Big Meach fills in for Russ’s on-brand pessimism; Meghan uses big words that Memphis fans won’t understand; Tyler tells you all about Cliff Robinson the basketball player, not the weed entrepreneur. Let’s bag.
Remember: If your question wasn’t answered or you’ve been living under a rock and are just hearing about this, you can submit your questions here or on Twitter (@ADimeBack).
NoEscalators (the one who doesn’t work here) asks: We’re all optimistic about the football season. Without relying on injury, make the case for why we shouldn’t be optimistic?
Well, I think it’s more likely than not that UConn returns to a bowl game in 2016, with a not-unthinkable scenario that sees the Huskies take a big leap forward in the direction of an AAC East Division title (though I’m firmly on #TeamDiacolypse17).
That being said, I think there are legitimate reasons to think that UConn might take a stutterstep. This is unquestionably Diaco’s most talented and deep team yet, but W-L progress isn’t linear, and improved performances could still result in an unlucky 5- or 6-win season. (It’s relatively easy to go from 2 wins to 6 wins; it’s harder to go from 6 to the 8-9 range that we’re all hoping for.) Let’s briefly put on our downer cap, shall we:
1) The offense has a long way to go to be competent relative to the other high-octane teams in the AAC. The offensive line should be very improved, yes, but you can also look at a starting five and see one solid starter from last year (Hopkins), two starters who struggled to varying degrees (Levy and Knappe), a would-be starter coming off a knee injury (Crozier) and a freshman who could be very good, but who is also still a freshman (Peart). UConn averaged just 3.4 yards per carry last year; getting that up to ~4.0, would make a world of difference, but that’s a huge jump to expect over one offseason.
2) The schedule might just be a tick tougher than it was last year. UConn was 2-6 against teams in the top 100 of the F/+ rankings last year; they’ll play 10 teams in the projected top 100 this year (with only Maine and Tulane appearing to be actual bad teams on the schedule). That means that UConn will play lots of similarly- and higher-ranked teams. So they’ll probably play a bunch of close, low-tempo games that will be decided by a few plays here or there. It wouldn’t take much more than a little bad luck (say, a regression from last year’s +9 turnover margin) to be on the losing end of some of those tight games.
(we’re going 14-0 tho)
– Kevin Meacham (the one who works here)
Mike asks: why are Memphis fans so salty?
Because they are suffering from what amounts to a Boston-level inferiority complex. They attended a dramatically-less prestigious institution than our beloved alma mater. And who wouldn’t be salty after paying to attend a four-year university and coming out with a degree roughly as respected as a perfect attendance award from first grade? Now, I’m not worried about angry Memphis fans clogging up my mentions. They won’t understand most of the words I’ve just written without a dictionary, and we all know there’s nary a Webster’s in all of Memphis fandom. But fellow Huskies, we must not lord our superiority over these lesser mortals. We must be magnanimous in our dealings with these unfortunate souls. They did, after all, have to go to Memphis Community College.
jcuucj asks: who are your top 3 uconn alumni based on nba career?
So I hope number one is obvious. Ray Allen won two rings, made more three-pointers than anyone in history, is a surefire Hall-of-Famer and may not be done yet.
At number two, I’m putting Rip Hamilton. He led the Pistons to two rings, made three All-Star teams and averaged over 17 points-per-game in his 14 career seasons.
You could argue that Cliff Robinson should be second, but I’m dropping him behind Hamilton because of the rings. Although most of our readers are too young to remember it, Cliffy’s peak rivaled that of most other UConn guys in the NBA. From 1993-2000, he averaged 18.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, making an All-Star team in 1994. He played 18 seasons in the NBA. Pretty impressive.
At numbers four and five you can argue amongst yourselves about Caron Butler and Rudy Gay. Ten years from now we’ll almost certainly have to adjust this list to include Kemba Walker and Andre Drummond.
