Jay Bilas thinks Maryland is tougher than us (LOL) | Page 5 | The Boneyard

Jay Bilas thinks Maryland is tougher than us (LOL)

I actually agree with Bilas that we are not very tough, at least mentally. If you read his book, he is much more focused on mental toughness than physical.

When we are a much better team this year, we cruise past opponents. When it is an even matchup, look at all the close games against equivalent talent levels -

0-3 against Creighton
0-2 against Villanova
1-0 against USC

That's 1-5 in games where we should reasonably be expected to be in a battle. In all of those games, USC included, we had long stretches where we lost our composure and couldn't execute in the crunch. That is the mental toughness and grittiness that we simply haven't proved.

Another way to look at this - in games decided by 10 or fewer points, we are 2-6.

Maybe we find it in the NCAA tournament, but I wouldn't bet on it! If we are going to make a run, we better win some laughers cuz I do not trust us in close games.

Just being real - Bilas doesn't lie.
 
McLovin said:
Not saying any of the Big East teams can't lose their opening games, but to not pick a single big east team while also claiming Maryland is tougher than us (why? because they tried to fight Michigan?) is just a joke. It makes me think he hasn't watched a single minute of Big East basketball all year.

Edit: Bill Raftery who calls both Big 10 and Big East basketball was raving about our team's toughness during the DePaul game. Bilas should watch a few minutes of our game tape before making ridiculous claims.
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I don’t think Creighton loses. I kind of do think there are lots of teams that are tougher Than UConn. Creighton for one. How many close games did UConn win?
Raf is an old Big East guy. He thinks it is equal to any other conference. Coached at Seton Hall and got his start calling Big East games. Toughness is nice but I’d prefer talent. The Big East has eh talent this year so I doubt many teams go very far. Villanova might have made a bit of noise but injuries late were a killer. Tough to adjust to losing your leader that late in a one and done format. I don’t love Creighton. Truly Georgetown isn’t that good. This is a team that lost to Navy after all.
 
bmayuc said:
I actually agree with Bilas that we are not very tough, at least mentally. If you read his book, he is much more focused on mental toughness than physical.

When we are a much better team this year, we cruise past opponents. When it is an even matchup, look at all the close games against equivalent talent levels -

0-3 against Creighton
0-2 against Villanova
1-0 against USC

That's 1-5 in games where we should reasonably be expected to be in a battle. In all of those games, USC included, we had long stretches where we lost our composure and couldn't execute in the crunch. That is the mental toughness and grittiness that we simply haven't proved.

Another way to look at this - in games decided by 10 or fewer points, we are 2-6.

Maybe we find it in the NCAA tournament, but I wouldn't bet on it! If we are going to make a run, we better win some laughers cuz I do not trust us in close games.

Just being real - Bilas doesn't lie.
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At first I didn’t believe that we only won 2 BE games by less than 10 points. I looked it up and that is indeed true. But that also means we won 9 big east games by 10+ points, and 5 wins by 10+ were away from home. That is really impressive. Winning on the road is tough, although a little easier this year with less fans. I’d be curious how many other power conference teams won 9 conference games by 10+, including 5 10+ wins away from home.

Edit: The top 2 teams in a down ACC year, UVA and FL St, won 7 and 8 conference games by double digits this year. 4 double digit road wins for UVA and only 2 double digit road wins for FL ST. Winning away from home in conference play is mentally tough. UConn did it 5 times by double digits.
 
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bmayuc said:
I actually agree with Bilas that we are not very tough, at least mentally. If you read his book, he is much more focused on mental toughness than physical.

When we are a much better team this year, we cruise past opponents. When it is an even matchup, look at all the close games against equivalent talent levels -

0-3 against Creighton
0-2 against Villanova
1-0 against USC

That's 1-5 in games where we should reasonably be expected to be in a battle. In all of those games, USC included, we had long stretches where we lost our composure and couldn't execute in the crunch. That is the mental toughness and grittiness that we simply haven't proved.

Another way to look at this - in games decided by 10 or fewer points, we are 2-6.

Maybe we find it in the NCAA tournament, but I wouldn't bet on it! If we are going to make a run, we better win some laughers cuz I do not trust us in close games.

Just being real - Bilas doesn't lie.
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Bouk and Andre didn't play the middle game v. Creighton so I don't think it's fair to include that and they only played Villanova once this season so it's really 1-3 (Creighton @ home, Nova on the road, Creighton @ MSG, USC @ Mohegan).

And who cares what Jay Bilas says. If you're mentioning Tyler Polley just because he won 6th man of the year to the shock of everyone before Adama Sanogo & RJ Cole then you aren't paying attention. His blurb read like a computer generated write-up that grabbed the conference awards and worked backwards from that.

That being said, Maryland will be a good test and the Huskies will need a great performance to win.
 
Dogdeacon said:
Jay Bilas has liked & touted UConn in the past (Kemba 'ship) & doubted UConn in the past (Shabazz 'ship). I say who cares we've won with Bilas on the bandwagon and with Jay under the wagon wheels.

I like that the thread evidences a fanbase immediately sour and/or citing conspiracy theories b/c Bilas picks against UConn and questions toughness. I dunno about the team, but UConn fans clearly ready for the postseason.
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Look at it in this light. In 11 we were in the OBE , on ESPN all the time and Bills did a ton of our games. In 14 we were in AAC hell Bills didn’t see us nearly as much.
 
3RingsCT said:
I swear, no one on the Boneyard has watched a Maryland game this season.
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Plenty of people have acknowledged this, in multiple threads.

They have been tested by better teams than UConn has. On the other hand, there's a reason they're the 10 seed.
 
I have no issue with Billas’ assessment. Actually, he’s spot on. Does it mean it will happen? No. But honeslty, his assessments year in and year out are extremely well thought out and incredibly logical. If you’re getting on Billas, you don’t know much about the basketball landscape yourself

As far as UCONN goes, there are far too many of you in here that think just because we’re back in the Big East that we are automatically a great team. We aren’t. There aren’t any signature wins this year. Zero. This isn’t a historical team by any stretch. And left face it, the Big East wasn’t really all that good this year. The B1G was waaaaaaay better.

Maryland is battle tested. We aren’t. Maryland has beaten good teams. We haven’t.

The ONLY reason we are a 7 and they are a 10 is record. However, their level of competition was far superior this year. It’s not even debatable.
 
Maryland is an undersized team who likes to play a slow game in half court. We need to pound them down low with Sanogo, Whaley, Carlton, etc.

In addition, they suck when the game speeds up and when you speed them up. We play very well when we are able to play fast that is the key to this game. Speed the game up and run at every turn. We are not going to outsmart anyone in half court sets. Our strength is to run and play fast.

Aaron Wiggins is a good athletic wing for them, and Morsell is their Damien Jefferson clone who can do a little bit of everything.
 
3RingsCT said:
Record. Plain and simple.
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Maryland has also been incredibly inconsistent all year. They have lost 4 times to teams below .500. For reference, we don’t have a single loss to anyone below .500. They lost to Clemson OOC, we beat USC OOC. However, they do have more signature conference wins than us.

Never said Bilas was wrong by picking them over us. My issue was calling them “tougher” when he clearly hasn’t watched a minute of UConn basketball this season (as is evident by saying Polley is a “defender” off the bench LOL). It’s flat out lazy for someone who is paid to be an “expert”.
 
Tenspro2002 said:
Are you arguing the USC win was a good win, but not a big game?
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I don't think it's that good a win (6-seed) nor that big a game.

You might argue that it was a good win—sure, yeah, better to have won it and it sort of helped your resume than lose it and miss that opportunity—but unless you're playing a Top 10 team or so, big games are sparse until around March.
 
This game will come down to possession value, free throws and rebounding, as neither Maryland, nor UCONN shoot the straightest.
 
We haven't fared well with elite teams....we are probably 0-for the last couple years. This is as much about growth of our coaches as it is the players. Hoping that this tourney is a breakout. Creighton showed us we have much to learn, but certainly not counting us out.
With as much as Bouk is bounced around like a pinball, games in rapid succession would be tough. Solution...get out fast and run away from opponents.
 
Mental toughness is the open question. We haven’t really stepped up in any high stakes close game. When your NBA bound “star” cant make the clutch shots down the stretch, your 3 sniper can’t hit the broadside of the barn, and your guards are shooting air balls, there’s a problem handling pressure. I hope Creighton helped realize panic always leads to the outcome you fear most.
 
tzznandrew said:
I don't think it's that good a win (6-seed) nor that big a game.

You might argue that it was a good win—sure, yeah, better to have won it and it sort of helped your resume than lose it and miss that opportunity—but unless you're playing a Top 10 team or so, big games are sparse until around March.
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Houston last year was ranked #22 when we beat them, basically a 6 seed.
 
Tenspro2002 said:
Houston last year was ranked #22 when we beat them, basically a 6 seed.
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But it was March and they were in first place in the conference, and the win got us the 5-seed in the tournament and put us on the bubble.

It was also Senior Night.

Very different than an early December game against an (at the time) unranked USC team.
 
To win this game, we need to hit jump shots. If we can’t hit a few 3’s as well as control the glass with getting measurable performance down low, this game is going to get ugly.

We have gotten away with it against bad teams, but when the game is close against a good team, this years team has fallen apart every time. Whether it’s self inflicted (Cole’s face/Sanogo fouls trouble/poor possessions) or just because the other team was better.
 

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