SI: College Basketball Contenders or Pretenders

[RedDog]

College basketball’s true contenders include UConn, Arizona, Kansas - Sports Illustrated

The men’s top 10 are playing well right now, but not everyone has the same March ceiling.

www.si.com

Interesting that he's not sold on Purdue.

 

[storrsroars]

College basketball’s true contenders include UConn, Arizona, Kansas - Sports Illustrated

The men’s top 10 are playing well right now, but not everyone has the same March ceiling.

www.si.com

Interesting that he's not sold on Purdue.

Can't help but recall that '90-'91 1st round game vs LSU with Shaq. They weren't as well-rounded as Purdue, but were #16 in polls while we were unranked. Shaq scored 27 in that game, but no one else reached double figures. Shaq shot 50%, rest of team under 25%.

 

[bendm]

I agree with the list minus Arkansas as a contender since they lost brazile.

Contenders: UConn, Houston, Arizona, Kansas, Bama, Ark
Pretenders: Purdue, Virginia, Texas, Tenn

 

[HuskyHawk]

Here is the Athletics's power rankings. UConn #1. Love this.

There was a sequence midway through the second half that epitomized the Huskies’ explosive brilliance, and it started with Joey Calcaterra, who had gone scoreless in the opening 29 minutes of the game. He had a reverse left-hand layup off a back cut, followed by a forced steal, a nifty catch by the sideline, a drive into the heart of the defense, and a behind-the-back dump-off that cut Georgetown’s lead to two and sent the Gampel crowd into ballistics. UConn pressed the next inbounds and got a turnover and an immediate Hassan Diarra layup. After a good defensive play by underrated freshman big Donovan Clingan, Diarra buried a guarded kickout 3, and then Clingan blocked two Qudus Wahab shots in a row before feeding a break that ended with a wide-open Calcaterra 3. Roughly two minutes of game time had elapsed, and UConn had gone from down by eight to up by six. Georgetown looked deeply confused.

Men's college basketball power rankings: Why UConn is now on top

The Huskies are roaring to end 2022, winning on both ends on the floor.

theathletic.com

 

[Kolumbo]

Contender. From Jonathan's fb page

 

[ucp990411]

Can't help but recall that '90-'91 1st round game vs LSU with Shaq. They weren't as well-rounded as Purdue, but were #16 in polls while we were unranked. Shaq scored 27 in that game, but no one else reached double figures. Shaq shot 50%, rest of team under 25%.

Lyman DePriest dunked on Shaq

 

[ucp990411]

Can't help but recall that '90-'91 1st round game vs LSU with Shaq. They weren't as well-rounded as Purdue, but were #16 in polls while we were unranked. Shaq scored 27 in that game, but no one else reached double figures. Shaq shot 50%, rest of team under 25%.

Funny story about that game. My brother-in-law was a professor and had Steve Pikiell in class. Piekell tells him about Calhoun calling a time out and totally went nuts on the team about not playing hard enough. Teams come out from the time out and an LSU player says to Pikell, man when are guys going to stop playing so hard. Pikell tells him what happened in the timeout and the LSU player says that man must f…..g crazy. Love Jim Calhoun

 

[Waquoit]

Funny story about that game. My brother-in-law was a professor and had Steve Pikiell in class. Piekell tells him about Calhoun calling a time out and totally went nuts on the team about not playing hard enough. Teams come out from the time out and an LSU player says to Pikell, man when are guys going to stop playing so hard. Pikell tells him what happened in the timeout and the LSU player says that man must f…..g crazy. Love Jim Calhoun

Thanks, I had not heard that one!

 

[storrsroars]

Here is the Athletics's power rankings. UConn #1. Love this.

Men's college basketball power rankings: Why UConn is now on top

The Huskies are roaring to end 2022, winning on both ends on the floor.

theathletic.com

I rewatched the comeback a couple times because it was so much fun. But on the 2nd rewatch, it's worth noting that while Joey and DC come in around 13:30, GTown maintains a 7 point lead (trading baskets) until Diarra checks in almost a full 2 minutes later. That's when the fun really began. In under 2 minutes it's tied, and 75 seconds later, UConn is up 6.

While Joey had the highlights, it was the burst of energy on D that turned that tide.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I rewatched the comeback a couple times because it was so much fun. But on the 2nd rewatch, it's worth noting that while Joey and DC come in around 13:30, GTown maintains a 7 point lead (trading baskets) until Diarra checks in almost a full 2 minutes later. That's when the fun really began. In under 2 minutes it's tied, and 75 seconds later, UConn is up 6.

While Joey had the highlights, it was the burst of energy on D that turned that tide.

I said the same thing live during the chat. Diarra was really disruptive on D, and I think fired up the others to match him. He was the key to it.

 

[Mike Honcho]

I rewatched the comeback a couple times because it was so much fun. But on the 2nd rewatch, it's worth noting that while Joey and DC come in around 13:30, GTown maintains a 7 point lead (trading baskets) until Diarra checks in almost a full 2 minutes later. That's when the fun really began. In under 2 minutes it's tied, and 75 seconds later, UConn is up 6.

While Joey had the highlights, it was the burst of energy on D that turned that tide.

Yea I rewatched it too and came to a similar conclusion. Diarra was a real pest and ratcheted up the defensive intensity... he had a few deflections, that one awesome block on a dribble drive (that went out of bounds), that steal (and the foul).

 

[ToolzieFan]

College basketball’s true contenders include UConn, Arizona, Kansas - Sports Illustrated

The men’s top 10 are playing well right now, but not everyone has the same March ceiling.

www.si.com

Interesting that he's not sold on Purdue.

It’s so fun to read things like, “If the NCAA tournament started today, I’d have little doubt in picking the Huskies to win it all” coming from national writers, and not just The Boneyard.

 

[bigknight3]

Here is the Athletics's power rankings. UConn #1. Love this.

Men's college basketball power rankings: Why UConn is now on top

The Huskies are roaring to end 2022, winning on both ends on the floor.

theathletic.com

"There was a sequence midway through the second half that epitomized the Huskies’ explosive brilliance, and it started with Joey Calcaterra, who had gone scoreless in the opening 29 minutes of the game. He had a reverse left-hand layup off a back cut, followed by a forced steal, a nifty catch by the sideline, a drive into the heart of the defense, and a behind-the-back dump-off that cut Georgetown’s lead to two and sent the Gampel crowd into ballistics. UConn pressed the next inbounds and got a turnover and an immediate Hassan Diarra layup. After a good defensive play by underrated freshman big Donovan Clingan, Diarra buried a guarded kickout 3, and then Clingan blocked two Qudus Wahab shots in a row before feeding a break that ended with a wide-open Calcaterra 3. Roughly two minutes of game time had elapsed, and UConn had gone from down by eight to up by six. Georgetown looked deeply confused.

Stingy defense, savvy offense, flow, intuition, and a crowd absolutely losing its mind: It was everything that has made UConn so good so far, purified and condensed.

[...] on Tuesday, when UConn really needed to elevate, when it needed something more, it was damn near transcendent. It looked like the best team in the country to us."