BOOM-Shaka-laka

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

VCU lost to Indiana in this years NCAA tournament game by 2 points. Indiana with Yogi Ferrell at the point next year should be pre-season top 3.

As for VCU Shaka will have 1 of his best teams ever with next years edition of havoc-wreakers. VCU loses Bradley Burgess (if he made the free throws against Indiana VCU wins) but adds his brother Jordan Burgess next year. In addition you have to love the prospects of incoming Freshman Justin Tuoyo. He is the the quintessential VCU player. New addition and recruit Mo-Alie-Cox will be a havoc wreaker on D. Next years VCU team is going to be the most exciting 1 ever.

Shaka at UConn would be my choice and if it happens UConn fans are in for years and years of exciting basketball. JMHO

 

[bmayuc]

The whole Bo Ryan doesn't recruit great talent is not really true. This year's team didn't have a whole lot of highly recruited guys, but his past teams have been full or 4 star guys with a couple of 5 star guys mixed in.

It's also incredibly hard to play at that pace and do well in the tournament. There is a really small margin of error. One slightly off shooting night can derail you.

Personally, I prefer the style that North Carolina plays at, where they try and get as many possessions as possible, while still playing pretty good defense.

Nottttt quite. There are a couple good recruits but alot of 2-3 star guys. Look, Bo Ryan is ok, but not a good fit.

As for the UNC style, there is just no toughness there. I like Shakas VCU teams because they are tough, gritty, nasty.

Jay Wright is a good recruiter, terrible coach. Call him the Anti-Bo Ryan

 

[1999.2004.2011]

Get Smart....Sign Shaka at the first possible moment

 

[UConn5]

I'm torn. If Ollie wanted to be at UConn for decades then I would say give him the job. If the rumors of him having NBA aspirations are true, then I'd say give it to Smart.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Nottttt quite. There are a couple good recruits but alot of 2-3 star guys. Look, Bo Ryan is ok, but not a good fit.

As for the UNC style, there is just no toughness there. I like Shakas VCU teams because they are tough, gritty, nasty.

Jay Wright is a good recruiter, terrible coach. Call him the Anti-Bo Ryan

Brian Butch was a top 10 player that EVERYBODY wanted. Ryan was somehow able to get him to redshirt a year and stay 5 years.

He's coached about 15 top 100 guys at Wisconsin, and he almost always gets them to stay for at least 3-4 years.

He's a very good coach, but it's not like he just doing this all with Wisconsin farmboys either.

 

[Kitaman]

Umm..... what's the buzz about this on campus and the powers that be? If this is true he is turning down major opportunities for a deal that is not guaranteed.

 

[Prezidint]

As a Husky fan, to the extent that the Dan Patrick rumor is true, I'm flattered as all get out that SSmart would consider us to be such a great landing place.

Further, regarding Kevin Ollie, man oh man, if given the option between KO, the unknown, maybe good, maybe not, or a proven commodity who has caught lightning in a bottle, who is a national figure, who everybody wants, who based on personality and name will be a great recruiter, who is young, who could be our coach for the next 20 years . . .

people, come on. This is about a big a softball as you're ever gonna get. SWING!

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I like the idea of remaining in house but Ollie is the only in house candidate that I would consider (I know, I don't have a say in the matter). If what Doris said about KO (wanting to return to the NBA as a coach) is true, my stance would be 'you are one of us and will have a job here for as long as you want one' but there is no reason that job cannot be as an assistant. If he does want to be here for the remainder of his career, that is a different story.

One thing I love about the idea of Ollie (or Smart) is that we could potentially go 55-60 years with only two coaches. While this may be a tall order (and something that reasonably should never be an expectation).

We have no way of knowing how much truth, if any, is in this rumor. One truth that we absolutely can take from this however is that it is not unreasonable to believe that there will be at least a few bright, young, ambitious men's college basketball coaches lining up for the opportunity to take over this program once JC does call it a career.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Umm..... what's the buzz about this on campus and the powers that be? If this is true he is turning down major opportunities for a deal that is not guaranteed.

He turned down Illinois and NC State. Good jobs, but not the cream of the crop.

His team is loaded for next year. Smart will have more prestigious offers.

 

[7774]

My 2 cents. I haven't read all the posts in this thread, and this is long so feel free to ignore.

To me, 2 things have been pretty obvious over the last 2 decades:

1. No matter how great a program you are, you're probably going to drop off after a coaching legend leaves.
2. Even if you make the wrong hire when you replace your legend and drop off, you can bounce back quickly if you make the right hire the next time.

Pitino left Kentucky, Tubby took over and had great success with Pitino's recruits, then had less success, got fired, and Billy G took over. He of course was a complete disaster, but they hired PayPal and bounced right back.

Dean Smith left N.C. Bill Guthridge took over and had success with Smith's recruits, then he retired and they hired Matt Dougherty, who was a complete disaster. But they bounced right back with Roy.

Same with Indiana; Knight, Mike Davis, Crean, etc. Although Crean took a few years.

Those are 3 of the "big" 6 programs in college basketball history. To me there is no shame to me in having less success initially, because even the all time great programs have proven it's likely, but I understand if people feel differently.

I'm also of the belief that people value 1-2 years of good NCAA tournament results waaaaayy too much. There is just such insane variance in that tournament, and if any program should realize that it should be us. We went 49-5 in the Big East regular season the 3 years Ray was here and never even made the Final Four. Then last year 9-9 and bink, 3rd National Championship. It defies logic to some extent.

Brad Stevens made back to back championship games, but was one of the craziest plays I've ever seen in my whole life away from losing in the 2nd round. Would he be valued as highly if Nasir Robinson hadn't made an idiotic foul? Probably not. Shaka Smart's VCU team probably didn't even deserve to be in the tournament last year based upon their regular season resume. If they don't get in last year, do we even know who Shaka Smart is? Probably not. This isn't to say these guys aren't great coaches. They may be. They also might not be. Kevin Ollie isn't a sure thing. Neither is Mike Hopkins at the Cuse. Or Shaka or Stevens. There are no sure things.


So given that I would rather see Ollie get the job, because he's family, he's everything that has ever been great about UCONN basketball, it's what JC wants, I love him, and even if he fails it's been proven we can bounce back with a good hire post Ollie. We'll be able to leverage a brand new practice facility and 25 years of greatness on the court, and we'll get whoever the new "Shaka Smart" is 5 years from now. Because there will be someone, it's just how it works.

 

[Huskies4ever]

He turned down Illinois and NC State. Good jobs, but not the cream of the crop.

Still a step up from VCU.

 

[Huskies4ever]

My 2 cents. I haven't read all the posts in this thread, and this is long so feel free to ignore......

Excellent post. And I totally agree. Whose to say that Stephens or Smart won't fall off the basketball map? I actually am not entirely sold on Stephens yet. Don't get me wrong, both these guys have done an outstanding job and should be lauded for their accomplishments at such a young age and at mid majors no less. But what will their legacies be? Did they catch lightning in a bottle? Or are they the real deal? A couple of down years for these guys and there will be new flavors of the month. I see more upside in Smart and would have no problem with him replacing Calhoun. I like his qualities which have been mentioned throughout this thread. I feel the same way with Ollie. I, like all of us, want a continuation of Calhoun's success. That isn't a given. You see guys have success with a team in the NCAA tournament, they get a deal with a bigger program and fail. Happens more often than the other way around. I dunno what the right answer is. It will be interesting to see our future going forward.

 

[Waquoit]

There literally is no chance of Shaka being next UC coach only b/c HCJC wants to keep it in house...

Don't say no chance. JC does not have as much "hand" as he had a year ago. As much as everyone said JC hated Hathaway, JC owned him. As far the new AD and Prez go, I haven't heard or seen as much public genuflecting as you might expect. JC went on the Francesa show and talked about how he wanted to be a future resource to UConn. When had he said that before? I just saw how UConn won't be part of the BET if UConn doesn't get NCAA eligibility. If UConn is not declared eligible for the tournament, JC is done. The how and why will be handled by the spin doctors.

 

[Ts5034]

If they hire someone outside the family, that person will run the program their own way. Thats why Calhoun as a future resource may not mean anything in this case. Will the new coach even care what Calhoun has to say? The new coach would get their own people in there as assistants, consult with their own inner circles as far as advice, and most importantly we dont know what the relationship would be with the former players.

The way it is now, guys like Allen, Gay, Gordon, Walker, Butler, Okafor all come back over the summer to work out with the team. If Kevin Ollie becomes the next coach he will make sure this continues. If somebody outside the family takes over, they have to continue to get the current NBA guys from Uconn to come back. Will this happen if Smart, Stevens, Miller takes over? Maybe maybe not. Thats just the risk you take hiring somebody from the outside. If Ollie is still here as an assistant when JC decides to leave then the job is his. I just can't see them hiring an outsider

 

[21Huskies]

I'm also of the belief that people value 1-2 years of good NCAA tournament results waaaaayy too much. There is just such insane variance in that tournament, and if any program should realize that it should be us. We went 49-5 in the Big East regular season the 3 years Ray was here and never even made the Final Four. Then last year 9-9 and bink, 3rd National Championship. It defies logic to some extent.

Brad Stevens made back to back championship games, but was one of the craziest plays I've ever seen in my whole life away from losing in the 2nd round. Would he be valued as highly if Nasir Robinson hadn't made an idiotic foul? Probably not. Shaka Smart's VCU team probably didn't even deserve to be in the tournament last year based upon their regular season resume. If they don't get in last year, do we even know who Shaka Smart is? Probably not. This isn't to say these guys aren't great coaches. They may be. They also might not be. Kevin Ollie isn't a sure thing. Neither is Mike Hopkins at the Cuse. Or Shaka or Stevens. There are no sure things.

well said. this was pretty much my point.

 

[msgordon]

That's certainly a good point about tournament variance affecting people's perceptions. Sports media and fans opinions are basically a constant cycle of overreactions to small samples. Still, most everyone seems to hold Shaka in high regard. And whether or not his tournament success was a product of variance, the fact is that success will only help him on the recruiting trail

 

[Adios]

Jim Calhoun's coaching tree has not gone far. Have to wonder if he cares to continue his tree at UConn.

We might be staring into the Shaka Smart era of UConn basketball, anyway.

 

[Giddyup5]

My 2 cents. I haven't read all the posts in this thread, and this is long so feel free to ignore.

To me, 2 things have been pretty obvious over the last 2 decades:

1. No matter how great a program you are, you're probably going to drop off after a coaching legend leaves.
2. Even if you make the wrong hire when you replace your legend and drop off, you can bounce back quickly if you make the right hire the next time.

Pitino left Kentucky, Tubby took over and had great success with Pitino's recruits, then had less success, got fired, and Billy G took over. He of course was a complete disaster, but they hired PayPal and bounced right back.

Dean Smith left N.C. Bill Guthridge took over and had success with Smith's recruits, then he retired and they hired Matt Dougherty, who was a complete disaster. But they bounced right back with Roy.

Same with Indiana; Knight, Mike Davis, Crean, etc. Although Crean took a few years.

Those are 3 of the "big" 6 programs in college basketball history. To me there is no shame to me in having less success initially, because even the all time great programs have proven it's likely, but I understand if people feel differently.

I'm also of the belief that people value 1-2 years of good NCAA tournament results waaaaayy too much. There is just such insane variance in that tournament, and if any program should realize that it should be us. We went 49-5 in the Big East regular season the 3 years Ray was here and never even made the Final Four. Then last year 9-9 and bink, 3rd National Championship. It defies logic to some extent.

Brad Stevens made back to back championship games, but was one of the craziest plays I've ever seen in my whole life away from losing in the 2nd round. Would he be valued as highly if Nasir Robinson hadn't made an idiotic foul? Probably not. Shaka Smart's VCU team probably didn't even deserve to be in the tournament last year based upon their regular season resume. If they don't get in last year, do we even know who Shaka Smart is? Probably not. This isn't to say these guys aren't great coaches. They may be. They also might not be. Kevin Ollie isn't a sure thing. Neither is Mike Hopkins at the Cuse. Or Shaka or Stevens. There are no sure things.


So given that I would rather see Ollie get the job, because he's family, he's everything that has ever been great about UCONN basketball, it's what JC wants, I love him, and even if he fails it's been proven we can bounce back with a good hire post Ollie. We'll be able to leverage a brand new practice facility and 25 years of greatness on the court, and we'll get whoever the new "Shaka Smart" is 5 years from now. Because there will be someone, it's just how it works.

Great post

 

[FrostyNuggets]

Still a step up from VCU.

Probably so, but it isn't a reason to take the job.

 

[Henry]

If they hire someone outside the family, that person will run the program their own way. Thats why Calhoun as a future resource may not mean anything in this case. Will the new coach even care what Calhoun has to say? The new coach would get their own people in there as assistants, consult with their own inner circles as far as advice, and most importantly we dont know what the relationship would be with the former players.

The way it is now, guys like Allen, Gay, Gordon, Walker, Butler, Okafor all come back over the summer to work out with the team. If Kevin Ollie becomes the next coach he will make sure this continues. If somebody outside the family takes over, they have to continue to get the current NBA guys from Uconn to come back. Will this happen if Smart, Stevens, Miller takes over? Maybe maybe not. Thats just the risk you take hiring somebody from the outside. If Ollie is still here as an assistant when JC decides to leave then the job is his. I just can't see them hiring an outsider

If the NBA guys care about UCONN they will come back and help out. By the way, if their support is so great, why haven't they ponied up for the new practice facility? Ray Allen could afford it all by himself.

 

[Ts5034]

If the NBA guys care about UCONN they will come back and help out. By the way, if their support is so great, why haven't they ponied up for the new practice facility? Ray Allen could afford it all by himself.

This is always a sore subject here. Your point does make sense but believe it or not, its really not about the money. One of the knocks on Hathaway was that he didnt raise the amount of money that he should have for the practice facility. Yes the NBA alums make millions and if they all decided to pitch in for it then great...but this is a situation where the school shouldnt have to depend on their money to fund it 100%

 

[upstater]

Maybe the alums are waiting to see if the admin. will follow Calhoun's lead before giving a boatload of $$?

 

[UCFBfan]

If the NBA guys care about UCONN they will come back and help out. By the way, if their support is so great, why haven't they ponied up for the new practice facility? Ray Allen could afford it all by himself.

Took the words right out of my mouth! It's great that they come back and practice and all that but how about show some financial investment into the program that helped you get to where you are today. Didn't Carmelo recently donate a large chunk of money to Syracuse? He played one year, won a NC, and is giving back. Haven't seen that being reported about a single UConn player. Whether it's donating to the new practice facility or something else, I don't seem to see a lot of "giving back" from players who made it to the next level thanks to JC and UConn.

EDIT: He did donate money: http://www.suathletics.com/news/2009/9/24/Melo9.24.09.aspx Per the article: "Anthony’s gift represented one of the largest individual donations to Syracuse University Athletics and is also believed to be one of the largest by a current professional athlete to the school they attended."

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The financing of the practice facility was a huge issue to JC (due to the strained relationship between coach & Hathaway).

JC believed that JH did not want to do anything to get the practice facility funded beyond having JC ask his NBA players to foot the entire bill. Because of this JC did not want any of his players donating a penny until a legitimate fundraising effort had been completed.

I imagine that as we now have someone ctually raising funds (Pendergast) and a good amount raised towards the facility, we will see donations from NBA players.

As far as JC's successor, it has already been pointed out that the school cannot name someone coach in waiting even if that is the plan (and they are also planning on only going the the necessary motions once the day arrives to promote KO). Even if the school could do this, it is not a given that this would be the best move.

One final comment, I vividly remember JC speaking of both Stevens & Smart, at the final four last year saying "if this is the future of coaching, I am very happy with the future of this game". For all we know, JC had a conversation or two with one or both of these bright young coaches and left the impression that he would be in favor of one of them replacing him when the day arrived (which would not be too far down the road).

 

[TheChamps990411]

I love the idea of KO taking over when JC retires but if Shaka Smart is waiting for the uconn job and he is available when JC does step down then he has to be the #1 guy on the list. you cannot go with a young zero experience guy over a proven young guy with final four and tournament experience. i think if Steven Krajewski is really dedicated to uconn and in it for the long hall and not just using uconn as a springboard to the nba and he does wait for JC to retire and turns down other jobs in the mean time we`d be foolish not to sign him. if we`re lucky the transition could turn out well like it did at ku