Things are getting fun around here. Basketball season is right around the corner, and the football team is readying for a homecoming game with the ConFLiCT trophy on the line. Let’s mail.
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).
Matt asks: What will UConn’s non-conference record be, and will it have more P5 wins than BC and Rutgers combined?
To answer the first part of your question, I’m going to say UConn goes 9-3 out of conference with two losses in Maui and a loss to either Syracuse or at Ohio State. Oklahoma State, Loyola Marymount, and Auburn will all be tougher games than you think, but UConn should ultimately win them all.
Now the second part: Out of those nine wins, three would be against power conference schools: Oklahoma State, Auburn, and Cuse/Ohio State. Considering UConn has a much, much, much better chance of playing in the postseason than Rutgers or Boston College, the Huskies should get an extra opportunity or two there. UConn is preseason No. 16, so let’s say they make it to the Sweet 16. That probably gives them one more P5 victory. So….will Rutgers and Boston College combine for more than four P5 wins?
Yes, probably.
Both teams are dreadful, but they’re still Division I basketball teams capable of winning a couple games when they get 20 shots at it. Boston College will probably beat Georgia Tech and could split with Wake Forest. For Rutgers, they might beat Minnesota, which went 8-23 last year. If each school catches someone off-guard, they should be able to top five wins between them easily.
But they both still suck, so maybe they’ll just go 0-for-the season. None of us would be surprised.
Big Ron asks: This game strikes me as way more dangerous than UConn fans realize (FEI: UConn 90, UCF 56). How much is it going to burn seeing UCF players with the ConFLiCT trophy tomorrow afternoon? OR why am i wrong?
Every game is dangerous when you’re as magnificently mediocre as this UConn team, so there’s nothing really special about UCF in that regard. I think everyone chalked up UCF as a winnable game back when they were just an 0-12 team with a first-year coach, but as UConn proved so well last year, it’s really not difficult to go from “terrible” to “average” in a middling league.
That being said, yes, the ConFLiCT is the most meaningful thing UConn can win this season, and there’s a very decent chance two years of Diaco mindlessly trolling UCF could come back to haunt us now that the teams are on roughly even footing and the hated Floridians have an extra motivation to win. But hey, I don’t think anyone should feel extra-burned tomorrow if UCF wins. Rivalries are all about raised stakes, because you don’t want the other team to steal the precious fake trophy you bought for $34.99 off of Route 15 last year. (If UConn happens to lose, I hope Diaco steals the trophy and sprints into the locker room and never lets UCF touch it, and then he comes out to the press conference with shards of the trophy glued to his sweater. There is a 77 percent chance this happens.)
If you do want to feel burned about anything tomorrow, how does a plate full of “Scott Frost took a winless team and already has them playing better football after seven games than UConn has ever played in 31 games of Bob Diaco, and he beat Diaco on his own home field” taste? Kinda gross, with like a bitter, metallic taste on your tongue? Well, congrats, you just ate Oscar the Grouch, you incredible monster.
Now, I do think UConn has a decent shot here, because UCF has been worse than UConn on offense (no, really), because the game is at PAWS-ARF, because it will be raining and relatively cold in East Hartford, and because WE ALL WANT THE TROPHY.
UConn’s gonna win 17-16, it’ll all be fine.
Tim asks: purely hypothetical: KO loves his guard play…opinions on playing a quick 3-guard lineup like Purv/JA/AG then CV off the bench?
I’m sorry, did someone say three-guard line-up? You can sit by me. Because helllllllll yes you are going to see Adams, Purv and Gilbert running the floor together. It will be fast, it will be fun, and it will make Meghan very happy. We know KO likes to keep his line-ups fluid, and has no problem taking a page out of the Ole Jimmy C Playbook (KO actually often played in three-guard line-ups back in the day with Shef and Ray) and going small and fast when the situation calls for it. Doubt you’ll see it as a starting line-up (pretty sure Larrier’s got the three spot locked up right now), but there will be plenty of times when things just go all guard everything.
