Article from Goodman

[BFieldHusky]

I know we don't love the guy around here (and often for good reason) but Jeff Goodman on ESPN wrote this earlier today. I think it is a fair article for both the people who want to run Ollie out of town, and the people who want to be patient, especially with all the injuries this year.

Put in a healthy trio of Adams, Gilbert and Larrier -- with the addition of Ashton-Langford -- and the Huskies will almost certainly be a completely different team. But it has been the lack of development with UConn's big men that has hampered the program. Amidah Brimah hasn't become more than a one-dimensional defensive presence, Kentan Facey hasn't showed more than a reserve up front and Steven Enoch has been a non-factor for most of this season.

Ollie's future has been a source of speculation the past couple seasons, but it centered on questions whether an NBA team would pluck him. Now, despite the rash of injuries, it's more about whether he'll get another contract in Storrs.

He's still got that card. But is there an expiration date?

Can Kevin Ollie fix what ails UConn?

 

[uconngb]

I know we don't love the guy around here (and often for good reason) but Jeff Goodman on ESPN wrote this earlier today. I think it is a fair article for both the people who want to run Ollie out of town, and the people who want to be patient, especially with all the injuries this year.

Put in a healthy trio of Adams, Gilbert and Larrier -- with the addition of Ashton-Langford -- and the Huskies will almost certainly be a completely different team. But it has been the lack of development with UConn's big men that has hampered the program. Amidah Brimah hasn't become more than a one-dimensional defensive presence, Kentan Facey hasn't showed more than a reserve up front and Steven Enoch has been a non-factor for most of this season.

Ollie's future has been a source of speculation the past couple seasons, but it centered on questions whether an NBA team would pluck him. Now, despite the rash of injuries, it's more about whether he'll get another contract in Storrs.

He's still got that card. But is there an expiration date?

Can Kevin Ollie fix what ails UConn?

I can't stand this guy, but it's a fair article.

 

[champs99and04]

His problem was always with Calhoun, I think. Amazing how all these national guys who hated UConn suddenly don't have that same hate now that he's gone.

 

[King Husky]

This is BS for so many different reasons. First of all, if we didn't have all of these injuries, we have a much better record than 5-7 and nobody is talking about Ollie being on the hot seat. So now to acknowledge the fact that there are tons of injuries, but still proclaim Ollie is in a tenuous position due to "lack of development of the bigs" makes it seem like Goodman is really reaching to put things together.

Second, and more importantly, I have questioned the shaky development of UConn bigs for years. But right now, what I am seeing on the court out of Facey, Enoch, and Brimah, has actually been pretty impressive... WHEN THEY GET OPPORTUNITIES. If you want to blame Ollie for not getting them enough touches, that's fine. But all three of our big men have improved significantly, especially this year. (Within their own limitations as athletes, Brimah simply doesn't have good hand-eye coordination).

 

[CardiacAndre7]

This is BS for so many different reasons. First of all, if we didn't have all of these injuries, we have a much better record than 5-7 and nobody is talking about Ollie being on the hot seat. So now to acknowledge the fact that there are tons of injuries, but still proclaim Ollie is in a tenuous position due to "lack of development of the bigs" makes it seem like Goodman is really reaching to put things together.

Second, and more importantly, I have questioned the shaky development of UConn bigs for years. But right now, what I am seeing on the court out of Facey, Enoch, and Brimah, has actually been pretty impressive... WHEN THEY GET OPPORTUNITIES. If you want to blame Ollie for not getting them enough touches, that's fine. But all three of our big men have improved significantly, especially this year. (Within their own limitations as athletes, Brimah simply doesn't have good hand-eye coordination).

Facey has been good, Steve has been okay I guess, Amida has been pretty bad IMO.

 

[lange10]

Firing Ollie is not the answer right now. However, he or Benedict needs to realize he needs help on the bench. Time for a change. If that doesn't help, then we question Ollie. But fire him and I don't even want to begin to imagine the impact that has on recruiting. AAC is certainly a factor but Ollie has overcome that obstacle with flying colors.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Ollie is far away from being fired. Guy has a NC, tourney title, and back to back to back great recruiting classes. He inherited a mess from Calhoun and recruited some kids who were reaches because of what he came into. The guy has never been a coach in all his life and for being in his fifth year I think he's doing very well. This year he's had 3 kids sent to redshirt and every game it seems another kid is missing a game for health reasons. Once these seniors are gone it'll open up for the kids and the team. Getting talented bigs are a priority. Also it might be time to shake up the bench, glenn I would think as ricky and killings are doing great on the recruiting trail

 

[King Husky]

Facey has been good, Steve has been okay I guess, Amida has been pretty bad IMO.

Right, Amida will never be a great offensive player. He has reached his ceiling. He has a nice little jump-hook that he has developed, which should never be the focal point of our offense, but the guy shoots 67% so I don't mind him taking more shots. It's the other two who I believe are very good offensive players and need a lot more touches, especially with our guard injuries.

 

[MexicoHusky]

Calhoun didn't exactly kill it as far as developing offensive bigs. He did a very good job developing defensive bigs. Brimah and Facey are not physical specimens and would probably struggle to develop under JC as well. Enoch looks the part, but is not a steller athlete and is slow to recover/help. I think JC would do about the same with all 3. Who knows. Maybe worse. All three would constantly be yanked back to the bench.

And as others have pointed out, Facey is finally playing well and I'm actually pretty happy with Brimah as well. Brimah still doesn't score. He just doesn't have that skillset. But he's blocking shots very well as of late. Pretty happy with our bigs.

This article is 3 or 4 weeks too late.

 

[aceboon]

Do folks not realize KO's first year post NC was setup to be a letdown? The program went basically 2 years without a good recruiting class due to the sanctions/postseason ban/coaching situation in flux, with the departurers they had in 2013-2014 it was obvious it was going to be a stepback. So that leaves last year, 25 wins, a postseason tournament title and avancement to the 2nd round of the tourney, and now this year, a bad start that got compounded by the 2 of the 3 best players being out for the year and the other now being out for a game and a half and who knows how long. Ya'll are lobbying for KO to be fired after this year? Good grief some of ya'll are crazy.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Do folks not realize KO's first year post NC was setup to be a letdown? The program went basically 2 years without a good recruiting class due to the sanctions/postseason ban/coaching situation in flux, with the departurers they had in 2013-2014 it was obvious it was going to be a stepback. So that leaves last year, 25 wins, a postseason tournament title and avancement to the 2nd round of the tourney, and now this year, a bad start that got compounded by the 2 of the 3 best players being out for the year and the other now being out for a game and a half and who knows how long. Ya'll are lobbying for KO to be fired after this year? Good grief some of ya'll are crazy.

and im tired of people saying "those were calhouns recruits"... ollie was there from day one with them and even worked with kemba throughout his growth his junior year. Ollie had as much to do with developing bazz and them as calhoun did. calhoun wasn't there for the banned season, when he beat izzo twice, jay wright, donovan, the mayor, cal, or when ollie won the NC... We're struggling bc we cant rebound at all and get out and run or have a possession before teams get 2 or three. Ollie will fix this and like I said, once the seniors are gone we're going to be loaded with talent... Just need bigs as a priority, chemistry and leadership, and they have to put in work in the offseason

 

[uconngb]

Do folks not realize KO's first year post NC was setup to be a letdown? The program went basically 2 years without a good recruiting class due to the sanctions/postseason ban/coaching situation in flux, with the departurers they had in 2013-2014 it was obvious it was going to be a stepback. So that leaves last year, 25 wins, a postseason tournament title and avancement to the 2nd round of the tourney, and now this year, a bad start that got compounded by the 2 of the 3 best players being out for the year and the other now being out for a game and a half and who knows how long. Ya'll are lobbying for KO to be fired after this year? Good grief some of ya'll are crazy.

Think you have this thread confused w some others. I don't see anyone in this thread calling for KO to be fired.

 

[Matrim55]

I know we don't love the guy around here (and often for good reason) but Jeff Goodman on ESPN wrote this earlier today. I think it is a fair article for both the people who want to run Ollie out of town, and the people who want to be patient, especially with all the injuries this year.

Nah it's a crap article specifically because of this sentence-and-a-half:

Ollie's issue has not been on the recruiting trail. UConn has been able to bring in heralded players. He landed Daniel Hamilton (No. 30 in ESPN 100) in the Class of 2014, Adams (No. 25) in the Class of 2015...

Our current predicament is actually a direct result of KO's struggles on the recruiting trail from 2012-15, which is a direct result of the sanctions that program was under. As a result we were able to consistently lock down our No. 1 target, but had classes that were otherwise thin (2015), bereft of talent behind that No. 1 guy (2014), or comprised almost entirely of projects (2013).

When you recruit like that for 3 or 4 straight years, and you compound it with some catastrophic injuries, you end up with a season like this one. Add in two guys going pro a year too early for us (DeAndre & DHam), and you have the perfect storm.

Any article that tries to give the story of Ollie's tenure without that context is garbage. Any assessment of what it means for the future without looking at the fact that each recruiting class has been better than the one before it is also garbage.

 

[champs99and04]

Facey has been good, Steve has been okay I guess, Amida has been pretty bad IMO.

I would say Facey has been good, Amida has been OK, and Enoch has been mostly bad. But Amida is a senior and his limitations just kill us.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Think you have this thread confused w some others. I don't see anyone in this thread calling for KO to be fired.

did you see this place after houston? everyone comes out of the woodwork when we don't win.

 

[UConnSwag11]

I would say Facey has been good, Amida has been OK, and Enoch has been mostly bad. But Amida is a senior and his limitations just kill us.

enoch shows skill offensively... he just fouls too much and is slow defensively

 

[champs99and04]

Nah it's a crap article specifically because of this sentence-and-a-half:

Ollie's issue has not been on the recruiting trail. UConn has been able to bring in heralded players. He landed Daniel Hamilton (No. 30 in ESPN 100) in the Class of 2014, Adams (No. 25) in the Class of 2015...

Our current predicament is a direct result of KO's struggles on the recruiting trail from 2012-15, which is a direct result of the sanctions that program was under. As a result we were able to consistently lock down our No. 1 target, but had classes that were otherwise thin (2015), bereft of talent behind that No. 1 guy (2014), or comprised almost entirely of projects (2013).

When you recruit like that for 3 or 4 straight years, and you compound it with some catastrophic injuries, you end up with a season like this one. Add in two guys going pro a year too early for us (DeAndre & DHam), and you have the perfect storm.

Any article that tries to give the story of Ollie's tenure without that context is garbage. Any assessment of what it means for the future without looking at the fact that each recruiting class has been better than the one before it is also garbage.

Don't think I agree with this. Recruiting could have been better, but development has been the biggest problem. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you.

 

[aceboon]

Think you have this thread confused w some others. I don't see anyone in this thread calling for KO to be fired.

I'm not referencing anyone saying it in this thread, but it is being posted on this board and most especially twitter/social media, Goodman is certainly aware of the latter and it helped spawn his article.

 

[Matrim55]

Don't think I agree with this. Recruiting could have been better, but development has been the biggest problem. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you.

You're not. Development has been fine-to-good, while recruiting was a major issue from 2012 through 2015 (one that was addressed over time).

If this year's current freshmen are awful as juniors I'll join the braying mob. Not until then.

 

[champs99and04]

enoch shows skill offensively... he just fouls too much and is slow defensively

There is a lot to like about Enoch. But he's so slow out there - both mentally and physically - that I wonder if he's ever going to be more than a back-up center. In his defense, he's only like 18, and he demonstrated some spurts against Auburn.

 

[MexicoHusky]

To be honest, i don't care too much what espn, hartford courant or any sports journalist thinks about our team. These same people had no idea what we were capable of doing in 11' and 14'. And they won't see it coming when it happens again. As far as our Huskies are concerned i would be more interested in the opinions of most of the members of this board. We are the experts as far as UCONN is concerned.

 

[champs99and04]

You're not. Development has been fine-to-good, while recruiting was a major issue from 2012 through 2015 (one that was addressed over time).

If this year's current freshmen are awful as juniors I'll join the braying mob. Not until then.

I agree with you on the last part. I still have a lot of confidence in him bringing the program forward, and I suspect that this brief down-spell has been overstated in significance. Many of the great coaches of today - Boeheim, Pitino, Wright - went through a recruiting cycle or two where they simply whiffed, whether it was because they overvalued players or because they just didn't get them. Hell, Calhoun had a couple of those.

That said, we're right around .500 in league play over the last two+ seasons. 2014-15 was always going to be a re-building year, but 8-10 in conference play wasn't acceptable. Losing in the second round was fine last year, but 10-8 in league play was not acceptable. This season, for all the carnage, you're still left with three seniors in the starting lineup - two of which were top 50 recruits, one of which has drawn the radar of the NBA and started here for four years now - and a five star, 21-year-old point guard. They lap the AAC on the recruiting trail, and even with the depleted roster, a conference title isn't unrealistic (w/o Adams all bets are off, granted).

I'm resigned to seeing Purvis and Brimah as tragically flawed players who may not have panned out under any coach, but still, they should be better than this, and Facey has been developmental malpractice. He hasn't gotten nearly enough out of the last couple teams, even accounting for recruiting limitations and injuries.

 

[pj]

I know we don't love the guy around here (and often for good reason) but Jeff Goodman on ESPN wrote this earlier today. I think it is a fair article for both the people who want to run Ollie out of town, and the people who want to be patient, especially with all the injuries this year.

Put in a healthy trio of Adams, Gilbert and Larrier -- with the addition of Ashton-Langford -- and the Huskies will almost certainly be a completely different team. But it has been the lack of development with UConn's big men that has hampered the program. Amidah Brimah hasn't become more than a one-dimensional defensive presence, Kentan Facey hasn't showed more than a reserve up front and Steven Enoch has been a non-factor for most of this season.

Ollie's future has been a source of speculation the past couple seasons, but it centered on questions whether an NBA team would pluck him. Now, despite the rash of injuries, it's more about whether he'll get another contract in Storrs.

He's still got that card. But is there an expiration date?

Can Kevin Ollie fix what ails UConn?

This is a guy getting story ideas by reading the Boneyard, and pulling his ideas from the dumber posters.

Yes, it fairly balances dumb and smart, acting as if both are equally plausible.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

His problem was always with Calhoun, I think. Amazing how all these national guys who hated UConn suddenly don't have that same hate now that he's gone.

With Goodman, I thought his problem with Calhoun stemmed mostly from the experience the Tilton kids had here, specifically AO, since Goodman considers himself boys with all those kids from NE Mass.

 

[King Husky]

To be honest, i don't care too much what espn, hartford courant or any sports journalist thinks about our team. These same people had no idea what we were capable of doing in 11' and 14'. And they won't see it coming when it happens again. As far as our Huskies are concerned i would be more interested in the opinions of most of the members of this board. We are the experts as far as UCONN is concerned.

And we certainly have enough infighting to prevent groupthink