Seems like there's no middle ground on here regarding Ollie. It's either he's a complete victim of circumstance or we're screwed with him long-term. I happen to think it's neither - this is not a well-coached team, and I find that to be apparent on a level beyond this simply being a limited group of players. The first half on Saturday was a good example of the template that has gotten us here. Cincinnati was lethargic, they were missing shots, and they were mostly playing poorly...yet we did so much screwing around on offense that we found ourselves in a big hole at halftime. He also decided to take Jalen Adams out of the game when he picked up two fouls, and I cannot emphasize enough, despite the fact it worked with Shabazz a couple years ago against Villanova: optimizing minutes based on fouls is stupid, especially when it involves a guard who happens to be your most important player. If you can't trust your point guard not to foul out when you have six players, that's a problem.
That said, there was nothing he could do about the second half. Cincinnati caught fire and we had no answers for Clark and Washington. Brimah is what he is, and you can't play him against those type of players. Obviously, we had no choice.
Things point upward with Ollie, holistically. He's a hell of basketball mind and a proven molder of perimeter talent. He has some weaknesses, one of which might be that his temperament mirrors that of an NBA coach - he's not a scathing d*** like Pitino or Cal or K...those guys operate their programs like oppressive dictators and my suspicion is that Ollie is more new-age. In and of itself that isn't a bad thing, but these guys on the court don't exactly remind you of the marines with their execution and I think it's more than just a player thing at this point.
