Roundtable Preseason Predictions

The defending National Champion UConn Huskies will officially begin the 2014-2015 season with their First Night celebration on Friday. As good a time as any for the A Dime Back staff to dive into some demented and overtly biased preseason predictions! Speaking of demented and overtly biased, the calm and measured personalities behind the famed @NoEscalators twitter account, and formerly of The UConn Blog — join in the discussion as well.

Where Should UConn Be Ranked?

Meghan Bard, Staff Writer (@MeghanBard): 

UConn is going to be good this season, but the loss of Bazz and key glue guys like Neils and Kromah, and of course DeAndre is going to hurt. Boat has a lot to carry, and there are some crazy stacked teams out there (see: Kentucky, Duke and Arizona) but this is a top-15, maaaaybe top 10 team depending on what kind of crazy, seed-planting magic KO does this season. I put them firmly at Number 12.

Russell Steinberg, Staff Writer (@Russ_Steinberg):

15. Boatright will be a star and there are pieces for UConn to make a run at the top 10, but there’s too much uncertainty for them to start there. Can Brimah stay on the court? Will Purvis perform as advertised? Who will fill DeAndre Daniels’ role?

A Twitter Account (@NoEscalators):

20. Or lower. There is talent on this team, but we’re concerned that a lot of it is unknown talent or guys we hope take a leap.  I’d feel better if we had anything concrete at all.

Tyler Wilkinson, Staff  Writer (@ADimeBack):

I think the 10-15 range is fair given the guys they’ve lost. I’ll stay on the biased side and say #11.

Peter Bard, Staff Writer (@PKBard):

Obviously they’re losing some major contributors, but if Boatright and Brimah are ready to step up, and Purvis and Hamilton are as good as advertised, this will be a very dangerous team. #13

Alex Cohen, Podcast Producer (@alexcohen812):

15 because I just saw the poll and that’s where they were.

 

Predicted Regular Season W-L Record (30 games)

Peter:

22-8

@NoEscalators

24-6.  Could be lower.  There will be a few stumbles in conference, plus at least 2 and maybe three OOC loses.

Meghan: 

While I’d love to see 30-0, that seems really unlikely. I might hurl if they lose to Duke, but the Evil Alma Mater of Christian Laettner aside, SMU looks like it will be pretty badass this season. There’s also Texas at home, as well as Stanford and Florida on the road. 25-5.

Alex:

26-4 They’ll need it to look something like this to get in to the tournament…unless they win the conference tournament IN HARTFORD WHAWHAAAAAA

Russell:

23-7 in the regular season, mainly due to the tough out of conference schedule. Duke will be scary good, Florida on the road is tough and Stanford is a Pac-12 Dark Horse.

Tyler:

They play 30 games, so the answer is 30-0. No fucking around on gameday. If I can’t be that biased, I’ll say 26-4.

Inevitable WTF Loss

@NoEscalators:

vs. Temple on New Year’s Eve. Because it’s the conference opener, and if there is one thing we do better than win national championships it is lose conference openers.

Russell:

Temple on New Year’s Eve. UConn always loses its first conference game, this is an afternoon holiday game in Hartford and the trip to Florida comes right after. Your textbook letdown.

Meghan: 

I hate to even put this out in the universe, but that Tulsa game, on the road. It has a 9:30 p.m. start, and last season UConn had major problems with those night-cap match-ups. Also, it’s sandwiched between Cincy at home and Stanford on the road. I can see them not getting up for this one. But I hope they prove me wrong. Please. For the love of Jonathan.

Alex:

Florida. We own their bitch-asses so I will actually be surprised when we lose. (Which totally won’t happen because we own their bitch-asses)

Peter:

@Tulsa, for a number of reasons, looks rife for a shitty, listless performance and subsequent loss by 14 that makes everyone write this team off for several hours.

Tyler:

At Tulsa on January 13^th. Sandwiched between home against Cincy and at Stanford, this one feels like a trap. Add in the stupid 9:30pm start  on a fucking Tuesday. Plus fucking tornadoes everywhere? No thanks.

Team’s Best Quality

Tyler:

The backcourt. Their depth at the guard position is unparalleled. And all of those guys bring something different to the table — be it scoring, speed, defense or shooting.

Meghan: 

Hello, backcourt. This team is going to have an insanely talented backcourt, led by possibly the best on-ball defender in the country this year, our man Boat. That dude’s defensive skills and general Ricky Moore-itude were absolutely clutch in the NCAA Tourney. Joining him are NC State transfer and Ferrarri-now-out-of-the-garage Rodney Purvis, Sam Cassell, Jr., Omar Calhoun and Terrence Samuel.

@NoEscalators:

Defense.  There are enough guards that they should be able to run most teams silly, and if he can keep his hands to himself for even, like, three minutes in a row, Brimah is a seven-foot block monster, which is nice.

Peter:

Of Boatright, Samuel, Purvis, Cassell, and Hamilton, all will be above-average creators for their respective positions. This team will have no issues creating shots.

Alex:

Ollie. Seriously. I feel way confident that young, raw players are in his hands. I think they’re going to surprise us this year.

Russell:

It all starts at the point for UConn. Boatright made serious strides at the end of last year and should run the offense with confidence and maturity. He also has the potential to be the best UConn guard defensively since Ricky Moore. For evidence, I refer you to the Michigan State game last year.

Team’s Worst Quality

Alex:

Foul trouble. It will cost us some games.

Peter:

Frontcourt foul trouble resulting in depth issues. Brimah and Nolan both fouled too often last year, and Facey’s foul rate was comical. Unless Lubin is a 25mpg player right away, this could be a serious problem.

Russell:

I’m going to say consistency. Boatright won’t let UConn get blown out of many games, but relying on a young core inside (Brimah, Lubin, Facey) plus Phil Nolan is a recipe for some game-to-game lineup turnover. It will also be tough to rely on Purvis, Cassell and Hamilton to make a seamless transition into the lineup.

Tyler:

I imagine it will be rebounding again – though the quality of conference competition should mask it a bit. Outside shooting could also be an issue.

Meghan: 

So about the four… Yeah. We don’t really have much going on there. With DeAndre gone, it’s left to Phil Nolan, who will also be backing up Brimah, Kenton Facey, who had serious trouble staying on the court, and total unknown/massive human being Rakim Lubin. No idea how this works out.

@NoEscalators:

Lack of a consistent scoring leader.  Boatright is a clear leader, but is he going to put up 16 points per game?  And though there is a lot of scoring talent, I’m not sure anyone else is going to either.  Who’s going to get us through a trap game by dropping 26 points on Tulsa? Someone, hopefully, please.  We can’t lose to Tulsa.  Real talk though: it’s totally rebounding.

Breakout Player

Alex:

Brimah. Have you seen his smile?

@NoEscalators:

Purvis. Or at least we hope so. We’d never say this out loud but…. he didn’t exactly light the world on fire at N.C. State… is anyone else at least a tiny bit worried?

Meghan: 

I think Rodney Purvis has a huge year. He’s been working hard all off season (if his Twitter feed is anything to go off of) and just had to spend a season watching his teammates win a National Championship without him. Also, don’t overlook T-Sam and his sweet defensive skills.

Peter:

I really like Sam Cassell, Jr. I’ve been wanting the Jr. son of a 90s NBA star for years, and now that we finally got one, I’m ready for him to be a star.

Russell:

Omar Calhoun. Duh. He had such a depressing year last year after really surprising as a freshman. CBS’s Jon Rothstein controversially live-tweeted practice yesterday and came away impressed with Calhoun’s condition. Plus, Omar’s last name, ya know?

Tyler:

Terrence Samuel. I think Ollie will find UConn plays its best defense with Boatright and Samuel on the floor together. Samuel will also provide a lot of opportunities to get shots for Boatright and Purvis (Purv).

Jamal Coombs-McDaniel Award

Tyler:

This award goes to the guy who appears out of nowhere to inexplicably lead the team in scoring for two games. I’m tempted to say Phil Nolan, but I think Dr. Phil will contribute too much to be eligible for this category. So my vote goes to Sam Cassell Jr.

Russell:

Kentan Facey. Am I the only one who really wanted to see more of him last season? I fear he might be buried behind Brimah, Nolan and eventually Lubin (who sounds like a beast), but there will be a few games where they’re all hurt/in foul trouble and he goes nuts on the glass and scores like 50 second-chance points.

Peter:

Facey will have a couple of great nights where his midrange shot is hitting and he’ll have 22 and 25 points.

@NoEscalators:

Terrence Samuel.  Everyone loves his defense, which is why it’s going to be so surprising when we remember he plays on both sides of the ball.

Meghan: 

T-Sam will inexplicably go HAM against ECU or somesuch and score 27 points on some sweet, playground, circus lay-ups. He will also assist on a sick alley-oop to Kenton Facey.

Alex:

Daniel Hamilton.

Pat Lenehan Season Point Total

Russell:

12. Going a little high here for a couple reasons: He’s no longer a walk-on, so he deserves that level of respect from me, and we better be playing in a shit-ton of fucking blowouts once AAC play starts.

Peter:

7 points seems reasonable for a guy who isn’t likely to ever play.

@NoEscalators:

Lenehan will make a 3-pointer in a 30-point blowout of Tulane, and will retire from the game mid-followthrough. UConn will continue on with four players, extending their lead to 40 before the game ends.

Meghan: 

17. With 4 three pointers.

Alex:

22.

Tyler:

He had four last year. And zero the year before that. So I’ll say 30.

Most Reviled Conference Coach

Peter:

Kelvin Sampson is a smug asshole who wins while probably cheating. Be prepared for Houston to stop being a laughingstock, at least temporarily.

@NoEscalators:

Mick Cronin.  If it weren’t for Mick Cronin, Mick Cronin totally would have won this award.

Alex:

I’d love to be creative and come up with one of these coaches from some bottom of the barrel school, but it’s Cronin, obviously.

Meghan: 

Mick Cronin is the worst. I don’t think this requires anymore explanation. Next.

Tyler:

I’m picking Jeff Lebo, not because of anything he’s done (or will do) personally. But he coaches East Carolina – a constant reminder that UConn plays in the AAC.

Russell:

Josh Pastner, only because he looks like everyone I went to middle school with and middle schoolers are dicks.

Predict a New Ollie-ism

Russell:

“They call Lubin the rock, but we demand more. This is a team full of boulders and Storrs is a mountain.”

Peter:

“We don’t believe in 50-50 balls. Every loose ball is ours.”

@NoEscalators:

“You need to give it your best every second of every day, because if you don’t beat ECU I’m leaving to coach the Thunder.”

Meghan: 

“They got a horse named Shabazz, but we have a team full of stallions!”

Alex:

I’m not creative enough but something something mountain top something mythical creature something something fast lane.

Tyler:

“If we wanna be great, we’re gonna have to walk a tightrope in the mountains – even if it’s snowing gold.”

Wild Card — Make Any Other Prediction

Meghan: 

Two words: Amidah. Brimah. He spent the off season rehabbing from a shoulder injury, but apparently worked hard enough that his teammates feel the sophomore is captain material. I think he has a monster season, but there are no guarantees. Fouls are his kryptonite, and he needs to stay on the floor.

Alex:

Coach Calhoun gets caught trashing Boeheim “off the air” on the SC set.

Russell:

At some point, one broadcaster will mention Denham Brown’s 111 points, just for nostalgia’s sake.

@NoEscalators:

We will have at least one AAC win that will drive more UConn fans to drink than any Big East loss.

Tyler:

One of Rodney Purvis, Daniel Hamilton or Amida Brimah will go pro after the season. Also, I will be sad not seeing Kevin Duffy at the games.

Peter:

Purvis and Cassell play well enough that 1) Purvis goes pro at the end of the season, and 2) Cassell is a lock starter going into next season.

 

That’s all folks. See you at First Night. A hearty thanks to Porter & Meacham for joining us.