USA Today/Coaches Poll

[Tonyc]

As of right now UConn is the best team in the country. We are healthy now. I know you cant forget about the rest of the season however with Paige and Azzi back and add in Caroline we have 3 go to players and 2 have been called generational players. I gave my reasons in another post why I thought UConn Could Be considered a number 1 team in the tournament but most likely wont be and thats ok . However if you read the posts many fans are saying if UConn is in SC bracket that wouldnt be right or move UConn to another region. That wont happen. Consider this. UConn right now has 3 players coming off the bench that could start for any team. UConn has a second starting 5 that would be ranked in the polls top 10/15. That gives up depth that can keep us out of foul trouble. The way Geno is alternating his bench will allow us to stay fresh and even if we have a player with 2 fouls we have another player who can step right in and loose very little. We are operating and executing with great passing unselfishness and confidence. We are better right now then any team in WCBB.

 

[Stymie]

As of right now UConn is the best team in the country. We are healthy now. I know you cant forget about the rest of the season however with Paige and Azzi back and add in Caroline we have 3 go to players and 2 have been called generational players. I gave my reasons in another post why I thought UConn Could Be considered a number 1 team in the tournament but most likely wont be and thats ok . However if you read the posts many fans are saying if UConn is in SC bracket that wouldnt be right or move UConn to another region. That wont happen. Consider this. UConn right now has 3 players coming off the bench that could start for any team. UConn has a second starting 5 that would be ranked in the polls top 10/15. That gives up depth that can keep us out of foul trouble. The way Geno is alternating his bench will allow us to stay fresh and even if we have a player with 2 fouls we have another player who can step right in and loose very little. We are operating and executing with great passing unselfishness and confidence. We are better right now then any team in WCBB.

My question is “right now, the best team in the country”, based on what?
Crushing the dregs of the Big East by 40+ points?
You have insufficient data to base that claim on.
Based on what, Tonyc?

 

[Tonyc]

My question is “right now, the best team in the country”, based on what?
Crushing the dregs of the Big East by 40+ points?
You have insufficient data to base that claim on.
Based on what, Tonyc?

I base it on watching the team play. On defense our weak side up has been really good over the past few games. We also have height down low as well as at the top of the key with depth making it very difficult for opponents to shoot over. UConn has grown as a team and individually since we have gotten healthy. We are not the same team that we were a month ago.

On offense we have what I see as some of the best guards in the country and they too have depth. On offense UConns passing and execution is second to none. Paige Azzi and Caroline are 3 of the very best guards in the country and are go to players.

I know the past few games were against weaker teams in the BE however how many teams have built a 50 pt lead against their opponents??? How many top teams have struggled against weaker teams in their conference? I guess from your post you dont see that so my question to you assuming you watch UConn games who is better then UConn right now?

If you have watched UConn games over the season you would recognize they are playing at a very very level and playing at it 9 deep with very little drop off. With our depth foul trouble is not a big concern because we have the bodies to come in without loosing a beat. The turnovers are way down too. If youve listened to the announcers on TV or sports people, they are all talking about who gets UConn in their bracket and how UConn is a much improved team then a month ago.

Ive seen you post to the board recently and I dont know if your a UConn fan or not however I would ask you to watch UConn execute. Watch them now and tell me that there is a team right now that is better then UConn

 

[LoboDays]

One way to look at it is this: Preseason polls had UCONN as the #2 or #3 team in the Country. Now, they are back to the roster that was used to determine those rankings. Although, I give them little credit for pulverizing BE opponents, it’s pretty clear they are are a candidate to cut down the nets in April.

The Question: who is better than UCONN right now is impossible to answer. Unlike the other top teams who must play each other in order to win their respective conference tourneys, UCONN won’t. So, the answer will come in the Elite Eight and beyond.

 

[Stymie]

I base it on watching the team play. On defense our weak side up has been really good over the past few games. We also have height down low as well as at the top of the key with depth making it very difficult for opponents to shoot over. UConn has grown as a team and individually since we have gotten healthy. We are not the same team that we were a month ago.

On offense we have what I see as some of the best guards in the country and they too have depth. On offense UConns passing and execution is second to none. Paige Azzi and Caroline are 3 of the very best guards in the country and are go to players.

I know the past few games were against weaker teams in the BE however how many teams have built a 50 pt lead against their opponents??? How many top teams have struggled against weaker teams in their conference? I guess from your post you dont see that so my question to you assuming you watch UConn games who is better then UConn right now?

If you have watched UConn games over the season you would recognize they are playing at a very very level and playing at it 9 deep with very little drop off. With our depth foul trouble is not a big concern because we have the bodies to come in without loosing a beat. The turnovers are way down too. If youve listened to the announcers on TV or sports people, they are all talking about who gets UConn in their bracket and how UConn is a much improved team then a month ago.

Ive seen you post to the board recently and I dont know if your a UConn fan or not however I would ask you to watch UConn execute. Watch them now and tell me that there is a team right now that is better then UConn

You have ZERO, NADA, ZILTCH to base your claim on that they are, right now, the best team in the country.
Paige back for, what, 25 minutes in two games against Patsies?
The may very well become the best team, in the end, after the dust clears.
Me beating Minnesota Fats in a foot race, doesn’t make me the ‘fastest’ only faster than him.
Same thing as UCONN beating up on Xavier and Providence.
And because I don’t ascribe you your touting doesn’t make me any less of a fan.
Let it play out.

 

[Majic Hands]

No matter how it end. SC gets to hang, voted #1 banner from their rafters.

 

[01Neaggrad02]

It also doesn't look good because SC already beat UCONN.

South Carolina is the team to beat and I think we can all agree to that right now. That said, looking at UCONN's third or fourth game of the season, and saying that since South Carolina beat UCONN then they would beat us now is not a valid assessment. UCONN has grown by leaps and bounds. Azzi was a non factor, Caroline if I am not mistaken did not play at all. Nor did Dorka I believe... All the players have stepped up their game including Paith and Amari.

Remember the year that Notre Dame defeated UCONN three times and we played them the fourth time in the NCAA's and beat them. The last year UCONN was in the Big East before joining the American.... If we looked at past history and said ND beat UCONN already.... then we would not have won four in a row. We got this...

 

[01Neaggrad02]

No matter how it end. SC gets to hang, voted #1 banner from their rafters.

That is almost as good as a national championship banner.

 

[Tonyc]

You have ZERO, NADA, ZILTCH to base your claim on that they are, right now, the best team in the country.
Paige back for, what, 25 minutes in two games against Patsies?
The may very well become the best team, in the end, after the dust clears.
Me beating Minnesota Fats in a foot race, doesn’t make me the ‘fastest’ only faster than him.
Same thing as UCONN beating up on Xavier and Providence.
And because I don’t ascribe you your touting doesn’t make me any less of a fan.
Let it play out.

LOL LOL LOL Obviously you have no idea who I am or what I know do you? BTW who is your team? You didnt answer that question I asked you in the previous post? Could you please answer my question and tell me who your team is? You have the nerve to call a team patsies? How disrespectful. How would you like to meet their parents? Your hiding behind a screen name. Please tell me who's your team.

 

[LoboDays]

Uh oh. Someone needs a Happy Hour.

 

[Tonyc]

Let me say this and Ive watched alot of BB. The way UConn is playing and peaking there is no team that can beat them right now. With our depth it will be hard to get them in foul trouble. With our guards it will be tuff to stop them. With our depth it will be tuff to get us in foul trouble. We are 9 deep and moving players in and out of the lineup will keep us fresh and out of foul trouble. Lookout here come tomorrow.

Uh oh. Someone needs a Happy Hour.

Your right and I think that person may have already had to much.

 

[HuskyNan]

LOL LOL LOL Obviously you have no idea who I am or what I know do you? BTW who is your team? You didnt answer that question I asked you in the previous post? Could you please answer my question and tell me who your team is? You have the nerve to call a team patsies? How disrespectful. How would you like to meet their parents? Your hiding behind a screen name. Please tell me who's your team.

Tony, @Stymie is a UConn fan. I don’t necessarily agree with the tone but I agree with the point - Paige has been back 2 games against overmatched opponents. Yes, we saw the execution against the poorer teams but we haven’t seen it against a top team yet. I think the Huskies will breeze through the early rounds in the tourney but have no idea what they will do against tougher competition.

If the seedings were on potential, UConn would be a #1. If it’s on performance to date, a #3 is appropriate.

 

[Bald Husky]

I think at this time @Tonyc may be half right, if not totally right, but that part will be decided on the court. I think that we definitely have the best total talent, but unless we can pull it together, and Geno can get the right combinations correct, we may not be able to knock down SC, or any #1. All the other teams have not seen as many injuries that we have, or at least, not as long as we have. As far as SC, we may have enough post players to outlast Boston and Cardosa, maybe not neutralize them, but not let the game get away from us, and if the perimeter players do their jobs, we will have a great chance to beat them. IMO, we have an overwhelming advantage with our guards, and it would be up to them to get us through this daunting task of beating the best team in the country. Again, it will depend on if Geno can get the rotations right, and with only 3 games left in the season, I just hope it is time enough.

 

[LoboDays]

Let me say this and Ive watched alot of BB. The way UConn is playing and peaking there is no team that can beat them right now. With our depth it will be hard to get them in foul trouble. With our guards it will be tuff to stop them. With our depth it will be tuff to get us in foul trouble. We are 9 deep and moving players in and out of the lineup will keep us fresh and out of foul trouble. Lookout here come tomorrow.

Your right and I think that person may have already had to much.

Here’s the reality of it all Tony. Most of us feel like you do. At full strength, they are an unstoppable force and will only get better as they get more games under their belt at full strength. But, that shouldn’t matter to anyone responsible for ranking or seeding teams. I don’t know what the Committee uses to determine the seedings. But I assume most if it deals with the Body of Work. If they start looking at teams with “their better than their record” or “ Good players are back from Injuries” scenarios, it would take them to December and to come up with a consensus.

As Nan said, they are unproven as of now. Since they play in the BE, that situation won’t change much. Their best win of the entire season came against Tennessee who is a 3 seed at best and maybe worse if they get knocked off early in their conference playoffs. I think their current ranking is very generous.

In the end it doesn’t matter. To be the best, you have to beat the best no matter where you play or who you play or when you play them.

This post has made me very thirsty.

 

[Topsail]

I get Tonyc s enthusiasm but I do remain cautious about winning another championship. I do feel like we have the pieces to win it all but this will be a dog fight . Strange things happen in the tournament and I still remember an unranked Villanova team shooting nearly 80% in the championship game to win the mens title over heavily favored Georgetown back in 1985 .

 

[PJCLaw]

Those Hi/Los are insane. Someone didn’t have LSU ranked

The Hi/lo is not a reflection on this week's rankings but a reflection of the highest ranking and the lowest ranking the team has had during the season. LSU was not ranked to start the season, that's why it has an NR as its lowest ranking.

 

[Skeets]

Tony, yes UConn has a lot of talent. But they have to bring their A game. Against the best teams they have to bring their A+ game and do it for 40 minutes. You know and I know that doesn't always happen, so let's just keep our fingers crossed (and maybe enjoy happy hour).

 

[Bald Husky]

Tony, yes UConn has a lot of talent. But they have to bring their A game. Against the best teams they have to bring their A+ game and do it for 40 minutes. You know and I know that doesn't always happen, so let's just keep our fingers crossed (and maybe enjoy happy hour).

Actually, I think the other teams will have to bring THEIR A game if they want to beat us.

 

[CL82]

I think there are a lot of questions about Connecticut this postseason season. How are we going to integrate Paige Bueckers back into the team? How will the team on the court chemistry be with yet another change in personnel? How healed are are returning players? Are they back at 100%?

On the other hand, we have most of the team that we thought we would at the start of the season. It is a stunningly talented group. We also have two Hall of Fame coaches sitting on our bench. We have three of the number one recruits out of high school in their respective years playing for us, two of which are “generational players“.

We could be outstanding, or the staggering amount of injuries we had earlier in the season could be too much to recover from to play our best in the postseason.

I honestly don’t know what we’re going to see, but I’m excited to find out.

 

[sun]

How are we going to integrate Paige Bueckers back into the team? How will the team on the court chemistry be with yet another change in personnel? How healed are are returning players? Are they back at 100%?

Geno will be making decisions about sub packages and watching how everyone performs.
He will need to determine which players have the hot hand and then make adjustments accordingly.
That's why he makes the big bucks and also has a staff to provide advice.
He makes plans before the games and can also improvise during the game as it develops.
If plan A doesn't work out very well then he can go to plan B or plan C, or call a time out to figure things out.

 

[KMac]

The way we are playing right now...doesn't matter where we are seeded, we are headed to the final 4!

 

[CL82]

The way we are playing right now...doesn't matter where we are seeded, we are headed to the final 4!

Sigh…

 

[Sluconn Husky]

South Carolina is the team to beat and I think we can all agree to that right now. That said, looking at UCONN's third or fourth game of the season, and saying that since South Carolina beat UCONN then they would beat us now is not a valid assessment.

Remember the year that Notre Dame defeated UCONN three times and we played them the fourth time in the NCAA's and beat them. The last year UCONN was in the Big East before joining the American.... If we looked at past history and said ND beat UCONN already.... then we would not have won four in a row. We got this...

While this is an important point to keep in mind, remember that those games against ND were decided by razor-thin margins. UConn was out-scored by almost 30 against SC over the last 2-2/3 quarters.

There are built-in advantages SC has in any head-to-head matchup that UConn would have to overcome. Personally, I think they'd have to change year-long behaviors and playing styles to have the optimal chance, but having seen none of those adjustments against Mississippi State in 2017 I have little faith of that occurring.

 

[visitingcock]

No matter how it end. SC gets to hang, voted #1 banner from their rafters.

No. It "matters how it ends." If their is no tourney, we'll hang another one.

 

[MD#12Fan]

In my mind UConn is 5. Sorry LSU, Iowa State and Baylor. Let’s look after Monday night and the rest of the conference tournaments. They’ll all likely have another loss.
That would put UConn as the best 2 seed, thus being put in Louisville’s part of the draw. They will go down in the regional final and game on.