Alex O's dad

[RuffRuff]

From an outsider's perspective:
As I've mentioned before on this board, my nephew is a UConn alum so we watch each other's team's (Cuse & UConn), just to have things to debate during family gatherings, or to bust each other's balls when needed.
In retrospect, winning the NC w/ Super Kemba, was probably the worst thing to happen to your young team.... for THIS year.
Why? Well, Shabazz Napier for example came into the season expecting to play the "Kemba" role....but, he's just a sophomore. His cred wasn't fully established like KW's & his personality appears to be more direct- he may be too blunt for his teammates.
Oriakhi expected to come in & be the focus of the frontline but.... there was ADrummond to take the spotlight, both literally & figuratively. AO's confidence level has fallen...& it can't get up.
Jeremy Lamb was pegged as a superstar, but no one realized how much he needs someone to create for him...being "The Man" is alot harder than it looks. Kris Joseph was expected to be "Wesley Johnson 2.0" for us last season, & he struggled mightily.
And finally, not having JC around to kick butt, manage egos, & tame wayward personalities, allowed the situation to remain stagnant & never get fully resolved. The team appears rudderless, like everyone's waiting for someone to take charge.
Last year you had a savior (see; Walker, Kemba) that was an upperclassman, leading a group of youngsters on a magical ride.
This year you handed the keys to a buncha kids & hoped they didn't drive too fast. All in all, this end result should not be a total surprise.
Btw- a $h!tty year following an out-of-the-blue NC is more than worth it!

Shabazz is only a sophomore? Kemba was a junior, we're not talking freshman to senior here. That's a one year separation and Shabazz had a season last year that was probably value wise, 1.5 given experience and duration and playing under Walker.

Yeah know, I can see some validity in the Pops vent. I do tend to think last year was the perfect storm to success and a crazy outlier - Kemba Walker was just that good and had that strong of intangibles. Does Uconn use it's big men well - god no. If not for Emeka Okafor who was a self made rocket scientist of basketball player, we likely wouldn't have had the stream of solid recruits on the blocks like Uconn has had. Prior to him there was no recruiting success there. Guys like Travis Knight and Jake Voskuhl were hardly blue chips. But a once in a lifetime golden child like Okafor and two NC's will develop traction.

You can argue to why AO doesn't do this instead, yada, but one also has to understand the psychology of a kid. They want to feel like they're involved on O, have a chance. They just don't want to find all their O off the lunchpale stuff. And at some point when you get limited chances and quick hooks, your mentality is more afraid to fail in those few chances than confident to succeed. Especially when they're the only upper classmen on the team.

Hate to look to corporate references, but this team is a just a mismanaged dysfunctional clusterduck or a unit.

 

[Tenspro2002]

But last night we had 3-4 possessions where we threw the ball in to Alex on the block. As I recall, the results were:

- Predictable spin-move, shot badly missed due to inability to absorb and explode through contact
- Predictable spin-move, shot blocked/held-ball
- Hook shot that didn't touch rim

His points come on dunks and layups when he's in good position under the rim for either offensive boards, transition buckets, or hand-offs from dribble-penetration.

 

[tzznandrew]

But last night we had 3-4 possessions where we threw the ball in to Alex on the block. As I recall, the results were:

- Predictable spin-move, shot badly missed due to inability to absorb and explode through contact
- Predictable spin-move, shot blocked/held-ball
- Hook shot that didn't touch rim

His points come on dunks and layups when he's in good position under the rim for either offensive boards, transition buckets, or hand-offs from dribble-penetration.

What's sad, to, is that he, not Drummond, should be at the top of the key against a zone if they insist on having a big guy there. He's actually hit that shot a lot.

 

[DoctorBombay]

Shabazz is only a sophomore? Kemba was a junior, we're not talking freshman to senior here. That's a one year separation and Shabazz had a season last year that was probably value wise, 1.5 given experience and duration and playing under Walker.

Shabazz was literally 2nd banana to the most dominant PG in UConn & maybe, CBB history. Yeah, he played last year but I can't remember one game where everyone thought; "UConn needs Shabazz Napier to get going if they wanna win this game". He had the luxury of sitting back, focusing on defense, bring the ball up, & watch Kemba drive the bus. His experience from last year was limited at best, & this year's play has proven that.

 

[jibsey]

Last night AO got the ball deep in the post, bulled his way to the hoop and threw up a prayer that hit nothing. Did dad see that? He had 2 defenders and never looked to pass outside to an open man. He can't be trusted to pass the ball from screen sets because he either gets stripped or throws it away. He has difficulty making a layup. Other than that he is a first round pick.

 

[Fishy]

He's entitled to his opinion. It's certainly no harsher than any opinions written here daily - in fact, he'd fit right in.

Biggest takeaway for me here is that it's just plain creepy that someone follows a player's dad on Facebook.

 

[The Viking]

To me the saddest part of the whole think with Oriakhi's dad is that a grown man has a facebook account

 

[HeGotGame]

reason I found this was reading the article on the game at courant.com, he commented in the comment section via his Facebook

 

[Kitaman]

To me the saddest part of the whole think with Oriakhi's dad is that a grown man has a facebook account

Facebook ain't just for youngsters, 'young man'.

 

[champs99and04]

Tell Alex's dad that if his son develops a post move or two, maybe we'll get him the ball more often. And oh yeah, maybe if he didn't drop the ball all the time our guards would be more prone to look in there on the drive. I for one, am sick of the Oriakhi family bi*ching and moaning about JC, the guy who knows more about basketball than Oriakhi ever will. UConn's offense has been primarily guard and wing dominant for a long, long time. If an Emeka Okafor comes along, then yeah, they'll get him the ball in the post. But a kid shooting under 50% on the season? Don't thinks so.

Really, I don't want to hear the "JC is harsh" excuse for anybody who's pouting instead of balling. Any recruit knows very well going in what JC is all about. If you want your ego massaged, go play somewhere else. JC doesn't give a who did or didn't win the national championship. He's going to play the kid who busts his ass, takes coaching, and fits the system.

 

[Dribbles]

#1 is a fair point, but I wanted to make the connection to AO's attitude since we've also seen him visibly frustrated with how Calhoun has treated him, both in terms of on-court or sideline demeanor and in twitter comments.

#2 is more of what I was getting at. Calhoun's "quick hook" style doesn't work for everyone, and I feel like lately -- whether it's his using it more extremely or demonstrably and/or having the wrong type of guys on his team -- there have been a lot more instances of players responding very poorly to it.

Seems a reasonable argument. Last year the team had similar problems - at least until KW assumed control. Same problem continued this year. Recall how supportive he was on the floor? Any mistake would be followed by a reassuring pat on the shoulder or the butt from Kemba, and the team responded well, to say the least. Maybe the days of the military or "marine" approach are over.

 

[Walker11]

In hindsight, he is right that Calhoun shouldn't have started DD and TO. He doesn't say this, but I believe its implied when he says that Calhoun was setting the players against each other. But as for setting players up against each other - isn't that what competition is? Alex and Smith proved themselves on a national championship team so I believe they should have been able to retain their starting spots, with DD and TO allowing themselves to compete and earn PT. That said, it should have quickly become apparent that Alex and AD are redundant, in fact Alex is simply a poor mans AD, and that our best lineup had Scoe at the 4.

Running the offense through the bigs is idiotic, as has already been mentioned by many. Neither has a post move, AO has horrible hands and neither has shown passing ability (which was praised as a strength of AD). We have tried to start games running the offense through the bigs on several occasions and it causes our team to fall in a hole. I just can't believe his father said its obvious why Uconn bigs don't succeed at the next level. A lot of (significantly) lower ranked bigs have made a millions of dollars.

BTW, Calipari is not a coach who coddles his players. Ask Cousins and Jones if he is a guy who lets his players do whatever they want.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The Oriakhi bashing on this board tires me.

 

[Ts5034]

If this was a year ago i wouldnt be surprised if we saw Alex transfer like his buddy Jamal Coombs-McDaniel. Now that he only has one year left he probably sticks it out even with the NCAA BS

 

[UCHuskies08]

He's entitled to his opinion. It's certainly no harsher than any opinions written here daily - in fact, he'd fit right in.

Biggest takeaway for me here is that it's just plain creepy that someone follows a player's dad on Facebook.

I agree with both of these points

 

[businesslawyer]

The Oriakhi bashing on this board tires me.

I agree with this. He has had a disappointing year. He is not Jonathan Mandeldove.

 

[tzznandrew]

Although he does have as many titles as Antric Klaiber.

 

[hoopsknowitall]

The Oriakhi bashing on this board tires me.

Not sure but I think this might be a first where the FATHER of a player gets killed in the line of fire during player bashing during a season. Was Taliek's or Dyson's parents ever ripped on here?

 

[upstater]

i think there is subtle context here that is actually accurate. in hindsight, the starting five from day one should have been napier, lamb, roscoe, ao, and drummond. i do think calhoun was trying to light a fire by starting tyler and dd that simply backfired. ao and roscoe earned the starting nod from what they accomplished last season. i do think this shuffling, and pinning guys up agianst each other definitely played a destructive overtone for the entire season.......this is exactly where our lack of team chemistry originated. even last night for 28 mins we looked good with roscoe and ao contributing.....what was olander's +/-?

Tyler Olander started last season.

 

[Fishy]

reason I found this was reading the article on the game at courant.com, he commented in the comment section via his Facebook

Ah, so - got it.

Completely different.

 

[boog204]

he's right in his criticism of the offense, but at the same time, AO is hideous in the post. his left hand fling at the hoop is just horrible. but more than anything else this is a parent who is searching for a reason for his supposed meal ticket slowly evaporating. pretty sad.

 

[upstater]

Shabazz is only a sophomore? Kemba was a junior, we're not talking freshman to senior here. That's a one year separation and Shabazz had a season last year that was probably value wise, 1.5 given experience and duration and playing under Walker.

Yeah know, I can see some validity in the Pops vent. I do tend to think last year was the perfect storm to success and a crazy outlier - Kemba Walker was just that good and had that strong of intangibles. Does Uconn use it's big men well - god no. If not for Emeka Okafor who was a self made rocket scientist of basketball player, we likely wouldn't have had the stream of solid recruits on the blocks like Uconn has had. Prior to him there was no recruiting success there. Guys like Travis Knight and Jake Voskuhl were hardly blue chips. But a once in a lifetime golden child like Okafor and two NC's will develop traction.

You can argue to why AO doesn't do this instead, yada, but one also has to understand the psychology of a kid. They want to feel like they're involved on O, have a chance. They just don't want to find all their O off the lunchpale stuff. And at some point when you get limited chances and quick hooks, your mentality is more afraid to fail in those few chances than confident to succeed. Especially when they're the only upper classmen on the team.

Hate to look to corporate references, but this team is a just a mismanaged dysfunctional clusterduck or a unit.

I'm scratching my head here.

Calhoun helped kids like Knight and Voskuhl have NBA careers. Neither were a given coming into college. Okafor improved immensely at UConn and became rich. What about Hasheem Thabeet?

I mean, the record of big men developing at UConn is pretty good, comparatively, no?

What other schools do a better job? Georgetown? Yes, that's one. Any more?

 

[upstater]

Shabazz was literally 2nd banana to the most dominant PG in UConn & maybe, CBB history. Yeah, he played last year but I can't remember one game where everyone thought; "UConn needs Shabazz Napier to get going if they wanna win this game". He had the luxury of sitting back, focusing on defense, bring the ball up, & watch Kemba drive the bus. His experience from last year was limited at best, & this year's play has proven that.

You're short-changing Shabazz. I think he is a lot more dynamic than he's showed. Early in the year he was making a lot of plays for UConn, plays that no UConn point guard other than Kemba was capable of making. Not Marcus Williams, not AJ Price, not Kevin Ollie, not Taliek, not KEA.

Shabazz has been injured all season with bad wheels, and it shows in his play. He never takes defenders on as he used to.

 

[zls44]

Early in the year he was making a lot of plays for UConn, plays that no UConn point guard other than Kemba was capable of making. Not Marcus Williams, not AJ Price, not Kevin Ollie, not Taliek, not KEA.

Ridiculous and asinine. Marcus Williams and AJ Price on their worst day were 10 times the passer that Shabazz is on his best.

 

[djct1999]

Tyler Olander started last season.

lsst year tyler averaged 9 mins a game, roscoe 25 and alex 29.....
this year, tyler avereges 19, roscoe 17, and alex 20.

so tylers minutes increased 10 per game and roscoe and alex decreased almost the same amount. and with those 10 mins we got 3 pts and 2 rebounds more a game!