State of the Huskies Poll 1-17-19

[Madmannsucks]

So here is/was my thinking. Going in to the season I started with this.
The schedule was weaker than last years(Although the conference is stronger, especially the bottom half).
Last years team under achieved.
We have AG and added a couple good (able to contribute) players.
Expected improvement from the holdovers.
Added a coach who almost everyone(I think)saw as an upgrade.
Given all that, with last years 14-18 record, 20 to 22 wins did not seem out of reach.
If you add 3 wins for underachieving, one for AG, 2 for downgrade of schedule, that would be 20. Those numbers are all subjective I concede...but I did have a thought process. I purposely did not add wins for Coach Hurley since I added 3 for underachieving which might be redundant.
I hope this explains my thought process.

 

[Friendship]

I thought you need a .500 conference record too. We are 1-4.

You do not have to be .500 or above to receive an invite

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Gonna run the table and get a at large berth!

Run the table and it'll be an automatic.

 

[huskeynut]

Winning season will be a big step in the right direction. Didn't expect a post season tournament bid and I still don't. We don't have a tournament talented team yet.

 

[HawkHusky]

Looking for the dumpster fire option...

 

[3rdbass]

Tulane - W
Wichita St - W
UCF - L
ECU - W
Temple - L
Memphis - W
Houston - L
SMU - L
Cincinnati - L
Wichita St - W
USF - W
Temple - L
ECU - W

17-14 finish. Give me the NIT and some extra MSG games!

They aren't wining at Witch. St.

 

[3rdbass]

I think 'gutting' the roster is the wrong word, but basically you hope for some turnover. Like I don't think Dan needs to be taking scholarships away. But I DO think there needs to be really honest conversations with guys like Whaley and Kwintin Williams about what reality is going to look like for them the next few years if they want to stay.

And in brutal honesty - you hope they kind of read between the lines and understand that they're probably best off finding other places to play assuming they want to *play* college basketball.

And then that opens up some scholarships or at least some opportunities for a grad transfer to come in who's more talented and can at least serve as a stop gap so you can bring in a four-year kid.

That's what they need to work on.

You won't have to worry about him as he is a Sr. anyhow.

 

[UConnNick]

This team is way too inconsistent to make much of any definitive prediction on a final W-L record. It depends on which team shows up for any given game. If you get the good team more often, maybe you eek out enough wins for a barely winning record. If they completely tank it could be worse than even last season was.

 

[Marbles90]

I might be wrong but I think "winning record" is the only criteria for the NIT. Nobody really cares if an NIT "bubble" team gets left out in favor of a team that might bring more TV ratings so finishing at 17-14 should be good enough to get an NIT invite just because of the UConn name. That being said, I voted for option 1 - Losing Season. I don't see this team winning many more games this year. Focusing on the roster pieces that will contribute in upcoming seasons - Al, Sid, Josh (they will need him at a minimum as a backup) and recruiting for the future will be the priority.

 

[Friendship]

They aren't wining at Witch. St.

Probably not! but if a winning season were to happen, I think this is the most likely way it happens.

 

[3rdbass]

Probably not! but if a winning season were to happen, I think this is the most likely way it happens.

I think they have a better chance of beating Temple at home.

 

[AdamaNation]

You won't have to worry about him as he is a Sr. anyhow.

Did you see his last insta post? Dunking but with a line of” if you can only do one thing wel be great at it...”” kinda depressing.

 

[YoungFree]

I'll be happy with 1 game over .500 this year. Then a 20 win season and NIT next year. Then NCAA tournament EVERY year after that. That's not too much to ask is it?

 

[HuskyHawk]

I had higher hopes coming in. Losing Diarra was blow, and then Yawke right when he started playing. I expected that Sid, with essentially a red shirt year, would be further along on the offensive end. I thought Jalen would be more consistently solid. Al has been as expected, and Vital, better than expected. Polley first half of the year looked good, and has become almost unplayable. Carlton has taken a step forward, and that's positive.

I picked NIT because while everyone about the roster, the problem is more about pieces that don't fit together well than about each guy not being capable. We have zero actual power forwards. Not one. The way Polley and Sid shoot of late, we have zero wings/SF who can score from outside. It's a huge handicap on the rest of the team. Our three best players are guards, so we run 3 guards at all times, which hurts us defensively and on the glass. So as dysfunctional as they are as a group, I still see signs that they are learning to play as a team. When they do, they compete against teams that are clearly tournament caliber. That should be enough to get them some wins, finish over .500 and land an NIT berth.

We just took Cinci to overtime on the road, and should have won but for some bad calls late. We played Nova, FSU and UCF even for a half, and lost to Arizona due to poor FT shooting. This team can be dangerous at times.

 

[3rdbass]

Did you see his last insta post? Dunking but with a line of” if you can only do one thing wel be great at it...”” kinda depressing.

No I try to avoid all social media following him as he is more of a circus act than a good basketball player.

 

[JimHurley]

[QUOTE="Rico444, post: 2999175, member: 263"]His first seasons in Wagner and Rhode Island were both terrible, but then he quickly turned their programs around. I expect the same thing here.

People realize that year-1 of rebuilds are almost universally terrible, right? How on earth do people not get this?

We've got a crack at a winning record, a shot at actual post-season basketball and a top 20 recruiting class that might end up even better once the year's out. All this in a year for a team that hasn't effectively recruited in three years, has had the spectre of an NCAA investigation around it and a culture who's cornerstones the last three years has been total apathy, laziness and peeing your pants.[/QUOTE]

Thank you. People need to relax. If you’re judging Hurley on what he can do with the talent that was left with him, you’re going to be disappointed. Anybody trashing Hurley now will feel stupid in 3-4 years. And yes that’s how long I expect it to be until we’re back as a top 25 program. He needs a few years to get guys that fit his style of play and fix the culture around here. Patience, people, patience.

 

[Huskybass]

Ollie put together a roster of projects and grad transfers that looked like it came from the Island of Misfit Toys. I will be happy with a winning record and an NIT bid. An influx of talent with basketball IQ is on the way. NIT this season and likely NCAA bid next season says The Optimist. I said long ago that it would take Hurley 2 to 3 years to get UConn back to being ranked and tournament caliber. He is the right man for the job in my opinion, it just can't turn around overnight.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

I don't think Daniel S. Hurley should have such lofty expectations in his first year here @ UConn to participate in what once was the most prestigious tournament in the United (Ununited?) States of America. Guys we have NO talent in comparison to 90% of our other AAC counterparties. Our competition may not have a McDonald's AA coupled with a Top 25'ish talent in the backcourt coming out of high school.... but since when does playing in the McDonald's AA game represent talent? Since when does this type of guard talent ever produce results on the court that could lead to the one and only NIT? Top 25 talent usually is way way overrated!!!!!!!!! C'Monn!!!!!!!!!! Jeez!!!!! Stop the unrealistic NIT expectations already!! I can think of over $3,000,000.00 reasons this year alone for people to temper expectations. It is a PROCESS!! Patience!!!!!! PLEASE!

Guys everyone knows it is all about culture. Developing culture is the key ingredient guys & gals. Rome wasn't built in a day or in Daniel S. Hurley's case two years! Did you know that fewer than 15% of businesses succeed in building this so called "winning culture". As a matter of fact one key ingredient to building this winning culture is for the leader of the organization to develop themselves first. That is what gives this whole culture thingy so much promise! Who here with a straight face can say that we haven't seen a leader/coach on the sidelines in the name of Daniel S. Hurley with great emotional intelligence competencies??? I wouldn't want anyone else to be my childs math or science teacher!

The idea that anyone could actually formulate any type of thought process that comes to the conclusion 10-8,1-4 (AAC) doesn't meet reasonable expectations should have been the 1st patient ever committed to Bellevue.

 

[joober jones]

True, it was irrational, but it was nice to feel a pulse again.