UConnfidence

[dogpause]

I've been re-watching all of the post-season games, and the one thing that stands out is the amount of confidence and swagger our players have. Looking back to our 4 championship teams, this seems to always have been a factor. Khalid and Rip started it; then Emeka and Ben; Kemba, of course; and now Bazz, Boat and even Samuel.

In the past few days I've re-watched the Florida and Kentucky games and even though Florida punched us in the mouth early, from the 9-minute mark on, we had our swagger on and they looked like deer in headlights. Yet, whenever the prognosticators were making their picks, the confidence factor rarely came up in the discussions.

The nice thing is that with Terrance and Rodney, I think that UConnfidence swagger will continue. And so will the trophies.

 

[tykurez]

It makes those Louisville games even more interesting ... they had zero confidence in those three games from the tip. That pressure still gives me nightmares.

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

That Florida game may have been the biggest reversal in "swagger" I have ever seen from a UConn team. Can anyone remember a game where we went from such futility to complete domination? I recall a game against Umass where we came back from like 30-9 halftime to crush them in the second half. FL was way better than UMASS so it was even more surprising that their wheels just completely fell off.

 

[Catsailor]

That Florida game may have been the biggest reversal in "swagger" I have ever seen from a UConn team. Can anyone remember a game where we went from such futility to complete domination? I recall a game against Umass where we came back from like 30-9 halftime to crush them in the second half. FL was way better than UMASS so it was even more surprising that their wheels just completely fell off.

ONIONS!


coming out party-still sweet though

 

[uconNYC]

Amazing to see the fear in the eyes of the Florida players in the semifinals. They just wanted that game to end.

 

[Kembacity]

That Florida game may have been the biggest reversal in "swagger" I have ever seen from a UConn team. Can anyone remember a game where we went from such futility to complete domination? I recall a game against Umass where we came back from like 30-9 halftime to crush them in the second half. FL was way better than UMASS so it was even more surprising that their wheels just completely fell off.

I think you might be thinking of a game at the XL against Providence, rather than UMass. I might have the opponent wrong, but I can recall being a student at a game where Rashad "knifeman" Anderson knocked down a whole mess of threes to get us back into and win a game we were down 30-9 at the half of

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

http://blogs.courant.com/uconn_mens_basketball/2009/12/uconn-moments-top-10-mens-come.html Here's a bunch of them I just found.

 

[J-dog]

That Florida game may have been the biggest reversal in "swagger" I have ever seen from a UConn team. Can anyone remember a game where we went from such futility to complete domination? I recall a game against Umass where we came back from like 30-9 halftime to crush them in the second half. FL was way better than UMASS so it was even more surprising that their wheels just completely fell off.

Totally agree… That Florida game was so special… It was the first time I really thought they would win it all & it didn't matter who they faced in the championship game… Those games don't come around too often...

 

[dogfan96]

Greg Anthony said it best after the UK game.. a team will always take confidence when you feel like you have the best player on the floor. And we had the best 3 players.

 

[RichZ]

That Florida game may have been the biggest reversal in "swagger" I have ever seen from a UConn team. Can anyone remember a game where we went from such futility to complete domination? I recall a game against Umass where we came back from like 30-9 halftime to crush them in the second half. FL was way better than UMASS so it was even more surprising that their wheels just completely fell off.

And the best part was that the swagger returned long before we eliminated their lead. We had like a 7-0 run, and you knew (and the team knew) we were in full control.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I think you might be thinking of a game at the XL against Providence, rather than UMass. I might have the opponent wrong, but I can recall being a student at a game where Rashad "knifeman" Anderson knocked down a whole mess of threes to get us back into and win a game we were down 30-9 at the half of

It was in one of the Infamous U Games.
We had huge comebacks against others notably against BC but we were a huge favorite in the UMass game and the first half score was crazy.
I think we held them to near single digits in the second half.

 

[intlzncster]

It makes those Louisville games even more interesting ... they had zero confidence in those three games from the tip. That pressure still gives me nightmares.

Only guard tandem who truly matched our strength on O with theirs on D, and their strength on O (Harrell) with our weakness on D. Perfect matchup for Ville.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

It was a huge statement when Kevin Ollie told the sideline reporter at halftime that UConn would beat Nova. That confidence is contagious and usually a prerequisite to win a championship.

Samuel is just so tough and relentless. You can attribute some of TS late season confidence to the leadership of Bazz. Samuel was lost at the beginning of the season with no confidence at all. Bazz helped bring out all the positive character traits of a basketball player that I thought Samuel had when the season started. UConn doesn't win this title without TS down the stretch in March Madness.

 

[gtcam]

I think you might be thinking of a game at the XL against Providence, rather than UMass. I might have the opponent wrong, but I can recall being a student at a game where Rashad "knifeman" Anderson knocked down a whole mess of threes to get us back into and win a game we were down 30-9 at the half of

it was UMASS

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

http://blogs.courant.com/uconn_mens_basketball/2009/12/uconn-moments-top-10-mens-come.html Here's a bunch of them I just found.

that Albany game. I left the office when they were down 12 in the second half and drove around until the game was over. Probably a sign of things to come for that group.

 

[Inyatkin]

that Albany game. I left the office when they were down 12 in the second half and drove around until the game was over. Probably a sign of things to come for that group.

Maybe the most painful postseason in UConn history. Every game, even the wins, was excruciating.

 

[David 76]

That Pittsburgh game with KEA was miraculous!

 

[Geno-ista]

It makes those Louisville games even more interesting ... they had zero confidence in those three games from the tip. That pressure still gives me nightmares.

I'm not a basketball expert, but was it just a case of Louisville being a horrendous match up for us? We really controlled most of the Villanova, Mich St, Flor & KY games. And in none of those games did it feel like we couldn't or even sometimes wouldn't win. Early in Vil game we took a hit and turned it around quick. They really stepped up whenever the train was going in the wrong direction. It really was something.