Durham transferring

[Horatio]

why are we getting upset about someone who showed us nothing to date and honored our loyalty by transferring? Another kid evidently unhappy with playing time.

does anyone think he's going to a better program? I don't, he's more likely he;s going to the A-10 than a P5

moving on, hard for me to pretend I'm going to miss him, He must think he's blue blood, we're blue collar

Thank you again. We gotta stop sniffing and crying about these young unaccomplished, ungrateful kids. We are still Uconn.

 

[polycom]

If MAL decommitted because of Miller, then I hope KO and Chillious are re-recruiting him. MAL isn't going to play for Miller regardless so he could still find KO, Chillious, Killings, and Moore his best bet.

You hope someone who wanted to leave because an assistant coach left the school is being recruited by the new staff? Do you think KO doesn't talk to his recruits when these things are happening? Do you think these players find out when we find out? If so, then you must also think that KO is extremely unqualified to lead a major basketball program....

 

[Huskyforlife]

This thread reminds me of the Randy Edsall return thread. People either loved it or hated it. Here it is Ollie good people vs those who think this is a dumpster fire.

If this was a dumpster fire, would Chillious have come here? Why go to a dumpster fire when you were fired from a dumpster fire? That sounds like career suicide. So no, I don't believe the program is on its way down. Is it concerning right now? Yes.

Durham has upside- if he wants to be closer to home, if he wants a reset to his career, it is his prerogative. Do I think he owed KO a little bit more for standing by him? Yes. But in today's world, people are in kids ears and they I wish him luck.

Let's see who comes in and what they look like before we reserve judgment. I still think a 3 guard lineup with Gilbert at Point, Vital and Adams as wings can pressure and run. Larrier at the 4 and Cobb/Carlton at the 5 and Diarra as a change up. This team needs to up tempo and run. We will need more depth and better rebounding from the 4 and 5 spot, and if we do we will finish Top 3 in the conference(including Wichita St) and will make the NCAA Tourney next year. Book it!!

If chillious was as good as people here think one of the blue blood schools would've made him a better offer than us. He's a good assistant, not some superstar.

 

[mauconnfan]

If chillious was as good as people here think one of the blue blood schools would've made him a better offer than us. He's a good assistant, not some superstar.

Of course this is the answer we were all looking for. He's overrated too, the program blows and we should all find someone else to root for.

Nothing anyone says will take that taste out of your mouth so leave some of it alone maybe?

 

[BaZZnBOAT]

Of course this is the answer we were all looking for. He's overrated too, the program blows and we should all find someone else to root for.

Nothing anyone says will take that taste out of your mouth so leave some of it alone maybe?

Agreed. That is just unbelievable. "Well, he's obviously not that good, Duke didn't get him." This is JUST after a ton of posters were babbling about how there are competent head coaches everywhere and that we should try to hire the head coach of MONMOUTH if we fired KO. Which one is it? Which one will make the critics happy? None, because they obviously just love to complain.

 

[Dove]

The "optimistic view", as you present it, is insanity.

It's like MetroNorth crashing all their trains because they're thinking about buying new ones.

At this moment, we don't have enough players to have a blue-white game. Four players in the past have decided not to play for UConn next year and right now, it doesn't look like they're going to replace them with players of similar ability. That staff has to pull more than one rabbit out of a hat or they're going to bury themselves.

So, you don't think KO and Chill and Kill can assemble the best available walk-ons?

 

[Huskyforlife]

Of course this is the answer we were all looking for. He's overrated too, the program blows and we should all find someone else to root for.

Nothing anyone says will take that taste out of your mouth so leave some of it alone maybe?

He doesn't blow, it was a great hire. That being said, using him choosing us as a barometer for the current state of the program doesn't make sense. My point was he didn't turn down elite schools to come here.

 

[3rdbass]

Of course this is the answer we were all looking for. He's overrated too, the program blows and we should all find someone else to root for.

Nothing anyone says will take that taste out of your mouth so leave some of it alone maybe?

I have no opinion on Chillous besides excited that he is supposed to be a top notch recruiter. Still I won't be sold on him until I see results. There more than one side to this and for fans who are doubting the future under KO. It is a legitimate concern by our recent results the last 3 years and what has transpired this off season(VJ was talented and Mal has the change to be next year). Especially with VJ you would think it is a no brainer with all the open playing time and KO's liking to go small. Just because it seems to us we are a rudderless ship doesn't mean we are jumping out. I will go down with this sinking ship as I'm a diehard no matter what. Hopefully we have good times ahead starting with next season but there is reason to doubt for sure. I still have optimism but it definitely going away with each bad season.

 

[QDOG5]

Anybody miss Brimah yet?

Nope. Four years was enough.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Wow giving the kid the "quitter tag"

 

[3rdbass]

Nope. Four years was enough.

I will miss the blocks but the rest of the game was that of a backup center.

 

[djct1999]

The nonsense people on this board spew to rationalize when the program is at a serious crossroads. Vance was a top 100 recruit who was acc American first team and becoming a really good shooter with some nifty post moves. You really honestly think he wouldn't improve and was at his ceiling? Lol!

Yep. I honestly think Vance saw the minutes he saw because of circumstance. With a healthy team, his minutes were surely going to be eaten in to. He is too slow on his feet to play quality defense and he doesn't create off the dribble. Those things won't change too much over time.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Yep. I honestly think Vance saw the minutes he saw because of circumstance. With a healthy team, his minutes were surely going to be eaten in to. He is too slow on his feet to play quality defense and he doesn't create off the dribble. Those things won't change too much over time.

Defense? Yes. But as a freshman, he showed the ability to create off the dribble. It wasn't blow-by's and relied more on footwork and fakes to get the shot off but it was effective nonetheless.

 

[3rdbass]

Yep. I honestly think Vance saw the minutes he saw because of circumstance. With a healthy team, his minutes were surely going to be eaten in to. He is too slow on his feet to play quality defense and he doesn't create off the dribble. Those things won't change too much over time.

He actually does create off the dribble at times as he has a good pump fake and very good handle for someone his size. His defense was his deficiency. He also rebounds well and would have gotten time in a smaller lineup with him at PF. It was obvious his father influenced his decision. They want VJ to be more of SG/SF than a PF/SF. It is a loss no matter what. I mean look at what we are left with now.

 

[Husky25]

He actually does create off the dribble at times as he has a good pump fake and very good handle for someone his size. His defense was his deficiency. He also rebounds well and would have gotten time in a smaller lineup with him at PF. It was obvious his father influenced his decision. They want VJ to be more of SG/SF than a PF/SF. It is a loss no matter what. I mean look at what we are left with now.

My observation was too many pump fakes. He was not a catch-and-shooter. He needed to be wide open and could not hit a shot with someone guarding him, let alone someone in his face.

 

[pj]

You hope someone who wanted to leave because an assistant coach left the school is being recruited by the new staff? Do you think KO doesn't talk to his recruits when these things are happening? Do you think these players find out when we find out? If so, then you must also think that KO is extremely unqualified to lead a major basketball program....

I don't get this post. Every one of your rhetorical questions is a non sequitur. No, I don't believe any of those things. I'm just saying that if we take MAL's public statement seriously, then no negatives toward UConn have arisen except the departure of Glen Miller; if he gets to know Chillious and finds he's as good as Glen Miller, then UConn's standing should be as good as ever. The other thing he said is that he didn't explore other schools enough. Fine, he'll explore other schools. But we can still come out on top.

What other top 50 recruits are available? None. So of course he should be re-recruited. Unless there is something else that has put UConn off him, such as an aversion to competition.

 

[QDOG5]

And not to run this thread off the rails, but:

Our RFer doesn't even have a PG profile and he goes to Morehead State. He's a finalist for the Golden Spikes award.

Our SS was a preferred walk-on at Marist. He's been player of the week in the MAAC three weeks in a row and arguably the best prospect in the conference right now.

I had Max Pentecost - who was National Player of the year and got drafted 11th overall a few years back - no one had even heard of him and he wasn't even rated as a top 50 player - IN HIS OWN STATE.

Chris Sale's pretty good, right? Guess where he fell on a top prospects list out of high school - on none of them. He went to Florida flippin' Gulf Coast.

We have a two-time all Big East Catcher from Xavier... rated #200 in his state. He'll probably be a top-5 rounder.

We had a kid from Texas - Travis Jones, who can literally play anywhere and for my money - is the best player i've ever had when you put the whole enchillada together and after hitting .334 and 11 bombs here, he was rated #99 on the PG top 100 draft prospects list.... 44 spots below a kid who I also had that hit a .167 here, is built like a pipe cleaner but runs 6.3 so auto-prospect. Kid #2 couldn't lace Travis' cleats.

D1 Baseball.com has half of its stories about Rice baseball because one of the guys lives close to the field and covers them like crazy. But their prospect lists are just built on glances. Or 'oh he throws hard' or 'oh he's got a good body' or 'oh short, compact wing' or whatever tool there is. There are guys we call 'showcase players' who go to scouting combines and throw well, hit BP into orbit, run super fast, catch on the run... but in a game they're useless. They're physical freaks with no feel for the game.

Sorry to drive this into oblivion, but I know there's even more idiots in basketball than there are in baseball - which is saying something - and when you read scouting reports on kids online, it's usually written by some other kid, aspiring to be a hoops scout who doesn't have any idea what they're talking about at all. I read about 2-3 scouting reports on Enoch and he was literally, actually none of the things in his report. And like I just said - you'd be amazed at how many lazy upper echilon college coaches just go 'oh ok, top 40 guy speaks for itself just offer him' without doing much of any leg work on them. It happens ALL THE TIME in baseball. I wouldn't be surprised to see it be that way in hoops in many cases as well.


Prospect lists are total and complete garbage. Star ratings WTH is that anyway? What makes a guy a ****3/4 different from a guy who is ****1/2? It's just stupidity. Dumb content for dumb people to gobble up. Get on the court and play.

If people aren't arguing about where kids were/are rated on various rating websites it will eliminate 40% of the content on this site. I wanted to agree with your premise completely so I went to espn to do some research. Looking back at Rivals the last few years the Top 100 has been a fairly good barometer for success. I'm thinking the top tier is easier to scout in hoops than baseball. Less players for one. The hoops AAU circuit lets the upper tier players compete against each other more often than baseball does. Evaluating pitching is a separate beast altogether. When it comes to hoops arguing over 3* star guys is a waste of time but the 4 and 5* guys tend to play closer to their ratings. So Chill and Kill need to go get us some studs.

 

[polycom]

I don't get this post. Every one of your rhetorical questions is a non sequitur. No, I don't believe any of those things. I'm just saying that if we take MAL's public statement seriously, then no negatives toward UConn have arisen except the departure of Glen Miller; if he gets to know Chillious and finds he's as good as Glen Miller, then UConn's standing should be as good as ever. The other thing he said is that he didn't explore other schools enough. Fine, he'll explore other schools. But we can still come out on top.

What other top 50 recruits are available? None. So of course he should be re-recruited. Unless there is something else that has put UConn off him, such as an aversion to competition.

So we should recruit someone who doesn't want to be at UConn because Glen Miller left? Is that what you're trying to say?

 

[intlzncster]

I don't believe that the Germans ever bombed Pearl Harbor. But since you are an old fart like me you are forgiven.

Danzz, you've been around for awhile so you better be double meta trolling here.

 

[intlzncster]

PG is the absolute biggest scam in HS sports. It made me cringe when some of my teammates who were 4th outfielders/pinch runners parents would spend oodles of money on batting practice and a youtube video.

The other (related) move is for Parents to hold their kid back in 7th/8th grade to gain a year of skill development and more importantly physical development. So when they are in high school, they've got a year on everybody else. Their playing against less developed kids, and have the advantage of looking better when getting recruited.

Happens not so much in basketball, but sports like lacrosse.

 

[3rdbass]

My observation was too many pump fakes. He was not a catch-and-shooter. He needed to be wide open and could not hit a shot with someone guarding him, let alone someone in his face.

Well I thought he adjusted to that as the season went on and his shooting percentage in the conference was among the best. I know people want to minimize his loss but it sucks. He would have been a perfect complement to Larrier. Hopefully KO can get in another shooter that has other pluses like VJ(Rebounding, offensive moves).

 

[Paesano]

This doesn't in any way absolve Ollie of a shred of blame. He recruited each of those players to the program, and in doing so I'd imagine he knew full well their work ethic, family interference, etc. If he was oblivious to these things, he didn't do his homework. If he knew and took a risk, he's reaping the seeds he's sown.

THIS! A BILLION TIMES...THIS!!!

The man at the top picks his assistant coaches. The man at the top picks/prioritizes the recruits. The man at the top decides what the offensive and defensive schemes will be. The man at the top runs the practices. The man at the top decides who will start and what the PT will be for each player. The man at the top makes the in-game adjustments.

If we need to "clean house" it is KO that made the mess, PERIOD! These are the coaches and players he picked. There were other 3 and 4 star kids he could have prioritized that had better attitudes and parents. You can't blame sanctions or injuries for this. The sanctions may have kept him from landing 5 star kids a couple years ago but there are A LOT of 4 star and 3 star kids (rated similarly to the ones that are leaving) that he could have gone after instead.

The fact that the AD is letting this happen definitely means he is not firing Ollie after next season. This dumpster fire is a nice built in excuse for next year. But I hope he has made no promises past next year. They HAVE to crush it on the 2018 class to the point where those kids have to be good enough to contribute on day one. The sanctions aren't affecting the 2018 class. If KO, Chill and Kill are such great recruiters, land a UK/KU/Duke type class for 2018. We can't look at this like a typical rebuild project for a brand new coach. We can't give him 4 years. I don't even want to give him another 3 years. 2 years. Next year and one more and THAT IS IT! The longer this goes on the more we risk becoming UMass.

 

[intlzncster]

Now I am pretty sure that ollie plans on a 3 guard offense. I do want to bring back terrence samuel. He is the guard that can give us a good 10 back up minutes a game n more importantly guard the 3.

We only have 3 guards. The three guard offense will be pretty damn tough to operate without at least 2 more guys in the fold (given the uncertainty surrounding AG).

 

[Tenspro2002]

Wow giving the kid the "quitter tag"

How else would you describe it?

Between kids not wanting to compete for playing time, not wanting to work hard to improve their game or physique, or just generally giving up on the program, why mince words?

 

[intlzncster]

If chillious was as good as people here think one of the blue blood schools would've made him a better offer than us. He's a good assistant, not some superstar.

He also happens to be an old friend of KO.

 

[intlzncster]

(VJ was talented and Mal has the change to be next year). Especially with VJ you would think it is a no brainer with all the open playing time and KO's liking to go small.

You do realize that is not really on KO though. Vance's dad (and Vance himself) probably had the vast majority of the hand in this. And we sure as don't want KO catering to any parents wishes, at the expense of what they are trying to do there.

 

[3rdbass]

You do realize that is not really on KO though. Vance's dad (and Vance himself) probably had the vast majority of the hand in this. And we sure as don't want KO catering to any parents wishes, at the expense of what they are trying to do there.

I'm not blaming KO on VJ leaving just stating that it hurts with everybody else going at the same time. VJ is the biggest loss and unless we find a similar player(pitt guy) I'm not feeling too optimistic for next year.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Does MAL have to sit out with a signed LOI?

 

[intlzncster]

How else would you describe it?

Between kids not wanting to compete for playing time, not wanting to work hard to improve their game or physique, or just generally giving up on the program, why mince words?

Because some of this stuff is just what we 'heard'. I can honestly buy the Durham is homesick bit if you sold it to me. Too many stories from people who know him. Now, I don't know if this is actually true, but I could buy it.

Also, if he was forced off the team (which I don't believe), he didn't quit.

 

[WrenchFan69]

Does MAL have to sit out with a signed LOI?

No we gave him his release. Only has to sit out if the school doesn't, which doesn't happen much any more