That was a huge letdown

[champs99and04]

It's been almost ten hours since the game ended, so I don't think this thread is overly reactionary. I'm not disappointed in the players, the fans, the coach, or anything like that, I'm just generally reeling from the massive missed opportunity I saw the team let slip through their palms today.

You're probably thinking, "What the *k are you talking about? This has still been an extremely entertaining season. I couldn't be prouder of this team."

And I would agree. The long-term impact this game will have on the program is slim to none, and five years from now, I probably won't even remember it. If anything, this loss could serve as a reality check to a kid like Boatright, who may have been getting some ideas about jumping to the NBA after his impressive performance Wednesday.

However, the one tangible thing this team had to play for this season is now virtually gone. I couldn't have been the only one, who, after the Cuse win Wednesday, had mapped out our path to the BE regular season title. It was going to be great, right up there with the NIT Title, the Dream Season, the many BET titles, etc. The schedule set up perfectly for us: a home game against Villanova, a looming showdown at Gampel with Georgetown, the last game of the season against Providence, and some easier road games against South Florida and DePaul. Sure, it was a bit of a long shot, but if we had a couple things break our way, a share of the BE title was far from insane. Clinching it all on the final game of the season against Providence was going to be up there with the greatest regular season victories in UConn history. The crowd would have been historically loud, the send-off we gave the team would have been chill-inducing. Hell, even a court storming would have been warrated. Watching the folks at ESPN try to market the final BET without it's flagship and first place team would have been priceless. Watching all the usual choke artists in the BET trip over their own d*ck in the NCAA Tournament without UConn to bail the BE out would have been equally rewarding.

A p*ss poor second half against Villanova later, that narrative has been burned to pieces. I guess technically, it's still possible. Syracuse and Georgetown still have to play each other twice. Marquette still has four road games and home games with Syracuse and Notre Dame. UConn has South Florida, Providence, DePaul, and multiple games with a sputtering Cincy team. But the goal has gone from "attainable" to "need to run the table and get some help".

So, given the indefinite timetable this program has left in the limelight, this loss really stung. This could have been one of the great triumphs of this program, our one last chance to seize a trophy and flip the bird to everybody that doubted us. It could have been one of the last great rides.

Oh well - I guess you have no choice but to get over the loss with an unhealthy amount of alcohol and look towards the next game. I'll be there, just as obnoxiously loud as I usually am. Go Huskies.

 

[uconnfan68]

It's been almost ten hours since the game ended, so I don't think this thread is overly reactionary. I'm not disappointed in the players, the fans, the coach, or anything like that, I'm just generally reeling from the massive missed opportunity I saw the team let slip through their palms today.

You're probably thinking, "What the *k are you talking about? This has still been an extremely entertaining season. I couldn't be prouder of this team."

And I would agree. The long-term impact this game will have on the program is slim to none, and five years from now, I probably won't even remember it. If anything, this loss could serve as a reality check to a kid like Boatright, who may have been getting some ideas about jumping to the NBA after his impressive performance Wednesday.

However, the one tangible thing this team had to play for this season is now virtually gone. I couldn't have been the only one, who, after the Cuse win Wednesday, had mapped out our path to the BE regular season title. It was going to be great, right up there with the NIT Title, the Dream Season, the many BET titles, etc. The schedule set up perfectly for us: a home game against Villanova, a looming showdown at Gampel with Georgetown, the last game of the season against Providence, and some easier road games against South Florida and DePaul. Sure, it was a bit of a long shot, but if we had a couple things break our way, a share of the BE title was far from insane. Clinching it all on the final game of the season against Providence was going to be up there with the greatest regular season victories in UConn history. The crowd would have been historically loud, the send-off we gave the team would have been chill-inducing. Hell, even a court storming would have been warrated. Watching the folks at ESPN try to market the final BET without it's flagship and first place team would have been priceless. Watching all the usual choke artists in the BET trip over their own d*ck in the NCAA Tournament without UConn to bail the BE out would have been equally rewarding.

A p*ss poor second half against Villanova later, that narrative has been burned to pieces. I guess technically, it's still possible. Syracuse and Georgetown still have to play each other twice. Marquette still has four road games and home games with Syracuse and Notre Dame. UConn has South Florida, Providence, DePaul, and multiple games with a sputtering Cincy team. But the goal has gone from "attainable" to "need to run the table and get some help".

So, given the indefinite timetable this program has left in the limelight, this loss really stung. This could have been one of the great triumphs of this program, our one last chance to seize a trophy and flip the bird to everybody that doubted us. It could have been one of the last great rides.

Oh well - I guess you have no choice but to get over the loss with an unhealthy amount of alcohol and look towards the next game. I'll be there, just as obnoxiously loud as I usually am. Go Huskies.

Nice thoughts, but if you expected a regular season championship this year... wow. They have already far surpassed anything I thought possible. I'm happy for that. I hope Bazz and Boat stay, because I think we have some help arriving.

 

[champs99and04]

In no way did I expect a regular season championship. And they have certainly surpassed my expectations. But after they beat Cuse Wednesday, it was something that was reasonable to talk about.

 

[Kitaman]

It was disappointing for many reasons. The biggest one is that they could have played better but didn't. There was very little energy and desire. Bad (i.e. lazy/sloppy) passes and bad decisions that happened yesterday are usually corrected by January. With this year's squad, I'm not concerned about BE title championships or 20+ victories. I just want to always see the UConn brand on the court, and for one game it wasn't there. That's my disappointment, especially at a home game.

 

[TheRogers]

I really wanted the regular season title for the team - Coach Ollie more than anything. I could only imagine how the team felt.

Proud as hell of this team and will continue to appreciate their collective accomplishments.

To the OP, well said.

 

[djct1999]

Even with a win yesterday, the odds of UConn winning a Big East title were slim to none. Although it was frustrating to watch, a game like yesterday was sure to happen. The two quick fouls on Napier really sucked the life and energy out of the team. Let yesterdays game prove to any Napier doubters(if there are any still) just how good and how important he is on the floor. I also think mentally, the Syracuse game had a negative impact yesterday and perhaps the rest of the season. I am sure, to a man, this team exceeded their own expectations and after a great win vs Syracuse the other night, reality set in. There is no postseason..........and surprising to us all, this team deserves to be there. That harsh reality is like a Mike Tyson punch to the face and it simply carried over to the game yesterday. This team, for the first time, played like there was nothing to play for. This team, to me, played with the heads down, their shoulders shrugged, because that Syracuse game showed them how good they are and what that means in March.

 

[mauconnfan]

Well stated djct.........I also thought about the potential negative impact that Cuse game could have on the momentum of playing for "each other" rather than the pot of gold!! Sure looked like it hit Boat........

 

[Greathusky]

I wonder if anyone has a stat for UCONN losses from noon games on Saturday. I could be mistaken but I seem to remember other clunkers like this for home noon games.

 

[cohenzone]

So many of our opponents have more on the line this year than do we. That isn't necessarily the reason why yesterday happened, but I wouldn't totally discount it. We all know, though, that a bunch of our wins were statistical anomalies, especially in what the rebounding column usually means to a W or L. Yesterday - and I give a lot of credit to Nova's perimeter defense - they totally took away a lot of the maneuvering room Boat and Bazz often have, and that took away the big reason why we've won despite the negative stats. Obviously, Bazz's foul trouble didn't help, but that wasn't a problem in the 2nd half. Boat was totally messed up. Yesterday was the game where our absence of good, experienced front court guys killed us, and Wolf's absence didn't help at all. The kids who stepped up on O, Omar, Giff, and even Leon (not in there in the 2nd half) and Tyler, weren't enough to overcome the massacre on the boards. But this team cannot disappoint me. Just nice to watch even in the occasional clunker.

 

[mauconnfan]

The funny thing is we didn't get beat bad on the "boards" more on the floor........how many KEY loose balls after rebounds and scrums underneath can you lose before someone dives and and tries to take over.....that was disappointing and a huge factor!

 

[Dogbreath2U]

The funny thing is we didn't get beat bad on the "boards" more on the floor........how many KEY loose balls after rebounds and scrums underneath can you lose before someone dives and and tries to take over.....that was disappointing and a huge factor!

it was discouraging to watch virtually every loose ball go to Nova. A lot of time, long rebounds definitely went out to Nova players. There was that one free throw that Nova missed and got the rebound that was really poor focus by our guys. Two years ago, Kemba used to track down a lot of the loose balls. Bazz tracks down some, but it is something that hurts us.

Another gripe with fate or mojo or something was the curse of the banked in 3 point shot that happens with ridiculous regularity against our team.

 

[ctchamps]

it was discouraging to watch virtually every loose ball go to Nova. A lot of time, long rebounds definitely went out to Nova players. There was that one free throw that Nova missed and got the rebound that was really poor focus by our guys. Two years ago, Kemba used to track down a lot of the loose balls. Bazz tracks down some, but it is something that hurts us.

Another gripe with fate or mojo or something was the curse of the banked in 3 point shot that happens with ridiculous regularity against our team.

Add in the attempt by DD to hit a ball off a Nova player and it cue balls to another player in the weirdest trajectory for an easy lay up! I don't want UConn to use up all its earned mojo on this season. And the mojo gods know that between CR and the way the NCAA and BE treated UConn this season, there will be reckoning to be paid!

 

[ctchamps]

To the OP: nicely stated. There are two thing going on observing anything - the object we're watching and ourselves. They are both intertwined and separate. You've managed to express how the game impacted you and stay balanced about it. I love honest emotions. I love passion. I dislike when our emotions and passions prevent us from understanding the object we're observing is not our reality and vice versa.

When each game starts, I let my feelings come to the surface. In my case, its nervous excitement. I don't know how things will play out. I just know how I would like them to play out. So I'm on edge as the game starts.

Every brilliant play I'm jumping up and down. Every stupid play I'm vocalizing or worse. And until the outcome is no longer in doubt I'm torn between the tension of hope and failure. The experience is fully felt. But in the end I realize the game, and the execution of the game, are not my reality. I'm a passive observer. So I reign in those emotions at some point in time following the games. In essence the success of the team is not my success. Nor is the failure. I just went along for the ride.

Some of us hold back our emotions and passions because we haven't learned how to deal with the pain when outcomes are disappointing. Or we were taught, that emotional displays are bad. I have a different point of view. I love my emotions. I just want to be able to be in control of them and not the other way around. There is no difference between this and alcohol for instance. Enjoying drinking can be a wonderful experience, but many of us are all to familiar how alcohol can end up controlling us as opposed to the other way around. So we've learned to moderate our consumption and tailor that moderation to our situations. If we have to drive, we reduce consumption. If we have house hold responsibilities (children, jobs) we reduce our consumption. If we get aggressive when drinking we reduce our consumption. Otherwise we can increase our consumption. There are certainly people wired negatively. But for most of us it's just about relearning how to handle the objects we're observing.

 

[Tenspro2002]

More plausible than a BE title, we've also squandered a very realistic chance to be ranked in the top 25. That's a tangible marker of our still being relevant in the college basketball landscape, which is becoming an ever-more-concerning issue lately.

 

[Waquoit]

This was a horrible effort by the two team leaders. Especially Boatright. This was below the free pass zone. It was embarassing.

 

[uconnfan68]

More plausible than a BE title, we've also squandered a very realistic chance to be ranked in the top 25. That's a tangible marker of our still being relevant in the college basketball landscape, which is becoming an ever-more-concerning issue lately.

There is no way we'd get ranked this late in the year. That would be a real slap at the NCAA, and all the pollsters know where their bread is buttered.