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Why we watch

krinklecut

krinklecut

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It’s been mentioned tonight that this season was a failure. I just can’t accept that.

Tonight was a failure. The coach, the staff, the players, whoever you want to blame, failed tonight. It stings.

So I had to ask myself why do I watch?

This season was so much fun. We had a really fun team, with some UConn all-timers like Whaley and Polley. Every game was a blast to watch. We had a team we knew we could route for and they rewarded us often. Some really fun games. Some great wins. An acceptable amount of stinkers.

It gave us something to really cheer for, for the first time in a pretty long time.

The Huskies without a doubt took a step this year. We have an excited fan base that sells out games. We have a student section that started the year empty and unorganized and finished the year packed, rowdy, and involved.

We sold out the XL and delivered with an exhilarating win. We had casual fans!

I had a lot of fun this season. I got to watch games with family and bond with more people about the Huskies. It didn’t feel like a chore to watch. It was fun. A really fun season, with a good record, and some really great wins.

And a really terrific group of guys.

My life was made better by season we had. That’s why I watch and love this team. Don’t know how that’s a failure.
 
krinklecut said:
It’s been mentioned tonight that this season was a failure. I just can’t accept that.

Tonight was a failure. The coach, the staff, the players, whoever you want to blame, failed tonight. It stings.

So I had to ask myself why do I watch?

This season was so much fun. We had a really fun team, with some UConn all-timers like Whaley and Polley. Every game was a blast to watch. We had a team we knew we could route for and they rewarded us often. Some really fun games. Some great wins. An acceptable amount of stinkers.

It gave us something to really cheer for, for the first time in a pretty long time.

The Huskies without a doubt took a step this year. We have an excited fan base that sells out games. We have a student section that started the year empty and unorganized and finished the year packed, rowdy, and involved.

We sold out the XL and delivered with an exhilarating win. We had casual fans!

I had a lot of fun this season. I got to watch games with family and bond with more people about the Huskies. It didn’t feel like a chore to watch. It was fun. A really fun season, with a good record, and some really great wins.

And a really terrific group of guys.

My life was made better by season we had. That’s why I watch and love this team. Don’t know how that’s a failure.
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We beat Nova and Auburn! But we knew we had some large flaws didn,'t we?
 
jibsey said:
We beat Nova and Auburn! But we knew we had some large flaws didn,'t we?
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Large flaws.

When we were firing on all cylinders, man was this team fun to watch.

Unfortunately, we didn’t quite have the depth to afford to not fire on all cylinders. Couldn’t afford for anyone to slump.

24-10 is a pretty good record for the team we had, especially considering going in to the season when predictions were made we thought Johnson, Diggins, Gaffney, Akok, and even Springs (!!!!) were going to be a factor.
 
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We watch because we are UConn, Huskies, Nutmeggers, etc. We know Championship basketball, and yearn for it.

Now we see some resemblance of our winning ways back in Storrs. Problem is, because of our history, we know more, see more, and expect more. Seeing games like tonight pisses us all off because we know we can do better on the court and most of us will always tune in to see what we can do to bring us back to glory.

I want us back in deep tournament (Maui, Atlantis, BET, NCAA) and will just have to suck up our shit losses like a good boy and cheer us on in the next game we play.
 
FatHank said:
We watch because we are UConn, Huskies, Nutmeggers, etc. We know Championship basketball, and yearn for it.

Now we see some resemblance of our winning ways back in Storrs. Problem is, because of our history, we know more, see more, and expect more. Seeing games like tonight pisses us all off because we know we can do better on the court and most of us will always tune in to see what we can do to bring us back to glory.

I want us back in deep tournament (Maui, Atlantis, BET, NCAA) and will just have to suck up our losses like a good boy and cheer us on in the next game we play.
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I’m not disagreeing with any of this.

Tonight sucked, was a total failure and I expected much more and will complain about tonight for sure.

But I can’t make the jump to the season being a failure.
 
krinklecut said:
This season was so much fun. We had a really fun team, with some UConn all-timers like Whaley and Polley. Every game was a blast to watch. We had a team we knew we could route for and they rewarded us often. Some really fun games. Some great wins.
Expand ...
Drama ain't fun. Too many unnecessary close games aged me. Not seeing Hawkins, Diggins, Samson or Springs blossom was disappointing. Seeing our squad in February looking just like our December squad was frustrating. And of course losing close games that I felt we should have won was maddening.

Anyway I watch because I'm obviously am a fan of drama. It's better than comedy or tragedy but I actually prefer my teams to have happier endings.
 
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Kitaman said:
Drama ain't fun. Too many unnecessary close games aged me. Not seeing Hawkins, Diggins, Samson or Springs blossom was disappointing. Seeing our squad in February looking just like our December squad was frustrating. And of course losing close games that I felt we should have won was maddening.

Anyways I watch because I'm obviously am a fan of drama. No mystery with this team, although It's better than comedies or tragedies. I actually prefer my teams to have happier endings.
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I’d argue Hawkins turned a corner before he ran in to a 7 foot dude 70 feet from the basket.
 
krinklecut said:
I’m not disagreeing with any of this.

Tonight sucked, was a total failure and I expected much more and will complain about tonight for sure.

But I can’t make the jump to the season being a failure.
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Our team, while better than we have seen in some years, ks still hard to watch. I am not sure how I will come to terms with tonight or many other similar losses we have had. There are many positives from this season but some bitter pills to swallow too. I guess for me, it is the offseason now and the tourney is on, so next is next!
 
FatHank said:
We watch because we are UConn, Huskies, Nutmeggers, etc. We know Championship basketball, and yearn for it.

Now we see some resemblance of our winning ways back in Storrs. Problem is, because of our history, we know more, see more, and expect more. Seeing games like tonight pisses us all off because we know we can do better on the court and most of us will always tune in to see what we can do to bring us back to glory.

I want us back in deep tournament (Maui, Atlantis, BET, NCAA) and will just have to suck up our losses like a good boy and cheer us on in the next game we play.
Expand ...
That's why it's okay to feel like tonight was a disappointment and a failure. It was. Lots of blame to go around to everybody. (Hurley's lineup leaves us vulnerable to well-schemed defense, Sanogo with bad hands and fouling 3pt shooter with 1 sec left, Cole no-showing the first half, Polley taking side dribble heat checks, Martin no-showing 1st half and not being aggressive with the ball going to the hole, Whaley1/4 from 3, Jackson fouling Allen on a couple key plays, weren't able to get Hawkins back from a concussion in over 2 weeks, Gaffney for not improving all season or career, etc.)

But we lost a lottery pick and had a better regular season (13-6 in the Big East!) We finally beat Villanova. We were the only team to beat Auburn for half the season. We were ranked in the top 25 for a majority of the season! We hadn't been ranked for more than 2 weeks in 6 years. We had 2 first team All-Big East selections!

Our season is not just the NCAA tournament. Because we made a few deep runs after mediocre seasons, I understand why our fanbase treats the tournament as more important than the season. It's a natural way to boost our legacy and ego. And Championships ARE the goal. We didn't achieve our biggest goal.

Yes, we have high standards. We are UConn. But incremental growth isn't a failure. It's still growth. The results are better. The roster is getting better. The recruits coming in are good.

We may take a step back next year because we're losing a bunch of seniors (presumably 4 of our top 6 rotation), but maybe not. We're going to be a frisky team of young talent next year led by a junior Sanogo who will get better (both in finishing skill and BBIQ). The future is bright.
 
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krinklecut said:
I’m not disagreeing with any of this.

Tonight sucked, was a total failure and I expected much more and will complain about tonight for sure.

But I can’t make the jump to the season being a failure.
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A Blueblood program would consider this season a failure!
 
auror said:
That's why it's okay to feel like tonight was a disappointment and a failure. It was. Lots of blame to go around to everybody. (Hurley's lineup leaves us vulnerable to well-schemed defense, Sanogo with bad hands and fouling 3pt shooter with 1 sec left, Cole no-showing the first half, Polley taking side dribble heat checks, Martin no-showing 1st half and not being aggressive with the ball going to the hole, Whaley1/4 from 3, Jackson fouling Allen on a couple key plays, weren't able to get Hawkins back from a concussion in over 2 weeks, Gaffney for not improving all season or career, etc.)

But we lost a lottery pick and had a better regular season (13-6 in the Big East!) We finally beat Villanova. We were the only team to beat Auburn for half the season. We were ranked in the top 25 for a majority of the season! We hadn't been ranked for more than 2 weeks in 6 years.

Our season is not just the NCAA tournament. Because we made a few deep runs after mediocre seasons, I understand why our fanbase treats the tournament as more important than the season. It's a natural way to boost our legacy and ego. And Championships ARE the goal. We didn't achieve our biggest goal.

Yes, we have high standards. We are UConn. But incremental growth isn't a failure. It's still growth. The results are better. The roster is getting better. The recruits coming in are good.

We may take a step back next year because we're losing a bunch of seniors (presumably 4 of our top 6 rotation), but maybe not. We're going to be a frisky team of young talent next year led by a junior Sanogo who will get better (both in finishing skill and BBIQ). The future is bright.
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I strongly agree with this post.

The program lost some momentum tonight, no doubt, but not more than it gained this season.
 
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I loved this team, I love every team frankly, but how much do you remember afterwards? You remember epic clashes with Nova, besting MSU on an aircraft hanger, the roar of Gampel beating Houston before COVID — basically a few games peppered in there that have their significance — but you remember March above all else. Period.

For example, in 2008 we had a strong team, 4th place in the real big East, games against the Zags, beat Cuse, and even Craig Austrie pitched in heroically against lowly USF in OT.

But I remember one thing.

It was the first year JC ever lost in the first round of the tournament to San Diego….. that’s all we’ll remember sadly. The rest is just historical footnotes.

March matters above all else. Mediocre teams can rise like phoenixs and juggernauts can fall.

It’s criminal to not prepare twice in a row.
 
GotNets? said:
I loved this team, I love every team frankly, but how much do you remember afterwards? You remember epic clashes with Nova, besting MSU on an aircraft hanger, the roar of Gampel beating Houston before COVID — basically a few games peppered in there that have their significance — but you remember March above all else. Period.

For example, in 2008 we had a strong team, 4th place in the real big East, games against the Zags, beat Cuse, and even Craig Austrie pitched in heroically against lowly USF in OT.

But I remember one thing.

It was the first year JC ever lost in the first round of the tournament to San Diego….. that’s all we’ll remember sadly. The rest is just historical footnotes.

March matters above all else. Mediocre teams can rise like phoenixs and juggernauts can fall.

It’s criminal to not prepare twice in a row.
Expand ...
I’ll never forget that Nova game. Or that Auburn one.
 
krinklecut said:
I’m not disagreeing with any of this.

Tonight sucked, was a total failure and I expected much more and will complain about tonight for sure.

But I can’t make the jump to the season being a failure.
Expand ...
I enjoyed the season. I don't consider it a failure because we were marginally better than I thought we'd be and played some exciting games. A good record and some improvement. But what I've been consistent about since a year ago is that the summer would be a failure and would sabotage our hopes for a tourney run if we didn't bring in at least one shooter and ball handler. Today was the logical conclusion of that. Coach Hurley is not a good enough game coach to overcome that. Most coaches aren't, but at least they're not so stubborn as to think they are. We got exactly what was set up by a flawed philosophy. Even if the recruiting and player development eventually does get us there it will not be evidence that was the correct approach. We sacrificed what could have potentially been a great season for a good one with a sour ending.
 
Let’s be honest and take off the rose colored glasses. The season figuratively wasn’t a failure, 24-10 is a fine record. But it was a step back, a huge disappointment in how it ended.

We peaked late Feb in Hartford vs. Villanova then it slowly went downhill. If you paid attention you could see that happen. We are a very easy team to gameplan for. Any good coach schemes and beats us. Wright, Izzo, McDermott, Jans, Huggins. We are very one-dimensional, with no shot makers (outside of Cole when he gets a high ball screen on a mismatch switch) our only option for consistent points was to run the offense thru Sanogo. No one else. Martin, Whaley, Polley, Cole, etc they all have nice assets to their game but they can’t take over and simply create for themselves and others consistently.

You can blame Hurley on the roster construction all you want, but Hawkins was supposed to be our second playmaker like freshman Bouknight was. Obviously that didn’t pan out the way we thought. That elephant in the room has been around since the start of last season, and became very evident this year when Hawkins/Cole/Martin didn’t take it to the next level. That limits our ceiling and sure as heck makes it easy to stop us. Sanogo isn’t a world beater just yet, he got to Big East 1st Team off of volume. You knew a loss like this was coming and coming early. Only good coaches and teams make the NCAA’s. We weren’t playing St Johns or Butler or Xavier where Sanogo can score 20 at will.

So maybe I’m a little optimistic for next year, I think we’ll be better. Jackson another year to develop an offensive game, Hawkins to be a playmaker he was recruited to be, Floyd being a dependable 2 guard. Definitely need to hit the portal and hard tho - this cannot happen again.

Overall just very disappointed. Terrible end to the season.
 
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uconngb said:
If you think Whaley and Polley are UConn “all timers” you have not been around very long. Nice young men I’m sure, but all timers?? God no
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All timers as in they will be remembered for the time they were here and the bridge they walked. Also Covid era players who won some hardware I our first season back.
 
The season was good because it felt like UConn basketball and that it was the beginning of something. We lose a game like that to Arkansas and I'd be disappointed but still OK with the season overall. Losing in the first round to a one man WAC team is the most disappointing loss for the program since George Mason and I doesn't appear that we'll be as good next year because I have no idea who our guards will be. We really need Hawkins to become the lead scorer and someone to play point because I currently have zero confidence in Gaffney, Diggins, or please AJ. We may need to go to the transfer portal to fill that spot.
 
CTBasketball said:
Let’s be honest and take off the rose colored glasses. The season figuratively wasn’t a failure, 24-10 is a fine record. But it was a step back, a huge disappointment in how it ended.

We peaked late Feb in Hartford vs. Villanova then it slowly went downhill. If you paid attention you could see that happen. We are a very easy team to gameplan for. Any good coach schemes and beats us. Wright, Izzo, McDermott, Jans, Huggins. We are very one-dimensional, with no shot makers (outside of Cole when he gets a high ball screen on a mismatch switch) our only option for consistent points was to run the offense thru Sanogo. No one else. Martin, Whaley, Polley, Cole, etc they all have nice assets to their game but they can’t take over and simply create for themselves and others consistently.

You can blame Hurley on the roster construction all you want, but Hawkins was supposed to be our second playmaker like freshman Bouknight was. Obviously that didn’t pan out the way we thought. That elephant in the room has been around since the start of last season, and became very evident this year when Hawkins/Cole/Martin didn’t take it to the next level. That limits our ceiling and sure as heck makes it easy to stop us. Sanogo isn’t a world beater just yet, he got to Big East 1st Team off of volume. You knew a loss like this was coming and coming early. Only good coaches and teams make the NCAA’s. We weren’t playing St Johns or Butler or Xavier where Sanogo can score 20 at will.

So maybe I’m a little optimistic for next year, I think we’ll be better. Jackson another year to develop an offensive game, Hawkins to be a playmaker he was recruited to be, Floyd being a dependable 2 guard. Definitely need to hit the portal and hard tho - this cannot happen again.

Overall just very disappointed. Terrible end to the season.
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Agree. We are way to one dimensional which is obvious on offense.

But I would argue that we are even more 1 dimensional on defense. It is incredibly easy to game plan against our D.
 
CTBasketball said:
Let’s be honest and take off the rose colored glasses. The season figuratively wasn’t a failure, 24-10 is a fine record. But it was a step back, a huge disappointment in how it ended.

We peaked late Feb in Hartford vs. Villanova then it slowly went downhill. If you paid attention you could see that happen. We are a very easy team to gameplan for. Any good coach schemes and beats us. Wright, Izzo, McDermott, Jans, Huggins. We are very one-dimensional, with no shot makers (outside of Cole when he gets a high ball screen on a mismatch switch) our only option for consistent points was to run the offense thru Sanogo. No one else. Martin, Whaley, Polley, Cole, etc they all have nice assets to their game but they can’t take over and simply create for themselves and others consistently.

You can blame Hurley on the roster construction all you want, but Hawkins was supposed to be our second playmaker like freshman Bouknight was. Obviously that didn’t pan out the way we thought. That elephant in the room has been around since the start of last season, and became very evident this year when Hawkins/Cole/Martin didn’t take it to the next level. That limits our ceiling and sure as heck makes it easy to stop us. Sanogo isn’t a world beater just yet, he got to Big East 1st Team off of volume. You knew a loss like this was coming and coming early. Only good coaches and teams make the NCAA’s. We weren’t playing St Johns or Butler or Xavier where Sanogo can score 20 at will.

So maybe I’m a little optimistic for next year, I think we’ll be better. Jackson another year to develop an offensive game, Hawkins to be a playmaker he was recruited to be, Floyd being a dependable 2 guard. Definitely need to hit the portal and hard tho - this cannot happen again.

Overall just very disappointed. Terrible end to the season.
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This was one of the most cogent assessments of the season…. Strong post.
 
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