To those who are overreacting, please post here

[Jeremy L.]

So you guys can reflect on it come March. We lost two games to two NCAA Tournament teams that are going to be at least 4-5 seeds. It's November 30th. WE WILL BE OKAY

 

[Rage4CUSE]

So you guys can reflect on it come March. We lost two games to two NCAA Tournament teams that are going to be at least 4-5 seeds. It's November 30th. WE WILL BE OKAY

If we as fans don't get on a team for terrible play, where's that extra motivation coming from to drive the team?

I've read a bunch of times of athletes using the local media and fans criticizing to drive them to become better. How does that happen if we just pat them on the back and say "job well done" after losing by double digits?

Criticizing your team when they play like crap is necessary. Anyone who thinks otherwise is only fooling themselves.

 

[NineOneSeven]

This thread has amazing potential especially when/if we bump it right before selection sunday

 

[Rage4CUSE]

This thread has amazing potential especially when/if we bump it right before selection sunday

Well two double digit losses to NCAA teams certainly isn't going to help us make it.

 

[AZOrange]

We've played really bad, but the collective parts are too good to be bad for long.

 

[Rage4CUSE]

We've played really bad, but the collective parts are too good to be bad for long.

We'll see after Georgetown. It too difficult to judge this team already though. We either blow out competition, or get blown out.

If we were playing in the AAC I wouldn't be to worried of making the NCAA. But we play in the ACC where there are 11 other possible NCAA teams there.

Anybody else absolutely dumbfounded by the "best ever" team comment by Boeheim earlier?

 

[Cusefan0307]

We'll see after Georgetown. It too difficult to judge this team already though. We either blow out competition, or get blown out.

If we were playing in the AAC I wouldn't be to worried of making the NCAA. But we play in the ACC where there are 11 other possible NCAA teams there.

Anybody else absolutely dumbfounded by the "best ever" team comment by Boeheim earlier?

The "potential" is there.

Can the "potential"(parts) be put together in time?

 

[Jeremy L.]

If we as fans don't get on a team for terrible play, where's that extra motivation coming from to drive the team?

I've read a bunch of times of athletes using the local media and fans criticizing to drive them to become better. How does that happen if we just pat them on the back and say "job well done" after losing by double digits?

Criticizing your team when they play like crap is necessary. Anyone who thinks otherwise is only fooling themselves.

I don't think they don't deserve to be criticized. They struggled rebounding and the offense was not there in the last two games. But to think we're watching a bubble or NIT team (according to some users) is pretty outrageous

 

[Jeremy L.]

This thread has amazing potential especially when/if we bump it right before selection sunday

When it happens, I want to look back at this thread and just get a great laugh at the thought of this team being an NIT team.

 

[asj410]

I need to do what UConn fans have probably been doing since they went mid-major: crack open a beer and bask in the glory of yesteryear while watching some good games of ours from years past. Mr. Wesley Johnson's coming-out party at MSG in 2009 when he lit up UNC sounds like a good place to start. What a thing of beauty that team was.

 

[NKR1978]

We've played really bad, but the collective parts are too good to be bad for long.

That's what I'm holding on to...but, there's something disconcerting about the way they're playing. There's a selfishness that I don't think we've seen here in a while (maybe 2010-11 Dion).

 

[AZOrange]

That's what I'm holding on to...but, there's something disconcerting about the way they're playing. There's a selfishness that I don't think we've seen here in a while (maybe 2010-11 Dion).

I don't see it at all with anyone but maybe white...but he isn't dion either

 

[Dave85]

I will not believe in this team until they play really well against a quality opponent. The last 2 loses have shaken my faith in how good this team can be.

 

[NKR1978]

I don't see it at all with anyone but maybe white...but he isn't dion either

You're right. Maybe disinterest? Even Lydon with those ridiculous lazy turnovers under the basket.

 

[Jasoncuse]

Well, i'd love to be wrong. I hope to come back to this thread and see my comment/prediction and be super happy to be wrong.

But...

This team is not good. Yes, we lost to two good teams, but we got our lunches handed to us. We got abused, exposed and then Wisconsin pooped on our graves trying to get Hayes a triple double. This team has little to no offensive identity, few players that can get their own shot in an offense that requires it and have a zone defense that will get better (by default) with kids that have little to no experience in it.

If this team doesn't show drastic improvement on both ends, I find it hard to believe this team will even compete for a bid, let alone get in. We won't have early season wins over tourney teams to fall back on and we have a ridiculously tough ACC to look forward to. I see us winning 7-9 games in conference, which won't be enough. For this team to make a run and grab a bid we need to get the guards to figure out their defensive roles and for our back line to actually prevent easy looks. We need AW3, Lydon and maybe Battle to really, really step up offensively and carry this squad. This is a team that will look fantastic against mid-majors and lower, but against the big boys, I don't think we have the right guns.

 

[shandeezy7]

I don't think they don't deserve to be criticized. They struggled rebounding and the offense was not there in the last two games. But to think we're watching a bubble or NIT team (according to some users) is pretty outrageous

What evidence do you have to disprove the claim that this team is a bubble team? Yeah it's early, but the early returns show zero quality wins and two butt-whipping losses. Hell, we had a way better start to the season last year, and the regular season ended with us firmly on the bubble (and most, if not all, thinking we had no chance of making the tournament come Selection Sunday).

 

[Cusefan0307]

What evidence do you have to disprove the claim that this team is a bubble team? Yeah it's early, but the early returns show zero quality wins and two butt-whipping losses. Hell, we had a way better start to the season last year, and the regular season ended with us firmly on the bubble (and most, if not all, thinking we had no chance of making the tournament come Selection Sunday).

You are assuming the team won't improve.

 

[shandeezy7]

You are assuming the team won't improve.

But my assumption is based on previous results. The assumption that they will improve is based on wishful thinking. Doesn't mean it won't happen - and I sure hope it does - but it's not a foregone conclusion that they will.

 

[Cusefan0307]

But my assumption is based on previous results. The assumption that they will improve is based on wishful thinking. Doesn't mean it won't happen - and I sure hope it does - but it's not a foregone conclusion that they will.

It's not wishful thinking at all. This is an inexpierienced team where the coach(HOF'er I may add) needs to put the pieces together.

If anything the glass empty people have been proven wrong twice in the past 4 years, and I think it will happen again.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

You're right. Maybe disinterest? Even Lydon with those ridiculous lazy turnovers under the basket.

Oh Christ. Your comment made me wonder if Lydon is really regretting not following Mali out the door at the end of last season. He has had some incredibly lazy passes these last two games.

EDIT - Corrected my idiotic use of the wrong your.

 

[NKR1978]

Oh Christ. Your comment made me wonder if Lydon is really regretting not following Mali out the door at the end of last season. He has had some incredibly lazy passes these last two games.

EDIT - Corrected my idiotic use of the wrong your.

I get we're all a little on edge, but I wouldn't read into things THAT much. (BUT OMG WHAT IF YOU'RE RIGHT?!)

 

[FrancoPizza]

Your comment made me wonder if Lydon is really regretting not following Mali out the door at the end of last season.

In hindsight, he may have made the wrong choice. His stock might drop as his weaknesses become more apparent. Always a smarter financial move to cash in before investors get spooked.

 

[shandeezy7]

It's not wishful thinking at all. This is an inexpierienced team where the coach(HOF'er I may add) needs to put the pieces together.

If anything the glass empty people have been proven wrong twice in the past 4 years, and I think it will happen again.

I don't know if that's a true statement. In fact, I think last year the team regressed. Now, lucky for them, they were able to sneak into the tournament and went on a great run, but if we didn't get lucky and secure one of the last at-large spots in the field, last year would have been seen as a huge failure. The Final Four run made people forget about some serious warts that team had, and the fact that they went on a four-game winning streak shouldn't erase the sub-standard regular season they had.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I don't know if that's a true statement. In fact, I think last year the team regressed. Now, lucky for them, they were able to sneak into the tournament and went on a great run, but if we didn't get lucky and secure one of the last at-large spots in the field, last year would have been seen as a huge failure. The Final Four run made people forget about some serious warts that team had, and the fact that they went on a four-game winning streak shouldn't erase the sub-standard regular season they had.

If we miss the tournament you can gloat all you want, but I am confident we won't. I think we win the rest of the non-conference and get at least 12 ACC wins. I think a lot of people expected this team to steamroll everyone out of the gate, but that hasn't happened.

I really don't see how the team regressed last year. We were 19-9 with JB as head coach. The team was much better the tournament than they were earlier in the year. The middle stunk with Hopkins, but that was a unique situation.

 

[realorange]

If we as fans don't get on a team for terrible play, where's that extra motivation coming from to drive the team?

I've read a bunch of times of athletes using the local media and fans criticizing to drive them to become better. How does that happen if we just pat them on the back and say "job well done" after losing by double digits?

Criticizing your team when they play like crap is necessary. Anyone who thinks otherwise is only fooling themselves.

Any athlete, particularly at a D-1 level, doesn't need fans criticizing him to become better. You either have the pride to get better or you don't belong there to begin with.