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Message: [QUOTE="BostonCanuck, post: 2672872, member: 6931"] I think the ESPN piece is a reasonable effort to explore this question. My favorite line from the article is this: [INDENT][I]Down the stretch against the Irish, and last season in similar fashion against Mississippi State, UConn looked uncharacteristically fazed and a little lost despite being the favorite and having more talent and more All-Americans.[/I][/INDENT] That's very true, unfortunately. But is the best explanation for that really our conference? I don't know. You could attribute it to other things, such as the lack of a big player making a big play in a big moment, or the added pressure that the enormous expectations and history of the program brings to our players and coaching staff. The Boneyard covered some good ground on this question shortly after the loss, and there are some strong and differing opinions out there. My current thinking is that, while not desirable, the conference situation has not been the definitive show stopper of the past two years. Having said that, going into the tournament, I do think that the team lacks recent exposure to opponents that play really good defense. That may explain why the offense has not been effective at key times in a big game, because the team is finally up against defenders that are far better than what they have been used to. [/QUOTE]