2015-16 UConn Basketball: Don't Suck

Dan Murfman

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He's coached 3 years. His first year they were ineligible for the Big East and NCAA tournament and had a few players he was counting on transfer out because of that and not much was expected and they won 20 games. The next year they were up and down but did win a national championship. Last year I thought they would be better so I would say it was disappointing. So I guess you're right. He's an okay coach an UConn but is better off having him around.. Granted he's no Tommy Amaker.

And also it's just one championship but look at the coaches he and UConn beat on the way to the title. Martelli, Jay Wight, Hoiberg, Izzo, Donavan and Calipari
 

Curtis Pride

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UConn missed the NCAA's in 2010, 2006 and 2001. Does  this make Jim Calhoun an "okay coach?" Or is it more about the players he's recruited?
 
Also, I see the 2013-14 team as a flawed team that peaked during the tournament.
 

Mr. Baseball

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Huge week+ for Ollie and the staff. Securing the Sterling Gibbs transfer was awesome, gives the team an immediate starter at PG (kid was a 2nd Team BE player) and allows Jalen Adams to ability to come off the bench and ease into his role on the team. Also, love the potential of today's 2016 commit Mamadou Diarra (6'8" 225) as a high energy, albeit raw offensively, powerful frontcourt player. Diarra is also friends and high school teammates Hamidou Diallo, a 6'4" Top 100 SG that UConn is actively recruiting. In addition, Terry Larrier, a 6'8" Freshman wing who committed to VCU over UConn (Top 30 recruit last year) is transferring and has UConn and Maryland in his final two and visited campus a couple days ago. Ollie and the staff making moves!
 

RedOctober3829

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Thought this was a cool article inside the scheduling process for UConn and how it's changed since entering the AAC.
 
Non-conference opponents coming up
2015-2016
Ohio State
Georgetown
Texas
Maryland
Battle4Atlantis(Syracuse, Gonzaga, Maryland, Texas, Michigan, Washington in field)
 
2016-2017
Maui Invitational(Georgetown, UNC, Oklahoma St., Oregon, Tennessee, Wisconsin)
Ohio State
Georgetown
 
2017-2018
Arizona
Phil Knight Nike Invitational in Portland, OR(16 Nike teams committed.  2-8 team tournaments)
 
 
Scheduling has become more complicated since the Big East broke up, and the Huskies moved into the American Athletic Conference, which does not provide an annual array of ranked, and more important, RPI-rich opponents. UConn has had to schedule up, and it's McCarthy who lines up opponents for Kevin Ollie and Warde Manuel to approve, such as nonconference games with schools like Ohio State, Georgetown, Texas and Maryland for the upcoming season.

 

The 2015-2016 schedule isn't ready to be unveiled, but it does begin at home Nov. 13, against Maine, and other mid-major opponents next season will include New Hampshire, Sacred Heart and Central Connecticut.
McCarthy is thinking big, with a home-and-home series against Arizona to begin in 2017-18, and talks advancing to place the Huskies at Madison Square Garden on an annual basis. There are ongoing discussions moving toward three-game arcs against former Big East rivals Syracuse, St. John's and Villanova that would include home-and-home components, plus a neutral game in New York. Last season, UConn did not play a game at MSG for the first time in more than 30 years.
"We regard ourselves to be one of the premier college basketball programs in the country," McCarthy said, "and we look to schedule games in accordance with that, to serve the best interests of the program. Our over-arching objective is to best position our basketball team for the NCAA Tournament,given the measuring factors of RPI, number of wins, strength of schedule, roads wins, signature wins. … We want to play a national schedule."
As a working model, McCarthy looks to schedule three or four high major opponents – which he defines as schools in the top 30 to top 50 in RPI – with no more than two on the road. Then he anticipates three more games against high majors in a multi-team event, such as the Battle4Atlantis in the Bahamas next season. Then there is one neutral site game, such as Maryland in the Jimmy V Classic at MSG. It adds up to seven or eight major opponents.
This means that scheduling can no longer be approached year-to-year. "You're seeing more schools adopt the football approach, where you're scheduling high major games in the years going forward," McCarthy said.
 


 
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For example, when McCarthy began talking to Arizona, neither school could make a series work during the next couple of years, so it has been locked in for three and four seasons ahead. McCarthy said he would love to make a series with Kentucky happen, but with the longterm commitments of both schools, it would have to be scheduled several seasons in advance.
In the Bahamas this season, UConn is in a field that includes Syracuse, Michigan, Gonzaga, Texas, Washington. The Huskies will be in similarly strong fields in the Maui Invitational in 2016 and the Nike event in 2017.
When McCarthy sites RPI, he considers both the most recent season, and a multi-year sample. He keeps color-coded charts on about 30 of the top programs, how they are scheduling, and how UConn's schedule shook out in the final years in the Big East, and then works to balance UConn's conference and nonconference schedule to fall in with these comps.

 

In the last full Big East season, 2011-12, UConn played eight top 30 RPI opponents, 14 top 50 and 16 top 100. Last season, UConn played five top 30 games, slightly below the 6.9 average of the opponents McCarthy tracks, 10 top 50 games, on target with the 10.4 average, and 14 top 100 games, roughly the average.
Once McCarthy makes contact with an interested school, the give-and-take begins, and Ollie begins to mull it over.
"Kevin is smart, he will not make impulsive, emotional decisions," McCarthy said. "He will wait to have all of the meaningful information provided to him. He might be interested in the concept of playing the school, but he's very analytical, very deliberative, very smart in terms of making good decisions for his program and scheduling is one very good example."
Sometimes there are hangups. Last season, when UConn had the chance to play Duke in a neutral site game Dec. 18, there was a conflict with Stanford. The contract called for the Huskies to go to the West Coast to complete the home-and-home series and, with UConn the defending champs, Stanford did not want to postpone it a year. Eventually, it was agreed that UConn would go to California in mid-January, which made a difficult travel week, paired with a conference road game at Tulsa. UConn went 7-5 against its challenging slate of out-of-conference games, and missed the NCAA Tournament.
The travel of the AAC complicates things. UConn is finishing its contract with Texas with a game at Austin in late December, and it's possible the AAC will schedule the Huskies' league opener on Dec. 31 at Southern Methodist, Houston or Tulsa to ease travel. The AAC, McCarthy said, has been very willing to accommodate teams to facilitate playing strong nonconference schedules – which the league needs to boost its overall RPI.
McCarthy said UConn is trying to balance the need for strong opponents with the need to ease travel by looking regionally first. That's how the Georgetown series, which will begin at the XL Center next season, came to be. McCarthy said UConn is open to playing New England teams like UMass, Rhode Island, Providence, Boston College and Harvard, though there is nothing yet in place.
 
http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-mens-basketball/hc-uconn-men-basketball-insider-mccarthy-0623-20150622-story.html
 

RedOctober3829

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Non-conference schedule released.
 
[SIZE=12pt]UConn 2015-16 Non-Conference Schedule[/SIZE]
 
(subject to change)
 
[SIZE=10pt]Sun., Nov. 1          Tampa (exhibition)[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Sat., Nov. 7            New Haven (exhibition)[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Fri., Nov. 13           Maine[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Tues., Nov. 17        New Hampshire[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Sat., Nov. 21          Furman[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Wed., Nov. 25        at Battle 4 Atlantis[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Thurs., Nov. 26       at Battle 4 Atlantis[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Fri., Nov. 27            at Battle 4 Atlantis[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Wed., Dec. 2          Sacred Heart[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Tues., Dec. 8          vs. Maryland (MSG)[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Sat., Dec. 12           Ohio State[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Sun., Dec. 20          UMass-Lowell[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Wed., Dec. 23         Central Connecticut[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Tues., Dec. 29         at Texas[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Sat., Jan. 23            Georgetown[/SIZE]
 
http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/062315aab.html
 

RedOctober3829

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UConn got a huge commit over the weekend. 
 
Five-star point guard Alterique Gilbert has committed to Connecticut.
Gilbert, a 6-foot-1 Miller Grove (Ga.) product, chose the Huskies over Louisville, Illinois, Syracuse and Texas. He had trimmed his list to five schools in May, and UConn was the first and only school to which he took an official visit.
Gilbert is the No. 5 point guard in the 2016 class and No. 23 overall in the ESPN 100. He's likely to be the next scoring point guard in a long line of talented Huskies, a list that has recently included the likes of Shabazz Napier and Ryan Boatright.
 
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/recruiting/basketball/mens/story/_/id/13196966/5-star-pg-alterique-gilbert-commits-connecticut-huskies
 

RedOctober3829

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UConn picked up a commit today from 4-star Class of 2016 6'11" power forward Juwan Durham of Tampa Prep.  He is ranked #38th in the ESPN Top 100 and #29 by 247sports.com.  He had offers from Kansas, Duke, Indiana, Louisville, Florida, FSU, Georgia Tech, Memphis, NC State, Villanova, Witchita State among many others.  
 
Huge get for Ollie.  I would have thought Duke was out of the running for him anyways with Harry Giles pretty much going there.
 

RedOctober3829

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Full schedule
 
UConn Men's Schedule
Date, opponent, site, time and TV information:
NOVEMBER
1: Tampa (exhibition), Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, 2 p.m.
7: New Haven (exhibition), XL Center, Hartford, 1 p.m.
13: Maine, Gampel Pavilion, 7 p.m., SNY
17: New Hampshire, Gampel Pavilion, 7 p.m., SNY
21: Furman, Gampel Pavilion, time TBA, SNY
25-27: Battle 4 Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas



25: Michigan, Imperial Arena, Paradise Island, Bahamas, 9:30 p.m., AXS TV
26: Syracuse/Charlotte, Imperial Arena, Paradise Island, Bahamas, time, TV TBA
27: Opponent TBA, Imperial Arena, Paradise Island, Bahamas, time, TV TBA
DECEMBER
2: Sacred Heart, XL Center, 7 p.m., SNY
8: Maryland (Jimmy V Classic) at Madison Square Garden, 9 p.m., ESPN
12: Ohio State, Gampel Pavilion, noon, CBS
20: UMass-Lowell, XL Center, 4 p.m., SNY
23: Central Connecticut, XL Center, 12:30 p.m., ESPNU
29: at Texas, Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas, 9 p.m., ESPN2
JANUARY
2: at TULANE, Devlin Fieldhouse, New Orleans, time TBA, CBSSN
5: TEMPLE, XL Center, 8 p.m., CBSSN
9: MEMPHIS, Gampel Pavilion, 7 p.m., ESPN2
14: at Tulsa, Reynolds Center, Tulsa, 7 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2
17: at HOUSTON, Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston, 2 p.m., CBSSN
19: TULANE, XL Center, 7 p.m., CBSSN
23: Georgetown, XL Center, noon, CBS
28: CINCINNATI, XL Center, 7 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2
31: at UCF, SN CFE Arena, Orlando, Fla., time TBA, CBSSN
FEBRUARY
4: at MEMPHIS, FedExForum, Memphis, 9 p.m., ESPN2
7: EAST CAROLINA, Gampel Pavilion, noon, CBSSN
11: at TEMPLE, Liacouras Center, Philadelphia, 7 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2
13: TULSA, Gampel Pavilion, 8 p.m., ESPN2
18: SMU, XL Center, time TBA, ESPN/ESPN2
20: at CINCINNATI, Fifth Third Arena, Cincinnati, time TBA, ESPN/ESPN2
25: at USF, Sun Dome, Tampa, Fla., time TBA, CBSSN
28: HOUSTON, Gampel Pavilion, time TBA, CBSSN
MARCH
3: at SMU, Moody Coliseum, Dallas, 9 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2
6: UCF, Gampel Pavilion, 2 p.m., ESPNU
10-13: The American Championship, Network Amway Center, Orlando, Fla.
 

BaseballJones

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Totally agree, it's amazing how well UConn recruits - how do they ever pull that off?  
 
In other news, ESPN headline says it all:
 
"UConn grad rate at 20 percent, does improve"
 
The graduation rate thing the NCAA does seems to me to be really dumb in some respects.  I mean, the major point of getting a college education is preparation for your life as a working adult.  If a computer science major gets a job offer after his sophomore year to work at Apple, at $250k a year, and the kid takes it, I say, well done University X - good job preparing that kid and maybe providing opportunities for him to get hired for a great job.  I don't say, University X, you suck for not having that kid graduate.
 
Same thing with sports.  Why should Duke be penalized, for example, when Okafor goes pro?  His time at Duke helped prepare him for a great career, even though it was only a year at the university.  If he never gets his degree, but ends up being very successful as an NBA player and provides for his kids and grand kids and great grand kids, why should the university be scolded for that?
 
I get that you don't want guys just dropping out, but the penalty is the same whether a kid just drops out of school or goes on to a very successful pro career.  And that makes no sense to me at all.
 

BigSoxFan

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Way to stay consistent DukeSox. Still stinging that Ricky Moore shut down Trajon Langdon in 1999 huh
Or 2004 where Coach K's gang gagged an 8 point lead in the final 8 minutes for the right to play a pedestrian GTech team for the title. That was basically the college basketball equivalent of the 2006 AFCCG.
 

Dan Murfman

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Or 2004 where Coach K's gang gagged an 8 point lead in the final 8 minutes for the right to play a pedestrian GTech team for the title. That was basically the college basketball equivalent of the 2006 AFCCG.

That's the one that really bugs. I wish we still had access to the old site. He had about 20 posts just crying about the refs.
 

Clears Cleaver

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this team is....very interesting. No hyperbole, this team gets into a good defensive flow and they have the offensive depth and firepower to be very good.
 

RedOctober3829

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UConn-Michigan on Wednesday night. First true test of the season for the Huskies. I really like what I see out of Gibbs, Hamilton, and Miller. Jalen Adams had a nice game off the bench on Saturday vs. Furman. Really hoping for a Cuse matchup on Thanksgiving night.
 

Clears Cleaver

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The defense looks very good. On ball defense is great so far. I love Beilein as a coach but UM not hitting their threes, maybe because of the ridiculous court in the Bahamas. But man, this team is fun to watch. so many weapons. If they can get positive performance from Facey and Nolan and Enoch on the glass and defending the paint,....well, its still November
 

RedOctober3829

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The defense looks very good. On ball defense is great so far. I love Beilein as a coach but UM not hitting their threes, maybe because of the ridiculous court in the Bahamas. But man, this team is fun to watch. so many weapons. If they can get positive performance from Facey and Nolan and Enoch on the glass and defending the paint,....well, its still November
Miller and Gibbs have vastly improved this team's depth from last year. Hamilton maturing into the player he should be has helped a lot too. If they can win this tournament then get to MSG vs. Maryland in the top 10......
 

StuckOnYouk

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I'm trying to be nice and ignore the fact that we lost by 3 despite the fact that cuse had 18 more free throw attempts.
The entire second half was cuse hitting a three or going to the foul line.
 

Clears Cleaver

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Well, Uconn totally failed in the second half getting the ball into the elbow area. Cute attacked the rim or shot a three. ITs almost like Boeheim is finally learning how to coach an offense? lol. Brimah really sucked, he should have dominated that game, but his improvement is just not there. Faced should have played a lot more. Hamilton was good, but if he is going to be elite, he needs to be able to score more and turn it over less. And Adams had no idea what he was doing against the zone. not unexpected there. Purvis and Gibbs needed to be better, too.

the new defense rules really help a team that plays zone. Probably one of the worst not thought about ramifications of the rule.

Gonzaga is a totally different animal. Uconn will have to get out in transition and not foul as much if they want to win
 

Dan Murfman

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Discouraging losing two down there and looked horrible down 21 but didn't give up and had their chances to actually win the game. Oh well.
 

StuckOnYouk

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Make Jalen Adams the starter now - or at least pretty soon. He totally outplayed Gibbs, who has looked awful the last two games. Between Gibbs and Purvis over the last two games, we must have had 25-30 points that disappeared when they couldn't finish off layups or 5-footers.

And it was nice to see us play with passion with 10 minutes to go. The first 30 minutes was wide open 3 after another by Gonzaga. Almost like we walked into that game thinking we can win with half-ass effort.
 

Clears Cleaver

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Ugh. I just went to watch the game and had no idea the outcome. I taped....the 3:00pm game. Overconfidence on my part? lol

I got nothing, I am just looking at the box score now. Down 21? jeez.
 

Clears Cleaver

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Was at MSG last night, great atmosphere, bad result. There just isn't enough talent or size to matchup with a team like MD. Gibbs is awful as a PG, he is a spot up shooter, that's it. a huge liability on the defensive end. Purvis was awful too. Caveat, I left at the 12 minute mark of the second half to make the 11:26 train so I missed the comeback and the Ollie T.

I just don't see any value of ever playing Calhoun, Nolan, SCJ. Those guys are practice players. yet they all were on the court together last night.

I guess the three losses tells you all you need to know, they are not very good. unless Adams develops into a legit leader who can play 30 minutes, they are not good enough
 

curly2

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Nice win in Texas. They desperately needed a good out-of-conference win.
 

StuckOnYouk

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Still pains me that the *real* Big East is all gone, but it's nice to see us play some of our old friends again - G'town coming up this weekend. Cuse next year.

The Baylor thing is just a prelude to us joining the Big 12 once Oklahoma gets what they want with expansion and a conference network. Nice welcome mat that we will lay out at MSG
 

StuckOnYouk

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One of the worst shooting halves I've ever seen from us. Can't believe we won. You can tell KO has been screaming at them to take it to the rim after watching the last few games - although they still have a lot of head-scratching possessions that result in deep 3s at the buzzer.
 

Dan Murfman

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How far we've fallen. ESPN won't even send Patrick & Elmore to Memphis to do the game in person but having them doing it in studio.
 

Dan Murfman

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Mike Patrick is bad enough when he is in the building but he was lost last night. And was a great second half. Best they looked all year.
 

RedOctober3829

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Broussard mentioned the possibility of the Knicks going after Kevin Ollie as their next head coach to lure Durant to NY. He says to not discount NY's chances with Durant as he thinks he'll at least take a meeting with them.
 

Clears Cleaver

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the knicks obviously must love watching their team blow games in the last 4 minutes because their guards have no clue how to run an offense or make plays for their teammates