Season is still very very salvageable

[RayRay]

I have been seeing so many posts and threads about how limited we are, and how we just simply aren't that good, etc etc. While that may be true, I can actually see the incredible progress this team has made under Hurley. Aside from the st.joes debacle, and the begining road trip against Cincy and s.fl, I could seriously this team going undefeated the rest of the way if they played with absolute fire, grit and toughness, and lockdown D. Bouknight is growing before our eyes, I saw a different, aggressive and more confident Bouk against Houston. Hurley has been in his ear about hin taking over and being more aggressive and it's only going to get better. The senior guards, even though frustrating as hell, are learning and getting better. Akok is so close to putting it all together, Gaffney continues to get valuable minutes and grow and learn to where Hurley can rely on him. Whaley has listened to everything Hurley has said and is seriously improving, crashing the boards, bringing crazy energy. BA is improved, Sid is getting it. The only real question mark is Carlton, because that one is a mystery to me but I genuinely thing he just doesn't fit in Hurleys system.
If we can just get a win in these close game situations, that will lift this team so much and give them some serious confidence that they can close out a game.
The NCAA is absolutely wide open this year, and we have lost to 5 good teams by a combined 17 points!
Let's get behind this team and use the RaRa approach instead of the insanely negative, this team sucks, blah blah. Let's win the next game, hopefully a close one, and watch where this team can go from there.

 

[sirjames]

I agree completely - they are getting better, gaining that toughness and grit that DH is looking for and that Jim Calhoun's teams had. They are consistently competing with good teams - I am impressed.

 

[pj]

It looks like this year we may see the defense and toughness of a winner, but not the offense.

RJ Cole and another year's progress for Bouk, Akok, Gaffney, and BAdams may help with the offense. At least next year, if we lose, we will lose in a different way, for new reasons.

 

[AuRevoirAAC]

Love this post. We are a dangerous team that has been progressing and growing. Anyone who thinks otherwise has not been watching. We are a 10-8 team that could at least have 3 or 4 more wins. It’s miraculous that Dan Hurley has them playing like this in season 2. We have so much to look forward to...

 

[willie99]

God Bless you

 

[ucawn]

I’d say goal is NIT with the possibility of an AAC tournament run. Team is turning a corner

 

[LIuconn]

I said in another thread we’re 2 players with Big East VORP and we don’t lose those 5 games (or st joes). Need some horses

 

[donyell34]

It's salvageable for a NIT bid but the could of would or should of is starting to get old. Need improvement across the board from coaches and players at least stop making the same mistakes over and over again, just so frustrating.

 

[Hi-Low]

It's not salvageable for an at-large NCAA bid, which was the goal this year. Sure in year 2 of Hurley the NIT is acceptable, but this is year 4 of awful basketball albeit more competitive so it's not easy to put it in perspective.

If we finish above .500 in AAC then I can see a possible NIT bid and I'll watch the AAC tourney hoping for a run.

 

[Get a Job]

I have been seeing so many posts and threads about how limited we are, and how we just simply aren't that good, etc etc. While that may be true, I can actually see the incredible progress this team has made under Hurley. Aside from the st.joes debacle, and the begining road trip against Cincy and s.fl, I could seriously this team going undefeated the rest of the way if they played with absolute fire, grit and toughness, and lockdown D. Bouknight is growing before our eyes, I saw a different, aggressive and more confident Bouk against Houston. Hurley has been in his ear about hin taking over and being more aggressive and it's only going to get better. The senior guards, even though frustrating as hell, are learning and getting better. Akok is so close to putting it all together, Gaffney continues to get valuable minutes and grow and learn to where Hurley can rely on him. Whaley has listened to everything Hurley has said and is seriously improving, crashing the boards, bringing crazy energy. BA is improved, Sid is getting it. The only real question mark is Carlton, because that one is a mystery to me but I genuinely thing he just doesn't fit in Hurleys system.
If we can just get a win in these close game situations, that will lift this team so much and give them some serious confidence that they can close out a game.
The NCAA is absolutely wide open this year, and we have lost to 5 good teams by a combined 17 points!
Let's get behind this team and use the RaRa approach instead of the insanely negative, this team sucks, blah blah. Let's win the next game, hopefully a close one, and watch where this team can go from there.

Love the positivity, and agree with the fact that the team is in good shape in the big picture. However, there is not a chance in Hades that we go undefeated the rest of the way. We will have many more (excruciating) losses.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Easier said than done, but our season isn't literally done until after the AAC tournament. They got until then to get their ish together.

 

[Spaceman213J]

If they could learn how to finish games, they could do some damage. It will have to be a conference tourney run, but every team in this league has looked beatable on multiple occasions.

The team needs to shoot and finish games though.

 

[kemba]

Main thing I want to see is that the Cincy and USF type losses are behind us. There have been plenty of bad teams who play up to their competition, have close losses to the good teams that get everyone saying "if they play that way every game they'll be fine"...who then proceed to no show against the lesser teams. No more blowout losses, no more losses to bad teams, im confident eventually we'll start to get over the hump in some of these types of games.

 

[Ts5034]

Im really trying to be optimistic about this. My heart is waiting for them to finally break through like the 2008 team, and finish the season 10-3. My head cant see that happening just based off what we have seen so far.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Looking at our remaining games, if we play each game with 40min of the same fire, intensity, and defensive effort of the past 3 games, then I think we can realistically go 7-6, end up at 8-10 in conference, 17-14 overall. I’d be pretty happy with that all things considered for year 2 of the rebuild.

Anything above that (including a deep run in the AAC tourney and postseason NIT) is gravy on the cake

 

[8893]

gravy on the cake

I’m stealing this. It’s the perfect embodiment of my expectations for this season at this point.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

We have heard many times from Dan Hurley that this team's identity will have to be its defense, because it is not a strong offensive team.

UConn's holy trinity of success in the past 25 years (maybe since we came out on the short side of the 102-96 footrace w/UCLA?) has been:

Defensive stops,
Reduced turnovers, and
Made free throws

Games and championships have been won by UConn not so much because the team scored more points, but because the other team scored fewer points. If you are an offensively challenged team, this distinction is not just real, but crucial.

For the great UConn teams, as games wound down, it was essential to not allow the other team to catch up after the lead was secured.

We have not really seen this in almost 6 years, so it's easy to forget. Now we are seeing blown leads, after just previously only seeing comebacks that have fallen short, but look at some history:

Sometimes it has required a shutout in the final minutes (2004 Duke semi-final).

Sometimes it has featuted free throw shooting so spectacular that the other team didn't even bother to foul (Calipari 2014).

And yes, we remember Kemba's ankle breaker on McGee to beat Pitt, but watch that game again. It was a 40-minute heavyweight fight, with failed first half knockouts by both yeams
Yes, the amazing finish had the legendary, heroic shot, but then we had to beat higher-seeded Syracuse and Louisville on the next two nights, and did both by small margins.

That said, in the NCAA Championship game Butler was held to 41 points, on 18.8% shooting. UConn made 14-16 free throws. I couldn't care less that many nationally disliked such a low-scoring game. I found it a thing of beauty.

Winning a National Championship is very very difficult. It is not enough to have the best roster. See UConn 2006, and even (I know) 2012. Think of teams we've beaten that had 'better' rosters.

The 2020 defense is currently credible enough to keep us in games with good (not great) teams. There might not be great teams this year, or we might top out at good, and be OK with that. The defense must be maintained.

Next up - Free throws must be transformed or there will be more excruciating losses, unless the team loses faith and spirals.

And everybody on the team needs to mature some more, including protecting the ball, not making lazy/telegraphed/foolish passes, and setting real, full-stop screens. NOBODY is fully formed yet, unless you believe that the oldest players have hit their peak.If players who aren't equipped to do impossibly heavy lifting aren't asked to do it there's a chance that the season can tell a better story.

Go Huskies.

 

[jdb50]

This team has driven me nuts but that is because they have the talent to win but they are just struggling to break through. It is all decision making and focus on fundamentals under pressure- free throws. I can see them going on a 3 game win streak, maybe more than once. Other teams will not want to see us in the tourney. Vital has given good leadership and his quoted comments today about staying together it is coming were spot on.

 

[UofCT]

10-3 gets us to 20-11 and I think we all would have signed up for that. There are 13 winnable games left on our schedule. Let's bleeping go. New season starts tomorrow. Let's dominate.

 

[SubbaBub]

What's left is the AAC tourny title and/or a deep NIT run.

Unfortunately we are closer to being sub 500 at the moment inspite of the consensus that this team is close.

 

[uconngb]

It looks like this year we may see the defense and toughness of a winner, but not the offense.

RJ Cole and another year's progress for Bouk, Akok, Gaffney, and BAdams may help with the offense. At least next year, if we lose, we will lose in a different way, for new reasons.

I think this is more realistic than salvaging this year. So hard to wash away the stink of losing. Do agree that winning one of these close ones could help the confidence immensely.

 

[don356]

Any chance of moving the AAC tourney to the XL?

 

[uconnbill]

This team has to win one of the these close games once and for all. When that happens, then I believe the season will be going in the right direction which we are all hoping for

 

[alphasigko]

I have been seeing so many posts and threads about how limited we are, and how we just simply aren't that good, etc etc. While that may be true, I can actually see the incredible progress this team has made under Hurley. Aside from the st.joes debacle, and the begining road trip against Cincy and s.fl, I could seriously this team going undefeated the rest of the way if they played with absolute fire, grit and toughness, and lockdown D. Bouknight is growing before our eyes, I saw a different, aggressive and more confident Bouk against Houston. Hurley has been in his ear about hin taking over and being more aggressive and it's only going to get better. The senior guards, even though frustrating as hell, are learning and getting better. Akok is so close to putting it all together, Gaffney continues to get valuable minutes and grow and learn to where Hurley can rely on him. Whaley has listened to everything Hurley has said and is seriously improving, crashing the boards, bringing crazy energy. BA is improved, Sid is getting it. The only real question mark is Carlton, because that one is a mystery to me but I genuinely thing he just doesn't fit in Hurleys system.
If we can just get a win in these close game situations, that will lift this team so much and give them some serious confidence that they can close out a game.
The NCAA is absolutely wide open this year, and we have lost to 5 good teams by a combined 17 points!
Let's get behind this team and use the RaRa approach instead of the insanely negative, this team sucks, blah blah. Let's win the next game, hopefully a close one, and watch where this team can go from there.

California dreaming...

 

[Geronimo]

Im really trying to be optimistic about this. My heart is waiting for them to finally break through like the 2008 team, and finish the season 10-3. My head cant see that happening just based off what we have seen so far.

I agree. They are shooting and passing so badly today that I’m getting very frustrated. I’d like to be positive but “the team that couldn’t shoot straight” is really making me lose confidence.