Lunardi Disses UCONN's 7

[Chasm64]

So, if you swapped Bouknight and Shabazz on their respective teams who would you take to win ?

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Going into the NCAAs, 2011 was a 3 seed and one of the most popular picks to win the title.

2014, on the other hand, was not. We had some hope that if we got to MSG we might be able to get to the Final Four, but anyone who confident that UConn team was going to win the title was crazy. They had just gotten clobbered by Louisville.

Still, the 7 was an under-seed IMO and they were clearly a better team than this team, particularly as they had beaten the overall #1 in Florida.

Actually the turning point of the season was the Louisville game in the Big East tourney. They had absolutely annihilated at their place
They jumped on us in the first half and were prepared to rout us but we fought back out scoring them in the second half. Any other coach but Pitino and you could say he had his team put on the brakes. However the team , some wise Boneyarders ,and even some knowledgeable Louisville fans took us more seriously after that game. You see putting on the brakes is not in his Rick’s DNA . I think that half against the defending NC and top ten team who was as good as anyone we were going to meet in the tourney gave that team tremendous confidence.
Maybe the fans weren’t confident but that team knew they were real good. That team was a confident as any UConn team ever.
People tend to forget StJoe’s was hot as pistol winning a very good A10 that year ,beating a great Dayton team.
Also 2014 l
was a great shooting team not very physical down low but guys like Giffey seemed to alway be first to a loose ball , also guards who were beasts and could get into your head
that core was together for 3-4 years.
This is a strange team in a strange year. Much better on the interior
i don’t think they hit their potential and they may not. And the disturbing thing is when counterpunched that don’t seem to respond well.
I will predict if Polley makes 3 or more 3‘s we will win.
This team makes a huge leap when Cole ,Polley ,or better both are hitting threes .

 

[HuskyHawk]

So, if you swapped Bouknight and Shabazz on their respective teams who would you take to win ?

Shabazz was on both.

 

[tzznandrew]

Actually the turning point of the season was the Louisville game in the Big East tourney. They had absolutely annihilated at their place
They jumped on us in the first half and were prepared to rout us but we fought back out scoring them in the second half. Any other coach but Pitino and you could say he had his team put on the brakes. However the team , some wise Boneyarders ,and even some knowledgeable Louisville fans took us more seriously after that game. You see putting on the brakes is not in his Rick’s DNA . I think that half against the defending NC and top ten team who was as good as anyone we were going to meet in the tourney gave that team tremendous confidence.

We outscored them in a similar way as Georgetown outscored us in the final game. It was essentially between 14-20 the whole second half, and then at the 2:19 mark we went on a 6-1 run. And we outscored them in the second half by 4.

We didn't get beat by 30+ like we did on the road, but it wasn't like we roughed them up in the second half.

 

[Chasm64]

Shabazz was on both.

Uhh, no

 

[superjohn]

I don't like the guy because he's a total putz and his entire job is filling out brackets, it has nothing to do with what he thinks of UConn.

There's also a bunch of other guys who are much better at analyzing resumes and picking teams, once all the teams are picked by the committee Lunardi is out there saying he got everything right. He reminds me a lot of XLCenterFan.

 

[tzznandrew]

joe lunardi burner account? jk but you seem to be on a personal crusade against us homers here. at this point i associate lunardi more with talking heads like bilas than stat guys like jerry palm. are you just defending him for the sake of it or do you actually like/respect the guy?

He's thoroughly mediocre at what he does. But his take here on both counts is perfectly reasonable (the 8 seed and the Maryland pick)

Further, we're UConn. We're one of the best programs out there. And yet our fans get their panties in a bunch anytime anyone doesn't agree 100% with their own takes. It just seems so beneath us to GAF what a dude like this says and to get so consistently triggered.

EDIT: I'll also add that the consistent and thorough belief in conspiracies against us and a continued buy-in to victimhood are emblematic of two things I find as markers of issues that speak to the state of the world well beyond UConn basketball.

 

[CL82]

should be a rule that you have to post a link to the video or tweet of lunardi in the original post. highly annoying to come in here and see no proof of this.



see how easy this is @jibsey

Is Lunardi wearing a toupee? I mean it is incredibly lifelike. Really you can't notice it at all.

 

[CL82]

Lunardi Disses UCONN's 7

Says Bouk is no Kemba or Bazz. They were uninjured junior and senior. I realize that no one cares what he says but it was on so it's fair game. We'll see I guess but it does help to have Lamb and Boat. This is where his legacy will be made, it's a pretty big lift.

the-boneyard.com

It's not the craziest thing in the world to predict us losing to Maryland. We are favored by 2.5 points and a little more than 48% of those filling out brackets have picked us to lose that game.

Of course I have us winning our fifth National Championship, but I am a bit biased.

Picking UConn to win the whole thing has been good to me over the years.

 

[ucp990411]

Lunardi Disses UCONN's 7

Says Bouk is no Kemba or Bazz. They were uninjured junior and senior. I realize that no one cares what he says but it was on so it's fair game. We'll see I guess but it does help to have Lamb and Boat. This is where his legacy will be made, it's a pretty big lift.

the-boneyard.com

It's not the craziest thing in the world to predict us losing to Maryland. We are favored by 2.5 points and a little more than 48% of those filling out brackets have picked us to lose that game.

Of course I have us winning our fifth National Championship, but I am a bit biased.

I have us winning it also. I have made quite a bit of $ over the years. Never been a tournament we were in that I have not picked us to win. Don't know how anyone could actually pick us to lose. We could have played the dream team in 1992 and I would have picked us.

 

[tzznandrew]

So, if you swapped Bouknight and Shabazz on their respective teams who would you take to win ?

This isn't a particularly useful game to play if you believe—as I do—that the 2014 team is significantly better than the 2021 team.

Watch:

So, if you swapped Bouknight and Rip Hamilton on their respective teams who would you take to win?
So, if you swapped Bouknight and Ray Allen on their respective teams who would you take to win?
So, if you swapped Bouknight and Ben Gordon on their respective teams who would you take to win?
So, if you swapped Bouknight and Caron Butler on their respective teams who would you take to win?
So, if you swapped Bouknight and AJ Price on their respective teams who would you take to win?

 

[superjohn]

Going

He's thoroughly mediocre at what he does. But his take here on both counts is perfectly reasonable (the 8 seed and the Maryland pick)

Further, we're UConn. We're one of the best programs out there. And yet our fans get their panties in a bunch anytime anyone doesn't agree 100% with their own takes. It just seems so beneath us to GAF what a dude like this says and to get so consistently triggered.

EDIT: I'll also add that the consistent and thorough belief in conspiracies against us and a continued buy-in to victimhood are emblematic of two things I find as markers of issues that speak to the state of the world well beyond UConn basketball.

UConn has been d1ked over in the past like no other because of Emmert but there 's always been a weird inferiority complex even though UConn has been one of the greatest programs in college basketball history. I think part of it is in general Connecticut people have a weird inferiority complex of being located in between NYC and Boston.

 

[gsmooth]

I try not to listen to any of that BS. One of the guys on CBS said we were underseeded, so i’m not sure how we could be under and over seeded at the same time.

These guys are literally paid to over analyze every single thing until they beat it to the ground. It’s not even worth thinking about. They just continue to push the same narrative over and over and people buy into it. Just gotta focus on Maryland and nothing else right now and let the outsiders think what they want to think.

exactly. I don't get caught up in the predictions nor do I take them personally in any way. I know people hated on Bilas for picking Maryland, but so what if he did? Bilas when talking about the best teams in the 2000-2010 chose UConn 2004 and frankly that's tough to argue.

Looking back at the top teams and programs of the decade

Our college basketball writers and contributors rank and analyze the top programs and single teams from this past decade.

www.espn.com

 

[Nostical]

Bazz was a 1st team All-American. Bouk didn’t make the 3rd team. That settles that.
He might even flame out it the NBA. You never know.

This is silly. Bazz made the AA team in his senior year. He was stellar and seasoned. Bouk played half of this stop and start sophomore season and was injured for most of it. Bazz was a great player. So is Bouknight. I agree the time is now for him to show it. This team is special. They learned a lesson last week. I see a big run coming.

 

[uconngb]

It's sort of an insult to Shabazz to say he's just a "better leader on the court." Go back and watch those 2014 tourney games. He was a pitbull who hit huge shot after huge shot. Bouknight will have a better NBA career because Shabazz is my height but it wasn't just leadership he was bringing to the table. I don't know if a kid was ever a first team all-american just by being a good leader.

Edit: come to think of it, Shabazz had a huge set of balls as a freshman, too. Some kids are just born with it.

Wow you actually agreed w me on something. Did lightning strike you?? ?

 

[bendm]

Further, we're UConn. We're one of the best programs out there. And yet our fans get their panties in a bunch anytime anyone doesn't agree 100% with their own takes. It just seems so beneath us to GAF what a dude like this says and to get so consistently triggered.

EDIT: I'll also add that the consistent and thorough belief in conspiracies against us and a continued buy-in to victimhood are emblematic of two things I find as markers of issues that speak to the state of the world well beyond UConn basketball.

i chalk it up to aac ptsd. it's getting better but will take some more time

 

[gsmooth]

UConn has been d1ked over in the past like no other because of Emmert but there 's always been a weird inferiority complex even though UConn has been one of the greatest programs in college basketball history. I think part of it is in general Connecticut people have a weird inferiority complex of being located in between NYC and Boston.

I think there is too and I am from New York and now live in Boston. In the 90s before winning it all in 1999 I felt that, too. Trust me the UConn brand is plenty strong here and in NYC and there is no need for the inferiority complex IMO. In ACC country they respect the hell out UConn basketball even if they dislike UConn. UConn has multiple national championships as it has more than any other program in the last 20 years and produced many quality pros.

 

[rman726]

with all espn's layoffs idk how lunardi has managed to cling to the raft when he demonstrates his incompetence year after year

No matter how bad his predictions are he generates buzz. That is all they care about. People "care" about the bracketology. They click the bracketology link a million times between Mid February and selection Sunday to find out where he thinks their team is. That's why.

 

[Tex-Lager93]

In his comments, he mentions how MD is going to beat UConn because they were tested by the Big Ten and survived. Huh? 13 losses isn’t quite inspirational.

 

[Waquoit]

It's sort of an insult to Shabazz to say he's just a "better leader on the court."

I can't find the article but Bazz was a national leader in advanced stats and the eye test.

 

[Kolumbo]

Taliek was always pushing the tempo, driving, dishing. He was an assist machine. Of course he played with some of the best finishers but keeping the pressure offensively was a big part of it. We need more of that.

 

[stamfordhusky]

This is fantastic for the Mojo. Lundardi is, (say it with me now) a message board gasbag, and nobody listens to a thing he says. He's a one trick pony that can't do his one trick.

He actually does that trick extraordinarily well.

 

[mauconnfan]

Any way Judge Deepster and Hangman brother Swami can make this stooge Lunardi swing by his turtleneck?

Can’t believe anyone bought this mans book or believes he knows what he’s talking about.

 

[gtcam]

You had more confidence that Shabazz could lead us to a championship than Bouknight?

I for one, did not remotely expect a national championship in 2014. I have a higher hope for this team than I did for the 2014 team going into the tournament.

Are you saying that Bouk is a better leader and produced better numbers than Bazz - you would trust him leading a team more than Bazz?
That 2014 team would destroy this team
Bazz was a leader - Bouk not so much so far

 

[HuskyBoi]

Are you saying that Bouk is a better leader and produced better numbers than Bazz - you would trust him leading a team more than Bazz?
That 2014 team would destroy this team
Bazz was a leader - Bouk not so much so far

They wouldn't "destroy" this team lmao. This current team has WAY better athletes. It's a close one... 2014 probably still wins but not destroy