Alex Officially Transferring | Page 5 | The Boneyard

Alex Officially Transferring

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I hear Hesser College needs a big man.


I wish him luck. Sad that he is up a decent and respectable legacy. Deep down I see him as bailing out on his coach and team. But he was a big part of winning a championship so that makes me smile. Can't hate him. But can't like him much.

Makes me long for Tim Coles, Rod Sellers, Kevin Freeman and Jeff Adrien.
 
Dont know if this was posted uet but Borges confirmed it on his twitter
 
Kid can't run from his problems. It is obvious he didn't put in the work this year and during the offseason to prepare himself for the season. He will just run into the same problems at another school. Maybe he should head over to Hofstra with Honey Combs, they can spark a few up together.
 
990411champs said:
if AO doesn't make it in the NBA and has to get a 9 to 5 job somewhere, what is he going to do when his future boss crticizes his performance, repeatedly quit and throw up his hands? Go on Twitter with his pop and bash away? His father does him a disservice by apparently feeding him unrealistic expectations of what the basketball world owes him. Hard work trumps pissin and moanin in the real world.

I think any reasonable person should admit that AO had some real fine moments at UCONN, but largely he was a frustrating player because you see the size, you see the body, and it doesn't really translate into what players of lesser physical stature and ability accomplish. The desire to get better can only come from within, without it, you can point fingers and place blame. You sell yourself short when you do this, and this is what I think AO and his father did with their complaining earlier this season about playing time. Perform and force a coach to play you. Continually underperform and you shouldn't expect to play. Some bigger fish need smaller ponds to feel better about themselves, hope AO finds that pond wherever he decides to go.
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spot on
 
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If he sits out a year he gets an extra year to earn his degree.
 
if he can't take Jim Calhoun, does he think he's going to get hugs and kisses in the NBA? Seriously?

thank you AO for 2011, good luck going forward.

but if you want to make money playing professionally, you better take JC's advice
 
Good luck to Alex and thanks for your role in the 2011 title run. Now take a long hard look in the mirror and maybe that will help you achieve at your next stop.
 
No one knows the relationship between Alex and JC, we only think we know based on what we see during games, If he was my Kid and he was terribly unhappy playing for JC, I might tell him to leave. As a fan I would hope they could work things out, I do know this,,, Alex and his family don't owe us anything, He helped UConn win number 3! That night last year when we were all jumping around in celebration every one of us would have sworn an oath that all these Kids were the greatest.
 
Can someone tell me why this really matters at the end of the day? They aren't going to win an appeal, so why does it really matter who the seniors are next year?

Isn't it better to use the scholarship and minutes on someone who can contribute in 2014? Or am I supposed to care if they go 19-12 next year instead of 15-16?

This has been ugly, but this is college athletics in this day in age. You hate to see someone handle this so poorly and have his father embarrass himself so publicly, but that's technology these days.
 
I like Alex too, but have some issues with how this is all being handled. The uniforms are barely out of the dryer, which means either he is having a knee-jerk reaction - or (more likely) he had his foot out the door a while ago and mentally checked out on his teammates. Alex is a good kid and I certainly wish him the best, but at this level, if you aren't truly all in (and can't just coast by on supreme talent), you'll get exposed by the guys on the other team who are. And if your teammates know you're checking out, they'll treat every missed box out or half-hearted screen as a sign - fairly or unfairly - that you're not willing to be in the foxhole with them any more. A veteran team could overcome an immature freshman, but a young team and a halfhearted upperclassman? Recipe for a 20-14 season. Maybe it would have been different if Arizona made that 3 and Alex felt like he had unfinished business in a UConn uniform. Perhaps with the ultimate team goal met, it was that much harder to sacrifice.

It's maybe not fair to Alex to compare two different situations, but I can't help but be reminded of Rashamel Jones - how fitting the ball was in his hands as 77-74 ended. We should appreciate him all the more now.
 
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I have always liked Alex. His performance in the classroom has been very commendable, demonstrating a 3.6 grade point average.
I will always be thankful for his contributions to last year's championship run.
The team will certainly this his strength and size, particularly if AD also leaves this Spring.
However, this decision reflects immaturity and my biggest disappointment in his performance this year. He was named captain for this team. However, instead of showing true leadership, he repeatedly grumbled about lack of playing time in his body language when removed from the game for what were pretty obvious errors on his part, demonstrated that he clearly thought he was not being treated fairly. That attitude, coming from someone who is the captain of the team, did more in my opinion to hurt this team than his actual
mistakes on the court. His body language certainly seem to demonstrate that he thought the problem was much more Coach Calhoun than his play.

He did show some progression in areas of his game. He demonstrated a nice shooting touch from 10-17 feet this year. He also demonstrated improvement in his low post moves, which were at times quite effective if he was not stripped of the ball. He has always been a good shot blocker.
Some parts of his game were extremely poor for a junior starter on a major college program. The box score certainly reflected an unacceptably high number of turnover, including charges from ill-advised moves, getting easily stripped of the ball in the lane and his struggles at trying to catch passes. But what didn't show up in the box score was that for every turnover he fumbled a loose ball or rebound out of bounds or to the other team. He was terrible at boxing out, and frequently played on his tiptoes, which left him in poor position to get rebounds. He was frequently out of position when trying to make blocks, allowing his player to get offensive rebounds.
I hope that he does well in the future and I will always be thankful for his contributions to last year's team. If AD goes pro and U Conn is unable to sign a suitable replacement, the team will certainly suffer next year. But, as others have posted, in the long run, the additional playing time for other players may enhance subsequent seasons performance.
 
whaler11 said:
Can someone tell me why this really matters at the end of the day? They aren't going to win an appeal, so why does it really matter who the seniors are next year?
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I'll bet you a beer they are NCAA-eligible next year.
 
ibleedhuskyblue said:
i don't care. official or not, i would pay for his plane ticket if it wasn't a violation.

both parties will be better off imo
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If Alex doesn't transfer, can you pay for my plane ticket? I'm thinking of hitting Las Vegas sometime this year.
 
I am saddened by this. Not surprised, but saddened. AO had a bad year. but he was a HUGE part of the 2011 Championship run. I wish him the best, and can see him averaging 14 and 9 or 10 in a softer conference.

Best of luck, AO. And thank you for all you contributed.
 
I've been buried all week with meetings at work and finally chiming in on this one. Hooper did give me the heads up on this during my ride home.

Well I wish Alex success wherever he lands. I'm not sure I understand why he feel he needs to leave. I heard that his dad blames JC for Alex's plight. As much as Like AO, he has no one but himself to blame. It wasn't like JC or George didn't keep putting him out there or his teammates didn't get him the ball. He simply regressed this season.

He's never had a lot lift and struggles to leap over defenders. He rarely boxed out. For a big strong player who doesn't get off the ground well, he could have easily made up for it with a big time motor and putting a body on whoever was close by and owning the boards. He simply showed little to no desire. For a kid his size he should be dominating the glass but the results were not there. Hard to blame any coach for that.

He's never been a good finisher. His shooting percentage for a post player has never been good. He's struggled with attitude often, though to his credit, it did seem to recognized that and turned that around late in the regular season. It does make me wonder if his dad was and still is constantly in his ear poisoning his mind.

As much as he's struggled, I still think there is a lot of potential there. He's got the ability to improve that midrange J. He has the size to be a good rebounder. Somehow Charles Barkley learned to own the boards and he wasn't much of a leaper and is shorter than Alex. No reason for him not to be a very good down in the trenches type of player. He plays solid defense when he wants.

With AD likely leaving too, UConn desperately needs bigs and I have no idea where they're going to find good ones who will want to come here as long as the NCAA tournament is still off the table. I wish he was staying. Not just because we need big bodies. I do like Alex and wish he'd finish his career here at UConn. I'm inclined to think that this team could use a JC transfer since they will need at least one mature body to bang against BE bigs. It's quite scary to think that this team will go to battle with Wolf, Bradley and Olander as your 3 big rotation. Two of those 3 haven't seen any meaningful minutes in their careers.

Lastly, not to completely spiral out of control, but I do scratch my head at how little our bigs have improved lately, particularly with their offensive skills around the basket. IMO, JC needs to revamp the coaching staff and bring in a proven big man's coach. The problem is who would want to come here knowing that JC's shelf life is short, maybe 1 to 2 more years if that.

I continue to believe in this program. The NC last year was a big surprise when I thought the program might be on the decline. I do fear that with the NCAA ban and JC's uncertainty the slide has become and I don't know how far that will take us. If OA, AD and JL all leave and they are not able to replace some of them with some ready to contribute newcomers, I don't see how this team will be that much better than what we saw this past season. I had thought that the sum of the parts would come close to making up for the loss of Kemba, but I was proven wrong on that. Seeing how little most of the players improved this past season, has me very concerned what type of upside this group has. I think we might see a lot more from Bazz next season. I think his injuries took their tool. If healthy and about 10 to 15 pounds stronger, he can possibly put up the big numbers we saw last season on a more consistent basis. I think there's a lot of upside with Daniels if he can get stronger and JC can commit to playing him more. I think Giffey has upside and can contribute more if given more minutes. Scoe showed life at the end of the season after all but disappearing for 90% of it. Boatright is an exciting player with huge upside. Like Bazz, he needs to get stronger and play with more consistency. I expect huge things from him. Since the sum of the parts didn't come close to making up for the loss of Kemba, I'm just not feeling all that confident that improvement with the returning players will be able to make up for the loss of JL, AD and OA. I really hope I'm wrong. Regardless to what happens, I will continue to root my brains out for this team. I'm bleed Husky blue no matter what.
 
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Some posters are worried that with Oriakhi transferring and the possible loss of Drummond to the NBA this year (which I don't think will happen, by the way), we will be too small and have a rough season next year. I have a different opinion of this. Maybe the opposite will happen? We bring in some good wing players who can defend the perimeter and an all purpose, undersized big man and get back to the all-out running and pressing style that put UCONN on the map. A lack of size does not mean a team will get dominated as we unfortunately experienced too often this season.
 
The most any program can offer him is a chance at one of the tournaments. No program is a lock to make the Big Dance or even the Not Important Tournament. I have a hard time buying the tournament ineligibility reason anyway, especially from a kid who has already been on an NC team and then was made a captain. Maybe that Italian cruise ship captain made a bad example by abandoning a sinking ship.

I really think he just felt unappreciated pure and simple because of how this year played out for him. Or someone(s) got in his ear that he was not being treated with the respect they felt he deserved. On JC's teams, like it or not, a player tends to be judged almost possession by possession, and AO didn't seem to play that way this year. If his heart wasn't in it to begin with, too bad he didn't leave sooner. I think he's a good kid and I hope he can be happy wherever he lands.
 
Wow, some of you guys are acting like complete d*cks. Aren't almost all of us on here adults? Why are so many of you unable to act accordingly? There are a lot of posts here that are simply shameful. I am genuinely embarrassed for us.
 
UCweCONN said:
Some posters are worried that with Oriakhi transferring and the possible loss of Drummond to the NBA this year (which I don't think will happen, by the way), we will be too small and have a rough season next year. I have a different opinion of this. Maybe the opposite will happen? We bring in some good wing players who can defend the perimeter and an all purpose, undersized big man and get back to the all-out running and pressing style that put UCONN on the map. A lack of size does not mean a team will get dominated as we unfortunately experienced too often this season.
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I kinda agree with you. I will be excited about the season regardless because I truly believe Boat and Bazz are totally Calhoun guys and will be great dual leaders, maybe Boat moreso than Bazz. Plus, our best lineup by far is with Scoe at the 4. AO and AD played horrible together. Obviously we would all love AD to return, and I think there is a very legit shot that he does but there are other options with big men we are recruiting. Unfortunately, I don't have too much optimism in Wolf's future but I am really excited to see Bradley hit the floor. A kid who was labeled as very athletic and raw, who is now going to be a 20 year old freshman with 2 years of weight training and personal attention .... sounds good to me.
 
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cohenzone said:
The most any program can offer him is a chance at one of the tournaments. No program is a lock to make the Big Dance or even the Not Important Tournament. I have a hard time buying the tournament ineligibility reason anyway, especially from a kid who has already been on an NC team and then was made a captain. Maybe that Italian cruise ship captain made a bad example by abandoning a sinking ship.

I really think he just felt unappreciated pure and simple because of how this year played out for him. Or someone(s) got in his ear that he was not being treated with the respect they felt he deserved. On JC's teams, like it or not, a player tends to be judged almost possession by possession, and AO didn't seem to play that way this year. If his heart wasn't in it to begin with, too bad he didn't leave sooner. I think he's a good kid and I hope he can be happy wherever he lands.
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Excellent Comparison
 
Cry Jeremiah would have a decent point - except for the fact that the adults in this story aren't exactly conducting themselves well either.
 
CBS Sports just put up an article with a quote from Alex himself:

"I loved my time at UConn and have a ton of respect for Coach (Jim) Calhoun and the coaching staff," Oriakhi said "I had the best year of my life last season when we won the national title, but I'm worried about whether I can finish my career and be able to go to the NCAA tournament my senior season."
 
gwhuskyfan said:
CBS Sports just put up an article with a quote from Alex himself:

"I loved my time at UConn and have a ton of respect for Coach (Jim) Calhoun and the coaching staff," Oriakhi said "I had the best year of my life last season when we won the national title, but I'm worried about whether I can finish my career and be able to go to the NCAA tournament my senior season."
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IDK. Just like some other people here said...if he wanted to be here, he could of at least waited it out another month to see if Uconn got the waiver.
 
I am not an Alex basher but I can't buy that quote for a second. Calhoun still thinks we will be eligible next year but it doesn't seem that AO wants to have any options.

Anyone else thinks its funny that AO doesn't have to sit out a year even though he would be the only player on the roster that had even been on one of the low APR teams?
 
walker11 said:
I am not an Alex basher but I can't buy that quote for a second. Calhoun still thinks we will be eligible next year but it doesn't seem that AO wants to have any options.

Anyone else thinks its funny that AO doesn't have to sit out a year even though he would be the only player on the roster that had even been on one of the low APR teams?
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What do you mean you dont buy it?!? He said it!
 
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