Seth Greenberg picks UConn 4th in the AAC

[OkaForPrez]

Espn Insider

1. Louisville
2. Memphis
3. Cinci
4. UConn
5. SMU
6. Houston
7. Temple
8. UCF
9. USF
10. Rutgers

Kevin Ollie did a magnificent job taking over for Jim Calhoun last season, earning himself a six-year contract. Despite being ineligible to play in the Big East tournament as well as the NCAA tournament due to APR issues, he motivated his players and got them to embrace the name on the front of the jersey. Ollie built on Calhoun's culture while coaching within his own personality -- not an easy thing to do.
Connecticut's backcourt is experienced on both sides of the ball.Shabazz Napier,Ryan BoatrightandOmar Calhounall can pressure the ball, are competitive, play with confidence and have the ability to score. Boatwright especially has the ability to disrupt at the point of attack, while Napier plays his best when the game is on the line.
A challenge for Ollie will be to get the dynamic Napier and Boatright to trust each other and play for the good of the group. Both can play-start and create. It is important they don't compete against each other.
Up front, Tyler Olander is a limited athlete but an excellent screener and can play pick-and-pop. He must improve his rebounding ability. He is joined by rangy hybrid forward DeAndre Daniels, who can run the floor, is a sneaky offensive rebounder and a capable jump shooter.
The challenge for Ollie is to keep his team from getting overwhelmed by the expectations and approach every game with the same sense of urgency the Huskies played with last season.

Put it on the bulletin board.

 

[upstater]

People are sleeping on this team. They are going to be better than last year. AND, if the stars align and we see improvement from Giffey, Calhoun, Daniels, and Nolan, coupled with a tad more maturity from Boatright, then look out. They will be fantastic. Napier simply needs to be what he already was.

 

[Adesmar123]

Espn Insider

1. Louisville
2. Memphis
3. Cinci
4. UConn
5. SMU
6. Houston
7. Temple
8. UCF
9. USF
10. Rutgers



What a coincidence! I picked Seth Greenberg as the 4th best college basketball writer at ESPN Insider!

 

[OkaForPrez]

People are sleeping on this team. They are going to be better than last year. AND, if the stars align and we see improvement from Giffey, Calhoun, Daniels, and Nolan, coupled with a tad more maturity from Boatright, then look out. They will be fantastic. Napier simply needs to be what he already was.

Exactly. We were better than Cinci last year. Our L to them was when our roster was dismantled by injury, bazz beat them single handedly in OT despite playing ridiculous minutes in that game. They will have freshman playing a lot of minutes next year including point guard.

I'll take the team with Bazz at the point, you can have the freshman lead squad. Joke.

 

[aceboon]

I can't see Cincy being better than UConn, who is their PG? Memphis is probably the most talented team in the conference but whenever they played anyone with a pulse OOC the past couple of years they lost. As of now I'm going with Louisville 1st and UConn and Memp will battle for 2nd.

 

[OkaForPrez]

I can't see Cincy being better than UConn, who is their PG? Memphis is probably the most talented team in the conference but whenever they played anyone with a pulse OOC the past couple of years they lost. As of now I'm going with Louisville 1st and UConn and Memp will battle for 2nd.

Sean Kilpatrick is the heart of the team, but the key for UC will be the development of freshman point guards Troy Caupain and Kevin Johnson. At 6-foot-3, Caupain is a typical Mick Cronin guard: big, physical and tough. He can defend the ball and get to the rack and finish. Johnson is an explosive 6-1 guard with a scorer's mentality, though he'll have to transition to the point.

Two freshman 3 stars. One is a combo guard. Seth is asleep at the switch.

 

[jrazz12]

He was a failure as a coach. He's a failure as an "analyst"

 

[superjohn]

I think even some of our fans are undervaluing our team, we are the best squad in the conference.

 

[Deleted member 3149]

I'll be sure to send Seth a postcard from Arlington next April

 

[aceboon]

Two freshman 3 stars. One is a combo guard. Seth is asleep at the switch.

Yea that just makes no sense, UConn needs to be worried about two players that were carrying them to wins early on while DD and OC hadn't become consistent contributers yet, but these newcomers for Cincy will be enough to put them ahead? Cincy couldn't even run an offense last year with a senior PG, they'll probably be worse offensively now.

 

[mauconnfan]

Good keep the media flying our guys below the radar.........that's fine with me. They still have things to prove so don't want them to get all big headed going in.......

 

[champs99and04]

I personally think UConn will win the conference, but a fourth place finish isn't inconceivable. Louisville is obviously returning a ton from their national championship team, Memphis might be the best in the conference in terms of raw talent, and Cincy is probably going to be one of the best defensive teams in the country. If you're looking to find a reason UConn will struggle, it's that we never really addressed our biggest problem last season, which was production from the center position. It's unlikely Olander will improve more than marginally, Nolan is still extremely raw, and the consensus from most people around the team is that Brimah is a bit of a project. Additionally, we still don't know which version of Deandre Daniels is going to show up next season - is it the anemic player who rode the pine during crunch time early in the season, or the one who thrived on a bad team later in the season when we were decimated with injuries? What about Omar? He was arguably the worst defensive player on the team last season and he never displayed that extra gear around the rim. Is he going to take the next step or continue to impersonate a glorified spot-up shooter? How will Boatright and Napier co-exist? Boatright has been prone to train-wreck performances when he starts falling over to the wrong side of the confidence/cocky line. Will Boatright be able to accept a role as a facilitator/defensive stopper if Calhoun and Daniels become reliable second and third options? A lot of kids on this team have NBA dreams, and if you can't harness them properly you run the risk of sinking the team. We have talent, but we've seen a lot of talented UConn teams under-perform in recent years. If he picked us to finish eighth that would be one thing, but I don't think fourth is unreasonable.

 

[geordi]

Seth Greenberg was, is and always will be a dildo

 

[husky99]

1a ville
1b uconn
2a Memphis
2b cincy

the rest of the aac

 

[Scot-e]

WE ARE SO DOOMED!!!!!!!

 

[HooperScooper]

Here's Andy Katz's corresponding article.

http://espn.go.com/ncb/notebook/_/page/summershootaround130813/american

 

[CL82]

@Champs

No reason not believe that a light hasn't gone on for Daniels. I fully expect him to be the player he was at the end of the season. Omar had multiple injuries and still was impressive. Fully expect Omar 2.0 to be an upgrade. You have to remember that last year was Boat's first full season. I expect him to be able to make much better decisions this year. Center is a big question mark. I suspect it will be center by committee. Loss of Wolf will hurt but not substantially. I'd like to see Olander get some 4 time with another a big at center. He'll be more productive. Can't be a lot of time though given our roster. Finally Bazz is Bazz. As long as he's healthy there's no one we can't compete against. I can't express how much I look forward to seeing his senior season.

 

[CTBasketball]

Seems about right.

 

[Waquoit]

He was a failure as a coach. He's a failure as an "analyst"

Neither are true. He was a good coach and is one of the better analysts. He has UConn too low here but so what?

 

[Huskyforlife]

you just can't make this s-h-i-t up

 

[Goat]

I am willing to buy that Calhoun labored through pain to produce the good work he did. Pain free, he will be more of a force.

I think Daniels changed on 2-27-2013 when he realized what it takes to be Otto Porter, Jr., and how many of those ingredients he possesses. I think he can give us a year near OP, Jr.'s in 2012-13.

KO will earn his salary keeping his distributors 10 toes in. I like both the kids, but I think Shabazz will be easier to coach because he is aware that his ticket at the next level becomes more secure if he makes the others better and helps the team win. I worry about Boatright because I think he believes fulfilling his ambitions requires him to score more. There are a lot of weapons to be implemented and I wonder if RB will allow himself to be aimed and be willing to limit his shots.

I hope so. Increasing the efficiency of the pieces we had obviously leaves us with a team with missing pieces, but I think Ollie has proven that he can win that way. The 'big' picture is unclear with the departure of Wolf, but I expect the situation to be a little better from the start. If we get a favorable draw, nothing says we cannot win out. However, there will be teams out there who's style will be Kryptonite for UConn, for sure.

 

[mauconnfan]

They have shooters and scorers all over the floor so we'll need some people to man the middle to complete the effort every night. Bazz, DD, Giff, Omar, RB and Kromah can make shots so if we can rebound and defend the ball they should be fine. Would like to see Bazz and RB keep they're guys in front of them a little more but I also like the style in which they create havoc on the opposing teams PG's..........tough to pull back the reigns there. Omar is interesting in the fact we know he can shoot it but now we hear the hip may have kept him from being the complete player we may see now.........this is going to be a fun team whether they come in 1st or 4th.......

 

[babysheep]

This year I think we will see how important Dieng was to last year's team

 

[freescooter]

99and04,
I have to say that some of the things you mention worry me a bit. The idea that we have a lot of kids with NBA dreams is one of them is one of them. We have indeed seen what can happen when those dreams aren't properly managed and it isn't pretty. and to a degree, I think while a lot of them have the dream, only Daniels has the tools right now. But overall, I think this is potentially a solid team that can win a lot of games and if things break properly could make a pretty nice run. Unlike some, I don't think it is a national championship team, its sort of a donut team at this point, but if the backcourt plays like it is capable they'll be very good and a very good backcourt can carry you far in college basketball.

 

[caw]

This year I think we will see how important Dieng was to last year's team

Dieng will be hard for them to replace. They will likely start Harrell and have less reliable depth in the front court. Siva is also a pretty big loss in some ways. UL fans love his replacement and some think the replacement could be a OAD and the best PG in the AAC. I doubt it. Siva is only less of a loss because he was good for two to three wtf moments a game.