Now that your head is out of the oven, make your prediction

[superjohn]

A Sweet 16 and I’m good. Especially because Hurley maintained his loyalty to the kids he recruited. He could’ve definitely bought 2-3 players and guaranteed a three-peat but I’ll take loyalty, player development, and a sweet 16.

Guaranteed a three-peat?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Guaranteed a three-peat?

Maybe he thinks Tatum, Giannis, Anthony Edwards, SGA and Jokic were all available in the portal.

 

[Palatine]

I predict we have see the end of the we're unbeatable or we're bulletproof posts on the BY.

 

[Travelman6]

A 3 or 4 seed that has its heart broken by a 1 or 2 in the s16 or e8. Like 2002 or 2003 vs Texas or Maryland.

 

[EBonz30]

My prediction is that we will still be very much considered for #7 and that we will be the casual office pool favorite come march.
However, I think Kam Jones and Marquette, are our toughest competition not only in conference but in general. I don't think they're the best team necessarily, but they will be our "louisville" from a decade ago. may keep us out of the Big East regular season title at the very most.

But mostly, after a Gonzaga W, I expect crow to be on our collective xmas dinner table this year.

I think Kam Jones is the best guard in college & possibly the best overall player in college- total stud- 2 inches taller he would be a top 3 pick.

 

[J187Money]

My head was never in the oven - this was always going to be a work in progress. The Dayton game was embarrassing (although I admit I didn't watch it) - but we lost the other two games by a total of 3 points against tough officiating in Hawaii playing games before noon. We have a lot of talent and great coaches and a lot of games left to play. The BE season will toughen us up as it always does - I look at this like 2 years ago - not like last year. I expect a sweet 16 with this team - but beyond that it is too early to expect more.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

As @BFieldHusky said, 2nd weekend team. From there it's matchups and who gets hot, who is playing well. I do not see a run like the last two years. Not saying they can't win a title, just that if they did, it sure wouldn't look like the last two.

Excellent summary. I'm +1 on this.

 

[HailUConn]

I think the answer to how far this team will go postseason is PG position. Nowell’s development might be the key to the team’s ceiling.

 

[AllHusky]

Ceiling much higher today. Final Four in San Antonio for me. We all know how that turns out!

Thoughts leading to San Antonio conclusion:

I was dubious about Solo and Samsons ability to take coaching and level up. Am sky high about their “improvability” after TX.

Reed and Mahaney not fully acclimated yet, expect mid February for light bulbs to be fully on.

Can Ross accept being a defensive specialist (for now)?

Hopeful Nowell gets healthy by Jan 1

Liam goes crazy offensively more often as season progresses

Don’t know what to think about Stewart

Hass(11 assists) and Alex(21pts+10+ boards) play within themselves making everyone around
them better

 

[JerseyAlum]

Very impressive Texas win! We looked like the better coached team out there.

Waiting for Gonzaga to see what’s what.

Indeed the Gonzaga game will be most important to this program as they are a very good team, we play in Storrs South and we have Mahaney who always plays out vs them.

@Texas we led throughout which explains why Hurley did not go bananas with them holding us, grabbing shirts, I mean their defense at times was foul ridden but they got few called. Explains why they let Diarra shove a guy to the floor with no call.

Let’s see how we play vs Gonzaga before we judge the season bc Baylor-Texas-Gonzaga was always going to be the true test not Memphis-Colorado-Dayton.

 

[AllHusky]

Indeed the Gonzaga game will be most important to this program as they are a very good team, we play in Storrs South and we have Mahaney who always plays out vs them.

@Texas we led throughout which explains why Hurley did not go bananas with them holding us, grabbing shirts, I mean their defense at times was foul ridden but they got few called. Explains why they let Diarra shove a guy to the floor with no call
Let’s see how we play vs Gonzaga before we judge the season bc Baylor-Texas-Gonzaga was always going to be the true test not Memphis-Colorado-Dayton.

Gonzaga will show where we are at this moment in time. Gotta win of course, but playing a game representative of how we’ve improved in the last 2 weeks is critical for “diagnostics”. Don’t want a stinker or an “ everything worked “ game, just a workmanlike effort showing where we are at against a top team.

We should have tons of data for Hurley et al to work on in the laboratory.

 

[80shusky]

I got UConn 15-6 the rest of way after the Texas win. That would put the team at 22-9 heading into the tournament. I'm thinking a win or two in the BE tournament would help. Sweet Sixteen team if they can get in.

 

[Kolumbo]

Guard play will probably determine how far we go. In the past 4 years we've had 2 first round visits and 2 National Championships. The arrival of Tristen Newton was huge.
The development of Ball and Mahaney are critical.

Solo's minutes
2023 - 12 mpg
2024 - 28 mpg so far

Aidan's minutes
2022 - 31 mpg
2023 - 33 mpg
2024 - 16 mpg so far. This is Joey C territory. We need him to be better, like Cam Spencer altitude. Tall order.

 

[Blue Blood]

Big East Champ x2 Still think we match up quite well with our BE brethren.
Out in the Elite 8 to a team that has a little too much athletically for our defensive vulnerabilities.

 

[Jaydumo20]

Ceiling much higher today. Final Four in San Antonio for me. We all know how that turns out!

Thoughts leading to San Antonio conclusion:

I was dubious about Solo and Samsons ability to take coaching and level up. Am sky high about their “improvability” after TX.

Reed and Mahaney not fully acclimated yet, expect mid February for light bulbs to be fully on.

Can Ross accept being a defensive specialist (for now)?

Hopeful Nowell gets healthy by Jan 1

Liam goes crazy offensively more often as season progresses

Don’t know what to think about Stewart

Hass(11 assists) and Alex(21pts+10+ boards) play within themselves making everyone around
them better

This is my +1. I think that this team will sniff the last two, and maybe offer something the last two never had: A freshman offensive phenom. Someone who has already shown that he wants to take over and he's pissed when he can't. I know we had a similar thing in senior TNewt but this kid will be way more visible.

In retrospect it's easy to see what we had with the last teams but at this point in the year we didn't know. We didn't know how great castle, Cam, DC or Hass would turn out. This team is different.

 

[KemBuckets21]

3peat, conference title or NIT

 

[Dove]

Many of us watched in confusion, as some of our own relegated this team to the trash heap after Maui.
This staff teaches, and responds and every year our teams look markedly different in February than they do in November.

Where do you see this team headed now? And please try to leave out the obvious, universal, qualifier for every team in December: "they still have work to do"

Go

Great 8.

Two straight seasons losing big chunks of the starting lineup takes time to adjust to.

 

[BFieldHusky]

Big East Champ x2 Still think we match up quite well with our BE brethren.
Out in the Elite 8 to a team that has a little too much athletically for our defensive vulnerabilities.

I'd be more worried about a good shooting team than one who is just simply athletic.

 

[prankster]

Final Four

 

[Inyatkin]

Guaranteed a three-peat?

Bad job by Hurley passing up a guaranteed title

 

[RuffRuff]

Field is wide open this year - anything can happen. Predictions right now are ridiculous. Injuries, development, gelling time all make it silly to try and project out, unless you’re that goof Lunardi.

I will say this - the team with the most upside is Duke. If Scheyer can figure out how to coach, that is the team I want to avoid come March. He’s already made some adjustments finally giving Evans minutes, who went off against Auburn. They’ve punted Foster to the bench for James, which was smart as he brings seniority and toughness. And they’re using Brown a lot for defense, often at the sake of the frosh 5. He generally locked up Broome in their matchup and a really good defender.

Also like Auburn. I give Pearl credit, as he goes out plays a helluva tough schedule. Between the OOC and SEC, as long as they stay healthy I think it will pay dividends come March as a battle tested team. Also think losing that stinger to Yale last year will make them come out tougher come March.

 

[aburks41]

Still think this team will be a title contender as we approach March. Floor is Sweet 16.

Will we be a title favorite by March? Idk. But we'll be in that category of teams that the title favorite does not want to see in their region.

 

[ucp990411]

Indeed the Gonzaga game will be most important to this program as they are a very good team, we play in Storrs South and we have Mahaney who always plays out vs them.

@Texas we led throughout which explains why Hurley did not go bananas with them holding us, grabbing shirts, I mean their defense at times was foul ridden but they got few called. Explains why they let Diarra shove a guy to the floor with no call.
Let’s see how we play vs Gonzaga before we judge the season bc Baylor-Texas-Gonzaga was always going to be the true test not Memphis-Colorado-Dayton.

The next game is always the most important

 

[SoCalCanine]

I'm a huge LOVE fan! ❤️

 

[housekeys]

My head was never in the oven - this was always going to be a work in progress. The Dayton game was embarrassing (although I admit I didn't watch it) - but we lost the other two games by a total of 3 points against tough officiating in Hawaii playing games before noon. We have a lot of talent and great coaches and a lot of games left to play. The BE season will toughen us up as it always does - I look at this like 2 years ago - not like last year. I expect a sweet 16 with this team - but beyond that it is too early to expect more.

Excellent post. Totally agree on everything.