Hopefully these 3 turn out as good as Castle and McNeely did. Hazelton didn't turn out so good. Calhoun had a few highly rated busts, among them were Hazelton, Justin Brown, Marcus Johnson, Darius Smith, and Jonathan Mandeldove. I have no reason to believe any of these 3 will be busts, but not every guy who is a McD's All American ends up a top 10 pick.

The teams both shot 26-55 (47.3%) and UConn was +7 on the boards (including an impressive 11 rebounds by Ball, and 5 by Diarra, so guards getting their board work done). So you have to look at -7 on FTs as the reason why UConn lost. Allowing for the "usual home whistle", I was curious to see whether -7 was normal for the road team in a power conference road game, so I looked at FT disparities in other power conference matchups yesterday.

Houston at Kansas- Houston was -5, but overcame that to win in 2OT.

Tennessee at Auburn- Tennessee, a team known for its rebounding prowess, was -3 but lost the game by 2.

Duke at Wake Forest- Duke was -6, but won by 7, primarily due to crushing Wake on the boards by 17.

LSU at Alabama- LSU was -5, and lost by 7 after shooting 3-23 on 3s.

Kentucky at Vanderbilt- Kentucky was actually +2- first game with no home whistle- but lost the game by 5, this despite also outrebounding Vandy by 13. UK allowed 12 3s.

Georgetown at Providence- Georgetown -7, same as UConn at Xavier, and lost the game by 10, this despite slightly outshooting Providence.

The biggest FT disparity last night:

Ole Miss at Missouri- Ole Miss -21, and lost the game by 8 despite shooting 48.3%. Unfortunately Ole Miss also got outrebounded by 11, and double digit poundings at the FT line and on the boards just too much to overcome.

Rickie P: St John is Where It Needs To Be
Best start in 39 years- a long time and I remember that team 39 years ago, which was an awesome team.

the Blades said:

Two words for that old fraud's team: Zone defense = Kryptonite ( are you watching Dan ?)

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You really think the other Big East coaches never heard of zone defense? If it was that simple St. John's would not be 17-3 and 8-1 and in 1st place in the Big East with a team shooting 29% and change from 3. It's somewhat remarkable in my opinion.

After watching St. John's win last night shooting 1-12 on 3s and still rallying from 16 points down against a very good Xavier team, I think Rickie Pitino might be the best coach in the country. His team is shooting under 30% on 3s, for the season, yet they are in 1st place in the Big East. This is revolutionary in today's college basketball.

the Blades said:

hmmm...."As written in Belichick’s term sheet proposal, the former New England Patriots head coach would owe a buyout of $10 million if he left the program before June 1, 2025. That figure drops down to just $1 million after June 1. Of course, that’s if the buyout clause is enforceable."

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Yeah this doesn't mean anything, he's happy at UNC.

Stephen A passionate defense of Hurley!
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Just win baby!

the Blades said:

Former Husky OL Steve Cully with LB Julius Williams call out Zanetto, LOL !
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UConn Podcast Wars! Gotta love it, LOL.

I am hoping I can get tickets to this game. It's a well deserved honor for Ben Gordon.

I believe I attended all the home games in the 2003-2004 season except for a shocking loss to Providence. I have a vivid memory of Gordon dropping 39 points on Nevada early in the season in a game that was part of the preseason NIT. I was at that game and Gordon was incredible. He started out that season on fire. Then he went into a significant slump during midseason, shooting very erratically. Gordon's shooting woes coincided with the home loss to PC which I didn't see.

Then the postseason came and Gordon was a completely different player. The postseason in 2004 was his best ball as a UConn player. He took it to another level, as great players do. He was MVP of the Big East Tournament, and was huge in the NCAA tournament. Although Emeka Okafor was Final 4 MOP, he had huge help from Gordon and Rashad Anderson draining 3s from all over the Court. It was a great team- probably UConn's most explosive champion until last year's team. But maybe a bit deeper than last year's team.

Gordon was in some ways similar to Kemba Walker as a postseason hero, although I would say he was a much better shooter than Kemba. Whereas Kemba had a more explosive first step and was the better driver. But they both got the job done in a big way for UConn in the big games and the postseason.

No equal say, their shares get prorated based on what they bring in. If they want to try to develop football programs they are free to do so but it's all based on what they bring in and no football is allowed in unless it's certified as FBS D-1 calibre.

I think the idea is worthy of discussion based on such a model. It would enhance the basketball side and would benefit UConn if it's allowed in as a full 2 sport member of the merged conference. You could call it the Big East Coast Conference or BECC.

I think the merger works on the basis of Yormark's theory that basketball is being undervalued. So give it the valuation it warrants based on the revenue achieved.

Coach K: Big East and ACC should merge

UConn played OK this game but there was a problem with all the PGs- Diarra, Mahaney and Nowell- way too much dribbling. I expected this game to actually be more difficult than it was because Cooleyball has traditionally thwarted UConn from executing. But I noticed that there were some shot clock violations and last second jacks and just way too much dribbling from the guards. I liked how Solo Ball played as he was actively crashing the boards. UConn still needs more from the Stewart/Ross tandem at the 3 but every game you see flashes and both guys are contributing on the defensive end. Overall I will call it a solid win. But the guard play needs to be better.

It looks like Pryce Yates may need to hop in the portal again!