That Confirms It

[HuskyBandDad]

I am getting to the point where I am embarrassed by being associated with this forum because of the way some of you treat our great coach, I don't know how much more of this I could take.

I think he is agreeing with you. Sarcasm

 

[HuskyBandDad]

Yah because Ollie was holding out scholarships for home run commits that never happened. He cooled off Bruce Brown who is lighting it up at Miami in the best conference in college basketball. All indications were that Brown was ours ...maybe Ollie will learn from this past offseason the old proverb a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Hanging on to scholarships has done us ZERO.

Ok. No one here knows anything about recruiting.

 

[Husky25]

I am getting to the point where I am embarrassed by being associated with this forum because of the way some of you treat our great coach, I don't know how much more of this I could take.

I'm at the point where I've been avoiding posting as much on the sports boards and spending more time in the Cesspool.

Whodathunk?

 

[Doctor Hoop]

It seems to me, and certainly I could be wrong, that Ollie's X's and O's depend on offensive flow, players knowing their roles, and on-court decisions, like an NBA offense. This group doesn't have the high BBIQ that takes, nor does it have the dribble drive skill needed to force the defense to collapse, and the passing/finishing skill to take advantage.

Maybe next year with Gilbert, Adams, Larrier, Ashton Langford, Jackson on the perimeter, Polley, Enoch's shooting touch, Vital's ability to hit 3's and drive that will all look a lot better. This year needed a more structured offense...and even then with only Adams able to beat his guy off the dribble we would still have struggled.

This teams offense looks a lot better when Purvis hits 3's; it looks like a slog when he doesn't.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

Remember when many on this board wanted Calhoun fired right up to the start of the 2011 season.

 

[huskyrob1]

Do not compare the men to women. Geno is a great coach but the last 4 years he could have stayed in the locker room during games and still won 4 NCs

Sure, I gotcha. I got it. Practices and how they're run, helps in the women's game but not so much in the men's game. You're absolutely right. Lol

 

[yukonyc212]

Remember when many on this board wanted Calhoun fired right up to the start of the 2011 season.

Who wanted Calhoun fired in 2011? We had an exceptional final 4 season 2 years prior?

 

[huskyrob1]

Remember when many on this board wanted Calhoun fired right up to the start of the 2011 season.

Fired for what reasons? I do recall the usual board trolls, but that was just a few posters. When you say "many" I take that to mean something like "many" wanting Diaco fired, last December. This board is tame compared to the Cuse board where people call for Boeheim's firing everyday.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

Who wanted Calhoun fired in 2011? We had an exceptional final 4 season 2 years prior?

Fired for what reasons? I do recall the usual board trolls, but that was just a few posters. When you say "many" I take that to mean something like "many" wanting Diaco fired, last December. This board is tame compared to the Cuse board where people call for Boeheim's firing everyday.

There were more than a few who wanted him gone as I remember.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

Sure, I gotcha. I got it. Practices and how they're run, helps in the women's game but not so much in the men's game. You're absolutely right. Lol

I took your post as comparing Geno to Ollie. Geno did not need to practice the last 4 years with the players he had.

 

[huskyrob1]

I took your post as comparing Geno to Ollie. Geno did not need to practice the last 4 years with the players he had.

Thanks for clarifying, I wasn't going there. Just brought up Geno because he has said so many times in interviews how important practice is at improving team play as well as individual skills, regardless of whether it's the men or women. Any college coach worth his salt would agree.

 

[mauconnfan]

Who wanted Calhoun fired in 2011? We had an exceptional final 4 season 2 years prior?

Which is much different than the exceptional final 4 season we had in 2014, 3 years ago? And by the way for everyone who asks for KO to do better since Bazz left who led the way for JC that year - similar I would say no?

 

[HuskyBandDad]

Thanks for clarifying, I wasn't going there. Just brought up Geno because he has said so many times in interviews how important practice is at improving team play as well as individual skills, regardless of whether it's the men or women. Any college coach worth his salt would agree.

Agree completely. Geno has a problem with AAU also because all these kids do is play games with little practice.

 

[mauconnfan]

Thanks for clarifying, I wasn't going there. Just brought up Geno because he has said so many times in interviews how important practice is at improving team play as well as individual skills, regardless of whether it's the men or women. Any college coach worth his salt would agree.

Problem we have is you can't teach skills if you don't have any. Geno gets the players who have the skill set to learn in that system, get better because they are smart players with some natural gifts. Not the same world here, too many people without any instinctive qualities on the mens team.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

I have a vastly different opinion on Ollie and where we're at right now. He came into a tough situation and did a great job with Calhoun's players. It takes a while to make inroads with players and to get them interested in your school, so for a year or 2 he was playing catch-up trying to recruit the type of players he wants. I think we're finally starting to see quality classes and the fruits of the labor. This year has been a bust given the injuries, but my expectations for him and the team will be increasing. If Adams comes back and either we find a new pivot or Enoch is able to greatly up his defense, I'd be very optimistic for next season.

 

[huskyrob1]

Problem we have is you can't teach skills if you don't have any. Geno gets the players who have the skill set to learn in that system, get better because they are smart players with some natural gifts. Not the same world here, too many people without any instinctive qualities on the mens team.

Of course skills and also sound fundamentals can be taught. Shooting skills, rebounding skills, how to box out or guard someone with out fouling, passing skills, ballhandling skills, those all can be taught and-or improved on with varying degrees of success. What's also important is the athletes ability to learn new ideas and to understand why the coach wants him or her to do it coaches way. What you are also missing here is how good is the teacher? Why do baseball teams have pitching coaches and hitting coaches? They are there to teach and improve upon batting and pitching skills.

 

[Scoe]

Ollie does deserve criticism but dont ever compare him to Diaco ever. Diaco would find a way to screw up the 2014 championship run.

 

[sammydabiz]

In reality, we just need to adopt a Jets fans mentality for the 2017 season...

J-E-T-S

Just
End
The
Season

and hope for better pastures in 2018

 

[VAHuskyFan]

I don't think you can conclude anything from this season. There's only so much even a great coach can do when a team is snakebit by cascading injuries. The roster this year is like the cast of an Agatha Christie novel.

At the same time, it's also by no means clear that injuries are the only problem. This team does some concerning stuff. I mean, you watch a mid-level Ivy League team and there's a strategy and plan there and you can understand what everyone is trying to do. That's a team that gets beat, not a team that beats itself. With UConn going on a few years now, there are stretches in games where we look absolutely brilliant. And then there are stretches where the team looks completely lost. And there are games where we absolutely appear to beat ourself with unforced errors and bad decision-making.

How much of that is coaching vs individual players and circumstances? I have no idea. It's not fair to blame KO at this point, because he's been relying on transfers (which hurts continuity), and battling injuries. It could happen to even a great coach. But I also don't know how anyone can look at this season and not be at all concerned.

We're basically at the point where a doctor would say "it may just be nothing, but I'd like to run some more tests." We'll know more next year . . . and very little before then (unless we somehow win the AAC Tourney and make it to the Sweet 16).

 

[huskyrob1]

I don't think you can conclude anything from this season. There's only so much even a great coach can do when a team is snakebit by cascading injuries. The roster this year is like the cast of an Agatha Christie novel.

At the same time, it's also by no means clear that injuries are the only problem. This team does some concerning stuff. I mean, you watch a mid-level Ivy League team and there's a strategy and plan there and you can understand what everyone is trying to do. That's a team that gets beat, not a team that beats itself. With UConn going on a few years now, there are stretches in games where we look absolutely brilliant. And then there are stretches where the team looks completely lost. And there are games where we absolutely appear to beat ourself with unforced errors and bad decision-making.

How much of that is coaching vs individual players and circumstances? I have no idea. It's not fair to blame KO at this point, because he's been relying on transfers (which hurts continuity), and battling injuries. It could happen to even a great coach. But I also don't know how anyone can look at this season and not be at all concerned.

We're basically at the point where a doctor would say "it may just be nothing, but I'd like to run some more tests." We'll know more next year . . . and very little before then (unless we somehow win the AAC Tourney and make it to the Sweet 16).

Just be aware, we had most of our vaunted freshman class healthy when we lost those early season games.

 

[SouthBayHusky]

I have a vastly different opinion on Ollie and where we're at right now. He came into a tough situation and did a great job with Calhoun's players. It takes a while to make inroads with players and to get them interested in your school, so for a year or 2 he was playing catch-up trying to recruit the type of players he wants. I think we're finally starting to see quality classes and the fruits of the labor. This year has been a bust given the injuries, but my expectations for him and the team will be increasing. If Adams comes back and either we find a new pivot or Enoch is able to greatly up his defense, I'd be very optimistic for next season.

Not to beat a dead horse, but fruits of his labor before the injuries = 2 losses against Wagner and Northeastern. As well as barely squeaking by LMU. If anything, we're not much different than before the injuries in the sense that we are continuing to lose or struggle against teams like ECU, Chaminade, BU. That said, I'm still on the fence with Ollie but I do think he deserves at least another full year. I just don't buy all of the excuses and justifications because with the injuries and without our record seemed similar, and even with the injuries we're much more talent rich than the sub-250 teams we continue to lose to.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Again... except for the fact that Purvis was a top 10-15 player in high school and a McDonald's AA. Not sure what more you can ask for than that in a recruit??

What a guy does in high school means jack once he steps on the court.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Just be aware, we had most of our vaunted freshman class healthy when we lost those early season games.

Yeah but they are freshmen and one wasnt playing and the other was just getting back from a knee injury and is nowhere near the player he can potentially be. Losing to those teams and the start of the season is terrible but when you step back and take the "we are Uconn" blinders off you can see they werent very surprising.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

It's all on Ollie, last I checked, he's the head coach and the buck stops there... if this was PP, or Bobby red pants everyone on this board would be calling for a change.. wake up brother, good posts..

If PP or Bobby red pants had a national title under their belt (regardless of who recruited the players) each would have been given even more than the considerable slack each received.

 

[huskyrob1]

Yeah but they are freshmen and one wasnt playing and the other was just getting back from a knee injury and is nowhere near the player he can potentially be. Losing to those teams and the start of the season is terrible but when you step back and take the "we are Uconn" blinders off you can see they werent very surprising.

I think this #3 ranked class maybe the most overrated class in UCONN history. Diara is gone, Jackson and Vital are OK, Durham has a tough hill to climb with two ACL tears, and let's hope Gilbert will be as good as advertised next year. #3 IMO is really a stretch, I rank it at between 10 and 12. You talk about blinders on the early season losses, well maybe take the blinders off also for an untested and slightly over ranked class.