Blaney

[nelsonmuntz]

Villanova is limping in without their best player in a lost season. If Blaney screws this up, Calhoun has to seriously look at giving Ollie the reins. While the last month has been horrendous, UConn still has a solid tournament resume and has the #1 SOS in the country. This season is slipping away, and I think Blaney has gotten way more leash than he deserves because he is Calhoun's buddy. I think Blaney was a mistake from the start, and I have not seen a single thing to prove that wrong.

In his prime, Blaney was a below average game coach, and he is well past his prime. I think his adjustments are terrible, he never calls any kind of offensive play, he is incapable of stopping negative momentum, the team looks lost, and they don't seem to respect him like they should. When the coach is on ice, the 72 year old short timer assistant has to work a little harder to light a fire under everyone. Blaney is barely awake.

Ollie should have been the head coach from the beginning of Calhoun's injury. Everyone within 3 degrees of separation from the program knows Ollie runs practices and basically has all year. He commands respect with his resume and he has more fire than anyone else wearing a suit on that bench. He isn't Calhoun, but who is? Certainly not Blaney.

 

[Mr.Phat]

No, Calhoun should seriously reach out to Brad Stevens. With no head coaching experience Ollie is as positioned to take over this program as you and I are. Turn Ollie loose to gain head coaching experience and come and see us in six years. He might end up doing as well as Leitao or Hobbs. Which will simply reinforce the need for Stevens or someone like him.

 

[usedtoberats]

No, Calhoun should seriously reach out to Brad Stevens. With no head coaching experience Ollie is as positioned to take over this program as you and I are. Turn Ollie loose to gain head coaching experience and come and see us in six years. He might end up doing as well as Leitao or Hobbs. Which will simply reinforce the need for Stevens or someone like him.

agreed, we dont have anyone on the bench to take over smoothly and maintain/re-achieve the level that we all expect

 

[UCweCONN]

No, Calhoun should seriously reach out to Brad Stevens. With no head coaching experience Ollie is as positioned to take over this program as you and I are. Turn Ollie loose to gain head coaching experience and come and see us in six years. He might end up doing as well as Leitao or Hobbs. Which will simply reinforce the need for Stevens or someone like him.

If that's going to happen, he better call soon. Rumors are saying Illinois may be reaching out to Stevens as a replacement for Weber. I want someone with coaching experience to take over when the time comes and who better than a guy who took a mid-major to two straight title games, nearly winning the first one and leading at halftime of the second? If that isn't the sign of a top coach I don't know what is.

 

[freescooter]

It is a real struggle to take over a program on the fly from a guy like Calhoun, not knowing exactly when or if he's coming back. I'm not sure anyone could have done much better than Blaney. Under no circumstances was Kevin Ollie going to be the acting head coach and it isn't happening going forward either. I don't know what you guys are smoking...

 

[businesslawyer]

Villanova is limping in without their best player in a lost season. If Blaney screws this up, Calhoun has to seriously look at giving Ollie the reins. While the last month has been horrendous, UConn still has a solid tournament resume and has the #1 SOS in the country. This season is slipping away, and I think Blaney has gotten way more leash than he deserves because he is Calhoun's buddy. I think Blaney was a mistake from the start, and I have not seen a single thing to prove that wrong.

In his prime, Blaney was a below average game coach, and he is well past his prime. I think his adjustments are terrible, he never calls any kind of offensive play, he is incapable of stopping negative momentum, the team looks lost, and they don't seem to respect him like they should. When the coach is on ice, the 72 year old short timer assistant has to work a little harder to light a fire under everyone. Blaney is barely awake.

Ollie should have been the head coach from the beginning of Calhoun's injury. Everyone within 3 degrees of separation from the program knows Ollie runs practices and basically has all year. He commands respect with his resume and he has more fire than anyone else wearing a suit on that bench. He isn't Calhoun, but who is? Certainly not Blaney.

Well, the single thing that tells you it wasn't a mistake from the start is that the best coach of the last generation thought it was the right thing to do.

I know that's insignificant compared to your hunches, but objectively maybe it carries a little more weight than you're giving it.

 

[Matt (Chicago)]

No, Calhoun should seriously reach out to Brad Stevens. With no head coaching experience Ollie is as positioned to take over this program as you and I are. Turn Ollie loose to gain head coaching experience and come and see us in six years. He might end up doing as well as Leitao or Hobbs. Which will simply reinforce the need for Stevens or someone like him.

So Calhoun himself should call a coach that's been to the last two championships and tell him to come to UConn for six years so Ollie can gain some experience as a HC elsewhere. Once that six year mark hits (bc six years is a magic number of sorts), Stevens has to leave since Ollie will then be ready to coach UConn. I'm sure Brad would be packing his bags before he even hung up the phone.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Well, the single thing that tells you it wasn't a mistake from the start is that the best coach of the last generation thought it was the right thing to do.

I know that's insignificant compared to your hunches, but objectively maybe it carries a little more weight than you're giving it.

Scoreboard.

 

[HeGotGame]

Blaney is incredibly bad at game management. He is downright pathetic.

 

[businesslawyer]

Scoreboard.

My internet connection isn't working right. You must have had the intellectual integrity to follow that up with a "never mind." Or is the coach only responsible for the pitiful ten minutes and not the comeback ten minutes.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

My internet connection isn't working right. You must have had the intellectual integrity to follow that up with a "never mind." Or is the coach only responsible for the pitiful ten minutes and not the comeback ten minutes.

You don't get to rub a last second victory over a team as bad as Villanova (minus Wayns) in anyone's face.

Half the boneyard could have coached this team to a 10+ point win last night. Isolating guards to then dribble drive with no cutters or rotation is not an offense, and Wright was eating us up on defense in the last few minutes with what is essentially a really good intramural team at Villanova. How many times did Napier, Lamb or Boatright dribble right into a double team at the top of the key in the last 10 minutes?

 

[HeGotGame]

Anyone who defends his coaching over this stretch needs to get their head checked.

"Everyone is killing UConns players- u know they could run a different offense - that isn't an NCAA violation #coaching:"

A certain ESPN analyst sees what everyone else on the board sees as well.

 

[businesslawyer]

Calhoun runs a very simple offense, that is very ugly when your players aren't good enough individually. All Blaney is doing is coaching UConn basketball. For better or worse.

Hobbs ran the same offense at GW. When GW was down, it was a source of ridicule among GW fans. (And I'm not telling you I'm a big fan of it either -- just that it's Calhoun's offense and it has, obviously, served him well over the years.)

And, by the way, not giving Blaney any credit for a comeback from 18 down is bizarre. He kept his temperment and the players came back. Do we come down from 18 back if the coach throws a tantrum, or draws 2 Ts, or storms off? I don't know. Neither do you. But this is Calhoun's team, and would remain so during a leave of absence, whether Blaney, Hobbs, lefty or KO is coaching it.

 

[nomar]

No, Calhoun should seriously reach out to Brad Stevens. With no head coaching experience Ollie is as positioned to take over this program as you and I are. Turn Ollie loose to gain head coaching experience and come and see us in six years. He might end up doing as well as Leitao or Hobbs. Which will simply reinforce the need for Stevens or someone like him.

That's right. You and I both played under Calhoun, then played pro ball for 13 years, then coached under Calhoun for two years.

 

[HeGotGame]

Calhoun runs a very simple offense, that is very ugly when your players aren't good enough individually. All Blaney is doing is coaching UConn basketball. For better or worse.

Hobbs ran the same offense at GW. When GW was down, it was a source of ridicule among GW fans.

Blaney has no control over the team or the game, has zero clue when to call TO's, he let them go almost 7 mins in the Nova game just playing like complete dog poop and getting beat up and down the floor before he called a TO. The offense under Blaney is 1 on 1 ISOs at the top of the key over and over again, there is no offense.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Did anybody notice Ollie kind of taking over at the end of the game? The camera would point to the bench and you saw Ollie yelling something at Blaney like getting Drummond in the game and Blaney listening. He was also talking to the guys in the huddle at the very end of the game. I think he would be a much better replacement coach than Blaney as does everyone else here.

 

[Jaker]

I have no confidence in Ollie either, Uconn needs to start recruiting a top coach for next season. I doubt Calhoun coaches next year.

 

[sparky]

Blaney reminds me of Ducky on NCIS. Ollie looks good in a suit.

 

[Jaker]

I am kind of hoping that Howland gets the axe at UCLA and maybe Uconn can pick him up.

 

[Kitaman]

When Bazz hit that shot Blaney was still a statue. Either he is a cool cat or has serious heart issues. I need to go back to last year and watch his reactions, there's more evidence there.

 

[Jaker]

When Bazz hit that shot Blaney was still a statue. Either he is a cool cat or has serious heart issues. I need to go back to last year and watch his reactions, there's more evidence there.

I think Blaney was still debating whether to call a timeout or not

 

[businesslawyer]

Did anybody notice Ollie kind of taking over at the end of the game? The camera would point to the bench and you saw Ollie yelling something at Blaney like getting Drummond in the game and Blaney listening. He was also talking to the guys in the huddle at the very end of the game. I think he would be a much better replacement coach than Blaney as does everyone else here.

Of course "everyone" else here does. He's the equivalent of the back-up QB. Not a single person here knows what he can do, so everyone assumes he's better than what they see someone else doing.

 

[Richmondhsky]

I have no confidence in Ollie either, Uconn needs to start recruiting a top coach for next season. I doubt Calhoun coaches next year.

If in fact JC is unable to continue next year, the search for his replacement should be a national one. Sure include Ollie but look for an impact guy that is young. I would start with Shakka Smart at VCU...they did great things last year, albeit he inherited some of Grant's players but he has done a great job this year with mostly underclassmen. He preaches the same intensity that JC does on the defensive end and he can communicate with the players. His players play hard for him. They just gave him a raise to $1m after the tournament but he is going to be a star...eerily similar to JC with a different delivery. Would rather see someone who has been a HC at some level, no slight to Ollie.

 

[Jaker]

If in fact JC is unable to continue next year, the search for his replacement should be a national one. Sure include Ollie but look for an impact guy that is young. I would start with Shakka Smart at VCU...they did great things last year, albeit he inherited some of Grant's players but he has done a great job this year with mostly underclassmen. He preaches the same intensity that JC does on the defensive end and he can communicate with the players. His players play hard for him. They just gave him a raise to $1m after the tournament but he is going to be a star...eerily similar to JC with a different delivery. Would rather see someone who has been a HC at some level, no slight to Ollie.

Agree, it is just too early to hand the reigns over to Ollie, he has never even coached a college game yet.

 

[aceboon]

Anyone who defends his coaching over this stretch needs to get their head checked.

"Everyone is killing UConns players- u know they could run a different offense - that isn't an NCAA violation #coaching:"

A certain ESPN analyst sees what everyone else on the board sees as well.

Who tweeted that, Gottlieb?