Saying that the Duke game will give the first indication whether UConn is a legitimate threat to defend its title implies nothing about whether Duke or UConn is better, merely that Duke will be good enough that one might get a sense of how good UConn is from watching the two teams play. That you believe it is premised on an assumption that Duke is better and that you would write something so long based on that premise says a lot more about you than it does about the world in general.
Your opinion of Duke's strength, based on absolutely zero minutes of gameplay or statistical evidence, shows the validity of my point. Last year, Duke had arguably the best scorer in the nation in Jabari Parker, that kid was an absolute stud. His sidekick, Rodney Hood, was also a legit lottery pick throughout the entire regular season. These two guys are now
gone. So ignoring what recruits they have coming in, Duke is left with Rasheed Sulaimon, Amile Jefferson, the Plumlee no one cares about, and painfully underwhelming Quinn Cooke as their lead PG who as we have all seen is the position that dictates a teams success at the college level. Even Duke fans are have been disappointed by Cooke's performance at Duke the last three years.
Duke lost more games than UConn last year, went into the tournament seeded 4 spots higher (3 vs 7), lost in the first round to Mercer, lost roughly 40% of its scoring to the draft (on a team that didnt seem to have much defensive aptitude), and now fills those positions with a group of 18 year old KIDS who were in high school drinking chocolate milk in the cafeteria just a few months ago. No analyst or sports writer in the nation has seen one single second of this current crop of "blue chippers" play against college bodies and defenses, yet they are the
third best team in the nation in an almost unanimous fashion, even being egregious enough to give them multiple 1st place votes? How is my point here even remotely overblown or dramatized like you imply. Preseason polls in college basketball are absolutely meaningless and everyone knows it, which is why I am of the opinion that the champions should start the season at #1 or near the top, regardless of what talent turnover has occurred, because the fact is 3 weeks into the regular season the real rankings will begin to take shape and will correct themselves.
This treatment that Duke receives is exactly my point. I dont blame Duke in the slightest, in fact I envy their proactivity in the matter. Duke, over the last few decades under Coack K, has achieved an incredible amount of success that the program has never even come close to prior to K. So while winning championship after championship, what do they do? They invested heavily in their program and their image, creating this perception of perpetual "eliteness" and success,
despite whether they have the #1 recruiting class coming in, or the #30th, doesnt matter, the general public sees a freshman walk out wearing a Duke uniform, and while knowing absolutely nothing about the kid or his accolades, assumes him to be one of the best in the nation. This is a common feature of all the great college sports programs in the nation, whether it be Texas, Alabama, Michigan, USC, Duke, UK, UNC, etc. And this is what UConn needs to do, in fact, this is what UConn should have
started doing after our first title in '99 when things became real. Instead of sitting back with the "oh we have 4 titles, people know we are good already attitude", UConn, like Duke, should be investing heavily in its image and brand, so that when the current class of 2018 high school recruits are mulling over their offers, they image themselves being at the
true center of the college basketball world while wearing the UConn blue, not waiting for a flashier program with a more dazzling image to come along so they can jump aboard. Right now UConn is the king of bringing under-recruited guys to the top of the totem pole, yet the truth is we cannot compete for recruits with the likes of the top programs (our recruiting statistics prove this), and as such we must make changes to remedy this. As for those who love our current model (which I do as well of course), we must not forget that our last two titles came in a major time of uncertainty and the pieces of our roster truly fell in place perfectly, it was almost divine. Yet their is nothing wrong with maintaining our current model while supplementing it with a few top recruits every couple years which will be sure fire studs, which Ollie in his time in the NBA has already shown a great eye for.
This isnt simply about self-promotion, this much like a new growing business or brand, you have a closing window of time while your product is on top to ensure that it stays there so that the "next new thing" doesnt come along and take your place. We must invest in our own future because the dividends will be invaluable in the future. In 10 years, God forbid we dont keep our current pace up, the general public's short term memory will not remember our great runs as fondly, but what will always last is that image of strength and greatness presented by the likes of Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, UNC who have established themselves properly so that no matter how many decades of mediocrity they suffer, they continue to get top talent and kids begging for offers. As much as I love this program we are far from this level, and all the factors mentioned throughout the thread like marketing, perception, PR, and keeping up with internet and fashion trends, as trivial as you may think they are, are pivotal to creating this image and ensuring our long lasting success.
