This UConn team has now played 9 tournament games since last March and not one game has been close. May be the most dominant team for their era ever if they win
Uconn
- Thread starter cats#1again
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They are dominant but also haven’t played a top 2 seed in any of those games. They’ve taken advantage of it but they have been fortunate not to play any heavy hitters in two straight tournaments thus far. 3 seeded Gonzaga has been their toughest tourney opponent in both runs thus far
And they lost 3 starters from last years team. And I would argue this team is better than last years team. If Cal wants to know what the Gold Standard is…watch UCONN
But they definitely don’t lose to the likes of Oakland and St Peters
UCONN’s power 5 opponents during this two year run:
Arkansas, Miami, Northwestern. That’s it, that’s the list.
That’s pretty incredible.
Arkansas, Miami, Northwestern. That’s it, that’s the list.
That’s pretty incredible.
When the last time KY beat a Power 5 team in the tourney?
I’d say that’s fortuitous of them. But lol we can’t beat double digit seeds. So good on them.
Last year when we beat Providence. It's Power 6 in basketball because there's no way the Big East isn't a power conference.
Providence counts as Big East is considered a power conference in basketball (hence the Power 6 term you hear in CBB)
If you’re sticking to true P5 (as defined by football) then that would be Houston in the 2018-2019 season.
I'm really hoping that all their blowout tournament wins means when they get close game down the stretch they won't be ready. I just really don't want to see them win again...
That's the issue though. They’re that good. That San Diego St team last season was no slouch. And the waxed them.
Technically Houston wasn’t P5 in 2019.
Hell… 2 of UCONNs last 3 championship teams ran right through Cals higher seeded UK teams.
and we're out here losing to Kansas State, St Peters, and Oakland. Cal has us rolling.
Ah that’s right they were American Athletic. Too many freaking conference changes to keep up with.
That would mean our last win over a traditional true Power 5 (excluding P6) was UCLA way back in 2017. Pathetic really. Haven’t beaten a traditional P5 team in the tourney in SEVEN years. Woof.
What has UConn got that UK hasn't?
Have they got better tradition?..... NO
Have they got better facilities?.......NO
Have they got a larger more passionate fan base?.... NO
Do they get more media coverage that UK?.... NO
Have they got more 5-Star recruits & future NBA players than UK?... NO
I mean what am I missing here. What have they got that we don't?
The recruiting for UCONN since 2020 is mainly 4* guys. They seem to keep those that can play at the level. They will sprinkle in a transfer here and there. They don't overwhelm teams with individual talent, but they play well as a team. Their size and system/coaching is winning a LOT of games!
They're good. I wish we had that killer instinct attitude of the 90s. Remember us being up 38-19 on wake forest in the EE at half time. Ease up after half time? Nope full throttle, few minutes later, we're up 57-29 against a tim duncan led wake forest team.
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They don't have anything more as a whole. Just a different direction. Non stop moving on offense and hard nosed defense
Exactly. Cal is still gonna favor freshmen over experience. The players that play for UCONN are excellent COLLEGE players. The players Cal focuses on don't necessarily play well until they are playing in the NBA. It's called maturity along with experience.
Our FG%, FT%, and 3Pt% are ALL better than UConn for this year. Their success goes beyond shot making.
Honestly probably a little better, connected, knowledgeable and supportive fan base. They go in the same direction.
I assume you're looking for "they have better coaching" - and I agree with this. But UConn also has better players. 5-star recruits & future NBA players might equal better talent, but it doesn't mean better current players. Now All-Americans & All-Conference players are a different story, but then we've had a few of those lately also (e.g., Reeves & Tshiebwe). Coaching aside, in my opinion what we're missing is more AA & All-C upperclassmen and far fewer 5-stars and future NBA freshmen starting and playing too many minutes.
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Saw an article the other day talking about the shared metrics for National Championship teams over a 14 or 15 year period. It was a couple years behind but it mentioned the top offenses/defenses as a key, having proven Coaches, several other things that I can’t recall. But there were two exceptions to the key commonalities amongst all those Champions, those two F UCONN teams in 2011 and 2014. 
And one of them was with……Kevin Ollie!Saw an article the other day talking about the shared metrics for National Championship teams over a 14 or 15 year period. It was a couple years behind but it mentioned the top offenses/defenses as a key, having proven Coaches, several other things that I can’t recall. But there were two exceptions to the key commonalities amongst all those Champions, those two F UCONN teams in 2011 and 2014.
Yep! That counted as part of the exceptions from the norm of winners in that time period.