This is going to be fun

[suzyq]

This should be a fun year. No expectations from me, last year was a dream ride for which I'm grateful. The players seem motivated, no weird vibes coming out of Storrs, and the freshman look too good to be true. That's why they are freshman. Looking forward to whatever comes.

 

[Scot-e]

I am going to try and take a page out of that book as well. After last year- well I am not sure any fan of any team could have more fun then we did last year- magical. This year it is nice to sit back and watch the young pups grow as the season progresses. There are some super teams out there this year and getting to another FF is going to be tough. We have beef- we have speed- we have length and we have shooters- all the pieces to compete with anyone.

I get the feeling it is going to be hard to score on us this year- if we play great D everything else will fall into place.

DOOMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ctchamps]

I'm expecting George Yucking Mason to beat UConn in the semi's this season. I'm preparing myself now for the worst case scenario.

Ok now that I got that out of the way, I'm with suzy. I'm going to take the season one game at a time and try to ignore any long term goals. This is how I hope the players approach the season and this is how I intend to approach the season.

All too often someone looks at a bad game or a bad performance by a player and projects that specific situation to what will take place in the future. That has proven to be so frequently inaccurate that I intend to avoid it.

As a UConn men's bb fan I feel blessed to root for a team coached by JC. He has produced a lot of successful seasons. Hopefully this will be another one.

 

[jibsey]

All reasonable approaches. I mean seriously, it's gonna be hard to compete with what happened last year, a year that started with such low expectations. We got to the promised land based on defense and even though we have a lot of firepower I'm quite sure that will be the point of emphasis again. If for some reason our offense doesn't click we still have 2 monsters down low to cash in the garbage, so that's always a nice fallback. The only highly rated favorite to make the final four was Kentucky so all the preseason hype boils down to squat. Get your team to a position for the run and then hope the cards fall the right way, but either way with this team it will be an interesting and fun ride.

 

[UChusky916]

I cant wait to see the boards impending meltdown for our first WTF loss early in the year...

 

[Walker11]

Its going to be weird seeing that first loss. Haven't experienced on since late Feb/early March.

 

[ctchamps]

All reasonable approaches. I mean seriously, it's gonna be hard to compete with what happened last year, a year that started with such low expectations. .

You hit the nail on the head.

I think it is human nature to feel better if the expectation are low and the outcome is greater than expected. And it is also natural to feel badly if the expectations are not met.

Take two hypothetical situations. The first team is not expected to make the NCAA's and loses in the second round of the tournament vs. a second team that is expected to win it all and loses in the semis. I would bet a lot more people feel good about the first situation than the second, in spite of the better post season accomplishment for the second team.

Outcomes are only part of the equation. The more important part of the equation is who we are and what we expect. Someone can expect great things but not get overly disappointed if they don't pan out. Another person with great expectations can be devastated by a less than expected outcome. Our nature is the greatest factor in our reactions to events. And this is why many of us play games to minimize disappointment and maximize happiness.

Last season was the perfect season for positive emotions. There were low expectations. Furthermore after the end of the regular season, expectations were still muted. So the eleven game win streak was a shockingly positive sequence of events, resulting in the most important significant accomplishment, winning the national championship.

Those seasons come along very rarely.

 

[Nully]

Most people spend an entire lifetime following a team that never has a reasonable shot at a title. We have it good.