Calhoun and team's future

[superjohn]

Coach Calhoun has earned the right to retire whenever he wants, nobody has taken a small regional power and turned them into a national power like coach has and he has shown 100% allegiance to the University and State. Unfortunately our beloved coach isn't getting any younger and healthier and I have a horrible fear that something similar to this year could happen in the future. The day Calhoun went out and handed the reigns over to George Blaney our season was effectively over. If JC plans on coming back and coaching us for at least another year or two there needs to be a clear plan in place and the assurance that if something goes wrong Blaney is not the team's head coach, it's unfair to the players the other coaches and even to George Blaney. It's clear that JC really likes Blaney but his friendship and loyalty seems to be seriously clouding his decision making. Nobody in their right mind thinks George Blaney is a good enough coach to be coaching at UConn. Friendship and loyalty are great things to have but you can't decide the fate of a programs future on these virtues. For this same reason I think it could be a monumental mistake just handing the reigns over to Kevin Ollie when JC retires. Kevin Ollie can certainly be one of the candidates but there needs to be a full nationwide search. Luckily I think Susan Herbst and Warde Manuel will make sure this happens.

 

[caw]

Honestly, Calhoun could outlast Manuel and Herbst. Who knows...

 

[uconnfan68]

Coach Calhoun has earned the right to retire whenever he wants, nobody has taken a small regional power and turned them into a national power like coach has and he has shown 100% allegiance to the University and State. Unfortunately our beloved coach isn't getting any younger and healthier and I have a horrible fear that something similar to this year could happen in the future. The day Calhoun went out and handed the reigns over to George Blaney our season was effectively over. If JC plans on coming back and coaching us for at least another year or two there needs to be a clear plan in place and the assurance that if something goes wrong Blaney is not the team's head coach, it's unfair to the players the other coaches and even to George Blaney. It's clear that JC really likes Blaney but his friendship and loyalty seems to be seriously clouding his decision making. Nobody in their right mind thinks George Blaney is a good enough coach to be coaching at UConn. Friendship and loyalty are great things to have but you can't decide the fate of a programs future on these virtues. For this same reason I think it could be a monumental mistake just handing the reigns over to Kevin Ollie when JC retires. Kevin Ollie can certainly be one of the candidates but there needs to be a full nationwide search. Luckily I think Susan Herbst and Warde Manuel will make sure this happens.

GB has more wins than all the others on the staff combined. For him to get the blame for this dysfunctional team is total BS. John Wooden would not win with them. I like and support the kids... but I just can't watch them anymore. It's too painful.

 

[superjohn]

Ask a Seton Hall fan what they think of George Blaney's coaching abilities. Sure he has a lot of wins he's coached for a long time, he was never much of a head coach in his prime and now he's a 72 year old man without a clue. Again he's a nice fellow but it's a joke that he's our head coach right now, the game passed him by over a decade ago.

 

[zls44]

Why would you write this ? Seriously, what compelled you? Did you not read every other post on the board? Do you think you are imparting some wisdom not commonly known?

 

[dogpause]

I think Blaney is a good teacher, but he's not a leader and he's not a good bench coach. Few coaches could win at Seton Hall, so I don't hold that against him.

 

[uchusky32]

This team was dysfunctional before Blaney took over, however he doesn't have the personality to will this group of players into a championship cohesive team. The stubbornest around not changing our offensive philosophy and not seeing what Rescue brings to the lineup hurt this team. With that said JC maybe gets us 2to more wins. But would he have put Roscoe into the starting lineup?

 

[freescooter]

This team was dysfunctional before Blaney took over, however he doesn't have the personality to will this group of players into a championship cohesive team. The stubbornest around not changing our offensive philosophy and not seeing what Rescue brings to the lineup hurt this team. With that said JC maybe gets us 2to more wins. But would he have put Roscoe into the starting lineup?

I think that's right on. If you saw the UCF game, it was the blueprint for PC. And Calhoun coached against Rutgers, one of the more embarassing losses of the season before Providence. And several other early season games where we should have blown people out and didn't but still won, Fairfield comes to mind. And the Georgetown debacle, which previewed several later debacles like @Syracuse and Louisville and Marquette. It isn't like this was some well oiled machine that got messed up when Calhoun left. This team has been doing the same thing over and over with Callhoun, without Calhoun, with boatright without boatright. It just is a mess and has been a mess since the start of the season.

 

[Ts5034]

I think that's right on. If you saw the UCF game, it was the blueprint for PC. And Calhoun coached against Rutgers, one of the more embarassing losses of the season before Providence. And several other early season games where we should have blown people out and didn't but still won, Fairfield comes to mind. And the Georgetown debacle, which previewed several later debacles like @Syracuse and Louisville and Marquette. It isn't like this was some well oiled machine that got messed up when Calhoun left. This team has been doing the same thing over and over with Callhoun, without Calhoun, with boatright without boatright. It just is a mess and has been a mess since the start of the season.

That pretty much sums everything up. We saw the warning signs very early with lesser competition out playing us for long stretches. Another example is the Coppin St game when they took a 14 point first half lead. These are the same things we saw early in the 09-10 season and a lot of people were pointing that out and making the comparison. I remember those posts were destroyed because it was "too early".

 

[Palatine]

I think that's right on. If you saw the UCF game, it was the blueprint for PC. And Calhoun coached against Rutgers, one of the more embarassing losses of the season before Providence. And several other early season games where we should have blown people out and didn't but still won, Fairfield comes to mind. And the Georgetown debacle, which previewed several later debacles like @Syracuse and Louisville and Marquette. It isn't like this was some well oiled machine that got messed up when Calhoun left. This team has been doing the same thing over and over with Callhoun, without Calhoun, with boatright without boatright. It just is a mess and has been a mess since the start of the season.

Calhoun was in pain against Rutgers. He hasn't been himself for most of the year. He tried, but JC has been a shadow of himself this year.

None of that excuses Blaney. He has no fire and the team plays with no fire under him. GB has no feel for the game, he doesn't sense momentum, he doesn't use his TOs wisely, he doesn't make effective adjustments and -most importantly - he doesn't inspire. There isn't a team in the BE, ACC B10, etc, that would give Blaney the reigns of their team. JC did it out of loyalty. But he didn't do George (or the players) any favors by making him the head coach.

 

[Tenspro2002]

That pretty much sums everything up. We saw the warning signs very early with lesser competition out playing us for long stretches. Another example is the Coppin St game when they took a 14 point first half lead. These are the same things we saw early in the 09-10 season and a lot of people were pointing that out and making the comparison. I remember those posts were destroyed because it was "too early".

Well, at that point, it was too early. Young teams take time to develop. And we all thought that this would be another year like 2003, 2005, or 2008, where teams led by second-year players blossomed in February and rode a wave of good basketball into the NCAA Tournament, despite early-season struggles.

This team struggled early, but never blossomed; really the first time that happened with a team that was young, but expected to be good. Hopefully it's just an aberration and not a trend in terms of (in)ability to develop a team over the course of a season.

The 2010 team is only a good comparison in terms of results, not in terms of the details. That team was led by a group of dysfunctional seniors, mainly complementary pieces from a Final Four run. It's a completely different story.

 

[businesslawyer]

Well, at that point, it was too early. Young teams take time to develop. And we all thought that this would be another year like 2003, 2005, or 2008, where teams led by second-year players blossomed in February and rode a wave of good basketball into the NCAA Tournament, despite early-season struggles.

This team struggled early, but never blossomed; really the first time that happened with a team that was young, but expected to be good. Hopefully it's just an aberration and not a trend in terms of (in)ability to develop a team over the course of a season.

The 2010 team is only a good comparison in terms of results, not in terms of the details. That team was led by a group of dysfunctional seniors, mainly complementary pieces from a Final Four run. It's a completely different story.

That's a great post.

 

[freescooter]

Well, at that point, it was too early. Young teams take time to develop. And we all thought that this would be another year like 2003, 2005, or 2008, where teams led by second-year players blossomed in February and rode a wave of good basketball into the NCAA Tournament, despite early-season struggles.

This team struggled early, but never blossomed; really the first time that happened with a team that was young, but expected to be good. Hopefully it's just an aberration and not a trend in terms of (in)ability to develop a team over the course of a season.

The 2010 team is only a good comparison in terms of results, not in terms of the details. That team was led by a group of dysfunctional seniors, mainly complementary pieces from a Final Four run. It's a completely different story.

Guess you guys didn't see the 2007 season, or Rip Hamilton's first year. We've had teams before under Calhoun that just never got it. This is nothing all that new. there is a myth that has developed that Calhoun's teams are always better late in the year, we hear it every time a team struggles. But if you look at actual results, it sin't really true. Sometimes teams get better, sometimes they don't. Last year, clearly they came together at tournament time. To a degree that reinforced the myth. but reality is that most times, Calhoun's good teams were good from the opening tip. The not so good ones not so much. this one seems to fit the not so much catagorey. to a degree it is tough to tell from the very ealy season with the number of cupcakes on the schedule, but the Coppin, UCF and Fairfield games among others gave a foretaste of how this team approaches the game.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Guess you guys didn't see the 2007 season, or Rip Hamilton's first year. We've had teams before under Calhoun that just never got it. This is nothing all that new. there is a myth that has developed that Calhoun's teams are always better late in the year, we hear it every time a team struggles. But if you look at actual results, it sin't really true. Sometimes teams get better, sometimes they don't. Last year, clearly they came together at tournament time. To a degree that reinforced the myth. but reality is that most times, Calhoun's good teams were good from the opening tip. The not so good ones not so much. this one seems to fit the not so much catagorey. to a degree it is tough to tell from the very ealy season with the number of cupcakes on the schedule, but the Coppin, UCF and Fairfield games among others gave a foretaste of how this team approaches the game.

I did see 2007 and 1997. Those were freshmen-led teams with zero expectations. I was referring to sophomore-led teams that were expected to be good (in 2003, building off of 2002, minus Caron; in 2005, returning a decent core from the 2004 championship; probably the two best comparisons to this season).

But I do agree with you that the motif of Calhoun teams being better in March than in December is overblown.