Who will surprise us the most?

[AllHusky]

I think what will surprise us most is the hockey style substitution pattern that Hurley implements; it will completely mind-frik our opponents.

With quality two-deep at every position the coaches can mix and match first and second lines depending on who's been best at practice and the opposing line-up.

They can play like maniacs knowing the get a 5-minute breather after 5-minutes on the court. The other team will be overwhelmed.

Remember the Knicks Minute Men in 69(73?), Mike Riordan, Cazzie Russel, Dave Stallworth(?), +one other.
They'd come in as a unit and completely and go crazy, destroy the other team for awhile and go out as a unit.

 

[Jaydumo20]

For someone to surprise you, wouldn’t you have to not know they’re going to surprise you?

Yes! You're right. That's good logic.

 

[Kolumbo]

I think what will surprise us most is the hockey style substitution pattern that Hurley implements; it will completely mind-frik our opponents.

With quality two-deep at every position the coaches can mix and match first and second lines depending on who's been best at practice and the opposing line-up.

They can play like maniacs knowing the get a 5-minute breather after 5-minutes on the court. The other team will be overwhelmed.

I've always felt a football team should try using a hurry-up offense all the time. Go go go and don't stop! Constant substitutions and non-stop quick action. It would take a lot of planning and coordination but you could run fairly simple plays and the opposing defense would just be spent. Even if both teams are winded, the offense has the advantage because they are acting and the defense is too tired to react quickly.

 

[Jaydumo20]

That's where I am. This is our most talented team ever from top to bottom. All these guys would be getting major minutes at other programs but it's just a numbers game with this much talent throughout the roster and some guys are going to get squeezed. We have an embarrassment of riches at the wing so Abraham will likely be low on minutes. Singare is still probably a year away from being a valuable gametime contributor at UConn and as talented as Nowell is I see us having multiple guards ahead of him. The practices are going to be battles.

This is our best team. Just because we haven't seen them all in action means nothing. This team is capable of 2-3 big runs/game .
Expect to see more blowouts than we've ever had.
Unproven??? Maybe. But give a team of world class sushi chefs their pick of fish, and bet against the quality of that menu?...please..

 

[Hunt for 7]

I wonder how up tempo we are going to be. I think this team who will be high volume on the offensive end. I would not expect them to be as efficient but I think they will take way more shots this year.

Defensively I can see us picking up full court or at least 3/4 heavy ball pressure. I think we will look to use our length to create small passing lanes. I think we will have more steals this year.

 

[mauconnfan]

A bunch of guys!

 

[auror]

On paper this is not our best team top to bottom. But it is the most talented mid to bottom.

However, the top is usually the most important.

 

[Scot-e]

This is our best team. Just because we haven't seen them all in action means nothing. This team is capable of 2-3 big runs/game .
Expect to see more blowouts than we've ever had.
Unproven??? Maybe. But give a team of world class sushi chefs their pick of fish, and bet against the quality of that menu?...please..

What brand of edibles are you eating? I want to get them for my wife.

 

[superjohn]

This is our best team. Just because we haven't seen them all in action means nothing. This team is capable of 2-3 big runs/game .
Expect to see more blowouts than we've ever had.
Unproven??? Maybe. But give a team of world class sushi chefs their pick of fish, and bet against the quality of that menu?...please..

It could be but Clingan is the most dominant defensive force I've ever seen at UConn and I watched Okafor's UConn career.

 

[Shoulder god]

The worst thing we can do is compare rosters season to season. The last 2 years were special for different reasons. I'll go out on a limb and say '23-24s would have beaten '22-23 7/10 times. Last year's team wanted to step on your neck and humiliate you more than the previous year. They just had more dawg in them, a lot of that fueled by Cam but Steph, Tristan and Clingan were tenacious on both sides of the ball and in general they were just more well rounded.
This year on paper they have potential to be special but Samson may not be the force that Clingan was. It would be unfair to think he will. In my mind AK is the X-factor. He will need be the "guy" you can depend on in crunch time like Tristan. After that, Reed, Stewart and Solo will need to elevate their games, Mahaney will need to be like Cam and one of the freshmen will need to be like Steph defensively and guard their opponents out of the gym. That's a tall task for this team. It's gonna be fun to watch their growth with DH's crush your opponent mentality. I don't expect double digit wins for this 3-peat squad, but I'll take 5 point victories LOL

 

[Shoulder god]

The worst thing we can do is compare rosters season to season. The last 2 years were special for different reasons. I'll go out on a limb and say '23-24s would have beaten '22-23 7/10 times. Last year's team wanted to step on your neck and humiliate you more than the previous year. They just had more dawg in them, a lot of that fueled by Cam but Steph, Tristan and Clingan were tenacious on both sides of the ball and in general they were just more well rounded.
This year on paper they have potential to be special but Samson may not be the force that Clingan was. It would be unfair to think he will. In my mind AK is the X-factor. He will need be the "guy" you can depend on in crunch time like Tristan. After that, Reed, Stewart and Solo will need to elevate their games, Mahaney will need to be like Cam and one of the freshmen will need to be like Steph defensively and guard their opponents out of the gym. That's a tall task for this team. It's gonna be fun to watch their growth with DH's crush your opponent mentality. I don't expect double digit wins for this 3-peat squad, but I'll take 5 point victories LOL

Damn. I forgot Hassan. He'll need to be a glue guy and provide great D and timely O.

 

[Jaydumo20]

What brand of edibles are you eating? I want to get them for my wife.

Wana

 

[thekollieman]

Samson could be making a Hilton Armstrong-esque senior jump.