Tough January

[NatiHuskiFan]

I’m ready to see the Huskies finally win one here in Cincy. How many straight have they lost? I’ve been back in the cincy since 2012 and have yet to see them win here or at Ohio state a few years ago. My only win was seeing them in Maui when they last won out there! Starting to think I’m bad luck lol

 

[pj]

Florida and Xavier are NCAA teams. Miami is not. Indiana is borderline.

I think Florida is the only NCAA team in that group. Xavier is going to run the gauntlet of a tough Big East and I think they end up with a losing conference record and just outside of the tourney. Indiana is a bubble team also.

 

[Watchdog]

WS, Temple, Cincy, and Hou have not been impressive this season. Have you seen them play? We are more than capable of beating all those teams. Going 2-6 in that stretch would be a massive underachievement. I believe you’re severely underrating the capabilities of this team. We were damn near a last second heave from Xavier away from being ranked. Look at the schedule of the teams you listed. Not impressive. 5-3 should be the minimum expectation here. Lord help us if we go into the big East with these expectations next season. We are on par or better than every single team you’ve listed in this stretch maybe besides Villanova, whom we can also beat. Logic and probability says we’ll lose a couple. But 2-6? Really? That’s not a failure?

Oh and Merry Christmas!! Haha

I'm always optimistic and after Charleston had high hopes for this year but if we don't win the first two games we could easily go 2-4 in those first six games of 2020: @Cincy, @USF, Tulane, WSU, @Villanova and @Houston.

To go 4-2 would likely mean at least two road wins against teams that have improved since the start of the year.

Here's the records of the teams you mentioned: WSU is 10-1 with the last three being wins over OKSt. by 19, OK by 5 and VCU by 10. Temple is 8-3 with wins by 9 over USC, a loss by 7 to MD, a 23 point win over Texas A&M, a 1 point loss to Miami and a 47 point win over mighty St.Joe's. Cincy has been a question mark, but just beat TN by 12 and lost to Iowa by 7. Houston's 8-3, been up and down, but looked good tonight beating Washington in the championship game of the Diamondhead Classic.

 

[LIuconn]

This is what we want, right? Gotta win games to make the tournament

 

[AntG168]

I'm always optimistic and after Charleston had high hopes for this year but if we don't win the first two games we could easily go 2-4 in those first six games of 2020: @Cincy, @USF, Tulane, WSU, @Villanova and @Houston.

To go 4-2 would likely mean at least two road wins against teams that have improved since the start of the year.

Here's the records of the teams you mentioned: WSU is 10-1 with the last three being wins over OKSt. by 19, OK by 5 and VCU by 10. Temple is 8-3 with wins by 9 over USC, a loss by 7 to MD, a 23 point win over Texas A&M, a 1 point loss to Miami and a 47 point win over mighty St.Joe's. Cincy has been a question mark, but just beat TN by 12 and lost to Iowa by 7. Houston's 8-3, been up and down, but looked good tonight beating Washington in the championship game of the Diamondhead Classic.

Not Impressive. We’re on par if not better then all these teams. 5-3 is acceptable. Anything worse is a failure

 

[jibsey]

Won’t take long to find out. Seen some very bright spots from the new and some unexpected ugliness from the old but now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their basketball team.

 

[Kitaman]

As the season progresses, every good team continues to improve; cleaning up mistakes, developing chemistry, improving personal and team development/production and coaches better utilizing players at key times.

Just saying the OP post is spot on, but that can be said about every good team. Its a matter of what teams are able to maximize their potential. Also all very good teams (including ours) has that one AA candidate type player or 'The Man'. I'm not sure we have that player right now, which is why I'll be happy with a significant improvement over last year. That player is on our team but not yet identified, I'm confident he will emerge by next season.

Just saying its about who get better 'better', if that makes sense. This season its a race with no front runner.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I’m with @AntG168 here. Anything less than a .500 record in January would be a massive failure. I expect us to be 5-3.

@ Cinci is a 50-50 game
@ USF is a Win
Tulane a Win
WSU is a 50-50 game
@ Villanova is a probable Loss (call it 20-80%)
Tulsa is a Win
Temple is a Win
@ Memphis is a probable loss but more like 40%-60%

That’s four Ws and two 50-50 games so call it 5 Ws. Outside chance at 6 wins if we overachieve and go 2-1 in the Cinci, WSU and Memphis games. Downside would be 4 wins.

 

[BFieldHusky]

I’m with @AntG168 here. Anything less than a .500 record in January would be a massive failure. I expect us to be 5-3.

@ Cinci is a 50-50 game
@ USF is a Win
Tulane a Win
WSU is a 50-50 game
@ Villanova is a probable Loss (call it 20-80%)
Tulsa is a Win
Temple is a Win
@ Memphis is a probable loss but more like 40%-60%

That’s four Ws and two 50-50 games so call it 5 Ws. Outside chance at 6 wins if we overachieve and go 2-1 in the Cinci, WSU and Memphis games. Downside would be 4 wins.

You forgot @ Houston, which is in between @ Villanova and Tulsa.

 

[HuskyHawk]

You forgot @ Houston, which is in between @ Villanova and Tulsa.

And Memphis is 2/1 so we swap those games and I’d say the win odds @Houston are about the same as @ Memphis. So same overall expectations.

 

[Martin]

I feel like the likelihood of the chances of this team underperforming (1-5 first 6 games) is higher than overperforming. Until they show they are capable I am not all able to look at at their potential. Way too much disappointment for too long. I will be surprised if they come out of January .500. I’m not very bullish on this team. I will consider this season very successful if they win 20.

 

[Watchdog]

Not Impressive. We’re on par if not better then all these teams. 5-3 is acceptable. Anything worse is a failure

Could be 7-1 or 3-5 or anywhere between depending on whether Gilbert, Carlton and Vital play up to their capabilities. But, if Bouknight becomes Lamb, Gaffney becomes Shabazz, Akok becomes Daniels, and Polley becomes Olander, we might go all the way to NC #5.........

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I’m with @AntG168 here. Anything less than a .500 record in January would be a massive failure. I expect us to be 5-3.

@ Cinci is a 50-50 game
@ USF is a Win
Tulane a Win
WSU is a 50-50 game
@ Villanova is a probable Loss (call it 20-80%)
Tulsa is a Win
Temple is a Win
@ Memphis is a probable loss but more like 40%-60%

That’s four Ws and two 50-50 games so call it 5 Ws. Outside chance at 6 wins if we overachieve and go 2-1 in the Cinci, WSU and Memphis games. Downside would be 4 wins.

UConn needs to go 13-5 in the AAC to have a chance at an at-large bid, which means UConn needs at least 5 wins in January.

 

[MU in MKE]

The way UConn’s resume is shaping up during non-con and the opportunities that lay ahead in conf play, I’d say the best shot is to do as well or better than Arizona State did last year. They were one of the last teams in. They were 22-10 (after conf. tournament play) and their quadrants looked like so:

Q1: 3-3
Q2: 8-3
Q3: 5-2
Q4: 6-2

Their non-conference SOS was slightly better and their conference SOS was slightly higher than UConn’s will likely be this year. They had a better NET ranking too. However, avoid anymore Q3/Q4 losses and you can give up an extra Q1/Q2 win or two.

Again, ASU was just about as bubbly as you can get… so anything better improves the case come March.


Between Jan 1 and Feb 20th, I’d like to see at least 9 wins to stay on pace with ASU last year and that includes going 3-3 out of: H-WSU/Mem and @Mem/Nova/Hous/Temple. You wanna play in March, you gotta win some games against other teams who'll be there.

Current UConn team sheet: Connecticut Huskies NET - Nitty Gritty Report & Team Sheet 2020 College Basketball | WarrenNolan.com