UConn Coppin State thoughts

[Huskyforlife]

Tbh I think it's just vital we get a P5 H/H series set up with someone interesting moving forward. You also gotta hope some of these teams finish higher in Kenpom than they are right now.

 

[Umami Zen]

Atlantis is when the season starts. Getting the rust off right now with AA and introducing our underclassmen to CBB is a priority.

Need to get ready for the big boys in the BE.

 

[bendm]

Need to get ready for the big boys in the BE.

IMO only 3 BE teams at most are gonna be ranked at any given time this year, including us. No cupcakes obvi but Nova might be the only real big boy.

Anyways, I’ll just agree to disagree on this point until it happens again next season

 

[BlueMAB]

first two games of 2003-04:

Team Nike
Beltway Ballers

 

[HooperScooper]

first two games of 2003-04:

Team Nike
Beltway Ballers

Exhibition games don't count.

 

[Ts5034]

We have the sixth most chips of any program we can have a little bit of an ego.

No one wants to watch half a dozen blowouts against schools they can’t find on a map. Hadn’t even heard of umes until this year.

Good teams blowout Inferior competition. That was something we did not really do under the last regime. Remember losing to Wagner and Northeastern back to back in Gampel? Or losing to Yale? Remember needing OT to beat Columbia? When that was going on, I missed the days where we would destroy teams like that by 40-50 points. Im OK with blowing out CCSU by 50 and Coppin St by 40 because honestly, thats what we should be doing.

 

[BlueMAB]

Exhibition games don't count.

They sold tickets and kept score. They counted in that regard. (Fans paid to go watch the team play. They were opportunities to try things and get young guys minutes.

We’ve made a business decision. Cupcakes over exhibitions.

 

[tzznandrew]

No one really cares if we take care of business when it matters. You won’t care in 2 months. I promise

We will when our SOS is significantly worse than it had to be and it affects our NCAA seed line.

 

[tzznandrew]

They sold tickets and kept score. They counted in that regard. (Fans paid to go watch the team play. They were opportunities to try things and get young guys minutes.

We’ve made a business decision. Cupcakes over exhibitions.

You're conflating a few of the objections here.

The home slate this year absolutely sucks, and replacing Coppin State with Howard doesn't make the home slate better for fans.

But replacing Coppin State with their MEAC counterpart Howard is potentially playing a school ranked over 100 slots better, which would really help our SOS.

Aside from the fact that those two games you noted didn't factor into the season tickets (so really didn't hurt the home slate for fans), they also didn't affect our SOS and so had no bearing on our seed line.

Atlantis, St. Bonaventure, and West Virginia are very good OOC games. It's a "Screw you" to fans that none are at home, but fine. But also, you don't need to replace UMES with Duke or Kansas (probably a bad idea to do that entirely). You do want to build a schedule that avoids this many of the worst 10-25 teams though. Unless these schools are better than we thought, it's going to bite us Selection Sunday.

 

[jibsey]

We’re trying to compete with Nova at the top of our league, look at their OOC.

 

[Kitaman]

Are people complaining about the non-conference schedule overall or just the home non-conference games.

Its the home crowd, Man! Use them properly. Just give us at least one top team at home.

Don't waste our Gampel advantage on all cupcakes.

 

[BlueMAB]

You're conflating a few of the objections here.

The home slate this year absolutely sucks, and replacing Coppin State with Howard doesn't make the home slate better for fans.

But replacing Coppin State with their MEAC counterpart Howard is potentially playing a school ranked over 100 slots better, which would really help our SOS.

Aside from the fact that those two games you noted didn't factor into the season tickets (so really didn't hurt the home slate for fans), they also didn't affect our SOS and so had no bearing on our seed line.

Atlantis, St. Bonaventure, and West Virginia are very good OOC games. It's a "Screw you" to fans that none are at home, but fine. But also, you don't need to replace UMES with Duke or Kansas (probably a bad idea to do that entirely). You do want to build a schedule that avoids this many of the worst 10-25 teams though. Unless these schools are better than we thought, it's going to bite us Selection Sunday.

If only we had a coach who knew what he was doing.

 

[tzznandrew]

If only we had a coach who knew what he was doing.

Is your position that Hurley—and by extension the schedule—cannot be criticized? I didn't think that was the case when Calhoun was coach, though I felt he had earned some deference due to his schedule building earning 1 seeds and him winning title and all. Coaches grow and learn. Sometimes they make mistakes. This many cupcakes that are this bad are a mistake on two fronts.

 

[MTBingNinja]

Win the Atlantis Tournament and all this worry about the cupcake schedule goes to rest. Let the team jell and figure out rotations during this early schedule period

 

[Sphinx]

If we lose a squeaker to Auburn on the 24th, we'll be asking ourselves if a little stronger schedule might have better prepared us for Atlantis. Playing a string of marshmallows is certain to foster careless habits and false assumptions as to what works and what doesn't. There's an awakening ahead. By contrast, Auburn will come into Atlantis off a true road game at South Florida. MSU will have played Kansas. Yes, we do have a number of solid opponents pre-conference, but are we prepared to play them?

 

[tzznandrew]

Win the Atlantis Tournament and all this worry about the cupcake schedule goes to rest. Let the team jell and figure out rotations during this early schedule period

Even if we do, having that many sub-300 teams may cost us a seed-line.

 

[Ts5034]

If we lose a squeaker to Auburn on the 24th, we'll be asking ourselves if a little stronger schedule might have better prepared us for Atlantis. Playing a string of marshmallows is certain to foster careless habits and false assumptions as to what works and what doesn't. There's an awakening ahead. By contrast, Auburn will come into Atlantis off a true road game at South Florida. MSU will have played Kansas. Yes, we do have a number of solid opponents pre-conference, but are we prepared to play them?

I see your point, but maybe we tried getting a couple more tough OOC games on the schedule and it just didnt work out? I highly doubt the athletic department and coaching staff were saying “lets not play a marquee OOC game at home this year”. Even though I think It’s wrong that we don’t have a good OOC game in Hartford or Gampel, I don’t think it was intentional.

The season started on Nov 9th. Atlantis starts on the 24th. Our last game before Atlantis is Saturday the 20th. That left only an 11 or 12 day window to play a higher level team before Atlantis.

 

[NJHoops]

If it matters to anyone, the schedule this year is not reflective of their scheduling philosophy. It’s missing the home and home they wanted, and you can certainly criticize the way it turned out, and the possible ramifications, if that helps. The three games in Atlantis should be solid (despite VCU’s injuries and Bobby needing to get it together out there), and Bona and WVU are strong. With the way they practice, I’m not concerned about bad habits being reinforced against lesser opponents.

 

[MTBingNinja]

I mentioned in another thread, wanted to repost here….Can’t imagine what Hawkins will bring to the table. I like how deep the team is. If the chemistry and productive balance runs through when substitutions come in, then that’ll be unbelievable. We’ll have to see who wants the ball and who will step up when the game is on the line.

 

[Chin Diesel]

If we lose a squeaker to Auburn on the 24th, we'll be asking ourselves if a little stronger schedule might have better prepared us for Atlantis. Playing a string of marshmallows is certain to foster careless habits and false assumptions as to what works and what doesn't. There's an awakening ahead. By contrast, Auburn will come into Atlantis off a true road game at South Florida. MSU will have played Kansas. Yes, we do have a number of solid opponents pre-conference, but are we prepared to play them?

You can pull me out of the "we'll be asking ourselves" group.

If this team loses any squeaker in Atlantis I will not be thinking a tougher first or second game will have gotten the team over the hump. Nope.

 

[Umami Zen]

IMO only 3 BE teams at most are gonna be ranked at any given time this year, including us. No cupcakes obvi but Nova might be the only real big boy.

Anyways, I’ll just agree to disagree on this point until it happens again next season

I probably should have been more precise in my use of the term. Bigger players/more skilled players in the BE.

I'm more optimistic about BE placing teams in this year's Tournament.. Time will tell

 

[Tenspro2002]

Leave it to the Boneyard to be upset about nonsense after a win. Our schedule is our schedule, it’s not like this every year. Should have complained more when we were back in the AAC. This year actually favors the team since we are young and inexperienced in live action.

Can we please retire the "this team is young" charade?

We have 5 guys who are already 22 years old, including 3 5th-year seniors.

 

[HooperScooper]

If only we had a coach who knew what he was doing.

Does the coach make the schedule? I always wonder how the schedule is constructed. I have to imagine Hurley has some say in that but I don't think he's responsible for making the schedule.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Good teams blowout Inferior competition. That was something we did not really do under the last regime. Remember losing to Wagner and Northeastern back to back in Gampel? Or losing to Yale? Remember needing OT to beat Columbia? When that was going on, I missed the days where we would destroy teams like that by 40-50 points. Im OK with blowing out CCSU by 50 and Coppin St by 40 because honestly, thats what we should be doing.

The results against the teams on the schedule are fine.

The complaint is that the schedule should have been better.

 

[husky429]

If it matters to anyone, the schedule this year is not reflective of their scheduling philosophy. It’s missing the home and home they wanted, and you can certainly criticize the way it turned out, and the possible ramifications, if that helps. The three games in Atlantis should be solid (despite VCU’s injuries and Bobby needing to get it together out there), and Bona and WVU are strong. With the way they practice, I’m not concerned about bad habits being reinforced against lesser opponents.

I think it's more of an AD issue than a coaching one, no? I don't actually know who does the scheduling at this level.