UConns Machine

[Tonyc]

There are 4 teams left. They are made up of kids who take you one on one and teams that play together. However UConn plays like a machine, fine tuned, and unselfish. They are at a different level and everybody on the team is on the same page. So when one player sits their replacement can execute just like the play who is sitting. Their talent may be lesser but their execution is right on and that's what makes them effective and what makes UConn so good. Because you can replace one player with another and the machine continues to run. The talent and athleticism of those non starters may be lesser then those players they are replacing however their knowledge and training to execute is there. A huge difference this time of year.

 

[Sonny44]

There are 4 teams left. They are made up of kids who take you one on one and teams that play together. However UConn plays like a machine, fine tuned, and unselfish. They are at a different level and everybody on the team is on the same page. So when one player sits their replacement can execute just like the play who is sitting. Their talent may be lesser but their execution is right on and that's what makes them effective and what makes UConn so good. Because you can replace one player with another and the machine continues to run. The talent and athleticism of those non starters may be lesser then those players they are replacing however their knowledge and training to execute is there. A huge difference this time of year.

So you think we can win it all Tony?

 

[Bonpland]

Boneyarders (pretty much by definition) agree with Tonyc, but we all will watch the games with a slight feeling of anxiety (at the very start anyway) that our team might somehow, or someway not be victorious. Is there someone who now will say that they thought we might have been beaten in Palo Alto? Or that a seven seed would lead us at halftime? I am as guilty as any other fan of believing that we are invincible, but it is the nature of sport that no matter how dominant a team may seem that occassionally Griner is bested by a playey ten inches shorter than she, the Russian hockey team loses to a team it beat 10-3 just a week before, and that a two time defending national champ is beaten by a team that would go on to lose ten games that very season and who it was considered to be in the midst of a rebuilding cycle. We'll all watch the games, and despite our uncontained confidence, we will all be a little nervous, at least for the first few minutes.

 

[hoophuskee]

Boneyarders (pretty much by definition) agree with Tonyc, but we all will watch the games with a slight feeling of anxiety (at the very start anyway) that our team might somehow, or someway not be victorious. Is there someone who now will say that they thought we might have been beaten in Palo Alto? Or that a seven seed would lead us at halftime? I am as guilty as any other fan of believing that we are invincible, but it is the nature of sport that no matter how dominant a team may seem that occassionally Griner is bested by a playey ten inches shorter than she, the Russian hockey team loses to a team it beat 10-3 just a week before, and that a two time defending national champ is beaten by a team that would go on to lose ten games that very season and who it was considered to be in the midst of a rebuilding cycle. We'll all watch the games, and despite our uncontained confidence, we will all be a little nervous, at least for the first few minutes.

We all don't watch the game with a slight feeling of anxiety for 99.9% of the time. Or maybe we have anxiety but maybe for some it is more anxious anticipation to watch the game. The outcome for many many games before opening tip does not warrant anxious anxiety. Mostly it's the anticipation to watch players amaze us. Hwo often they have made me say "wow" "omg" "Are you kidding me?" etc is an awful awful lot.

Sure there are games that the amateur team from USA slay the giant Russian machine. Well until it happens if the game comes down to the last few minutes- I'm not fearful of it. IMO the only team that has smudge chance is ND. I will be a bit anxious with that. To start the game with MD? Nope. To start the game with USC? Nope. I don't fear the remote chance MD can win. If they prove me wrong -- utter than complete shock during those moments -- I won't fear it because as you point out/imply - many of us have seen UCONN be victorious so much. We've seen so many teams try and go down- we just have to see it to believe it. So show me-- until you show me there is no need to feel so much anxiety or be afraid of your own shadow.

 

[UConnNick]

I certainly saw a loss in the game against Stanford as a possibility, particularly that early in the season. We got our 90-game streak broken on the very same court. As a program, Stanford deserves to be taken very seriously.

We didn't know then what we know now about how freshmen like Kia Nurse and Gabby Williams would develop. If we had played Stanford a month into the season I think the result would have been very different. It might have been different even two more weeks into the season, but it was a very early season game with a group of UCONN players, including some that had never played together in games before. We had one tuneup game against a sacrificial lamb that didn't teach anybody anything about the upcoming game against a perennial women's BB powerhouse.

The funny thing is I don't have anywhere near the reservations I had prior to the Stanford game going into this Final Four, and we will face much better teams than Stanford. I truly think this UCONN team can handle almost anything thrown at them at this point in this season.

 

[JellyBean]

There are 4 teams left. They are made up of kids who take you one on one and teams that play together. However UConn plays like a machine, fine tuned, and unselfish. They are at a different level and everybody on the team is on the same page. So when one player sits their replacement can execute just like the play who is sitting. Their talent may be lesser but their execution is right on and that's what makes them effective and what makes UConn so good. Because you can replace one player with another and the machine continues to run. The talent and athleticism of those non starters may be lesser then those players they are replacing however their knowledge and training to execute is there. A huge difference this time of year.

High five, TonyC!!!! Great points.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Thing is, although nothing is assured from November to early March when UConn is developing its machine, during the final phases at Tournament time it takes a super opponent playing at the top of its game for the Huskies to lose. So the expectations of UConn fans are built on history. The team has lost 12 games over the last 7 years, but the Huskies are 36-2 in the Tournament, a 94% winning percentage. That does breed expectations, though nothing is ever for sure. If it was, we'd all be at least a little bored by it all.