A Perverse View From CBS Sports

[Sphinx]

Assessing the "chaos" this week among college basketball's Top Five, CBS Sports has this curiously dismissive comment as to how it reflects on UConn:

"UConn survived the mayhem with an 80-75 win at Xavier but not without trailing in the second half against the mediocre Musketeers.

...

Collectively, the run of results illustrates a lack of dominance among the supposed top teams in the sport and opens the door for recently downtrodden brands such as Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina to reclaim their place atop the college basketball hierarchy."


Curious logic, it strikes me. Rather than lauded as an exception to the "chaos", UConn is lumped with the losers, all part of a discredited Top Five. Oh, well, maybe if we beat Georgetown.

 

[husky429]

They're a top-50 team, not "mediocre." We were also playing on the road. This take is just silly.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

They're a top-50 team, not "mediocre." We were also playing on the road. This take is just silly.

Agreed. X is a Q1 win. I believe they were around 42 before our game.
This is a really stupid take.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

On another note: Rothstein who works for CBSSN basically said UConn is the best team in the country when healthy. Couldn’t really care less what his colleagues think.

 

[housekeys]

Assessing the "chaos" this week among college basketball's Top Five, CBS Sports has this curiously dismissive comment as to how it reflects on UConn:

"UConn survived the mayhem with an 80-75 win at Xavier but not without trailing in the second half against the mediocre Musketeers.

...

Collectively, the run of results illustrates a lack of dominance among the supposed top teams in the sport and opens the door for recently downtrodden brands such as Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina to reclaim their place atop the college basketball hierarchy."


Curious logic, it strikes me. Rather than lauded as an exception to the "chaos", UConn is lumped with the losers, all part of a discredited Top Five. Oh, well, maybe if we beat Georgetown.

We trailed X for something less than a minute the entire 40 minute game, on the road. UConn is at another level from the "collective", "supposed top teams". Nostalgia from a closet "blue blood" fan, nothing more.

 

[Sphinx]

Gary Parish (also CBS Sports) is just out with his Top 25 +1 update. UConn jumps three places from #5 to #2. Parish makes a long defense of his selection of Purdue over UConn. Apparently feels it needs an explanation.

The new NET rankings have UConn #8 with a 5-2 record against Quad 1 and 7-2 vs Quad 1 & 2. Only Purdue beats that record. Alabama ranks #5 with a 1-5 Quad 1 record. Somewhere in the heavenly ether floats a rationale for such arithmetic.

 

[tzznandrew]

On another note: Rothstein who works for CBSSN basically said UConn is the best team in the country when healthy. Couldn’t really care less what his colleagues think.

I mean, they were right at the top of KenPom and were undefeated with their full team—nearly beat KU on the road without Castle—when Clingan went down. A Clingan still working his way back from injury. They lost to Seton Hall in a game he went out after playing only 14 min. So, in essence, they're still undefeated with their full team.

If Clingan comes back at around where he was pre-injury, they're going to be very hard to beat.

 

[OkaForPrez]

Gary Parish (also CBS Sports) is just out with his Top 25 +1 update. UConn jumps three places from #5 to #2. Parish makes a long defense of his selection of Purdue over UConn. Apparently feels it needs an explanation.

The new NET rankings have UConn #8 with a 5-2 record against Quad 1 and 7-2 vs Quad 1 & 2. Only Purdue beats that record. Alabama ranks #5 with a 1-5 Quad 1 record. Somewhere in the heavenly ether floats a rationale for such arithmetic.

I just tweeted at him what would Purdue’s resume look like if they went 4.5 games without Zach Eddy?

If you look at what Castle’s giving us now, you know what we missed without him at Kansas. And Clingan has nearly the same Otrg as Eddy.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

I mean, they were right at the top of KenPom and were undefeated with their full team—nearly beat KU on the road without Castle—when Clingan went down. A Clingan still working his way back from injury. They lost to Seton Hall in a game he went out after playing only 14 min. They're undefeated with their full team.

If Clingan comes back at around where he was pre-injury, they're going to be very hard to beat.

Also, remember that Cam was damn close to finishing off the Kansas game in a wheelchair, yet still almost drained a gamewinning 3 at the Phog.

 

[willie99]

Assessing the "chaos" this week among college basketball's Top Five, CBS Sports has this curiously dismissive comment as to how it reflects on UConn:

"UConn survived the mayhem with an 80-75 win at Xavier but not without trailing in the second half against the mediocre Musketeers.

...

Collectively, the run of results illustrates a lack of dominance among the supposed top teams in the sport and opens the door for recently downtrodden brands such as Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina to reclaim their place atop the college basketball hierarchy."


Curious logic, it strikes me. Rather than lauded as an exception to the "chaos", UConn is lumped with the losers, all part of a discredited Top Five. Oh, well, maybe if we beat Georgetown.

Don't they know we covered? That means we exceeded expectations

Journalists usually don't know what they're paid to know

 

[Platt81]

UConn, UNC, and Kentucky were the only three top 10 teams to win in the last two days AND cover the spread. To call the win last night “mayhem” when covering the spread on the road with no Clingan and Karaban out for a decent stretch in second half with the bleeding is poor reporting.

 

[huskiesouth]

Assessing the "chaos" this week among college basketball's Top Five, CBS Sports has this curiously dismissive comment as to how it reflects on UConn:

"UConn survived the mayhem with an 80-75 win at Xavier but not without trailing in the second half against the mediocre Musketeers.

...

Collectively, the run of results illustrates a lack of dominance among the supposed top teams in the sport and opens the door for recently downtrodden brands such as Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina to reclaim their place atop the college basketball hierarchy."


Curious logic, it strikes me. Rather than lauded as an exception to the "chaos", UConn is lumped with the losers, all part of a discredited Top Five. Oh, well, maybe if we beat Georgetown.

Well thank goodness there's an opportunity for Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky to save college basketball from the mediocrity of UConn, the defending, 5-time NCAA champions, as the big 3 reclaim their rightful place (apparently earned or not).

 

[jibsey]

Assessing the "chaos" this week among college basketball's Top Five, CBS Sports has this curiously dismissive comment as to how it reflects on UConn:

"UConn survived the mayhem with an 80-75 win at Xavier but not without trailing in the second half against the mediocre Musketeers.

...

Collectively, the run of results illustrates a lack of dominance among the supposed top teams in the sport and opens the door for recently downtrodden brands such as Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina to reclaim their place atop the college basketball hierarchy."


Curious logic, it strikes me. Rather than lauded as an exception to the "chaos", UConn is lumped with the losers, all part of a discredited Top Five. Oh, well, maybe if we beat Georgetown.

No mention of no Clingan? How the hell can they assess our potential dominance without one of the best bigs in America? These people get paid for this crap.

 

[Tenspro2002]

They're a top-50 team, not "mediocre." We were also playing on the road. This take is just silly.

Exactly.

It's a Quad 1 win, but they have to denigrate it somehow, including a take as flimsy as "well, they were losing by 1 at one point.)

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

On another note: Rothstein who works for CBSSN basically said UConn is the best team in the country when healthy. Couldn’t really care less what his colleagues think.

I'm glad that somebody besides me saw Rothstein in the quartet of talking heads after Butler beat Marquette on the road...not long after UConn beat Butler on the road.

The worst they can say is that UConn had its crummy loss against an unranked team before the others did this week...but then Seton Hall beat (then-ranked) Providence and (fading ranked) Marquette...which must somehow mean that now none of the teams in the Big East are all that good, right?

It's as though we just need to win one game at a time.

 

[nyhuskies13]

If Duke was sitting at #4 in the country this week, there would be ZERO debate over whether they were #1 next week. And certainly no discussion over resume

Hope someone is sending this to Hurley. The disrespect of keeping a team #1 after losing is off the charts. Has it ever happened in the history of the poll??

 

[JMick]

Also, remember that Cam was damn close to finishing off the Kansas game in a wheelchair, yet still almost drained a gamewinning 3 at the Phog.

We win that game comfortably if Spencer doesn't get hurt.

 

[JMick]

If Duke was sitting at #4 in the country this week, there would be ZERO debate over whether they were #1 next week. And certainly no discussion over resume

Hope someone is sending this to Hurley. The disrespect of keeping a team #1 after losing is off the charts. Has it ever happened in the history of the poll??

Hurley is probably begging to be #2 so he can use it as motivation

 

[CL82]

Assessing the "chaos" this week among college basketball's Top Five, CBS Sports has this curiously dismissive comment as to how it reflects on UConn:

"UConn survived the mayhem with an 80-75 win at Xavier but not without trailing in the second half against the mediocre Musketeers.

...

Collectively, the run of results illustrates a lack of dominance among the supposed top teams in the sport and opens the door for recently downtrodden brands such as Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina to reclaim their place atop the college basketball hierarchy."


Curious logic, it strikes me. Rather than lauded as an exception to the "chaos", UConn is lumped with the losers, all part of a discredited Top Five. Oh, well, maybe if we beat Georgetown.

Lol. I mean, I guess they're right in that without our 7 foot two inch future NBA center, With an injured Karaban and a team fighting off the flu we are no longer beating teams by double digits. On the other hand, we are still winning both home and away while the team is fighting a lot of handicaps.

Here's the thing though eventually Clingan is coming back, Karaban will be fully healed, and the team will be free of the effects of the flu. When that happens, the rest of college basketball should be very worried.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Don't they know we covered? That means we exceeded expectations

Journalists usually don't know what they're paid to know

UConn, UNC, and Kentucky were the only three top 10 teams to win in the last two days AND cover the spread. To call the win last night “mayhem” when covering the spread on the road with no Clingan and Karaban out for a decent stretch in second half with the bleeding is poor reporting.

Calling the people currently paid to generate articles "journalists" and the work they perform "reporting" is a big stretch.

 

[Pmac923]

Who cares what they think? Let’s hang another banner.

 

[tzznandrew]

Well thank goodness there's an opportunity for Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky to save college basketball from the mediocrity of UConn, the defending, 5-time NCAA champions, as the big 3 reclaim their rightful place (apparently earned or not).

Not to mention that also ranked up near the top and above those three schools (for the time being) is historic schlub Kansas.

 

[Huskygrad88]

Gary Parish (also CBS Sports) is just out with his Top 25 +1 update. UConn jumps three places from #5 to #2. Parish makes a long defense of his selection of Purdue over UConn. Apparently feels it needs an explanation.

The new NET rankings have UConn #8 with a 5-2 record against Quad 1 and 7-2 vs Quad 1 & 2. Only Purdue beats that record. Alabama ranks #5 with a 1-5 Quad 1 record. Somewhere in the heavenly ether floats a rationale for such arithmetic.

Parish rally does a good job explaining Purdue over us, and based on stats he’s right on. We can counter with some maybes and coulda, mighta, but they have better Q 1 and 2, 5 wins against top 20 NET, and beat us on most computer metrics.

I’ll take #2 in college hoops in the oh so critical CBSSports line poll right now knowing we’ve still got significant upside.

 

[50cPitchers]

Thank you lame stream media. Please continue to keep the public away from our championship odds so I can continue to hammer them

 

[tzznandrew]

Parish rally does a good job explaining Purdue over us, and based on stats he’s right on. We can counter with some maybes and coulda, mighta, but they have better Q 1 and 2, 5 wins against top 20 NET, and beat us on most computer metrics.

I’ll take #2 in college hoops in the oh so critical CBSSports line poll right now knowing we’ve still got significant upside.

His final point ("I still believe if you put both resumes in front of the NCAA Tournament selection committee right now, they'd give Purdue the overall No. 1 seed") is 100% correct.

That doesn't mean that Purdue will stay #1 after getting walloped by a decent Nebraska team. But I don't think they fall farther than #2 if they do, and they'll have a number #1 votes as well.