Rico444
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Man, Louis CK does everything!
UConn left off Bilas' list of top national title contenders
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Man, Louis CK does everything!
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I don't really care about the list. I don't think you can deny that some of the teams they've beaten have proved to not be all that good. I just can't listen to Bilas repeat the same four or five talking points about the same handful of guys over and over again and not think that he's taken a step back in terms of the actual "insight" he offers.
intlzncster
i fart in your general direction
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It's a wonder that there are very, very few good analysts out there, given the size of the MCBB market. The best are probably regional guys here or there, but I can't come up with someone of whom I think, "I've got to hear what this guy says about..."
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I know this is heresy, but in terms of actually offering some insight once in a while, you could do a lot worse than Gottlieb.
OkaForPrez
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I'll grant most of you "half empties" your arguments but can we please stop saying that Florida team was a shell of itself.
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1. - We beat Florida. Period. Patrick Young had the greatest game of his life and we still beat them. Look it up in the record books -- I don't see an asterisk next to the win because of crappy foul calls, which happen in every game to every team. Never apologize for a win.
2.- This team is miles ahead of the '11 team in terms of projecting a national championship. There was a reason everyone thought that season was a miracle. They were all underclassmen, they shot 33% from 3, the only player that shot 40% from 3 was Bev and he only made seven 3's all year. We had nothing like Kromah or Giffey coming off the bench -- Bev, your veteran leader, averaged about 8 minutes and less than 2 points a game. One of the big issues on this year's team is finding minutes for players, on the '11 team the issue was finding someone other than Kemba who could play. Other than Kemba only Lamb averaged double digit scoring. To think that this year's team isn't a better bet to win a championship is totally revisionist history. This year's team shoots 3's and defends the 3, and if they don't turn the ball over and Bazz is Bazz, they will win a lot of games. In March.
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1. Patrick Young had the "greatest game of his life" because our centers suck so bad. Is that not obvious? Is that not as plain as can be? Is that not a verification of the theory that this team has a giant hole that likely makes it impossible for it to advance to the finals? Do you have any doubt in your mind that any competent big men are going to eat our lunches this year? Even incompetent ones.
2. Your points here all all off.
They weren't all underclassman. Okwandu - a critical puzzle piece, was a senior. Bev - a very important team leader, was a senior. Kemba was a Junior. Sure, the team was young, which made the run more unlikely, but age wasn't the critical factor.
Shooting from 3 wasn't a critical factor. So what we shot 33% from 3? That's equivalent to 50% from 2.
We had nothing like Kromah or Giffey coming off the bench? We, in fact, HAD Giffey coming off the bench. Sure, not senior year Giffey, but we had dependable bench play (Bev, Bazz, Okwandu, Giffey).
I'm not revising anything. 2011 was a great run, but we had a complete team with talent at the critical positions - great point guard with a very good back up, very good big man to defend and rebound and a good back up, excellent shooting guard, and so on.
We have a major hole in our team this year. Center.
It's the elephant in the room. CENTER.
We have very close to ZERO talent at the center position.
Look at it this way . . .
Oriakhi, Okwandu, and Wolf combined for about 14 points and 13 boards a game in 2011.
Olander, Nolan, and Brimah are going for about 8 and 5 a game, and that's mostly through cupcake season.
Further, ONB are a defensive liability for the most part, whereas OOW provided serviceable defense.
The conclusion is straight forward - the 3 point magic will wane when we play stiff competition who will not give us quite as many open 3s, and our relatively poor rebounding and center play will make overcoming the dip in 3 point shooting challenging, to say the least.
Tough not to have the homer goggles at 9-0, I know, but I hope that Nolan can turn it on, as I view him as the guy who can make the difference between a sweet 16 and final 4. Brimah is too raw, Olander is too unathletic, and Facey is too skinny.
The only way I see us threatening a NC run is if Nolan can get to 8 and 8 a game, or thereabouts.
It can happen. Lamb sure made a rapid ascent in 2011.
But there is zero doubt in my mind that a NC run this year will be much, much more unlikely than 2011.
I guess I agree with Jay - barring a major change in one or more of our players, I just don't think we have the right distribution of talent on the team to go deep.
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Same could be said about the UCONN women not having a chance last year. They had no big to stop Britney Griner...that's the great thing about the NCAA tournament - it's all about match-ups and UCONN never had to worry about big ole Baylor.
IMind
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I think these meme generators are over used... but this one is just really good... and smart.
IMind
Wildly Inaccurate
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It's amazing... you start winning around here and people come out of the wood work to tell you why you shouldn't be happy about it. If you want to watch blow outs every night here's a women's team I know that maybe you'd prefer... or maybe that's where the guys come from. Any one of the top 10-20 teams could win this thing.... lots of teams without compelling bigs have gone deep in the tourney. This is the state of the game.
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Well...I guess we just need to go 20-0 and have Bilas revisit this list.
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Strummer: " Patrick Young had the "greatest game of his life" because our centers suck so bad. Is that not obvious?"
And we won. Yes, our center play is weak, and yet we win. Over and over. Against teams with big front lines. Indiana, Florida -- we get outplayed at the 5 and we win. We get out rebounded -- and we win. Last year and this year. Get used to it.
"Do you have any doubt in your mind that any competent big men are going to eat our lunches this year? Even incompetent ones."
Probably true. But then we have Bazz and they don't, we are an excellent 3 point team and most big teams aren't. When we face a big team that can match us from the perimeter, then I might start being negative, but there aren't too many of those teams around.
"They weren't all underclassman. Okwandu - a critical puzzle piece, was a senior. Bev - a very important team leader, was a senior. Kemba was a Junior. Sure, the team was young, which made the run more unlikely, but age wasn't the critical factor."
Obviously I wan't talking about Kemba, I was talking about his supporting cast. Bev's impact was behind the scenes, he had no impact on the floor. Okwandu averaged 15 minutes, 2.9 points and 2.8 rebounds a game and I don't recall anyone talking about his senior leadership at the time. And age was a critical factor to those guessing what would happen before it happened.
"Shooting from 3 wasn't a critical factor. So what we shot 33% from 3? That's equivalent to 50% from 2."
We're shooting 46% from 3 this year but you think that doesn't make us a tittle contender? In case you can't do the math that's like shooting 69% from 2. It's why we can still win with our play at the center position.
"We had nothing like Kromah or Giffey coming off the bench? We, in fact, HAD Giffey coming off the bench. Sure, not senior year Giffey, but we had dependable bench play (Bev, Bazz, Okwandu, Giffey)."
Your seriously going to compare freshman Giffey to this years model, and pretend that we had anything like Kromah ?
"I'm not revising anything. 2011 was a great run, but we had a complete team with talent at the critical positions - great point guard with a very good back up, very good big man to defend and rebound and a good back up, excellent shooting guard, and so on."
Your dreaming up a team that never existed. Kemba HAD to play 38-40 minutes a night because there was no one else to go to. We prayed that Okwandu could give us 10 minutes before fouling out. On the floor Bev contributed less than what Terrence Samuels has given us so far - both minutes and points.
"We have a major hole in our team this year. Center."
Yes, that's true. If it wasn't we would be the number one seed in the country.
"The conclusion is straight forward - the 3 point magic will wane when we play stiff competition who will not give us quite as many open 3s, and our relatively poor rebounding and center play will make overcoming the dip in 3 point shooting challenging, to say the least."
When that happens I'll believe it. Omar hasn't found his stroke yet and Boat is just getting hot now. I expect we will shoot well over 40% from 3 all year.
"Tough not to have the homer goggles at 9-0, I know ... But there is zero doubt in my mind that a NC run this year will be much, much more unlikely than 2011."
Show me your posts from that season where you predicted that Kemba's team was well situated to make a title run before it happened. Everything looks certain after the fact. I'm not saying this team will get to the final four, I'm not saying they don't have glaring weaknesses, but saying they don't have a chance just shows you haven't been paying attention.
And we won. Yes, our center play is weak, and yet we win. Over and over. Against teams with big front lines. Indiana, Florida -- we get outplayed at the 5 and we win. We get out rebounded -- and we win. Last year and this year. Get used to it.
"Do you have any doubt in your mind that any competent big men are going to eat our lunches this year? Even incompetent ones."
Probably true. But then we have Bazz and they don't, we are an excellent 3 point team and most big teams aren't. When we face a big team that can match us from the perimeter, then I might start being negative, but there aren't too many of those teams around.
"They weren't all underclassman. Okwandu - a critical puzzle piece, was a senior. Bev - a very important team leader, was a senior. Kemba was a Junior. Sure, the team was young, which made the run more unlikely, but age wasn't the critical factor."
Obviously I wan't talking about Kemba, I was talking about his supporting cast. Bev's impact was behind the scenes, he had no impact on the floor. Okwandu averaged 15 minutes, 2.9 points and 2.8 rebounds a game and I don't recall anyone talking about his senior leadership at the time. And age was a critical factor to those guessing what would happen before it happened.
"Shooting from 3 wasn't a critical factor. So what we shot 33% from 3? That's equivalent to 50% from 2."
We're shooting 46% from 3 this year but you think that doesn't make us a tittle contender? In case you can't do the math that's like shooting 69% from 2. It's why we can still win with our play at the center position.
"We had nothing like Kromah or Giffey coming off the bench? We, in fact, HAD Giffey coming off the bench. Sure, not senior year Giffey, but we had dependable bench play (Bev, Bazz, Okwandu, Giffey)."
Your seriously going to compare freshman Giffey to this years model, and pretend that we had anything like Kromah ?
"I'm not revising anything. 2011 was a great run, but we had a complete team with talent at the critical positions - great point guard with a very good back up, very good big man to defend and rebound and a good back up, excellent shooting guard, and so on."
Your dreaming up a team that never existed. Kemba HAD to play 38-40 minutes a night because there was no one else to go to. We prayed that Okwandu could give us 10 minutes before fouling out. On the floor Bev contributed less than what Terrence Samuels has given us so far - both minutes and points.
"We have a major hole in our team this year. Center."
Yes, that's true. If it wasn't we would be the number one seed in the country.
"The conclusion is straight forward - the 3 point magic will wane when we play stiff competition who will not give us quite as many open 3s, and our relatively poor rebounding and center play will make overcoming the dip in 3 point shooting challenging, to say the least."
When that happens I'll believe it. Omar hasn't found his stroke yet and Boat is just getting hot now. I expect we will shoot well over 40% from 3 all year.
"Tough not to have the homer goggles at 9-0, I know ... But there is zero doubt in my mind that a NC run this year will be much, much more unlikely than 2011."
Show me your posts from that season where you predicted that Kemba's team was well situated to make a title run before it happened. Everything looks certain after the fact. I'm not saying this team will get to the final four, I'm not saying they don't have glaring weaknesses, but saying they don't have a chance just shows you haven't been paying attention.
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After how many years with ESPN, Bilas is all of a sudden becoming an ESPN personality???? I think not. Last year and many times in previous years he was highly complimentary towards UConn and actually hammered some of the longtime Dickie V favorites, showing a lot of class and balance. To say he's gone over to the dark side is a bunch of baloney. I'm not sure of his reasoning but he has more integrity than just about any other commentator in the game.
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Ay. Well sir, we have opposite opinions. It will be fun to watch it play out.
For the other poster - nobody is telling you not to enjoy the year. Merely offering the point that Bilas' suggestion that we are not title contenders is a rational position.
That's all.
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To be honest, I really don't have a problem with him not listing us as a contender per say. But the fact that he has an honorable mention list and intentionally leaves off a top 10 ranked team that is undefeated from even the honorable mentions list?
Almost seems like an insult to me.
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Locker room material.
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Best watch out for those Hawkeyes!
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Not enough talent on the floor fellas - no reason to get chippy about ESPN, yada, blah, blah. Amazing how fan boards react when they feel their team is shorted. Bilas knows his stuff - it has nothing to do with performance thus far. This team is a ball to watch, they have some fun players, but they don't have the manpower to win a NC. The front court is still incredibly soft and you can't expect Nappier to put this team on his back every game in March. He's a nice player, but he's not that player. We know what we have with the personnel - no one is going to emerge off the bench and become a miracle sleeper, no one is going to develop into a lottery pick. Enjoy the year, but set the expectations properly. Hell, maybe this is a team that can get hot when it matters and pull off a win or two that we don't expect, but it remains a very flawed team that will struggle when it's facing the upper echelon/hyper talent.
CTBasketball
Former Owner of the Pizza Thread
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Not sure if people saw this, but get ready to feel the hatred.
But I agree. Team is missing crucial pieces to win in March. We're playing great now, but I don't know how much better we'll get because our bigs are atrocious. It puts too much pressure on the guards. And teams recognize this.
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So now that "the Cardinal" ate our God Damned lunch and made us look like in the process, do you feel a little less insulted? Because I saw a lot of things tonight, but one of them sure wasn't "one of the top 15 teams most likely to win the NC in March."
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Onions - you're now eating your words. Somebody hasn't been paying attention, but it wasn't me.
If you watched tonight's game and still stick by your words, then I'm not sure what to say.
Fact is, the 11 team had 9 losses, out of which SIX were to top 25 teams.
You made a heart-felt argument about how great we shoot the 3 and how that is why this team is blah blah fricken blah.
You have egg on your face.
Wipe it off, clean up, and acknowledge that your argument just got blown out of the water.
If nothing else, tonight demonstrated exceptionally clearly that Bilas' opinion wasn't a snub at all, but rather a measured, balanced consideration of where we are at.
He was right. You were wrong.
Now we need to fix it.
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I think he saw that Stanford game before we did.
It's an insider thing, but here's the list
1. Arizona
2. Louisville
3. Syracuse
4. Mich State
5. Florida
6. Duke
7. Wisconsin
8. Ok State
Honorable Mentions: Ohio State, Kansas, Kentucky, Gonzaga, Oregon, Wichita State, and Iowa
My reaction:
Come on Bilas, I love ya but you gotta be kidding me with the Shockers and Hawkeyes on there over the 3-time king Huskies.
You're better than that, Bilas. You'll do better next time out.
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Insulted no, but there's no reason to believe they can't get hot and win it. They did beat #5 on Bilas' list already. One lackluster performance doesn't ruin the entire season.
There are a lot of quality teams he left off. Look at UNC, sure they're 7-3 and lost some stinkers to Belmont and UAB. But they also have wins over Mich St and the squid.
Point being {Calhounism} it's an article with an opinion. There are a lot more teams that are not on his list that can certainly win it all. I guarantee we wouldn't have been on his list in '11.
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Several people in this thread gave Bilas some awful for leaving us off the list of potential NC contenders.
After last night, anybody want to acknowledge that the guy was doing his job and doing his job well? Without homer goggles, Bilas was able to analyze our team and assess our strengths and weaknesses, with his conclusion being that we were not a title contender.
Here we are, a mere 14 days later, and we've just lost to a depleted Houston team in front of several hundred people in an empty stadium.
Bilas is very good. He does his job well. Neither he nor anybody else is losing it, selling out, or a caricature simply because he's picking against us. Particularly this year.
Bilas gets props. He saw our issues. It's up to us to fix them. We either will or we won't. He'll give us props if we do. Until then, Bilas understands perfectly that's it's exceedingly difficult to win with a Nolan/Brimah/TO center position, a feckless Calhoun, an unsteady Boat, and a seemingly uncommitted Daniels.
Respect to Mr. Bilas. We're not a title contender at this time, and it was a very good call on his part to see that our breach of the top 10 was an anomaly, and not a reflection of our play.
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Anyone want to reconsider his or her posts on this thread?
Marat
The Champ Is Here.
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I didn't reply to this discussion, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a final four, by catching some form of lightening in a bottle. They would have to fix a bunch of things as Strummer noted, given the lack of dependable center. It doesn't look likely now, but many of us didn't think the Huskies of '11 would get where they did, right before the MSG tournament began (game 1 vs Depaul). We didn't know Lamb would emerge, and Oriakhi would put together the consistency in the post-season. So, if DD can find his consistency, they run some plays for NG, Calhoun gets hot at the right time, and the team can rebound with some toughness (Facey? - remember Marcus White emergence?) then there is always a chance.
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