Thoughts as a graduating senior

[imonaboat]

2012-2013 was as good a seasonas I expected as a freshman, lots of growth of bazz and the team, the only thing i really wish went different was the georgetown game.

2013-2014 That florida game is still the best uconn game i've ever been to. Absolutely crazy and gave me hope in the tournament that we had already beaten the #1 overall team. Insane post season obviously!

2014-2015 Looking back, i understand that we probably shouldnt have expected a lot, but we still played eventual champ Duke real tough while also getting svrewed by the refs every time okafor touched the ball. It was cool to see boat mature and finally get "his moment" against cincy in the aac tourney in front of a home crowd.

This year- I feel absolutely gutted. I've been to every home game, watched all the road games,sat front row at an nit loss at gampel, and still told everyone that would listen not to count us out. And now it looks like we might go be back in the nit. In 4 years, i'll have experienced the tournament as a student just once (albeit it was some of the greatest weeks of my life). It just feels crummy to have come here as a super hopeful freshman ready to leave saying "i was here for ollie's first 4 years" and leave having only seen the team play in a meaningful postseason once. I dont want to sound selfish or make it seem like the players owe me anything, but it sucks. It just sucks. I want so badly for us to make the tourny, but i'm getting the same feeling as a lot of others- what's the point of playing in the tournament if we're gonna get blown out by the first decent team we play? Sorry for the rant, just wanted to vent after having such high hopes for my last year.

 

[geohusky]

2012-2013 was as good a seasonas I expected as a freshman, lots of growth of bazz and the team, the only thing i really wish went different was the georgetown game.

2013-2014 That florida game is still the best uconn game i've ever been to. Absolutely crazy and gave me hope in the tournament that we had already beaten the #1 overall team. Insane post season obviously!

2014-2015 Looking back, i understand that we probably shouldnt have expected a lot, but we still played eventual champ Duke real tough while also getting svrewed by the refs every time okafor touched the ball. It was cool to see boat mature and finally get "his moment" against cincy in the aac tourney in front of a home crowd.

This year- I feel absolutely gutted. I've been to every home game, watched all the road games,sat front row at an nit loss at gampel, and still told everyone that would listen not to count us out. And now it looks like we might go be back in the nit. In 4 years, i'll have experienced the tournament as a student just once (albeit it was some of the greatest weeks of my life). It just feels crummy to have come here as a super hopeful freshman ready to leave saying "i was here for ollie's first 4 years" and leave having only seen the team play in a meaningful postseason once. I dont want to sound selfish or make it seem like the players owe me anything, but it sucks. It just sucks. I want so badly for us to make the tourny, but i'm getting the same feeling as a lot of others- what's the point of playing in the tournament if we're gonna get blown out by the first decent team we play? Sorry for the rant, just wanted to vent after having such high hopes for my last year.

And that my friends is the true consequence of CR and being stuck in the AAC

 

[Kitaman]

Sorry for the rant, just wanted to vent after having such high hopes for my last year.

Congratulations on upcoming graduation. Your year of witnessing a Championship is certainly unique and limited to a 'handful' of college students. To be a part of that is more than you can ever ask for.

Anyway you took care of business even if the team you love didn't. That's all that matters.

 

[sledog]

Alumni Asoc take note.

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

And that my friends is the true consequence of CR and being stuck in the AAC

It blows my mind how so many people continue to bash the AAC and blame it for our failures.

We are 10-7 against teams that face the exact same limitations that we do.

Stop blaming the conference when we can't even come close to winning it.

 

[intlzncster]

2012-2013 was as good a seasonas I expected as a freshman, lots of growth of bazz and the team, the only thing i really wish went different was the georgetown game.

2013-2014 That florida game is still the best uconn game i've ever been to. Absolutely crazy and gave me hope in the tournament that we had already beaten the #1 overall team. Insane post season obviously!

2014-2015 Looking back, i understand that we probably shouldnt have expected a lot, but we still played eventual champ Duke real tough while also getting svrewed by the refs every time okafor touched the ball. It was cool to see boat mature and finally get "his moment" against cincy in the aac tourney in front of a home crowd.

This year- I feel absolutely gutted. I've been to every home game, watched all the road games,sat front row at an nit loss at gampel, and still told everyone that would listen not to count us out. And now it looks like we might go be back in the nit. In 4 years, i'll have experienced the tournament as a student just once (albeit it was some of the greatest weeks of my life). It just feels crummy to have come here as a super hopeful freshman ready to leave saying "i was here for ollie's first 4 years" and leave having only seen the team play in a meaningful postseason once. I dont want to sound selfish or make it seem like the players owe me anything, but it sucks. It just sucks. I want so badly for us to make the tourny, but i'm getting the same feeling as a lot of others- what's the point of playing in the tournament if we're gonna get blown out by the first decent team we play? Sorry for the rant, just wanted to vent after having such high hopes for my last year.

Dude, you got to see a National Championship during your time here. Do you understand how few college students can say that? Rarest of the rare. Especially since the same schools are winning most of them.

 

[Stainmaster]

Congrats on your impending graduation. While attitudes and tone differ, I don't think that last year or this year have been truly "enjoyable" for any of us. Keep in mind, however, that someday you'll be sitting your grandkids on your lap and telling them about the '14 run. That'll be one hell of a great story for many years.

 

[Gurleyman]

Think of it like this. You could have been in the class of '03 and arrived one year too late for NC1 and one year too soon for NC2.

Or you could have been like me and gone to a school that won 30 games -- in four years. But that's still far superior to what might have been. I was Class of '88 in high school and my top two college choices were Princeton and Duke. Were it not for the benevolence of an admissions office rejection letter, I'd have had 1 in 800 odds of being Christian Laettner's roommate.

Think about that next time you waste energy lamenting about what might have been.

 

[HU5KIES]

2012-2013 was as good a seasonas I expected as a freshman, lots of growth of bazz and the team, the only thing i really wish went different was the georgetown game.

2013-2014 That florida game is still the best uconn game i've ever been to. Absolutely crazy and gave me hope in the tournament that we had already beaten the #1 overall team. Insane post season obviously!

2014-2015 Looking back, i understand that we probably shouldnt have expected a lot, but we still played eventual champ Duke real tough while also getting svrewed by the refs every time okafor touched the ball. It was cool to see boat mature and finally get "his moment" against cincy in the aac tourney in front of a home crowd.

This year- I feel absolutely gutted. I've been to every home game, watched all the road games,sat front row at an nit loss at gampel, and still told everyone that would listen not to count us out. And now it looks like we might go be back in the nit. In 4 years, i'll have experienced the tournament as a student just once (albeit it was some of the greatest weeks of my life). It just feels crummy to have come here as a super hopeful freshman ready to leave saying "i was here for ollie's first 4 years" and leave having only seen the team play in a meaningful postseason once. I dont want to sound selfish or make it seem like the players owe me anything, but it sucks. It just sucks. I want so badly for us to make the tourny, but i'm getting the same feeling as a lot of others- what's the point of playing in the tournament if we're gonna get blown out by the first decent team we play? Sorry for the rant, just wanted to vent after having such high hopes for my last year.

As a graduating senior as well, you said this very well. I'm so unbelievably grateful for the 2014 season, those 2 games I attended in MSG were some of the best moments of my life. But I hear you, being a lifetime UConn fan, I've come to expect greatness year in and year out. Coming here, I was expecting more than 1 tourney run, I was expecting to be yearly contenders. And as my job post-graduation is moving me halfway across the country, this may be the last time I get to watch UConn in person for many years. It's just tough watching a team you expect to be so great, underperform. Still love my Huskies though.

 

[1999.2004.2011]

I was class of 2013, so here were my four years at UConn:

-2010 NIT (Loss at VT in 2nd round)
-2011 National Title (In NYC for entire Big East Tournament - best five days of my life)
-2012 NCAA (Loss in 1st round vs ISU - Calhoun's last season)
-2013 Banned (KO's first year - last season in Big East)

I was so fortunate to be a student when we won a national title, and I would never trade those years for anything in the world.