The 7 most disappointing teams in college basketball | The Boneyard

The 7 most disappointing teams in college basketball

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Another one of these articles to rub salt in our wounds. Georgetown and Syracuse are also on the list.

UConn Huskies (7-10, 2-3 AAC)
There are two ways to look at the Huskies’ abysmal season. On one hand, it’s hard to put too much blame on Kevin Ollie and his club after two starters (guard Alterique Gilbert and forward Terry Larrier) suffered season-ending injuries within the first five games of the season. Few teams – if any – could handle that sting.

However, that doesn’t excuse the fact that UConn opened the season ranked No. 18 in the country, proceeded to lose to Wagner and Northeastern (while fully healthy) and has never really recovered. Even worse, it’s not like the Huskies are losing to elite teams. Of UConn’s 10 losses, only one (vs. Oregon at the Maui Invitational) came to a club projected to make the NCAA Tournament, according to FOX Sports’ latest Bracket Watch.


The 7 most disappointing teams in college basketball | FOX Sports
 
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Weren't we on these lists last year too? Really hoping we have a big bounce back year next year. We need it.

Its a fair assessment. Hard to argue with it. Writer acknowledges the injuries (duh) while also pointing out our two losses to start the season. We've definitely lost some winnable games, full roster or not.

Wasn't aware of that last point. Ouch......
 
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Ouch!

That Wagner loss will haunt us this season. But we are getting better lately as a unit and I'm confident even with our injuries could beat Wagner and Northeastern in a rematch. 17 games and we are 7-10, even with our depleted roster its hard not to be disappointed.

Anyway how many seasons have we been fortunate not to be bit by the injury bug (i.e. multi-starters)? It was bound to hit us sometime unfortunately it came with a vengeance. No excuses but its just not our year.

The silver lining is that like Boatright, Kentan Facey is going out better (and badder) than he came in. For me, that alone is a nice consolation, along with the freshman PT.
 

Horatio

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We're not" disappointing" , we're injured.
 
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Yeah. Its hard for me to believe if Diarra,larrier,Durham and Gilbert were all 99% healthy that we`d be struggling like we are now.

We don't know if KO could have turned this team around. Better than 7-10 for sure, but at our rightful place atop the AAC and ranked in the top 25? No idea. It's a data point we're unfortunate not to have when evaluating him going forward.

We do know, however, that he didn't have the team ready to play in November.
 

Horatio

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We don't know if KO could have turned this team around. Better than 7-10 for sure, but at our rightful place atop the AAC and ranked in the top 25? No idea. It's a data point we're unfortunate not to have when evaluating him going forward.

We do know, however, that he didn't have the team ready to play in November.
That's fair. It was a bad start
 
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Weren't we on these lists last year too? Really hoping we have a big bounce back year next year. We need it.

Its a fair assessment. Hard to argue with it. Writer acknowledges the injuries (duh) while also pointing out our two losses to start the season. We've definitely lost some winnable games, full roster or not.

Wasn't aware of that last point. Ouch.

I agree, and that's been my point all along. It'd be one thing if we were 7-10 in the ACC, but I think people on this board have generally tricked themselves into believing that this - completely bottoming out after losing what amounts to probably two rotation players - is normal. The injury bug has bitten us bad, but for all the carnage, still healthy are four of the five starters KO trotted out there on opening night. To lose to nine non-tournament opponents is staggering, granted a couple of those can be attributed to Adams being out.

In fairness, the 7-10 record overstates how bad we are. They're much more focused than they were earlier in the season and some of the improvements in the frosh have been noticeable. This is still a decent team that looks capable of making a run in the conference tournament.
 
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We don't know if KO could have turned this team around. Better than 7-10 for sure, but at our rightful place atop the AAC and ranked in the top 25? No idea. It's a data point we're unfortunate not to have when evaluating him going forward.

We do know, however, that he didn't have the team ready to play in November.
One of the reasons we were not ready to go is that KO tries to see and evaluate the new faces and give them minutes in early action. Freshman. he can't tell from practice alone. Now the team is hobbled but down to a rotation that gets floortime and they are more confident out there. Also Brimah and purvis are not supposed to lay eggs out there every other game as seniors.
 

BUConn10

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Healthy or not, any self respecting elite program that loses its two home openers to cupcakes to start a season with promise and expectation shouldn't brush off losses like that. Even if we didn't lose 3 guys those losses would still be the headlines for our season as far as the media is concerned, and this would be true at U.K., Kansas, Duke, Michigan State wherever. They'd still be the headline mainly because our schedule really hasn't presented us with a chance to redeem ourselves in a statement win other than OU which ended up as a blowout.
 

HuskyHawk

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We're not" disappointing" , we're injured.

That's BS. We are very disappointing, injuries or not. We have lost several games that should not have even been close, given the personnel on the team.
 

Horatio

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" given the personnel on the team."
Well you might wanna examine that personnel and the depth of that personnel after the injuries.
 
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The first two games of the season set the stage for disappointment; we were 95% healthy at that point. No Diarra, but even fully healthy, I do not think he would have seen that much action if Larrier was healthy too. What makes the season such a disappointment is our seeming unpreparedness, the lack of cohesion and let's be honest, utter ineptitude we displayed in the first 4-5 games. We not only lost to two "cupcakes" at home, but we really had to battle to beat a DII team in Chaminade. It was a four-point game with four to go. We are playing better now and KO seems to have figured some sets out offensively and some guys have found the confidence to be players (Vance especially in the last few.) But to me, it is inconceivable that it takes so long for our squads to gel. For all of the "we are so young" talk, we seem to disregard the fact that we start three seniors.

I feel like JC's team were the opposite. They generally came out flying, had a lull, then picked it up in Feb and March. KO is the opposite it seems.
 
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Yeah. Its hard for me to believe if Diarra,larrier,Durham and Gilbert were all 99% healthy that we`d be struggling like we are now.

Why? They were abysmal when they were full strength at the beginning of the year. This is not a good basketball team and it won't be a good basketball team next year either!
 

HuskyHawk

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Well you might wanna examine that personnel and the depth of that personnel after the injuries.

Already done. That personnel should beat Tulsa by about 14, not lose by 2. Should have beaten Georgetown too. Should have beaten Auburn, OK State and Ohio State.
 

Horatio

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Already done. That personnel should beat Tulsa by about 14, not lose by 2. Should have beaten Georgetown too. Should have beaten Auburn, OK State and Ohio State.
We have one point guard . One. And he has to play the whole game to perfection as a sophomore . One PG. And at the end of these games he's gotta be superman in order For us to win. Depth had something to do with that Georgetown loss and some other loses. Please show me one team on any level Of basketball that wins with one PG and one Ball handler. I'll wait. You people do realize how easy it is to coach/ play against a team with one PG/ ball handler.
 
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ctchamps

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We don't know if KO could have turned this team around. Better than 7-10 for sure, but at our rightful place atop the AAC and ranked in the top 25? No idea. It's a data point we're unfortunate not to have when evaluating him going forward.

We do know, however, that he didn't have the team ready to play in November.
Love your first paragraph.

And yet in the second paragraph you ignore the logic of the first paragraph by placing the early season failure exclusively on KO and ignore the circumstances that led to the start of the season and circumstances even before that. If your conclusion after the injuries is that there is an uncertainty to the season from that point on why have you eliminated that uncertainty factor for the start of the season?

There were three integral players from last season that had graduated. AG was forced to play the point without the ability to play as a back up to a more experienced point guard. Outside of Khalid all UConn teams struggled when that happened. Jalen had to learn to play a new role. Terry hadn't played competitive bb in a year. Kentan was needed to play significant minutes. These transitions don't always come together quickly. I won't even factor in what the death meant to Rodney and it's impact on his game.

The Northeastern loss does not look like a bad loss. It boils down to Wagner. You and everyone else with a passion to the game and a little historical perspective know that occasionally really bad teams have a game of a lifetime. The Wagner team on the day they played UConn hit their three's at an extraordinary rate while UConn couldn't make a basket. It's rare that lesser talented teams beat better talented teams but it's happened to other programs in college and the pros. Wasn't a movie made about the US olympic hokey team beating the Soviet Union? Why? Because it was incredible and defied logic and odds. The Wagner loss is a bad loss but part of that loss is because Wagner was incredible that day.

I'm not sure if Jesus was in the huddle @HuskyHawk this UConn team would have been ready to play in November.

I won't eliminate the coaches from the equation of failure. Nor will I eliminate the players. Or the intangible other factors that are necessary to have success. I'll express my opinion and recognize, as you rightfully point out Tens, we have limited knowledge at times. This makes all opinions subjective. The only thing I can control is whether I need to assign blame to people. Its a distinction but blame is quite different than holding someone accountable for actions. I feel strongly when we resort to blame it clouds our judgements.
 
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Why? They were abysmal when they were full strength at the beginning of the year. This is not a good basketball team and it won't be a good basketball team next year either!
I wouldn't be so quick to say that. If Larrier and Gilbert are healthy next year this is a much different team. And MAL adds another ball handler. Don't underestimate the fact that Adams is really the only ballhandler they have. The 5 may be an issue but they won't need any offense from that position. Just rebounds and defense.
 

HuskyHawk

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Love your first paragraph.

And yet in the second paragraph you ignore the logic of the first paragraph by placing the early season failure exclusively on KO and ignore the circumstances that led to the start of the season and circumstances even before that. If your conclusion after the injuries is that there is an uncertainty to the season from that point on why have you eliminated that uncertainty factor for the start of the season?

There were three integral players from last season that had graduated. AG was forced to play the point without the ability to play as a back up to a more experienced point guard. Outside of Khalid all UConn teams struggled when that happened. Jalen had to learn to play a new role. Terry hadn't played competitive bb in a year. Kentan was needed to play significant minutes. These transitions don't always come together quickly. I won't even factor in what the death meant to Rodney and it's impact on his game.

Boom. KO mistake #1. AG should not have been playing anything but backup PG. Adams was our best player coming in to the season, and is currently among the leaders in assists. He is not suited to play off the ball. Period. The team was utterly dysfunctional in those opening games because Adams wasn't the PG, with RP as the SG and Larrier as the #3. Think about it. Facey...one of our few bright spots this year, played 14 minutes and 10 against Northeastern. This was the reason they lost those two games. AG should be the backup at both PG and SG. Gilbert played well in game 1, but the lineup didn't work and contributed to others playing poorly. Terry came out playing great, I don't think the layoff hurt him at all.
 

ctchamps

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Boom. KO mistake #1. AG should not have been playing anything but backup PG. Adams was our best player coming in to the season, and is currently among the leaders in assists. He is not suited to play off the ball. Period. The team was utterly dysfunctional in those opening games because Adams wasn't the PG, with RP as the SG and Larrier as the #3. Think about it. Facey...one of our few bright spots this year, played 14 minutes and 10 against Northeastern. This was the reason they lost those two games. AG should be the backup at both PG and SG. Gilbert played well in game 1, but the lineup didn't work and contributed to others playing poorly. Terry came out playing great, I don't think the layoff hurt him at all.
The problem is that you are mixing parts of the developments of players over the course of this season with how to view things prior to the season starting. Jalen was recruited as a combo guard and Gilbert as a point guard. Vital was the backup for both positions and Rodney for the 2g. You also seem to forget that the light went on for Kentan well after those first two games with many posters angry that he wasn't riding pine and retracting their statements only after he showed consistent positive play. But that wasn't until after Maui.

Early in the season KO was trying a variety of line ups. The advantage to this is that if different line ups click it allows the coaches to put on the floor a team that is situational. IMO it's that process that was significant in championship #4. The disadvantage is that there can be a miss on getting the optimal line up enough playing time with this type of experimentation.

Most of us felt that between the need to incorporate so many new elements and the loss of pivotal players this was a year to build for next season. Coaches don't have a long preseason to work things out so they need the early season to find things out. And players need time together to work things out. Unfortunately between a difficult early season and injuries, the season turned into a catastrophe.
 

Mr. Wonderful

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Why? They were abysmal when they were full strength at the beginning of the year. This is not a good basketball team and it won't be a good basketball team next year either!
About next year:

I want to see Adams and Jackson get to play on the floor with Larrier and Gilbert first. If only one of a potential center rotation of Enoch, Durham, Diarra, and Carlton emerges... I think they make a serious leap next year. Best offseason continuity and talent combination since 2014.

I've written this year off to the "Years Ending In 7" curse that we've suffered since Calhoun's first year.
 

pnow15

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Injuries are an excuse for bad team management. Ollie should have looked at his roster and said what if.....
If Ollie had even brought in a graduate senior as good as RJ Evans UConn could be 11-6. Ollie left unfilled scholarships on the table and this is why this season is not successful to this point. He could have found someone to be the third point guard, rebound or shoot a three. Hopefully, he will never go into another season without a full quiver of arrows.
 

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