This year is make or break for the 3-3-5.

[whaler11]

All this talk about optimism and pessimism. Any room for realism?

People may not like the way he delivers his message (unlike me), but he’s right a lot more than he’s wrong on the football. Other boards he’s clueless, but he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to football.

What board am I clueless on?

 

[whaler11]

Doesn’t bother me at all. Everyone is entitled to their sense of optimism, pessimism and realism.
But it’s all opinions/hypotheticals. I don’t buy the “but he knows football” stuff because knowledge of football does not bear any affect on the future outcome of any particular upcoming season. It’s guesswork that has a 50/50 chance of being correct. Im a Tampa fan and most people believed they were primed for the playoffs. Now they’re in danger of finishing 4-12. It’s all guesswork.

Yeah you don’t get probability do you?

I thought Tampa was going to suck BTW - Winston came off as a total fraud in Hard Knocks.

 

[Bubba1957]

Let's see how February plays out and what other players are signed. The players being brought are better than what was being brought in. To say otherwise is to imply that Diaco was a great recruiter. Randy feels like he is bringing his type of player (hitters with speed). A lot of them will be playing big roles next year. If they could add one or two transfers, the D will be much better. Knocking people on their posterior is still the best way to play the game, the new guys will do that, which will cover up some of the experience issues. The D will miss Junior (a great player) and Foley (didn't live up to his potential), but not much else. Aggressive play is contagious and I believe they will be way more aggressive.

 

[Hornet22]

That's not what I said. I don't know if the new players will be or won't be as good, but maybe they are a better fit for what the coaches want to do. The bodies most definitely need to be replaced. Can't field a team otherwise, but the remaining incumbents can help fill the gaps in productivity. I prefer to look at it as the Moneyball approach. I don't know if you read the book or watched the movie, but a basic tenet in both (disregarding the A's outstanding starting pitching at the time, which was glossed over in the movie) was not how to replace individual players, but how to replace their production. For example, Jason Giambi hit 38 of Oakland's 199 homeruns in 2001. Oakland as a team hit 205 in 2002. Johnny Damon had 165 of 1,469 hits in 2001. Oakland had only 19 fewer hits as a team in 2002, while winning one more game (103 in 2002 vs. 102 the previous year).

Bringing it back to UConn, there are other variables besides intangibles, but yes. Experience and comfort in their assignment does play a roll. Also most of the players who played their final game vs Cincinnati spent 3 or 4 years in different schemes, utilizing different techniques that presumably had to be either unlearned or used differently.

Regarding your last sentence: If that were true, you'd still see 38,000+ people in the stands. Personally, I am certainly more salty than I was 7 years ago, but the gameday experience does not only include time spent inside the confines of Rentschler Field. It also is an opportunity to spend 6 or 7 days in the fall with a bunch of friends who aren't able to get together nearly enough anymore.

For starters I’d just like to see a more competitive team. I’m educated enough to know we’re in the middle of a rebuild and it takes time. Especially in football because it’s a war of attrition and you need ample and capable bodies to compete.

 

[whaler11]

That's not what I said. I don't know if the new players will be or won't be as good, but maybe they are a better fit for what the coaches want to do. The bodies most definitely need to be replaced. Can't field a team otherwise, but the remaining incumbents can help fill the gaps in productivity. I prefer to look at it as the Moneyball approach. I don't know if you read the book or watched the movie, but a basic tenet in both (disregarding the A's outstanding starting pitching at the time, which was glossed over in the movie) was not how to replace individual players, but how to replace their production. For example, Jason Giambi hit 38 of Oakland's 199 homeruns in 2001. Oakland as a team hit 205 in 2002. Johnny Damon had 165 of 1,469 hits in 2001. Oakland had only 19 fewer hits as a team in 2002, while winning one more game (103 in 2002 vs. 102 the previous year).

Bringing it back to UConn, there are other variables besides intangibles, but yes. Experience and comfort in their assignment does play a roll. Also most of the players who played their final game vs Cincinnati spent 3 or 4 years in different schemes, utilizing different techniques that presumably had to be either unlearned or used differently.

Regarding your last sentence: If that were true, you'd still see 38,000+ people in the stands. Personally, I am certainly more salty than I was 7 years ago, but the gameday experience does not only include time spent inside the confines of Rentschler Field. It also is an opportunity to spend 6 or 7 days in the fall with a bunch of friends who aren't able to get together nearly enough anymore.

There are no incumbents in the front 7.

That’s the problem.

Your comment about the attendance makes zero sense. Obviously not everyone is blindly optimistic like some on the BY who constantly tell me one thing while the opposite happens.

 

[Hornet22]

Yeah you don’t get probability do you?

I thought Tampa was going to suck BTW - Winston came off as a total fraud in Hard Knocks.

Well I guess you’re the ultimate prognosticator brother. I didn’t foresee 4-12 no matter how much of a fraud Winston came off as.
I guess you predicted Dallas wouldn’t make the playoffs, Cleveland would go 0-15 and the Raiders wouldn’t make the playoffs either right?
Because I got all those wrong too.

 

[JMick]

I just call them like I see them. There is no strategy involved.

If you're "negative" it means you have an agenda to tear down UConn sports. You didn't know that?

 

[whaler11]

Well I guess you’re the ultimate prognosticator brother. I didn’t foresee 4-12 no matter how much of a fraud Winston came off as.
I guess you predicted Dallas wouldn’t make the playoffs, Cleveland would go 0-15 and the Raiders wouldn’t make the playoffs either right?
Because I got all those wrong too.

Be as sarcastic as you like. There is more than enough proof on this very website that you’ll be a lot better off with my predictions than 99% of others.

 

[whaler11]

If you're "negative" it means you have an agenda to tear down UConn sports. You didn't know that?

It’s actually just being negative about Bob Diaco - but that is too nuanced for those who choose to go on faith.

 

[Hornet22]

Yeah you don’t get probability do you?

I thought Tampa was going to suck BTW - Winston came off as a total fraud in Hard Knocks.

Well, they finished 9-7 last year and missed the playoffs by a tie breaker and was one of the hottest teams in football. Their defense was proven as one of the toughest defense in the NFL. They have Mike Evans who did all his damage with safeties over the top of him consistently. They signed DeSean Jackson who is still a deep threat to compliment Evans. And after ALL of that you thought they would suck because of Hard Knocks episodes where if every team was featured you’d probably find a few stars that came off as “something” other than what they were perceived to be?
Hmmm. And someone said you know football?
Again, 50/50 man. And the person that’s right gets the luxury of quoting their handicap- Hard Knocks which is all about entertainment btw. So to make judgments on people from that forum is in my opinion absurd.

 

[whaler11]

Well, they finished 9-7 last year and missed the playoffs by a tie breaker and was one of the hottest teams in football. Their defense was proven as one of the toughest defense in the NFL. They have Mike Evans who did all his damage with safeties over the top of him consistently. They signed DeSean Jackson who is still a deep threat to compliment Evans. And after ALL of that you thought they would suck because of Hard Knocks episodes where if every team was featured you’d probably find a few stars that came off as “something” other than what they were perceived to be?
Hmmm. And someone said you know football?
Again, 50/50 man. And the person that’s right gets the luxury of quoting their handicap- Hard Knocks which is all about entertainment btw. So to make judgments on people from that forum is in my opinion absurd.

Yeah you don’t get probability you should probably stop.

When they try to create a infomercial for Winston and you can still smell the stink through the TV it’s a bad sign.

When you’ve got the distant 4th best QB in your division that’s a bad sign.

When you’ve got a mediocre college coach as your head coach that’s a bad sign.

It’s funny to think how surprised you were every week when they stunk again.

 

[Palatine]

Let's see how February plays out and what other players are signed. The players being brought are better than what was being brought in. To say otherwise is to imply that Diaco was a great recruiter. Randy feels like he is bringing his type of player (hitters with speed). A lot of them will be playing big roles next year. If they could add one or two transfers, the D will be much better. Knocking people on their posterior is still the best way to play the game, the new guys will do that, which will cover up some of the experience issues. The D will miss Junior (a great player) and Foley (didn't live up to his potential), but not much else. Aggressive play is contagious and I believe they will be way more aggressive.

Interesting that you think Joseph was great and Fatukasi under performed.

Fatukasi's job was to eat up blocks so that Joseph could make plays. If Fatukasi doesn't eat up two guys, Joseph doesn't look so good.

Fatukasi was probably the best player on the defense. He was a big part of the the reason that the rushing defense was 43 positions higher than the passing defense. He did what he was asked to do in the new scheme. It wasn't glamorous and it certainly didn't help his numbers. But he was a man in there, no question.

 

[Hornet22]

If you're "negative" it means you have an agenda to tear down UConn sports. You didn't know that?

I don’t agree with attacking people that have a realistic (in their opinion) point of view. It’s justfied based on past performance. But year to year I still believe it’s 50/50. From my playing days I know there’s so much that goes into a losing season and a winning season that people on the outside don’t see. For all we know the players that Diaco recruited checked out on the season before it was over. Maybe they stopped going as hard as they could when they faced a little adversity. Perhaps the team wasn’t as close as you need to be in order to succeed. Perhaps there were some bad apples that caused issues in the locker room. And yes, talent tops the list. But what I do know is that when you have good players that go hard for each other for an entire season good things can happen.
I played in locker rooms and had seasons where we overachieved and underachieved. And the variable was how we played as a family.
I would guess that the UConn from RE1 overachieved because that was a tight knit unit that played for each other. When all the soldiers are following one message of the leader, special things can happen in sports.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

What board am I clueless on?

All of them

 

[whaler11]

I don’t agree with attacking people that have a realistic (in their opinion) point of view. It’s justfied based on past performance. But year to year I still believe it’s 50/50. From my playing days I know there’s so much that goes into a losing season and a winning season that people on the outside don’t see. For all we know the players that Diaco recruited checked out on the season before it was over. Maybe they stopped going as hard as they could when they faced a little adversity. Perhaps the team wasn’t as close as you need to be in order to succeed. Perhaps there were some bad apples that caused issues in the locker room. And yes, talent tops the list. But what I do know is that when you have good players that go hard for each other for an entire season good things can happen.
I played in locker rooms and had seasons where we overachieved and underachieved. And the variable was how we played as a family.
I would guess that the UConn from RE1 overachieved because that was a tight knit unit that played for each other. When all the soldiers are following one message of the leader, special things can happen in sports.

Are you still sticking with Javier Mojica’s biography?

 

[whaler11]

All of them

Just bitter because you aren’t banned from the women’s board.

 

[UConnDan97]

Well, I'm optimistic about defensive improvements so long as the following 2 things are true:

1) that improvements in the strength and speed of the young secondary from last year help to properly implement the 3-3-5 this year.

2) that an additional year in the system helps the decision-making ability to be much better in the secondary.

There is no question that we just took heavy losses in the front 6 to graduation. It would take a surprising performance for the incoming freshmen to be better than Joseph, Foley, Luke, and Cole. We'll need great performances from Sterling, Beavers, and Murphy. But in this 3-3-5 system, a noticeable improvement in the secondary will equal a noticeable improvement in the overall defense...

 

[Hornet22]

Yeah you don’t get probability you should probably stop.

When they try to create a infomercial for Winston and you can still smell the stink through the TV it’s a bad sign.

When you’ve got the distant 4th best QB in your division that’s a bad sign.

When you’ve got a mediocre college coach as your head coach that’s a bad sign.

It’s funny to think how surprised you were every week when they stunk again.

Again, with those same attributes that you quoted they still went 9-7 last year and was the hottest team in football that nobody wanted to play. So I guess over the course of a 16 game season you gleaned that it was unlikely they would repeat that.
Uh, yeah. Keep dreaming bud.

And on the other side of the coin, the Raiders with David Carr, who I’m sure you would consider the opposite of Winston. He’s a true talent that was healthy. Great pass rush. Talented receivers. Veteran coach. And you probably predicted they wouldn’t make the playoffs right? I’d love to hear why you didn’t think they would. Please share

 

[whaler11]

Again, with those same attributes that you quoted they still went 9-7 last year and was the hottest team in football that nobody wanted to play. So I guess over the course of a 16 game season you gleaned that it was unlikely they would repeat that.
Uh, yeah. Keep dreaming bud.

And on the other side of the coin, the Raiders with David Carr, who I’m sure you would consider the opposite of Winston. He’s a true talent that was healthy. Great pass rush. Talented receivers. Veteran coach. And you probably predicted they wouldn’t make the playoffs right? I’d love to hear why you didn’t think they would. Please share

I don’t beleive I had any opinion of the Raiders as they weren’t on an hour a week for a month.

I would have expected them to be better than Buffalo and Tennessee and be a 5-6 seed though.

Their coach kinda sucks too though.

 

[History Geek]

That’s fine - but optimism for optimism’s sake doesn’t actually translate into wins.

Fair enough.

 

[whaler11]

Again, with those same attributes that you quoted they still went 9-7 last year and was the hottest team in football that nobody wanted to play. So I guess over the course of a 16 game season you gleaned that it was unlikely they would repeat that.
Uh, yeah. Keep dreaming bud.

And on the other side of the coin, the Raiders with David Carr, who I’m sure you would consider the opposite of Winston. He’s a true talent that was healthy. Great pass rush. Talented receivers. Veteran coach. And you probably predicted they wouldn’t make the playoffs right? I’d love to hear why you didn’t think they would. Please share

I answered your dopey question.

Are you Javy Mojica or are you just sadly pretending to be him?

 

[Hornet22]

I don’t beleive I had any opinion of the Raiders as they weren’t on an hour a week for a month.

I would have expected them to be better than Buffalo and Tennessee and be a 5-6 seed though.

Their coach kinda sucks too though.

Ok I’ll step away from this topic only because I offered a bunch of “football” reasons why the probability of the Bucs making the playoffs were high and all you gave was Hard Knocks episodes. And to my earlier point because the Bucs happened to have a bad year you came out on the right side of the 50/50 guess and backed up your probability theory with reality tv stats

 

[Hornet22]

I answered your dopey question.

Are you Javy Mojica or are you just sadly pretending to be him?

Sorry. Don’t know or particularly care who or what the reference is about.

 

[whaler11]

Ok I’ll step away from this topic only because I offered a bunch of “football” reasons why the probability of the Bucs making the playoffs were high and all you gave was Hard Knocks episodes. And to my earlier point because the Bucs happened to have a bad year you came out on the right side of the 50/50 guess and backed up your probability theory with reality tv stats

OK fake Javy. I told you why I thought the Bucs were overrated and would suck. Your stupid constant use of 50/50 shows how dumb you are.

Are you going to admit you stole Mojica’s biography or not?

You probably didn’t expect you’d be running your mouth to a Central basketball fan did you?

 

[whaler11]

Sorry. Don’t know or particularly care who or what the reference is about.

LOL. Gold. Mr ‘basketball guy’.

 

[Hornet22]

OK fake Javy. I told you why I thought the Bucs were overrated and would suck. Your stupid constant use of 50/50 shows how dumb you are.

Are you going to admit you stole Mojica’s biography or not?

You probably didn’t expect you’d be running your mouth to a Central basketball fan did you?

Yeah. You told me. Because you watched Hard Knocks and saw that Winston was a fraud.
Sorry bud. That’s sounds like a guess more than football knowledge.
You can up the ante on your choice of words towards me but I won’t go there my friend.
Life is way too good for me!
Enjoy your day partner.

 

[Hornet22]

LOL. Gold. Mr ‘basketball guy’.

Even more Golden. I don’t live in CT nor am I from CT. If he wasn’t significant in basketball then I wouldn’t know him.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Does Javy Mojica have anything to do with Gog and Magog?

 

[whaler11]

Even more Golden. I don’t live in CT nor am I from CT. If he wasn’t significant in basketball then I wouldn’t know him.

Ah the ‘Hartford’ in your profile is fake too.

Shocker.

It’s weird Mojica walked onto a Division I basketball program and ended up league Player of the Year then playing in the PR league and for the PR national team.

Sort of exactly your story anonymous guy with a fake location.

So you actually are what I thought at first: A run of the mill dope connected to a recruit who doesn’t know the first thing about the program or it’s history. You added the twist of fake basketball glory to stand out.

Keep providing that insight from your fake playing days - that stuff is gold. 50/50 - lol.

 

[Hornet22]

Ah the ‘Hartford’ in your profile is fake too.

Shocker.

It’s weird Mojica walked onto a Division I basketball program and ended up league Player of the Year then playing in the PR league and for the PR national team.

Sort of exactly your story anonymous guy with a fake location.

So you actually are what I thought at first: A run of the mill dope connected to a recruit who doesn’t know the first thing about the program or it’s history. You added the twist of fake basketball glory to stand out.

Keep providing that insight from your fake playing days - that stuff is gold. 50/50 - lol.

Your first mistake was searching my profile and actually believing what you saw. I don’t bother checking anyone’s profile because none of that matters. The sad part is your nonsensical words to me were all based on your assumption that I was from Hartford. And that you actually did some detective work to connect dots that never existed is clownish to me. Shows me that you are as gullible as a tourist in Manhattan who’s about to give a shot at three card monte.
Again, I don’t know who you are and you don’t know who I am. But I always thought that was a given in these forums. And I never believed that people actually troll and try and figure out who’s who and verify what they’re saying. I accept what people write and either agree our provide counter points.
The rest of your post to me is quite frankly ignorant. I’ll leave it at that and wish you a good day, again.