UConn Cracks the AP Top-25 - Overreaction?

By:  Shane McCarthy

UConn did not receive a single vote for the preseason AP Top-25. They lost two players that ended up being lottery picks, three others transferred out of the program and their hall of fame head coach retired a month before the season. Now they play one game, beat a top-25 team and become the 23^rd best team in the nation?

I’ll be rooting for the Huskies all season and pulling for Kevin Ollie to get a long-term extension. Both would be great stories. But as of right now, cracking the AP Top-25 seems to be a bit of an overreaction. Here’s why:

• The game was played on a different continent in a different time zone. While both teams had to make the same trip and play under the same circumstances, who knows how travel and fatigue affected each.
Michigan St. went through long spurts of not playing defense whatsoever. UConn was getting both easy buckets in transition and wide-open looks at will.


When Michigan St. did get their act together on the defensive end, they shut down UConn with ease and quickly gained momentum. They seemingly closed a 20 point deficit at the end of the first half in about five minutes.


And it was UConn’s lack of size that made it easy to shut them down. No question they have some of the most talented guards in the country, but their lack of size is going to be a serious hindrance gong forward. You are not going to emerge victorious on most nights when getting out-rebounded 38-25.


And finally, this was the first game of the season for each team. Just as we shouldn’t overreact about UConn’s win, we shouldn’t overreact about Michigan St.’s loss. It’s a long season, let’s let them play a few games.

UConn is playing this season for themselves and their pride, as there is no post-season this year. But that’s the mentality all teams should have. One game at a time, all about the team. You can tell this team was fired up for their first game and wanted to get Coach Ollie his first win - which was great, and much deserved. And I don’t want to take anything away from them because Napier, Boatright and Calhoun looked great, but I’m just saying – let’s see a few games first.

Twitter:  @shane_t_mac

Throw-Down of the Year Contest

By:  Shane McCarthy

Throughout the season, this blog is going to keep track of the biggest throw-downs by Big East players.  There are no rules to enter and there will definitely be no prizes awarded.  As long as I see the dunk and deem it eligible based on its quality, it gets entered in.   And since I can’t watch every minute of every game and if I somehow miss SportCenter’s Top 10 for that day (which is all dunks for the next seven months), feel free to make me aware of what you think is a throw-down nomination.

With that out of the way, it didn’t take long at all to get our first nomination of the year.  On Friday night on Ramstein Air Base in Germany for the Armed Forces Classic, UConn Sophomore DeAndre Daniels scooted along the baseline and finished with a big throw-down over two Michigan St. players.  Sorry Adreian Payne (#5) and Derrick Nix (#25), you just got thrown-down on.  

Twitter:  @shane_t_mac