Can't keep doing this

[Edward Sargent]

The perimeter defense is horrific.

The interior offense is horrific.

Our front court would make an excellent bench, but very marginal starters. Years into their careers, they still appear confused as to what they're supposed to be doing on a basketball court. They'd never see a minute over the likes of Souley Wane should he find a time machine. (Souley, please find a time machine.)

Rodney is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful kid. He is very talented. But basketball is not something for which he has an instinctual gift.

Speaking of instinctual gifts, the coaching....our rotations are frequently thrown on the court just because it is basketball and you have rotations in basketball so here is a rotation...and here is another one....and let's play these two people together because I don't know and, oh my, (*scowly face*), we just gave up another 20-2 run.

End result - this season will suck. We are gonna get fn pounded. Kevin Ollie may find whatever it was that got us through the APR season or he may remain the guy who looks like he has never seen a basketball game before.

If it's the former, we may at least find something to enjoy. If not, bourbon.

But I'll say this - I'm really pleased with the new players. Larrier, pre-knee explosion, is better than DHam. Alterique, pre-shoulder explosion, is baby Kemba. Vance Jackson is going to be terrific and Vital is much, much better than his ranking would have suggested. Shame that I think we'll likely have to wait until next season to see three of them again.

And finally, play a freaking zone already. We can't defend man to man and I am tired of seeing UConn die on that hill.

I hear you about the rotations but he's got 8 healthy bodies with three of them freshman, don't have a lot of mix and match in that wardrobe.

 

[NielsisGood]

I posted the stat a while ago but when Ollie goes into halftime losing our record is like 12-26.

The problem has been happening long before Purvis and Brimah were important pieces to this program.

Uh, how long do you think Ollie has been the coach here?

 

[CTBasketball]

Uh, how long do you think Ollie has been the coach here?

The stats were post championship season I believe.

 

[NielsisGood]

The stats were post championship season I believe.

That would literally be every game that Purvis has been a part of then. Team will be better and more cohesive once AB and RP graduate.

 

[champs99and04]

The perimeter defense is horrific.

The interior offense is horrific.

Our front court would make an excellent bench, but very marginal starters. Years into their careers, they still appear confused as to what they're supposed to be doing on a basketball court. They'd never see a minute over the likes of Souley Wane should he find a time machine. (Souley, please find a time machine.)

Rodney is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful kid. He is very talented. But basketball is not something for which he has an instinctual gift.

Speaking of instinctual gifts, the coaching....our rotations are frequently thrown on the court just because it is basketball and you have rotations in basketball so here is a rotation...and here is another one....and let's play these two people together because I don't know and, oh my, (*scowly face*), we just gave up another 20-2 run.

End result - this season will suck. We are gonna get fn pounded. Kevin Ollie may find whatever it was that got us through the APR season or he may remain the guy who looks like he has never seen a basketball game before.

If it's the former, we may at least find something to enjoy. If not, bourbon.

But I'll say this - I'm really pleased with the new players. Larrier, pre-knee explosion, is better than DHam. Alterique, pre-shoulder explosion, is baby Kemba. Vance Jackson is going to be terrific and Vital is much, much better than his ranking would have suggested. Shame that I think we'll likely have to wait until next season to see three of them again.

And finally, play a freaking zone already. We can't defend man to man and I am tired of seeing UConn die on that hill.

I was mostly with you until the last part. Abandoning our defensive foundation six games into the season would be a terrible idea given 1.) if Ollie has proven one thing, it's that he can coach man-to-man defense, and 2.) In the moments they have played zone, it has been torn to shreds and they look more confused than ever.

 

[Fishy]

I hear you about the rotations but he's got 8 healthy bodies with three of them freshman, don't have a lot of mix and match in that wardrobe.

The freshmen got hurt last week. The rotation debacles started last year.

So....

 

[mauconnfan]

The perimeter defense is horrific.

The interior offense is horrific.

Our front court would make an excellent bench, but very marginal starters. Years into their careers, they still appear confused as to what they're supposed to be doing on a basketball court. They'd never see a minute over the likes of Souley Wane should he find a time machine. (Souley, please find a time machine.)

Rodney is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful kid. He is very talented. But basketball is not something for which he has an instinctual gift.

Speaking of instinctual gifts, the coaching....our rotations are frequently thrown on the court just because it is basketball and you have rotations in basketball so here is a rotation...and here is another one....and let's play these two people together because I don't know and, oh my, (*scowly face*), we just gave up another 20-2 run.

End result - this season will suck. We are gonna get fn pounded. Kevin Ollie may find whatever it was that got us through the APR season or he may remain the guy who looks like he has never seen a basketball game before.

If it's the former, we may at least find something to enjoy. If not, bourbon.

But I'll say this - I'm really pleased with the new players. Larrier, pre-knee explosion, is better than DHam. Alterique, pre-shoulder explosion, is baby Kemba. Vance Jackson is going to be terrific and Vital is much, much better than his ranking would have suggested. Shame that I think we'll likely have to wait until next season to see three of them again.

And finally, play a freaking zone already. We can't defend man to man and I am tired of seeing UConn die on that hill.

Great post Fish, totally agree....

on the Bourbon

 

[freescooter]

In a sense Ollie is going to luck out yet again. Nobody will hold him accountable because he lost 3 of his best players to injury, most likely for the year. So if they end up being what they were heading toward anyway Ollie supporters will say not his fault

 

[HuskyNan]

And finally, play a freaking zone already. We can't defend man to man and I am tired of seeing UConn die on that hill.

"You always have your foundation as a coach. For instance, I'm not a zone [defense] coach. I'll use the zone, but at the end of the day I'm going to go to what I believe in, and that's man-to-man, tough defense. [Syracuse's Jim Boeheim] is different, his way works, hopefully my way continues to work. What I believe in is versatility, I believe in no positions on the basketball court, I want everybody to have the point guard mentality, I want everybody to be able to pass, dribble and shoot."

UConn Basketball 2016-17: Kevin Ollie Picks Brains Of Many To Formulate His Strategy

 

[David 76]

This is good, a thread for the complainers. I was going to suggest thread title of "UConn sucks, everything sucks, fire all the coaches and Brimah an Purvis" but this will do. Now if we could just keep them from dogging every other thread. They sure feel they need to protect the rest of us from any shred of hope we may have been able to hang onto in this disappointing season.

 

[August_West]

if Ollie has proven one thing, it's that he can coach man-to-man defense,

Well he looked a lot better with it when Napier and boat were making guards miserable

 

[August_West]

"You always have your foundation as a coach. For instance, I'm not a zone [defense] coach. I'll use the zone, but at the end of the day I'm going to go to what I believe in, and that's man-to-man, tough defense. [Syracuse's Jim Boeheim] is different, his way works, hopefully my way continues to work. What I believe in is versatility, I believe in no positions on the basketball court, I want everybody to have the point guard mentality, I want everybody to be able to pass, dribble and shoot."

UConn Basketball 2016-17: Kevin Ollie Picks Brains Of Many To Formulate His Strategy

Problem is that pretty much nobody on our roster can do all 3 things except maybe Adams, and he's not a lights out shooter but seems to be coming around. The rest of the team cannot do more than 1 of those 3 things at a high level. Larrier and alterique would've been a 2 out of 3 guys

So maybe KO needs to rethink that a bit even with a full roster?

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Problem is that pretty much nobody on our roster can do all 3 things except maybe Adams, and he's not a lights out shooter but seems to be coming around. The rest of the team cannot do more than 1 of those 3 things at a high level. Larrier and alterique would've been a 2 out of 3 guys

So maybe KO needs to rethink that a bit even with a full roster?

I think that this is right. It seems to me that part of the reason for slow starts and slow starts by Jalen is that when on offense, the team does not have a clearly defined PG. Running the outside weave puts the ball in Rodney's hands almost as much as Jalen's.