Winning is hard, damn hard

[willie99]

Watching VA and AZ go down was special. What's funny is when they show the faces of fans in the last two minutes. VA & AZ fans are praying, scared, in disbelief. Furman and Princeton fans are smiling and jubilant, The games weren't over, both favorites were actually leading down the stretch

As I'm watching them squirm I'm thinking, please don't let that be us tomorrow, but I really don't think it will be.

I think our kids are motivated after the last two tournaments. I think they'll bring it and we'll move on.

But you have to play the games

I love March, let's hang in there for a little while

 

[B1GEast]

Let that be a lesson to the remaining top seeded teams. There's no such thing as a free lunch in the NCAA.

You have to earn it

 

[98Uconn]

But,but,but… don’t you read this board? We are UConn; the expectation is final fours every year and everything else is unacceptable and failure

 

[InKembaITrust]

Hurley should have this smug, classless face taped in the locker room pregame.

 

[UofCT]

March

 

[MTBingNinja]

Watching VA and AZ go down was special. What's funny is when they show the faces of fans in the last two minutes. VA & AZ fans are praying, scared, in disbelief. Furman and Princeton fans are smiling and jubilant, The games weren't over, both favorites were actually leading down the stretch

As I'm watching them squirm I'm thinking, please don't let that be us tomorrow, but I really don't think it will be.

I think our kids are motivated after the last two tournaments. I think they'll bring it and we'll move on.

But you have to play the games

I love March, let's hang in there for a little while

I’m worried about tomorrow, Iona is going to press the hell out of us. Not our strong suit

 

[NJHusky]

There r always upsets. Glad we had 2 already……

 

[Devland]

I actually am happy to see the upsets today. My feel is usually when there are no upsets on Thursday, there are a lot on Friday. And vice versa.

 

[metsfan2323]

The players should know we have their backs no matter what happens, just give it your best shot and have fun tomorrow.

 

[Ha Who]

I’m worried about tomorrow, Iona is going to press the hell out of us. Not our strong suit

That is where defense is the key. You can’t press if you don’t score

 

[Jaker]

Who will beat Alabama in that South region now??

 

[LetsGoUC]

Get all the upsets out of the way today, so we can cruise past Iona tmw

 

[BackAftaThis]

Good thing we play tomorrow. Kids are seeing first hand you can’t take any game for granted. I really think they’ll be ready.

 

[GameTime]

It’s game time. Our kids will be much ready. It may be a blow for blow game. But we will have the knock out punch. They only go 6 deep.

 

[AzHusky]

I was listening to College sports talk on SXM radio and they felt that upsets on the first day helps to wake teams up for the second day. Teams play better after watching the upsets.

 

[freescooter]

Watching VA and AZ go down was special. What's funny is when they show the faces of fans in the last two minutes. VA & AZ fans are praying, scared, in disbelief. Furman and Princeton fans are smiling and jubilant, The games weren't over, both favorites were actually leading down the stretch

As I'm watching them squirm I'm thinking, please don't let that be us tomorrow, but I really don't think it will be.

I think our kids are motivated after the last two tournaments. I think they'll bring it and we'll move on.

But you have to play the games

I love March, let's hang in there for a little while

The lesson here is that all the fancy Dan number crunching is bs. Princeton had 1 quad 1 win. 1. Arizona had 9. But Princeton had some talented players and played hard. Same with Furman. The number crunchers ignore that both teams only played a few Quad 1 s. Because of the leagues they are in! But ask Arizona or Virginia if those NET rankings are a good measure of basketball. And there will be more to come. Limit the number of power and high major teams and bring on more solid mid-majors. Scrap the pseudo science formulas. Base selections on record and eye test .

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

All of our championship teams had that special player that when the ball was in their hands, a positive play followed. Hamilton, Caron, Okafor, Kamba and Shabazz Simply couldn’t be stopped. To me this team has a different feel to it, it seems to be more a collection of players just slightly below the above caliber. Excellent players but maybe not yet ones that can carry a team. It Will be interesting to see if one emerges over the next couple of games. Will a team full of Jeremy lambs , Oriakhi’s and El Amins be enough to overcome not having the true alpha.

 

[AdamaNation]

Let that be a lesson to the remaining top seeded teams. There's no such thing as a free lunch in the NCAA.

You have to earn it

 

[AdamaNation]

Can we now say Princeton is the greatest 15 seed ever?!?
The problem is the lower seeds ALWAYS get to play looser cause they play with house money. Our rankings are top 25. 26-68 have 0 to prove. The rest, especially the top 12-15 have everything to prove.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Watching VA and AZ go down was special. What's funny is when they show the faces of fans in the last two minutes. VA & AZ fans are praying, scared, in disbelief. Furman and Princeton fans are smiling and jubilant, The games weren't over, both favorites were actually leading down the stretch

As I'm watching them squirm I'm thinking, please don't let that be us tomorrow, but I really don't think it will be.

I think our kids are motivated after the last two tournaments. I think they'll bring it and we'll move on.

But you have to play the games

I love March, let's hang in there for a little while

At 71 close games have gotten much harder on my blood pressure n

 

[jdb50]

We rebound well. We can play good D. We share the ball. It is poor passes and foul shooting that can hold us back. We have not played our best basketball yet.

 

[jibsey]

There’s no team “not ready” to play or “asleep” for this tourney. There are favorite teams that can tighten up down the stretch. Our team has done that. Hurley is doing everything he can to to get their heads right so that doesn’t happen I believe. It just happened to Arizona and their guards had a horrible game. We’ve all seen it unfortunately this season losing close games down the stretch.

 

[Ratso]

in the nba one nite only - gianni’s not all over the place or steph not hitting shots that nite - game ova

 

[huskyjawz]

I actually am happy to see the upsets today. My feel is usually when there are no upsets on Thursday, there are a lot on Friday. And vice versa.

I believe this to be so.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

I always much rather play the Friday game than the Thursday game. The first Thursday of the NCAA tournament is basically our Christmas as college basketball fans. So we can just enjoy it if the Huskies don't play.

And it allows for a gentle reminder to our kids that no one --absolutely no one-- is safe if you take a toe off the gas.

 

[Tenspro2002]

We need to play vigilant, not scared.

 

[giddyup]

All of our championship teams had that special player that when the ball was in their hands, a positive play followed. Hamilton, Caron, Okafor, Kamba and Shabazz Simply couldn’t be stopped. To me this team has a different feel to it, it seems to be more a collection of players just slightly below the above caliber. Excellent players but maybe not yet ones that can carry a team. It Will be interesting to see if one emerges over the next couple of games. Will a team full of Jeremy lambs , Oriakhi’s and El Amins be enough to overcome not having the true alpha.

This is so very accurate. If a freshman like Karaban is our go to rock, it’s a lot to hang on an inexperienced kid. We need Hawk to show up for 40 minutes every game and lead. Now is the time.

 

[Edward Sargent]

He’s no longer inexperienced stop hovering helicopter fan

 

[hasheemthedream]

View attachment 85199

Hurley should have this smug, classless face taped in the locker room pregame.

If Hurley just went zone or doubled him when he touched the ball we would have won that game! March is about coaching adjustments just as much as the players. Hurley needs to stay calm, call timeouts when needed, and lead this team to victory!!

 

[tzznandrew]

If Hurley just went zone or doubled him when he touched the ball we would have won that game! March is about coaching adjustments just as much as the players.

Look at what the other kids on that team shot that day from 3. I don't think a zone would have worked. I'm also not sure that more fully doubling Allen would have helped either.