Coaching

[methodology]

Even the announcers indicate in their conversation that Brima's free throw motion is awkward and incorrect - needs help and coaching badly. This from Bob Knight.

Not completely accurate of what Knight said at all. Brimah's first trip to the line he said he had great form and no wasted movement. Was fluid and had a soft touch. The next time he was at the line he commented he needs to work on keeping his head in front of his feet. With his head behind his feet he is making it much more difficult and it makes you use more energy.

That was what Knight said. He did not bash his form.

 

[freescooter]

They have gotten worse.

This program also can't seem to navigate a regular season schedule anymore. The 2011 team had no business finishing 9th in the Big East and the 2014 team finished 5th in a league with 5 good teams. So 2 teams who won the National Championship performed as badly as they could have in the regular season those years.

Now this program cannot manage an AAC regular season schedule in a league of no ranked opponents. It's a disgrace. Something is going wrong somewhere. Unbelievably they cannot seem to prepare them for an November-March grind. I can't even imagine what would happen to this program playing in the old Big East or ACC playing against ranked competition every game.

Well that is at least partly a function of Ollie's NBA mindset. Regular season doesn't really matter. Problem is that sometimes that mindset gets you into trouble, as it has this year. In the pros you just want to win enough games to get to the post season. In college at our level you really can't do that because winning 18-20 leaves you out. It isn't t he old Big East.

 

[Waquoit]

UConn plays tough D. That's good coaching. This team can't throw the ball in the ocean. That's a different nut to crack.

 

[mauconnfan]

UConn plays tough D. That's good coaching. This team can't throw the ball in the ocean. That's a different nut to crack.

Eh the defense isn't the same either, too many not so smart defenders out there to be the same as seasons past. I mean Cincy is a mason team and they grew 70 up there, many with drives to the basket in our bigs faces. Problem is while they can block some shots they also get lost on when to play D on a penetrator.

It's a tough season, we're NIT bound and that's a done deal accept it. Now it's time to add some talent for next year besides JA and SE and have the rest of these guys improve if they can.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Eh the defense isn't the same either, too many not so smart defenders out there to be the same as seasons past. I mean Cincy is a mason team and they grew 70 up there, many with drives to the basket in our bigs faces. Problem is while they can block some shots they also get lost on when to play D on a penetrator.

It's a tough season, we're NIT bound and that's a done deal accept it. Now it's time to add some talent for next year besides JA and SE and have the rest of these guys improve if they can.

Let the season run its course brodie. Our ticket will be stamped in back door style. A ticket is a ticket. Once at the dance coming off some success....??? I think we can win a game or 2.

 

[imno1]

Even the announcers indicate in their conversation that Brima's free throw motion is awkward and incorrect - needs help and coaching badly. This from Bob Knight.

This is what you bring? You might have an argument but not based on this. First AB is shooting about 65% from the line which is not terrible for a big man. Second Have you seen J Okafor from the line this season. Does Duke need a better big man coach? Because JO is probably gonna be POY. And C) Brimah (with an h) has been improving considering he was a hit or miss not highly recruited big who is only beginning to sniff his potential.

 

[RMoore1999]

Ugh, I hate this sentiment that Kevin Ollie walked into a situation where he was guaranteed a national championship within 2 years. If you want to use the argument that KO won with Calhoun's recruits, then your argument stops at Shabazz, Niels and Tyler.

Kevin Ollie joined the staff in the summer of 2010 and was a lead recruiter for both Ryan Boatright and DeAndre Daniels (as well as all the other players on the team not named Shabazz, Niels, or Tyler) and convinced Lasan Kromah to transfer to UConn. And as soon as Calhoun retired, KO made it a priority to convince Shabazz to stay, as he was considering transferring, so the point about Shabazz only being a Jim Calhoun recruit is kind of moot, too.

You're lying if you looked at the team at the end of the 2011-2012, with Jim Calhoun retiring and a postseason ban on the horizon, and thought to yourself that Kevin Ollie had a great chance at winning a national championship because he still had a roster full of "JC guys".

This is one of the better posts of the last few months around here; ironically, it appears in about the worst thread in weeks by one of the BY's most tiresome homegrown trolls.

 

[Marty Jackson]

Have to see what KO does with his own set of players. He won with JC's players last year. All the major pieces were JC guys. So far not looking so good.

it's posters like this that suck the fun out of being a fan. Uconn DID win the NC last year. And Ollie pulled off some awesome coaching adjustments.
Now, in the years he doesn't win (and this year isn't quite over yet) he's somehow lost his ability to coach?

Just for the record, it took JC about 13 seasons before winning his first NC. There was some serious talent that got close, but came up short (a Hall of Famer in the NBA being one of them)... And, if I recall, there were seasons where an NIT invite was all that came in March.