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Somewhat of a stream of cons. post. Too much to do elsewhere.
1. The problem with bringing in a 5th year PG wannabe alpha dog. I don't have any negative feelings toward Gibbs. He should not be "benched" or whatever other witch burning people want because of our feckless offense. You can only ever review your decisions, retrospectively, with the information you had at the time you made the decision. At the time, Gibbs was a tremendous pick up and filled a very real need. Currently - well, same call! So that's easy. BUT, has Ollie made the right call with this kid SINCE he came on board. Squarely - soundly - resoundingly - NO. Ollie has continued to monkey hammer the Gibbsian shooting guard Square Peg into the Desperate Need point guard Round Hole, and has not appeared to relent much. Much. I posted the "Feeling" thread and the "Adams deserves his own thread" thread close together, and it was all looking t1ts and tacos until some mysterious half time incident. Then the apparent changing of the guard (damn nice pun) was side-tracked and . . .
. . . and I turn on Cinci [I just typed Pitt by accident ] and Jalen is not starting, and I'm thinking - "Oh dear, he we go again."
To wrap this up, the problem bringing in an alpha dog PG wannabe for one season is that the guy has not had multiple years to make it "his" team, garner the respect of his teammates (think Shabazz and Kemba), and properly enter the "team leader" alpha dog role.
Really liked RJ. Adored Kromah. Man Love for Miller. Gibbs? Meh.
So what's the difference? Difference is, the other guys didn't have to be the alpha dog - they got (and get) to be the hole-filler and consummate team guy. Miller, more, obviously. Gibbs was recruited to be the point. He was our best option when that happened. It was a good call.
Now, however, Ollie is making a bad call. He is committing a cardinal business sin, which is that he appears to be considering sunk costs when he considers who should be playing going forward.
Everything else is noise. Loud, to be sure, but noise. The problem with this team is the lack of a true point guard leading the team. DID 2011 and 2014 NOT TEACH US - AND THE NATION - ANYTHING?????? Great point guard leadership wins championships. We've been playing for the sweet sixteen for the last two months and it has given me fan cancer. We are UConn. What hell are we doing? With the current system, with Gibbs at point for any more than back-up Adams minutes, we are, AT THE VERY BEST, a one win team in the tourni (IF we make the tourni).
Ollie is at a crossroads right now. He arrived at it two months ago, but he's only embraced it now, as I see it. This reminds me so much of Niels, where, for two months, I was screaming at TV Ollie "Get Calhoun out of the lineup and play NIELS!!" It finally happened, but after too much time had passed, in my view (but that worked out, eh?).
I think it's probably too late to hand the keys to Adams and capture some magic that could have gotten us to the Elite Eight or so. Sadly. I think that, if Ollie had taken the correct crossroad a month ago, we'd have had a chance. Now? IDK. SMH. OMG. WTF? COL (crying out loud).
Do we all agree that, with the current scheme, and Gibbs running point more than backup minutes, we are a defective team with little hope of winning more than one game, assuming we get in (big assumption for me)??
If you take that premise as accurate, the calculus gets remarkably simple:
If you don't make Adams Alpha now, and ask Gibbs to take it for the team (and F-off if you're not into that), then we struggling to make the tourni, and struggling to win, and done the first weekend.
If you do make Adams Alpha now, then the worst that can happen is that we don't make the tourni because of Adams' freshman failures, and REALLY, that's not a substantially different result than making the tourni and getting bounced in the 1st round. We're not St. Bonaventure G-d D-ammit.
If you take value or solace in simply making it, then UConn is not your team. Perhaps try Temple. They looked good kicking our asses twice. TWICE!
Sorry for all the yelling. I'm just sick of watching Ollie not get off the pot, whilst failing to paint on the ladder, while cutting bait.
2. I guess I just had one point, after all.
OLLIE - Make Adams Alpha. NOW. Through the last day the kids wears Husky Blue. He is the future. Don't play just to make the tourni. WE'RE UCONN.
Are you with me?
1. The problem with bringing in a 5th year PG wannabe alpha dog. I don't have any negative feelings toward Gibbs. He should not be "benched" or whatever other witch burning people want because of our feckless offense. You can only ever review your decisions, retrospectively, with the information you had at the time you made the decision. At the time, Gibbs was a tremendous pick up and filled a very real need. Currently - well, same call! So that's easy. BUT, has Ollie made the right call with this kid SINCE he came on board. Squarely - soundly - resoundingly - NO. Ollie has continued to monkey hammer the Gibbsian shooting guard Square Peg into the Desperate Need point guard Round Hole, and has not appeared to relent much. Much. I posted the "Feeling" thread and the "Adams deserves his own thread" thread close together, and it was all looking t1ts and tacos until some mysterious half time incident. Then the apparent changing of the guard (damn nice pun) was side-tracked and . . .
. . . and I turn on Cinci [I just typed Pitt by accident ] and Jalen is not starting, and I'm thinking - "Oh dear, he we go again."
To wrap this up, the problem bringing in an alpha dog PG wannabe for one season is that the guy has not had multiple years to make it "his" team, garner the respect of his teammates (think Shabazz and Kemba), and properly enter the "team leader" alpha dog role.
Really liked RJ. Adored Kromah. Man Love for Miller. Gibbs? Meh.
So what's the difference? Difference is, the other guys didn't have to be the alpha dog - they got (and get) to be the hole-filler and consummate team guy. Miller, more, obviously. Gibbs was recruited to be the point. He was our best option when that happened. It was a good call.
Now, however, Ollie is making a bad call. He is committing a cardinal business sin, which is that he appears to be considering sunk costs when he considers who should be playing going forward.
Everything else is noise. Loud, to be sure, but noise. The problem with this team is the lack of a true point guard leading the team. DID 2011 and 2014 NOT TEACH US - AND THE NATION - ANYTHING?????? Great point guard leadership wins championships. We've been playing for the sweet sixteen for the last two months and it has given me fan cancer. We are UConn. What hell are we doing? With the current system, with Gibbs at point for any more than back-up Adams minutes, we are, AT THE VERY BEST, a one win team in the tourni (IF we make the tourni).
Ollie is at a crossroads right now. He arrived at it two months ago, but he's only embraced it now, as I see it. This reminds me so much of Niels, where, for two months, I was screaming at TV Ollie "Get Calhoun out of the lineup and play NIELS!!" It finally happened, but after too much time had passed, in my view (but that worked out, eh?).
I think it's probably too late to hand the keys to Adams and capture some magic that could have gotten us to the Elite Eight or so. Sadly. I think that, if Ollie had taken the correct crossroad a month ago, we'd have had a chance. Now? IDK. SMH. OMG. WTF? COL (crying out loud).
Do we all agree that, with the current scheme, and Gibbs running point more than backup minutes, we are a defective team with little hope of winning more than one game, assuming we get in (big assumption for me)??
If you take that premise as accurate, the calculus gets remarkably simple:
If you don't make Adams Alpha now, and ask Gibbs to take it for the team (and F-off if you're not into that), then we struggling to make the tourni, and struggling to win, and done the first weekend.
If you do make Adams Alpha now, then the worst that can happen is that we don't make the tourni because of Adams' freshman failures, and REALLY, that's not a substantially different result than making the tourni and getting bounced in the 1st round. We're not St. Bonaventure G-d D-ammit.
If you take value or solace in simply making it, then UConn is not your team. Perhaps try Temple. They looked good kicking our asses twice. TWICE!
Sorry for all the yelling. I'm just sick of watching Ollie not get off the pot, whilst failing to paint on the ladder, while cutting bait.
2. I guess I just had one point, after all.
OLLIE - Make Adams Alpha. NOW. Through the last day the kids wears Husky Blue. He is the future. Don't play just to make the tourni. WE'RE UCONN.
Are you with me?