Purdue Post Game Thread

[greenday61892]

Eh, from a personal standpoint I do really like Chuck. At his core he seems like a good dude. I'll just obviously never agree with him on his takes on UConn haha

 

[uconnfan68]

Chuck been hating UConn for ages; never forget he picked against us 6 times in 2014 and we proved him wrong 6 times!

Chuck picked us to win pre-game.

 

[3rdbass]

It was weird to see Calhoun going into the team hotel with a cane for the after party. Sad to see even if he is old. Jim Calhoun is a legend and I still remember in 2011 in the bar with the team and Calhoun just sitting down resting on a couch laying back and enjoying the moment of his 3rd national championship like his career as UConn coach was coming to an end. I still have that memory ingrain in my memory and I'm so happy to have been around for all of Calhoun years. I love the man for everything he has done for UConn basketball.

 

[UCFan1513]

All time cope

 

[Mookson]

We are not a blue blood, we are something different. Those programs have become about media, and ESPN, and donors, and optics. UConn is about basketball and winning basketball games. Jared McCain is painting his finger nails and singing on TikTok while Cam Spencer is falling asleep to game film at night. We are not the same.

There is truly something oddly magical about this program, four nattys with three different coaches, rarely with the top recruits, not as much money, no ESPN. it just doesn’t make sense. it’s not supposed to happen this way, but somehow it has.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

All time cope

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Maybe they should call Northwestern and Stanford and see if they can start a second Ivy League.

 

[BGesus4]

My av forever

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Last year’s ring ceremony, particularly Cam and Steph, knowing what we know now, hits different:

 

[upstater]

All time cope

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The academics are not really strong if your critical capabilities can't understand the advantage you have with $100m extra in funding every year over UConn.

 

[upstater]

We are not a blue blood, we are something different. Those programs have become about media, and ESPN, and donors, and optics. UConn is about basketball and winning basketball games. Jared McCain is painting his finger nails and singing on TikTok while Cam Spencer is falling asleep to game film at night. We are not the same.

There is truly something oddly magical about this program, four nattys with three different coaches, rarely with the top recruits, not as much money, no ESPN. it just doesn’t make sense. it’s not supposed to happen this way, but somehow it has.

This is happening in football too as ownership moves into branding. The trend toward metrics and analytics is all about systematizing the approach. I recently read an analysis by an insider who said what ownership wants mostly is to be associated with innovation and newness, moreso than winning. If you can hire Bobby Slowik or a few years ago, a Sean McVay, that's better than being an Andy Reid (even though I believe Reid is second only to Bill Walsh when it comes to offense and innovation).

 

[BugsyCT]

Question about the trophy. Is that the real trophy? It looks cheap. What are all the crystal trophies in the UConn trophy case?

Used to be called the Sears trophy for being ranked #1 in the final AP poll. Not sure what it’s called now.

 

[upstater]

Last year’s ring ceremony, particularly Cam and Steph, knowing what we know now, hits different:

Karaban in preseason: "I want 2 more."

 

[Doctor Hoop]

I may be too young (30) to truly appreciate other teams but this is the best team in college basketball history. Would love to hear rebuttals so I have something to watch while the fun sports to watch go on their summer vacation.

I'm old enough to have seen a lot of great basketball teams. There were more talented teams, like the UNC team with Worthy/Jordan/Perkins (3 NBA HOF), Kentucky '96 with Delk/Walker/McCarty/Mercer, the Alcindor (Rowe & Wicks) & Walton (Wilkes) UCLA teams, and so on. And check out Duke 1986, they had an incredible roster but lost the title game to Louisville. The '83 Houston squad with Drexler and Olajuwon was another great squad.

But this team played the most perfect combination of offense and defense that I've seen in the last 30 years or more. Plus, there have been very few teams that didn't have 1 "go-to" star to carry them when the game got tight. This team doesn't, 5 guys averaged double figures, with everyone scoring 20 multiple times. They work the ball and take the best shot, including giving up good shots for a better one. And the defense was incredible all year after Castle and Clingan got healthy.

 

[Kolumbo]

All time cope

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Wow, so sad. They lost to little old UConn, an academic peer from the Big East. Maybe they should focus a little more on academics and leave the Big 10 if they want to be considered an academics first organization since they're only like the 6th rated public in the conference. All those Big 10 $$millions must make it so difficult to compete.

 

[greenday61892]

We are not a blue blood, we are something different. Those programs have become about media, and ESPN, and donors, and optics. UConn is about basketball and winning basketball games. Jared McCain is painting his finger nails and singing on TikTok while Cam Spencer is falling asleep to game film at night. We are not the same.

There is truly something oddly magical about this program, four nattys with three different coaches, rarely with the top recruits, not as much money, no ESPN. it just doesn’t make sense. it’s not supposed to happen this way, but somehow it has.

The rest of your post is valid but let's not conflate painting nails with the rest of it all. That has nothing to do with it.

 

[cwh20]

Purdue had no plan B. Players not named Eddy only took 19 shots. Reminds me of when they played against LSU and let Shaq get his.

Great game plan by Hurley and staff! I read Luke was the primary game planner for the Purdue matchup.

UConn was so ready for LSU and had them from the start. Walton, who was mentoring Shaq back then called that game as if it was a film review of Shaq. “And Shaq is backing down his man here. Look at his footwork. Rebound UConn and UConn scores (He basically called no one else in the game by name). Shaq has to establish position so he can get receive the ball. Rebound UConn and UConn scores. The game was great. Walton sucked.

 

[Mookson]

The rest of your post is valid but let's not conflate painting nails with the rest of it all. That has nothing to do with it.

It has nothing to do with him being a male and painting his nails, nothing wrong with that. It’s about doing things for visuals and vanity instead of just winning games.

 

[UC0NN]

It was weird to see Calhoun going into the team hotel with a cane for the after party. Sad to see even if he is old. Jim Calhoun is a legend and I still remember in 2011 in the bar with the team and Calhoun just sitting down resting on a couch laying back and enjoying the moment of his 3rd national championship like his career as UConn coach was coming to an end. I still have that memory ingrain in my memory and I'm so happy to have been around for all of Calhoun years. I love the man for everything he has done for UConn basketball.

Calhoun looked totally exhausted after that game. He can't move around like he used to at his old age. Imagine all that travel, BE tourney, Boston, Phoenix. It isn't easy, but so glad he was here to see this.

Jim Calhoun will always be the GOAT. Winning championships while not getting many 5 star recruits compared to the other Blue Bloods. The exact same formula that the next generation GOAT is doing right now. Winning with less, and getting great fits.

 

[FlexOnEm]

It would’ve been a tragedy for this team to not win it all. WHAT. A. TEAM. One of the most deserving squads you will ever see. Perfect roster construction, the whole team was bought in, team chemistry was great, and best coaching staff in the country. These guys deserved it. So glad I got to witness it in person.

 

[Irvine]

The video reminded me that our home jerseys had "UCONN" until the post season and then switched to "CONNECTICUT". Any story behind that?

 

[ucp990411]

The video reminded me that our home jerseys had "UCONN" until the post season and then switched to "CONNECTICUT". Any story behind that?

They wore the Connecticut jerseys several times during the regular season. However, they are definitely our post season home jerseys. Hurley is more than a little superstitious