2018 Coach Chill expectations

[pj]

That's what everybody who kept hiring Herb Brooks kept asking themselves.

Heh. Well, Herb Brooks won 3 NCAA titles in addition to his Olympic gold medal, and his NHL coaching record was 219-222-66, so he was at least an average NHL coach who could inspire a team to great heights. He might be a good parallel to KO, we'll see.

 

[Huskyforlife]

I'm not sure, I don't think we lead with any 2018 recruit as of right now. We're going hard after Reddish and shittu, but I think we all know how that story ends. Hopefully the staff has a plan.

 

[husky99]

Eh...I disagree with this. We've had plenty of very successful UConn classes without a top 15 kid. In fact, I think we've only had a handful of top 15 kids ever.

We'll probably have 4-5 scholarships. Would be very happy with 2 top 50 kids (ideally one of these being top 25) and 2 top 100 kids.

I was trying to be more funny then anything. Yes uconn does not get many one and done

 

[AntG168]

I was trying to be more funny then anything. Yes UConn does not get many one and done

99 dont ever try stand up, stick to your day job. Lol

 

[boog204]

Silly thread, but I'll play along. We need to figure out a way to get back to our roots in terms of recruiting. We were consistently a team that got multiple top 40-75 guys and then we'd get lucky and would pluck a McD-AA every few years. Generally those top 40-75 guys would be 3-4 year players (Ricky, Rash, KFree, AJ, Dyson, Denham, JLamb, etc.) who were foundational guys and the top guy would be the star (Donyell, Rip, Khalid, Caron, CV, Rudy, Kemba). Sometimes, those top 40-75 guys would become stars in their own light (Ray, Gordon, Bazz, Boat) and we would have a complete team. Our last three years we have had very unbalanced teams. We would lack adequate ball handling, rebounding, shooting, whatever. The teams would have a lot of talent, but it was mismatched talent.

 

[husky99]

99 dont ever try stand up, stick to your day job. Lol

O shi it. I literally agreed to MC the end of the year teacher lunch in 2 hours ago

 

[Chief00]

I and not reliving the coaching staff deficiencies from last year - just saying my guy Chill will improve a lot of metrics.

 

[TitleTown]

We need a top 15 class.

We need to develop the talent we get. In his time as Head Coach, Ollie has not developed a single recruit into a productive NBA player.

 

[uconnbill]

I would say an McDonald's All American and a top 10 class.

 

[MSGSeven]

We need to develop the talent we get. In his time as Head Coach, Ollie has not developed a single recruit into a productive NBA player.

Very valid point on the development. Also, Ollie seems to be unable to keep the potential NBA player the one more year they need for development (Daniels, Hamilton). Calhoun was a master at persuading his NBA prospects to stay another year.

 

[mauconnfan]

Wait a second, didn't I reply with "someone" here and it's been taken off? Really are we that touchy around here where we can't smile?

 

[TRest]

Wait a second, didn't I reply with "someone" here and it's been taken off? Really are we that touchy around here where we can't smile?

I thought you had joined the dark side, then it was erased from history.

 

[Hoophound]

Pretty unfair barometer. You have Hamilton, who left early and was clearly not on that level talent wise and Bazz, who at 6'0" tall, is doing pretty well and improving in the league. KO has only had 5 years and in that time the only people that had legit NBA talent were Bazz, Boat, Jalen, Larrier and Gilbert. The first two are too small and the jury is still out on the other 3. I just don't buy Hamilton, Daniels or anyone else I can think of as developmental misses on KO's part. Durham has talent, but he left. Not sure who I'm forgetting.

My gripe is more about talent evaluation than development. I feel like we've recruited overrated kids and missed out on much better underrated ones. Polley, Carlton and Cobb can do a lot for my opinion of the staff in terms of evaluation if they can play.

 

[willie99]

some blue collar guys

 

[mauconnfan]

We need to develop the talent we get. In his time as Head Coach, Ollie has not developed a single recruit into a productive NBA player.

Yeah I can't believe he didn't make Brimah or Facey into NBA players, he's awful. And Shabazz had him for years he didn't pan out to be anything. And Giffey, Daniels, Kromah these guys were all sure shot NBAers until they got on to campus. And Boat, he only won a championship overseas so far at 5'9" if he went somewhere else he'd be an NBA All Star damn.

What KO has developed and has done a really nice job is ignorant fans.

 

[mauconnfan]

Very valid point on the development. Also, Ollie seems to be unable to keep the potential NBA player the one more year they need for development (Daniels, Hamilton). Calhoun was a master at persuading his NBA prospects to stay another year.

Are you serious, unable to keep the player? Calhoun wasn't a master, they were different kids, different families. There's only so much you can do when a kid or family makes their mind up. Hamilton didn't want to stay in school he wanted to go play basketball as did Deandre. You don't think KO thought and offered their best move was to stay put and work on the weaknesses?

If he has better and smarter players now then we can begin to question his ability to develop. But Brimah, Facey and Purvis along with a guy like Enoch isn't on him or the staff who assists in development. They just had shortcomings some with bball IQ others just not good enough. While you criticize for not developing so many then please explain why Shabazz, Boat, Giffey, Deandre, Jalen, Vital have flourished under his and the staffs guidance. And Vance got better too.

How about we start from scratch with all these guys who want to be here and see how it goes?

 

[MSGSeven]

Are you serious, unable to keep the player? Calhoun wasn't a master, they were different kids, different families. There's only so much you can do when a kid or family makes their mind up. Hamilton didn't want to stay in school he wanted to go play basketball as did Deandre. You don't think KO thought and offered their best move was to stay put and work on the weaknesses?

If he has better and smarter players now then we can begin to question his ability to develop. But Brimah, Facey and Purvis along with a guy like Enoch isn't on him or the staff who assists in development. They just had shortcomings some with bball IQ others just not good enough. While you criticize for not developing so many then please explain why Shabazz, Boat, Giffey, Deandre, Jalen, Vital have flourished under his and the staffs guidance. And Vance got better too.

How about we start from scratch with all these guys who want to be here and see how it goes?

I'm all for being positive and hoping KO turns things around in many areas but you can't deny he's failed in developing his players. Purvis and Brimah are prime examples. Most of the guys you mentioned were Calhoun's recruits and players for two years. Vance was here one year and transferred but you use him as an example of Ollie developing his players??? Calhoun almost always was able to keep his NBA guys to stay the extra year and it worked out better for them and for UConn (Marshall, Allen, Rip, Butler, Okafor, Gordon, Thabeet, etc.) I'm not saying Ollie didn't give effort into keeping Daniels and Hamilton for one more year but he ultimately failed. While I understand hindsight is 20/20, those two guys coming back most likely would've been more beneficial for them and the UConn program.

 

[husky429]

I'm all for being positive and hoping KO turns things around in many areas but you can't deny he's failed in developing his players. Purvis and Brimah are prime examples. Most of the guys you mentioned were Calhoun's recruits and players for two years. Vance was here one year and transferred but you use him as an example of Ollie developing his players??? Calhoun almost always was able to keep his NBA guys to stay the extra year and it worked out better for them and for UConn (Marshall, Allen, Rip, Butler, Okafor, Gordon, Thabeet, etc.) I'm not saying Ollie didn't give effort into keeping Daniels and Hamilton for one more year but he ultimately failed. While I understand hindsight is 20/20, those two guys coming back most likely would've been more beneficial for them and the UConn program.

I agree that Ollie's player development has been suspect. Maybe it's the players he's been recruiting, or generally just his failure at developing bigs in particular. It's hard to say as an outsider of the program.

But as far as players not staying, that's normal nowadays. This is a completely different era of basketball. Transfers are much more common, and kids go to the NBA earlier than ever. Quite a few of the guys you mentioned would have been gone after 1 year in this day and age.

 

[upstater]

We need to develop the talent we get. In his time as Head Coach, Ollie has not developed a single recruit into a productive NBA player.

Shabazz developed and improved his game big time under Ollie.

Go back and look at all the detractors on Shabazz under Calhoun. Shabazz was grilled in his Sophomore year.

His development while Ollie was HC, which coincided with his Junior and Senior years, was night and day different from what we saw prior.

The amazing thing is that they won a national championship with only one NBA caliber player.

Go have a look at prior national champions. You will see that winning with only 1 is a rarity.

 

[upstater]

I'm all for being positive and hoping KO turns things around in many areas but you can't deny he's failed in developing his players. Purvis and Brimah are prime examples. Most of the guys you mentioned were Calhoun's recruits and players for two years. Vance was here one year and transferred but you use him as an example of Ollie developing his players??? Calhoun almost always was able to keep his NBA guys to stay the extra year and it worked out better for them and for UConn (Marshall, Allen, Rip, Butler, Okafor, Gordon, Thabeet, etc.) I'm not saying Ollie didn't give effort into keeping Daniels and Hamilton for one more year but he ultimately failed. While I understand hindsight is 20/20, those two guys coming back most likely would've been more beneficial for them and the UConn program.

Napier, Daniels, Giffey, Boatright, all developed under Ollie. I can't understand why you would deny this.

Daniels hardly got off the bench under Calhoun. But under Ollie, he flourished.

Giffey was a much better player. So was Boatright, who only got one year under Calhoun.

I fail to see how anyone can say they didn't develop under Ollie.

Especially Napier who was killed for poor play his Sophomore year. The idea that Napier would be drafted in the first and make the NBA was laughed at under Calhoun.

 

[mauconnfan]

I'm all for being positive and hoping KO turns things around in many areas but you can't deny he's failed in developing his players. Purvis and Brimah are prime examples. Most of the guys you mentioned were Calhoun's recruits and players for two years. Vance was here one year and transferred but you use him as an example of Ollie developing his players??? Calhoun almost always was able to keep his NBA guys to stay the extra year and it worked out better for them and for UConn (Marshall, Allen, Rip, Butler, Okafor, Gordon, Thabeet, etc.) I'm not saying Ollie didn't give effort into keeping Daniels and Hamilton for one more year but he ultimately failed. While I understand hindsight is 20/20, those two guys coming back most likely would've been more beneficial for them and the UConn program.

Brimah - no one's a magician. He wasn't even close to someone who cold've improved under anyone. Showed little to no understanding of the game 4 years later, most fans of the game could see that. He was a back up caliber player who was KO's only decent big, and the fact that happened for 4 years is on KO and the staff.

Rodney - love Rodney plays the game with passion, works on his game all the time. Is undersized at 6'2" but strong. Doesn't have the handle for the next level (oh that's on KO LOL, if you can't handle it well enough that's on you) and can't finish well enough. He is the size of PG's now but is nowhere near that and that's not on anyone just not in the books. Became a leader and a great kid under KO as I am sure he and his family are happy about.

Giffey - did little to nothing under JC, flourished and improved under KO.

Bazz - didn't have a good soph year under JC but improved in all facets under the tutelage of KO who by the way was his coach with JC too anyway.

Deandre - didn't play many minutes for JC but did for KO and improved.


People have improved under him. Some we can question but most have reasons. DHam? Not sure about all of that, maybe it's KO maybe it was a stubborn kid who wanted to go play for dollars. Ultimately the kids who improve are smarter basketball players, get the game and have the ability to learn and improve in game. Hey he needs to recruit better, then he will develop better. That's on him, it always has been.

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

Yeah I can't believe he didn't make Brimah or Facey into NBA players, he's awful. And Shabazz had him for years he didn't pan out to be anything. And Giffey, Daniels, Kromah these guys were all sure shot NBAers until they got on to campus. And Boat, he only won a championship overseas so far at 5'9" if he went somewhere else he'd be an NBA All Star damn.

What KO has developed and has done a really nice job is ignorant fans.

Then get better players Mau! Which he still hasn't been able to do despite a wide open front court.

Its his job to recruit. So either recruit better players or do a better job of developing the less heralded guys. Either way the blame falls at his feet.

And btw Facey was state poy and a top 100 recruit. guy was no slouch. Enoch Top 60. You act like hes gotten absolutely nothing.

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

Are you serious, unable to keep the player? Calhoun wasn't a master, they were different kids, different families. There's only so much you can do when a kid or family makes their mind up. Hamilton didn't want to stay in school he wanted to go play basketball as did Deandre. You don't think KO thought and offered their best move was to stay put and work on the weaknesses?

If he has better and smarter players now then we can begin to question his ability to develop. But Brimah, Facey and Purvis along with a guy like Enoch isn't on him or the staff who assists in development. They just had shortcomings some with bball IQ others just not good enough. While you criticize for not developing so many then please explain why Shabazz, Boat, Giffey, Deandre, Jalen, Vital have flourished under his and the staffs guidance. And Vance got better too.

How about we start from scratch with all these guys who want to be here and see how it goes?

I am down 100% for this. But that is a wait and see game and doesn't mean we cant analyze the past/current.

 

[TitleTown]

Shabazz developed and improved his game big time under Ollie.

Go back and look at all the detractors on Shabazz under Calhoun. Shabazz was grilled in his Sophomore year.

His development while Ollie was HC, which coincided with his Junior and Senior years, was night and day different from what we saw prior.

The amazing thing is that they won a national championship with only one NBA caliber player.

Go have a look at prior national champions. You will see that winning with only 1 is a rarity.

While I agree that Napier improved greatly, he is not a productive NBA player. Recruits look at many things when deciding on a school. Location, academics, program history, conference affiliation, facilities, are all factors, but the bottom line is that these blue chip recruits want to go on and play in the NBA above all else. As a coach if you can't develop talent into productive NBA players, then it is awfully hard to get those talented recruits to your school. Ollie's failure to produce solid players at the next level is significantly hurting his recruiting,

 

[upstater]

While I agree that Napier improved greatly, he is not a productive NBA player. Recruits look at many things when deciding on a school. Location, academics, program history, conference affiliation, facilities, are all factors, but the bottom line is that these blue chip recruits want to go on and play in the NBA above all else. As a coach if you can't develop talent into productive NBA players, then it is awfully hard to get those talented recruits to your school. Ollie's failure to produce solid players at the next level is significantly hurting his recruiting,

They won a national championship with that talent.

Since we're losing recruits to PC now, name a productive Providence player.