Seton HeII Post Game Thread

[jibsey]

This is a hard thing to admit when your team has been this dominant but there are 7-8 teams in the BE with similar levels of talent that make for close games and “upsets” that are really not upsets except for the ranking numbers. Ok Seton Hall is not one of them but they rise up yesterday, scratched and clawed AND the announcer referenced how many close games they had lost.

 

[Scrutineer]

I'm sure this will be an unpopular opinion, but I still expect a Sweet 16 berth this season. I think that's now the ceiling rather than the floor for this team like I did preseason, but I still think it happens

STOP? Who the he*Kc are you? I never told you what to post. I can post whatever I want.

The refs lost us the game. As bad as UConn played, a call on the last play on a mauled Solo Ball and UConn wins. You deny that a call on that play and UConn wins? Don't repeat what I already know; that UConn played bad and Dan Hurley made mistakes and so on. And don't tell me Solo was not fouled. I have seen the call made more times than not made. And don't give me any Basketball 101 crap. Answer the question.

My take is most people here simply believe this game should never have been close so why waste time discussing the impact of the refs or any other excuse for a horrible loss?

 

[Brad Palmer]

You take yourrrr timeeeeeee because with more than one minute left the clock CONTINUES TO RUN.

It’s the smartest move you can possibly make. Yes, you have to inbound the ball successfully, but that is an insanely high BBIQ decision Alex always makes.

But if you struggle to inbounds the ball, why would you wait and let the other team set up their pressure? Get it inbounds quickly.

 

[Scrutineer]

He absolutely has taken accountability after losses. Maybe he doesn't do it enough for some people, but he certainly has.

Jim Calhoun is a legend and a mount rushmore coach, but lets not pretend Calhoun always blamed only himself postgame after bad losses without firing off shots at others, whether it be players not executing or officials. And let's be clear there are a lot of folks who thought Calhoun was a detestable POS as well.

Calhoun has also had clunker seasons, sort of like this one. Seasons where he was preseason 10-20 and ended up barely over .500.

Is Hurley perfect? no. Is he stubborn? Hell yeah. And winning two in a row including #2 by larger domination than any team in the history of the sport will only fuel that stubborness.

But he has also shown a willingness after the end of rough seasons to adjust - and I fully expect he and his staff will be humbled by what happened this year and will hit the offseason completely energized.

In summary, it was one of the worst, most bizarre finishes to games in UConn history. And there were a lot of owners of it. But Dan Hurley and his staff won back to back national championships. Show the man at least a little bit of freaking respect for god sakes.

I believe many here think Dan Hurley has changed for the worse with the arrogance and pettiness he's shown since the 2nd title. I know I don't like it and hope Andrea and his Mom and Dad wake him up.

He was a likeable, passionate, fan of UConn and the Big East and did much to endear himself to the players and fans in his first few years but now acts much differently. Consider the comment he infamously made to the referee about not turning his back on him. Smacks of privilege and arrogance he never showed his first five years here.

Maybe it's not possible to be humble and great. Most of us would be lucky to be one of those two.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Just noting here that Auriemma had Bueckers on the court with under 2 minutes left in a game he was leading by 25+. Hasn't he learned anything in the last 5 years of coaching Bueckers and Fudd?

Yeah but the girls helped pull me off the ledge!!

 

[housekeys]

My take is most people here simply believe this game should never have been close so why waste time discussing the impact of the refs or any other excuse for a horrible loss?

Because it is possible to play poorly and win. We would have done EXACTLY that if the refs call a foul on the last play.

 

[RuffRuff]

Duke is a top team and they clearly are not stamped by the portal. If anything they are the complete opposite.
The portal is a tool

no one is ever likely to win a NC, the odds are not in your favor.
People can also claim Hurley got his first ever tournament win with an uber dominant 7’2” monster.

3 of the top 7 guys in their rotation are portal. My general point was on continuity mattering and in their case it doesn’t, at all.

Purdue generally recruits low 4 stars and 3 star kids. They were no where in the mix of the recent batch of top local kids like Harralson, Mullins and Sisley. They turn over rocks in the deep trenches on recruiting lists, and look to develop. It won’t get easier with NIL drivers growing year over year. They turn into nice players, but as you know, it’s often NBA talent that wins you the big one.

 

[BigTenFan]

Purdue has had two lottery picks in the past 3 years- Ivey and Edey....it's not all three star recruits from Westfield IN

 

[RuffRuff]

Purdue has had two lottery picks in the past 3 years- Ivey and Edey....it's not all three star recruits from Westfield IN

Edey was an unknown kid out of Toronto. Ivey was a 100th-ish type recruit out of La Lumiere that worked out. It’s a lot harder to find those regularly.

Diff of opinion is I’m not biased to the Big10 here, pretty neutral. As said, lots of respect for Painter, he’s a developer and a purist, just think he has limited upside when going up against the programs pulling top HS kids and portal players.

Rick knows;

 

[The Viking]

Going all portal just shows you how ridiculous college sports have become.
Imagine a college coach in any sport not recruiting high school players.

 

[FearThePups]

None of that explains how we lost to a team that has lost 10 straight and just got blown out by Butler by 30 on their home floor. This is a historically bad SHU team.

We did lose all of that but we still have a ton of talent and the most talent in the league. The sum is less than the parts.

Let’s all look at this team vs last year, not from a talent level, but a desire to win level. Other than Liam, Diarra and Alex, this team doesn’t have the fire. Alex said this yesterday. “We don’t show up for some games.” By fire, I don’t mean the overly demonstrative emotional Yes, Cam and Clingan had it, but Tristen, Steph, Alex didn’t let up. This year’s team is soft. Alex verbalized this and Danny called the performance soft. There’s no more proof of this that winning at Creighton and Marquette and losing to the Hall and much less talented teams. I think it’s about heart, not talent.

 

[Deleted at users request]

Matt Painter is unlikely to ever win a NC. He got to his first final 4 with a uber dominant 7’4” guy last year. If you want your upside to be a S16, you can roll that system out.

Well that would’ve been his first NC if it wasn’t for our very own 7’2 guy that we recruited. Lol

 

[RuffRuff]

Well that would’ve been his first NC if it wasn’t for our very own 7’2 guy that we recruited. Lol

Two unicorns alright - the difference between the two programs right now is that we are pulling burgers boys and use the portal.

I’ll give him credit in that he shapes his kids well and always competitive. Next year may be a big year for Purdue with their big3 back in their senior year, will be curious to see if Painter goes portal to maximize as they are way thin beyond them.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

While we're busy with the self loathing I have a question for anyone who wants to answer:

Looking at the five season period that started this past November and ends April 2029, if you were given the opportunity to trade our fate (on court accomplishments) with any other school for the entirety of the five seasons, who would you trade with and why?

Personally I see no school more equipped for success in that time grame than we are.

 

[Deleted at users request]

Let’s all look at this team vs last year, not from a talent level, but a desire to win level. Other than Liam, Diarra and Alex, this team doesn’t have the fire. Alex said this yesterday. “We don’t show up for some games.” By fire, I don’t mean the overly demonstrative emotional Yes, Cam and Clingan had it, but Tristen, Steph, Alex didn’t let up. This year’s team is soft. Alex verbalized this and Danny called the performance soft. There’s no more proof of this that winning at Creighton and Marquette and losing to the Hall and much less talented teams. I think it’s about heart, not talent.

It’s really unfair to compare players from last year to this year when last year had a 7’2 giant behind them to clean up any mistakes they made.

 

[Deleted at users request]

Two unicorns alright - the difference between the two programs right now is that we are pulling burgers boys and use the portal.

I’ll give him credit in that he shapes his kids well and always competitive. Next year may be a big year for Purdue with their big3 back in their senior year, will be curious to see if Painter goes portal to maximize as they are way thin beyond them.

Regardless, Purdue isn’t a great example of “limited” or not finding success their way. They were in the final last year and are now back in the top 10.

There’s Kansas on the other hand who completely went all in on the portal and haven’t been the best team in their conference since.

 

[Vowelguy]

A cleansing ritual was performed by the Women in Columbia, SC today. Put Saturday behind.

 

[RuffRuff]

Regardless, Purdue isn’t a great example of “limited” or not finding success their way. They were in the final last year and are now back in the top 10.

There’s Kansas on the other hand who completely went all in on the portal and haven’t been the best team in their conference since.

I think they’re limited to winning the NC. Self is employing the multi strategies just not doing it well.

Painter is finding lower rated HS recruits and coaching it up, almost exclusively. I find that very limiting.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

I said a while back that with the talent we lost combined with a lot of new faces and low usage returning players, we’d have some great wins and some head scratching losses. I just didn’t think we’d see that bi-polar scenario in the same week. And I’m going to be scratching my head about this loss for a while.

As far as AK’s quote, I could’ve told you that was the attitude months ago. We have a couple of guys who think they can simply walk in the gym wearing their UConn jerseys and opponents are going to fall over in awe. Some of these guys need to be reminded that scholarships are year-to-year…

 

[F101Voodoo]

A basketball game is 40 minutes long. Fact right ! UConn was 5 points down at half time to a poor BE team. They should have been 5 points up. That is a 10 point swing. Without the negative swing we would not have been in the situation where the refs decided the game. That does not in any way absolve this team from poor play or a WGAS attitude. There also was other reason for the loss and yes pizz poor in bounding, missed fouls, poor passes, causing really dumb fouls etc. Yes injuries are also a factor. That does not absolve possible or likely FUBARS by refs. nor RUBARS by coaches.

The factors that fed this loss and maybe others this year was not one single factor. The silly butt statement made here that all that matters is the Macneely return. BS no that’s was not and is not all that matters. You cannot expect one guy to will all games for us. Those who think that all we need to be successful is that we get a real point guard. Bull. It takes a team effort and a team of confident, tuned in, competent players.

 

[DogMania]

30 pages, wow!

What I liked, AK rediscovered his game and shot. Their half court D looked solid, but could part of that be due to the competition?

What we all sadly witnessed, they can't inbound the ball which cost them the game.

There's just a bunch of different things this team does poorly just about every game. Fix a few of them, and they're a clear top 25 team. Don't fix them, they can lose to just about any major conference team, which we just witnessed.

The biggest concern I have remains PG play. It's the one that they don't seem to have a solution, where I don't think they can beat a top level athletic pressing team. Even if Hass could be a 100%, the margin of error is slim. I hope I'm wrong.

Is there a switch that can be turned on where they improve their ball security, 3 Pt shooting, makeable layups and midrange shots, executing their motion offense with pace and precision, defending without fouling, bigs playing up to their potential and ability to inbound the ball, protect it and get it over the half court? I hope so.

Still a lot of conference games left as well as the BET.

 

[Palatine]

30 pages, wow!

What I liked, AK rediscovered his game and shot. Their half court D looked solid, but could part of that be due to the competition?

Until AK does to against good competition. The jury is still out. It was nice to see the ball go in. But Seton Hall stinks. We lost but they are awful, were just worse. We need to see Alex perform at. high level against high level competition before we proclaim his shot has returned.

 

[DRBackup]

A cleansing ritual was performed by the Women in Columbia, SC today. Put Saturday behind.

Indeed. And if you saw the debacle they put on against Tennessee, compared to the dismantling of SC, then you can see that this team can come back from this Seton Hall loss for the better, ultimately. I mean, I've never seen a women's team with that level of talent play worse in 30 years than they did at Tennessee. Far worse than the men played against Seton Hall.

 

[controlfade]

I think they’re limited to winning the NC. Self is employing the multi strategies just not doing it well.

Painter is finding lower rated HS recruits and coaching it up, almost exclusively. I find that very limiting.

Yet Purdue has been far better the last 3 years doing it his way.
Spending huge and going all in on the portal hasn’t done Indiana or Kansas any favors.

 

[RuffRuff]

I said a while back that with the talent we lost combined with a lot of new faces and low usage returning players, we’d have some great wins and some head scratching losses. I just didn’t think we’d see that bi-polar scenario in the same week. And I’m going to be scratching my head about this loss for a while.

As far as AK’s quote, I could’ve told you that was the attitude months ago. We have a couple of guys who think they can simply walk in the gym wearing their UConn jerseys and opponents are going to fall over in awe. Some of these guys need to be reminded that scholarships are year-to-year…

Bipolar in a same game! That DePaul game was a Dickens novel. That’s the thing with this team, they can’t sustain anything. Can they flip a switch? Doubtful. As a UConn fan I feel like I’m dating the hot chick with a personality disorder this season.

I can’t imagine what its like coaching this group. You can only light a fire so much, it has to eventually become the players responsibility. This team feels super GenZ, needing the constant spoon feeding. Not enough dudes on this team that hate to lose. I guess I’m just glad they’re not painting their nails doing tic tocs.

 

[FearThePups]

It’s really unfair to compare players from last year to this year when last year had a 7’2 giant behind them to clean up any mistakes they made.

You missed my point entirely. I get the talent level this year doesn’t compare to the past couple years but how about playing like your lives depended on it every game. Lack of effort is not in the Husky DNA but that’s what I see this year. Don’t try to say because our team talent is less than last year, it explains the mess we watched at Seton Hall.

 

[RuffRuff]

Perhaps just what we need to right the mojo, Bill back on SNL!

 

[Deleted at users request]

You missed my point entirely. I get the talent level this year doesn’t compare to the past couple years but how about playing like your lives depended on it every game. Lack of effort is not in the Husky DNA but that’s what I see this year. Don’t try to say because our team talent is less than last year, it explains the mess we watched at Seton Hall.

I understood exactly what you are saying. It’s easy to look like that when a guy who is 7’2 is cleaning up any mess you make and covering your mistakes.

You don’t understand the amount of pressure Clingan took off everyone on both sides of the floor.

 

[storrsroars]

If this was previously mentioned in this thread, apologies. But yesterday's most read story in The Athletic was this game and its place in history.

It is the second worst loss in the KenPom era, which dates back to 1997, with Seton Hall currently ranked No. 213 in KenPom. The worst loss also belongs to the Huskies (2015 UConn to Houston, then No. 214 in KenPom).

And amazingly, we also hold the third spot.

So you can win trivia night, other terrible losses by defending champs in the KenPom era include: 2005 UConn to UMass (KenPom No. 180), 2021 Virginia to No. 179 Boston College and 2018 UNC to No. 163 Wofford.

So Hurley, Ollie, and Calhoun all have a historically gaudy loss on their records following an NC.

The program will go on to better things.

 

[homunculus]

Pretending that the two calls at the end weren’t a major factor in the outcome is silly. It doesn’t change the fact that we played terribly.

And McNeeley didn’t “trip,” he WAS TRIPPED. That’s a foul, and gave Hall the chance to tie in regulation instead of just needing 1 free throw to seal the win, and then everyone says “phew, Big East road games, right?”

Three individual calls that would have each ended this show.

I don’t care how poorly we played. We did what we had to do to win on the road in a place that one of the best teams in modern CBB history couldn’t (in fact they got blown out).