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- Dec 9, 2018
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Some thoughts that I need to get off my chest after watching these kids play and reviewing the yard. We need to be realistic with what is happening here and who this team is, because our bias and unrealistic expectations are just letting us down.
1- Free throw disparity: A ton of us are complaining about the free throw disparity between us and our opponents. While the officials have been in fact terrible, we have to be smarter than to think we are being treated unfairly, like the refs have some plot against us. Teams shoot way more free throws than us for two main reasons, in addition to poorly officiated games. One, we are always losing so we purposely foul at the end which jacks up the number of free throws the opponent takes. Two, we shoot an insane amount of three pointers. When we live and die by the three, this is what happens. We hardly ever take it strong to the rim, so how would we expect to get a call? Those are the two main reasons for the lack of consistency in free throw attempts, not the conspiracy theory that refs hate UConn (although I understand the officiating has been poor.)
2- Conference: Yes we so badly need to be in a better conference, as that directly affects the types of recruits we get. However, if we were in a power five right now...we would be 6-12. We HAVE to show that we can be better in the American, as we are currently in second to last place in the standings. Just wouldn't have imagined we'd be here a couple years ago.
3- Long game: After a few cupcake blowouts the first few games of the season many of us hyped up and erroneously increased expectations for this team. Fact of the matter is, we just aren't that good. We have two really skilled players in Jalen and AG, although Jalen pisses me off all the time. Everyone else is, to simply put it, not that good. When you're not as talented, you have to outwork your opponent and play harder. I saw everyone playing hard in the beginning of the year, but now that's like a mirage, very frustrating. Hoping Hurley can really change that and recruit more talent and "build culture." Let's see how he does with his own guys and go from there in a year or two.
So fellas, even though this is incredibly frustrating to watch, lets take a deep breath, look at the big picture, and see what Hurley can do in a year or two. Rome wasn't built in a day.
1- Free throw disparity: A ton of us are complaining about the free throw disparity between us and our opponents. While the officials have been in fact terrible, we have to be smarter than to think we are being treated unfairly, like the refs have some plot against us. Teams shoot way more free throws than us for two main reasons, in addition to poorly officiated games. One, we are always losing so we purposely foul at the end which jacks up the number of free throws the opponent takes. Two, we shoot an insane amount of three pointers. When we live and die by the three, this is what happens. We hardly ever take it strong to the rim, so how would we expect to get a call? Those are the two main reasons for the lack of consistency in free throw attempts, not the conspiracy theory that refs hate UConn (although I understand the officiating has been poor.)
2- Conference: Yes we so badly need to be in a better conference, as that directly affects the types of recruits we get. However, if we were in a power five right now...we would be 6-12. We HAVE to show that we can be better in the American, as we are currently in second to last place in the standings. Just wouldn't have imagined we'd be here a couple years ago.
3- Long game: After a few cupcake blowouts the first few games of the season many of us hyped up and erroneously increased expectations for this team. Fact of the matter is, we just aren't that good. We have two really skilled players in Jalen and AG, although Jalen pisses me off all the time. Everyone else is, to simply put it, not that good. When you're not as talented, you have to outwork your opponent and play harder. I saw everyone playing hard in the beginning of the year, but now that's like a mirage, very frustrating. Hoping Hurley can really change that and recruit more talent and "build culture." Let's see how he does with his own guys and go from there in a year or two.
So fellas, even though this is incredibly frustrating to watch, lets take a deep breath, look at the big picture, and see what Hurley can do in a year or two. Rome wasn't built in a day.
