All Players Attending Hurley Presser

[JMick]

"it's a new season"

With some good coaching I think he can be a major contributor as a senior. I hope he's definitely staying

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Kid could stand to shed some lbs.

 

[Chief00]

Chief00 - if you have been to the practices and at the games you must have witnessed SE's antics and attitude
I don't care about his abilities physically (of which I agree with BLaw for the most part), as the year went on he became more and more of a pain and at the end he even dragged Durham into his fold of follies
Both SE and VJ were problem children
UConn has not recruited real Bigs in past 4 years- only make believe ones - that has to change - bring on a 6'10" junkyard dog who has muscle and an attitude to take no prisoners - I'll take 2 of those any day

Yes, I saw the attitude issues but when you have a team filled with them it makes you question recruiting evaluation and coaching as well. Let’s face it some guys were not coached worth a lick nor mentored successfully. I think he will do well at ND.

 

[Chief00]

Kid could stand to shed some lbs.

I don’t disagree but I would want him on my side if a fight broke out.

 

[tentoes4rings]

"it's a new season"

Apparently he just started showing these awesome skills in practice the day KO was fired.

 

[AdamaNation]

Your comment “guys who look like Tarzan but play like Jane” inescapably as a UConn fan made me think of Dave O. Apparently, that was the wrong assumption on my part?

Since our Bigs coaching failed to develop any Big, I will not automatically assume the slow mental development process - was all on Steve. KO was extremely erratic who he choose to pull or stay in after a mistake. Enoch and Jackson, both of whom added value in some ways, were the guys pulled after one mistake while others made multiple mistakes and stayed in the game.

I like the way Carlton keeps his arms and ball up but to me Enoch has a ton more physical potential - you obviously feel he will never obtain his potential - I am more of an optimist in that regard. Time will tell who is right.
I had some of these same arguments after Dre’s freshman year. I am not trying to compare the two - Dre is athletically on another level. But, assessing Bigs underclassmen is much different than assessing guards. Trust in Chief.

Let’s not forget despite all his many shortcomings these past few years KO reeled in a Super star big and let him go for good reasons. Certainly one of the last Great decisions of his time here. Ziggity Zach Brown.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Let’s not forget despite all his many shortcomings these past few years KO reeled in a Super star big and let him go for good reasons. Certainly one of the last Great decisions of his time here. Ziggity Zach Brown.

I don't think we will ever have a more eventful and insane recruiting story than Zach Brown. If that's even his/her name anymore. Goodness, I hope the individual is doing okay. Really, really sad that such a bright future can be thrown away like that. I'll never forget the documentary about him.

 

[boog204]

I don't think we will ever have a more eventful and insane recruiting story than Zach Brown. If that's even his/her name anymore. Goodness, I hope the individual is doing okay. Really, really sad that such a bright future can be thrown away like that. I'll never forget the documentary about him.

Must've missed it... What's the name of the doc?

Also, yes, an incredibly sad story. But, Brown was also unbelievably overrated as a prospect. He was a top 5 his soph/junior year when he was this manchild, lacking any discernible skill, with all the potential in the world. For a myriad of reasons, by the time he was a senior, he was still a manchild with no skill and you saw his rankings drop to the 20s-50s when he committed to us to the 200s in the last 247 rankings. Some of that certainly could be due to his issues off the court, but he was never terribly impressive on the court. As a basketball player, he's the second coming of John Riek.

 

[Huskybass]

Must've missed it... What's the name of the doc?

Also, yes, an incredibly sad story. But, Brown was also unbelievably overrated as a prospect. He was a top 5 his soph/junior year when he was this manchild, lacking any discernible skill, with all the potential in the world. For a myriad of reasons, by the time he was a senior, he was still a manchild with no skill and you saw his rankings drop to the 20s-50s when he committed to us to the 200s in the last 247 rankings. Some of that certainly could be due to his issues off the court, but he was never terribly impressive on the court. As a basketball player, he's the second coming of John Riek.

It appears that KO often recruited based on rankings rather than fit and/or skillset. The result was a roster filled with lots of pieces that showed promise, but didn't work well together.

There were 101 red flags with Zach Brown. While I was hoping he could find a way to be a productive college player, the deck was incredibly stacked against it. Sad to realize that he will probably never play a minute of D1 basketball.

 

[tentoes4rings]

Must've missed it... What's the name of the doc?

Also, yes, an incredibly sad story. But, Brown was also unbelievably overrated as a prospect. He was a top 5 his soph/junior year when he was this manchild, lacking any discernible skill, with all the potential in the world. For a myriad of reasons, by the time he was a senior, he was still a manchild with no skill and you saw his rankings drop to the 20s-50s when he committed to us to the 200s in the last 247 rankings. Some of that certainly could be due to his issues off the court, but he was never terribly impressive on the court. As a basketball player, he's the second coming of John Riek.

He looked slow and unathletic in the tapes I saw. Other than his size, I never saw what some people were so in love with. I hope the kid straightened out his life though.

 

[auror]

It appears that KO often recruited based on rankings rather than fit and/or skillset. The result was a roster filled with lots of pieces that showed promise, but didn't work well together.

If you look at the bigger picture of who Ollie recruited, the issue with Ollie was not recruiting or pieces not fitting together.

So. Gilbert, Jr. Adams, So. Jackson, RS Jr. Larrier, So. Durham if they all hit their potentials is a FF-quality roster, maybe even title-winning if they all stuck around for Adams' senior year. The penetration of Adams and Gilbert kicking out to floor-spacing bigs and a matchup nightmare in transition. Or a bigger lineup with Larrier at the 3, Durham at the 4, and Enoch at the 5. A ton of length and athleticism on the wing.

But injuries derailed things and Ollie wasn't a good enough coach to get them through it or get everyone to buy into his culture. Kids don't buy in when you don't hold up your side of the bargain. So 3 of them left, the 4th got hurt again, and we were in a much worse situation from a talent perspective with the same bad coaching.

 

[Huskybass]

If you look at the bigger picture of who Ollie recruited, the issue with Ollie was not recruiting or pieces not fitting together.

So. Gilbert, Jr. Adams, So. Jackson, RS Jr. Larrier, So. Durham if they all hit their potentials is a FF-quality roster, maybe even title-winning if they all stuck around for Adams' senior year. The penetration of Adams and Gilbert kicking out to floor-spacing bigs and a matchup nightmare in transition. Or a bigger lineup with Larrier at the 3, Durham at the 4, and Enoch at the 5. A ton of length and athleticism on the wing.

But injuries derailed things and Ollie wasn't a good enough coach to get them through it or get everyone to buy into his culture. Kids don't buy in when you don't hold up your side of the bargain. So 3 of them left, the 4th got hurt again, and we were in a much worse situation from a talent perspective with the same bad coaching.

Two of those kids had histories of significant injuries and another one had a father that was a handful by all accounts. Larrier was also a very unconventional player who was a transfer from VCU for a reason. Thus, of the 5 players you listed, only Adams was a player who didn't bring some concerns with him. My point being that while the recruiting efforts may have looked good on paper, the concerns came to fruition and the results on the court suffered substantially. PLUS, 2 scholarships went unfilled in 2016-17, which made the impact of the injuries even more pronounced.

This year we had 3 healthy guards, who often all started. Thus, we had no depth. In short, roster construction left alot to be desired.

 

[auror]

Two of those kids had histories of significant injuries and another one had a father that was a handful by all accounts. Larrier was also a very unconventional player who was a transfer from VCU for a reason. Thus, of the 5 players you listed, only Adams was a player who didn't bring some concerns with him. My point being that while the recruiting efforts may have looked good on paper, the concerns came to fruition and the results on the court suffered substantially. PLUS, 2 scholarships went unfilled in 2016-17, which made the impact of the injuries even more pronounced.

This year we had 3 healthy guards, who often all started. Thus, we had no depth. In short, roster construction left alot to be desired.

You're absolutely right that a lot of the recruits had concerns. Some may even have been risky. But there are very few sure thing recruits without any sort of question mark, and even fewer of those are willing to play in the AAC. It's easy to play the hindsight game, but Gilbert had only one minor injury before he committed (he got the 2nd shortly before arriving on campus) and Larrier transferred because his coach left, not anything to do with his "unconventional game". What % of recruits have protective or vocal family dynamics? It's not a small number. Durham was the big risk, but even so he was a bit of a luxury in a great class.

Ollie swung for the fences on Diallo and missed, but we were right there. At the time I was okay with it. Was it one too many risks? Again, maybe in hindsight, but I don't judge the process as flawed. The 2nd banked scholarship was a mistake.

The depth thing is squarely on his mishandling of MAL (which was further caused at least partially by his coaching ineffectiveness in other areas) and his poor retention.

We had the pieces to work and fit, but they never came together. Partially due to luck, a lot due to Ollie.

 

[imno1]

If you look at the bigger picture of who Ollie recruited, the issue with Ollie was not recruiting or pieces not fitting together.

So. Gilbert, Jr. Adams, So. Jackson, RS Jr. Larrier, So. Durham if they all hit their potentials is a FF-quality roster, maybe even title-winning if they all stuck around for Adams' senior year. The penetration of Adams and Gilbert kicking out to floor-spacing bigs and a matchup nightmare in transition. Or a bigger lineup with Larrier at the 3, Durham at the 4, and Enoch at the 5. A ton of length and athleticism on the wing.

But injuries derailed things and Ollie wasn't a good enough coach to get them through it or get everyone to buy into his culture. Kids don't buy in when you don't hold up your side of the bargain. So 3 of them left, the 4th got hurt again, and we were in a much worse situation from a talent perspective with the same bad coaching.

Overrated. Not enough toughness or griddiness in that group to be a final 4 contender.

 

[auror]

Overrated. Not enough toughness or griddiness in that group to be a final 4 contender.

Did Calhoun recruit tough players or teach them to be tough?

 

[BlueMAB]

Did Calhoun recruit tough players or teach them to be tough?

Yes.

 

[polycom]

"it's a new season"

How about some jump shots?