Cameron Reddish

[pj]

Ollie is an excellent recruiter, but he's in the bootstrapping stage right now, once he establishes excellence on the court and builds a track record of getting his own recruits to the NBA, watch out.

It took JC ten years after coming to UConn to start getting top recruits. Most recruits start watching the NCAA closely at 12-13 and who they see doing well between age 12 and 16 has a big leg up in recruiting. So if we start doing well next year, we can expect our first really highly ranked incoming class in 7 years.

Fans need a little patience. I think we're in good hands.

 

[mauconnfan]

Can't agree on 92-93 they just weren't that good and rode the shoulders of one stud. Donny wasn't Donny yet, KO was only a passer he'd later bring some offense later in his career, the other 3 were bench only players, Cormier a TO machine, Rudy not playing to his HS ranking and Eric a real nice low post back up. Just think people always overrated the talent on that team because they had the stud.

I take this back as I looked at that roster on line and was confused - should have been much better I agree Matrim!

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Meh, even this glosses over some stuff. The worst coaching job I've seen in the 40 years I've been watching UConn basketball was 1992/93. That team had three first-round draft picks (including a lotto pick), two other guys who'd make the league (KO & Donny), a top-50 recruit in his sophomore year at SG, and a bench full of high-level recruits (Cormier, Rudy, Hayward), and we were brutally bad in what was and still is the worst year for Big East basketball, ever. There was not a single team that made it to the second weekend.

That team, which on balance was super-talented, absolutely quit on Calhoun.


I'm with you. I think the sane part of the fanbase is as well.

I don't know if I agree with the characterization that the 92-93 team quit on Calhoun.

That team was merely the first example of a handful in Calhoun's tenure proving it takes more than talent to win. I harp on this constantly, to seemingly no avail, that it takes team chemistry slowly built over 2-3 years of games and practices, in equal measure with talent, to make a consistent dominant winner. The evidence of the truth of this is overwhelming as you cycle through the seasons on uconnhuskygames. com.

The only exception is 2011, because Kemba became legend with his back to the wall. That kind of thing is once in a generation though.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I don't know if I agree with the characterization that the 92-93 team quit on Calhoun.

That team was merely the first example of a handful in Calhoun's tenure proving it takes more than talent to win. I harp on this constantly, to seemingly no avail, that it takes team chemistry slowly built over 2-3 years of games and practices, in equal measure with talent, to make a consistent dominant winner. The evidence of the truth of this is overwhelming as you cycle through the seasons on uconnhuskygames. com.

The only exception is 2011, because Kemba became legend with his back to the wall. That kind of thing is once in a generation though.

Not to get into too much detail but there was a divisive force on that team who helped tear the locker room apart.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Not to get into too much detail but there was a divisive force on that team who helped tear the locker room apart.

Not at all surprised by that. It dovetails nicely with what I said.

 

[Matrim55]

Not to get into too much detail but there was a divisive force on that team who helped tear the locker room apart.

Right. But if you listen to some folks on this forum, those types of personalities never existed in this program under Calhoun, and if they did he'd have buried them in an instant before they effected team chemistry!

Simply untrue, of course. Even JC had a few bad seasons, and 92/93 was the worst of them.

 

[SouthBayHusky]

I don't know if I agree with the characterization that the 92-93 team quit on Calhoun.

That team was merely the first example of a handful in Calhoun's tenure proving it takes more than talent to win. I harp on this constantly, to seemingly no avail, that it takes team chemistry slowly built over 2-3 years of games and practices, in equal measure with talent, to make a consistent dominant winner. The evidence of the truth of this is overwhelming as you cycle through the seasons on uconnhuskygames. com.

The only exception is 2011, because Kemba became legend with his back to the wall. That kind of thing is once in a generation though.

Sort of until Napier A few years later.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Sort of until Napier A few years later.

Not at all.

Daniels, Giffey, and Boatright teamed up with Napier to comprise perhaps the best example of the kind of veteran team chemistry I'm talking about.

Switch Napier '14 with Kemba '11 and we have one less championship.

 

[BUConn10]

Meh, even this glosses over some stuff. The worst coaching job I've seen in the 40 years I've been watching UConn basketball was 1992/93. That team had three first-round draft picks (including a lotto pick), two other guys who'd make the league (KO & Donny), a top-50 recruit in his sophomore year at SG, and a bench full of high-level recruits (Cormier, Rudy, Hayward), and we were brutally bad in what was and still is the worst year for Big East basketball, ever. There was not a single team that made it to the second weekend.

That team, which on balance was super-talented, absolutely quit on Calhoun.


I'm with you. I think the sane part of the fanbase is as well.

What if you also aren't ready to throw KO under the bus, because you know it's a factor of injuries out of his control, the fact you can't fire a NC coach after 3 years, and the cold truth that at this moment in this landscape UConn probably couldn't do much better, but simply feel like significant improvement isn't really in the cards for the immediate to near future? I consider myself intuitive with patterns and trends and what we are seeing now is in a way in line with how this program has performed each year post-Shabazz. I think it's going to be at least 2-3 years before this team gets back to the standard UConn expectation, a team that can resist "WTF" losses every other week in a weak schedule. /rant

 

[Matrim55]

What if you also aren't ready to throw KO under the bus, because you know it's a factor of injuries out of his control, the fact you can't fire a NC coach after 3 years...

Bringing up firing him is, in and of itself, irrational.

and the cold truth that at this moment in this landscape UConn probably couldn't do much better, but simply feel like significant improvement isn't really in the cards for the immediate to near future?

I won't begrudge you that feeling, even though I believe you're wrong.

I consider myself intuitive with patterns and trends and what we are seeing now is in a way in line with how this program has performed each year post-Shabazz.

The only pattern/trends that are worth noting IMO:

• Our recruiting bottomed out in 2013&2014, and now our on-court performance is bottoming out as a result
• We have lost our best player after every season since 2014, and lost our 3 best players after last season
• This is the first season we've had a true PG since Shabazz, and our true PG is still learning the position

I think it's going to be at least 2-3 years before this team gets back to the standard UConn expectation, a team that can resist "WTF" losses every other week in a weak schedule. /rant

I think that's pessimistic, but to each their own. As long as we keep pulling in good classes and the guys we do have on hand improve, I'm good.

As I've said before, if we're only mediocre next season then I'll start to get concerned, and would agree that 2018/19 would be a "prove it" year for Ollie. But I don't think we'll get to that bridge, much less have to cross it.

 

[BUConn10]

Bringing up firing him is, in and of itself, irrational.


I won't begrudge you that feeling, even though I believe you're wrong.


The only pattern/trends that are worth noting IMO:

• Our recruiting bottomed out in 2013&2014, and now our on-court performance is bottoming out as a result
• We have lost our best player after every season since 2014, and lost our 3 best players after last season
• This is the first season we've had a true PG since Shabazz, and our true PG is still learning the position

I think that's pessimistic, but to each their own. As long as we keep pulling in good classes and the guys we do have on hand improve, I'm good.

As I've said before, if we're only mediocre next season then I'll start to get concerned, and would agree that 2018/19 would be a "prove it" year for Ollie. But I don't think we'll get to that bridge, much less have to cross it.

Irrational? It was the topic of conversation which I entered, im just adding my thoughts.