I'd like to see Ollie finally recruit some players with high basketball IQ. This is something we've been severely lacking since Niels and Shabazz left. Some smart players will make his coaching look a hell of a lot better too.
All of our five best players on the 2014 team - the two you mentioned, in addition to Boat, DeAndre, and Kromah - were smart players. Nolan and Samuel might have been, too, they just weren't particularly talented.
But I think the point you raised is an important one, and it might suggest why Ollie was so successful in coaching up Calhoun's kids but hasn't had the same luck with his own guys:
Calhoun, I think, more than maybe any other coach in the sport, had a knack for seeing things in players - intangible things, like smarts and toughness - that were ultimately conducive to building great teams. The talent was there, obviously, but with a lot of his greatest players, there was something else...maybe even something of an unhealthy passion for winning.
Purvis and Brimah and Hamilton are great kids who try hard and would do whatever was asked of them for the school/program. But guys like Napier, Adrien, Boat, Price...they seemed like the type of kids who were willing to be
disliked at times if it meant it would help the team.
This is all purely speculation, of course, and by no means am I suggesting that Calhoun didn't try to recruit the same players Ollie is targeting, but for as much similarity as there is between Ollie and Calhoun, there are differences, too. Calhoun was an and he wasn't afraid to recruit players who were s. Look around the country now and most of the great coaches - Pitino, Boeheim, Izzo, K, Cal - are s.
This doesn't mean Ollie is too much of a players coach. Nothing like that. I just wonder if Calhoun would watch players who were willing to kick you in the crotch to win a game and develop a deranged affection for them.
