51-37 - in the NCAA tournament

[nelsonmuntz]

I read the board before I watched the game and expected Giffey to have been much worse than he was. His three was way off but he was wide open and I am perfectly o.k. with that shot. He threw a very bad pass off an offensive rebound which was turned into 2 the other way, but that was followed by an even worse pass by one of our guards in the backcourt, leading to a quick 4. Last, he lost his man in transition and let up a 3, but lets not pretend that was the dagger. There were at least 5 more 3's hit by PC after that, mostly from guards losing Cotton (plus the lucky 3 from Henton). I think we were up 6 when he went out. He was certainly not good but more blame should fall on our guards for consistently losing Cotton, and PC deserves some credit for knocking down every 3 they saw down the stretch.

Now, all the criticism of George was extremely founded....

I was a little surprised by the attacks on Giffey, so I rewatched the stretch where PC closed on us. Giffey went to stop ball on the break, but he should have recognized the D was back and went looking for his guy sooner. Bad on him.

The second 3 that Giffey's guy hit was 95% Drummond's fault. Drummond's guy picked Giffey, and then Drummond stood in no man's land rather than hedge on the pick to force the shooter further outside.

It looks like Giffey blocked Coleman but I didn't see it in the box score. I don't think Giffey played that poorly.

 

[jorge34]

I was a little surprised by the attacks on Giffey, so I rewatched the stretch where PC closed on us. Giffey went to stop ball on the break, but he should have recognized the D was back and went looking for his guy sooner. Bad on him.

The second 3 that Giffey's guy hit was 95% Drummond's fault. Drummond's guy picked Giffey, and then Drummond stood in no man's land rather than hedge on the pick to force the shooter further outside.

It looks like Giffey blocked Coleman but I didn't see it in the box score. I don't think Giffey played that poorly.

The 3 point defense, the rebounding, and Lamb's poor shooting....3 biggest issues contributing to the loss. Could have definitely survived Lamb's poor night, if the first two issues were tightened up.

I just don't understand how in the world they were out rebounded by Providence, and gave up 14 offensive rebounds.

 

[Husky Dynasty]

 

[zls44]

Every one of you who thinks that it was ridiculous for Calhoun to let Blaney coach this team, remember why he did it. One word. Loyalty.

Loyalty is the other reason why he wants Kevin Ollie to coach this program come hell or high water. Loyalty.

If you don't trust his judgement with George Blaney- and really, how in the hell could you- then you cannot trust his judgement with Kevin Ollie. The very idea of Ollie taking over the program is so ridiculously farcical on it's face that it shouldn't be anything more than a passing thought, but if you actually need more proof, it's that when it comes to coaching succession, Jim Calhoun has horrrrrible judgement. Not to mention a list of flamed out failure assistants a mile long.

When the time comes to have a new coach, the answer is simple. Cut the cord. Completely.

 

[zls44]

My anger is directed at those who are going to take away what could have been another real special year next year.

This team, this program, took everything away. The problems are entirely self-contained. They are failures of their own doing.

The NCAA/APR thing is bullshit, but it's still the program's fault for not living up to a very, very low bar that 338 programs were able to clear. It's pathetic and embarrassing.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Every one of you who thinks that it was ridiculous for Calhoun to let Blaney coach this team, remember why he did it. One word. Loyalty.

Loyalty is the other reason why he wants Kevin Ollie to coach this program come hell or high water. Loyalty.

If you don't trust his judgement with George Blaney- and really, how in the hell could you- then you cannot trust his judgement with Kevin Ollie. The very idea of Ollie taking over the program is so ridiculously farcical on it's face that it shouldn't be anything more than a passing thought, but if you actually need more proof, it's that when it comes to coaching succession, Jim Calhoun has horrrrrible judgement. Not to mention a list of flamed out failure assistants a mile long.

When the time comes to have a new coach, the answer is simple. Cut the cord. Completely.

Which assistant flameouts? Leitao was successful at Depaul and was ACC Coach of the Year before he pissed off UVa's biggest donor. Hobbs was very successful at GW before they jacked admissions standards on him and gutted his recruiting. Tom Moore and Howie Dickenmen have been fairly successful too. Glen Miller was not very good.

Otherwise, your logic is that since Blaney was selected to be interim HC over Ollie, and Blaney has been a disaster, then Calhoun must be wrong on Ollie too. First of all, that logic is a bit twisted. Secondly, Calhoun has also made some good decisions over the years. At least I think so.

 

[Hoophound]

Every one of you who thinks that it was ridiculous for Calhoun to let Blaney coach this team, remember why he did it. One word. Loyalty.

Loyalty is the other reason why he wants Kevin Ollie to coach this program come hell or high water. Loyalty.

If you don't trust his judgement with George Blaney- and really, how in the hell could you- then you cannot trust his judgement with Kevin Ollie. The very idea of Ollie taking over the program is so ridiculously farcical on it's face that it shouldn't be anything more than a passing thought, but if you actually need more proof, it's that when it comes to coaching succession, Jim Calhoun has horrrrrible judgement. Not to mention a list of flamed out failure assistants a mile long.

When the time comes to have a new coach, the answer is simple. Cut the cord. Completely.

Your position gets stronger with each loss. I am coming around to it, that's for sure.

 

[District-Husky]

This team, this program, took everything away. The problems are entirely self-contained. They are failures of their own doing.

The NCAA/APR thing is bull****, but it's still the program's fault for not living up to a very, very low bar that 338 programs were able to clear. It's pathetic and embarrassing.

Come on, man. Can't you let me hide in denial, self pity, and anger for a few more months?

 

[HuskyHawk]

I was a little surprised by the attacks on Giffey, so I rewatched the stretch where PC closed on us. Giffey went to stop ball on the break, but he should have recognized the D was back and went looking for his guy sooner. Bad on him.

The second 3 that Giffey's guy hit was 95% Drummond's fault. Drummond's guy picked Giffey, and then Drummond stood in no man's land rather than hedge on the pick to force the shooter further outside.

It looks like Giffey blocked Coleman but I didn't see it in the box score. I don't think Giffey played that poorly.

Drummond also cost us on the rebounding end. He thinks he's a guard. He's constantly out by the 3 point line or beyond. The ball rotates and the shot goes off while he is 15 feet from the hoop. The result is offensive rebounds to a very short team that we should be killing on the boards. Drummond should never be more than 6-8 feet from the hoop in my opinion. He had several key blocks and is a huge defensive asset...as long as he stays around the rim.

 

[tzznandrew]

The guy had a double double, with 12 boards.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The guy had a double double, with 12 boards.

And he could have had more boards if he didn't stray so far from the basket. Not knocking him, he had a nice game. It's more about the coaching. My first thought watching the tip from section 110 was that PC had nobody much taller than Lamb, and AD, AO and even Roscoe looked like giants by comparison.

 

[zls44]

Which assistant flameouts? Leitao was successful at Depaul and was ACC Coach of the Year before he pissed off UVa's biggest donor. Hobbs was very successful at GW before they jacked admissions standards on him and gutted his recruiting. Tom Moore and Howie Richardenmen have been fairly successful too. Glen Miller was not very good.

Look at the qualifiers you had to put on the first two candidates. Always an excuse.

-Dave Leiato had a great year with player he didn' t recruit. Then he got his kids in. Then he was bad. Really bad. Did ok at DePaul, clearly couldn't cut it at a major school.
-Hobbs did well at George Washington in terms of being competitive in the A-10 and getting to the NCAAs. But he could not adjust and wasn't ready for a major job.
-Tom Moore can't win the friggin' NEC, which is pathetic
-Howie Dickenman (which is his actual name, by the way) has done very well, but is too old to take the UConn job

 

[Excalibur]

Drummond also cost us on the rebounding end. He thinks he's a guard. He's constantly out by the 3 point line or beyond. The ball rotates and the shot goes off while he is 15 feet from the hoop. The result is offensive rebounds to a very short team that we should be killing on the boards. Drummond should never be more than 6-8 feet from the hoop in my opinion. He had several key blocks and is a huge defensive asset...as long as he stays around the rim.

You realize that the guy he was guarding pulled him away from the basket, right?

 

[businesslawyer]

Look at the qualifiers you had to put on the first two candidates. Always an excuse.

-Dave Leiato had a great year with player he didn' t recruit. Then he got his kids in. Then he was bad. Really bad. Did ok at DePaul, clearly couldn't cut it at a major school.
-Hobbs did well at George Washington in terms of being competitive in the A-10 and getting to the NCAAs. But he could not adjust and wasn't ready for a major job.
-Tom Moore can't win the friggin' NEC, which is pathetic
-Howie Richardenman (which is his actual name, by the way) has done very well, but is too old to take the UConn job

I recognize that you are consistent on this, but coaches have to be judged by where they are coaching. Leiato was successful at DePaul and then unsuccessful at UVA. Hobbs was extremely successful at GW, which, by the way, has many built in disadvantages against its A-Ten peers in terms of budget, arena size and academic requirements. When the school became embarassed by players he recruited, they cut his legs out on recruiting and they were terrible for a while. Hobbs then had them going in the right direction before being fired.

How many NCAAs did Bobby Knight and K make when they coached Army? If they were really any good we would have heard of them before they went to Bloomington and Durham.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Every one of you who thinks that it was ridiculous for Calhoun to let Blaney coach this team, remember why he did it. One word. Loyalty.

Loyalty is the other reason why he wants Kevin Ollie to coach this program come hell or high water. Loyalty.

If you don't trust his judgement with George Blaney- and really, how in the hell could you- then you cannot trust his judgement with Kevin Ollie. The very idea of Ollie taking over the program is so ridiculously farcical on it's face that it shouldn't be anything more than a passing thought, but if you actually need more proof, it's that when it comes to coaching succession, Jim Calhoun has horrrrrible judgement. Not to mention a list of flamed out failure assistants a mile long.

When the time comes to have a new coach, the answer is simple. Cut the cord. Completely.

I don't think selecting Blaney to coach was 100% based on loyalty. Also, is it fair to assume (are you saying?) that this was 100% Jim Calhoun's decision?! If its a combined decision (Calhoun recommends others say AD, President sign off) it was mostly loyalty as Blaney is next in-line, has been there the longest and has filled in before. I guess its roughly 'loyalty' for an organization to honor its chain of command when someone is lost (particularly for a short time), but I think that's more organizational as doing anything else might undermine overall employee loyalty at UConn. So I think the biggest part of the 'loyalty' equation is naming anyone else would have been a huge embarassment for Blaney. That's not a great reason, but I think its true. Ironically now the embarassment has come anyway although its more unspoken. Might not be in the press, but everyone involved including Blaney himself has to realize that he has failed.

Anyway all of that is very seperate and distinct from hiring a new head coach when Calhoun retires. I hardly think it qualifies as a case study in what not to do unless they plan on interviewing Blaney.

 

[caw]

Every one of you who thinks that it was ridiculous for Calhoun to let Blaney coach this team, remember why he did it. One word. Loyalty.

Loyalty is the other reason why he wants Kevin Ollie to coach this program come hell or high water. Loyalty.

If you don't trust his judgement with George Blaney- and really, how in the hell could you- then you cannot trust his judgement with Kevin Ollie. The very idea of Ollie taking over the program is so ridiculously farcical on it's face that it shouldn't be anything more than a passing thought, but if you actually need more proof, it's that when it comes to coaching succession, Jim Calhoun has horrrrrible judgement. Not to mention a list of flamed out failure assistants a mile long.

When the time comes to have a new coach, the answer is simple. Cut the cord. Completely.

This is a very poor argument that because Blaney has coached poorly that Ollie isn't good for the job.

Reasons you don't want Ollie: experience and proof of winning as a head coach at a D1 program.

Let's make the following coach head coach when JC retires. He has lots and lots of coaching experience. He was successful as a head coach at a D1 program. He has run a BE program before. He's George Blaney.

 

[Edward Sargent]

At 70-72, they're not.

I'm baffled by the sideline's reaction to the run that started right after Giffey's (awful) three-point attempt. Completely baffled.

It's February 28th. You have to know your team - this team turns on and off like a light switch. It took Blaney way, way, way too long to recognize what was so blindingly obvious as soon as PC started their run.

The rest we've seen before - the star isn't ready for his star turn, the defense is porous, the rebounding was dainty, etc. They're just not a Jim Calhoun team, they're adrift. I don't blame them either - they play like a team without a head coach because they don't seem to have one.

But, even so, they were basically 12 minutes away from the NCAA tournament and now they're three or wins away from it. Falling off the bubble is so much easier than getting back on.

just a very disappointing season on many levels. I think it might have still been disappointing with JC at the helm though.

 

[HuskyHawk]

You realize that the guy he was guarding pulled him away from the basket, right?

Why should he bother to guard anyone away from the basket? That's a flaw in the defense if we allow his man to pull him away. He should never be assigned to guard anyone who can reliably shoot from more than 12 feet. We see this in every team that plays UConn. Nobody chases AO out to the three point line, there is no point in it.

 

[tzznandrew]

There are frequently people on Oriakhi out that far. Watch any pick and roll UConn runs--the other team's big man needs to hedge. That's why you do it, because if you don't the center only needs to set a pick, and suddenly the PG is completely free.

 

[huskymagic]

Putting Blaney in charge during his absence this year was the single worst decision Calhoun has made since he first stepped up to the podium at his first press conference. A talented as this team was, Blaney has pissed the season away.

Dude Blaney is an awful coach but its not like Calhoun did any better this season. We were bad with Calhoun and we are bad with Blaney. That should tell you that the problem is deeper than just coaching. The biggest mistake was not starting Roscoe all year long not the fact that Blaney is coaching.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Dude Blaney is an awful coach but its not like Calhoun did any better this season. We were bad with Calhoun and we are bad with Blaney. That should tell you that the problem is deeper than just coaching. The biggest mistake was not starting Roscoe all year long not the fact that Blaney is coaching.

Calhoun is 12-6 this season. Blaney is 5-6, with wins over Seton Hall (without Pope), Villanova (without Wayns), Depaul, St. Johns and USF. Most of the losses have been blowouts. Calhoun was struggling, but Blaney has been a train wreck.

I do not subscribe to your position that players do not improve over time. In case you didn't notice, improving players is what Calhoun does best. February's are generally strong for this program, but Blaney has killed us just as we should have been getting some momentum.

 

[UConn5]

I was conflicted when they first announced that Blaney would be assuming the HC responsibilities this time. If it was only for 1 or 2 games I would have been fine with it, but this month could have been a meaningful experience for KO and even before Blaney took over this time there was enough of a coaching sample for us to all know that he simply isn't effective.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I was conflicted when they first announced that Blaney would be assuming the HC responsibilities this time. If it was only for 1 or 2 games I would have been fine with it, but this month could have been a meaningful experience for KO and even before Blaney took over this time there was enough of a coaching sample for us to all know that he simply isn't effective.

Let's not forget Hobbs. I can see how it is a losing proposition for KO, but it could have helped Hobbs position himself for another job.

 

[huskymagic]

Calhoun is 12-6 this season. Blaney is 5-6, with wins over Seton Hall (without Pope), Villanova (without Wayns), Depaul, St. Johns and USF. Most of the losses have been blowouts. Calhoun was struggling, but Blaney has been a train wreck.

I do not subscribe to your position that players do not improve over time. In case you didn't notice, improving players is what Calhoun does best. February's are generally strong for this program, but Blaney has killed us just as we should have been getting some momentum.

I dont waste time arguing about whose better or what because we all know what Calhoun has done but seriously most of UCONN's wins this year were against some D2 and low D1 schools so lets not get overboard with the 12-6 record Calhoun has this year.

Of course Blaney is not a good coach anyone with a brain can see that, but that doesnt excuse the players for losing their focus and losing to Providence. I dont care who the coach is or isnt in that situation. The players are the ones that have to go out there and play, and especially with your season on the line you cant put up a choke job like we did yesterday. Players need motivation and strong motivators and Blaneys personality is not suited for this but for an assistants role.

I have already offered my services to the university for a fraction of the salary that Blaney gets. Lets start a petition on the boneyard to get me on Calhoun's staff as an assistant. No way I would allow players on my team to lose the lead and lose a game where we are up by 14. As soon as the game got down to 9 I would have a called a timeout and got up in everyone's face especially Lamb, Napier, and boatright letting them know whats at stake and letting them know that not play defense will result on the bench, etc,etc.

Start the petition

 

[mauconnfan]

Dude Blaney is an awful coach but its not like Calhoun did any better this season. We were bad with Calhoun and we are bad with Blaney. That should tell you that the problem is deeper than just coaching. The biggest mistake was not starting Roscoe all year long not the fact that Blaney is coaching.

Your Roscoe perch is on again....need you to answer this magicdude......what happened with him and Batts at the end of the game? Inquiring minds need to know because you always are sure to come on here tauting how right you always are, well he let you down and you can't admit that you are so smitten......you must be fantasizing about being the pivotman in a circle jerk with Scoe, Boat, Alex.........lol....you are consistent if little else magic!!

 

[huskymagic]

lol good post this one made me laugh. You put alot of care and effort into this one.

 

[Excalibur]

Why should he bother to guard anyone away from the basket? That's a flaw in the defense if we allow his man to pull him away. He should never be assigned to guard anyone who can reliably shoot from more than 12 feet. We see this in every team that plays UConn. Nobody chases AO out to the three point line, there is no point in it.

Yep, the guys on the other team don't matter at all.