UConn to host Maine next season

[Ts5034]

So you think that team's regular season was commensurate with their talent? They should have lost less than 10 games in the regular season and they should have been better than 11-7 in the AAC. Then they wouldn't have had to play Kansas in the 2nd round.

That was a strange and very mediocre season. Not many highs, and not many lows. We lost a couple of close games to Syracuse and Gonzaga in Atlantis, and one possession games to Temple and Cincinnati at home. Our best win was probably at Texas and vs SMU in February then obviously winning the AAC Tournament was good. Once again, life in the AAC is tough when the margin of error is razor thin...not many chances for big wins, and more chances to hurt your resume with every loss.

 

[Scrutineer]

Lots of talent and much more size than last year. Forget all the wishes and hopes from the past and get excited about what's coming after another couple years of Hurley's recruiting and player development.

 

[JMick]

That team had Final 4 talent. Gibbs, Purvis, Hamilton, Miller, Brimah with Adams, Facey, Enoch off the bench. I remember the opening game against Maine, both announcers agreed this was a top 10 team.

That team should have been a four or five seed and at least made the sweet sixteen. I don't know about final four, though.

 

[tzznandrew]

That team should have been a four or five seed and at least made the sweet sixteen. I don't know about final four, though.

That team was far from the NIT (both in talent and performance--sorry myth-perpetuators!), but landed somewhere within their bell-curve in terms of NCAA performance. 4-6 seed gets you somewhere from Round 2 to E8, depending on matchups and what happens with the 1-2 seeds.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

So you think that team's regular season was commensurate with their talent? They should have lost less than 10 games in the regular season and they should have been better than 11-7 in the AAC. Then they wouldn't have had to play Kansas in the 2nd round.

They could have had a better regular season for sure. Should have, definitely.
But the argument was that they terribly underachieved, which is really not the case when you win a conference trophy and advance before losing to a better team in the NCAA tournament.
They shouldn't have been an 8/9 imo, including regular season. The AAC conference tournament champion that year deserves better than to have to play the #1 overall seed in round 2.

 

[Walker11]

In retrospect though, these were odd fitting parts.

You had transfers, grads coming over for one year, and a guy who evidently knew he was out the door all along. Not exactly harmonious parts. Gibbs never really took the reins that year like he was expected too.

A better coach would have made this team a lot of fun. Stylistically, this team made a lot of sense. A 6'7 guy with great creativity and passing, 2 guards who were plus spot up shooters, a skilled 4 man who could hit from 16, a rim running shot blocker in the starting lineup. Jalen was a great option of the bench and Facey should have been a better than average bench big. On paper, this looks like an ideal modern offensive team. In reality, yea, not so much.

 

[Purple Stein]

UConn is going to have its hands full dealing with Sergio El Darwich. The ten people in the stands on a snowy night in Bangor call him the “Lebanese Sensation” for a reason!

Now if we could just get Issac Vann to come back from VCU for a night...

 

[UofCT]

Them underachieving doesn't have anything to do with the fact they were in the tournament regardless of Jalen's shot

False.

 

[upstater]

False.

Let me understand you. Someone wrote this: "Them underachieving doesn't have anything to do with the fact they were in the tournament regardless of Jalen's shot."

You responded false.

Let's reverse the proposition: "Them underachieving has something to do with the fact they were in the tournament regardless of Jalen's shot."

Hmmm.... that doesn't make sense.

What is false?

 

[NJHoops]

How can a thread about a game with Maine have this many posts?

Ah, yes. I see what’s happened here.

 

[tykurez]

I yearn for more Shonn Miller dunks in my life.

 

[HawkHusky]

Damn it. I wanted the Catamounts.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Shonn Miller.

Very overrated team by the BYer’s
Miller was good but undersized and he tended to disappear against bigger guys with close to equivalent athleticism .Also until Adams matured a bit they had a two playing the one.
That makes it tough to achieve chemistry.
Which was achieved by playing Adams and moving Rodney to the three.
They still won 26 games getting on a AAC roll.
When do you think our next 26 win season will be?
I’d kill for a 26 win season.
That team may of underachieved early but certainly not late in the year.
Chemistry was the big issue but why is that surprising with
2 grad transfers
Plus a Freshman getting all the minutes.
We’ve had much more talented teams that achieved less.

 

[Imdone]

Can always count on UConn putting together a powerhouse home OOC schedule.

Athletic Department following up their attempt to extort money from long time season ticket holders - by putting yet another quality opponent on the floor. If anything can help the "ticket ambassadors" sell the new pricing policy a home game against Maine is just the ticket.

 

[TJT]

The Maine Black bears went 5-27 last year and finished the season with an NET rank of #335 (out of 353 teams). Their last winning season was back in 2009-10.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

If Maine doesnt get folks excited with a sell out, i dont know what will.

 

[HawkHusky]

So we now have:

Charleston Classic (3 of Florida, Xavier, Miami, St Joes, Buffalo, Missouri St, Towson)
@ Villanova
Florida
Maine
(33% chance at Vanderbilt, Missouri, Texas A&M, or Georgia for the AAC/SEC schedule alliance)

Can we please not fill the rest of the schedule with a bunch of Coppin States this year? Give me Yale or Harvard, a decent/good A10 team, another Big East team, and some other big name.

 

[navery12]

So we now have:

Charleston Classic (3 of Florida, Xavier, Miami, St Joes, Buffalo, Missouri St, Towson)
@ Villanova
Florida
Maine
(33% chance at Vanderbilt, Missouri, Texas A&M, or Georgia for the AAC/SEC schedule alliance)

Can we please not fill the rest of the schedule with a bunch of Coppin States this year? Give me Yale or Harvard, a decent/good A10 team, another Big East team, and some other big name.

I don't think we're confirmed for the AAC/SEC game, from what Borges said it seemed unlikely

 

[HanDurley]

1. Yes that team should've been better in the regular season to land a better seed in the tourney.
2. Felt weird/great to see the 20 next to our name
3. Possibly had more dunks in that one game than we had all year this year
4. Miller best posture in the NCAA don't @ me

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Why is there a post about playing Maine next year? Did I miss something that makes this game significant, or unique, or of interest of any sort?

 

[HawkHusky]

I don't think we're confirmed for the AAC/SEC game, from what Borges said it seemed unlikely

That's why I said 33% chance as only 4/12 AAC teams will be chosen. Apparently ESPN is choosing the 4 AAC teams. Since they like their TV ratings I'm not so sure it's as unlikely as Borges suggests.

 

[HawkHusky]

Why is there a post about playing Maine next year? Did I miss something that makes this game significant, or unique, or of interest of any sort?

Ask Rothstein.

 

[Brochacho]

So we now have:

Charleston Classic (3 of Florida, Xavier, Miami, St Joes, Buffalo, Missouri St, Towson)
@ Villanova
Florida
Maine
(33% chance at Vanderbilt, Missouri, Texas A&M, or Georgia for the AAC/SEC schedule alliance)

Can we please not fill the rest of the schedule with a bunch of Coppin States this year? Give me Yale or Harvard, a decent/good A10 team, another Big East team, and some other big name.

MSG vs B12 school too. I believe we will have one more H/H series (per UConn scheduling board post from July - they were looking for 2 H/Hs only Florida announced since).

 

[Purple Stein]

The Maine Black bears went 5-27 last year and finished the season with an NET rank of #335 (out of 353 teams). Their last winning season was back in 2009-10.

Lol. You think last year was bad, you shoulda seen 2017-2018.

Barron has them trending in the right direction and I think we’ll be top 6 in America East this coming year.

 

[UConnNick]

The problem was the underwhelming regular season that put them on the 8/9 line in the NCAAs.

Are you suggesting we should have deliberately tanked the Cincy game to guarantee a 10 seed or worse?