UConn vs Illinois (Final Four)

[UofCT]

Not worried about the crowd advantage. I feel like we dodged death last night. We have a new lease on life. If our biggest concern in this game is the crowd factor, I'm really not worried.

Exactly. If they have nothing to cheer about it won’t matter

 

[Leebo]

We're four pages in, yet none of you thought about posting this yet?

I watch it about once a week regardless of the occasion and just assumed everyone else does the same.

 

[storrsroars]

I wonder if Brad Underwood has learned how to adapt in-game yet.

Remember this doozy of a quote by Underwood when interviewed by a sideline reporters:

We’re going to keep attacking the rim and if Clingan blocks 100 shots, he blocks 100 shots.

Tarris should talk to Donovan this week.

 

[Vuce]

Oh no……

 

[storrsroars]

I watch it about once a week regardless of the occasion and just assumed everyone else does the same.

All fine and well, but this time it's actually contextually relevant.

 

[caw]

Our KenPom metrics must have skyrocketed after beating MSU & Duke over the weekend.

Not really, moved from 10th to 9th, just barely passing MSU (only after beating Duke).

 

[storrsroars]

Oh no……

Do we really fear anyone except Breeding?

I see High Knees is working the FF this year. That could be fun.

 

[caw]

Wagler can give anyone trouble, he's one of the best players in the country. He doesn't scare me like Boozer did matchup wise though.

Wagler vs Boozer is kind of a microcosm of Illinois vs Duke. Duke/Boozer have a much higher floor but Illinois/Wagler have a higher ceiling. Mostly because they can and do play five out and can hit at a high rate. They can also miss everything. They aren't a great 3PT shooting team but they can go on heaters. That said, I agree that as a matchup he doesn't scare me as much as Boozer as long as our wings/guards are healthy.

 

[Waquoit]

He bloomed after our game. The kid is very good.

Is he better than Boo Buie?

 

[JakeTheDog]

We could probably absorb some FT with Reed against illinois as Reibe could matchup with the euro bigs, not so much with Zona/UM.

I think Reibe more than held his own against AZ earlier this year. He’s been more down than up lately but his early season play shows he has it in him.

 

[Chin Diesel]

As an acknowledgement to karma and as a nod to mojo, first play UConn runs Saturday should free up Mullins for a three from the same area on the floor as the game winner.

 

[RuffRuff]

Wagler vs Boozer is kind of a microcosm of Illinois vs Duke. Duke/Boozer have a much higher floor but Illinois/Wagler have a higher ceiling. Mostly because they can and do play five out and can hit at a high rate. They can also miss everything. They aren't a great 3PT shooting team but they can go on heaters. That said, I agree that as a matchup he doesn't scare me as much as Boozer as long as our wings/guards are healthy.

I see what you're saying, but Wagler is not Boozer, much more easily defended.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Oh no……

What dirt does Breeding have on the head office to get these assignments? I wouldn’t hire him to officiate a corporate league game, much less the final four.

 

[BFieldHusky]

It will be interesting to see how our game plan on defense. Against Dent and Fears, we wanted to make them more into scorers versus being facilitators. Wonder if we do the opposite in this game with Wagler.

Then again Boswell went for 25 last time, and we still held them to 61 points. If we can continue to shut down their front court, Wagler can put up 30. Won't matter.

 

[JungleLobo]

How it started:



How it's going:

How can you be more connected than a school with Connect in its name?

 

[navery12]

Worth noting, we played that game at our pace. We held them to their lowest output of the year at 61, by a wide margin. They are the #1 KP team offense, so this will be important.

Pace is going to be important no matter who we play in the F4. If we play Michigan, I'd think we have to also keep the pace slow. I feel like Arizona is the one team that can adjust to playing a grinder.

Illinois doesn't have a fast pace either though. Their offense is very efficient but they're 296th in pace. They don't want to play fast just like UConn doesn't so pace isn't really a concern here

 

[caw]

I wonder if Brad Underwood has learned how to adapt in-game yet.

Remember this doozy of a quote by Underwood when interviewed by a sideline reporters:



Tarris should talk to Donovan this week.

Underwood has to be the most overmatched coach left. I mean he is a heck of a recruiter and team builder and actually does a good job of adjusting year to year depending on his roster but his in game coaching is highly questionnable.

 

[tzznandrew]

Underwood has to be the most overmatched coach left. I mean he is a heck of a recruiter and team builder and actually does a good job of adjusting year to year depending on his roster but his in game coaching is highly questionnable.

Yeah, it's

1. Hurley
2. May
3. Lloyd (and I think there's a bit of a gap between him and May, but I honestly don't see Arizona enough to know that this is true).
(Gap)
4. Underwood

Underwood does enough right where his teams are always going to be good, but I think he puts a bit of a ceiling on them. Still going to be a very tough match up. Need our shooters to, you know, make some shots?

 

[noelle]

underwood is pretty creative and brave about trying different things. he's an early adopter of strats. but the problem is his lack of ingame adjustment. it's not an easy evaluation of who is the worst coach etc everyone has distinct skills and weaknesses. these are final 4 level coaches we are talking about.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Not sure which team is better for us - Zona has seen us once, but I do think is the better matchup. We don't have much of an answer for Yaxel. He could easily guard Mullens, whereas not sure the reverse would go well. UM might be flummoxed seeing our offense for the first time and forced into a half court game. I also think Tarris could push Mara around better than he could Krivas.

It's an easy answer. Whoever makes it there is better for us. We aren't going to hope things fall in a way where we gat a break.

At the moment we have to win one game, Saturday against Illinois. Until that game is over, nothing else matters to us.

If we advance, we'll worry about our opponent once our opponent advances.

 

[Henry]

Oh no……

11 of them and only 3 games. We can only hope that Breeding and Anderson are the subs.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Oh no……

Incredible.

 

[KingAG]

It's an easy answer. Whoever makes it there is better for us. We aren't going to hope things fall in a way where we gat a break.

At the moment we have to win one game, Saturday against Illinois. Until that game is over, nothing else matters to us.

If we advance, we'll worry about our opponent once our opponent advances.

There’s no benefit in fans not looking ahead. It’s okay to look ahead. It won’t change anything

 

[RuffRuff]

There’s no benefit in fans not looking ahead. It’s okay to look ahead. It won’t change anything

Yeah, and it gives you an opportunity to route for a team that you feel is a better matchup.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Yeah, and it gives you an opportunity to route for a team that you feel is a better matchup.

Does that really do something for you?

 

[JungleLobo]

Looks like the last time UConn lost to a Big Ten team was to Michigan State in the Maui Invitational.

In 2010.

That was a lot of championships ago.

 

[bendm]

Looks like the last time UConn lost to a Big Ten team was to Michigan State in the Maui Invitational.

In 2010.

That was a lot of championships ago.

We lost to MSU in 21 in Atlantis

 

[tzznandrew]

Looks like the last time UConn lost to a Big Ten team was to Michigan State in the Maui Invitational.

In 2010.

That was a lot of championships ago.

They lost in 2021-2022 to Michigan State in the Bahamas.

Also lost to Maryland in the tournament in 2020-2021.

 

[J187Money]

Michigan State is a 1 hour drive to Detroit. University of Illinois is a 2 hour drive to Indy, Chicago is a 3 hour drive to Indy and University of Michigan is a 4 hour drive to Indy. The New York airport flights to Indy are like $4,000 to $5,000.

Good thing I'm in ATL for business and going from there