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Blake Harris

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UConnSwag11 said:
Idk if Marshall could coach a team this young. Seems Ollie focuses more on defense for the majority of the season then works offensively with young players. Defense is the hardest to adjust to for new players
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Marshall's team was fairly young this season, none of the best players were seniors. The point guard and arguably their best player was a redshirt freshman.
 
husky99 said:
I disagree. Another less then 500 season and i hear ollie is out. New AD is pissed and wants results yesterday
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Then shut the doors on UConn sports because the new AD is a yokel dokel genius.

And in retrospect, after all the years of what UConn has endured, he'll be the third dud in a row as a AD. Which will be the big tell on the future of UConn sports.
 
upstater said:
Then shut the doors on UConn sports because the new AD is a yokel dokel genius.

And in retrospect, after all the years of what UConn has endured, he'll be the third dud in a row as a AD. Which will be the big tell on the future of UConn sports.
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KO can't build a program and we can't see uconn basketball fade into irrelevance. Under .500 record and I agree Ollie is out. He needs to least have a chance to get 20 wins and fighting for a tourney birth even if he doesn't get It. KO has all his people now so it is his time to succeed or move on. I like that are new AD isn't settling for medicrocity. If he can be over .500 and put a consistently good product that can compete with the top aac teams and not get blown out he will get some more time to prove himself.

I'm glad he won with Calhouns results but he needs to learn to build a viable program which he is surely not showing signs he can do it.
 
upstater said:
Then shut the doors on UConn sports because the new AD is a yokel dokel genius.

And in retrospect, after all the years of what UConn has endured, he'll be the third dud in a row as a AD. Which will be the big tell on the future of UConn sports.
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If we we wipe the condensation off the mirror, it's fairly easy to see the future of UConn athletics. This board's view of our future is like my view on my hairline. I really don't think I am thining or that I am pulling it off but my 3 year old then reminds me how I am going bald. In this case, the ADs hands are tied. If the cupboard is bare now, what will the roster look like if Ollie was suddenly fired?
 
djct1999 said:
If we we wipe the condensation off the mirror, it's fairly easy to see the future of UConn athletics. This board's view of our future is like my view on my hairline. I really don't think I am thining or that I am pulling it off but my 3 year old then reminds me how I am going bald. In this case, the ADs hands are tied. If the cupboard is bare now, what will the roster look like if Ollie was suddenly fired?
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This is the trouble with ADs. They are paid handsomely. But they don't really have to stick around to view the long-term damage. They are most often short-termers at most schools. They just want to stick in their jobs as long as possible, or leave for better jobs. Like most people. Long term health of the program? No. The previous 2 ADs were not go-getters, not in the least. And here we are with someone that apparently knows a great deal about football, which is good. Basketball? Remains to be seen.

My fear is a never-ending string of Jim Christian types moving in. Who is Cornell's current coach?
 
navery12 said:
Appears I'm in the minority but I was expecting the results of the Chillious hire to come next year, when you know, he has a full year to recruit these kids
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That's not unreasonable in a vacuum, but it speaks to the pattern that has developed here of kicking the can down the road.

Can't expect Ollie to reel in 2014 kids when it's only been his program a year.

Can't expect Ollie to reel in 2015 kids because we're still dealing with the sanctions.

Now, after the worst season in 30 years, we can't expect him to reel in 2017 kids - after already having lost half is roster and his top commit - because his associate head coach hasn't had time to recruit them?

It can't work both ways. If you're going to overhaul the program after a bad year, then you need to have a contingency plan that works on an accelerated timetable. I'm personally not distraught about losing Harris (it was unlikely a 3 star type was going to drastically change our fortunes next year), but if we don't bring in some horses soon - like grad transfers, who everybody has had time to recruit for the same amount of time - then he owes answers. And I'm not worried about him giving answers to people like me. I'm worried about him answering to his all-American junior point guard who believed in him but has watched the program around him mangled for all three years. That guy deserves better. He deserves a shot. Right now he's not getting it.
 
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champs99and04 said:
That's not unreasonable in a vacuum, but it speaks to the pattern that has developed here of kicking the can down the road.

Can't expect Ollie to reel in 2014 kids when it's only been his program a year.

Can't expect Ollie to reel in 2015 kids because we're still dealing with the sanctions.

Now, after the worst season in 30 years, we can't expect him to reel in 2017 kids - after already having lost half is roster and his top commit - because his associate head coach hasn't had time to recruit them?

It can't work both ways. If you're going to overhaul the program after a bad year, then you need to have a contingency plan that works on an accelerated timetable. I'm personally not distraught about losing Harris (it was unlikely a 3 star type was going to drastically change our fortunes next year), but if we don't bring in some horses soon - like grad transfers, who everybody has had time to recruit for the same amount of time - then he owes answers. And I'm not worried about him giving answers to people like me. I'm worried about him answering to his all-American junior point guard who believed in him but has watched the program around him mangled for all three years. That guy deserves better. He deserves a shot. Right now he's not getting it.
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I would take it further. Ollie and staff are in the same exact position as everyone regarding transfers and decommits. If Ollie, Chill and Kill are studs, they should be able to win these battles.
 
As much as I like our lineup of guards, especially if we can get a 3pt shooter this spring, I am still expecting a mid-pack finish in the AAC. That'll mean the season will come down to the OOC performance and AACT - like usual since 2014.

I don't like those odds, but I think this is a realistic expectation for the way Ollie's teams play from November to February.
 
champs99and04 said:
That's not unreasonable in a vacuum, but it speaks to the pattern that has developed here of kicking the can down the road.

Can't expect Ollie to reel in 2014 kids when it's only been his program a year.

Can't expect Ollie to reel in 2015 kids because we're still dealing with the sanctions.

Now, after the worst season in 30 years, we can't expect him to reel in 2017 kids - after already having lost half is roster and his top commit - because his associate head coach hasn't had time to recruit them?

It can't work both ways. If you're going to overhaul the program after a bad year, then you need to have a contingency plan that works on an accelerated timetable. I'm personally not distraught about losing Harris (it was unlikely a 3 star type was going to drastically change our fortunes next year), but if we don't bring in some horses soon - like grad transfers, who everybody has had time to recruit for the same amount of time - then he owes answers. And I'm not worried about him giving answers to people like me. I'm worried about him answering to his all-American junior point guard who believed in him but has watched the program around him mangled for all three years. That guy deserves better. He deserves a shot. Right now he's not getting it.
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I don't think I would disagree with any of this. But I think you're missing my point, I'm not saying KO deserves a pass on this recruiting class for any of the reasons you stated, he doesn't deserve a pass at all. But some people (not saying it was you) seemed to think we'd hire Chillious and he'd have 5* guys commiting here for next year already. I'm not excusing Ollie on this recruiting class, but to expect Chillious to come in and have results in a few weeks is shortsighted. Not saying that was you, but I've seen multiple people already calling that hire a failure which is absurd.

Maybe it's the eternal optimist in me, but I'm not all that worried about next year. For the first time in a while we're bringing back our best player. The situation around him is far from ideal, but it helps to have a little bit of certainty knowing that the team runs through Jalen early next year. Still enough time to bring in some grad transfers who can help out next year. And who knows, maybe there's a nice surprise and Waters ends up here as well
 
champs99and04 said:
That's not unreasonable in a vacuum, but it speaks to the pattern that has developed here of kicking the can down the road.

Can't expect Ollie to reel in 2014 kids when it's only been his program a year.

Can't expect Ollie to reel in 2015 kids because we're still dealing with the sanctions.

Now, after the worst season in 30 years, we can't expect him to reel in 2017 kids - after already having lost half is roster and his top commit - because his associate head coach hasn't had time to recruit them?

It can't work both ways. If you're going to overhaul the program after a bad year, then you need to have a contingency plan that works on an accelerated timetable. I'm personally not distraught about losing Harris (it was unlikely a 3 star type was going to drastically change our fortunes next year), but if we don't bring in some horses soon - like grad transfers, who everybody has had time to recruit for the same amount of time - then he owes answers. And I'm not worried about him giving answers to people like me. I'm worried about him answering to his all-American junior point guard who believed in him but has watched the program around him mangled for all three years. That guy deserves better. He deserves a shot. Right now he's not getting it.
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First, there is no consensus that Ollie is kicking these players off the team. They are leaving.

Second, it is April. Have a look at how many players are available. Barely any.

The idea that UConn was going to restock with talented players was always, frankly, preposterous.
 
Ollie meet Harris this week for an in home. GTech was reported as also having one. Mizzou & Porter are on a roll. Chill isn't a miracle worker, yet. Was it reasonable to think he could get Harris for us, if he got him once prior?
 
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GemParty said:
Ollie meet Harris this week for an in home. GTech was reported as also having one. Mizzou & Porter are on a roll. Chill isn't a miracle worker, yet. Was it reasonable to think he could get Harris for us, if he got him once prior?
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Of course it was reasonable to believe we had a chance. It's unreasonable to believe that something is set in stone. Sometimes odds are very low. Sometimes odds are higher. The odds were decent for Blake but not absolute.

Just for arguments sake, Chillious in recruiting Blake, could have sold Blake on the idea of playing with Porter. Well that could have made the decision to Mizzou more likely if we knew that pitch.
 
fleudslipcon said:
Of course it was reasonable to believe we had a chance. It's unreasonable to believe that something is set in stone. Sometimes odds are very low. Sometimes odds are higher. The odds were decent for Blake but not absolute.

Just for arguments sake, Chillious in recruiting Blake, could have sold Blake on the idea of playing with Porter. Well that could have made the decision to Mizzou more likely if we knew that pitch.
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This was my fear of Harris/Mizzou. I'd imagine a big part of Chillious' recruiting pitch at UW for any recruit was the opportunity to play with both Porter brothers. Which at the time is an easy sell, but doesn't help him at UConn where that's no longer true
 
husky99 said:
I disagree. Another less then 500 season and i hear ollie is out. New AD is pissed and wants results yesterday
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Not happening.

Given that they would have to pay $2-3M for someone else to coach in 2018-19 and pay Kevin Ollie about $11M not to coach in 2018-2019, you can be pretty well certain that anything but absolute disaster will bring Kevin Ollie back after next season.
 
navery12 said:
This was my fear of Harris/Mizzou. I'd imagine a big part of Chillious' recruiting pitch at UW for any recruit was the opportunity to play with both Porter brothers. Which at the time is an easy sell, but doesn't help him at UConn where that's no longer true
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And that's what you want from a great recruiter. Someone who is a great sales person who knows how to emphasize the positives. I bet @Chief00 has an every time he hears Chillious's name. I'm sure Chillious avoided the record of Washington and made Washington appear like a paradise. Was that deceitful? Depends on a lot of things which most of us aren't privy to.

Personally, if I was in a hiring position, I'd be approaching the positive people in these threads any day over the people who are approaching these events with the degree of emotional negativity they display. I wouldn't approach the superficial positive person but the people who recognize that problems exist and are looking for proactive ways to correct those problems as opposed to restating a negative position over and over again to get people to agree with their gloominess.

Getting Chillious was a coup that was as much a lucky break for KO and the program as it was about established relationships. I'm not throwing Glen under the bus, but if he was deficient in aspects to KO's coaching demands, a decent season this year may have kept KO from pushing him out even with the fortunate events that made Chillious available. Until I see evidence to the contrary I'm taking the position the firing of Miller and the hiring of Chillious was a short term negative with a long term positive. And was the one thing in a slew of events this season and postseason (but not preseason) that KO had complete control in undertaking.

The loss of players was very unfortunate. It set back the positive Chillious development. Vance was predictable from early in the season. The other players were less predictable but not shocking and in the end could be a positive. But that remains to be seen how lucky the staff gets at plugging this sudden gaping hole.
 
navery12 said:
I don't think I would disagree with any of this. But I think you're missing my point, I'm not saying KO deserves a pass on this recruiting class for any of the reasons you stated, he doesn't deserve a pass at all. But some people (not saying it was you) seemed to think we'd hire Chillious and he'd have 5* guys commiting here for next year already. I'm not excusing Ollie on this recruiting class, but to expect Chillious to come in and have results in a few weeks is shortsighted. Not saying that was you, but I've seen multiple people already calling that hire a failure which is absurd.

Maybe it's the eternal optimist in me, but I'm not all that worried about next year. For the first time in a while we're bringing back our best player. The situation around him is far from ideal, but it helps to have a little bit of certainty knowing that the team runs through Jalen early next year. Still enough time to bring in some grad transfers who can help out next year. And who knows, maybe there's a nice surprise and Waters ends up here as well
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This is definitely fair, and I apologize if it seemed like if I was putting words in your mouth. I do share your optimism about next year, but I think our upside is more limited without Durham.

@upstater nobody was expecting Chillious to re-stock the roster with five star talent, but as it stands now we're struggling to put enough bodies together to field a team. As for whether KO is pushing guys out...sure, he's not doing that, but he certainly does not appear to be running a program conducive to guys wanting to be here. It's absolutely fair - and reasonable, I think - to expect him to find guys in the grad market that can play at this level. Even at this stage in the game, it's not selling water in the desert to get somebody to buy in on the idea of playing with a championship caliber back court in a competitive conference. If we can't get guys from Green Bay or UMass to come here with tons of minutes available, there is a real problem.
 
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champs99and04 said:
This is definitely fair, and I apologize if it seemed like if I was putting words in your mouth. I do share your optimism about next year, but I think our upside is more limited without Durham.

@upstater nobody was expecting Chillious to re-stock the roster with five star talent, but as it stands now we're struggling to put enough bodies together to field a team. As for whether KO is pushing guys out...sure, he's not doing that, but he certainly does not appear to be running a program conducive to guys wanting to be here. It's absolutely fair - and reasonable, I think - to expect him to find guys in the grad market that can play at this level. Even at this stage in the game, it's not selling water in the desert to get somebody to buy in on the idea of playing with a championship caliber back court in a competitive conference. If we can't get guys from Green Bay or UMass to come here with tons of minutes available, there is a real problem.
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Agreed on Durham, he's the one transfer that concerns me. Everyone else I feel like hurts, but we can at least replace even if it might be with a less talented player. A ball handler off the bench and a spot up shooter I think we can find. Someone with the upside of Durham, or even to rely on for minutes at the 4/5 I'm less optimistic about finding
 
champs99and04 said:
Now, after the worst season in 30 years, we can't expect him to reel in 2017 kids - after already having lost half is roster and his top commit - because his associate head coach hasn't had time to recruit them?

It can't work both ways. If you're going to overhaul the program after a bad year, then you need to have a contingency plan that works on an accelerated timetable.
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I don't understand this "overhaul the program" stuff. Is the suggestion still that Ollie ran off the guys that left? That seems insane to me.
 
champs99and04 said:
This is definitely fair, and I apologize if it seemed like if I was putting words in your mouth. I do share your optimism about next year, but I think our upside is more limited without Durham.

@upstater nobody was expecting Chillious to re-stock the roster with five star talent, but as it stands now we're struggling to put enough bodies together to field a team. As for whether KO is pushing guys out...sure, he's not doing that, but he certainly does not appear to be running a program conducive to guys wanting to be here. It's absolutely fair - and reasonable, I think - to expect him to find guys in the grad market that can play at this level. Even at this stage in the game, it's not selling water in the desert to get somebody to buy in on the idea of playing with a championship caliber back court in a competitive conference. If we can't get guys from Green Bay or UMass to come here with tons of minutes available, there is a real problem.
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Well said, don't understand why this is so hard to understand for some on the board.
 
husky99 said:
I disagree. Another less then 500 season and i hear ollie is out. New AD is pissed and wants results yesterday
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Then why did the AD just extend KO's contract last November? I'm sure he's pissed and wants results, but that's not the same thing as wanting to fire his basketball coach.
 
pj said:
Then why did the AD just extend KO's contract last November? I'm sure he's pissed and wants results, but that's not the same thing as wanting to fire his basketball coach.
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New AD also knows he can't do the same thing he did with football and hire the old coach -- no matter how many people here are begging for it.

Before Chief comes in and says something mind-numbingly stupid because he perceives that to be an insult to JC: how many 74-year-olds with a history of health problems would come out of retirement to coach in this dumpster fire of a conference and rebuild a team from the ground up?
 
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BigErnMcCracken said:
I don't understand this "overhaul the program" stuff. Is the suggestion still that Ollie ran off the guys that left? That seems insane to me.
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I don't think he ran anybody off, and perhaps "overhaul" was hyperbole, but there seems to be a disconnect in communication somewhere along the line between coach and player.

I know transfers are not unique to us, but it would seem to me that the calculus that goes into recruiting a player is similar to the one that goes into retaining them, especially when we're as desperate for bodies as we are. I have to imagine that between last fall and now something about Ollie's temperament changed significantly, because the optics of the current situation just don't jive with how we've come to know him as a coach and personality. Even if Durham left on his own accord, something had to have happened to trigger that. Vance you can see, Durham and Enoch strike me as odd.
 
upstater said:
I have no doubt we can fill the scholarships with just anyone. I have huge doubts that we can fill the scholarships with people who can play and help.
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I have the same exact concerns.
 
AntG168 said:
That he really wanted to play with porter.....
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*That the instagram likes are trending toward Missouri of all places, and he wants a piece.
 
Coach J said:
He committed before he even took his visit here - what does that say?
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He was probably "entertained" well at other visits, and was hoping to be "entertained" elsewhere before committing?
 
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