Iona

[UConniki]

We play well we win. Game is close down the stretch Hurley at a disadvantage. He will have to be able coach on the fly better.

You have a better chance of winning 2 different state lottery’s in the same day.

 

[UConnKev]

 

[Ratso]

 

[Ratso]

how is this not gonna be fun?

 

[millertime7774]

I would have bet the house we were the 7:00 gane.

 

[Fishy]

Pitino with a week to prepare is gonna be a PITA, but it’s Iona.

We should roll a MAAC team and I expect we will.

St. Mary’s is pretty good, bit still, this is an easy path to the Sweet 16 if we’re 1/2 as good as we think we are.

 

[UConnSwag11]

View attachment 85021

Love it

 

[Viet Vet]

Are we worried about matching up with Iona???

I’m worried about any team that will pressure our “point guard”.

 

[SoFla Steve]

Wait! We're playing the Gaels? On St. Patrick's Day?!
At least it's not Notre Dame.

EDIT: Another quirk - St. Mary's are the Gaels, too. Could play them if they beat VCU. Is it an omen?!

 

[UCTitleTown]

I have a very bad feeling about this game. Don't like Hurley vs Pitino one bit. Plus I was hoping to play a non-local team so we could have a good home crowd. That's out the window now. Not happy about this. Didn't even get a 3 seed.

 

[djct1999]

I'd take 4 in the West over 3 in the East. Feels like an easier path to the second weekend to me.

 

[HeGotGame]

4:30pm Friday

 

[Viet Vet]

Pitino is going to run defenders at Hawkins like Shaka did.

Bingo!

 

[3RingsCT]

Just f*ing win the first game. That’s all I ask.

 

[uconnfan68]

I agree. St. Mary's is trash.

This is the hubris we don’t need.

 

[BugsyCT]

4:30 tip on Friday - I'll be rushing home from work like a madman.

Jay Bilas just picked us to beat Duke in the NC game. Hmm....

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

Why not us? Lots of doom and gloom and excuses tonight, I predict Jordan Hawkins is going to have a legendary post season.

 

[upstater]

Our net was high because of margin of victory. Xavier played Duke and Gonzaga at PK85 and Indiana and WVU. They played a better schedule.

But they lost!

Doesn't that count for anything? I mean, sure, anyone could play a tough schedule, AND LOSE

 

[upstater]

4:30 tip on Friday - I'll be rushing home from work like a madman.

Jay Bilas just picked us to beat Duke in the NC game. Hmm....

Haha, I have the same pick as Bilas

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Pitino is going to run defenders at Hawkins like Shaka did.

I don't think he has Marquette's roster.

 

[AzHusky]

One of the other guys on ESPN has us playing Alabama in the final and lossing to them in the rematch.

 

[caw]

Iona is a tough team to scout for UConn.

I mean they have played exactly four games against teams with a NET of 100 or better.

@ New Mexico (53) - loss by 8
@ Hofstra (86) - loss by 5
N Santa Clara (84) - loss by 10

Saint Louis (99) - win by 22

They are 20-3 against teams 200+
They are 6-1 against teams 100 to 200

They played zero teams from major conferences.

From tape I've seen.

They are actually pretty athletic for a MAAC team. They shoot a decent number of threes but nothing crazy. They have a pretty good backcourt. I would want Jackson on their SG and just pressure their PG with UConn's length, or Diarra. Both can go off, but I just prefer Jackson on the best wing player.

Downlow they have two guys bigger than 6'9 but only one has any weight to him. The taller will shoot the three on occasion.

They should not beat UConn in the halfcourt. I've only watched two games but they didn't look particularly good in halfcourt defense either. Their halfcourt defense falls apart with their off the ball defense. They have a tendency to ball watch. Newton should be able to see over their defenders.

That said they do run full court pressure pretty well and pressure the ball very well. Karaban will have to be careful inbounding the ball.

UConn doesn't beat themselves, they win.

Again this is all hard to really scout as they have no games against a team with even close to comparable talent to UConn.

 

[shizzle787]

But they lost!

Doesn't that count for anything? I mean, sure, anyone could play a tough schedule, AND LOSE

We lost more games in the Big East. It goes both ways.

 

[JeffConn]

Wow tough draw. Iona and a potential VCU match up.

Iona makes me nervous as hell.

Should be nervous with Hurley going up against a Hall of Famer that has all week to review tapes and prepare. Pitino's teams are usually really good at pressuring guards on the exterior. I will never forget that Louisville game at Gampel in Kemba's last year when Pitino's press had all of our guys completely gassed with 5 minutes left in the game. This is a tough opponent to break our recent first round history. If Jackson and Newton don't play smart, this could be a difficult game to win and advance.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

We should have been 3 seed. Complete disrespect of our program.

You can lose 7 conference games and exit in the second round of the BE tournament and expect a miracle.
That last road game with Creighton
was very big . Absent that , winning the Big East tournament was our only hope of a 2-3 .
Iona is tough but they’re a mid major
We will not only have length but are quicker. I don’t suspect Pitino’s thrilled with the draw
If he presses to exploit a weakness the he automatically speeds up play and that is the tempo we want and will be difficult for them to hang with us .
If i were Rick I’d want it to be a rock fight keeping it close to exploit or infamous closing weakness and perhaps steal one.
Pressing a bigger quicker team successfully is a huge long shot .

 

[upstater]

We lost more games in the Big East. It goes both ways.

And? Overall who lost more games? Beating Alabama, Iowa St., Oklahoma St (last 4 out), is more impressive than their win over West Virginia. Plus, a loss to DePaul is a much worse loss than anything we had. We didn't lose to teams with losing records, and they did

 

[shizzle787]

And? Overall who lost more games? Beating Alabama, Iowa St., Oklahoma St (last 4 out), is more impressive than their win over West Virginia. Plus, a loss to DePaul is a much worse loss than anything we had. We didn't lose to teams with losing records, and they did

They went 25-9; we went 25-8 against a less difficult schedule. They swept us. End of story.

 

[UCTitleTown]

Still trying to figure out how we beat the overall #1 by 15 on a neutral court (I know it was a long time ago) and be a 4?

 

[upstater]

They went 25-9; we went 25-8 against a less difficult schedule. They swept us. End of story.

What is this "less difficult" stuff?

UConn beat Alabama, the #1 team in the nation.

They beat Cincinnati.

They lost to DePaul.

Anyway you cut it, we had the better season.

When UConn faced teams like Iowa St and Alabama, they beat them. Xavier lost to those teams.

 

[caw]

They went 25-9; we went 25-8. They swept us. End of story.

That is probably more accurate than what you were saying before.

I think them sweeping UConn was one of two factors putting X ahead. The other is related though. They beat PC and UConn on the road. The committee said earlier and showed they favored road wins against Q1 teams.

The only thing I am surprised about is that X got the benefit of the doubt even with the season ending injury to Freemantle. Their record without him is not impressive, and that kind of negates them beating UConn twice with him (I mean their current team did not beat UConn and usually those types of injuries do move teams down a notch).

They were 8-4 without him. Two of those losses were to Marquette but two were to Nova and Butler. They did beat PC twice and Creighton once. The committee must have loved that PC road win without Freemantle.