Best Ollie Quote Ever

[HungryHuskies]

The team just experienced a huge jump in competition from Furman to playing Michigan, Syracuse and Gonzaga with 2 new players in the starting lineup. The wrinkles will be worked out.

 

[Jaker]

I am still very Bullish on this team. If we can fix the rotation and get some decent rebounding from the bigs, we will be good.

 

[BUConn10]

True, but the problem with our conference and schedule which has been said as nauseum is that we simply don't have the leeway or margin of error that P5 schools have to "iron out the wrinkles". This isn't the big east anymore, we don't have the liberty of playing sloppy the first 2 months of the season only to turn it on later. The Battle for Atlantis currently dropped this teams ceiling from a 2 seed to around a 4/5 seed in a matter of 24 hours. This is why people are worried.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

In fairness, people are worried because they love to be worried.

 

[Ts5034]

True, but the problem with our conference and schedule which has been said as nauseum is that we simply don't have the leeway or margin of error that P5 schools have to "iron out the wrinkles". This isn't the big east anymore, we don't have the liberty of playing sloppy the first 2 months of the season only to turn it on later. The Battle for Atlantis currently dropped this teams ceiling from a 2 seed to around a 4/5 seed in a matter of 24 hours. This is why people are worried.

This pretty much sums it up. We have seen how much disrespect the AAC has gotten on Selection Sunday so thats why these games early in the season like this are under the microscope a lot more than they were when we played in the BE

 

[amory]

I think by March this team will be able to beat anyone on any given night.

The problem is the path to a championship as a 7 seed like in 2014 is so much harder than the path as a 3 or 4 seed, and to be a 3 or 4 seed we'd need a gaudy OOC record.

 

[champs99and04]

After 2014 I'm certainly not questioning Ollie on this one. And yes, there are a lot of new pieces on this team.

But this team is very experienced and they are very talented. I thought this had the chance to be our best regular season since '09, and I'm disappointed that it looks like that isn't going to happen.

 

[BFieldHusky]

While I agree this is not the start we wanted...we beat Maryland in 11 days and everything changes.

 

[3rdbass]

While I agree this is not the start we wanted...we beat Maryland in 11 days and everything changes.

Exactly too much over reaction on too bad games for us(especially the Gonzaga game. We can still gel but KO needs to shorten his bench and give JA more time at the point and have SE develop behind AB. I have lost hope for PN.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

While he is learning KO can also rule out a Providence/Brooklyn to Philadelphia (East Regional) path to the Final4 if championships are on his mind (my preseason expectations with others here). Unfortunately that desired path has more probably than not been burned as KO focuses on the learning curve. No doubt we learned a lot though and hopefully a quick look in the mirror by KO himself helps facilitate the overall progress of the team looking forward. As tight as our team chemistry appeared to be coming into the season... I think some changes are in order that could test that dynamic to a certain degree. My guess is we will be ok.

The Maryland game now becomes a must win. If we drop that game and Ohio State, Georgetown and Texas wind up on the bubble a third place finish in the AAC may send us to the NIT again. It is a painful thought and shows how quickly the "I'm learning about this team as we go..." has the potential to spiral out of control quickly.

I am very disappointed in the 1-2 Atlantis result but am now rooting for MD to beat UNC and for UConn to hand MD its first loss. This reality check certainly is painful.

 

[HungryHuskies]

I too would love to grab a couple OOC wins so we don't have to be nail biting at the end of the year, but who is going to compete with us during the AAC Championship with SMU out? Tulsa?

 

[Rico444]

Beating Maryland would be great, but if we win the AAC regular season and tournament we're going to get a good seed.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

I too would love to grab a couple OOC wins so we don't have to be nail biting at the end of the year, but who is going to compete with us during the AAC Championship with SMU out? Tulsa?

Cincinnati

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Beating Maryland would be great, but if we win the AAC regular season and tournament we're going to get a good seed.

Good will be what SMU got last year.

 

[pnow15]

What else was he going to say?

 

[BFieldHusky]

SMU had no good wins out of league last year.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

What else was he going to say?

I agree with you there.

 

[BUConn10]

SMU had no good wins out of league last year.

And as of now we don't either. Really only Maryland left. Gtown and Texas can end up being great teams but they've dropped the ball early and lost any potential respect from the committee.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

SMU had no good wins out of league last year.

@Michigan which turned out not to be a quality win. Wyoming a tournament team. I agree not much there in terms of wins. Key losses though OOC that hurt them with seeding. One of which was to Gonzaga on the road (missed opportunity I should say). We lost on a neutral court. I get your point though and we still can string some decent OOC wins together even with a Maryland L but that is a very dangerous path.

 

[BoatShow]

Was it KO who said it's really fun to get way behind then make a furious comeback then forget how to play in the last minute?

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

The idea that this team's "ceiling" has been established as a 5 seed at this point in the season is ridiculous. If they're sitting at 29-2 in March they're getting a 5 seed? C'mon, people, do better.

 

[superjohn]

I'm bullish on this team but the weekend was a failure, we just don't have a ton of wiggle room, Maryland at MSG now becomes a must win.

 

[Rocktheworld]

That is not even the 8th best KO quote.

 

[intlzncster]

I think by March this team will be able to beat anyone on any given night.

The problem is the path to a championship as a 7 seed like in 2014 is so much harder than the path as a 3 or 4 seed, and to be a 3 or 4 seed we'd need a gaudy OOC record.

If we had a gaudy OOC, we'd be a 1 or a 2. Win the conference and the conference tournament, and we are a 3 or 4.

For reference, in 2014, we came in 3rd in the conference (w 6 inconference losses), runner up in the AACT, and 8 losses overall. And we were a 7 seed.

 

[BUConn10]

The idea that this team's "ceiling" has been established as a 5 seed at this point in the season is ridiculous. If they're sitting at 29-2 in March they're getting a 5 seed? C'mon, people, do better.

What games do you see pulling our resume up to "elite". You can't just look at UConn's season through binoculars and ignore the competition. The elite teams nationally all have top ranked conference opponents which will give them top ranked resumes when the selection committee sits down to make seeding. UConn on the other hand has their tough opponents early in the season(who still despite all our scheduling prowess is still weak overall when compared to other overall schedules) with little opportunity to make up for it throughout the season. After Maryland, I'd estimate that UConn has roughly 3, MAYBE 4 ranked games left on the schedule, with those likely being 10-20 range rather than top 10 teams you'd see in a P5 schedule.