We are NOT an 8 seed

[AdamaNation]

Just like last year before the shutdown Hurley has the team firing on all cylinders at the right time.
Looking forward to seeing what this team can do tournament time.

I remember another Uconn team being looked at as a bubble team prior to to the big East tournament in recent history.

 

[6xChamps]

I think UConn is better than an 8 seed but the reality is that they’ve only beat one surefire tournament team. Win the Big East Tourney and that completely changes.

 

[RayRay]

Here’s one interesting way to look at this. The book I use currently has 14 teams with better odds to win the championship than us, and we are tied with 4 other schools with the same odds. That means that puts us at a 4-5 seed for the tournament. I think that’s about right especially if we win the BET.

 

[alphasigko]

GREAT video! I was at a number of those games in the 80s and early 90s! Great memories! Thx for posting! I am just so happy that we are back in the BIG East!

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

There is a chasm between +27 and -11. I don't like to see a team let up THAT much. If you do that against a better team, you lose. Excellence is a habit. If you don't want to do it against a good team, don't do it against a crappy team

They had a 2 And-1s and a traditional 3 in the last minute to outscore us 9-2 in that stretch with all our starters out. It really wasn’t as bad as you think.

 

[pepband99]

One thing that would have helped our resume is more wins. One way to get more wins is to play more games.

Maybe the Westchester Knicks were available?

 

[Stinger92860]

How about the team you saw in the second half?

This. We lost the 2nd half 58 to 47. We gave up 82 Georgetown. Playing like that, we can be a quick out.

 

[navery12]

There is a chasm between +27 and -11. I don't like to see a team let up THAT much. If you do that against a better team, you lose. Excellence is a habit. If you don't want to do it against a good team, don't do it against a crappy team

Actually, if you go +27 and -11 against any team you win 100% of the time. It's pretty simple math

 

[g_smith]

Yes. We were. The first and only.

There was 1 8 seed before us and 1 six seed before us. And both were in the 1980s in the first 4 years of the seedings.

That's rare. To win a title, you want to be a 1-3 seed, as they've won 31 of the 35 post expansion titles.

And most impressively, to win it as a 7 seed, we had to beat the 1, 2, 3 seeds to make it to the final.

but one could argue we deserved better than a 7 seed because the AAC got shafted by the selection committee. With the same season the BE we were likely a 3 or 4.

 

[uconngb]

One thing that would have helped our resume is more wins. One way to get more wins is to play more games.

For the love of god, give it up!

 

[ScuderiaDiU]

Actually, if you go +27 and -11 against any team you win 100% of the time. It's pretty simple math

What is also pretty simple is that this team is not going +27 and -11 against Baylor or pretty much any team in the top half of the tournament. But you already knew that was what I was saying, didn't you? You just wanted to be a...you know.

So, yeah, against a good team it will be more like +1 and -37. Against a decent team, it could be +18 and -20.

 

[7774]

One thing that would have helped our resume is more wins. One way to get more wins is to play more games.

One thing that would have hurt our resume is more losses. One way to get more losses is to play more games.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

No chance we get above an 8, because we didn’t add games against Fairfield or QU late in the year. What a missed opportunity.

😂😂😂

 

[tzznandrew]

And most impressively, to win it as a 7 seed, we had to beat the 1, 2, 3 seeds to make it to the final.

but one could argue we deserved better than a 7 seed because the AAC got shafted by the selection committee. With the same season the BE we were likely a 3 or 4.

The AAC was absolutely undervalued that year. The committee didn't know what to do with a conference that had 5 good to very good teams at the top (Louisville, Cincy, UConn, Memphis, SMU) and 5 abominable teams at the bottom (Rutgers, Houston, USF, UCF, Temple).

The KenPom that year went:

1. Louisville
15. UConn
27. Cincy
31. SMU
36. Memphis

All these schools were lower than they would normally be (other than Louisville, of course) because of what follows:

132. Houston
150. Temple
155. UCF
170. Rutgers
191. South Florida

The committee got Cincy's seed mostly right and they did what Cincy always does. Louisville was underseeded by 2 seed-lines. Same with UConn. Memphis was mostly right. And SMU should have made it.

But not often is there that big a chasm between top and bottom in a conference.

 

[tzznandrew]

This. We lost the 2nd half 58 to 47. We gave up 82 Georgetown. Playing like that, we can be a quick out.

If you're up 27 and maintain a 20+ point lead into the final 3 minutes, I feel pretty okay.

Georgetown went 6-6 from 3 to start the second half. Many of them were not great, clean looks.

Nothing about the second half concerned me because the game was over with about 5 minutes to go in the first half. Hurley can and should disagree for motivational purposes, but the game was never in doubt so as fans it's not that big of a deal.

 

[ScuderiaDiU]

Look at the NET ratings. We are an 8 seed right now. Last I checked, Emmert is still in charge. We will not be placed higher than our NET rating would suggest. Need to keep winning to move up. Are we better than an 8 seed? Yes. The NET rating is almost as flawed as the RPI was. It is what it is.

 

[7774]

The AAC was absolutely undervalued that year. The committee didn't know what to do with a conference that had 5 good to very good teams at the top (Louisville, Cincy, UConn, Memphis, SMU) and 5 abominable teams at the bottom (Rutgers, Houston, USF, UCF, Temple).

The KenPom that year went:

1. Louisville
15. UConn
27. Cincy
31. SMU
36. Memphis

All these schools were lower than they would normally be (other than Louisville, of course) because of what follows:

132. Houston
150. Temple
155. UCF
170. Rutgers
191. South Florida

The committee got Cincy's seed mostly right and they did what Cincy always does. Louisville was underseeded by 2 seed-lines. Same with UConn. Memphis was mostly right. And SMU should have made it.

But not often is there that big a chasm between top and bottom in a conference.

To be fair, 15th is where we were ranked after winning the title. We were ranked 25th going into the tournament, which would be a 7 seed. I agree with Louisville that year, the rest seemed OK to me.

The whole “committee hates the AAC“ is one of my least favorite narratives here (I know that’s not what you’re saying, just in general). They gave Cincinnati a 2 seed with a team that was never getting a 2 seed playing in the old Big East. They put Tulsa in one year and I remember reading an article that said 0 out of 60 projected brackets had them in, and even their own players figured they had no shot.

The AAC was generally treated fine, it’s just not very good.

 

[tzznandrew]

To be fair, 15th is where we were ranked after winning the title. We were ranked 25th going into the tournament, which would be a 7 seed. I agree with Louisville that year, the rest seemed OK to me.

The whole “committee hates the AAC“ is one of my least favorite narratives here (I know that’s not what you’re saying, just in general). They gave Cincinnati a 2 seed with a team that was never getting a 2 seed playing in the old Big East. They put Tulsa in one year and I remember reading an article that said 0 out of 60 projected brackets had them in, and even their own players figured they had no shot.

The AAC was generally treated fine, it’s just not very good.

But KenPom is just one measure. I stand by my position that they botched Louisville, UConn, and SMU that year.

But I don't really think we're in much disagreement here. I don't think the committee hated the AAC. They missed in the early years, but were mostly okay with the conference. The conference just wasn't that good, as you say.

 

[jibsey]

How about the team you saw in the second half?

Foot off the gas, sitting on a lead 2nd half?

 

[billybud]

Lunardi has UConn #8 meeting LSU...

Palm has UConn #8 meeting Colorado...

Both have In Illinois' bracket as game two being with the Illini (assuming an Illinois win).

 

[aburks41]

They had they home game vs us in the ‘09 final four it was good to return the favor

If Dyson doesn't blow out his knee in late February we would have 5 titles. We were the best team in the country before that happened and I don't think it was really even that close.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

If you're up 27 and maintain a 20+ point lead into the final 3 minutes, I feel pretty okay.

Georgetown went 6-6 from 3 to start the second half. Many of them were not great, clean looks.

Nothing about the second half concerned me because the game was over with about 5 minutes to go in the first half. Hurley can and should disagree for motivational purposes, but the game was never in doubt so as fans it's not that big of a deal.

this x 1000.

Plus, Hurley noticeably let the air out of the ball, ate clock, and controlled our scoring for pretty much the entire 2nd half.

I was blessed to be on of the ~200 healthcare workers/1st responders at the game yesterday. Being able to see the whole court, there were many times when GTown was pressing where we had players wide open for easy layups and didn’t pass it to them. Broke the press and then killed time. If Hurley let the reigns out in the 2nd half, we could have scored 110-120.

Even with GTown catching fire from 3, we comfortably maintained a 20-24 pt lead until the last minute or so, when they got some garbage time freebies

 

[navery12]

What is also pretty simple is that this team is not going +27 and -11 against Baylor or pretty much any team in the top half of the tournament. But you already knew that was what I was saying, didn't you? You just wanted to be a...you know.

So, yeah, against a good team it will be more like +1 and -37. Against a decent team, it could be +18 and -20.

I have no idea what you're arguing, because if you go +1 you're not going to let up in the 2nd half. We can look at the same team we played yesterday, where we played Georgetown to +1 in the first half and +11 in the 2nd half. Anyone watching yesterday's game knew the game was never in doubt when we led by 20 for almost the entire 2nd half

 

[SportsFan88]

If Dyson doesn't blow out his knee in late February we would have 5 titles. We were the best team in the country before that happened and I don't think it was really even that close.

I’ve always had those sentiments as well. The Louisville game that year was indicative of that. We were ROLLING before Jerome got hurt. Besides the stinker vs Georgetown. That’s one of my favorite UConn teams, and my favorite one to not win a title

 

[7774]

But KenPom is just one measure. I stand by my position that they botched Louisville, UConn, and SMU that year.

But I don't really think we're in much disagreement here. I don't think the committee hated the AAC. They missed in the early years, but were mostly okay with the conference. The conference just wasn't that good, as you say.

Yeah, we’re basically on the same page. This discussiom got me thinking more about that year, and I believe with Louisville they got crushed because their OOC schedule was horrendous. Like 7-8 games against legitimately terrible teams. I never understood why they would schedule like that.

 

[Rico444]

If Dyson doesn't blow out his knee in late February we would have 5 titles. We were the best team in the country before that happened and I don't think it was really even that close.

I don't know if I'd say it wasn't that close...North Carolina had a great team.

 

[SportsFan88]

I don't know if I'd say it wasn't that close...North Carolina had a great team.

They did but with Jerome we beat them on a neutral court.

 

[tzznandrew]

Yeah, we’re basically on the same page. This discussiom got me thinking more about that year, and I believe with Louisville they got crushed because their OOC schedule was horrendous. Like 7-8 games against legitimately terrible teams. I never understood why they would schedule like that.

I assume it was a bad OOC compounded by Kentucky having a down year (8-seed, but played for the title) and not really adjusting to how bad the bottom of the AAC would be. Who knows?

 

[billybud]

UNC, in '09, won their Final Four and Final matches by double digits....strong team.

 

[tzznandrew]

I don't know if I'd say it wasn't that close...North Carolina had a great team.

Yeah, that would have been an epic title game and we could certainly have lost. I do think Thabeet was exactly the sort of big that could have slowed down Hansborough, though.