Welcome abroad - congratulations on your 9th post - it's great to see casual fans getting more engaged and attempting to move up the learning curve.
Of course, you are very wrong about a lot of things including your analysis of Enoch but that's besides the point. So now you believe you can assess talent better than Rick Pitino - it's truly a great country!
Ok Chief - I have laid off you myself for some of your misguided (sometimes bordering on ridiculous) claims and stances that you take. You sometimes make good points and do have some amusing stories from being somewhere around the program (although referring to yourself in the 3rd person is just as lame and douchey on here as it was by "Jimmy" in Seinfeld 20 years ago).
But your view on this one is totally out of touch with the reality that we all witnessed over Steve's first two years here, and this last year with Juwan.
Steve first: although I would say that Steve does have a chance to take his natural abilities and turn himself into at least a decent Division 1 player by his senior year, you are absolutely full of crap to sit here and act like:
a) he has the potential to be the next Emeka Okafor (or anywhere close)
b) it was all Glenn Miller and KO's fault that he showed almost no development over his two years here
c) Coach Calhoun would have definitely gotten all of that talent out of him.
I realize for you and some others that it fits your ongoing narrative on both KO and Miller, but the fact is that some (not all, but some) of the blame for his lack of development has to lie with Steve himself. Go back and watch his play. Fact is, he was horrible on defense, and erratic on offense. Additionally, he shot 41% this year... as a big man. And as others have pointed out, he shot even worse (7 for 24) against good competition. An individual's improvement is never solely reliant upon coaching. I played sports when I was younger too... and I know that if I was not getting better that a significant amount of the responsibility was on ME. Same goes here with Steve. He obviously was not working on his game nor working to develop his awareness on the court consistently enough.
Can that change as he matures (after all he is young for a sophomore)? Yes. And I hope for his sake that it does. But as for his two years here... sorry, HIS EFFORT was consistently lacking. That is a fact. So let's say that its 50% on him and 50% on the coaches where Steve is concerned.
As for Durham... throwing him into any discussion on this perceived trend of "lack of improvement" by our big men is disingenuous at least, and ridiculous at most. How could you say he "did not improve"? This year was all about getting Juwan back on the court and keeping him healthy through a full year of basketball! That in and of itself was a huge step forward for him.
He just missed two straight years with serious knee injuries! Everyone here (other than you and a few others) realize that the big victory with Juwan was just KEEPING HIM HEALTHY through the rigors of an entire 4-month schedule. Anything else is a totally false narrative because it was going to take him this whole year just to get comfortable in his own mind that he was not going to blow out one of his knees again. Frankly, the coaching staff did an excellent job bringing him along slowly... particularly when you have to know that KO wanted to play him more when we were so short-handed earlier in the year. KO did what was in the best interest of health and well-being for that young man. KO deserves credit for how he handled Durham this year, not criticism.
I am definitely more disappointed to see Durham go than Enoch.
As for Coach Calhoun - one of the greatest coaches ever... period, end of story. Like practically everyone else on this message board, I will forever be thankful for what he built at UConn, and how he did it. HOWEVER - The other part of your false narrative that JC would have "automatically" gotten the best out of Steve is categorically untrue. I will debunk your "statements of fact" on that one right now:
Have you ever heard of Toraino Walker? That guy peaked for us... in his freshman year. JC was NEVER able to get out of him the full potential he showed during the 1990 Big East Tournament. In fact... Toraino left the program right before the start of his senior year, having never fulfilled that potential for greatness he showed 2 1/2 years earlier. Sometimes, guys like Toraino (really nice, quiet guy, by the way... used to come to our off-campus parties) and yes, STEVE TOO, do not want it badly enough. It is ok, it is part of being human. Not everyone has the drive or passion to turn their physical abilities into basketball greatness. They have different priorities in life.
But that is on the player, and not automatically on the coaches, even when you declare otherwise Chief. And for those of you who have not been around since the 80's and 90's, there were others, too... Nantambu Willingham and Jonathan Mandeldove come to mind right off the bat of big men who did not develop under JC. Chief, it just goes to show you that even the best of coaches can have swings and misses. We all tend to forget that these are 18 (and in Steve's case 17) year-old kids... KIDS... we are talking about. A lot of development can and does happen during 4 to 5 years in college.
So, instead of acting like you are "sure" Steve has the potential to be a stud basketball player, and that his lack of development at UConn is totally on Miller and Ollie, let us see how it plays out over the next few years. Because the truth is, unless this young man either matures or lights a fire under his own ass, he will never make it at this level. And that is fact, no matter what BS you want to spew. As far as Ollie is concerned, I would like to see what happens when he gets a big man who is not a total project, as Brimah, Facey and Enoch all have been, before we close the book on whether he and his staff have what it takes to develop big men.
P.S. - One thing you and I do agree upon, btw - Clyde Vaughn was the best big man coach we have ever had (and there has yet to be a close 2nd)... and losing him was definitely one of the worst things to happen to the long term development of big men at UConn in the last 30+ years.
