Moving on to Arkansas.....

[Hi-Low]

they lost by 19 to UNC so they will be equally motivated as UConn to win a 2nd game in Portland. If we get out of town with 2 wins and everyone healthy I'll count my lucky stars. Rest those legs boys, tomorrow should be a track meet....Arkansas a quality team.

We know we aren't a top 1o team but the question we need to answer is are we a top 30 team or just a bubble team at best............games like this answer those questions.

 

[Jerry1714]

Totally agree. I think anyone, who realistically looked at this bracket, would have signed up for a 3rd place finish. Michigan State was ranked #2 and only fell because they lost to #1, beating them would have been amazing but it was a pipe dream, they were just flat out a lot better than us. Coming away with potentially two wins against NCAA tournament teams this weekend would be huge and a step in the right direction

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Michigan State is a national championship contender. No way UConn could compete with their combination of sound guard play of Winston/McQuaid/Langford and their insane talent with size in Bridges/Jackson/Ward/Tillman. This team looks a lot like UNC last season in terms of their depth of size/guard combo.

Arkansas is a guard driven team that could arguably be better than last season's team. 3 of their top 4 scorers are senior guards with Barford leading the way. Yes, they don't have Moses Kingsley from last year, but freshman Daniel Gafford (6'11 234) has filled his spot nicely so far as the rim protector. In terms of size, UConn matches up well with Arkansas. Like Oregon, this will be a tough game, but certainly winnable. I'd call this an even bigger win than the Oregon game, if they succeed.

The bottom line is that I'm psyched that UConn will be leaving this tournament playing a national championship contender and two realistic tournament teams. Much better than playing DePaul and Portland/Oklahoma.

 

[BFieldHusky]

Something to keep an eye on. Daryle Macon, their 2ND leading scorer, left the game midway through the 2ND half with a leg injury. Not sure of his status tomorrow.

 

[tcf15]

Something to keep an eye on. Daryle Macon, their 2ND leading scorer, left the game midway through the 2ND half with a leg injury. Not sure of his status tomorrow.

Daryl Macon status up in air after injury
Arkansas coach Mike Anderson didn’t elaborate on the nature or severity of Macon’s injury after the game.

“I couldn’t be at liberty to say what it is right now,” Anderson said. “… I’ll find out. I don’t know right now.”

Macon stayed on the ground for an extended period of time after sustaining the injury as long-time trainer Dave England and Anderson checked on him. When he did stand up, he slowly walked off the court under his own power with a pronounced limp.

He immediately went back to the locker room and was visibly upset, yelling and slapping a door as he exited the court area. Less than 10 minutes later, he briefly re-joined the team on the bench, walking back onto the sideline with less of a limp but a bit of a grimace.

That didn’t last long. A few minutes later, Macon headed back to the locker room, jogging slowly with a noticeable limp.

 

[Waquoit]

Two wins and having a Top 5 team in our SOS would make it an excellent week for the program.

 

[Blaneylover]

Two wins and having a Top 5 team in our SOS would make it an excellent week for the program.

I wholeheartedly agree. A 2-1 weekend would be great.

 

[scrappy2.0]

Hi--what time channel is the game on today--thanks

 

[tcf15]

Hi--what time channel is the game on today--thanks

The game is tomorrow at 3pm on ESPN.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

Michigan State looks a lot better than Duke right now despite losing to them. I'm not sure why there is so much negativity on the board over a loss to a top 5 team. I'm glad we played this game to figure out where we stand. Bottom line, you cant have poor shooting nights against quality teams.

 

[willie99]

Michigan State is a national championship contender. No way UConn could compete with their combination of sound guard play of Winston/McQuaid/Langford and their insane talent with size in Bridges/Jackson/Ward/Tillman. This team looks a lot like UNC last season in terms of their depth of size/guard combo.

Arkansas is a guard driven team that could arguably be better than last season's team. 3 of their top 4 scorers are senior guards with Barford leading the way. Yes, they don't have Moses Kingsley from last year, but freshman Daniel Gafford (6'11 234) has filled his spot nicely so far as the rim protector. In terms of size, UConn matches up well with Arkansas. Like Oregon, this will be a tough game, but certainly winnable. I'd call this an even bigger win than the Oregon game, if they succeed.

The bottom line is that I'm psyched that UConn will be leaving this tournament playing a national championship contender and two realistic tournament teams. Much better than playing DePaul and Portland/Oklahoma.

or Charminade

 

[Sphinx]

Based on pre-tournment credentials, UConn figured to come out 1-2, with the most impressive route to 1-2 being a win over Oregon and losses to MSU and Arkansas == all P5 teams.. This is now the worst they can do, so if that's it, call it mission accomplished and definitely something to build on. Beating Arkansas elevates the teams credentials going forward and would make PK80 an unexpected success.

But last night's results underscore the current reality. Stony Brook, DePaul and now UConn played MSU dead even for one half, then were rolled by 20 or so points in the 2nd half. Almost identical games. Stony Brook had previously been competitive against UConn, and DePaul took Oregon into overtime last night. Yes, there's reason to rate UConn above Stony Brook and DePaul, and they're probably a better team than a rebuilding Oregon. But, sadly, they are a lot closer to those teams than they are to MSU. A win over Arkansas would begin to create a little separation.

 

[8893]

I'm not sure why there is so much negativity on the board over a loss to a top 5 team.

Welcome to the Boneyard.

 

[Hi-Low]

Michigan State looks a lot better than Duke right now despite losing to them. I'm not sure why there is so much negativity on the board over a loss to a top 5 team. I'm glad we played this game to figure out where we stand. Bottom line, you cant have poor shooting nights against quality teams.

Michigan State might be the best & most complete team in the country, no way we were beating them last night....we'll see more top 10 teams down the road and see if we can improve.

UConn will get tested often this year with our schedule, if we stay healthy we can win 23+ games and solidly make the tourney & the Arkansas game will answer more questions about where we are.

 

[6xChamps]

Michigan State might be the best & most complete team in the country, no way we were beating them last night....Cincy may be a top 5 team so we'll see down the road if we improved.

UConn will get tested often this year with our schedule, if we stay healthy we can win 23+ games and solidly make the tourney & the Arkansas game will answer more questions about where we are.

Agree, but even if they aren’t the top team in the county, they are probably the worst team for us to be matched up against (think Louisville in 2014). Our obvious weakness is the front court, and MSU has 2 guys there (Bridges and Jackson) that could be top 10 NBA draft picks.

I’m onto Arkansas, and will be ecstatic if we can leave Oregon with a 2-1 record.

 

[Excalibur]

I'm not sure why there is so much negativity on the board over a loss to a top 5 team.

Unreasonable expectations . . .

 

[Ewekon]

Michigan State looks a lot better than Duke right now despite losing to them. I'm not sure why there is so much negativity on the board over a loss to a top 5 team. I'm glad we played this game to figure out where we stand. Bottom line, you cant have poor shooting nights against quality teams.

Because we should be a top 5 or 10 program. Duh. And getting excited about next year's class of 80 to 125 recruits isn't buzzing me. Right now, the ship be sinkin'

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

Because we should be a top 5 or 10 program. Duh. And getting excited about next year's class of 80 to 125 recruits isn't buzzing me. Right now, the ship be sinkin'

when was the last time Uconn started off the season ranked in the top 10?

 

[8893]

Because we should be a top 5 or 10 program. Duh. And getting excited about next year's class of 80 to 125 recruits isn't buzzing me. Right now, the ship be sinkin'

Sounds like high time for you to jump off then.

 

[SubbaBub]

Michigan State looks a lot better than Duke right now despite losing to them. I'm not sure why there is so much negativity on the board over a loss to a top 5 team. I'm glad we played this game to figure out where we stand. Bottom line, you cant have poor shooting nights against quality teams.

Because any team with size than can clog the lane and shoot three's is going to present a huge problem. We lost because that kid played out of his mind for 9 minutes but we got blown out because we had no offensive answer to their adjustment to deny penetration by doubling the ball which is something every team can and should do until we figure out how to make them pay for doing it.

This tournament exposed two flaws that may be trouble this season, the above and our bigs inability to stay on the floor without fouling. Now, we are deeper than last season so it is less of a problem bodywise but it hurts giving away free points every time they throw the ball inside.

 

[Brochacho]

Arkansas is another team that we can beat that should be a top 100 RPI or so team. Like Oregon, and UConn too, they'll likely be much better in February and March than they are right now. Crucial game. The MSU game showed us that we are not quite ready to compete with and beat the elite teams on our schedule, and unfortunately most of our big time opportunities are against elite teams (Arizona, Villanova, Wichita, Cincy). Of course, no one knows the rate at which UConn will improve. We might be ready to beat a top team in December, maybe February, maybe next season. We have our top 3 players set. Hopefully 3 or 4 of our guys take that next step so we can start beating these teams.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

The main takeaway from last night is that Jalen, Alterique and Terry are legit big time players who can compete with the Michigan States of the world.
The rest of the roster is either too inexperienced or mediocre.

I'd expect Carlton and Diarra to be the inexperienced guys to make that leap we need come March. Onuorah is a waste of space against any front line of quality, but he will do good things against the bulk of AAC teams.

But I'm interested to see what Cobb can give us against quality front lines like Wichita St. Can he bang at all with someone like Shaq Morris?

Bottomline is we have everything we need against top level teams, except for our frontcourt, which is a mess.

The silver lining potentially is, we won a national championship under Ollie with our front court consisting of Phil Nolan, and a freshman Amida Brimah. Lets hope he can hide our front court deficiencies again...

 

[husky429]

The main takeaway from last night is that Jalen, Alterique and Terry are legit big time players who can compete with the Michigan States of the world.
The rest of the roster is either too inexperienced or mediocre.

I'd expect Carlton and Diarra to be the inexperienced guys to make that leap we need come March. Onuorah is a waste of space against any front line of quality, but he will do good things against the bulk of AAC teams.

But I'm interested to see what Cobb can give us against quality front lines like Wichita St. Can he bang at all with someone like Shaq Morris?

Bottomline is we have everything we need against top level teams, except for our frontcourt, which is a mess.

The silver lining potentially is, we won a national championship under Ollie with our front court consisting of Phil Nolan, and a freshman Amida Brimah. Lets hope he can hide our front court deficiencies again...

Diarra? He seems to be last on the bunch.

 

[donyell34]

No fg's from the front line is brutal any way we say it. Like these guys but we need some pts inside no matter who we play.

 

[Hi-Low]

Because we should be a top 5 or 10 program. Duh. And getting excited about next year's class of 80 to 125 recruits isn't buzzing me. Right now, the ship be sinkin'

I'm guessing you're trying to be provocative.....maybe we are close to being a top 15 program again, but we are not a top 5-10 program right now....deal with it. Doesn't mean we can't make Final 4's and be very fun to watch along the way. College basketball is going to change again (likely very soon) and many top NBA prospects might never play college ball. We have a good coach that loves UConn, a great pedigree & we'll see how things shake out.

I love college basketball & I love UConn in particular.....I was stunned & completely overwhelmed when we won it all in 2011 & 2014 and we were not a "top" program then like UConn was in 1999 & 2004 (& 2009). I hated last year and said dumb things occasionally but I still got some enjoyment out of it and appreciated UConn basketball for being there. I really like this imperfect team and hope we win some big games.......starting tomorrow!