Save for the Auburn game, isn't that basically the level they have played at since finals break? I mean, they were underdogs in four of those games and lost four of those games. If we're not going to acknowledge that they played well at times against Arizona and Wichita, then I don't think it's fair to hold it over their head that they played poorly against ECU. As for Auburn, flying across the country on 36 hours rest to play a fired up team was always going to be a disaster for this group. It doesn't excuse the embarrassing performance, but it also doesn't surprise me.
All that in mind, I do think that they have under-achieved. I just think, at this point, that they under-achieved far more last season. This roster makes last years team look like the '09 squad.
You could argue they've played this way all season with the exception of the BU and Oregon games. Then 35 minutes v. Arizona, 20 minutes v. MSU, 35 minutes v. WSU you get the idea. The point being they are getting beat or playing down to opponents with similar or significantly less talent or getting just outright getting embarrassed by teams that are better to the point that Central looks more respectable these days. It happened last year, it happened in 2015-16 for the entirety of the regular season, it happened in 2014-15 as well. The difference was there were talented enough players around (Boatright, Hamilton, Miller, Gibbs, Jalen) that made it work to a degree. Two of those players didn't even develop in this program.
Wagner, Yale (only scored 44 pts v. an Ivy League school), Northeastern, ECU, @Tulsa x4, @Houston x3. never competing at Moody, not beating a ranked opponent since 2/18/2016 (FYI - it's 2018), 1-10 vs. top 25 last two seasons & 1-10 v. Power 5/Big East in that time span as well.
We have been witnessing bad basketball not up to the standards of the program and $3.5 MM a year contract (top 10 in all of college basketball) for 3.5 seasons with the exception of March 2016. His success at UConn fan be found for the entirety of 2012-13 season, March/April 2014, and March 2016.
However you want to slice it up, it's been bad and it's been bad for a while and we all gave a pass because he coached well in 2012-13 then was at the helm during a Natty run plus him being an alumnus of the university and the program. He deserved that pass since not many have accomplished what he has, but the Natty get out of jail free card has expired. It's a real shame, I wanted it to work with him long term.
