Lunardi Disses UCONN's 7 | Page 5 | The Boneyard

Lunardi Disses UCONN's 7

When I say "Lunardi" you know exactly who I mean and you know exactly what he does.
When I link something from Lunardi, there's a good chance you click.

The same is not true for most basketball fans if I say Palm, Decourcy, Gasaway, Brennan, etc.

Sure. And he’s still terrible. You know who else is among the absolute worst at his job? Mel Kiper. Being the lead on ESPN provides visibility. It doesn’t mean you are any good.
 
What I noticed over the past 8 years "religiously" watching and following this re-configured Big East is that ESPN most of the time won't hype it up - that is - It won't put a top 5 or Top 10 match up on their NCAAM homepage, doesn't cover it as much on the sidebar of top articles either. In the first couple of years I noticed they weren't even posting the channel were the Big East matchups were to be aired in their schedule/score section (FS1/FS2/FOX). I started noticing the pattern early but didn't make much of it until someone called ESPN out on it on twitter and made an article about it. ESPN attributed it to some "interface" or accidental error. It hasn't happened ever since.

But I do still notice that ESPN is somewhat indifferent to the league on its coverage. Even last year when the league was the Top league under any popular metric ESPN would go out of its way to say the B12 or B1G were the best conference in the nation.

With that said, once the NCAA tournament starts they tend to fairly cover all the teams. Another observation is that any recognition by ESPN related in anyway to the Big East is usually limited to individual programs. They won't hype the league as a whole or say the "Big East is this or that". You may quickly find isolated google searches to prove otherwise, but the truth is that they simply don't do it at the same frequency that they do for the other top 6 leagues.

But in a way. Why would they? are they going to shoot themselves? Why spend time hyping something up they are not affiliated with? It's like asking ESPN to spend a significnant time on the NHL when they don't profit from it
You are right. But 2 points. 1. ESPN is going to plug ESPN products mostly. Sure if Georgetown gets to the championship game they will plug it of course. But otherwise no

2. The NBE is neither as good nor as deep of the old one and it doesn’t have the same household names. It’s way harder to plug unranked Seton Hall vs #13 Creighton than Ohio Star-Michigan or Even unranked Duke vs#15 Carolina.
 
You are right. But 2 points. 1. ESPN is going to plug ESPN products mostly. Sure if Georgetown gets to the championship game they will plug it of course. But otherwise no

2. The NBE is neither as good nor as deep of the old one and it doesn’t have the same household names. It’s way harder to plug unranked Seton Hall vs #13 Creighton than Ohio Star-Michigan or Even unranked Duke vs#15 Carolina.
There are no national rivalries in the BE anymore. Used to have Syracuse-Georgetown and Syracuse-UConn that would draw casual viewers. UConn-Georgetown-Villanova, if they're all good, will draw casual viewers, but in the same way that UConn-Villanova and UConn-Louisville would: if they're both Top 20 teams. This isn't all that different, though, than any conference outside the B10 or ACC.
 
As an alum it's nice to have these conversations. That being said, i love Bouk and i hope he brings us on a run, but i'd take "Book Ends Bazz" any day. Bazz made some big shots as a freshman.
 
I’m in the camp that says the2014 team would beat 2021 and it wouldn’t be close. 2011 team would beat them both by 20. The 2004 team would beat both like a rented mule. If they started actually calling traveling again I’m not sure the current team would score. I think there were 3 things about the 2014 team. 1 it was really underseeded due to being in the newly constituted AAC. It was probably closer to a 5 than a 7. Second they got Villanova in the 2nd round. At the time Villanova had a made losing to higher seeds in the tourney an art form. Obviously they have overcome that. In recent years. 3 Playing the Regional finals at Madison Square garden was a huge huge benefit. They were a lower seed but it was unquestionably a home crowd. And not one of those let’s root for the scrappy underdog home crowds but a true UConn crowd. Rooting for the Huskies from warmups through the final seconds.
 
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Can we just retile this thread to: Boneyard Disses Lunardi Diss?
 
He has a point. Bouk is fun to watch but do you have the same confidence that he can lead a team to a championship? I did with Bazz and Kemba.

I hope I am wrong.
Hope is not a strategy. I think this is a situation where we have to be honest about our team and what we've seen with out eyes over the season. Certainly there is potential but they haven't really put it fully together yet against top tier competition for victories. They have competed, yes.

If Bouk was more similar to Caron Butler with demonstrated parallels then I would feel much more confident about a special run however he hasn't developed those leadership skills yet and hasn't been nearly as consistent when it really matters. Remember Caron was a sophomore as well. He gets points and is the most talented however has not delivered when it has mattered most. As the best talent on the team that is what is needed from him for the tourney run that we are desiring. This team is like a year off and maybe without the COVID stoppage of the season last year this team would have made the run and gained the experience necessary this year for a serious push.

We should be measured with our expectations and eyes wide open. The potential is obvious but they have not put it together yet. I understand the injuries, COVID stoppages, bad timing etc. but that does not matter at this point. There is a need for a consistent performance from our Defense, offensive rebounding, consistent scoring from Sanogo, Bouk and Cole. Cole needs to run the offense confidently and get his teammates the ball in their sweet spots. Whaley needs to be like the Tasmanian Devil for us on the court.

On an optimistic note they have the pieces and the potential. Let's hope they felt enough pain from that 3rd loss to a very beatable Creighton team with UCONN putting up a grade D performance. Learning how to be very good teams consistently is a learning process. There are always lessons and growth from pain. We will see if they carry it into the tourney and are going to need much more than Bouk who I think will give us one very special memorable game.

Go Huskies!!! :-)
 
Hope is not a strategy. I think this is a situation where we have to be honest about our team and what we've seen with out eyes over the season. Certainly there is potential but they haven't really put it fully together yet against top tier competition for victories. They have competed, yes.

If Bouk was more similar to Caron Butler with demonstrated parallels then I would feel much more confident about a special run however he hasn't developed those leadership skills yet and hasn't been nearly as consistent when it really matters. Remember Caron was a sophomore as well. He gets points and is the most talented however has not delivered when it has mattered most. As the best talent on the team that is what is needed from him for the tourney run that we are desiring. This team is like a year off and maybe without the COVID stoppage of the season last year this team would have made the run and gained the experience necessary this year for a serious push.

We should be measured with our expectations and eyes wide open. The potential is obvious but they have not put it together yet. I understand the injuries, COVID stoppages, bad timing etc. but that does not matter at this point. There is a need for a consistent performance from our Defense, offensive rebounding, consistent scoring from Sanogo, Bouk and Cole. Cole needs to run the offense confidently and get his teammates the ball in their sweet spots. Whaley needs to be like the Tasmanian Devil for us on the court.

On an optimistic note they have the pieces and the potential. Let's hope they felt enough pain from that 3rd loss to a very beatable Creighton team with UCONN putting up a grade D performance. Learning how to be very good teams consistently is a learning process. There are always lessons and growth from pain. We will see if they carry it into the tourney and are going to need much more than Bouk who I think will give us one very special memorable game.

Go Huskies!!! :)
Excellent post!
 
Comparing a book we've all read to a Bouk still being written. We know how Kemba and Shabazz met their moments. They both got more than one bite at the Apple, though. We'll soon see how Bouk does with his one shot.
 
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