Reality check on WCBB opponents

[eebmg]

Uconn, Baylor, TN, and Duke to name just of few of the defeated favorites in WCBB have coaches and players who understand reality.

How did TN and Duke land on the same line as Uconn and Baylor?

Does the TN coach understand anything?

 

[MD#12Fan]

For the official record-DT-3, MM-2 and Stewie-4 won 9 of the 11, Shea/Svet/TASS won 2000 NC for the 2nd official title. 9+1+Rebecca=11

Thanks for that. So, 9 out of 11 with a superstar. Not a great player, but a superstar. And Lobo.
My statement is: This team (last year and this year, post the big 3) could be the "crowning achievement" in the annals of UConn basketball history. Consider the idea, if only to feel really good for a minute.

 

[MD#12Fan]

I didn't say they haven't accomplished a lot.

I didn't say they accomplished a lot. I said this could be the program's historical "crowning achievement" if they go on to win the NC. (knock on wood)

 

[Los24]

Actually, I wasn't being silly. Let's parse your 3 team selection-

'01-02 Was TASS +DT and yes, that was a great team. They played 6 top 25 opponents, 4 in the top 10 (#3,8,3,2). Beat #20 BC in BigEast Final, played 4 ranked teams in NCAA (#24,15,6 #2-Oklahoma in Final by 12 pts). They had 4 games decided by 15 or less (unranked VT by 9)...Beat a total of 10 Ranked team; 5 Top 10.

'08-09 Was Maya's Junior year. I would argue this team is the weakest of your three and probably behind this years team. They played 5 Ranked opponents during their reg season-only 3 in the top 10 at the time of playing (#2, #4, #6). The BigEast was a cake walk with only Louisville being good at #7 in the final. A few anomolies there were 6 games decided by <15 points and only 1 was against a ranked team (@ND by 10) and 4 others were at home so they did not dominate the lesser ones as much as I would have expected.
Their NCAA tournament was interesting in that they played 5 ranked teams from the last poll-#22,#13,#19,#2,#7 (which was Louisville for the 3rd time). Very good team. Beat 10 Ranked teams, 5 in Top 10 (Louisville 3 times)

'15-16 Stewie/Tuck/Mo and this team faced 13 ranked opponents (4 in the NCAA), 6 in the top 10 at the time of playing them. Closest game was 12 against #2 SC and only one other game at 16 points. Truly dominating.

'17-18 This year's team has played 8 top 25 teams so far with USF coming up. 5 of these in the top 10 (#5,3,9,7,4). ND by 9 and @ Texas by 4. In the AAC, I suspect USF again for a total of 10 top 25 teams for pre-NCAA tournament. Add in 4 ranked teams in the tourney and that is 14 Ranked opponents, more than any others on this list.

My point is take a step back and look at the full scope, not your memory nor your quick view of the scores. Last to consider is the evolution of the game in these past 16 years since 2002. The talent is spread among more teams, with better coaching.

Thanks for putting specific teams out for a full review.

My take is 2016-17 as #1, 2002 as #2. This years team has a chance for top 5 and maybe top 3....

What's interesting is this (core) team for the most part lost 1 game (OT last second) in almost 2 years. The big 3 lost (in junior year) to Stanford albeit it was not final 4 in March. If they run the table this year with an undefeated season I do not see how people would not consider them "AMONG" the greatest teams. What is funny is that most fans on the board also argue this team should have (potential) 4 - 6 AA, the NPOY (2 candidates) and the DPOY (2 candidates) . That is a lot of fire power for a not so great team...LOL.

 

[Los24]

Wait- their win over UCONN was not a one-off? (I am guessing that means a one time deal).
So you think if UCONN had played Mississippi State let’s say, 3 times, MSU would have continued to beat UCONN? I think very few would agree with you. And honestly, if MSU was that good, why didn’t they beat SC? South Carolina, your anointed “best team in the nation” well, UCONN managed to beat them, so MSS should have had no problem with SC. Oh wait- beating UCONN took too much out of them. Huh?
Have you watched MSU play this year? You really think they are better than UCONN? I guess time will tell.

Just to jump in your convo.... SC won so they are crowned champion but the best team does not always win otherwise there would be no such things as upsets. MSST won and were the better team that day, but many folks (not just UConn fans) expected an easy win. Not sure that would have been the case if it was not a one off win. How did they do in previous years against UConn? They have not established any kind of winning against a team such as UConn, but I think they have shown that they were a quality team and continue to be one.

I think they sort of had the UConn affect on UConn in the FF last year. What I mean is that UConn often wins some games against teams because they are not used to the style of play, we recognize that many teams often get blitzed and game over in Q1. I think UConn was blitzed by the style and aggression by MSST. To UConn's credit it was not game over in Q1 and they fought back.

I for one want to play MSST in March. I love to see UConn respond to a team that punched them in the mouth, that took away a great ending of the season and ended the streak. I would not be concerned about losing only because if we did lose then we (UConn) did not deserve it.

 

[DefenseBB]

What's interesting is this (core) team for the most part lost 1 game (OT last second) in almost 2 years. The big 3 lost (in junior year) to Stanford albeit it was not final 4 in March. If they run the table this year with an undefeated season I do not see how people would not consider them "AMONG" the greatest teams. What is funny is that most fans on the board also argue this team should have (potential) 4 - 6 AA, the NPOY (2 candidates) and the DPOY (2 candidates) . That is a lot of fire power for a not so great team...LOL.

I can’t “Like” your observation enough. To me the talent is as deep and distributed as I can remember across 10 teams. While injuries and inconsistent development plague a few teams (ND, SC, Tenn, Stanford), WCBB is showing better depth so UConn should be proud with this domination.

I don’t get the naysayers on this teams excellence. 3 All Americans last year, Kia is serving this year, budding AA in both Crystal Dangerfield and Z. This team has played better competition in both more and better ranked than the other noted UConn teams. I just scratch my head.