We're In A Great Position

[HuskyWarrior611]

That’s because WE had the good quick guards.

We’re still the higher seed and have the better talent. I really, really hope we don’t have another one and done March.

 

[uconnfan68]

We’re still the higher seed and have the better talent. I really, really hope we don’t have another one and done March.

Ok, no upsets this year!

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Ok, no upsets this year!

I at least hope that for us after being upset two years in a row pretty much.

 

[UofCT]

This team can beat anybody in the country and lose to anybody in the country. I'm seeing that Lunardi's latest bracket has us playing Vermont as a 3 seed. Yep that does make me nervous.

We would beat Vermont by 40

 

[OkaForPrez]

And people blasting Hawkins on the chat yesterday need to clam up and stop drinking

How did Boum do tonight?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Here are the latest Bracket Matrix projections, along with those teams’ NET rankings and several predictive metric site rankings. I’m glad we won’t be a 5, even though I believe we’ll handle any first round opponent. I’d rather be a 3 than a 4 based on potential opponents.

On the flip side, if we’re a 4, how upset will that region’s 1 seed be at the thought of facing us in the Sweet Sixteen?
View attachment 84975

I imagine that if UConn & Yale end up with seedings that could lead to a first round matchup (4-13 or 3-14) we'll be placed in the same region. The committee loves doing thing like that, especially after the preseason whining by Jones that we won't schedule them.

 

[XLCenterFan]

VT scares me never. Neither does Colgate. Are you guys serious?

 

[giddyup]

VT scares me never. Neither does Colgate. Are you guys serious?

Colgate is very good. They are the number 1 team in the country from 3, and legitimately so. They have multiple guys that can drain it with their eyes closed. They move the ball extremely well. They are No. 2 behind Gonzaga in team field goal percentage. They are not going to match up athletically, but they have a decent 6-10 center, Keegan Records, a 5th year senior that can bang pretty good with big men and beefy 6-11 backup that eats space. i wouldn’t take them for granted.

 

[caw]

latest bracket matrix the majority of brackets have UConn as the last three. Tennessee dropped with KSU slightly ahead.

 

[Greathusky]

We would beat Vermont by 40

Didn't we say that last year about New Mexico State?

 

[gsmooth]

Didn't we say that last year about New Mexico State?

Yup and people here were in mental masterbation mode thinking about UConn beating Gonzaga and going to the Final Four. I got ripped when I stated UConn could lose to any team in the NCAAT with a 13 seed or better and that as fans we should not get ahead of ourselves. And to be clear I thought UConn matched up well with NM State unlike Maryland the year before, but they don't call it March Madness for no reason. I mean I think UConn matched up well with Marquette and I still think they do.

 

[CTBasketball]

Until this team and coaching staff proves itself in tournaments in March, I will not overlook any opponent. Even if it’s a 16 seed.

 

[caw]

Until this team and coaching staff proves itself in tournaments in March, I will not overlook any opponent. Even if it’s a 16 seed.

It’s so strange watching lower seeded teams play. I can never tell how good they are because the competition is usually pretty bad.

Like watching Furman vs Chattanooga or Kennesaw St vs Liberty. It’s just so different.

Is Slawson that good, or is Chattanooga that bad?

Honestly even watching Texas/KU or Zona/UCLA and the announcers talking about how physical the game is and I see zero hand checking, zero bumps on cutters, zero hard fouls at the rim. Heck there weren’t even many off ball screens. It’s like a completely different game. Refs were calling stuff but it was like the teams knew that and had been trained not to make that contact for the most part. The stuff that was called would make PC blush. However it lead to more open shots on simple actions as there was more “freedom of movement.”

Most of the time recently I don’t watch that closely if it’s not UConn, or the BE but it was glaringly different in the P5 games I watched this weekend.

The BE is the exact opposite, teams foul every possession multiple times and dare the refs to call it.

I don’t know if this is good for the BE and it’s teams.

 

[gsmooth]

Until this team and coaching staff proves itself in tournaments in March, I will not overlook any opponent. Even if it’s a 16 seed.

That's my mindset, too. The NCAAT is about match ups and strategic styles, but I also think it's about which team handles the pressure better. I think UConn matches up well with Marquette and I still do, but they didn't handle the pressure well and Shaka Smart had those guys defending with like angry pitbulls.

I got concerned in the first few minutes of the Marquette game when Hawkins banked in the 3 pointer and missed the next 3 shots long because it was a clear sign that the adrenaline was overflowing. I will say to those that say he can't shoot under pressure, I think that is BS. His 3 pointer against PC when they were making that huge comeback was as big a pressure shot one can take. No one on UConn wanted to be part of a big historic collapse.

 

[tzznandrew]

Colgate is very good. They are the number 1 team in the country from 3, and legitimately so. They have multiple guys that can drain it with their eyes closed. They move the ball extremely well. They are No. 2 behind Gonzaga in team field goal percentage. They are not going to match up athletically, but they have a decent 6-10 center, Keegan Records, a 5th year senior that can bang pretty good with big men and beefy 6-11 backup that eats space. i wouldn’t take them for granted.

Sure. But they've played one team in the KenPom Top 100 and lost by 30.

If we lose to them, we deserved it.

 

[UofCT]

Didn't we say that last year about New Mexico State?

Depends on your definition of “we”

 

[Vuce]

Didn't we say that last year about New Mexico State?

No I don’t think we did honestly

 

[ElGreco]

We have already beaten some of the best teams in the country when we play our best. We have a roster that has a lot of answers, a lot of help and a lot of energy and skill off the bench. Our players all know this and are not bummed on yesterday's loss. AJAX and Hawk had rare bad games... at the same time. AND, we are going to face teams that haven't seen us, an advantage I believe. So, no guarantees but things look very good at this point. Truly.
(OK I admit I was channelling Scrappy and Maker's Muppet a bit here!).

I totally agree, especially because we will be playing teams that have not played us. I’m thinking FF

 

[gtcam]

Didn't we say that last year about New Mexico State?

If people here were honest 99% felt UConn would crush NMS.
This years team has the talent to beat 90% of the teams in the dance but talent only gets you so far.
They need to come out acting as if they are the underdog especially in the 2nd half.
If the staff doesn’t get creative in handling close games and freeing up its best shooter and best inside scorer there will be problems. Even without a good PG I still can see a deep run as well as could see an early exit.
UConn needs to win that 1st game and anything less than a second weekend appearance is not going to look good on DH. They were ranked #2 going into 2023 so they need to play like it during the dance.

 

[UConnSwag11]

VT scares me never. Neither does Colgate. Are you guys serious?

Thank you

 

[3rdbass]

And Decourcy has us as a #3, playing #14 Colgate - the top 3 point shooting team in the entire country.

Well we do defend the 3 well. It is teams that penetrate that we have our issues.