Accurate Assessment

[Candyman]

I will ask this question are you okay with the last 3 years of UConn basketball- NIT 2014-15, full court shot or NIT 2015-16, no post season 2016-17? We've had talent regardless of excuses you are making about recruiting. Loses to Tulsa twice, Houston 3 times plus Yale, Wagner and Northeastern all at Gampel where we never lose to OOC teams. All I want is Ollie to change his offense and he won't so we will struggle this year and next year.

As I said before everything falls on the coach. The 2014 Tourney has clouded so many of the BY's judgement of his coaching ability. Ollie refuses to call timeouts to stop momentum. He runs the same offense when its clearly not working. Each game the team is very unprepared. How can you not blame Ollie for loses to Wagner and Northeastern, when we were healthy?

I am not calling for his job, mainly because I'm a nobody fan, but he has positives because the players like him and he is a very good defensive coach (which is what won us the title in 2014.) I want change but lets face it its been three years and it aint happened yet.

 

[UConnJim]

Here are the last 4 years:

2012/2013: 20-10. Ineligible for NCAAs, but would have made it if eligible.
2013/2014: 32-8. NCAA Championship.
2014/2015: 20-15. NIT.
2015/2016: 25-11. AAC Conf. Champions. NCAA 2nd round.

Yes, I would sign up for 4 years of that.

 

[Candyman]

Here are the last 4 years:

2012/2013: 20-10. Ineligible for NCAAs, but would have made it if eligible.
2013/2014: 32-8. NCAA Championship.
2014/2015: 20-15. NIT.
2015/2016: 25-11. AAC Conf. Champions. NCAA 2nd round.

Yes, I would sign up for 4 years of that.

Sorry I meant this season and the last two years since we won the title.

Again your letting the run in the AAC Toruny blurr your vision to a 6th place finish in a conf everyone says we are too good for.

 

[pnow15]

This is easy. Yes. Let the excuses begin.

He will get a pass this year and by March everyone will forget that he lost to Wagner and Northeastern with Gilbert and Larrier! (How does UConn lose to Wagner and Northeastern with or without those guys?). 2 miraculous shots are what stands between Ollie being UConn head coach and being a nameless assistant in the NBA.

And two Eli Manning passes have kept him from being a nameless quarterback on the Buffalo Bills.

 

[freescooter]

If I were looking for a comparison for Ollie I think the best example is Mike Davis who replaced Knight at Indiana, first as interim coach the in his second year took an under rated IU to the NCAA finals and was hailed as the perfect replacement for Knight. After that his team were mediocre or worse until he finally resigned/was forced out.

 

[7774]

If I were looking for a comparison for Ollie I think the best example is Mike Davis who replaced Knight at Indiana, first as interim coach the in his second year took an under rated IU to the NCAA finals and was hailed as the perfect replacement for Knight. After that his team were mediocre or worse until he finally resigned/was forced out.

And that's why you should give up this pretense that you're capable of thinking.

 

[UconnFanNVa]

Ollie most definitely deserves some criticism, i think he needs to look at himself and assess where he could be steering these players in the wrong direction. I cant blame it all on him, some of these players are just flawed players and no matter who the coach is, the players have to do the improving themselves. But he needs to either get more out of these guys or change something in the way he is recruiting...

Either way I'm glad to see an article like this, no hiding, read it and respond, that goes for Ollie and all of the players. Tacklin fuel!

 

[KembaStepback]

How is it Ollie's fault Gibbs forgot to shoot? These guys got a LOT of good looks they just didn't make. UConn hasn't had a deadly 3 point shooter since Bazz/Niels. What happened when they had those guys? They won a title. If Ollie is guilty of anything, it's not recruiting shooters. Hamilton was a slasher/playmaker and was solid at it. He needed another year of college. Gibbs didn't make any shots. Adams had some bad performances...but he also was the best player in Maui.

Wow!!!

In 2012/2013, Ollie took a team that lost Drummond and Lamb to the NBA and Oriahki, Smith, and Bradley to transfer that was 20-14 and 8-10 in the Big East the year before and lead them to 20-10 and 10-8 in the Big East. Had they not been ineligible for the NCAA Tournament, they would have made it as they were #42 in the Sagarins and every team in the BE that year with a winning record made the NCAA Tournament and Cincinnati made it at 9-9. Do you remember our bigs in 2012/2013? Wolf, Olander, Nolan, and maybe Daniels.

What Ollie did in 2012/2013 was miraculous.[/QUOTE]
No sure what happened here...but I agree with you. I was disagreeing with Candyman34. The quotes got messed up. My response started with "How is it Ollie's fault Gibbs forgot how to shoot?"

 

[KembaStepback]

Wow!!!

In 2012/2013, Ollie took a team that lost Drummond and Lamb to the NBA and Oriahki, Smith, and Bradley to transfer that was 20-14 and 8-10 in the Big East the year before and lead them to 20-10 and 10-8 in the Big East. Had they not been ineligible for the NCAA Tournament, they would have made it as they were #42 in the Sagarins and every team in the BE that year with a winning record made the NCAA Tournament and Cincinnati made it at 9-9. Do you remember our bigs in 2012/2013? Wolf, Olander, Nolan, and maybe Daniels.

What Ollie did in 2012/2013 was miraculous.

No sure what happened here...but I agree with you. I was disagreeing with Candyman34. The quotes got messed up. My response started with "How is it Ollie's fault Gibbs forgot how to shoot?"[/QUOTE]
did it again... is it me or something with the board?

 

[freescooter]

And that's why you should give up this pretense that you're capable of thinking.

I get it. Some of you love Ollie and based on 2014 will never want to see him replaced. Most are the same guys who complain that the AAC is a crappy league yet an Ollie team has never won the regular season and won the tournament once. Look at the body of work and you'll see a guy who is leading this program nowhere. Even before the injuries piled up we were on the fast track to another NIT berth if we got lucky. Now even that is in doubt but who knows, maybe we can land a coveted slot in the CIB or whatever that foolish loser tourney is called. Take on the 5th place team from the sunbelt for the best of the nobody cares. Ollie bought himself a couple of years but if we don't make a pretty deep run next year it is time to get someone else.

 

[Stainmaster]

I get it. Some of you love Ollie and based on 2014 will never want to see him replaced. Most are the same guys who complain that the AAC is a crappy league yet an Ollie team has never won the regular season and won the tournament once. Look at the body of work and you'll see a guy who is leading this program nowhere. Even before the injuries piled up we were on the fast track to another NIT berth if we got lucky. Now even that is in doubt but who knows, maybe we can land a coveted slot in the CIB or whatever that foolish loser tourney is called. Take on the 5th place team from the sunbelt for the best of the nobody cares. Ollie bought himself a couple of years but if we don't make a pretty deep run next year it is time to get someone else.

We are not getting somebody better than Ollie on the free market.

 

[7774]

I get it. Some of you love Ollie and based on 2014 will never want to see him replaced.

This is not true at all actually.

Couple questions.

What were your expectations for the first 5 years post Calhoun, given that we were replacing one of the greatest coaches of all time, and were going to have a couple recruiting classes decimated by recruiting and scholarship restrictions and the perception that comes along with a NCAA tournament ban?

Going into this year, did you think we would be good?

 

[BlueDogs]

Ollie might need new assistants that can focus on fundamentals and discipline in execution. Ollie seems to be more about motivation and player relations than actual player development. Cult of personality only goes so far, before brass tacks take over.

 

[jibsey]

For anyone who thinks that article is tough on KO just wait if more embarrassing losses start to pile up. Calhoun could take a group of under talented players and will them to compete. In this time of injury and stress we'll see what KO is made of and I don't imply that he has to qualify for the tourney but his team has to show character when under siege.

 

[mauconnfan]

Kels comes across as a moron. "ifs" lead his article - there are "ifs" to anyone's runs to a title - Hey Kels, if Tyus Edney doesn't go end to end in the 2nd round with 4 seconds left to beat Mizzou then UConn has 5 titles - you're a dope!

 

[Tenspro2002]

We are not getting somebody better than Ollie on the free market.

I get what you're saying, but are you really content to accept the mediocrity we've seen in this program -- both process and results -- over the last 2+ years?

 

[Stainmaster]

I get what you're saying, but are you really content to accept the mediocrity we've seen in this program -- both process and results -- over the last 2+ years?

I'm not going to purposefully raise my blood pressure and be obnoxiously melodramatic over something I have no control over.

 

[7774]

Kels comes across as a moron. "ifs" lead his article - there are "ifs" to anyone's runs to a title - Hey Kels, if Tyus Edney doesn't go end to end in the 2nd round with 4 seconds left to beat Mizzou then UConn has 5 titles - you're a dope!

My main problem is that it would be very easy to write an article criticizing Ollie for coaching poorly (because he has) while also being fair, but the author had no interest.

Things like writing a couple thousand words without ever mentioning that Purvis, Brimah, and Facey are only on the team because they were the guys we could get at that time. We had a coach who hadn't really had time to build up recruiting contacts in the college basketball world, had multiple recruiting restrictions, and had a negative perception due to the tournament ban.

Bringing up poor shooting games for Jalen without mentioning that he shot extremely well in Maui is equally dumb and just makes his agenda obvious.

 

[mauconnfan]

My main problem is that it would be very easy to write an article criticizing Ollie for coaching poorly (because he has) while also being fair, but the author had no interest.

Things like writing a couple thousand words without ever mentioning that Purvis, Brimah, and Facey are only on the team because they were the guys we could get at that time. We had a coach who hadn't really had time to build up recruiting contacts in the college basketball world, had multiple recruiting restrictions, and had a negative perception due to the tournament ban.

Bringing up poor shooting games for Jalen without mentioning that he shot extremely well in Maui is equally dumb and just makes his agenda obvious.

We have to be careful "liking" like this, but spot on after rereading with that assessment. All on KO and while everyone does have legitimate arguments for his start this year coaching, he didn't factor anything positive in at all you are so right. Not very well done, SLAM probably first the kid.

 

[Tenspro2002]

purposefully raise my blood pressure and be obnoxiously melodramatic over something I have no control over.

That sounds like the definition of a sports fan.

 

[BlueandOG]

Trouble now - but wait!
Four years with 20+ wins
Ollie is dope, yo!