Please read this quote by Napier

[orangenirvana]

Uhhhh ok sure. Duke and UCONN were definately the two best teams the last 2 years, riiiight. I would rather watch the best teams play each other in a series than watch friggin Butler in the Championship game.

Best teams based on what? NBA draft picks? Meaningless games in January? Who were the best teams those years? Whichever team it was that you personally awarded the best, I didn't see them cutting down the nets.

Championships aren't won and lost on paper. Why even have a season? Just crown the champion based on who people think is the "best" team. That's a much better way of proving who the "best" team is.

 

[SmilinBob]

UConn worked hard to slow the clock and execute the gameplan they had installed. I give them credit because it isn't how they normally play and they almost pulled it off. Look at Louisville vs Marquette...the Cards ran up and down in that game but when they played us, they slowed it down. Yes, it's the best way to beat SU but, you have to have the plan, execute, talent, breaks, coaching, and a good defense that can force SU to play hard on offense and possibly be frustrated and force things or speed up and not execute. Teams that do this have a shot and it still doesn't mean they will beat SU.

 

[ljmilman]

Best teams based on what? NBA draft picks? Meaningless games in January? Who were the best teams those years? Whichever team it was that you personally awarded the best, I didn't see them cutting down the nets.

Championships aren't won and lost on paper. Why even have a season? Just crown the champion based on who people think is the "best" team. That's a much better way of proving who the "best" team is.

Wait, are you saying that the Heat and the Eagles AREN'T defending champs right now?

 

[arbitragegls]

As i said in an earlier post--it will be terrific to beat UConn 4 times in one season with the fourth win coming in either the elite 8 or FF. It is well documented that beating a team twice in a season isnt easy...beating same team 3 times in a season is difficult...and beating a team a 4th time, like we will if we play UConn again in NCAAs will be historic!

 

[PeteCalvin]

Douche.

3-0 bitch.

Sent from my DROIDX

We always say 'Good Scoop, Bad Scoop', etc. From the UConn perspective, Bad Shabazz, the human turnover, showed up in the last 5 minutes of the game. Good for us, bad for them. He can hold his head high knowing he was the primary reason that UConn's late game offense fell apart.

What a schmuck.

 

[rrlbees]

Another one of those funny threads. Even a few SU fans don't get it. Kid makes a stupid statement seeing as how he just lost for the 3rd time this year and we even have SU fans saying "but they won the NC last year" or "but they have a lot of talent". Has nothing to do with Napier's comment.

Sent from my DROIDX

 

[Dick_in_MI]

“I don’t think they hung with us,” said Huskies senior guard Shabazz Napier, who had 15 points in the loss. “Syracuse is a great team, but we’re more than capable of beating that team by eight to 12 points, and we were up by eight or nine points and we just let up. We stopped doing what we were supposed to do.”

What a complete idiot.

Kris and Scoop went 2 for 14 from the field...on any normal night we beat your pathetic mangy huskies by 15.

uconn didn't let up; at best SU woke up from their nap...at worst the sled dogs choked.

 

[Orange Barrel]

The truth is, we don't know for sure whether Syracuse or UConn will finish the season as the "better" team.

Maybe you don't. To most people, it's abundantly clear. I think one of those patented committee snubs is in order for UCon.

 

[EastCoast2]

Napier is a sophomore.....

 

[jdubs30]

UConn is having a crap regular season, undeniably. That said, Cuse has managed to beat this crappy UConn team the past two times by 5 points combined. I'm not sure if that says more about Cuse or UConn. Even the first game was a 2 point game until Cuse put on a very nice run at the end (after Drummond got injured).

More specifically, Napier's quote, while stupid to actually say, isn't far off.

UConn basically missed open shot after open shot and had much better looks than Cuse throughout the game. Shots they normally make just weren't falling, and in the end that is "what they are supposed to do", make shots.

Cuse did a better job of realizing their shots weren't falling and attacking the rim for foul shot opportunities. UConn kept trying to make jumpers and just missing. Cuse also made some well defended shots, to Cuse's credit.

That is the main difference between a more mature Cuse team and very young UConn team, this year, realizing what's working and what isn't.

If I were a Cuse fan, I would be worried that teams will get their hands on the Cuse/UConn games. UConn basically just showed every team out there how to beat Cuse (aside from actually making shots).

Jesus dude.

Cuse's gameplan was to let Smith/Olander/Ohraki/Giffey beat them, and they didn't do it. The zone was paying way more attention to Lamb/Napier/Boatright. You think it's a coincidence that all those "open shots" were from Roscoe Smith and not Jeremy Lamb? Or that Napier's only "open shots" came from behind the NBA line? UConn isn't as talented as they think they are, period.

Regarding the quote, kind of ironic since Napier was probably the reason that UConn lost. He took some awful shots, had some bad turnovers, and pretty much ignored Lamb the whole 2nd half, specifically the last 2 minutes.

EDIT: 2006 bro. One of the best UConn teams EVER, and GMac beat them in the quarters; how many UConn fans were worried about how good that team could be? I believe that was the year you lost to George Mason in the Elite 8. 2009 was the 6OT game, you lost to a "worse" Syracuse team and made it to the Final Four. UConn/Cuse is almost always going to be close; especially if College Gameday or MSG is involved.

 

[SmilinBob]

He didn't ignore Lamb, he was wearing orange and Napier couldn't see him.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

I dont understand how 3 national championships = them being able to beat us this year. Pretty irrelevant IMO. We are better than them and would beat them once again if we did play them.

Somebody said Uconn basketball equals big talent and small IQ. I said to me UCONN basketball equals 3 national championships. I can prove what I stated, can they? Sure what Napier said was foolish, but what comes out of the mouth of most college kids is. Like I said, I didn't make the opening statemement somebody else did

Like I said, 3-0? BFD. one of 32 wins as far as I am concerned. You need 6 starting next week. Nothing else matters. Just my opinion.

UCONN hasn't been lights out I get that, but making foolish statements like big talent, no IQ is really just that

 

[jdubs30]

Somebody said Uconn basketball equals big talent and small IQ. I said to me UCONN basketball equals 3 national championships. I can prove what I stated, can they? Sure what Napier said was foolish, but what comes out of the mouth of most college kids is. Like I said, I didn't make the opening statemement somebody else did

Like I said, 3-0? BFD. one of 32 wins as far as I am concerned. You need 6 starting next week. Nothing else matters. Just my opinion

I stilll don't get what Napier's quote has to do with the 3 national titles. Kemba carried that team on his back last year, and I might be in the minority, but I really enjoyed their 04 team; Okafor, Gordon, and company, a bunch of unselfish, classy players.

 

[Orange Barrel]

If I were a Cuse fan, I would be worried that teams will get their hands on the Cuse/UConn games. UConn basically just showed every team out there how to beat Cuse (aside from actually making shots).

Well, you're not. And lingering here like a bad fart after every game won't get you in either. Even the venerable UCon thought police can't spin that comment. Just plain dumb.

UCon basically just showed every team out there that Syracuse is a much better team. Most teams already know how to beat us. They just can't.

 

[Jake]

This is why I hope Napier is their pg for a long time. No clue on reality. He plays like he thinks...and he thinks uconn is better and he is their go to guy and their two nba lottery picks should defer to him.

 

[PauliePeppas]

I bet he also thinks he was uconns mvp last year...what a clown

 

[Charlie]

UConn is having a crap regular season, undeniably. That said, Cuse has managed to beat this crappy UConn team the past two times by 5 points combined. I'm not sure if that says more about Cuse or UConn. Even the first game was a 2 point game until Cuse put on a very nice run at the end (after Drummond got injured).

More specifically, Napier's quote, while stupid to actually say, isn't far off.

UConn basically missed open shot after open shot and had much better looks than Cuse throughout the game. Shots they normally make just weren't falling, and in the end that is "what they are supposed to do", make shots.

Cuse did a better job of realizing their shots weren't falling and attacking the rim for foul shot opportunities. UConn kept trying to make jumpers and just missing. Cuse also made some well defended shots, to Cuse's credit.

That is the main difference between a more mature Cuse team and very young UConn team, this year, realizing what's working and what isn't.

If I were a Cuse fan, I would be worried that teams will get their hands on the Cuse/UConn games. UConn basically just showed every team out there how to beat Cuse (aside from actually making shots).

Actually - ND is the only team with a blue print on how to win (get Fab out of the game). You just proved that your game plan can hang with SU but come up short time after time. You all had 3 chances and couldn't get it done. PS - not sure if you are aware, but it's a 40 minute game and you don't get pick and choose which 30 minutes you want to count.

Anyway - sign me up for beating their a$$ a 4th time. I am sure it wouldn't change Napier's mind though... which is fine. He's just a kid.

It makes me feel good that UCONN (an elite program to be sure) and their fans seem to be taking solace in being able to hang with SU. Especially in a year when UCONN was picked to be top 5 in the polls and apparently has more NBA talent than SU (I mean heck, they have a walk-on who will be one of the top 2 or 3 picks in the draft).

 

[Marsh01]

Like I said, 3-0? BFD. one of 32 wins as far as I am concerned. You need 6 starting next week. Nothing else matters. Just my opinion.

UCONN hasn't been lights out I get that, but making foolish statements like big talent, no IQ is really just that

Sure it matters. Keep the winning streak going, win the conference tournament. It's all part of the prelude to the NCAA's. Id rather see this team keep winning than slip up. Plus the chance to break the most wins ever by an NCAA team. I think these games mean everything.

They just are not a good team once Kemba left. No glue to hold everything together. Reminds me of our teams in 2007-2008 where we had a lot of talent and made excuses for why we are not winning. We just werent very good and frankly neither are they.

 

[McNabb2Brominski]

Is he in loser denial?

 

[Knicks411]

While I dont disagree with you on Final Fours, the real issue is that if Syracuse and Kentucky dont make it this year, it will be just another year in which the best team doesnt win the Championship. As crazy as it is, I am actually becoming jealous of football's dreaded BCS. At least they usually get the best teams in it. The Tournament is basically a gimmicky crapshoot at this point that "once in a while" the best team wins.

Sure, but you don't want to give 2003 back, do you?

The tournament is awesome, but as you said, the best team rarely wins. Nature of the beast.

 

[cusetown1]

I heard UL was going undefeated this year. Kid's these days.

 

[jekelish]

That quote reminds me of last year's NBA playoffs, when the Mavs swept the Lakers. One of the Lakers (can't remember who...it was a role player) said that the Mavs didn't as much win a the Lakers beat themselves. One of the ESPN radio guys in Dallas, who is on a show that focuses as much on humor as anything else, asked him post game of game 4 "Is it possible for a team to sweep itself?"

Hilarious.

 

[RoysRunts]

Reminds me of Eddie Haskell or the Yankee Captain in the Bad News Bears "I guess you Bears aren't really that Bad"

 

[orangejunkie]

I love the fact that SU might have a couple northeast venues for their first two weekends. It is great for the fan base that can get to games, but in reality I don't think it has much impact on getting to the Final 4. We have had success playing out West just as much as back East. It comes to match ups and winning some ugly games.

 

[orangenirvana]

Sure, but you don't want to give 2003 back, do you?

The tournament is awesome, but as you said, the best team rarely wins. Nature of the beast.

Who was better than Syracuse in 2003?

I keep reading about these mythical "best" teams. I guess any of us can use our imaginations and pretend so-and-so is the "best" team and should have been crowned champion.

Personally, I'll stick with reality and celebrate those who actually cut down the nets.