Pre-season top 25 lists / previews

[the Blades]

FWIW:

 

[the Blades]

#15.......

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

I saw another preseason poll which had UConn at #12. There is no doubt that UConn has a talented and deep team and they look better than last year on paper. They are a little young and inside scoring and rebounding are question marks but there appear to be possible answers. I really like the team. I always like the team but I have a better feeling about this team than I did going into 2010-11. After 2009-2010 a lot of people didn't think UConn would be that good and that team was just as young and they won it all.

All the preseason magazines are saying that Duke is loaded and a lock to win it all but we heard that with Kentucky 2 years ago. Young talent can be hard to rely on deep into an NCAA tournament. I think Duke will probably be number 1 all year and carry a heavy mantle of pressure into the NCAA tourney like UK did 2 years ago.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Here is the UConn preview from SB Nation, which pegs UConn #19 in the nation and offers a fairly in depth analysis:

http://www.sbnation.com/2016/9/23/12973584/uconn-basketball-preview-roster-kevin-ollie-jalen-adams

 

[the Blades]

Here's some more pre-season filler reading from NBC sports, their writer has Cincy as the #1 team, FWIW :

American Athletic Conference Preview: Cincinnati, UConn and SMU battle for the crown

 

[the Blades]

And here's another one from Fanside:
AAC Basketball: The conference runs through UConn and Cincinnati

They list Cincy, Uconn and Houston....1,2,3.....
This writer also has Jalen as a pre-season first team AAC and lists him as the number one breakout player in the country in his list of 20 players:
http://bustingbrackets.com/2016/09/21/ncaa-basketball-20-breakout-candidates-2016-17/21/

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Cincy is very good and last year they were a better rebounding team than UConn and more physical inside and that is why they very nearly beat UConn 3 times, in fact they had UConn beat 3 times until Jalen Adams hit that amazing shot in the AAC tourney.

UConn looks like it might have a little more firepower this year and I note that Cincy had severe problems stopping Jalen Adams' penetration in one of the games last year. But the games between the teams should be like they have been the past few years, highly competitive games decided by big plays in the final minutes.

I am a bit surprised that Cincy has not done better in the NCAA tournament but it was mainly because they were not so good offensively, and this year they look better offensively than they were the last few years.

 

[the Blades]

Here's another one from that fossil ESPN likes to roll out to advertise Duke and Coach K:

Duke Vitale's top 40

 

[the Blades]

Plenty covered and overall a very good job on the write-up ( could be a few tweaks)... if not the ranking but pre-season's are FWIW anyway:
Terker's Top 25: #24 UConn

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

So Blades you agree that Enoch will start at power forward as projected in that preview? I see him getting a lot of time at 4-5 regardless.

That preview is correct that UConn has been very inconsistent for two straight regular seasons and it's not really clear why they were so inconsistent against a not so difficult schedule. They have to lay some waste to the AAC this year and really should not lose more than 3 league games.

 

[the Blades]

Nobody knows how Enoch will be used ( like I said about the writter "few tweaks") except KO , but KO did put Enoch and Brimah together in that glorified
scrimmage the other night( which might mean squat).... but starting is over-rated... Min per game...( who can stay out of foul trouble) is more important

 

[the Blades]

A little more added to this story regarding pre-season rankings and how the team and some of the players are developing:

* "We're not at that level yet," Ollie said after practice. "Hopefully, we can continue to work. I want to be the best chemistry team we can be, I want to be No. 1 in the poll in that. That's where I want to be. Sixteen is great, but it really doesn't mean anything yet.
* Ollie went over for a lengthy one-on-one talk with freshman point guard Alterique Glbert, who has been fighting a stomach virus and turning over the ball too frequently.
* Sophomore Jalen Adams, who made the Bob Cousy Award watch list for point guards, has been practicing, but is still slowed by a thigh bruise.
* Ollie had praise for senior Kentan Facey and sophomore Steven Enoch, who has an improved grasp of the system.


Full read - UConn Men Ranked 16th In USA Today Poll, But Ollie Pushing Them Hard

 

[Ozzie3178]

I will be surprised if Enoch started. Not to say he hasn't improved but as Bladws said what matters more who finishes and plays more!!

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

There are limitless possibilities of starting lineups for this team. It reminds me that back in 2013-14 championship season, Kevin Ollie decided to start Lasan Kromah for a large chunk of that season after Kromah had a few good early season games where he was a real ballhawk on defense. This was despite Giffey shooting over 50% on 3s for most of the season, and I think he finished hitting around 48% or so. Ollie then inserted Giffey in the starting lineup starting in the AAC tournament and the team was clearly better with him in the starting lineup, due to his 3 point shooting and exceptional abilities as an off the ball defender. As I recall one of the assistant coaches urged the change, I can't recall which one.

With the current team there could be starting lineup controversies that develop during the year at as many as 3 different positions, and this will be because a lot of guys will be getting a lot of minutes.

 

[the Blades]

There are limitless possibilities of starting lineups for this team. It reminds me that back in 2013-14 championship season, Kevin Ollie decided to start Lasan Kromah for a large chunk of that season after Kromah had a few good early season games where he was a real ballhawk on defense.

True about the 2013-14 team and the even more dramatic change was with Omar Calhoun, who started 11 games early in the season. Once KO finally stopped trying to fit a square peg into a round hole with Omar who was stinking up the joint and killing the team with his putrid shooting and weak D, they took off in the NCAA's. Omar didn't get off the bench in the NCAA's(except for 4 minutes total), while Giffey started and Kromah was a key sub, defender and sealed the NC with his FT's.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

That's very true, but it's too bad about what happened to Omar. The hip injuries and surgeries basically wrecked him as far as being an effective basketball player on this level. He didn't ask to have those injuries and I feel he was quite a bit a better player than what he showed at UConn. Same thing with Sam Cassell Jr., it's true he was not a good athlete to begin with, but injuries killed his effectiveness too. Healthy is not something the coaches can really teach. Injuries happen but hopefully our team this year stays healthy.

 

[the Blades]

Correct, I think Omar should've taken an injury red-shirt year to recover once they brought in Kromah as a grad transfer. But I'm glad Uconn has moved on from Omar and hoping we'll see an upgrade in his slot with the options at the wing this year. Omar was never really big enough ( at the 3) where KO used him (at only about 6-4) or athletic enough either... especially post injury & once his shot failed him in 2013-14.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

The wing players are bigger and more athletic and certainly the potential exists for this team to be very good defensively. The defensive potential of this team has not really been discussed much but Adams, Purvis, and Brimah are all very good to excellent defensive players, Facey is good and Larrier and Durham both carry excellent defensive reputations. Vance Jackson may be the one guy in the possible rotation who is not an above average defender, but we will see. Rashad Anderson wasn't a great defender either, but he was a tremendous 3 point shooter and we won a championship with that kid.

 

[Dominicfrank]

I am guaranteeing that Duke doesn't win the title. 100000% they wont win and I bet they get bounced sweet 16 or earlier.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

I don't know if I would guarantee it but I do not like relying so much on young unproven players. As we have seen the last few years in the NCAA tournament, young talent can be shaky in high pressure NCAA tourney games, we saw that with Kentucky in the Final 4 2 years in a row. Villanova won last year with a very veteran squad that was possibly not the most talented team, but they shot lights out and played the best. Even when Duke won with the 3 one and dones, they were severely tested by a veteran less talented Wisconsin squad in the final game.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

UConn #18 in the AP poll:

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...25-followed-kentucky-wildcats-kansas-jayhawks
http://es.pn/2eMGE0o

 

[the Blades]

FWIW here's another one from the ESPiN'ers, highest ranking I've seen yet at #11:

College Hoops Power Rankings

 

[the Blades]

CBS- AAC Preview: expert picks, projected win totals, X-factors: UConn a Final Four threat