2024-25 UConn Men's Hoops: Defending the Throne Again
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
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I don't mind the Lakers schadenfreude. At all.
I do love the Celtics more than BC (and NC). Plus CBB is changing too much (sorry, Cormac, it was fun for a bit)
This may be my happiest post (of everyone) to read post-Covid! I hope you're right!
u have 2 top 7 nba players then atother 3 of 35 after that 4 top 30 players and 6 top 50 players only teams that have a shot as of now are all in the west OKC Minn denver dallas and SA in 3 years i wouild say NY but their coach runs his guys in to the ground philly lacks a 3rd guy ditto with milw mia is too in to their cutule and etc
NBA contracts don’t run more than 4-5 years, and unless the player is a total zero contracts are usually tradable in the final season. They might be in the wilderness for a season or two post-LeBron, but the Lakers still own all their post-2025 picks, and they’ll always be an attractive free agent destination. They’ll be fine in the long run.
Of course, the Lakers’ next head coach will be gone by the time that “long run” takes shape, and the likelihood of that next coach meeting the fan base’s unreasonable short-term expectations are practically nil. I’m sure it isn’t easy to turn down the most high-profile coaching gig on the planet, but unless Hurley wanted to be in LA (and all indications were that he didn’t), he made the right choice. I think coaching in college is a better gig than the NBA, but if Hurley wants to prove his mettle in the pros there will be better opportunities than this one.
Governor Lamont said today that he plans on making Hurley the highest paid coach in college BB. Even though he just got an extension last year.
oh he made the right choice uconn will end up in the big 12 because of their hoops it wont be uiltl 2035 through
what is going to happan 10 years from now is 3 24 team super conf with everyone else g5 basiccy there is 8 seats left in SEC 6 in big ten and 8 in big 12 assuime the ACC dissoves and 17 of their members take up the last 22 spots ore st and wash st will lanch to the big 12 which leaves 3 spots for group of 5 teams all big 12 those 3 spots are u conn memphis tulune san diego st boise unlv and freno
1 u conn
2 san diego st
3 tulane memphis or boise
I really thought the uncertain college landscape and portal and NIL would be the difference. But Hurley must be pretty confident that if college gets too weird, there will be other NBA jobs in the future.
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I don’t really care how they fund it. There’s 3.6 million people in CT. Maybe 2 million pay taxes. I don’t pay taxes to CT but if I did I would gladly kick over a couple bucks a year to make the numbers work. I’m aware this is probably not how tax increases work. The Hurley tax… I’d be down.
Andrea never has to buy a drink in Connecticut again.
View: https://twitter.com/CowboyAdama/status/1801261867496526027
View: https://twitter.com/CowboyAdama/status/1801261867496526027
This is my second son and second daughter (because they're Celtics fans and UConn alumni). The son especially is reveling in it right now. Hell of a back-to-back.
It’s been a good year. I’m not the biggest NBA fan. I want to see the Celtics do well but it’s not a passion… I only really start watching them in the playoffs. The Huskies and Celtics to quote the great James A. Calhoun, “THEY’RE NOT BAD.”
My senior year at UConn, the Red Sox lost the World Series to the Mets in excruciating fashion. Then basketball season started, and the Huskies went 9-19.
Sometimes it's still hard to believe the seismic changes that happened in the sports world with my two favorite teams racking up titles.
Mullins is a 6’4” SG who is rated in the top 20-25 overall for next year’s class. Sharpshooter.
View: https://twitter.com/cue_the_music/status/1805722639711060332?s=46&t=IVL2VrlFgLlpc3mjGGto8Q
View: https://twitter.com/cue_the_music/status/1805722639711060332?s=46&t=IVL2VrlFgLlpc3mjGGto8Q
I guess based on the draft, the only fair matchup for the tournament in the spring would have been UConn vs. France.
I'm imagining a world in which the 2025-26 starting lineup is
PG Darius Acuff
SG Ahmad Nowell
SF Jaylin Stewart
PF AJ Dybantsa
C Tarris Reed
Bench: Isaiah Abraham, Braylon Mullins, Meleek Thomas
View: https://twitter.com/TiptonEdits/status/1806741304279183416
PG Darius Acuff
SG Ahmad Nowell
SF Jaylin Stewart
PF AJ Dybantsa
C Tarris Reed
Bench: Isaiah Abraham, Braylon Mullins, Meleek Thomas
View: https://twitter.com/TiptonEdits/status/1806741304279183416
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My all time favorite Husky is hanging it up. What a ride he gave us in March 2011.
View: https://twitter.com/kembawalker/status/1808210766140788904?s=61&t=mLlSRkfq4VtgCm4CvSpAPg
View: https://twitter.com/kembawalker/status/1808210766140788904?s=61&t=mLlSRkfq4VtgCm4CvSpAPg
I graduated the same year as he did...
Well that went by fast.
Hope we see him at many UConn games next season.
Well that went by fast.
Hope we see him at many UConn games next season.
Every UConn championship is great in its own unique way but that Kemba year where he basically carried a bunch of freshman and sophomores to a championship was surreal. His performance in the 5 wins in 5 days at the BET was crazy. By the time they played Louisville on day 5 I figured OK. Finally he's gonna be out of gas and lay an egg and he was just as spectacular on that night as any of the others.
Great career at Charlotte and it's a damn shame his knee gave out in Boston where Celtics fans didn't get to experience the real Kemba
Great career at Charlotte and it's a damn shame his knee gave out in Boston where Celtics fans didn't get to experience the real Kemba
Easy to forget the mini-run that started that season, but that really announced that team. DDB Jr. and I went to Maui for that tournament, and it was awesome. It was three epic days, and Walker was so good. But it was also where you saw some of the skills that Napier and Giffey would show later, winning their own championship.
Kentucky fans were everywhere, and we clobbered them. At our hotel, they were bragging about buying tickets for the consolation game before the championship, so they could stay in the same seats for the championship (much of the Lahaina arena was general admission). It was actually pretty clever, but the arrogance was nuts.
Kemba was really cool to DDB Jr. — we got to get high fives after the Championship. Got to talk to Giffey too, about a questionable out of bounds call that impacted the Michigan State result. I will keep the conversation to myself!
Anyway, Maui was a little glimpse of what would come. Got a little rocky in season, but that was when you knew it could be a thing. I think they went 14-0 in neutral court tournament action.
It’s hard for me to imagine saying someone other than Rip was my favorite Husky. He exemplified everything I love about college basketball. But Kemba makes a compelling case.
Kentucky fans were everywhere, and we clobbered them. At our hotel, they were bragging about buying tickets for the consolation game before the championship, so they could stay in the same seats for the championship (much of the Lahaina arena was general admission). It was actually pretty clever, but the arrogance was nuts.
Kemba was really cool to DDB Jr. — we got to get high fives after the Championship. Got to talk to Giffey too, about a questionable out of bounds call that impacted the Michigan State result. I will keep the conversation to myself!
Anyway, Maui was a little glimpse of what would come. Got a little rocky in season, but that was when you knew it could be a thing. I think they went 14-0 in neutral court tournament action.
It’s hard for me to imagine saying someone other than Rip was my favorite Husky. He exemplified everything I love about college basketball. But Kemba makes a compelling case.
Obviously he's welcome to go wherever he wants but why on earth would he prefer Arkansas to UConn? ($$$ is the obvious answer, I guess)
Stars of Storrs with a great 2nd half to win their first game of TBT. RJ and the Boat Show was fun to watch.
Two things related to the Huskies today.
--Tickets go on sale tomorrow for the December 14th Gonzaga game at MSG. According to the Ticketmaster link it is an 8 pm start(maybe Fox national game?).
--Top 25 prospect Nico Bundalo has narrowed his list to 8 schools and UConn is one of them. He is visiting Storrs the last weekend of August. He is also visiting Michigan State the next weekend and UNC the first weekend of October. He is a 6 foot 11 220 lb power forward out of Serbia who is going to school at Hudson(OH) Western Reserve Academy.
https://247sports.com/college/basketball/recruiting/article/top25-2025-recruit-niko-bundalo-cuts-list-to-eight-top-schools-kentucky-north-carolina-uconn-michigan-state-texas-ohio-state-pittsburgh-xavier-234455056/
--Tickets go on sale tomorrow for the December 14th Gonzaga game at MSG. According to the Ticketmaster link it is an 8 pm start(maybe Fox national game?).
--Top 25 prospect Nico Bundalo has narrowed his list to 8 schools and UConn is one of them. He is visiting Storrs the last weekend of August. He is also visiting Michigan State the next weekend and UNC the first weekend of October. He is a 6 foot 11 220 lb power forward out of Serbia who is going to school at Hudson(OH) Western Reserve Academy.
https://247sports.com/college/basketball/recruiting/article/top25-2025-recruit-niko-bundalo-cuts-list-to-eight-top-schools-kentucky-north-carolina-uconn-michigan-state-texas-ohio-state-pittsburgh-xavier-234455056/
I think the gap between 2 and 3 championships is massive. Not quite as big as the difference between 1 and 2. But close. One can be luck or an accident. Two cements you. But three puts you on Rushmore. It is inarguably greatness.
Calhoun never had a player who won more than one championship.
I think Hurley will get there. But no guarantees. Really great coaches have been upset in the tournament, and have had near misses and toil a long time without getting to the top of the mountain. Do I think Hurley could go another decade or two without winning another? It's certainly possible. It's really fucking hard.
Yeah definitely. Calhoun is the OG. Godfather of the men’s program. What they have today is because of the program he built and developed. I think Hurley would have to pass him in titles to even really consider the “GOAT” debate. Although the B2B titles is huge to Hurleys case.
Completely off topic. ESPN needs to do a 30 for 30 on the rise of UConn basketball (both men’s and women’s). Why hasn’t this been done? UConn is in their backyard and they are running out of time because JC isn’t going to be around forever. It’s a phenomenal story.
A couple of UConn nuggets from my experience (having worked there for 28 years and having sent 2 kids through college there):
1. Last winter (so after they won in '23 but before they won in '24), I had this conversation with an administrator. He told me that they're running into a housing problem. Why? They're still accepting the same number of students as before, but the number of accepted students that are choosing UConn over their other options is skyrocketing. Why? Apparently this happens every time they win a basketball championship. So it's the same after the '24 title. UConn has become a school that people really want to be at.
2. There's a lot of people who think college athletics are pointless and completely unrelated to the academic purpose of colleges and universities. They couldn't be more wrong. My brother and sister in law went to UConn in the late 80s and early 90s and at that time (no offense to anyone who went there then), UConn was a modest state university at best. Mostly a safety school for people or the cheap and easily accessible option if better schools were more expensive. Nothing remarkable about UConn at all. But that all changed with the rise of basketball. Now (I mean, this was true before now, but the launch of this was basketball) UConn is a really good public university, with great facilities, and it's damned hard to get into. No, it's not an Ivy, but it's really good and the standards to get in are way, way up from what they were. That's because it became a destination after basketball success. That led to huge state investments into the school, an ability to be much more picky about who they accepted, and it all contributed to a much higher level of students and academics they study.
Long story short: UConn's basketball success has translated to humongous wins for the entire university.
