Durham transferring

[UConn76]

Asked to leave, like stop. Haven't said a bad word about Oz on here, but like really?

This is really crazy. Ollie & Benedict have to come
out with some kind of statement.

 

[UConnDan97]

This is the worst episode of "Punk'd" that I've ever seen...

 

[ConnHuskBask]

If that's the case KO is a dead man walking unless he and Coach Chill put together a monster class for 2018.

As they should be. We haven't had a losing season in 30 years.

I don't expect to be in the Final 4 every season, hell I don't expect to make the Tournament every single season.

What I do expect is a better product than we've seen the last three seasons and now the roof has caved in.

 

[intlzncster]

Would love. Along with Harris. Could right a lot of wrongs.

 

[UConNation]

Well then

Two things. @UConNation had inside information that Juwan was contemplating leaving even after Oz made his post. It's policy not to disclose this but he pm'd me last week so this announcement was not surprising to me
Second, if KO is using Oz as a mouthpiece he would never have told Oz to make a statement there were no more transfers if he was in the process to tell the kid to leave.

Alright, let me shed some light that will hopefully calm everyone down. As @fleudslipcon said, I've known this was coming for over a week, but because of speculation rules I couldn't say anything on the board. Here's some info from the same source that told me Juwan was leaving that I hope will calm everyone down.

1) There is no team chemistry/hate KO mentality in the locker room
2) Both Vance and Juwan leaving were PRIMARILY because of being homesick. I know that a lot of us don't want to believe that because of what VJ Sr was tweeting.
3) Admittedly, there was some griping by the players that left over playing time (more so by Enoch and some by Vance I would assume), but it was mostly playing time. I know I know I know - "but there was going to be so much time open." That's true, but between a perceived lack of 'proper use' and missing home, 2 of these guys wanted to head back closer to home for that 'home cooked meal.'
4) MAL leaving was primarily because of Miller being let go - not because he was nervous about stepping foot onto a sinking ship
5) This is it. There isn't anyone else leaving. If I end up being wrong on this, I'll take whatever heat you guys can throw at me.
6) Morale is VERY high with the players that are left

This isn't a great look for the UConn Men's BB program right now, but it's not nearly is chaotic up in Storrs as many seem to think it is. Ollie has not lost control of this team.

 

[navery12]

See, I dont want to think about it too much but thats where all of Oz's stuff falls apart, despite how much I want it to be the true narrative.

If asking JD to leave because he wasnt "pro caliber", then what are we doing bringing in Cobb, Carlton, and Polley? Are they going to be asked to leave during orientation week? These types of words come from someoe who has one and dones or something knocking on his door and lining up to play, doesnt feel like the case here necessarily.

Maybe I just misinterpreted it, but I didn't think he was talking about Pros as in professional caliber NBA players but Pros in the sense that he wants guys who are gonna work hard and want to be here

 

[Penfield]

We don't know if Oz has the cred he claims. My feeling is he has ties, maybe even good ones, but like a lot of people with inside information it's limited. I'd take @Zionn info more than Oz at this point.
And if Oz is legitimate we will never know if KO took the steps you imply.

FWIW it appears he's toned down his rhetoric. My real concern with Oz was the thread about contacting recruits. That was poison no matter how people want to spin it.

Yes that thread crossed the line for me. It's the athletic departments job to monitor social media. I don't really know what Oz's connections are, but I assume the NCAA would consider him a booster. The athletic department should intervene for that reason.

He can talk smack about Miller and the strength coach all he wants, they are grown men that were paid to work for Ollie. However, when you claim a student-athlete was asked to leave and call him soft, I not only question his decision making skills, but also his integrity.

 

[intlzncster]

We don't know if Oz has the cred he claims.
And if Oz is legitimate we will never know if KO took the steps you imply.

All that matters is people believe it. The reality of the situation doesn't matter.

 

[JMick]

So apparently, shockingly, some people are better at criticizing then being criticized.

you really want to get into this, too? Oz has pictures all over his Twitter with KO. Then he goes and calls Glen Miller lazy and tells people that Durham was asked to leave? For what advantage? To make KO look better?

It's completely different when it's an anonymous person on a message board compared to a real twitter account tied to a message board account that has pictures of him hanging out and laughing with the head coach of the program.

 

[Uconnfanatic]

I hope Oz is not Ollie's mouthpiece and releasing these statements with Ollie's blessing. If he is just a clown that happens to have a good source that's one thing, but if this is Ollie's way of getting the message out, it is classless and inappropriate. I am hoping this isn't coming from Ollie.

I have to say that it seems strange that we would give up on Durham now given his potential and the fact that we are so thin at the 4/5. Unless, they decided Durham was never going to be the same player he had been prior to the ACLs. I was surprised that we saw so little growth through the year. Maybe both mentally and physically two ACLs took their toll. Still we had the room on the roster so you would have thought they would have given him the benefit of the doubt, had they thought he still had potential. I'm still not sold on the Cobb signing. I'd rather have athletes like Durham unless there's a problem.

In the end, the question we should all want answered is are kids bailing on Ollie & the program because they don't believe in the coach or his methods or is Ollie cleaning house and looking to bring in a different caliber of recruit who he feels will better fit his philosophy and approach. I hope it is the latter because otherwise this program is in big trouble.

 

[intlzncster]

I'm not saying that what Oz posted was right. but I also don't believe we should just ignore the impact of fan's on social media as much as so called insiders. It is all a bad look, if you think social media is a big deal. Which I know it is. I work in a public school system. Kids are glued to their phone.

Oh I'm with you there. But there's only so much you can do to stem the tide. It wasn't a blanket statement against all insider info either.

Again, most of what Oz has posted over the past couple of weeks I'm fine with (even when wrong). There was a couple of things that grinded my gears though. Maybe some people are cool with it. I'm personally not.

 

[businesslawyer]

you really want to get into this, too? Oz has pictures all over his Twitter with KO. Then he goes and calls Glen Miller lazy and tells people that Durham was asked to leave? For what advantage? To make KO look better?

It's completely different when it's an anonymous person on a message board compared to a real twitter account tied to a message board account that has pictures of him hanging out and laughing with the head coach of the program.

I have no opinion of Oz either way. I don't take anyone who posts anonymously on a bulletin board that seriously. Including myself.

 

[JMick]

I have no opinion of Oz either way. I don't take anyone who posts anonymously on a bulletin board that seriously. Including myself.

the problem is that Oz isn't anonymous. That's where the true problem lies.

 

[Matrim55]

Alright, let me shed some light that will hopefully calm everyone down. As @fleudslipcon said, I've known this was coming for over a week, but because of speculation rules I couldn't say anything on the board. Here's some info from the same source that told me Juwan was leaving that I hope will calm everyone down.

1) There is no team chemistry/hate KO mentality in the locker room
2) Both Vance and Juwan leaving were PRIMARILY because of being homesick. I know that a lot of us don't want to believe that because of what VJ Sr was tweeting.
3) Admittedly, there was some griping by the players that left over playing time (more so by Enoch and some by Vance I would assume), but it was mostly playing time. I know I know I know - "but there was going to be so much time open." That's true, but between a perceived lack of 'proper use' and missing home, 2 of these guys wanted to head back closer to home for that 'home cooked meal.'
4) MAL leaving was primarily because of Miller being let go - not because he was nervous about stepping foot onto a sinking ship
5) This is it. There isn't anyone else leaving. If I end up being wrong on this, I'll take whatever heat you guys can throw at me.
6) Morale is VERY high with the players that are left

This isn't a great look for the UConn Men's BB program right now, but it's not nearly is chaotic up in Storrs as many seem to think it is. Ollie has not lost control of this team.

Hope to god you're right.

 

[GetTheFacts]

He's right to a certain degree. UConn hasn't recruited players with the right mindset in recent years under Ollie. You can just tell by the motor on some of these guys. Need more players with an alpha-dog mentality.

 

[johnhuskies95]

This program, led by Head Coach Kevin Ollie, is a total dysfunctional mess right now.

The Strength and Conditioning Coach, Glen Miller, Enoch, Jackson, MAL and Durham are all out in the past month.

His buddy "Oz" is spouting off on Twitter like an idiot.

No more excuses, no more "well we can't do any better", KO owns this program and has run it into the ground.

Let's see what he makes of it. Another sub .500 season and I think a change would have to be in order.

That's the part that gets me too, this idea that Ollie is automatically the best guy we can have. He's won 65% of his games and never finished better than tied for third in the AAC. I understand the APR thing not helping, and I really want him to succeed, but I think that we should have a higher opinion of ourselves to think that the last few years are acceptable or what we're resigned to. UConn is a great program and there are a lot of talented coaches out there that would love to coach here.

 

[ctchamps]

So the entire Durham situation was incredibly, incredibly, strange. It would not have been odd at all to see him having redshirted this year before we lost our three players to injuries. But he was playing before Larrier and Gilbert got hurt, so he was not going to be redshirted. But as thin as we were, KO simply would not play him more than 8 minutes a game, even though you could see there were basketball skills underneath all that rust and we played some games with 7 players and he still wouldn't get more than token minutes.

It would not surprise me if they were just not a fit together. That's not blaming either one of them, but he should have redshirted or have had a chance to play. We played this season as if we had to give him a few minutes a game but he was never going to earn a real chance. It was just very strange.

Good luck to him whether he was pushed out or not. I'm not one who cares to receive an explanation. What I need to see are more bodies. Larrier, Gilbert, Adams and Vital are enough to get us to the tournament if we can come up with minutes in the middle and depth on the perimeter, and everyone goes back to being hungry Huskies.

Kid insisted on not being red shirted prior to coming. Put KO in a difficult bind because kid already signed. No way of knowing everything because KO may have been told by medical staff to be cautious with kid and Juwan felt differently. Or it could have been a work ethic thing. We could have used him this past season so it wasn't because his position was covered.

I'm sure KO was not at his best this season. Bad seasons affect everyone and coaches are not immune.
JC was at a low with how he handled things in 2010. So this vicious cycle continues and we'll have to wait and see how it plays out.

 

[Kenny11]

Almost impossible to imagine that Durham was asked to leave.

 

[KembaStepback]

no, you can go piss off

Classy. You can have your opinion but he can't have his?

I tend to agree with the idea that he has free speech and isn't associated with anything other than hearing things. Might not have been in good taste to call JD soft but not that big of a deal.

Also anyone who says anything about the state of the program is just fabricating things. Yes there have been some sad departures but we do not know what else or what has happened behind the scenes. Let's let things play out before we pass judgement.

 

[UChusky916]

Nah, I'm cool with insider info. Just don't like pot shots at guys on their way out. Bad taste in the mouth.

And I'll happily keep posting about it as I'm not an insider. Keep on keepin on.

FWIW, I am totally cool with @chevtheman, @Zionn, @3uconn, and even Oz. Except when he's posting like a middle school girl.

He's allowed to be emotional. He's a FAN. FAN is short for FANATIC. Just because he's 'OZ' doesn't mean he can't be a little dramatic and emotional. We all care about the program and can be a little emotional. He just happens to be a plugged in fan.

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

 

[Stainmaster]

UConn is a great program and there are a lot of talented coaches out there that would love to coach here.

I keep hearing this pop up - what are some of these guys' names?

 

[nomar]

As a Knicks fan I never thought I'd see the day where UConn was the bigger dumpster fire out of the two teams I pull for.

It's still not.

Knicks had 5 undrafted players on the floor yesterday.

But things ain't good in either place.

 

[ctchamps]

I have no opinion of Oz either way. I don't take anyone who posts anonymously on a bulletin board that seriously. Including myself.

I don't take you seriously either. On a serious note UConn did have problems with something from the women's forum that was far less egregious than what Oz has done.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I mean maybe Oz meant "has asked to leave. "