Problem - These teams are just better.

[tennmike]

How's this for an 800 lb gorilla? We have a coaching staff littered with point guards and from a developmental standpoint, none of our players improved their ability to dribble, pass, break a press, run an offense, inbound the ball, make foul shots, recognize...court awareness or know when and when not to shoot. These wait till you see next years' fantastic development folks are delirious. If you want to take solace by looking at Brimah's gain, you have to see that ~50% of his scoring improvement is directly attributable to DHam.

If you want to lean on the KO is distracted argument, where are the "we got your back" assistants? This is, after all, UCONN basketball.

I used to think we were simply better than everyone else...
Better at recognizing talent and intangibles...
Better at player development...
Better at instilling toughness...
Better at motivating players...
Better at game management...
Better at in-game thinking, mental awareness...
Better at outworking our opponents...
Better at imposing our will...

Sadly, we've fallen far and this years' performance may cause some recruits to wonder why they would want to get mixed up with this mess. The sky may actually be falling. All I can grasp onto now is the I hope I am badly mistaken. That would be just great.

 

[imno1]

Well there is an 800 lb gorilla that most often goes unsaid for good reason but KOs personal difficulties have no doubt affected his performance all year long both on the court and off.

Not buying it

 

[Palatine]

For some unknown reason, these player do not know their own strengths and weaknesses. They don't know their own sweet spots on offense. They don't react quickly on defense. They play the game but the don't anticipate it.
And they are -for the most part- soft.

When saw Nolan hit the side jumper for the second game in a row, it was like watching him learn before my eyes. I thought, why couldn't he have figured that out in the first few games? Then I realized, his learning curve was ahead of most of the squad.

 

[husky91]

Our 1-3 are as talented and capable as almost any teams'. The 4-5 fall off a cliff and then the whole thing ends up in the ditch.

Hopefully Brimah has a Hakeem transformation over the summer and Enoch is ready.

 

[tzznandrew]

We have a coaching staff littered with point guards and from a developmental standpoint, none of our players improved their ability to dribble, pass, break a press, run an offense, inbound the ball, make foul shots, recognize...court awareness or know when and when not to shoot.

Let's not pretend that Shabazz, Giffey, and Boatright didn't improve immensely, largely under KO and his crew. As much as we've been complaining, Facey has improved from last year as well. And, at least defensively, Nolan from his freshman year.

Some of the other players haven't improved yet as much as we'd like, but off-season injuries (Calhoun, Purvis, Brimah) could be playing a large role in that. I'm going to be worried about our coaching staff if, with a year under their belt and a summer, Hamilton, Purvis, and Brimah look the same.

 

[willie99]

KO claiming Temple made no 2nd Half adjustments on Boat was terrifying.

Was he watching the game?

he was blinded by his own tears

 

[husky91]

Facey has improved? To what exactly? From an F to a D-, that might even be a reach.

Again, the UK front court is Stein, Town, Johnson and Lyles


UConn's is Brimah, Facey, Nolan and Lubin -- flat out embarrassing

Let's not pretend that Shabazz, Giffey, and Boatright didn't improve immensely, largely under KO and his crew. As much as we've been complaining, Facey has improved from last year as well. And, at least defensively, Nolan from his freshman year.

Some of the other players haven't improved yet as much as we'd like, but off-season injuries (Calhoun, Purvis, Brimah) could be playing a large role in that. I'm going to be worried about our coaching staff if, with a year under their belt and a summer, Hamilton, Purvis, and Brimah look the same.

 

[tzznandrew]

Facey has improved? To what exactly? From an F to a D-, that might even be a reach.

Again, the UK front court is Stein, Town, Johnson and Lyles


UConn's is Brimah, Facey, Nolan and Lubin -- flat out embarrassing

Yes, the UK front court is Cauley-Stein, Towns, Johnson and Lyles. So what? We don't have those players. It's not like any of those kids came in like Brimah and Calipari coached them up.

UK is performing some real recruiting VooDoo right now, and no school is keeping up with them.

As for Facey, he went from averaging 5 mpg, and getting 1.4 ppg and 1.7 rpg (largely against poor competition) to getting 21.8 mpg and getting 4.5 ppg and 5.2 ppg. We need him to be better, especially on defense and rebounding, but he's clearly better than he was last year.

We're not going to compete with talent against UK. That's just not going to happen while Calipari is there. Our best chance against them--and what we did the two times in the last 4 years we beat them in the Final Four--is have some experienced upper classmen and some talent. We have players on the team right now who are talented. Just not enough. And not enough in the post.

 

[Lefty2one]

This has been such a mess of a year that's hard to put it into perspective. We just went 10-8 in 'n AAC.

Next year, unless Adams is an absolute stud, will be the worst collective backcourt we've had in the past 25 years.

 

[mussels]

The irony is that we probably will win the AAC tourney.

Foul. If you're going to give up on the team - then give up on them and take your beating when they win on Sunday. No leaving the door open just a crack - those kittens are cute by the way

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

You're certainly right that a lot of the bad habits Purvis exhibits plagues the entire roster. Where I will sympathize with @Cheeky regarding the position he's taken is that oftentimes it feels he is the least redeemable of everybody, which is made worse by the fact that we're dependent on him to be a lead guard. Everybody else has an excuse - Facey and Brimah are still painfully young in basketball years, Hamilton's only a freshman, and guys like Calhoun and Samuel just aren't that talented.

I don't think this is an indictment on his character or anything. He seems like a great kid. Sometimes the game just moves faster than you can think, and a lot of times I think it's something your born with.

I don't agree that Calhoun is not talented. That is a stretch regardless of performance to date...having talent and getting the most out of it are 2 different things. Same applies to Rodney.

 

[Fishy]

Adams will start over Purvis. Why? Adams look like a big time scorer and we don't want him running the offense. Leave that to lesser mortals. Purvis can't run the show. This means we have to find our starting point.

Ah....both Adams and Purvis will be starting.

Whatever other player we get in the back court will almost certainly be a plan D, E or F type.

 

[imno1]

I don't agree that Calhoun is not talented. That is a stretch regardless of performance to date...having talent and getting the most out of it are 2 different things. Same applies to Rodney.

Talent to play D1 but not talented enough to contribute major minutes on a high level D1 squad imo. Rodney has a lot more "talent" than Omar.

 

[tzznandrew]

Talent to play D1 but not talented enough to contribute major minutes on a high level D1 squad imo. Rodney has a lot more "talent" than Omar.

Dude had the talent. He scored 10 ppg as a freshman in BE...a BE that had Louisville, Syracuse, Pitt, Georgetown, ND, Villanova, etc.

Injuries have drained his athleticism (which was never his strongest suit) and confidence has drained his skills. But there was definitely a time that this kid could ball.

 

[husky91]

Unless Brimah comes back a monster and we aren't stuck playing T Sam and Facey extended minutes the team could even be worse.

This has been such a mess of a year that's hard to put it into perspective. We just went 10-8 in 'n AAC.

Next year, unless Adams is an absolute stud, will be the worst collective backcourt we've had in the past 25 years.

 

[husky91]

Facey is awful. Maybe he's improved, who knows, he wouldn't play 3 mins a game on any top 25 teams.

It's just a frustrating time watching this program deteriorate faster than we suspected due to this conference BS, which seems to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Yes, the UK front court is Cauley-Stein, Towns, Johnson and Lyles. So what? We don't have those players. It's not like any of those kids came in like Brimah and Calipari coached them up.

UK is performing some real recruiting VooDoo right now, and no school is keeping up with them.

As for Facey, he went from averaging 5 mpg, and getting 1.4 ppg and 1.7 rpg (largely against poor competition) to getting 21.8 mpg and getting 4.5 ppg and 5.2 ppg. We need him to be better, especially on defense and rebounding, but he's clearly better than he was last year.

We're not going to compete with talent against UK. That's just not going to happen while Calipari is there. Our best chance against them--and what we did the two times in the last 4 years we beat them in the Final Four--is have some experienced upper classmen and some talent. We have players on the team right now who are talented. Just not enough. And not enough in the post.

 

[jorge34]

Shockingly poor coaching. You guys have covered most, but Ollie has been retched this year. Still playing on the offensive end of the floor as if you have 2 capable lead guards capable of creating their own offensive. Not that type of roster, the lack of ball movement combined with the lack of offensive game plan has killed them.

Brimah is one dimensional, and it's really half a dimension because he is attroticous defender when not blocking shots. I am sick of tallest guy on the court finishing so many games with less than 3 rebounds. He should fall into 7/8 per game.

I am not sure I agree with the lack of effort posts; I think they have played hard for the most part, but miscast, which goes to terrible job by coaching staff.
Having 2 of 3 from the triumverate of boat Napier and kemba is hard to recreate, so going forward coaching staff has to get better

 

[ctchamps]

You're certainly right that a lot of the bad habits Purvis exhibits plagues the entire roster. Where I will sympathize with @Cheeky regarding the position he's taken is that oftentimes it feels he is the least redeemable of everybody, which is made worse by the fact that we're dependent on him to be a lead guard. Everybody else has an excuse - Facey and Brimah are still painfully young in basketball years, Hamilton's only a freshman, and guys like Calhoun and Samuel just aren't that talented.

I don't think this is an indictment on his character or anything. He seems like a great kid. Sometimes the game just moves faster than you can think, and a lot of times I think it's something your born with.

And this is the crux of the problem. How much is the so called lack of performance that Rodney demonstrates based on our perception of how he should perform? You make an excuse for every player but Rodney. A fair statement would have added Rodney's offseason surgery and sitting out a year as excuses to consider.

And who knows how any of the players will progress? So the "least redeemable" is subjective.

 

[champs99and04]

I don't agree that Calhoun is not talented. That is a stretch regardless of performance to date...having talent and getting the most out of it are 2 different things. Same applies to Rodney.

Omar Calhoun pre-hip surgery? Absolutely. We have two years worth of evidence suggesting that the other guy isn't good enough to play at this level.

 

[champs99and04]

And this is the crux of the problem. How much is the so called lack of performance that Rodney demonstrates based on our perception of how he should perform? You make an excuse for every player but Rodney. A fair statement would have added Rodney's offseason surgery and sitting out a year as excuses to consider.

And who knows how any of the players will progress? So the "least redeemable" is subjective.

Offseason surgery doesn't explain him stepping out of bounds seven hundred times. It doesn't explain all his traveling violations. It also doesn't explain 77 assists and 101 turnovers for his career, or the lack of turnovers he creates on the other end.

 

[champs99and04]

Let's not pretend that Shabazz, Giffey, and Boatright didn't improve immensely, largely under KO and his crew. As much as we've been complaining, Facey has improved from last year as well. And, at least defensively, Nolan from his freshman year.

Some of the other players haven't improved yet as much as we'd like, but off-season injuries (Calhoun, Purvis, Brimah) could be playing a large role in that. I'm going to be worried about our coaching staff if, with a year under their belt and a summer, Hamilton, Purvis, and Brimah look the same.

I'd also add Brimah to the list. The fact that he has a ways to go doesn't mean he hasn't come along way already.

 

[jdb50]

Adams will start at the 1 from day 1.

Hey, Mitt Romney posts here, who knew.

 

[CTBasketball]

I wanted to make a post on a player, but there are so many things wrong with this team it isn't even worth it.

 

[David 76]

We deteriorated in 11 months?
CR and being stuck in a crappy conference made us unable to recruit against teams in the same crappy conference?
Ollie went from brilliant to inept in one year?
We won a NC with AB & Nolan but we can't compete with them in the AAC?
Posters are inside KO's mind determining how badly the divorce is affecting his job?

Bad year? YES. But we are 1 or 2 recruits away from being relevant. Maybe a tweak to the coaching staff.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Omar Calhoun pre-hip surgery? Absolutely. We have two years worth of evidence suggesting that the other guy isn't good enough to play at this level.

I'm not here to defend Omar Calhoun. The product we have seen to this point of his career as evidence does show has been below average. Not "good enough..." is to strong because I have seen guys with talent not produce either because of the system or their own lack of work ethic. To say he has been a disappointment is an understatement but if you qualify it by saying "pre-hip surgery" one logical conclusion is Omar has the talent to return to pre-hip surgery form. Honestly I don't know what's best for this kid. After the season a few players may need to sit down with the coaches and make some tough decisions.