UConn-Florida, Sunday 12:10 pm on CBS

[sdglast]

The benefit of the 1 seed is you can pretty much start scouting Game 2. Golden is smart and will be ready. He pretty much stated what he is preparing for in his presser, which is spot on. Borges was obsessed with Billy Donovan in that presser btw, was weird.

We need all 5 fouls out of Reed today. There is no reason not to extend him.

We need to get hot from 3 and for them to be cold, for any chance. We need Tarris to be disruptive down low during their 2 center rotation. Lose with your best players playing every minute they should.

My biggest curiosity is whether Dan has any wrinkle he's willing to use here - his creativity has been minimal this year, stuck in a lot of what won him the titles. I've seen very little adapting to the current roster, more a continuance of trying to get this roster to play the scheme. In a one game format that can end your season, against a team that is basically better at every position other that maybe the 5, you should have at least one or two wrinkles ready to go to stop a run.

This team should be loose and relaxed today, as the underdog. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Agree very much. Play free and easy today. Florida has all the pressure on them, so just try to play your game and let the chips fall where they may. UConn is coming off back to back titles and has gotten to the Round of 32. The team is flawed, nothing will change that now, but I just want to see them give effort for 40 minutes and keep it close. If they win great. If the lose, that's fine. Just don't play terribly and get blown out. If you are gonna go down, go down with your guns blazing.

 

[RuffRuff]

Agree very much. Play free and easy today. Florida has all the pressure on them, so just try to play your game and let the chips fall where they may. UConn is coming off back to back titles and has gotten to the Round of 32. The team is flawed, nothing will change that now, but I just want to see them give effort for 40 minutes and keep it close. If they win great. If the lose, that's fine. Just don't play terribly and get blown out. If you are gonna go down, go down with your guns blazing.

Staying composed during any blitzes will be important too. We can't let a singular blitz unravel and go down double digits because then we'd have to pace up the game and that would be something we really want to avoid. Hurley needs to use his timeouts well here. Starting well is going to be important. Those first 5 Samson minutes could make or break us that way. If they beat us 1-2x on the offensive glass, I'm instantly pulling him.

 

[Giddyup5]

My biggest curiosity is whether Dan has any wrinkle he's willing to use here - his creativity has been minimal this year, stuck in a lot of what won him the titles. I've seen very little adapting to the current roster, more a continuance of trying to get this roster to play the scheme. In a one game format that can end your season, against a team that is basically better at every position other that maybe the 5, you should have at least one or two wrinkles ready to go to stop a run.

I agree with you. But I don’t think he will. Too stubborn to change on the fly.

For example, we had a line up last game due to foul trouble of Aiden, Stew, Liam, AK, Reed.

Perfect line up for. 2-3 possession zone defense. Our 2 best man defenders Samson and Diarra on the bench against a OU team that couldn’t shoot from the outside and was penetrating at will.

Hopefully I’m wrong.

 

[Ripper32]

Am I the only person who thinks their frontcourt is going to cause major problems? They have multiple bodies similar to Kalk and we saw Reed be held to six points in the BE Tourney. I think Tarris is going to need a lot of help to open up the paint.

 

[sdglast]

Am I the only person who thinks their frontcourt is going to cause major problems? They have multiple bodies similar to Kalk and we saw Reed be held to six points in the BE Tourney. I think Tarris is going to need a lot of help to open up the paint.

You aren't. It's a tall order indeed. I think UConn will hit the glass hard with them but I am not sure how effective Reed and Johnson will be against their front court.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Just drives me nuts that there’s two games before 5 and then 6 from 530 to 945.

The early start helps UConn.

 

[Marat]

We are due for a breakout game. It's happening today.

 

[HCCForever]

As Wally says, AK needs to be superman.

 

[RuffRuff]

I agree with you. But I don’t think he will. Too stubborn to change on the fly.

For example, we had a line up last game due to foul trouble of Aiden, Stew, Liam, AK, Reed.

Perfect line up for. 2-3 possession zone defense. Our 2 best man defenders Samson and Diarra on the bench against a OU team that couldn’t shoot from the outside and was penetrating at will.

Hopefully I’m wrong.

Agree but they did go blue unis!!! Fully agree that a little zone today could be an interesting wrinkle, to slow things down and keep guys out of foul trouble.

Yeah, he is stubborn, superstiscious and loyal. Noble yet also a blind spot in certain situations.

 

[aburks41]

lol @aburks41

We almost had em

 

[Waquoit]

Let's hope all the stoolies jumped on this. The bet of the millennium must have been worth cash advancing your credit card for.