, you drop. It’s (seemingly) either us or them (assuming we win Sunday), but they lost. So if it’s them, to me there is no other way to read it than a direct snub of UConn, because Purdue isn’t some generational dream team worthy of rising above the standards of the past several decades.

If you had a (somewhat unrealistically extreme) situation where #1 is 20-0 and #2 is 15-5, and the #1 team loses, so they're now 20-1 and #2 is now 16-5, are you arguing that even in that situation it would be disrespectful to the #2 team to not flip the rankings? I'm just making it more extreme to see if there's some limit to your position.

My position is that a reasonable person can look at two teams, Purdue and UConn, that both have 2 losses, and come to the conclusion that Purdue's record is slightly better, even though they have the most recent loss. If you think that would be an unreasonable position for an individual to have, then we'll have to agree to disagree.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Well, that little word “be” between “absolutely” and “disrespectful” is doing a lot of work for me. At least I didn’t say it was 1000% disrespectful.

Not sure that I comprehend what you meant by the word "be," because I don't see it anywhere, (EDIT: I do see the word "be." I did make a mistake in misquoting you) but I will add - and only because it's more accurately descriptive than anything else I know - that "absolutely" is defined as "without qualification" or "totally," and therefore means ALL of something, which is (in mathematical terms) 100%. As such, I can make some sense of what you've said, though you've still planted your flag at one of the two available reality-based extremes.

On that particular point, I disagree, but I also respect your clarity, which included beginning what you wrote with, "I disagree," and firming things up with, "to me." It's your opinion, not fact.

Personally, I see room for arguments to vote in favor of Purdue irrespective of respect or disrespect toward UConn. Some of those arguments will translate into actual votes for Purdue, so I can reasonably predict they'll occur.

In my estimation, particularly prior to the results of games through Sunday, a vote for Purdue wouldn't necessarily constitute "nothing disrespectful" OR something "absolutely be[Ing] disrespectful" toward UConn.

Thevway I see it, there are facts, feelings, thoughts, and opinions. Frequently, in loosely defined language, they get compared as though they are pretty much fully equivalent to each other. I don't think that's the case.

I do know this much. If I have $1 and you have $10, then you have 10 times as much money than I have, and that means you have 1,000% of the amount of money I have.

72% of the Top 25 ranked teams play on Saturday. Half of them are road games. That's 9, or 50%. There should be some good ones. UConn plays Sunday. Go Huskies.

Haircut done, yoga next, back home to do paperwork.

I probably made some mistakes in this post.

 

[homunculus]

Did you have this same complaint 3 weeks ago when we lost to Seton Hall and stayed at #5? I didn't think so

Fair enough. In all honesty, I didn’t really like that either, for this exact reason, but yeah we did benefit from a similar “exception.”