UConn #7 in The Athletic's Top-25

[Huskyforlife]

40% for Ball seems aggressive. I’m hoping he diversifies his scoring package.

I could see Ball/Stewart/Ross all in the 34-38 range.

I’m hoping Mahaney gets back to his freshman year splits, hopefully close to 40% from 3.

 

[DRBackup]

Intricate offensive sets don't work unless you have dangerous shooters.

I don't think any offensive sets work if you don't have shooters.

 

[EZPass]

 

[jibsey]

Ultimately I think we’re going to have a GREAT 3 point shooting team this year. Don’t ask me how I base that but it’s just a feeling.

BTW, the post above this…the guy is a Commanders fan. Nuff said.

 

[SubbaBub]

I'm expecting big things from Solo. Last season he put a lot of pressure on himself to make noise in very limited minutes. The talent is there. His defense and ball security will determine if he starts. I'm more worried where the rebounding is going to come from. Can we really expect 18+ boards per game from the guard rotation? We only had 15 from the bigs with 12 coming from DC/AK. SJ's production in this area needs to improve a lot.

 

[jibsey]

If I had to ask for something, it would not be of the team but of the fans. Let’s not get crazy if we don’t look like national champions out of the gate. There is a lot of newness to integrate into the system and it’s a complex system as the coaches describe it. I think Hurley will address this so glad we’re not number 1.
Having Alex will prove to be a big deal.

 

[DaMuttzNutt]

If I had to ask for something, it would not be of the team but of the fans. Let’s not get crazy if we don’t look like national champions out of the gate. There is a lot of newness to integrate into the system and it’s a complex system as the coaches describe it. I think Hurley will address this so glad we’re not number 1.
Having Alex will prove to be a big deal.

Agree on both points. This team has a lot of talent but needs to understand how it will work together. I would love to see them have a strong start (OOC where many teams will be doing the same roster configurations), slugfest through the BE, then get rolling in February as the lineups are understood and you've seen this team vs many different opponents.

Having that coach on the court in Alex is going to give confidence and calm to a team looking to figure this out. My expectation is we are at the minimum of a top half 2# seed with 5 losses going into the tournament

If anyone can get this team spun up in the spring, it's Hurley.

 

[Palatine]

Many things have to go right to go deep in March. But betting against Hurley is an unwise decision.

 

[uconnyankee]

Without commenting on the imperfections in the analysis, I think #7 is much more realistic than #1. Compete for your conference championship, get the trophy, and then see where you are when the tourney starts.

I don't see us being quite as good, in the aggregate, at the 1 through 4 as we were the last two years, and even if we are we're not going to be anywhere near as good in the middle as we've gotten used to.

Pretty much agree. Keep saying we’re not the best. Statistically they’ll eventually be correct. We can’t win this thing every year, can we?

 

[Waquoit]

Creighton is always the preseason favorite. For all the good that it does them when it counts.

 

[BEFAN]

Creighton is always the preseason favorite. For all the good that it does them when it counts.

As a Creighton fan, I disagree with Cody Mitchell (whoever he is). After what UConn did last year, they should be preseason favorites even if they returned no starters. And I don't see anyone on our team replacing Alexander or Scheierman.

And that's bit of an exaggeration, Waquoit. Creighton was picked preseason favorites ONCE since the joining the BE (this was two years ago, when they finished third). Last year they were picked second and finished second (in a tie). I think every other year, Creighton finished higher than their preseason projection.

That being said, yes, clearly UConn has been underestimated that past two preseasons -- especially last year.

 

[BEFAN]

By the way, I don't know where else to put this, but hats off to Dan Hurley. When he was hired, I thought it was a pretty good hire, but nowhere near a home run. His Rhode Island teams and his first couple UConn teams were always gritty and tough and you knew you were in for a rock fight. But if your team could make enough buckets, and if your team play good D itself, you had a good chance to win. I didn't necessarily see cohesive team play (e.g., the Bouknight team). But then...WHAM! Hurley did a complete 180 offensively, resulting in perhaps the most dramatic coaching makeover in college basketball history. (Is there a comparison?) The last two years, and especially this past year, the players all move, pass, and create as a single unit -- it was beautiful to watch. One can say this philosophy was always in him, but he just didn't have the players. But is that really true? I think that narrative actually undervalues Hurley's willingness to change and adapt. Coaches are a notoriously stubborn breed.

 

[bjc42]

Creighton is always the preseason favorite. For all the good that it does them when it counts.

I saw a creighton fan reply to a post on twitter somewhere and he said "we beat you guys so it doesn't matter" ahh yes claiming one regular season victory as superior to back to back nattys. makes sense.

 

[August_West]

I don't think this is unreasonable. I think we're one of the better teams out there.

I think Kansas as a consensus #1 is wild. Self obviously can coach, but the team doesn't feel like it is going to cohere.... I guess we'll see...

Neither does Duke. They just overhauled their whole model of the last 15 years to “ get older and tougher” Lost a bunch of 5 stars to portal in process, but why does anyone think Scheyer has the coaching chops to get that whole model to coalesce for a title run in one season even WITH Flagg? Any trace of evidence over last couple years that warrants THAT?!

 

[caw]

As a Creighton fan, I disagree with Cody Mitchell (whoever he is). After what UConn did last year, they should be preseason favorites even if they returned no starters. And I don't see anyone on our team replacing Alexander or Scheierman.

And that's bit of an exaggeration, Waquoit. Creighton was picked preseason favorites ONCE since the joining the BE (this was two years ago, when they finished third). Last year they were picked second and finished second (in a tie). I think every other year, Creighton finished higher than their preseason projection.

That being said, yes, clearly UConn has been underestimated that past two preseasons -- especially last year.

Twitter users on both sides are silly on that platform. That is what I take from pretty much every interaction on there.

Creighton should be very good again. A top 2-3 BE team easily. I do love the stuff Creighton runs overall but way too reliant on the three the past two years. Especially last year with the Kalk pick/roll not looking as good as it was with Nembhard two years ago. I think they did a very good job of replacing Alexander and Scheierman but need more consistency from the Ashworth this year.

 

[Waquoit]

Neither does Duke. They just overhauled their whole model of the last 15 years to “ get older and tougher” Lost a bunch of 5 stars to portal in process, but why does anyone think Scheyer has the coaching chops to get that whole model to coalesce for a title run in one season even WITH Flagg? Any trace of evidence over last couple years that warrants THAT?!

I don't want to get to all philosophical here, but with some of the guys he forced out it seemed to me he broke the social contract. Something that Hurley doesn't do. Like you, I'm not sure he's got the game to pull it off.

 

[Mr. French]

By the way, I don't know where else to put this, but hats off to Dan Hurley. When he was hired, I thought it was a pretty good hire, but nowhere near a home run. His Rhode Island teams and his first couple UConn teams were always gritty and tough and you knew you were in for a rock fight. But if your team could make enough buckets, and if your team play good D itself, you had a good chance to win. I didn't necessarily see cohesive team play (e.g., the Bouknight team). But then...WHAM! Hurley did a complete 180 offensively, resulting in perhaps the most dramatic coaching makeover in college basketball history. (Is there a comparison?) The last two years, and especially this past year, the players all move, pass, and create as a single unit -- it was beautiful to watch. One can say this philosophy was always in him, but he just didn't have the players. But is that really true? I think that narrative actually undervalues Hurley's willingness to change and adapt. Coaches are a notoriously stubborn breed.

Great post from an outsider. We don’t disagree at all.

 

[TheShot1990]

By the way, I don't know where else to put this, but hats off to Dan Hurley. When he was hired, I thought it was a pretty good hire, but nowhere near a home run. His Rhode Island teams and his first couple UConn teams were always gritty and tough and you knew you were in for a rock fight. But if your team could make enough buckets, and if your team play good D itself, you had a good chance to win. I didn't necessarily see cohesive team play (e.g., the Bouknight team). But then...WHAM! Hurley did a complete 180 offensively, resulting in perhaps the most dramatic coaching makeover in college basketball history. (Is there a comparison?) The last two years, and especially this past year, the players all move, pass, and create as a single unit -- it was beautiful to watch. One can say this philosophy was always in him, but he just didn't have the players. But is that really true? I think that narrative actually undervalues Hurley's willingness to change and adapt. Coaches are a notoriously stubborn breed.

Great post and Danny has far exceeded expectations but one little note to add....

Luke Murray Wikipedia page:
“Murray was hired a third time by Dan Hurley, now the head coach at UConn, on May 3, 2021. He began coordinating the Huskies offense prior to the start of the team's 2022–2023 national championship season. He continued as offensive coordinator the following season as UConn repeated as national champion.”

 

[Iluvsuebird]

Karaban was highly complimentary of Solo's shooting in an interview yesterday and given the trajectory of his minutes during course of season I'm not sure how much one can take away from the stats. He came out red hot then cooled down as Steph was coming back and then it was all garbage time so most of the reps came early in his frosh season. Hurley has also said he can shoot. I think he will surprise on that front next season.

yeah, he was benched because we had two college stud guards. Solo is going to be phenomenal this year. I think he will be our best sophomore this year.

 

[navery12]

Great post and Danny has far exceeded expectations but one little note to add....

Luke Murray Wikipedia page:
“Murray was hired a third time by Dan Hurley, now the head coach at UConn, on May 3, 2021. He began coordinating the Huskies offense prior to the start of the team's 2022–2023 national championship season. He continued as offensive coordinator the following season as UConn repeated as national champion.”

Murray definitely had a big impact on the offensive improvements, but that's a bunch of meaningless word salad and Hurley also had a huge change in his approach

 

[pj]

Murray definitely had a big impact on the offensive improvements, but that's a bunch of meaningless word salad and Hurley also had a huge change in his approach

I think Hurley made two huge steps forward, in his understanding of roster construction and his recruiting. The offense seems to have been a team effort.

 

[huskyharry]

Kalkbrenner will be a monster and they will have elite shooters again. Seem to be lacking the shot creation that Alexander and Scheierman brought but if they are hot they will be very tough to beat, especially at Creighton. Doomed for sure!

 

[LStudfellow]

On the one hand, it is reasonable for Cody Mitchell to have an opinion that Creighton should be considered the Big East preseason #1 team going into next year. It is worthy of debate.

But to then add the nonsensical hot take that we are "severely overhyped" going into next year is just plain moronic. Really? How about someone figure out how to defend our offense outside of our conference before you go spouting off with stupidity there Cody... whoever you are.

One of the worst parts about social media, and sadly much of sports media these days as well, are all of the baseless, moronic hot takes that people spout just to get clicks and try to make a name for themselves. This troll should go back under the rock he crawled out from.

 

[EZPass]

On the one hand, it is reasonable for Cody Mitchell to have an opinion that Creighton should be considered the Big East preseason #1 team going into next year. It is worthy of debate.

But to then add the nonsensical hot take that we are "severely overhyped" going into next year is just plain moronic. Really? How about someone figure out how to defend our offense outside of our conference before you go spouting off with stupidity there Cody... whoever you are.

One of the worst parts about social media, and sadly much of sports media these days as well, are all of the baseless, moronic hot takes that people spout just to get clicks and try to make a name for themselves. This troll should go back under the rock he crawled out from.

cody whoever posted for the clicks but he ain’t using a burner and has a podcast.

This is a better example of what you’re talking about; a troll and the worst parts of social media.

 

[businesslawyer]

If I had to ask for something, it would not be of the team but of the fans. Let’s not get crazy if we don’t look like national champions out of the gate. There is a lot of newness to integrate into the system and it’s a complex system as the coaches describe it. I think Hurley will address this so glad we’re not number 1.
Having Alex will prove to be a big deal.

We might not look like national champions not just at the start of the season but at all.

We have assembled a really good group of players. I’m not at all convinced we’ve assembled a great group of players, and no one knows that they will blend into a great team. The fact that Hurley is coaching gives us a better chance of them coming together into a great team than if anyone else was coaching, but people seem to have convinced themselves from the last two tourneys that winning a ‘ship is easy. It’s not, even when you’re the best team in the country. We’ve just made it look easy.