MSU v. FSU

[NHUConnfan]

Michigan State just drubbed Florida State by 16. I'm think UConn has a ways to go.

But I'm still quite optimistic!

 

[UConnMike04]

It was also an MSU home game as opposed to a game on a neutral court in the Bahamas.

 

[Uconn]

lol @ the transitive property

 

[CAHUSKY]

lol @ the transitive property

agreed, there is absolutely no transitive property in college sports. As ive done previously, i can draw a strong case using the transitive property that my junior college football team would have beaten Michigan in 1987.

DVC destroyed St. Mary's in a scrimmage. (6 touchdowns to 1)
St. Mary's beat UOP
UOP beat Minnesota
Minnesota beat Michigan
Therefore, Diablo Valley College would beat Michigan.
Although we had 20 division 1 players on our team i don't think we would have beaten Michigan.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

1) Michigan State is good.

2) Michigan State was at home.

3) Given that Harvard beat FSU and UCF in the Bahamas, the transitive property suggests that Uconn shouldn't even show up for that game.

 

[Migs]

Transitive property folds it's hand when you think about how FSU beat UCF by 23 a week before the Battle in/for/of Atlantis.

But I will always call tansistive property back from 1999 when I was arguing with family late in March that UCONN would beat Duke because of both their matchups with St John's that year. Uconn took them out in regulation at home, a week before or after, Duke needed overtime at The Garden to win.

 

[Donyell]

It all fits. I was and will be rooting for FSU the rest of the way in most games . Didn't know they beat UCF by that much .

 

[Scot-e]

WE ARE DOOMED!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DogMania]

It's always hard to draw accurate conclusions this early in the season. I tend to go with the eye test (i.e. watching the games and not the records and the box scores) but even then, match-ups, injuries, key foul trouble, a team simply having a bad game, the usual development curve that takes place with most teams, the opponent having the game of their season, etc. muddy the early season waters.

Also take into account last season for instance. If you were to predict UConn's post season success based on how they played the last 8 or so games of the regular season, you would not have come up with even an Elite 8 finish, maybe even a S-16 finish would have seemed like a stretch. After the 5 game run they had at the BET, the outlook was a lot different.

With that said, the Hogs are coming to the XL intent on making an NCAA Tournament resume statement. These are the OOC road games that can be the different from being NCAA or NIT tournament bound. Arkansas has talent. They've won most of the games on their schedule. Oh, and by the way, their only loss was to Houston which lost to Oakland by 2. You might conclude that Arkansas is not a very good team to have lost to a 3-3 Houston team, but Houston's other two losses were by one point to TCU and LSU. Houston could easily be 6-0 if they simply had made one more play in each of those games. Let's take this further...this is fun...TCU is 5-2 and has a win over 6-1 Virginia. But wait, there's more. LSU which Houston lost to by 1, is only 4-3 with head-scratching losses to Coastal Carolina and Southern Alabama. I'm beginning to sound like that Sicilian from the Princess Bride.

What does all this mean? You simply can't draw too many conclusions, especially this early in the season, based on team records and who they lost to and who they beat.

Getting back to the eye test thing, UConn has as talented players as any team in the nation. Few if any have more. As far as playing well, they have a lot of inexperience, have a ways to go and are capable of being beaten by a whole lot of teams, such as UCF. Like most JC coached teams they will get better as the season goes on. They will probably have some bad games along the way that will end as bad losses or ugly wins.

I've not seen Arkansas play. They are a very young team that lost what seemed to be their best player and one of it's few upperclassman. Their only loss, 3rd game of their season, came the game right after they lost Marshawn Powell. They've had time to adjust to life w/out Powell and will give us a good game.

With Boatright having one game under his belt and adding a new dimension to this team, making them more dangerous and harder to beat. He gives us that zone busting player that would have made a big difference in the UCF game. I'll feel a lot better about this team once some of the players (Oriakhi & Scoe) who are struggling this season, return to their 2010/11 form and begin to build on what they did last season. It would help if Daniels learns to handle the pressures of playing in games where the outcome isn't a forgone conclusion. He's got the talent, but I think a heightened fear of failure has caused him to play passively lately. Once all the pieces come together, UConn will look more like an elite team. I'm hopeful that they'll build on what they did at the Battle-4-Atlantis and come away with a W at home against Arkansas.

 

[ctchamps]

It's always hard to draw accurate conclusions this early in the season.

Also take into account last season for instance. If you were to predict UConn's post season success based on how they played the last 8 or so games of the regular season, you would not have come up with even an Elite 8 finish, maybe even a S-16 finish would have seemed like a stretch. After the 5 game run they had at the BET, the outlook was a lot different.

There was some sweating out if they would get into the tournament if they had a first round BE Tournament loss.

 

[Donyell]

Spot on Dog.

 

[Gurleyman]

If anything, I think we've learned our defense has a ways to go to get where it needs to be. FSU hung with Michigan State for a while, but ultimately couldn't get good shots and MSU pulled away late. And Harvard totally shut them down too, yet we had trouble getting key stops in the second half. On the flip side, we had more success against them offensively than anyone else has - perhaps there was some three games in three days fatigue for both teams that led to the legs not being there on D, but you'd figure that would effect jump shots more than defense.

 

[ctchamps]

If anything, I think we've learned our defense has a ways to go to get where it needs to be. FSU hung with Michigan State for a while, but ultimately couldn't get good shots and MSU pulled away late. And Harvard totally shut them down too, yet we had trouble getting key stops in the second half. On the flip side, we had more success against them offensively than anyone else has - perhaps there was some three games in three days fatigue for both teams that led to the legs not being there on D, but you'd figure that would effect jump shots more than defense.

I watched a tape of the game a couple of hours ago and came away with the same impression - the offense looks to be ahead of the defense.