What was this team’s ceiling (if...)?

[UKemba15]

This is all hypothetical but there’s no tournament to distract me and I’m curious to hear what people think...

If this was a normal season from day one and we didn’t suffer any key injuries, what would have been this team’s ceiling?

Let’s assume last year’s AAC Tournament was still canceled (so same amount of tourney experience as coming into this year), but then everything from that point on was business as usual. Normal offseason. Travel and play abroad in August. Original Legends Classic tourney format. Stronger OOC schedule and full Big East slate. Bouknight and Jackson both healthy throughout.

Are they top 10? 20? Title contenders? Obviously lots to assume, but thought it’d make for a fun thought experiment. What do you folks think?

 

[businesslawyer]

Do I assume no injuries after last season ended (meaning Polley and Akok were question marks), or no injuries after those?

If no injuries after Akok and Polley, 2d place in the Big East and into the second weekend. We weren’t far from that with everything that went wrong. That having been said, the team did have tons of weaknesses and Bouknight, even without injuries, wasn’t Kemba.

If Akok and Polley never got hurt last season, and were working on their games last summer and had no lingering physical or mental issues, we have no idea how chemistry would or would not have come together, and the fight for playing time would have been intense, but the raw talent was there for a Big East championship and at least a trip to the Elite 8.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

This is all hypothetical but there’s no tournament to distract me and I’m curious to hear what people think...

If this was a normal season from day one and we didn’t suffer any key injuries, what would have been this team’s ceiling?

Let’s assume last year’s AAC Tournament was still canceled (so same amount of tourney experience as coming into this year), but then everything from that point on was business as usual. Normal offseason. Travel and play abroad in August. Original Legends Classic tourney format. Stronger OOC schedule and full Big East slate. Bouknight and Jackson both healthy throughout.

Are they top 10? 20? Title contenders? Obviously lots to assume, but thought it’d make for a fun thought experiment. What do you folks think?

looking around the nation at teams on the tube by december, i felt we could be a top ten team, with an eye towards our upcoming game against sc and my view that mobley is the best player this year -how will james perform against him?
by january, i was full on my 'big 10 blows, forget them' stuff and i said so here, ad nauseum.
by february, i ramped up 'the year of el-stinko cbb' shtick, cuz to me it was sooo obvious. we were now a few months into stop/start, big injuries, and overall weirdness, but i liked our chances if we were healthy, and it really felt like 'they' weren't unbeatable. we got healthy, sort of, and jalen and adama were starting to move to the beat, while rj settled in, and ajax brought dynamism.
we rolled down the stretch as we wrecked some teams on the road.
on plan, but...
james was still finding his rhythm, and rj was bleeding from his head as we bowed out to creighton, a fine team, in my favorite game of the campaign.
unfortunately tho, right back into the soup of will he/won't he play, protocols, and distractions as we were preparing for our first bid in many years.
we get maryland to start. i say we'll shredd them, forget the bs hype aboot all of them except for ayala.
then we beat ourselves- 30% on fgs, 40% on fts, ayala steps up. whoo boy.
i am proud that they never quit, and hustled to make something, anything happen. we won the 2nd half, but fell short by a handful. stuff happens.
big ten just aboot vanquished, 'upsets' all over the place, a missed opportunity for us, but im not upset as we've had championships in the past with some good breaks. season's over, mostly a success but for missed opportunity, and at full strength i still think we are/were a 2/3/4 seed squad. doesn't really matter tho, as every team goes home empty, but for one. winning isn't everything, it's the only thing. fun season, excited for next year.

 

[Kemba'sYogurt]

We had some really brilliant stretches of basketball this year where we looked like a legit top 15 team. The second Georgetown game, DePaul in the BET, and probably some others that I’m forgetting.

We obviously didn’t play like that all the time, but I think If we had a completely healthy roster in a normal year we probably would’ve been a lot more consistent and made a run to a high seed in the tournament.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

We had the talent as is to win 2 games.

 

[I Bleed Blue]

If this team (and coaching staff) performed up to its potential I think it was easily a second weekend team. So Sweet 16, possibly even Elite 8. If Bouk really had the magic Final 4. It’s fun to dream.

 

[navery12]

I don't think the ceiling really changes, I'd still say it was a poorly constructed roster that could get hot and make the 2nd weekend or lose round 1. More than likely they make the round of 32 though by ending up as a 5 seed

 

[McLovin]

We saw the ceiling. But maybe a higher seed with a healthier team in the regular season.

Without a few reliable 3 point shooting threats, we have the "talent" to make it to March Madness, but not to do any damage. I didn't feel this way 3 weeks ago, but after watching every team who has advanced shoot the lights out from 3 (except maybe Florida St, but they have NBA size) we need shooters or we won't be able to go deep in March. The game has changed so much since we won our last championship.

I still believe that defense still wins championships, but we need to be able to score 70 a game to complement our athletic & defensive abilities. Also, sometimes the best defense is a good offense. The team that scores the most points usually wins...

 

[Palatine]

What if Kansas City had everyone healthy for the Super Bowl?

 

[bendm]

yeah the key injuries that really set us back happened last year to akok and polley, not this year. even with bouk for an extra 8 games maybe we finish second in the BE, win the BET, and get a 5 seed, but who's to say oregon state doesnt light us up in the first round anyways.

 

[CL82]

If no injuries after Akok and Polley,

... and Jackson...

 

[freescooter]

... and Jackson...

Seriously? Jackson may be good eventually but right now he is Sid Wilson without a shot.

Reality is you play with the players you have. We were a good, not great team. Our guards weren’t that good ( obviously not including Bouknight). We lacked another consistent scorer. Sonogo had a huge huge upside but played like a freshman big sometimes. We were a tournament team but not one who had much chance of going very far. I thought we would win a game. Anything else would be cause for celebration. So I’d say we slightly under performed. Remember, if you are at the bottom of the Top 25, that means you are expected to go out in the round of 32. I thought we were borderline top 25...maybe 24-30.

 

[CL82]

Seriously? Jackson may be good eventually but right now he is Sid Wilson without a shot.

Seriously. Jackson was an athletic freshman who lost time to injury. I think that he'll make a big jump next year.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

What if Kansas City had everyone healthy for the Super Bowl?

We might have had an entirely different hanging sentence, more unified mojo, Sweet 16, from a 4 or 5 slot.

Even with well-discussed imperfections, the team (especially under the terms of OP's ask) had the versatility to win games a number of ways. In most losses, as noted elsewhere, the team played the other team's game. Or, as some would say, Danny got out coached.

The shortened season didn't allow enough games to work though the fumbled closeouts against Creighton or St John's small ball, and resulted in the third Creighton game's relapse to 2020 excruciation, with Cole going down to a bloody concussion, on a dreadful shot that should have been an assist out from the lane, and FTs thereafter to ice the game, and solidify momentum for the BET.

 

[jibsey]

Seriously. Jackson was an athletic freshman who lost time to injury. I think that he'll make a big jump next year.

The biggest jump he needs to make is a jump shot.

 

[UKemba15]

We might have had an entirely different hanging sentence, more unified mojo, Sweet 16, from a 4 or 5 slot.

Even with well-discussed imperfections, the team (especially under the terms of OP's ask) had the versatility to win games a number of ways. In most losses, as noted elsewhere, the team played the other team's game. Or, as some would say, Danny got out coached.

The shortened season didn't allow enough games to work though the fumbled closeouts against Creighton or St John's small ball, and resulted in the third Creighton game's relapse to 2020 excruciation, with Cole going down to a bloody concussion, on a dreadful shot that should have been an assist out from the lane, and FTs thereafter to ice the game, and solidify momentum for the BET.

Just because it’s you, Hans, I have to point out the irony in beginning such a long sentence with the words “the shortened.” ? (Just giving you a hard time ?)

 

[WeAreUCONN]

What if Kansas City had everyone healthy for the Super Bowl?

Tom Brady would still Win. He’s the GOAT.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

We saw the ceiling. But maybe a higher seed with a healthier team in the regular season.

Without a few reliable 3 point shooting threats, we have the "talent" to make it to March Madness, but not to do any damage. I didn't feel this way 3 weeks ago, but after watching every team who has advanced shoot the lights out from 3 (except maybe Florida St, but they have NBA size) we need shooters or we won't be able to go deep in March. The game has changed so much since we won our last championship.

I still believe that defense still wins championships, but we need to be able to score 70 a game to complement our athletic & defensive abilities. Also, sometimes the best defense is a good offense. The team that scores the most points usually wins...

Good 3 point shooters take good 3 point shots. We do not.

 

[metsfan2323]

What if Kansas City had everyone healthy for the Super Bowl?

Losing their starting Tackle had a huge impact on the game. Injuries matter. Anyone denying it is just shading Hurley. Bouknight was a shell of himself in March, we didn't have the guard depth to deal with that.

What were UCONN's key injuries in 1999, 2004, 2011, 2014?

 

[Ts5034]

We might have had an entirely different hanging sentence, more unified mojo, Sweet 16, from a 4 or 5 slot.

Even with well-discussed imperfections, the team (especially under the terms of OP's ask) had the versatility to win games a number of ways. In most losses, as noted elsewhere, the team played the other team's game. Or, as some would say, Danny got out coached.

The shortened season didn't allow enough games to work though the fumbled closeouts against Creighton or St John's small ball, and resulted in the third Creighton game's relapse to 2020 excruciation, with Cole going down to a bloody concussion, on a dreadful shot that should have been an assist out from the lane, and FTs thereafter to ice the game, and solidify momentum for the BET.

Even though we won win 2014 as a 7 seed, and this year being a high number of double digit seeds making the Sweet 16 like Syracuse making it again as an 11 seed, It’s still a lot harder path to the Final Four. I would like to see us improve in the regular season. That’s where it starts. If Bouk and Jackson never got hurt, maybe we are a 5 seed?

 

[SubbaBub]

The Maryland game was the flip side of 2014 vs St Joe's. We could have easily won or lost either. In 2014 we won, beat #2 Nova and ran train over the rest of the field.

We would have beat MD if any of the starters had a plus game for them and I would have liked our chances against Bama. Can't predict any further, but certainly wouldn't be afraid of UCLA either.