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SMU ThoughtZ™

RichZ

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  1. Not sure how many more heartbreaks I can take. This time, we opened strong and finished strong, but sucked donkey ballz in the middle.
  2. Guard play was OK. Bouk showed up in both halves. Vital had an unusual game, with only 3 boards, but 7 dimes. Gaffney and Adams played well. AG not so much. What happened to the confident and relaxed AG of a few games ago?
  3. Our front court seemed a fifty-fifty split. The centers had a decent outing. The forwards, not so much. Akok has been a non-factor for a while. Now he's regressing to a negative factor. Yeah, yeah, I know, he's a freshman, blah, blah. But he's not. He had the benefit of working with the coaches and practicing with the team for over a year now. I remain puzzled as to why he was such a highly regarded recruit. Sid seemed to be on the verge, then the practice injury, and between not playing and hesitant playing, has disappeared. Between him and Polley, practicing has decimated our front court.
  4. Has there ever been a less effective zone?
  5. We've been hanging our hat on our defense, but last night, there was precious little defense. With nothing to hang it on, the hat fell flat on the floor and got kicked under the bleachers. I wonder if anyone picked it up, dusted it off and packed it for the trip home.
  6. Feron Hunt? He's averaging 12 points on 55% shooting. So last night, he goes off for 23 on 90%?
  7. It was an exciting come back from 15 down, while it lasted. But 15 down should never have happened in the first place. We're UConn, dammit!
 
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SwingDog

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Overall, I was pleased with the effort. With a history of losing games to SMU at Moody by an average of 17.5 points, this was another step forward for UConn. Here's the thing; we weren't respected over the past few years because we hadn't earned it, but that has changed. The Huskies have earned a reputation as a team to be reckoned with. Did you notice how the SMU players were dancing and clowning around on the sidelines when they were up 15 and how that all stopped in a hurry when UConn came storming back?

The wins are gradually coming, and will come, but what is encouraging to see is that players are developing and the team is learning and growing. Sometimes I try to take a step back and look at this team as a class with Coach Hurley as the professor. What we all love about sports are the underlying stories and life lessons which extend far beyond the courts and playing fields and last a lifetime. These student athletes will come away with a life-enriching experience that will pay dividends over the course of their lifetimes, and the bonus is we can be inspired as well.

On point #6, for some reason we seem to have a penchant for providing good/average players with opportunities for "career nights", and it's often post players. We do need to improve in guarding the post, but we have gotten better. It will be interesting to see what happens as the season winds down but I don't think this team has peaked yet.
 
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Overall, I was pleased with the effort. With a history of losing games to SMU at Moody by an average of 17.5 points, this was another step forward for UConn. Here's the thing; we weren't respected over the past few years because we hadn't earned it, but that has changed. The Huskies have earned a reputation as a team to be reckoned with. Did you notice how the SMU players were dancing and clowning around on the sidelines when they were up 15 and how that all stopped in a hurry when UConn came storming back?

The wins are gradually coming, and will come, but what is encouraging to see is that players are developing and the team is learning and growing. Sometimes I try to take a step back and look at this team as a class with Coach Hurley as the professor. What we all love about sports are the underlying stories and life lessons which extend far beyond the courts and playing fields and last a lifetime. These student athletes will come away with a life-enriching experience that will pay dividends over the course of their lifetimes, and the bonus is we can be inspired as well.

On point #6, for some reason we seem to have a penchant for providing good/average players with opportunities for "career nights", and it's often post players. We do need to improve in guarding the post, but we have gotten better. It will be interesting to see what happens as the season winds down but I don't think this team has peaked yet.
UConn is 13-11...what makes you think they have 'earned a reputation as a team to be reckoned with'? SMU is not good this year and have the softest schedule you can have.
 
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Gilbert no showed most of the night but Gaffney was playing well so it didn't matter much, and then Gilbert hit two huge threes down the stretch. No issues with him last night overall.
 
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Does anyone ever think that arriving in Dallas late night and then playing a 6pm game can have something to with being tired and our horrible defensive performance. I mean first off who starts a game at 6pm on a weekday. Not an excuse but definitely something to think about!
 
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Does anyone ever think that arriving in Dallas late night and then playing a 6pm game can have something to with being tired and our horrible defensive performance. I mean first off who starts a game at 6pm on a weekday. Not an excuse but definitely something to think about!

Good riddance AAC!
 

QDOG5

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Does anyone ever think that arriving in Dallas late night and then playing a 6pm game can have something to with being tired and our horrible defensive performance. I mean first off who starts a game at 6pm on a weekday. Not an excuse but definitely something to think about!
The Big East starts quite a few weekday games at 6:30. We'll be much better next year with an extra half hour of sleep.
 
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We're getting better and tougher as the season progresses. Nothing close to the consecutive bad losses of last year. I think we may just make the post-season (I'll settle for NIT.) to get us ready to make a splash in the Big East.
 

Marat

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We're getting better and tougher as the season progresses. Nothing close to the consecutive bad losses of last year. I think we may just make the post-season (I'll settle for NIT.) to get us ready to make a splash in the Big East.

Our fan base is dying for the team to win consistently and return to the national picture so much that most of us (including myself) jump at any potential sign of a return to "UConn normalcy" . I agree we are positioned to continue the climb in year 3 of DH with his recruits and the move to the NBE. Its going to happen.
 
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UConn is 13-11...what makes you think they have 'earned a reputation as a team to be reckoned with'? SMU is not good this year and have the softest schedule you can have.

I'm guessing that either this is (1) a really horrible troll attempt or that (2) you haven't really watched any UConn games or college basketball games in general this year.

And in the spirit of education, SMU's SOS is 98/353 D1 schools (ours is 75th).
 
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Does anyone ever think that arriving in Dallas late night and then playing a 6pm game can have something to with being tired and our horrible defensive performance. I mean first off who starts a game at 6pm on a weekday. Not an excuse but definitely something to think about!
Please. Now I’ve heard everything. First it was the refs then the gym now the game started too early. I hope we don’t have any situations where we play back to back day/night in the AAC. Just out of curiosity does the team have a bed time too?
 
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The Big East starts quite a few weekday games at 6:30. We'll be much better next year with an extra half hour of sleep.

If you don't think long plane rides matter check the NFL results. Players dehydrate on a three+ hour plane rides. Travel and time zone shifts are tough on athletic teams. Not the same problem on the 30 minute bus to Providence.
 

SwingDog

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UConn is 13-11...what makes you think they have 'earned a reputation as a team to be reckoned with'? SMU is not good this year and have the softest schedule you can have.

What JustbrewitMan says.
 

QDOG5

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If you don't think long plane rides matter check the NFL results. Players dehydrate on a three+ hour plane rides. Travel and time zone shifts are tough on athletic teams. Not the same problem on the 30 minute bus to Providence.
I agree with your position that long flights and time changes adversely affect the traveling team. Most D1 athletic programs test their athletes for proper hydration which can help mitigate the damage. UConn will travel a lot less in the NBE but Creighton will be a 3 hour flight and DePaul and Marquette 2. There are a lot of excuses being mentioned (bad refereeing, bad refereeing because we're leaving the AAC, strange tipoff times, horrible announcing crews, the dog ate my homework) that obscure the fact that UConn is in year 2 of a rebuild and there will be bumps along the way.
 
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sucks the conference tourney is at SMU
I think it's perfect that it's @ Moody because
we're going to get another shot at them , hopefully in the AAC final. Uconn is going dancing this year
 
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I think it's perfect that it's @ Moody because
we're going to get another shot at them , hopefully in the AAC final. Uconn is going dancing this year

we could get another shot at them regardless of where the tourney was. just absurd we're in a conference that considers texas its geographic center. surprised areasco didnt try moving aac headquarters into a broom closet at longhorn stadium.
 
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Sucks letting that one get away. Could have been a real stake in the ground. Alas, we must move on to Memphis. This is a critical get in building confidence for a strong finish.
 
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we could get another shot at them regardless of where the tourney was. just absurd we're in a conference that considers texas its geographic center. surprised areasco didnt try moving aac headquarters into a broom closet at longhorn stadium.
I understand , I just want to play them there
 
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I understand , I just want to play them there

It's not at Moody. It's in Ft. Worth. If it were in Hartford i would definitely convince myself they're going to run the table as they certainly can beat anyone in the conference, but given that their longest conference winning streak this season is the two wins over Tulsa and Cincy it might be wishful thinking. I'll still probably convince myself that they can do it.
 
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Gilbert no showed most of the night but Gaffney was playing well so it didn't matter much, and then Gilbert hit two huge threes down the stretch. No issues with him last night overall.

Gaffney was ok, hit a couple 3's and stroked them nicely, think he turns out to be a solid shooter at least maybe even more.. The fact he couldn't break down his man hurt the offense a few times and a couple passes, one travel or up and down whatever they call it made him look a bit shaky early. Also #3 had him when he manned up on him but I think he'll be fine, a combo guard for the most part but who knows with an improvement in quickness and handle he can play plenty of PG minutes in the future too.

AG amazed me with the continued ill-advised drives to the hoop with bigs drooling as he approached? C'mon AG stop please just stop! Other than that he hit 2 large 3's to give us a chance and was ok, they both were just ok overall but need them all to take better care of the ball.
 

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