So many things happening today.

• From the UConn perspective, the women's basketball team opens up its annual march to the Final Four with a contest against hopelessly overmatched Prairie View A&M today in Bridgeport at ~1:40. We might have to break out the ol' "spot the other team 40 points from the opening tip" chestnut in the thread. This isn't a vintage UConn women's team - they arguably aren't even a lock to make their fifth straight Final Four - but today ought to be a nice, easy exhibition.
• Elsewhere, the men's tournament marches on with the Round of 32, and there are some good-ass games on this St. Paddy's Day, though the staggered start times mean that only two of the eight games tips before 5:00. Syracuse and Kansas State kick it off at 12:15, followed by Ohio State-Gonzaga, then a flood of games the rest of the night (including UConn's conquerers, Iowa State, against Kentucky just after 7).
  
• Are your brackets screwed? You're not alone! Through the first two days of TheUConnBlog's 2012 bracket pool, your early leader is CTHusky84, who went 25-7 in the first round. CTHusky84 also still has 14 Sweet 16 teams alive, as well as his entire Elite Eight. But no one is really that far off, and our reader-base is homerish enough that the few who didn't pick UConn to win it all are still in decent shape.
• Speaking of the bracket pool, Derbyguy took the initiative on TheUConnBlog Bracket Challenge Best Name Tournament over in the FanPosts. So check them out and vote: here, here, here and here.

There's also an NIT game on ESPN between Seton Hall and UMass (so far, notable only for the intimation by ESPN announcer Dave Sims that UConn will no longer be playing at the XL Center(?????).) No idea if that's true or not, but hey, this just proves you never know where breaking news will come from.

So feel free to use this as your all-purpose thread throughout the day.

Let's go Wildcats.

So, last night sucked. More on that later.

But the tournament goes on. I'll be around most of the afternoon to chat about the final 16 games of the first round; feel free to join me.

Your Friday schedule:

Session 1

12:15 (CBS) -- [6] Cincinnati vs [11] Texas (East Region - Nashville, TN)

12:40 (TruTV) -- [6] San Diego State vs [11] North Carolina State (Midwest Region - Columbus, OH)

1:40 (TBS) -- [8] Creighton vs [9] Alabama (Midwest Region - Greensboro, NC)

2:10 (TNT) -- [7] Florida vs [10] Virginia (West Region - Omaha, NE)

Session 2

approx. 2:45 (CBS) -- [3] Florida State vs [14] St. Bonaventure (East Region - Nashville, TN)

approx. 3:10 (TruTV) -- [3] Georgetown vs [14] Belmont (Midwest Region - Columbus, OH)

approx. 4:10 (TBS) -- [1] North Carolina vs [16] Vermont (Midwest Region - Greensboro, NC)

approx. 4:40 (TNT) -- [2] Missouri vs [15] Norfolk State (West Region - Omaha, NE)

Session 3

6:50 p.m. (TBS) -- [8] Memphis vs [9] Saint Louis (West Region - Columbus, OH)

7:15 p.m. (CBS) -- [2] Duke vs [15] Lehigh (South Region - Greensboro, NC)

7:20 p.m. (TNT) -- [4] Michigan vs [13] Ohio (Midwest Region - Nashville, TN)

7:27 p.m. (TruTV) -- [7] St. Mary's vs [10] Purdue (Midwest Region - Omaha, NE)

Session 4

approx. 9:20 p.m. (TBS) -- [1] Michigan State vs [16] Long Island (West Region - Columbus, OH)

approx. 9:45 p.m. (CBS) -- [7] Notre Dame vs [10] Xavier (South Region - Greensboro, NC)

approx. 9:50 p.m. (TNT) -- [5] Temple vs [12] South Florida (Midwest Region - Nashville, TN)

approx. 9:57 p.m. (TruTV) -- [2] Kansas vs [15] Detroit (Midwest Region - Omaha, NE)

Enjoy the games.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for YOUR defending national champion UConn Huskies to open 2012 NCAA Tournament play.

Tonight, in their second-round (really first round, but whatever) contest against slight favorite Iowa State, Jim Calhoun and company are in both familiar and unfamiliar territory.

The Huskies are playing in Louisville's KFC Yum! Center, an arena they've played in already this season (though they've never won here); they're also be playing in front of a hostile crowd, as they often seem to do in the NCAAs regardless of seed (though tonight won't be quite as blatant as the 2011 Sweet 16, 2009 Final Four, 2006 Elite Eight, 2003 Sweet 16, 1998 Elite Eight, 1995 Elite Eight...I'm sure I'm missing at least one).

On the other hand, the Huskies enter the tournament not being one of the top threats to win the championship - this is the first time since 1992 that UConn has made the tournament and not been seeded #5 or higher. Tonight will also be the first time the Cyclones and Huskies meet in men's basketball.

I don't know if anyone can quite predict what's going to happen tonight. Iowa State seems like a nightmare matchup for UConn - a small, athletic team that shoots and defends the 3 exceptionally well, in addition to not allowing offensive rebounds. Combine that with a series of mediocre performances all year long, and it's tough to feel like this is more than a 50-50 proposition.

Still, I'm happy to go to war with at least two future pros and a Hall of Fame coach, no matter what the Huskies' weaknesses are.

The game tips off at approximately 9:20 p.m. (or about 25 minutes after Kentucky finishes pummeling Western Kentucky) on TBS, with your announcing crew of Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery. This will be your OpenThread for the evening.

Let's go Huskies.

Below the jump, some numbers to sink your teeth into:

Continue reading this post »

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for YOUR defending national champion UConn Huskies to open 2012 NCAA Tournament play.

Tonight, in their second-round (really first round, but whatever) contest against slight favorite Iowa State, Jim Calhoun and company are in both familiar and unfamiliar territory.

The Huskies are playing in Louisville's KFC Yum! Center, an arena they've played in already this season (though they've never won here); they're also be playing in front of a hostile crowd, as they often seem to do in the NCAAs regardless of seed (though tonight won't be quite as blatant as the 2011 Sweet 16, 2009 Final Four, 2006 Elite Eight, 2003 Sweet 16, 1998 Elite Eight, 1995 Elite Eight...I'm sure I'm missing at least one).

On the other hand, the Huskies enter the tournament not being one of the top threats to win the championship - this is the first time since 1992 that UConn has made the tournament and not been seeded #5 or higher. Tonight will also be the first time the Cyclones and Huskies meet in men's basketball.

I don't know if anyone can quite predict what's going to happen tonight. Iowa State seems like a nightmare matchup for UConn - a small, athletic team that shoots and defends the 3 exceptionally well, in addition to not allowing offensive rebounds. Combine that with a series of mediocre performances all year long, and it's tough to feel like this is more than a 50-50 proposition.

Still, I'm happy to go to war with at least two future pros and a Hall of Fame coach, no matter what the Huskies' weaknesses are.

The game tips off at approximately 9:20 p.m. (or about 25 minutes after Kentucky finishes pummeling Western Kentucky) on TBS, with your announcing crew of Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery. This will be your OpenThread for the evening.

Let's go Huskies.

Below the jump, some numbers to sink your teeth into:

Continue reading this post »

Welcome to the greatest damn show in the world!

It's the first day of the NCAA Tournament, assuming you don't count the silly play-in games, which I don't. Today is also game day for UConn's first game in its national title defense; we'll have a thread just for that game later tonight. In the intervening nine hours, we'll also be around to chat about all of the games, because we were smart enough to take this week off so as to watch 12 straight hours of basketball.

There are plenty of interesting storylines to watch today (even minus the Huskies' 9:20 game with Iowa State), including a certain center-less orange team playing its opener.

Below the jump, your Thursday NCAA schedule (and remember, all games are online at the NCAA's March Madness Live, which is free if you have your cable subscriber info; it's $3.99 for the whole tournament if you don't):

Continue reading this post »

In Jim Calhoun's return to the bench, UConn pulled a reverse UConn during Saturday's uber-important 74-65 win over Pittsburgh: rather than the customary slow start and arduous climb back, the Huskies played a brilliant first half, shooting 55 percent and generally making the Panthers' defense look very bad.

Then, as usual whenever this team has found any good fortune, it fell apart quickly.

UConn's largest second-half lead was 15, and the Huskies were still up double-digits as late as the 14-minute mark. But Pitt was able to break down UConn's defense to create easy shots, quickly cutting UConn's lead to two, 50-48.

Enter Scoe the Show.

Roscoe Smith, who has been an all-around solid glue guy this year, and had a strong first half, came back in the game at about the 9:30 mark and did glue things - a block here, an offensive rebound and tip-in there, taking a charge here, a dunk somewhere else. Smith always seemed to be around the basket and always in the right spot to make a big play, which is what the Huskies have sorely lacked while losing nine of their previous 12 games.

Roscore had 14 points (7-10 FG) and seven rebounds, five on the offensive end. He scored eight points in the last eight minutes, after the game had tightened up, including the go-ahead points (which came on a great look from Jeremy Lamb on a fast break). After the go-ahead layup, he drew a charge; Shabazz Napier buried a 3 on the next possession to put UConn up 5, and that was basically all she wrote.

Toughness, desire and passion. (And, uh, offensive efficiency.) There hasn't been a ton of it during this moribund six-week period, but Smith showed it in droves today, and he's the biggest reason why UConn's NCAA Tournament hopes are still alive.

It's clear he needs to be playing the majority of minutes at the four (and only one of Alex Oriakhi and Andre Drummond ought to be on the court at a time).

Elsewhere on a very nice Senior Day win at Gampel:

Continue reading this post »

Our long, regional nightmare is over, as is UConn's four-game, three-week-long losing streak, courtesy of Saturday's 69-46 win over Seton Hall in its first game minus Jim Calhoun.

After playing four games in which nobody played well offensively, bottoming out when UConn's three guards shot a combined 4-for-31 on Wednesday, this was a breath of fresh air.

Saturday, UConn got solid play from two of the three starting guards (Jeremy Lamb's 17 points* and 8 rebounds and Ryan Boatright's 19 points (8-12 FG), 5 assists, 4 steals), and got solid rebounding and defense from Alex Oriakhi (10 points, 8 rebounds) and Andre Drummond (7 points, but 6 rebounds and 7 blocks).

Hallelujah.

*- Underrated: this year's UConn team has been dreadful in terms of getting to the free throw line. They had 26 today, and Lamb had 12. Though of course that was aided by Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard, who went all crazy pants after the game.

I'm very, very hesitant to look at this much-needed, yet not-very-telling win as a turning point. It came against a team missing its star player, a team that's now lost six in a row and is seemingly on the verge of a meltdown. It came in a game when the Huskies didn't execute the most crisp offense, shooting 43.4% from the field and 2-13 from 3. (Plus, UConn always plays well for George Blaney...at first. Then things go to hell.)

But if you want some actual reasons for hope, look no further than these two quotes from today's postgame. First, from the Blane Dog:

When XL crowd cheered for effort, diving for loose balls, "it almost brought tears to my eyes" Blaney said.

Here's hoping the players got the message, too.

How hard a team plays - particularly one that returns most of the players from a national championship squad - should never be an issue, but here we are in early February. The Huskies had been listless for most of the last six weeks in losing six of eight, looking discouraged and/or uninterested.

To watch UConn battle - on the boards, on the floor for loose balls - was heartening, and to hear the Morgue come to life has to be heartening to what is still a team of freshmen and sophomores. Even on days when shots aren't falling, there's no reason UConn should be getting outhustled. The Huskies showed some fire today, and while they still need to do that night in and night out, it's safe to say we're all encouraged after today.

Second, addressing the other macro issue with the squad (leadership and accountability), here's co-captain Oriakhi:

"I told guys, I'm willing to give up my minutes, I don't care anymore. I don't care if I'm on the bench...I just want to win."

Kudos to Alex - who has been dogged by us Internet pundit types for most of this season - for stepping up like a leader should. We know these kids have been frustrated, and we know they want to win. But the Huskies badly need to mature, and to adjust to what's gone wrong. This is a nice first step.

I remain skeptical that this team will suddenly morph back into the team we thought they would be, though we'll have a better idea after UConn's trips to the Yum Monday night and the Carrier Dome Saturday. Still, we have 48 hours of contentness after three weeks of suck. I'll take it.

We'll keep this very simple: the Boat is back. Our team is whole again. So let's stop losing to fringe NCAA Tournament teams, k?

UConn and Notre Dame tip off at the Morgue at noon on SNY in a rematch of a game two weeks ago, a 67-53 UConn win in South Bend. This is your open thread. Go Huskies.

Even with its depth hamstrung by the temporary(?) suspension of Ryan Boatright, UConn looked at its best over the final 15 minutes of Saturday's 67-53 victory over Notre Dame. The teams were tied with 16:30 left; UConn went on a 12-4 run, withstood a 5-0 Irish mini-run, then closed with a beautiful 16-2 streak to push the Huskies back into the top four of the Big East.

In perhaps the most encouraging performance of the season, the Huskies got a little something from seven of the eight players who suited up; but the story of the game was the brilliance of the previously-dormant duo of Alex Oriakhi (12 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks in 24 minutes) and Roscoe Smith (10 points, 6 rebounds in 15 minutes), who gave Jim Calhoun the spark UConn needed to overwhelm the undersized Irish.

There have been questions all year long about the apparent ability of UConn's post players, which hasn't - Andre Drummond's monster dunks aside - translated into on-court dominance yet. This one game, against a Notre Dame team without a ton of size, doesn't necessarily answer those questions.

But Oriakhi has now had two excellent games in a row, while Drummond (10 points and 13 rebounds) continues to get better. Add Smith as a rebounder/toughness guy (he had six FT attempts, mostly after picking up offensive boards), and occasional contributions from the rest of the rotation? You've got a team that can win when Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb are merely average, as they were today, and a team that can be a juggernaut when the backcourt gets it going.

Even after a comfortable win on the road in the Big East, Calhoun said after the game that UConn can get better.

Still, it's hard not to picture this as a turning-point game. After struggling again in the first half, the Huskies came out with a dedicated offensive game plan (work the ball inside) and turned up the intensity on defense, even forcing a few rare turnovers. There aren't many teams who can match Drummond and Oriakhi's size and strength, and if it took a couple bumps on the New Jersey Turnpike to inspire them, so be it.

After a two-game losing streak, UConn has put itself in position to be in great shape come February 1. The Huskies have just two conference games over the next two weeks - home games against Cincinnati on Wednesday and this same Notre Dame team Jan. 29. (There's also a road game at a sneaky-good Tennessee team next Saturday, which should be a great test.) Hold serve at home, and the Huskies can be 6-2 going into the murderous four-game stretch that kicks off the month (at Georgetown/Seton Hall/at Louisville/at Syracuse).

Below the jump, some assorted thoughts (and grades) on the individual players.

Continue reading this post »

Good morning! For whatever reason, UConn and Notre Dame will kick things off at 11 a.m. today, which means, if the players are anything like I was in college (and they're not), they will be waking up about midway through the first half.

Last time out, the Huskies came through with a win in almost-certainly unsustainable fashion: they were absolutely crushed on the offensive boards by West Virginia (16-5) and were again careless with the ball (12 turnovers committed, just 7 against), but efficient performances by Andre Drummond, Jeremy Lamb and even Alex Oriakhi (the three combined to shoot 22-for-33, and the rest of the team - minus Shabazz - wasn't much worse, percentage-wise) and some tough defense down the stretch gave UConn a big win.

With the two-game losing streak in the rearview mirror, UConn will head back out on the road to play a spry Notre Dame team that has won three of its first four Big East games after a disappointing 8-5 finish in the non-conference. It's taken a long time for the Irish to get used to playing without senior leader Tim Abromaitis, who is out for the season with a knee. Although to be fair, all five of the Irish defeats have come away from the Joyce Centre, and ND hasn't lost there since February 2010.

Notre Dame only does a few things particularly well - they don't turn the ball over, and they don't give up free throws. The Irish shoot just over 32 percent from 3 (225th in the country), though Jerian Grant and Eric Atkins are both near 40 percent (Atkins at 42). They also have a 6-9 fella named Jack Cooley, who has been a beast on the offensive boards (10th-best percentage in America; by comparison, Drummond is 25th). But considering UConn is awful at forcing turnovers, and not much better on the defensive glass lately, the Huskies may need to shoot lights-out to win again.

Big East Gravity (the same force that caused Seton Hall to lose to USF last night, and the same force that's caused 13 of the 16 Big East teams to have two or more losses after 4/5 games into the conference schedule) would seem to favor Jim Calhoun and co., but the Huskies are of course having some roster troubles of their own right now.

Tyler Olander is banged up and may not play today, and late last night, Ryan Boatright was suspended indefinitely, pending the result of yet another NCAA investigation. As if the Huskies weren't already overwhelmed on the road (two losses and a three-point win over USF), they'll now have to go without 1/3rd of their guards and a very consistent presence in the post.

Nevertheless, we'll find out what Cal can do with this team on short notice. Some contributions from soon-to-be-always power forward Roscoe Smith and the slumping Shabazz Napier (0-6, 4 turnovers but also 8 assists on Monday) would help, and UConn will probably need to rely on Lamb and Drummond once again.

Tip is at 11 a.m. over on ESPN2, and this will be your OpenThread. C'mon in, and let's go Huskies.

Well, lookie here. If it isn't a quality non-conference basketball game at Gampel Pavilion, pre-New Year's.

That's more of a happy coincidence than anything else; this is the third straight year UConn has scheduled Harvard as part of Jim Calhoun's annual "F--k You, Other New England Schools" pre-January march of terror. (The Huskies scraped by in a six-point game in 2009-10, and blew out a 23-win Crimson team last year by almost 30 points.)

It just so happens that this year's Harvard team looks to be one of the better Ivy League teams of recent history, and an apparently legitimate Top 25 team, considering Tommy Amaker's group won the Battle 4 Atlantis - AKA the early-season tournament UConn did not win - beating Florida State (in an all-time ugly game) and Central Florida (which handed the Huskies their only loss thus far) to get the job done.

KenPom rates the Crimson at #37 in his rankings, and judging by the Four Factors (eFG%, turnover%, offensive rebound% and FT rate), they are quite the nasty little defensive team (39th overall). Though it seems they've benefited greatly from the best free throw defense in America (opponents are shooting 54% from the line against Harvard).

Amaker's gameplan has involved just throwing a bunch of 6-5 to 6-8 guys on the floor, led by leading scorer Keith Wright (11.4 per). But don't sleep on Laurent Rivard, which is the most Harvard name ever, who is shooting 40% from 3 this year.

As for the Huskies, this will be the final game before their 10-day winter break for finals, meaning basically this is the last night before the season really begins. Ryan Boatright has been a revelation in early action, Andre Drummond is starting to figure out where the beast mode switch is, and Jerebazz Lampier continues to rock our collective worlds while not even planning to call us back in the morning.

So let's see if the Huskies can't beat this bunch of eggheads before hitting the books.

It's a rare UConn-Mid Major game on ESPN2 tonight; tip is at 7 p.m., and this will be your open thread. Use it wisely.

Go Huskies.

UConn's 16-game winning streak came to an end Friday afternoon, as the Huskies blew a 17-point lead and lost to the Central Florida Fightin' Jordan Progenys, 68-63, in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis. UConn falls to 5-1 overall, loses for the first time since last season's regular-season finale against Notre Dame, and loses in a tournament game for the first time since the 2010 Big East Tournament.

Good on UCF for taking the game from a UConn team that hasn't been overwhelmingly good early in the season. As if we needed any further reminders, this isn't Kemba Walker's team anymore.

Depending on your own personal level of optimism, today's loss was either a painful way of helping this young group grow up, a warning sign for the future, or completely irrelevant because the construction of the Huskies' roster will look very different 24 hours from now.

Continue reading this post »

Thanks to real life intruding, this afternoon will be my first opportunity to see the UConn men's basketball team play a live opponent on a real, live television. Of course, the team you and I are going to view this afternoon against Coppin State at the XL Center is not quite the team we thought we'd see.

Ryan Boatright's suspension is official - six games; the three UConn has already played, today's, and the first two in the Battle for Atlantis. Jeremy Lamb's sprained ankle will apparently keep him out. Shabazz Napier, then, is UConn's only scholarship guard available...except he's battling a bunch of ailments.

So while Coppin State - which played at Oklahoma less than 48 hours ago - is not much of a threat to the Huskies even if they play a five power-forward lineup (Tyler Olander at 2-guard - a man can dream!), today should be very intriguing to see how Jim Calhoun will use his supposed versatility and make this work. A nation turns its lonely eyes to you, Brendan Allen. Woo woo woo.

Other storylines: Andre Drummond had his first double-double last time out; will his improvement result in a triple-triple today? Will Oriakhi and Drummond combine to shoot better than 50% from the free throw line? How about 33.3% (they're 7-for-22 through 3 games)? Will Niels Giffey be able to handle the ball without turning it over like crazy, thus ushering in the era of the pointe-stürmer? (Likely answers: Yes, no, mayhaps, ja).

Tip-off from Hartford is at 1 p.m., and you can catch the game on SNY.

You may also use this open thread to follow along with the third-seeded UConn soccer team's NCAA Tournament Round of 32 match against Monmouth, which also kicks off at 1:00, and can be heard on WHUS on either radio (91.7 FM in the Storrs area), online (www.whus.org) or on iTunes.

We can also talk about UConn football, but meh.

Hooray! It’s Basketballmas in Connecticut! I’ve been fairly quiet on the blog as of late, but this is annually my favorite post of the year – and there’s no chance that I wouldn’t get set for the opening night of college hoops with my Fourth Annual UConn Basketball Preview. Holy crap, we’ve been a blog for four seasons. Your Defending National Champion Huskies open their season in a few hours against Columbia – so sit back, put your feet up and enjoy. And don’t forget to join our OpenThread tonight at 5 p.m., which will cover both UConn basketball as well as UConn soccer in the Big East semifinals.

I’m one of those cynical assholes who can’t stand (most) Disney movies, the kind of person who calls out the plot points 20 minutes in advance. (I know what you’re thinking, and yes I am LOTS of fun at parties.)

I guess I’ve just never understood why we need Disney movies when real life tells much more interesting, rich stories. Take UConn basketball, for example.

Almost no one remembers it now, but on the day the 2010-11 season opened, things were looking bleak. A distressing scandal, followed by a disastrous 2009-10 season had seemingly sucked the life out of the UConn program. It had certainly drained a lot of energy from Jim Calhoun, as evidenced by the mysterious illness that sidelined him that season.

One year ago in this space, I wrote the following (among 4,000 other words):

This particular team is very young, but they are invested with a great responsibility: to reverse the negative trend line that Calhoun's program has been on since April 2009.

...

 

 If all goes well, they'll go through their growing pains this year, show signs of quality, and hopefully be joined by a decisive infusion of raw talent to make one last run at a ring possible, either next year or in 2012-13.

Those were, I think, reasonable best-case scenarios for a team of talented freshmen replacing seniors who came off an 18-16 season.

Continue reading this post »

The stakes are incredibly high in today's crucial-ish Big East showdown between mighty Syracuse, who should've lost to a MAC team at home, and mighty UConn, which went ahead and did. The winner will stay alive for the league's somehow-still-existant BCS berth, which is just a stupid sentence in regards to these two teams (so pencil in the winner as your Orange Bowl representative). The loser gets to keep Paul Pasqualoni.

There are plenty of actual storylines to go around here, but Paul Pasqualoni has completely sapped my own personal enthusiasm for UConn football at the moment. Nevertheless, they will still be playing a game today at noon on ESPNU, against Syracuse of the ACC. We'll be talking about it in this here thread.

Let's go Huskies.

Based on the way the conference realignment picture is shaping up, tonight could be termed a trial run of dipping UConn's toes into the chlorine-less, cloudy pool that is Wednesday Night MACtion. The 3-4 Huskies travel to Pittsburgh tonight for what is theoretically a Big East football game, but what is in fact a test of sheer will between masters of derp.

UConn has played three full games against FBS opponents in which they have not scored an offensive touchdown (that's 3 out of 6, people). Pittsburgh beat an FCS team by six points, and failed to score an offensive point against  a really mediocre Utah team in their last outing - a game that came a week after the Panthers scored 10 points in a blowout loss at Rutgers.

And to prove that Mother Nature is spiteful and wants to see us in agony, note: it's apparently raining like hell in Pittsburgh right now. First team to 10 wins! On the plus side, good things seem to happen to UConn in the rain.

Anyways, believe it or not, this is actually an important game for Coach P's motley crew. A win brings UConn to 4-4, keeps bowl hopes very much alive, and with three straight home games coming up in November against Syracuse, Cincinnati and Rutgers, there's even a chance that UConn could win the oh my god let's not go there because that would be the biggest travesty in sports history.

So let's all have a good Wednesday night time here in the Open Thread, enjoy the game, and start imagining what Andre Drummond will look like dunking on Ivy Leaguers.

Let's go Huskies.

Courtesy of Matt Norlander over at CBS Sports (click the link - he has posted two more videos and a short write-up from Gampel tonight): Andre Drummond and Ryan Boatright doing wonderfully violent things to basketballs from UConn's First Night tonight.

Good gracious.

Twenty-eight days until Basketballmas, everyone!

This is two straight weeks we go straight to the source for a look at UConn's opponent. Joining us today is Brandon, the Western Michigan writer from SBNation's MAC blog, Hustle Belt.

He gives us a look at how the Huskies match up with a hungry Western Michigan squad, why this is a bad week for UConn to be missing its top cornerback, and a shocking game prediction that really isn't so shocking once you consider that UConn scored 17 friggin' points on Buffalo last week.

I also answered some questions over at Hustle Belt, so check that out as well.

Take it away, Brandon:

TheUConnBlog: What's WMU's strength on offense? The Huskies appear to have a solid, aggressive defense at every level; what can the Broncos do to give them trouble?

Hustle Belt: We love the pass. Prepare to meet Jordan White. He leads the nation in receptions, and is 2nd in yards. He returns punts too. Behind him is a nice core of receivers, most notably Robert Arnheim and Chleb Ravenell. Our run game is still a work-in-progress, but isn't bad. The key will be the line. Our line is currently banged up a bit, and me might start a true freshman Saturday. However, if Alex Carder can build a lead for us, I won't be worried. If it comes to crunch time, I will cry. He is 0-2 on game winning drives in his career.

More below the jump:

Continue reading this post »

Based solely on reports coming in today via Twitter and affiliated news outlets, here's what the landscape of the six (soon to be 4, possibly 5) major conferences could look like if everything follows through. I'll update this post as news changes:

ACC

1. Boston College
2. Clemson
3. Duke
4. Florida State
5. Georgia Tech
6. Maryland
7. Miami (FL)
8. North Carolina
9. North Carolina State
10. Pittsburgh
11. Syracuse
12. Virginia
13. Virginia Tech
14. Wake Forest

BIG TEN

1. Illinois
2. Indiana
3. Iowa
4. Michigan
5. Michigan State
6. Minnesota
7. Nebraska
8. Northwestern
9. Ohio State
10. Penn State
11. Purdue
12. Wisconsin

SEC

1. Alabama
2. Arkansas
3. Auburn
4. Florida
5. Georgia
6. Kentucky
7. LSU
8. Mississippi
9. Mississippi State
10. South Carolina
11. Tennessee
12. Texas A&M
13. Vanderbilt
14. Missouri (rumored)
    

PAC-16

1. Arizona
2. Arizona State
3. California
4. Colorado
5. Oregon
6. Oregon State
7. Stanford
8. UCLA
9. USC
10. Utah
11. Washington
12. Washington State

BIG EAST FOOTBALL

1. Cincinnati
2. Louisville
3. Rutgers
4. UConn
5. TCU
6. South Florida
7. West Virginia

BIG EAST NON-FOOTBALL

1. DePaul
2. Georgetown
3. Marquette
4. Notre Dame
5. Providence
6. Seton Hall
7. St. John's
8. Villanova

BIG 12

1. Baylor
2. Iowa State
3. Kansas
4. Kansas State
5. Oklahoma
6. Oklahoma State
7. Texas
8. Texas Tech

Because hey, we could all use a little cheering up today.

The Big East as we knew it died Sunday morning, when the Atlantic Coast Conference officially accepted the applications of Syracuse University and Pittsburgh University to extend the league's membership to 14 teams.

What remains of the Big East is an unwieldy, rickety 15-team structure well on its way to collapse. Seven football teams remain, but the Northeastern character of the league (on the football side, at least) is all but gone - just UConn and Rutgers. The endgame appears obvious at this point - the total disintegration of the Big East as a football conference - and now that the game is on, it's time to make moves.

Elsewhere, other dominoes are about to fall - notably, this report of Texas readying to jump from the Big 12 to the Pac 12, thus destroying a second BCS conference; I doubt Oklahoma (and Oklahoma State/Texas Tech) are far behind.

That part, at least, is good news. Because if Texas won't be parking its non-football sports in the ACC, it means there is a spot open in that conference, should it choose to expand to 16. UConn, Rutgers, Louisville and West Virginia would all be logical candidates for those final two spots.

To her credit, UConn president Susan Herbst is already actively using her connections to lobby for UConn's inclusion in the new super-conference world.

It's the only card UConn can play now: to escape the dying Big East and hope its value is high enough to be an attractive target. The remaining Big East football teams will have to do the same thing.

I don't want to see any of our Big East friends left behind; I rather liked this conference.

But if there's any consolation for fellow Big East-loving Husky fans, if the ACC extends an invitation to UConn, that league would have most of the teams we love to hate (Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Duke, Chestnut Hill School of Pretension And Losing To Duke, our old buddy Randy Edsall down at Maryland), with the possibility of Rutgers coming along as the 16th team. It would be weird, certainly, but it's the best thing that could happen for UConn at this point (both in the major sports and the minor - ACC soccer, field hockey and baseball are all near the best in the NCAA).

(Side note: I don't begrudge Pitt and Syracuse one bit for making this move. They were shackled by a league office that continually put basketball first in a football-dominated world. The Big East made half-measures to improve the football league [adding TCU] while continually trying to appease the old-school basketball schools [trying to add Villanova]. The league was simply not sustainable at its current state, and was always going to be easy prey for the bigger-money conferences.)

In the utopia where college sports isn't big business designed to wring the most money out of the biggest brand names, maybe the move towards consolidation wouldn't be inevitable. And maybe UConn would still be a happy, satisfied member of the Big East, playing Georgetown, St. John's and Villanova every year in perpetuity.

But we don't live in that world. We live in the world where UConn (and West Virginia, and Louisville, and Rutgers, and USF, etc.) wants to compete at the highest level of athletics, and that means doing everything possible to stick with one of the new power football conferences. At least until the next paradigm shift.

In an update to last night's New York Times story revealing that Syracuse and Pittsburgh have been talking with the ACC about possible membership, it is now being reported that both schools have actually sent letters of application to the conference, and at least one anonymous Big East official is saying the Orange and the Panthers are "likely gone."

I don't want to sound panicked or anything, but this is quite possibly the worst possible realignment news for UConn.

Without Syracuse and Pittsburgh, two of the founding members of the league, the Big East as we know it is dead, and UConn would be clinging to a sinking ship, a seven-team non-entity of a league anchored down by eight non-factors (when it comes to football, at least).

The league's only hope of survival would be to add Conference USA (or possibly Big 12?) teams, but if this Cuse/Pitt thing happens, I couldn't give a damn about the league's survival. At that point, it's every football-playing member for himself.

If the Syracuse and Pittsburgh drop the Big East, then UConn has exactly two options to keep its fledgling football program above water: the ACC and the Big 10.

The ACC might possibly accept UConn, but then the current rumor is"add Syracuse and Pittsburgh for 14 football members, add Texas and Notre Dame (minus football) for 16 all-sports members." In which case, UConn is SOL.

If the Big 10 expands to 16, UConn might be considered for one of the slots, but without Notre Dame, I don't know that there's a compelling reason for that league to expand; in which case, UConn is SOL.

With Oklahoma and Texas' boards of regents meeting on Monday to discuss the future destruction of the Big 12, it now appears as if UConn's future is destined to be in some hybrid of Big 12 leftovers, Big East leftovers and Conference USA hopefuls. As fun as it might be to play Kansas in basketball twice a year, that league is probably not going to be considered for membership in the the exclusive football-based cartel that seems to be on the horizon.

With the information available publicly right now, UConn's hopes seem to rest with a future SEC (or Big 10) raid of the ACC, in which case the ACC would need more replacement members, in which case teams like UConn, Louisville and Rutgers might tag along with Syracuse and Pitt as part of the fourth superconference. Either that, or some superconference megalith takes a look at the financials and decides it wants a mediocre football/great basketball program in a small state with tangential connections to both New York and Boston.

So yes, these are all rumors right now, and this post is pretty much all speculation.But this is as worrying a day as I can remember.

And it sure as hell feels as if our school was caught flat-footed and is about to have the rug pulled out from under it.

Paul Pasqualoni is insane, because he thinks Johnny McEntee is the "accurate" quarterback. He has completed 31 of his 69 passes this season.

Paul Pasqualoni is making it up as he goes, because for all the fooferaw about "continuity" last week, he continued to switch quarterbacks at whim, despite one of them - Scott McCummings - contributing on both offensive touchdowns Friday night.

Paul Pasqualoni is heralding an offense that is actively handing points to the other team, an offense that would be the best in the country if "Throwing Short Of The First Down Line On Third Down" was a category.

I could theoretically write for hours on every other thing plaguing this godforsaken team, but nothing quite sums up the state of UConn football like the fact that - despite all evidence to the contrary - Paul Pasqualoni believes that Johnny McEntee is our quarterback. (Nothing personal against the guy; he was given a shot, and he didn't perform. No shame in that - he's hardly the first UConn QB to play poorly.)

Unless something happens, in a hurry, this is going to be the worst UConn football team since 2001. And that's about all I can write without popping a blood vessel.

UConn is going to be lucky to win three football games this season.

That's the only conclusion I can come up with after a game in which the Huskies scored a total of three offensive points against the SEC's 10th, 11th or 12th-best team; a game in which the Huskies had 18 points completely gift-wrapped by same; a game in which they had a seven-point lead against a team whose QB couldn't run a three-step drop without tripping over two UConn defensive linemen.

UConn's 24-21 loss to Vanderbilt Saturday night was absolutely disgraceful, not because it was a loss to Vanderbilt, a team that may score negative points against the better SEC teams. Nor was it disgraceful because it was a game that the Huskies deserved to win - they didn't. It was disgraceful because it shows that the new UConn football coach is just as stubborn as the old UConn football coach.

Whatever Pasqualoni's justification for sticking with Johnny McEntee (who put up a disastrous 10-for-27, 99-yard, 3-INT line), it is wrong, and he is wrong. Even if McEntee is "THE GUY" - even though officially, he Scott McCummings and Mike Nebrich are still listed as joint No. 1 QBs - McEntee showed no pocket presence, threw balls with no zip, repeatedly threw into coverage, showed almost no accuracy (how many passes to the flat were incomplete?!).

Pasqualoni stuck with that guy for four quarters in the face of all available evidence, and that's inexcusable.

In a situation where punting would have been FINE (up seven, 7:00 left, 3rd and mega-long), Pasqualoni decided THAT was the time to eschew his Edsallian run-up-the-middle offense, take THAT GUY and ask him to make a low-percentage play. Which, of course, ended with the game-breaking pick-six that got Vanderbilt right back in the game.

That's also inexcusable.

This is no time to make knee-jerk decisions about the viability of Paul Pasqualoni as UConn's head coach. But after two weeks - one game against a below-average FCS team, one against friggin Vanderbilt - I'm not impressed. And unless things turn around quickly, this season is going to get very, very ugly.

The offense has actually REGRESSED from the Edsall days, which is frankly, amazing. The play-calling - awful. The quarterbacking - dreadful. The receiving - not even worth mentioning (outside of our tight end). The offensive line and running back are fine, but there's not much they can do when 10 guys are in the box. The defense is very good, but they ain't scoring two touchdowns a game. Meanwhile, UConn hasn't scored an offensive touchdown against a Division I-A team in 183 minutes of football. That's three games-plus (USF, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt) and counting.

Maybe I'm expecting too much from a team that needed a historically lucky season just to go 5-2 in a terrible conference to make the BCS game. I'm fully aware that UConn has never really had a "good" team in a "favored against most of the teams on its schedule" sense, so it's not like the Huskies are that far off from they were last year. (Imagine some of those fluky 2010 wins, except add four UConn turnovers.)

The last time UConn lost to Vanderbilt was in 2002 - that time, by a 28-24 score. That year, the seniors on UConn's team had been recruited to play in the Atlantic-10.

I have no problem lowering my expectations for this program from "not falling far from an 8-5 season" to "hey, as long as we're roughly as good as that 2002 team that won six games playing the MAC and Sun Belt". We all knew this was a possibility with the personnel losses UConn suffered.

I guess I just figured it'd be longer than two weeks before we got to that point.

Welcome to game two of the Paul Pasqualoni Era, although really a drab 35-3 win over Fordham hardly counts for much. Tonight, UConn will face its first opponent with a pulse when they take on Vanderbilt, out of the SEC.

Is UConn as conservative as it looked against Fordham? One would think not. But the outcome of the quarterback "competition" should become much clearer tonight. Johnny McEntee has the accuracy and the vision to be a starting quarterback (in my opinion), but his biggest weakness is his mobility and pocket presence. Playing against real-live defensive linemen capable of making McEntee pay should help us get a better read on his viability as a starter.

We'll also see a little Scott McCummings, I suppose, although he was a bit underwhelming (against a I-AA defense) with his package of plays last week.

At running back, Lyle McCombs put up big numbers last week; we'll see if that can continue, and if D.J. Shoemate can make an impact after returning from injury.

We're going to learn a lot more about UConn tonight; hopefully, we learn that UConn is not going to finish 3-9.

Vandy fans seem hyped about an improved offense, and the Commodores will be out to prove something under first-year coach James Franklin.

Elsewhere, it's been a bit of a bloodbath for the Big East today, with Louisville and Rutgers going down, Cincinnati well behind, and Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia struggling to get by Division I-AA opponents. Here's hoping that the Huskies can buck that trend and pick up a win over a BCSish school.

Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m., and you can check it out on SNY or ESPN3. This will be your open thread for discussion throughout the game.

Let's go Huskies.

Time to get going, y'all.

Not much to report this morning (QB decision is still not official though a Jeff Jacobs tweet indicated that YouTube hero Johnny Mac is getting the nod), except for the slightly grimmer injury news about Jesse Joseph. Losing him could be a big deal, as he was expected to be a stud defensive end this year.

Nevertheless, it's game time at Rentschler Field. Kickoff is 12:00 on ESPN3.com. Your preview is right here, and this will be your open thread for discussion of this game and, if you like, anything else going on.

Let's go Huskies.