They are more similar than most here would like to admit, however, UConn was a shoe-in for the tournament last year postseason ban not withstanding, while PC was a middling NIT team that failed to beat a two-legged Husky team on the final game of the season. You then caused the eyes of every spectator in attendence to bleed with your abysmal performance against Cincy in the BET, and had an unmemorable run in the NIT. UConn also beat Syracuse and Michigan State, two signature wins that PC failed to register. In addition, PC loses one of their most important players in Vincent Council, while UConn returns their entire team aside from RJ Evans, who frequently played less than ten minutes a game. UConn also beat you on your homecourt despite as lopsided a rebounding battle as you'll ever see, something that figures not to repeat itself now that UConn has added some needed help inside.
I think even most PC fans would admit UConn has the best player of the two rosters in Shabazz Napier, a first team All-Big East selection and potential pre-season All-American. Bryce Cotton is certainly no slouch, but I think most would agree Napier is the more complete player. Boatright is an additional proven commodity in the backcourt, and Calhoun and Dunn appear to be on similar paths to stardom. There is substancial evidence to support the idea that Deandre Daniels is an emerging star - he posted something like a 20/10 in his final four games of the season last year, and top ten recruits who stick around until their junior year generally tend to perform pretty well, especially when they're a UConn wing. PC certainly has far fewer question marks in the frontcourt than UConn, but Henton (40% from the field, 25% from three) and Batts (0.6 b/pg) are certainly flawed in certain areas. Does PC have enough shotblocking prowess to defend at a high level consistency? If Dunn's development stalls, do they have enough weaponry offensively? Granted, UConn has similar questions they need to answer, but I think they have a higher ceiling, particularly on the offensive end. Their players also appear more fearless in the face of stiff competition - G'Town, Marquette, Cuse, MSU, New Mexico, Notre Dame, and Cincy all played UConn down to the wire, while PC mostly wet the bed when presented with an opportunity to record a marquee win. PC will surely be interesting to watch this year, though, and I begrudingly wish you luck (your fanbase is annoying, but I respect you guys for sticking with your team through the bad years).
