Next Year's Expectations

[BankShot]

Which team is described beneath?

The PG, a very good ball experienced handler who can nail the 3. A exciting tough as nails freshman PG off the bench, an African based center who is a beast on defense, a man at 4 who is a rebounding monster, and a SG who is a bull in a china shop getting to the rim who can occasionally be lights out from the 3 point arc and is consistently mystifying good and bad in his play. Finally a flex 2/3/4 with athleticism through the roof, who has the ability to take over a game.

Price-Walker-Thabeet-Adrien-Dyson-Robinson
vs
Gibbs-Adams-Brimah-Miller-Purvis-Hamilton

Can't wait until we CRUSH the ORANGE in ATLANTIS, what a way to start a season of promise with a Championship (Paradise Jam? Maui 2X?) and doing it beating Cuse to a pulp

 

[Dogbreath2U]

We lost Boat (big loss) and TSam (not as big now).

We gained 33.1 points, 10.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 65.5/game Division 1 college basketball minutes. Add this to Jalen Adams, Daniel Hamilton, Rodney Purvis, Amida Brimah, Phil Nolan, Kentan Facey, Steve Enoch, Omar Calhoun and Sam Jr and how can you not be excited for the 2015-16 season? Back in Feb/March I was asking for some recruiting "magic" or some transfers/graduating sr's to fall into our laps. Damn I think it happened, and I couldn't have guessed it would have been this good. Hang on for a fun ride, this is good stuff huh?

Yep, more Husky magic has come our way! It's crazy but still great to be a Husky fan.

 

[kobebeanbryant]

Which team is described beneath?

The PG, a very good ball experienced handler who can nail the 3. A exciting tough as nails freshman PG off the bench, an African based center who is a beast on defense, a man at 4 who is a rebounding monster, and a SG who is a bull in a china shop getting to the rim who can occasionally be lights out from the 3 point arc and is consistently mystifying good and bad in his play. Finally a flex 2/3/4 with athleticism through the roof, who has the ability to take over a game.

Price-Walker-Thabeet-Adrien-Dyson-Robinson
vs
Gibbs-Adams-Brimah-Miller-Purvis-Hamilton

Can't wait until we CRUSH the ORANGE in ATLANTIS, what a way to start a season of promise with a Championship (Paradise Jam? Maui 2X?) and doing it beating Cuse to a pulp

i like the comparison to that 2010 final four squad. just taking a stab at comparing them on a position by position basis:

pg: price
sg: wash
sf: hamilton
pf: adrien
c: thabeet
6th: wash

although nostalgia may be clouding my judgement a bit. would be interested to hear others opinions.

 

[Matt1010]

What is wrong with Rothstein?

When asked whether he thought SMU or UConn was better AAC team...

That first poster can't speak english and the fact that he wanted us listed as a final four team before Gibbs is laughable so I don't blame Rothstein. He just released his early preseason top 25 and has us at #17 (SMU 16 and Cincy 20). I think that is a very fair assessment. SMU will be very good this year as well and I don't think it is a lock we win the AAC. On the other hand I think we finally start to the the conference gain some respect at least in basketball because we SHOULD get 3+ teams in the tournament all capable of winning a couple games.

 

[B1GEast]

 

[3rdbass]

There is no doubt he showed great improvement offensively and I would expect he will continue to do so. I feel like he needs to improve the consistency of his focus on defense and in being solid with the ball.

If you watch the games last year RP was our 2nd best on the ball defender last year. He was solid there though I do agree he has to improve his handle and also learn to dish out the ball every once in awhile instead of bulldozing every defender.

 

[ctchamps]

Meh. One is chalked up to overzealous competitiveness in the heat of battle (see: Sellers, Rod), the other is, well, stupid.

I think Stairmaster's reply sums up my feelings very well. And I actually think JC backed off in his last couple of years, recognizing the character issues of some of those mid-2000s recruits. Thus you get a Kemba who emerged as one of the best leaders any team ever had and Bazz as the "Hungry Husky" who couldn't scrape together money for a sandwich, but didn't steal to buy one, and got two championships.

JC brought us three banners and an enduring national spotlight. He also brought us APR issues and a rep as U-Convicts. Maybe JC's way was the only way given the time and place. There's no question our success is a product of JC's vision and desire to win. But to point out some of the issues is not perpetuating anything nor revisionist history. It just is.

Nothing expressed by anyone is "just is". Everyone of us is invested with our statements and that investment is "never" "absolutely" objective. (I'm sure more than one individual will get the irony of my statement, hence the usage of quotations.)

Every program has their share of problems with athletes. The higher profile programs get more scrutinized and their problems are more exposed. In addition JC was more scrutinized because he didn't know how to rub elbows with the press. In fact he rubbed them the wrong way. Various members of the press had a vendetta against him and targeted him. He also alienated Hathaway and Hathaway sabotaged him.

You've highlighted the APR issue since it came to light. Even at the time the NCAA made it retroactive, there were a number of people who recognized that it was flawed at best and vindictive at worse. Given the recent exposures of Syracuse and UNC, it becomes more obvious that the APR is smokes and mirrors trying to mask a system that has much bigger issues. The real culprit is monies in sports, not the "type" or "character" of player JC recruited.

JC has flaws. He is not perfect. You and a very small minority of UConn fans (such as freescooter), have a preference regarding how a coach should behave and the type of athlete they should recruit. I see nothing wrong with having that preference. It's our prerogative to prefer something that most pleases us and certainly the type of coach you desire may have avoided some of the pitfalls that surrounded JC. However, I have yet to see any individual who is perfect. And because of these flaws everyone of us introduces a set of problems into the flow of events we call life, whether or not we prefer to admit it.

I liked the rawness and combativeness that JC expressed. It was "honest" and refreshing. Occasionally I felt embarrassed for the man and for the program he represented. But I prefer the open person and not the individual who masks who he or she is by representing themselves as something they really aren't. There was very little phoniness regarding JC.

 

[CL82]

Chemistry is the key as others have said, but Miller and Gibbs are mature kids who haven't been surrounded by this kind of talent before. They will understand the potential to do great things and I think that they'll do what they need to do to make things works.

I'm not sure about Purvis. He's enormously talented but his decision making seemed questionable at times.

I think a potential weakness of UConn bigs is the tendency to go for the block rather than play wall up and then box out and be in position to rebound. Miller allows Brimah to continue to be a shot blocking intimidator and gives us a more reliable scorer down low. He was a huge addition as was Gibbs.

We're doomed.

 

[TasteofUConn]

5

 

[Milo65]

It's all about Chemistry... The 11-12 team had a ton of talent (young talent), but could never get it together. There was a lot of NBA talent, but they also had guys playing in the wrong positions.

 

[jibsey]

Agree with Rothstein that on paper, we don't look like a title contender (read: a top-5 preseason team), but the pieces are there for a successful season. Second weekend of the tournament is the over/under line of success. Guards win championships.

What if Brimah emerges as a real force? Based on last year it doesn't look that way, but the kid is driven and with a big summer ....

 

[sammydabiz]

Meh. One is chalked up to overzealous competitiveness in the heat of battle (see: Sellers, Rod), the other is, well, stupid.

I think Stairmaster's reply sums up my feelings very well. And I actually think JC backed off in his last couple of years, recognizing the character issues of some of those mid-2000s recruits. Thus you get a Kemba who emerged as one of the best leaders any team ever had and Bazz as the "Hungry Husky" who couldn't scrape together money for a sandwich, but didn't steal to buy one, and got two championships.

JC brought us three banners and an enduring national spotlight. He also brought us APR issues and a rep as U-Convicts. Maybe JC's way was the only way given the time and place. There's no question our success is a product of JC's vision and desire to win. But to point out some of the issues is not perpetuating anything nor revisionist history. It just is.

Meh.
Calhoun brought us "U-convicts"?!? lol wow you're special. (Let's just latch on to the things our rivals say, which are all obviously true) no other schools had off-court issues, just us huh?
Plus the APR is bullcrap, we had already sacrificed schollies for that dumb rule and still got retroactively butt raped....
To assume that any recruit Ollie brings in will be squeaky clean and not commit anything stupid off the court is a recipe towards being let down in the future, but by all means........ go right ahead

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Chemistry is the issue for the team, because they replace Boat with Gibbs, which is close to a wash on offense and a decline on defense...but get Shonn Miller into the lineup and our defense--blocks, rebounds, positioning--gets better. We still have a top notch rim protector, we have a Adams off the bench, and we have Purvis and Hamilton getting another year of experience.

I get not saying their Top 5 (although there are very few teams I look at, on paper, and worry about), but for Rothstein to suggest they are barely Top 25... I mean, you have to compare them to the field, and this team oozes talent.

Oh believe me, I disagree with him on the barely top 25 comment. Whether they're better than SMU, who knows. Honestly, it's all irrelevant at this point. Conjecture in May is meaningless. I only said that to call us, at this point, a title contender would be pretty difficult to justify.

In fact, now that I see his top 25, us at 17 seems pretty much right where we deserve to be. No reason not to be optimistic for a fun season ahead.

 

[Danzz]

Brimah and chemistry will be the keys and Miller should help Brimah a lot. Trying not to get expectations too high because that hasn't worked well in the past but damn this looks like a very solid team that could beat anybody. Now all they have to do is do it.

 

[James]

i'm pretty sure miller is better than any forward in the conference, and i'm also not privy to a better pg duo than adams and gibbs... saying uconn is fringe top 25 is absurd scouting. they will start nearly 4 all conferences guys and an all american.

 

[Matt1010]

i'm pretty sure miller is better than any forward in the conference, and i'm also not privy to a better pg duo than adams and gibbs... saying uconn is fringe top 25 is absurd scouting. they will start nearly 4 all conferences guys and an all american.

Who are you saying will be an AA?

 

[Matrim55]

i'm pretty sure miller is better than any forward in the conference...

Kennedy & Nichols.

 

[James]

Kennedy & Nichols.

Nichols I doubt... kennedy is a beast we all know so thats possible. athletically and size wise he matches up with both. gotta see miller on the floor , he could be something like a rich mans scoe

Who are you saying will be an AA?

There are two guys, gibbs and hamilton. Mainly hamilton. if he raises his shooting efficiency, his numbers will look pretty outrageous in conjunction with his rebounding. Gibbs is slotted into a role where he will have an even higher usage than he has had ever in college, he should be in a position to put up the best numbers of his career.

 

[johnhuskies95]

I guess I'm not quite as optimistic as everyone else on here. A few recent years where there were hyped pre-seasons with underwhelming results have left me a little pessimistic. I think that chemistry in pro sports is overrated, but it's important in college and it remains to be seen how well this team will mesh. This is still a team that went 10-8 in the AAC last year. I would still have SMU as the favorite in the conference.

With that said, there are 6 legitimate potential stars on this team, which is crazy for a college team. The best player on the team in my opinion, Hamilton, could very well end up being third in shot attempts. There are a lot of pieces. Last year I thought we were a piece away from being really good, and we just lost 1 very good player for three guys that should all be good and maybe very good. So I think we'll be definitely better than last year, at least a tournament team. I'm just apprehensive about any final four or top 10 talk .

But the thing about the AAC is that even though the league will be better next year, the margin of error is still so small to get a good seed in the tournament. Tenspro posted that he would like to see a 3-4 seed, which would probably require at most 2 non-con losses(against a brutal schedule), AAC regular season champs with a 16-2 record, and AAC tournament champs.

I thought SMU was one of the 15 best teams in the country last year and they were a six seed. They lost three time OOC and three times after and they were still a six seed.

 

[Matrim55]

I guess I'm not quite as optimistic as everyone else on here. A few recent years where there were hyped pre-seasons with underwhelming results have left me a little pessimistic. I think that chemistry in pro sports is overrated, but it's important in college and it remains to be seen how well this team will mesh. This is still a team that went 10-8 in the AAC last year.

I get all this, and I'm kinda on the same page. But...

I would still have SMU as the favorite in the conference.

I don't get this. SMU lost all their interior defense and their best perimeter defender, and have only one guy on the team (Kennedy, who is not a good defender) taller than 6-foot-7.

Brown's a great coach, and their backcourt will be excellent. But I think we'll be better than them, I think Cincy will be better than them, and it wouldn't surprise me too much if Memphis was as well.

 

[johnhuskies95]

I get all this, and I'm kinda on the same page. But...


I don't get this. SMU lost all their interior defense and their best perimeter defender, and have only one guy on the team (Kennedy, who is not a good defender) taller than 6-foot-7.

Brown's a great coach, and their backcourt will be excellent. But I think we'll be better than them, I think Cincy will be better than them, and it wouldn't surprise me too much if Memphis was as well.

They're probably going to get Keith Frazier back, and their top two players from last year return. They were also head and shoulders above everybody else in the league, even though Cincy did beat them twice. Moreira is a big loss, but the thing about Brown is he's really good at finding ways to adapt to fit his team's strengths. He'll figure it out.

 

[nycscooby]

Cautiously optimistic. Brimah needs to be able to stay on the floor for 30 minutes/game and impact the game beyond merely the shot altering/blocking. I still think we need Calhoun and Facey to also play meaningful extended minutes. Purvis needs to become a reliable 18 point/game player without having to hoist 30 shots per game to do it. We need to cut down on the TOs and fierce a lot more this year and run, run run. All of the above happens and we have the makings of a special season. But, to be sure KO has a lot more parts this year and he knows how to mix and match with the best of them. He should be salivating.

 

[fatlucy]

I think Ollie nailed it with the two grad additions. If we gel chemically and RP continues his late season surge, we should be borderline top ten by the end of the year going into the tournament with talented, experienced, deep guard play=deep run into the tourney. We have the potential to be a better team than in 2013 with two players RP/Ham with the potential to be superstars a la Bazz. Or we'll have selfish play with no D and generally suck. WE'RE DOOMED.

 

[SouthBayHusky]

If it's not enough to look forward to incoming Nationally ranked recruits (Adams, Enoch), or a proven 5 star recruit from last year (D. Ham); then never underestimate the value of veteran play (S. Miller, S. Gibbs, R. Purvis, Brimah, Calhoun, Facey), and least of all, never underestimate the value of proven play (S. Miller, S. Gibbs, RP, D. Ham). Add to this mix, an entire team of players from various schools who were deprived of something they wanted last year more than anything: NCAA postseason and a shot for the Top. No complacency for any of these guys, and an amalgamation of experienced, talented, and proven players joining highly recruited incoming freshman, with an experienced and proven coach at the helm.

I know I'm biased but it's hard to ignore history.

 

[8893]

I've been "checking" hotel availability in downtown Houston for 4/1/16 t0 4/5/16 for reasonable, cancellable deals. Wasn't crazy about staying at the airport in 2011, but everything else was gone by the time we booked. That drive got to be a bit much, especially after a beer or three at the Gingerman and Flying Saucer...