Who is the most overrated ranked team?

[Scot-e]

Most other boards think it is us. (not possible).

Pitt is too easy after the loss. I am thinking it's got to be OSU at #3.

thoughts?

 

[blackuc]

Depends upon what your definition of overrated is. I don't think they are top 3, but they are top 10. I watched the OSU/Florida game and they have some very nice pieces plus as we all know, when you have possibly the best player in the country on your team anything can happen. Their point guard Craft is also a good player and a real pain in the ass to play against.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

im not sold on us being #4 at this point. I think we have a lot to prove. I think it will come together when we get boatright back, but we look emotionless out there.

 

[Scot-e]

^ So you are thinking we are the most overrated ranked team?

 

[UConnSwag11]

I'd say osu. Kentucky too bc they rely too much on the three. But it's early everything will get smoothed out

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

^ So you are thinking we are the most overrated ranked team?

did i say that? Pre season rankings are pretty pointless as they are just judged on who is returning, who has been recruited and what not. I'm just not sure I'd make a thread saying who is the most overrated team 3 games into the season when we havent looked particularly great ourselves

 

[TheRogers]

As of now I would say we are. UNC, UK, and OSU have been somewhat tested already. Maybe we'd play up to the level of our competition if we faced a ranked team. I really can't say. But based on how we've been playing, I wouldn't say we're the 4th rank team in the nation.

Maybe the rotation will flow much better with Boatright in the mix but we're still careless with the ball and we're still missing defensive assignments (the last game was a lbetter than the previous two though). UNC and UK look like they're farther along than we are. I haven't watched OSU but they did beat an 8th ranked Florida team.

Maybe saying we are overrated is inaccurate. A better way of saying it is that UNC, UK, and OSU has proven their rankings to date.

 

[Robertelamin]

UCLA, Vanderbilt and Pitt. It is so early though....

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Duke is the most overrated, and it is not close. UCLA is not overrated, they just suck. I don't think anyone thinks they are good anymore. Vanderbilt is still a good team, as is Pitt. Those would be tough matchups for anyone, and both teams will will well over 20 games.

Duke is not that good at all. Duke is a borderline Top 25 team that is ranked in the Top 10. If Duke played the other Top 10 teams over its next 9 games, Duke would be lucky to win 2, and wouldn't go .500 against the teams ranked 11-20 either. Rivers is not a dominant player, Curry is just a shooter, and the Plumlees will be exposed as stiffs when they play any kind of athletic big man.

 

[Ricky1Moore]

Preseason rankings are always a bit funny... as some list who they think is the Top 25 NOW and others list who they think will be the Top 25 at the end of the season...

I do not believe that Uconn is the #4 Team right now... they don't have an identity. That said, match us up right now with ANYONE and we still have Napier, Lamb, and Calhoun and, therefore, a proper fighting chance... Those 3 guys are our identity right now.

I think Uconn is probably more like the 10th - 12th best team right now.

But by the start of the Tournament I would be very surprised if they aren't one of the 5 best teams... Calhoun builds for the end...

 

[Rico444]

I don't think we're overrated at all. JC loves tweaking his lineups early in the season, putting kids in roles they aren't necessarily comfortable in to see what lineups are successful and get the most out of the team. I mean, oriakhi and Drummond are our two best big men, and yet TO is playing the most minutes of the entire front court. I don't mind it, because Tyler looks very impressive and I want to see where he's going to fit in. But against Syracuse, against pitt and against Louisville, you're going to see a different level of play. All of this tinkering is for those games.

Oh, and by the way, as bob wenzel mentioned about 30 times last night, we're playing with two legitimate guards on the roster. Once boatright comes aboard, this team will take off.

 

[willie99]

we're over-ranked based on the 1st three games, but we'll be playing a lot better come January, and we'll be at our best come March

perception on 11/18/2011 is just not very important

 

[arnie3]

At this point this team doesn't have a handle on what it is. It would have been the same last year if Kemba wasn't bailing the team out in the early going. A leader has to emerge, and that hasn't happened yet. The only leader out there right now is JC, and he proved it when he called time out 5 seconds into the second half. The next ten minutes when the team held Maine without a basket were jaw-dropping! It's what he needs to do to keep them focused. Up until then, the team had no sense of urgency even though they were only up 5. As far as ratings are concerned, what team out there is playing 40 minutes without taking some time off? I watched a number of games, and would say none. All coaches are tinkering right now to see what works. All are in transition. I'm just waiting for the light bulb to go off for JL, AO, and RS. I think that AD is a quick study and he keeps improving, and SN is hoping that RB is allowed to play soon. Overrated? Perhaps. But I think that it's too soon to tell.

 

[cohenzone]

pre-season rankings, the hot-stove stuff of both major college sports, should be banned forever. If there is a need to rank,, I'd say, don't rank until a 1/4 to to 1/3 of the season is done. Rankings based on potential and recruiting is a silly game and it always takes too long for the mistakes to shake out, both up and down. In UConn's case, how do you evaluate the following ahead of time: Everyone but a couple of players return, one of those being the most important player any any team last year. Among the returnees, most have 1 year of experience, but that having been played with that dominant departed player. # highly regarded recruits are coming in, but nobody knows how they will pan out. So, the ranking, as for many programs, is based on potential, either under or over valued by the pre-season ratings.

 

[ctchamps]

At this point this team doesn't have a handle on what it is. It would have been the same last year if Kemba wasn't bailing the team out in the early going. A leader has to emerge, and that hasn't happened yet. The only leader out there right now is JC, and he proved it when he called time out 5 seconds into the second half. The next ten minutes when the team held Maine without a basket were jaw-dropping! It's what he needs to do to keep them focused. Up until then, the team had no sense of urgency even though they were only up 5. As far as ratings are concerned, what team out there is playing 40 minutes without taking some time off? I watched a number of games, and would say none. All coaches are tinkering right now to see what works. All are in transition. I'm just waiting for the light bulb to go off for JL, AO, and RS. I think that AD is a quick study and he keeps improving, and SN is hoping that RB is allowed to play soon. Overrated? Perhaps. But I think that it's too soon to tell.

I just wrote something about floor leadership in another thread that echoes your ideas in this post.

I love this team. Assuming we're all in the ball park about RB's contributions for this team, barring injuries, the team is made up of all the correct components for a championship team. The only thing missing is experience and leadership. This is a very young team. The returning players have experience with KW. He's gone. Their experience with each other and the new roles required minus KW is new. I'm very optimistic about this team, but at this point I would struggle to believe they are a top 4 team. They are more like a top 10 -20 team. By the end of the season, I'm confident they will be a top ten team.

 

[uconntoronto]

I would go with Pitt, Arizona

 

[superjohn]

Sure we haven't looked great in our 3 games but I never take away much from these games, it's obvious this is far from our complete team and we are trying new things and constantly changing the lineup. I actually think we are underrated at #4, with the talent we have I expect in a couple of months we will show that we are the best team in the country.

 

[Ricky1Moore]

I would go with Pitt, Arizona

Definitely possible re: AZ ... though I give props to AZ and SJU for a very entertaining game last night... SJU has some players...

 

[Scot-e]

There is nothing wrong with having a basketball conversation early in the season and sharing yours thoughts on what you have seen so far.

I would certainly include Dook in the mix. They seem to overrated and are loaded with overrated players (see the Plumlees (sp)).

We are in the mix for that distinction at this point as well- but as last year proved you just have to get better and gel at the right time to make a good run in March.

 

[SWHuskyFan]

im not sold on us being #4 at this point. I think we have a lot to prove. I think it will come together when we get boatright back, but we look emotionless out there.

I think people have forgotten what many UConn team have looked like in the last decade or so for the first few months of the season. We're usually a bit of a mess. Last year was a total aberration because Kemba was utterly dominant.

In Calhoun's first few decades we would blitz these teams with our press. At some point Calhoun seems to have concluded that it hid other deficiencies that would be exploited against better competition. I think this is maybe the greatest thing he did. You rarely see a coach with a "system" abandon that system and have the program get better, especially when the system was so successful. I'm sure there are some, but I can't think of any others. We could of gone on forever crushing bad teams by 50 and getting bad losses in the tournament to teams with solid guard play. For me, I'll take a few close wins against lower competition and enjoy the banners.

 

[HeGotGame]

There are a lot. Louisville for sure, along with Kansas, Zona, and Gonzaga.

Most underrated? Alabama and Cal. Both will make a serious run this year

 

[champs99and04]

I think it is silly to say we're overrated based on the first three games. Has UConn looked great so far? No. But every game they have won by a comfortable margin. It is unfortunate that the OOC schedule is so weak, but all they can do at this point is play whoever is in front of them. The point is we're not really going to know how good this team is until they play somebody.

 

[ctchamps]

I'm not seeing any team in this early season that I can point to and say that team is worthy of it's ranking. I expect a lot of teams are working on things as opposed to flexing their muscles.

 

[Senore]

One can never say UConn is over rated with Calhoun doing the best coaching of his career these days. His system is intact, he understands the individual psyche's of your players so purely (that TO after 5 seconds the other night should be f---g famous, lol, for the chain-jerking and mindset change it inspired) and he coaches up big men and wings so well, to say the defending champs are over rated is ridiculous. I can't say that about Ohio State yet or, for that matter, Kentucky. Kentucky gets out-toughed because of their youth, yearly. It should always bite them in the ass and I suspect it will.

Louisville? Hell, who knows? The team has not even played together yet, what with all the injuries. By the time we make Big East play, we'll get Buckles back (a personal fave) and we may see Blackshear in early February - who could be an interesting shot in the ass at a surprising time of year - or not. But Kuric has developed a mean streak and Chris Smith as well.

I never over or under rate teams I know who will be tough in march and April. To me Pitt had to be over rated from the getgo - I think Zona is average and UK over rated as usual, in those lights. UNC is plain outright scary.

 

[Huskybass]

Senore,

Good to see you posting here. You always made informed posts on the old site.

Personally, I am not sure UConn deserves its current #4 ranking with Boatright out and the various injuries that the team is working through. At full staff, I do belive UConn is a legit NC contender, however.

 

[intlzncster]

In Calhoun's first few decades we would blitz these teams with our press. At some point Calhoun seems to have concluded that it hid other deficiencies that would be exploited against better competition. I think this is maybe the greatest thing he did. You rarely see a coach with a "system" abandon that system and have the program get better, especially when the system was so successful. I'm sure there are some, but I can't think of any others. We could of gone on forever crushing bad teams by 50 and getting bad losses in the tournament to teams with solid guard play. For me, I'll take a few close wins against lower competition and enjoy the banners.

I think one of the reasons he did this is that the players he brought in over the years got better and better (from top to bottom). With better, more athletic players, you don't have to press to compete. It is impressive that a man as hard headed as JC made this switch in philosophies, especially given JC's "imposing his will on his team" fits like a glove with the press.

 

[jleves]

I think one of the reasons he did this is that the players he brought in over the years got better and better (from top to bottom). With better, more athletic players, you don't have to press to compete. It is impressive that a man as hard headed as JC made this switch in philosophies, especially given JC's "imposing his will on his team" fits like a glove with the press.

Totally agree on this. The press is good for three things, 1) trying to make up a lot of ground when you are basically out of a game - the hail mary of basketball, 2) speeding up a game where the other team wants to grind it and that doesn't suit your style and 3) for teams that don't have players as good or athletic as the competition hoping to disrupt what they would normally do.

We might employ a soft press when Boat gets back for the 2nd condition, but we've moved way beyond having to use a press for the 3rd condition. Hopefully we don't need it often for the 1st.

 

[UConn990411]

There is nothing wrong with having a basketball conversation early in the season and sharing yours thoughts on what you have seen so far.

I would certainly include Dook in the mix. They seem to overrated and are loaded with overrated players (see the Plumlees (sp)).

We are in the mix for that distinction at this point as well- but as last year proved you just have to get better and gel at the right time to make a good run in March.

People need to stop lumping the Plumlees together - Mason's legit this year.

Duke will be very good, but they're definitely a tier below UNC/Kentucky/UConn/OSU/Cuse in terms of talent. That lack of a true PG is gonna hurt them a lot at times.