Bad DHam, bad Purvis, front court foul trouble

[8893]

What would you have done?

I'm not giving Ollie a free pass because this team is his problem to solve and he gets paid handsomely for it, but I am genuinely curious what the brighter college basketball minds than mine (read, plenty of folks here) would have done when:

• Our only unanimous "star" has remained in an extended, horrendous scoring slump; and
  
  
• Our consensus leader by default was having a terrible game; and
  
  
• Our three remaining serviceable front court players had four fouls apiece.
  

I mean, where do you go when both Hamilton and Purvis are having terrible nights, and Enoch still doesn't have enough of a clue even to spell the other front court players who are in foul trouble when we are missing our starter?

I hated what I saw, but when I tried to think of what could be done differently I was at a loss. He was rotating in front court players who immediately picked up fouls that sent them back to the bench, and we couldn't penetrate worth a lick as a result of both that and Hamilton's and Purvis's inability to drive and shoot with any success.

Gibbs and Miller, the two newest guys, were the only ones who kept us in the game with their three-pointers. Jalen was not having success running the point.

Given the team we have and the performances they were turning in last night, what should Ollie do or have done?

 

[InKembaITrust]

This is on Ollie.

First and foremost, he has to stop shying away from benching his "best" players when they are not doing what they are supposed to be doing (jacking up 3s left and right and rushing offensive possessions in general.) Subbing in Omar and Jalen is not a bad replacement in situations like that.

Secondly, he should be screaming at these guys during timeouts and in game scenarios to DRIVE THE BALL TO THE HOOP. Now I'm privy to the fact that Tulsa was playing a zone 75% of the time, but that is when you stick Hamilton at the foul line and have him catch, drive & dish. Kids not shooting well? Then get him in the middle of the paint and have him create for others. He was still rebounding and passing well....so UTILIZE THAT and nip in the bud his 3 point shooting immediately!!! I saw no adjustments from Ollies part on offense the entirety of the game. I feel like he has way to much faith in his players to just make the adjustments themselves...not going to happen.

Thirdly, in situations like this we should simultaneously be posting up Hamilton more as a PF. He is big enough, has the skill and turn around shot closer to the hoop, and has the court vision when the double team comes.

Overall I'm very disappointed with Ollie's adjustments during games. I expect this team to work on breaking down zone defenses in practice for the next 3 days, b/c they're going to be seeing a lot of it this season I'm sure.

 

[8893]

Criticisms of Ollie's adjustments and substitution patterns are legitimate, but I keep coming back to the fact that nothing else really matters unless/until Hamilton finds his scoring mojo again--which may require the return of Amidah. We may pull out a game here and there because of great individual performances, but this team simply isn't good enough to overcome an under-performing Hamilton for any sustained period.

I can forgive Purvis's performance last night because he has otherwise been our most consistent player on both ends of the floor, warts and all, but I'm really lost on the explanation for Hamilton's extended funk, other than to attribute it to Amidah's absence, which allows defenses to collapse on him and make him less effective on the drive.

And I'm not sure that Hamilton is a player who would respond well to the Calhoun-esque "tough love" for which many are calling. His body language and actual language on the court are clearly showing his frustration; there is no mistaking that he is aware of the problem and he is trying to fix it--likely trying too hard. Remember, the vast consensus was that Hamilton needed to be more selfish, because his deference to his teammates was taking away from his own great scoring opportunities, and it was also becoming too easy to defend because it was so predictable. He essentially needed an intervention to make him start looking for his own shot first, and now that he is he can't throw the ball in the ocean.

I see people calling for him to come off the bench, or for Ollie to get in his face. I don't agree with either of those approaches because I think he may be one of the more emotionally fragile kids who will respond poorly to that, and it looks to me like he's already plenty hard on himself. But I don't know what the answer is, either.

 

[UConnStats]

Last night will be an outlier because it's rare that two of our top 3 usage rate players shot under 20% from the floor.

Gibbs finds his old form and Hamilton falls apart. Brimah is injured. This team is waiting on everything coming together simultaneously. It may not happen at all, or it may happen too late unfortunately. We don't want the pressure of having to win the AAC tournament again, but it could end up being the case. Regardless, we aren't as bad as we have looked in the past couple of weeks.

 

[tykurez]

, obviously. The guy who, according to a loud minority of people on here, does nothing well except wear nice suits and speak in platitudes.

Because 2013 didn't happen. Because 2014 didn't happen. Because he didn't save us from dropping into complete oblivion by motivating a team that started Phillip Nolan at center to a national championship. One that, mind you, had to go thru tournament "favorites" Florida, Michigan State, and Kentucky. It was Shabazz. It was Brimah's "and-1" ... a guy so loathed on here you'd think he was Joseph Kony. It was Calhoun's recruits even though Ollie has been recruiting for this program since 2010. It was luck. It was gathering momentum "at the right time."

I don't know what the expectations are here, but they're so blown out of proportion for a guy in his 4th year of coaching. Are we expecting Mike Krzyzewski? Are we expecting Jim Calhoun (who mind you, had plenty of head scratchers during his tenure)?

I would love nothing more than to steamroll this hodgepodge of miserablness that is the AAC. I would love nothing more than to see us make the tournament as a top 3 seed every year until the end of time. I would love nothing more than for Kevin Ollie to suddenly turn into Dean Smith. For him to perfect his substitution patterns or his in-game demeanor or his offensive gameplan against a zone.

But are we seriously talking about whether or not this guy has what it takes yet? Has Kevin Ollie's chance to grow as a coach run out?