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An honest assessment of UConn

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Gohall129

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Feb 23, 2022
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Great win. This was awesome to watch our pirates be on the good side of the blowout.

- head scratching point here: why is Hurley having his guys pick us up near mid court? We are one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the country. We have success vs UConn driving. Why weren’t his defensive sets tailored to letting us win the game from 3 instead of 5 feet from the hoop?

-This UConn team is nowhere near as good as last years team. Spencer is a fraction of what Hawkins was. Ball does not come close to the value on both ends that Andre Jackson provided. And that Sanogo / Clingan Pair was deadly.

- tonight would’ve been different if Clingan didn’t get hurt. UConn got the game within striking distance after back to back buckets by the big man before he went down. Have to imagine we would’ve eventually doubled him giving some better 3 point looks as UConn missed shots tonight that they don’t usually miss.

Top to bottom in the big east this year is going to be a dog fight. Seems like a year where the conference regular season winner may have 5-7 losses
 
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Given UConn’s resume to date, you can’t say they’re not elite. They had an off night and we played our best ball to date. They missed back to back WIDE OPEN threes at one point. We finally ran into a team that didn’t crush us from the perimeter. We played much better, but far from perfect on the defensive end. Clingan going down helped us blow the game open but for one night, we were the superior team.
 
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Great win but one night doesn't make either team good or bad.Long season which rewards consistency.
 
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HallX2 said:
Off night for the Huskies. Imagine they’re better than they showed tonight. And I suspect we’re not as good as we looked tonight. .
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100%. Clingan doesn’t go down it’s a very different game. Doesn’t matter of course. A win is a win. And I’m damn happy to get it over them of all teams.

Fox Sports just showed a graphic of Uconn the past 2 years within and outside the conference. They are something like 23-1 in the non-conference with a HUGE margin of victory. And that’s impressive given they have played lots of really good teams outside the league. Within the league, they are 14-9, with losses to us (twice), St Johns (at Uconn last year by double digits), and an average margin of victory of about +6.
 
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shu09 said:
Fourth Seton Hall win over UConn since they rejoined the league and third straight at home. Pretty crazy. Somewhat surprisingly, Creighton has beaten them six times over the same span.
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The “sports gods” work in odd ways sometimes. There is something unexplainable about this that has to do with the guy coaching Uconn and his relationship to the University. That’s my non-factual supported explanation.
 
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dehere23 said:
The “sports gods” work in odd ways sometimes. There is something unexplainable about this that has to do with the guy coaching Uconn and his relationship to the University. That’s my non-factual supported explanation.
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I agree LOL. Especially after being dominated for so many years under Calhoun. In my time as a fan (since '99) I can count the number of wins against Calhoun on one hand. In fact, Seton Hall has more wins over UConn in the last 3 years than it did from 1994-2013.
 
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HallX2 said:
Off night for the Huskies. Imagine they’re better than they showed tonight. And I suspect we’re not as good as we looked tonight. .
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I think that’s the major reason why Danny didn’t go ballistic tonight.

His game plan, ball movement and approach was the right one. His guys didn’t execute. Really nothing he could do.
 
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hallstorm said:
I think that’s the major reason why Danny didn’t go ballistic tonight.

His game plan, ball movement and approach was the right one. His guys didn’t execute. Really nothing he could do.
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They got quite a few good looks they just didn’t make. At the same time they had no answer for Richmond getting to the rim. Richmond was spectacular.
 
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I was waiting for someone to say, "If Clingan didn't get hurt..." We took a 5 point lead into halftime with Clingan on the bench for about 5 minutes. We were ahead by 4 when Clingan went down with his 3rd foul. You can't say that the game would have been any different with Clingan. Yes, the game would have been a lot closer, but our guys played one hell of a game last night!!!
 
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jcpetri said:
I was waiting for someone to say, "If Clingan didn't get hurt..." We took a 5 point lead into halftime with Clingan on the bench for about 5 minutes. We were ahead by 4 when Clingan went down with his 3rd foul. You can't say that the game would have been any different with Clingan. Yes, the game would have been a lot closer, but our guys played one hell of a game last night!!!
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Like any player you never know when he could’ve gotten it going. If Clingan ever started to dominate the paint it’s a different game. It’s like saying Dawes starting 0-5 from 3 one night can’t then go 4-4 later in the game. Of course he can. Bottom line is he wasn’t there. Nobody can say what would’ve happened if he was there and our guys played tough.
 
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Clingan sitting with 2 fouls in 1st half and then leaving with injury early in 2nd half was the complete difference in the outcome. Rest of Uconn was not stable and SHU had timely run outs and some and 1s that were higher degree of difficulty. Good that shu scored inside the paint.
 
jcpetri said:
I was waiting for someone to say, "If Clingan didn't get hurt..." We took a 5 point lead into halftime with Clingan on the bench for about 5 minutes. We were ahead by 4 when Clingan went down with his 3rd foul. You can't say that the game would have been any different with Clingan. Yes, the game would have been a lot closer, but our guys played one hell of a game last night!!!
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Clingan was starting to really get it going early in the second half. Danny made it a point to feed his big man. It was working. The injury absolutely did change the game. Perhaps we still win as we did play a very good game, but without Clingan, UConn is not a national championship team. He’s that good and that important. While you never want to see injuries, him leaving the game last night was the reason we won going away.
 
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hallwins said:
We gave up Clingan scoring to take away the 3. Plan accomplished. UConn shot 19% from 3.
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UConn may have shot 19% but they had 6 or 7 wide open looks by good shooters who didn’t make the shot. Those nights happen. I wouldn’t mislead things as if we were in their face causing havoc for them on the 3 point line taking away the 3 point shot.
 
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SHUHoopsFan said:
UConn may have shot 19% but they had 6 or 7 wide open looks by good shooters who didn’t make the shot. Those nights happen. I wouldn’t mislead things as if we were in their face causing havoc for them on the 3 point line taking away the 3 point shot.
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Completely disagree. It is a cumulative effect and the process of making them uncomfortable/ speeding them up. A shot looks open, but is it a comfortable shot? We were in Spencer's head. We were in Caraban's head.

How about you take out the first 3 shots UConn hit from 3? What would percentage be?

Diarra, Clingan and Newton are the only players thay played well. Coincidence???

We bullied the defending national champ and it impacted them in all facets of the game.

We have also held Baylor, Missouri and UCONN well under season averages.
 
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Hall Is Life said:
Given UConn’s resume to date, you can’t say they’re not elite. They had an off night and we played our best ball to date. They missed back to back WIDE OPEN threes at one point. We finally ran into a team that didn’t crush us from the perimeter. We played much better, but far from perfect on the defensive end. Clingan going down helped us blow the game open but for one night, we were the superior team.
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Good post, but I'll say this about the part I bolded: We covered them pretty well on the perimeter, enough so that on the occasions when they did get a look from three, they may have rushed them a bit - a natural tendency, I think.

There's no doubt that Clingan going out helped us -- how could it not? -- but we were still up four or six when he left and Bediako was more than holding his own against him. Given the tenor of the night, I think we still would've won, but not by 15. Would've been a nailbiter, for sure, assuming Clingan's health (though he was in foul trouble, too, and that's part of the game).
 
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They are really good without question. I think they were not on all cylinders. Some e of their fans felt the refs favored The Hall and that was a main component of the night. Not sure I saw it that way. It does feel at this point they are maybe missing that one player. That may not be the case. I would not want to play them at the BigEast Tournament a virtual road game for SHU. They make The BE a strong conference. Danny found a great landing spot.
 
ivyhillparkk1963 said:
Uconn is a legit top 10 team
Anyone saying otherwise is crazy.
Maybe the Hall can be that good for a night..
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Combination of a lot of things. Seton Hall attacked the rim and the boards last night. Very different team than we saw all year. We didn't waste many possesions taking dumb 3s. Also it was far from UConn's best night. They missed a lot of 3's they normally make. I thought we had little to do with a good number of their missed 3's but they missed. We just went through a year where Harris missed a ton of shots he normally made. I've watched too much SHU basketball over the years so I have no sympathy for UConn just missing shots they should've made. If they're going to have an off night, let the next one be against us too.
 
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NYShoreGuy said:
Clingan sitting with 2 fouls in 1st half and then leaving with injury early in 2nd half was the complete difference in the outcome. Rest of Uconn was not stable and SHU had timely run outs and some and 1s that were higher degree of difficulty. Good that shu scored inside the paint.
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DISAGREE. sure it was a big factor. But we started badly. Went down 10 and had a 6 point lead when he got hurt while committing his 3rd foul. So we outscored them by 16 with him playing and by 9 with him sitting. I have seen uconn beat high ranked teams up with him on the bench

I hope he is ok. Hate to see talented young kids with injuries. I still think uconn's best is the best in the country. We did not see that last night.
 
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Gohall129 said:
All I’m saying is that I think last years UConn team is in a different universe than this UConn team. I don’t think it’s close
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Not sure I agree only because it's so early in the season. It took UConn a while to get it going last year. They peaked at the right time. They have wins this year over some pretty impressive teams already which puts them a little ahead of schedule compared to last year. It will be easier to make this assessment later in the year after seeing their full body of work.
 
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Gohall129 said:
All I’m saying is that I think last years UConn team is in a different universe than this UConn team. I don’t think it’s close
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Cant disagree more. I think this years is better. But they didnt have it last night. No one saw the NC out there when we beat them last year.
 
Section112 said:
Where is our favorite UConn poster by the way? ;)
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If you're talking about me, I got on when I got home from the game and offered my congratulations in the notes thread. It was a complete victory by Seton Hall in all facets of the game. Annoying as all heck, but you guys came to play and we did not step up.

For what it's worth, to the posters who indicated that this was just an off night by Connecticut, I'd say that Seton Hall had a heck of a lot to do with that. They played great in your face defense, and were aided by Big East officiating which allows a lot of contact. Note, I'm not saying that it was home cooking by the refs or anything, I'm saying that big east basketball has always been physical. Seton Hall was ready for that and out toughed us. As I said last night, hopefully we can return the favor at our place.

Huge quad one win for you guys that has the potential to significantly help your postseason hopes if you continue to build off it.

Congrats, beating a top five team is always huge. Beating them decisively is even bigger.

(When is Kadary Richmond graduating again?)
 
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g0pirates said:
Of course this forum begins debating the value/legitimacy of this great win.

I, for one, will remain on cloud 9 all week. Go Hall!!!
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I don’t think anyone is debating the value or legitimacy of the win. Several things can be true at the same time. Yes, Clingan’s injury was a huge factor. Yes, Uconn played much worse than they are and some of their reliable shooters missed ones they make. Yes, we played a part in that because the winning team always plays a part in the losing team not playing well. And ultimately all that matters is that we won. I can acknowledge these realities and still be on Cloud 9 with this unexpected W. Because I am.
 
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Seton75 said:
Cant disagree more. I think this years is better. But they didnt have it last night. No one saw the NC out there when we beat them last year.
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I’m not saying this years Uconn is better yet. Still very much TBD. They lost 3 players to the NBA who all complimented each other. One was among the best bigs in the league and among the best offensive bigs in the country. A shooting guard with length, crazy athleticism and who could knock it down with the best of them, which is why he was picked in the first round. And an experienced jack of all trades hybrid forward who was a great defender that guarded multiple spots, handled the ball, did everything and was very much a unicorn at the college level because of his skill set, versatility and athleticism.

Beyond those 3, they lost 2 valuable experienced reserve guards, one of which could shoot (Joey C) and one of which was a good defender, glue guy and could score at times too (Alleyne).

Losing that core is significant. Now of course they returned some very good players like Newton, Karaban and the big fella and brought in massive talent. So I think they are very good. But are they as good as last year? I don’t think most UConn fans would say that yet.
 
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dehere23 said:
I don’t think anyone is debating the value or legitimacy of the win. Several things can be true at the same time. Yes, Clingan’s injury was a huge factor. Yes, Uconn played much worse than they are and some of their reliable shooters missed ones they make. Yes, we played a part in that because the winning team always plays a part in the losing team not playing well. And ultimately all that matters is that we won. I can acknowledge these realities and still be on Cloud 9 with this unexpected W. Because I am.
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But I think what also can be true is that maybe Seton Hall wasn’t as bad as they showed in the pre season OOC schedule against power 6 schools and maybe they aren’t the world beaters they were last night.

But there are posters on here that are waiting for the team to “regress to the mean” to be able to say “I told you so” and that gets tiring.

There’s been a lot of negativity and I think focusing on UConn’s shortcomings vs. SHU stepping up to the challenging for 40 minutes is a taking credit away where credit is due.

Just my 2 cents.
 
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If Clingan doesn't get hurt, he probably goes for something along the lines of 25 and 12 (he had 14 and seven in 14 minutes and took 12 FGA). As well as Bediako was playing him, Clingan is a beast to stop and it's more likely than not Bediako would gotten into foul trouble himself. Obviously, Clingan's also a tremendous presence on defense and that can't be replicated without him. Samson Johnson clearly did not have the same effect.

I thought we were very good defensively against the three. Yes, UConn missed a few good looks, but that happens. I felt as the game went on, they were not comfortable as a team taking that shot. Several of their later attempts (as they slipped into desperation mode) were a step deeper than they'd normally take.

I saw somewhere the belief UConn was tired. I can see that -- a back-and-forth trip to the west coast followed by disrupting your routine again to travel, even a short distance, can get you out of sorts. On the other hand, we did travel halfway across the country and back after playing two days later than they did.
 
hallstorm said:
But I think what also can be true is that maybe Seton Hall wasn’t as bad as they showed in the pre season OOC schedule against power 6 schools and maybe they aren’t the world beaters they were last night.

But there are posters on here that are waiting for the team to “regress to the mean” to be able to say “I told you so” and that gets tiring.

There’s been a lot of negativity and I think focusing on UConn’s shortcomings vs. SHU stepping up to the challenging for 40 minutes is a taking credit away where credit is due.

Just my 2 cents.
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Some of the criticism was justified. Some is always over the top. Just like some of the positive takeaway is justified and some is not. That’s the deal with message boards. And opinions can and do differ.

I don’t think anyone who posts on either of our boards wants to be in the “told you so, we aren’t good camp”. Aside from the rare troll or two. Some fans are just more objective in their fandom than others. That’s fine. If these boards become state run media, they are less compelling IMO.

The “I told you so” thing goes both ways. After we lost to Rutgers, I posted that there will be games where our backcourt and wings make shots and where we beat people. And there will be a long line doing the “I told you so” thing to anyone who questioned all the preseason proclamations about Richmond being a first round pick, our backcourt being as good as anyone’s in the country, our “big 4” being able to play with anyone and the like. Again, that’s the stuff that happens on message boards, unfortunately, because there is a small community of fans here who all want the same thing and root for the same thing.

Personally I never get too high or low after a game, especially with a team like we have this year. I enjoy the W’s and bang my head against the wall with the L’s, all the while knowing my interest in this stuff is still there but not what it was pre-NIL.
 
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Yea, I phased that poorly. Any win over UConn and Hurley is about as high as I get for a regular season W. By “too high” all I mean is I don’t have us now winning the Big East after last night or start making crazy proclamations. But have I been in a better mode since last night than usual? You better your a$$. This stuff still does that for me at this age.
 
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Seton75 said:
I get high as a freaking kite after a win like that. To me that is the joy of being a fan.
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I agree. The great part of being a fan is enjoying the momentary highs (realizing the lows also come).

Realizing that it’s college basketball and rarely the best team wins the NCAA’s anyhow, it’s a game by game approach.

That being said, I do hope this game can be used as a building block and not as a shelf to rest your laurels on.
 
Seton75 said:
I get high as a freaking kite after a win like that. To me that is the joy of being a fan.
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Different strokes for different folks. For me this is just one win on a journey to a tournament bid. It's just 1 out of 30 games. Not going to get on cloud 9 after last night or make myself look like a complete jackass ripping our players after a loss to RU. I want to be playing meaningful games in March. For me that's the joy of being a fan.
 
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