Reminds me of 09-10 Team

[Husky999]

This team reminds me of the underachieving 2009-2010 team. We had a ton of individually talented pieces and that team couldn't put it together. We were barely beating low - mid majors and everyone was saying "its early" "It will all straighten itself out in the end" " we will make a run." Unfortunately I see the same problems with this team. There are huge perimeter defense and turnover issues. And at many times outright laziness out there on the court. Letting teams back in games that they should blow out.... certain players not really putting the effort in. I hope i'm wrong but things could go either way at this point. We could derail and lose 8 -9 BE games or get it together. I still don't know what to expect at this point and we are moving into the meat of our BE schedule. If we play like we did on Tuesday we'll be lucky to go 9-9.

 

[Prezidint]

No way.

That team had Stix, Edwards, and The Cancer as seniors, as I recall.

There is no comparison with a team that plays only 1 upperclassman.

 

[HeGotGame]

Jesus you are dumb.

We lose one game, on the road without our coach and suddenly we are a NIT team.

 

[aceboon]

The 09-10 team was not that talented...

 

[willie99]

reminds me of the 15 or so other teams we've had that peak in March

do we have a lot of young fans on the forum this year?

does anybody know Calhoun's MO?

he's had only one underachieving / disappointing team in his career at UConn

(I don't consider stuff like an E8 appearance underachieving under any circumstances)

 

[EROCK CONN]

Well then I guess we'll win it all in 2013....

After 14 games I don't see the parallels at all. This team is extremely talented (more so than 09-10) just lacking consistency both night in and night out, as well as playing complete games.

This team will be fine it's just going to take time as veteran players are adjusting to new roles, and were still relatively young.

We may not have been impressive to this point, especially Tuesday, but other then Syracuse and Missouri (maybe Baylor to), there are no other teams that don't have a few head scratching losses and/ or close wins vs nobodies.

Lastly, think of this, imagine Jim Calhoun in a family room wathcing the Seton Hall game not being able to Coach...he's probably more motivated to Coach then he's ever been.

 

[bobbygt]

I think this team is more similar to the 2004-2005 team.

I don't recall that team having NC expectations, but they were expected to be very good. They lost 7 games before the tournament, although they didn't really beat anyone of note.

They had a bunch of key parts back from the NC team, but they lost all of their stars/leaders (Kemba); Marcus Williams was the new floor leader (SN); Rudy Gay had arrived (AD).

I know the pieces don't match necessarily, but I think they are comparable in that the 2004-2005 team was young as well and didn't really have any obvious leaders.

 

[Scot-e]

I know this is off topic but you do realize your forum name is a rip off of 99's name? He is a big shot around here so I would watch your back- he does not take kindly to people infringing of his trademarked moniker.

This year is really all about hitting our stride by the end of the year. I know that every says things like "this loss is good for us" which most of the time is BS. In this case we lost to a better team- and played a awful game. If they thought they were the #9 team in the country hopefully this gives them motivation to get better and earn it down the road.

I really think that this is an interesting year in college basketball. The NCAAs are gonna be nuts this year. Any team could lose at any time outside of the first round. Look at dook last night- us the night before- Uk lost- UNC- the dominant teams we expected have not really materialized. Quse is good and deep- but they are far from unbeatable.

 

[tykurez]

The '09-'10 team couldn't be more dissimilar. That team could not score ... at all. They had no outside shooter and no inside threat. Three seniors who really should have been complimentary pieces more than anything else, a sophomore guard who wasn't nearly polished enough (and didn't want to take the leadership from the seniors), and a freshman big man who is still trying to figure it out in his Junior year now.

Sorry.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

The 09-10 team was not that talented...

Yes. Our 6th and 7th men in 2010 year were freshman Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and freshman Ater Majok (I know Edwards didn't start but he played starter's minutes). Kemba was not the Kemba of last year. Oriakhi was a freshman. We had three seniors who were great complimentary players on the 2009 team but weren't really guys you wanted to have to carry the team themselves.

Therefore I'm not really seeing the similarities to this year's roster.

 

[tcf15]

We could derail and lose 8 -9 BE games or get it together. I still don't know what to expect at this point and we are moving into the meat of our BE schedule. If we play like we did on Tuesday we'll be lucky to go 9-9.

Well losing 9 BE games last year wasn't so bad, now was it?

 

[hooskies]

nit-bound for sure..........

 

[61cygni]

So we could derail and lose a bunch, or we could get it together and win a bunch... interesting.

 

[RoderickSpode]

Tomorrow it will rain. Or it won't.

 

[61cygni]

he's had only one underachieving / disappointing team in his career at UConn

(I don't consider stuff like an E8 appearance underachieving under any circumstances)

I consider 06'-'07, '07-'08, and '09-'10 disappointing, though AJ's injury makes it less of a matter of "underachieving."

 

[ctchamps]

This team reminds me of the underachieving 2009-2010 team. We had a ton of individually talented pieces and that team couldn't put it together. We were barely beating low - mid majors and everyone was saying "its early" "It will all straighten itself out in the end" " we will make a run." Unfortunately I see the same problems with this team. There are huge perimeter defense and turnover issues. And at many times outright laziness out there on the court. Letting teams back in games that they should blow out.... certain players not really putting the effort in. I hope i'm wrong but things could go either way at this point. We could derail and lose 8 -9 BE games or get it together. I still don't know what to expect at this point and we are moving into the meat of our BE schedule. If we play like we did on Tuesday we'll be lucky to go 9-9.

This team does not remind me of the 2009-2010 team. Your post reminds me of the 2009-2010 fans.

I think the last few generations of parents and teachers has done a miserable job of raising and teaching their kids. Whenever adults state kids are lazy for inadequacy, they are making a lazy effort in establishing the strengths and weakness of kids as opposed to making an effort into understanding circumstances. I believe whenever people hear something over and over again, they presume that statement is accurate. After all the repetitive statements, these people now parrot those statements whenever they talk about players poor performance.

 

[OkaForPrez]

I think this team is more similar to the 2004-2005 team.

I don't recall that team having NC expectations, but they were expected to be very good. They lost 7 games before the tournament, although they didn't really beat anyone of note.

They had a bunch of key parts back from the NC team, but they lost all of their stars/leaders (Kemba); Marcus Williams was the new floor leader (SN); Rudy Gay had arrived (AD).

I know the pieces don't match necessarily, but I think they are comparable in that the 2004-2005 team was young as well and didn't really have any obvious leaders.

Better comparable. Talented teams lead by underclassmen point guards show flashes of brilliance, but inconsistency. This is what we should expect this year.

Every UConn Final Four team has had upperclassmen leadership at the point:

'99 was driven by El Amin as a sophmore but he had Senior Ricky next to him for 30 min a game at the 2 as a point combo.

'04 Senior Taliek

09' Senior Price

'11 Junior walker

At no time this year will we have someone with 3+ years of experience running our offense and because of that there will be droughts. Its clear to see the game management drop off from Bazz to Boat right now, and that is despite Bazz's up and down play.

We have championship expectations with Drummond's raw talent, and Lamb's NBA game, but it all starts at the point, and we go as far as Bazz's first bad game in the dance.

 

[Waquoit]

I think the last few generations of parents and teachers has done a miserable job of raising and teaching their kids.

I get the message, I'll stay off your lawn.

 

[ctchamps]

I get the message, I'll stay off your lawn.

Good to know. At least I accomplished something positive today.

 

[Gurleyman]

I consider 06'-'07, '07-'08, and '09-'10 disappointing, though AJ's injury makes it less of a matter of "underachieving."

The 2006-07 team just wasn't any good (Price was a shadow of himself and the freshmen were raw). I think the 2007-08 team did pretty well to improve to the point where they could reach a 4-seed level (before they lost Price in the first round of the NCAA's).

He's had occasional disappointments - Cliffy's senior year coming off the NIT championship year looked like an NCAA team, and we fell short. Scott Burrell's senior year with a talented sophomore nucleus around him (Donyell, Donny, Ollie, Fair, etc.) shouldn't have been an NIT team. Albert Mouring/Ed Saunders senior year was disappointing, but Taliek as a freshman wasn't ready for the minutes he was getting and Caron was just scratching the surface. But that comes with the territory - and every disappointment was a building block for a ton of success in the ensuing years.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I think 04-05 is a pretty good comparison. Coming off a national championship with a young team led by a sophomore point guard (MW/SN) and another stud sophomore bound for the NBA (CV/JL).

We had a WTF loss in the non-conf. (UMess) and lost 4 games in January before going 10-1 to close the regular season (only loss to #1 UNC). I think this team has similar potential.

The 02-03 team is another decent comp, with a developing nucleus (Ben and Emeka as soph's) coping with the departure of an irreplaceable leader (Caron).

Sweet 16 for this team sounds about right. I just worry we might be "in-between", with some key pieces leaving before the team really gels next season.

 

[UChusky916]

The OP is out of his mind. This team couldnt be more different than the 09-10 team.

 

[Waquoit]

The 02-03 team is another decent comp, with a developing nucleus (Ben and Emeka as soph's) coping with the departure of an irreplaceable leader (Caron).

I think 02-03 is an excellent comparison. Remember that team played the eventual national champions twice and smoked 'em both times. In fact, the champs never once had a lead against UConn. But the Huskies had to play Texas in a virtual home game in the big dance. Just shows you how luck and match-ups can help and hurt.

 

[willie99]

I consider 06'-'07, '07-'08, and '09-'10 disappointing, though AJ's injury makes it less of a matter of "underachieving."

06/07: JC always does poorly with a freshmen led squad, and AJ was playing basketball for the 1st time in three years. That's more like 00/01, 96/97 & 92/93(?)

07/08: unranked preseason, same players returning from dreadful year, and they earn a 5 seed. That's exceeding expectations. AJ's ACL led to JC's only one and done dance, and was the 1st indication of what our 2010 class would do without him

09/10: beyond disappointing. that's the one season I was referring to

 

[61cygni]

Yea, the only reason I considered '06-'07 a disappointment was I think they were ranked top 25 preseason. All things considered I think most people were expecting some kind of post-season beyond the BET.

'07-'08 was disappointing to me for the opposite reason in that things looked like they were clicking and we could have had a decent run.