Must win??

[Captbluefin]

Last Sunday was a must win.

Tonight is a matter of sink or swim.

We need to win and win convincingly. Get team chemistry back. It’s amazing how attitudes change and teams unite when ya start winning again.

 

[Greathusky]

Winning the Big East title is the furthest though from my mind right now. We need a win to stop the bleeding and to get the swag back.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Winning the Big East title is the furthest though from my mind right now. We need a win to stop the bleeding and to get the swag back.

Agree, it was a fun two months of raising the ceiling of expectations, we all gradually dismissed all preseason predictions and adjusted postseason chances higher and higher. I'd guess some of us tempered those expectations with reality of guard play is critical and is what wins in the NCAA's - but when we were #2 that seemed to only mean UConn was a championship contender vs a favorite.

So now we are back to preseason projections & expectations IF the team can steady the ship and get back on winning track. A win tonight levels the ship and puts us on course for original projections with window of upside to retain #15 ranking & get a very good NCAA seed. A loss and UConn is borderline out of top-25, the preseason expectations become best case rather than expected case scenario and it is most likely UConn isn't returning to the level of play we saw early this season.

I don't like the noise of possible team dissension. The high of #2 rose all boats and if you are a #2 team everyone on the squad gets a lift and becomes nationally recognized, the team & players benefit from winning. Now it seems the player profiles could stay high but the team is left behind and players look to get their numbers first. Strength of this team was sharing the ball and collective effort on defense, please let us see that tonight and right the ship!

 

[Hi-Low]

Seton Hall is not a pushover.....won @Rutgers, they blew out St. Johns by 22 and they played X & Prov to closer loses than UConn did. Hall has won 4 of 5 while we have lost 4 of 5....game is a tossup with slight edge to Hall at home imo.

We are certainly capable of handily beating Hall but we'll see tonight if the ship has been righted or still taking on water.

 

[Kolumbo]

Start # 20

 

[Jbirdp5]

It’s more of a must win mentally than in actuality, but for the mental health of the boneyard it is clearly a must win.

 

[freescooter]

This very thing was the subject of my haiku. I didn’t post it because Hurley won’t be there and he figures prominently in it.

 

[freescooter]

I'm kinda in the same boat. I'm usually the optimist type, but this feels like a breaking point. On paper we should win this game by 15 points. The way we've been playing, it wouldn't surprise me anymore to lose by double digits. This team just feels like they are mentally broken right now. Which is weird, because the losses to X, PC, and Marquette were all relatively close games and there's really no shame in losing to them

Well there kinda is if not shame then severe disappointment if you see yourself as a true Final Four contender. You really have to beat the teams in your league who are fine but not final four contenders. Or at least 1 of them. Losing all 3 sends a message that you are something of a paper Tiger.

 

[driveway]

I couldn’t agree more, they lost what ever they had from a month ago and they need to find their way quickly or a once super promising season could be lost.

Also could see this kind of recent output showing up again in the first round of the Ncaa tournament. Definitely a must win.

 

[bendm]

This is sobering: The site linked below allows you to play with conference game outcomes to see how the BET seeding would play out. The default result for future matchups is determined by Sagarin rating. As of now, according to who is favored by Sagarin, UConn would win every remaining game except @ Creighton. Even if that happened, and all the other Sagarin-predicted results played out, UConn would be seeded 5th in the BET.

mred's Big East MBB Tournament Seeding Tiebreaker

Big East Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Seeding and Tiebreakers

bball.notnothing.net

Edit: Interestingly, I did a "worst-case scenario" in which UConn loses all of their remaining "losable" games (according to me), resulting in a 10-10 conference record. This also results in a 5-seed.

this is predicting a 4 way tie for 1st place lol with us a game back at 15-5.

 

[Get a Job]

this is predicting a 4 way tie for 1st place lol with us a game back at 15-5.

My point is that many of us were penciling in a 1- or 2-seed in the BET a couple weeks ago. Now we can win out and still not get a 1-seed.

 

[Greedo]

My point is that many of us were penciling in a 1- or 2-seed in the BET a couple weeks ago. Now we can win out and still not get a 1-seed.

We could, it's a good point. I think it's really unlikely that Creighton and Marquette finish with only 4 losses. But who knows.

 

[Huskyforlife]

No. The only must wins are in the tournaments and against rivals. Calling any random game a “must win” defeats the point of the term.

 

[Vancat]

 

[Jaydumo20]

It’s more of a must win mentally than in actuality, but for the mental health of the boneyard it is clearly a must win.

This hits the nail perfectly. It’s about us, not them.

 

[Huskyfan4evr]

Quad 1 win on the road. Would sure be good in a lot of ways

 

[superjohn]

We could, it's a good point. I think it's really unlikely that Creighton and Marquette finish with only 4 losses. But who knows.

UConn winning out seems far more unlikely.

 

[Greedo]

UConn winning out seems far more unlikely.

I think that's also very unlikely. Creighton will also almost definitely lose more than one more game.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I seriously ask all of you is this a must win? I know it’s somewhat early still but for this team it’s not. Especially mentally, it’s getting late and they really need a win, a solid game for 40 minutes against a pretty good team but one they should beat.

For me it YES, need to have it.

Yep , but Big has multiple meanings.
So was St Johns
That loss knocked us out of a regular season championship possibility.
We would have been favorites in every remaining game but one.
A loss here and we’re second tier
This season becomes among our. worst tank jobs in my memory..
2011 until Kemba took over would have been similar Maul Champs to 9th place in the Big East . .
You can define “big “ in many ways.

 

[gtcam]

If UConn doesn't win and heads into the Xavier game on that kind of slide things could be very ugly
Winning today doesn't solve a lot of issues but it stops the bleeding.

 

[gtcam]

Do we think Dan Hurley will change the lineup and/or the plan? Or will he go all in on the original strategy? I kind of think he's got to change. Unless players got their attitudes adjusted.

attitude belongs to more than the players
it starts at the top and many felt the St John's post game presser didn't start the process well.
I am sure that DC, Hawk, AK, and maybe AJax won't be in need of an attitude adjustment.
We will see who else has a spark in their step.
We may be pleasantly surprised.

 

[mauconnfan]

No. The only must wins are in the tournaments and against rivals. Calling any random game a “must win” defeats the point of the term.

Random game? We've lost 4 of 5 we lose this we're looking at 4-6 in the Big East after X. What tournament are we a shoe in for at that point?

 

[alphasigko]

IMO, Absolutely

 

[Huskyforlife]

Random game? We've lost 4 of 5 we lose this we're looking at 4-6 in the Big East after X. What tournament are we a shoe in for at that point?

The one with 68 teams, that can change obviously if we keep losing, but we’re still safely in the tournament with a loss tonight. If we lose today the season isn’t over. “Must win” should only apply to games that end our season, or will held over our heads by rivals if we lose. Having a heart attack over losses in January is bad for your health, take a deep breath.

 

[Improviser]

Gotta stop the skid now.

 

[1999GoodSon]

No. Expecting changes tonight. If there are, and we win, great. If there aren't and we snap back and win, also great. If there are positive changes but we don't get the W, it shows that they're working on things. But If there aren't lineup changes and we don't bounce back, then there's a problem. Then it becomes a yes in my mind. Let's go!

 

[jake14mw]

No. There is nothing hinging on this game any more than any other game. You could have called Saturday's game a must win too.

There's no question that tonight's game is really important for the psyche of the team, and more importantly for the sanity of the Boneyard.

 

[Conndog]

I think they need to win this to gain back some confidence, but they don’t win if they don’t change their defense. If they can’t stop the penetrating guards, then go to the 2-3 zone. And enough with the high hedge!

 

[QDOG5]

My understanding is if a team loses a "Must" win game then something is lost for the season(Conf reg season title, Conf tourney title, NCAA tourney bid). None of that can happen tonight so I'm in the not must win camp.

 

[bendm]

My point is that many of us were penciling in a 1- or 2-seed in the BET a couple weeks ago. Now we can win out and still not get a 1-seed.

at this point, as long as we finish top 3 to avoid the 4 v 5 matchup in the second round i'll be happy. this projects us as only 1 game out of that spot and 1 game out of 1st for that matter. i think there will be a couple upsets among the current top 4. marquette, pc, and creighton arent THAT good. xavier might be.