Facts...

[superjohn]

I think what's clear is Kevin Ollie absolutely can coach, but running a program may not be his thing. NBA may be a better route for him. Also, UConn can't fire him, would put the final nail in the coffin for the program. Hopefully LeBron decides to fire his coach again soon.

Of course UConn can fire him.

 

[BaZZnBOAT]

You can't fire a NCAA-winning alum who was chosen to take over the program by a top 5 coach all-time. That's an insanely high mark for a sputtering program in a mid-major conference.

Agreed. It's a bad look.

 

[nyhuskies13]

And you think I'm not one? That's weird.



Dude, you just posted in this thread that your baseline expectation is for UConn to be the best team in the country. Based on that, I don't think you know how to accurately define "oblivion." Also, did you ever think about -- wait for it -- how freakin' hard it was for the team to meet that expectation of yours even when they had the best basketball coach of all time on the bench? And maybe it's a little harder to "have the best program in the country" year in and year out when you have to downgrade from him?

And you think I'm not one? That's weird.



Dude, you just posted in this thread that your baseline expectation is for UConn to be the best team in the country. Based on that, I don't think you know how to accurately define "oblivion." Also, did you ever think about -- wait for it -- how freakin' hard it was for the team to meet that expectation of yours even when they had the best basketball coach of all time on the bench? And maybe it's a little harder to "have the best program in the country" year in and year out when you have to downgrade from him?

You're a fan who I know is blood, sweat, and tears Husky blue... how can you possibly say things are ok???? How are you ok with the current state of things.

We're not Marquette, Washington St, or VA Tech. We fought too long and too hard against the blue blood bullies to get where we are. And we shouldn't just walk away now because we didn't belong in that fight in the first place.

So when I talk about expectations, I refuse to let this program fall back into 'oblivion'

 

[lange10]

Agreed. It's a bad look.

The current direction of the program is a bad look, too. If it's necessary it needs to happen. The way we're trending, in 3 years we won't be a desirable destination for coaches. Crucify me for saying that, but I honestly believe it at this rate.

 

[tzznandrew]

No, the facts are that the Sid Wilson thread got locked, and your promised "Fire Ollie" thread got deleted.

Your assertion "we clearly have authoritarian pro-Ollie mods" is an opinion. Some agree and some don't. It's not a fact.

I'm only sorry that the GIF posted by @Matrim55 was lost with the deleted thread. Can we get it back?

Behold the glory.

 

[SouthBayHusky]

Everyone thought the sky was falling in 2010-2011 coming off a poor year and then again in 2013-2o14 coming off APR penalties and realignment.

We won championships the following years.

I'm not saying we're winning one next year. But we'll be fine. 1 recruit was never going to change that.

If one recruits not gonna matter then why did they bother recruiting him? It's far more than the loss of one recruit. The program is literally on life-support after the past three years and then the recent loss of four players. the program needs some positive momentum.

 

[3rdbass]

You can't fire a NCAA-winning alum who was chosen to take over the program by a top 5 coach all-time. That's an insanely high mark for a sputtering program in a mid-major conference.

Ok so we just let him run the program down into shambles were we can't get out. Sorry I love your faith in KO but I'm sure Benedict has KO on a short leash and will be willing to go a different direction if needed. Remember we are in the AAC and not the ACC and we can't afford to fall into obscurity so fast. As you can see with recruiting that kids aren't really confident in KO and his staff.

 

[pj]

That's be about the three-thousandth time the 2014 championship has been dragged from its grave for recruiting show and tell. But we've missed all the recruits, so perhaps we do have a problem here.

We lost four players from an already bad team and we've failed to replace any of them.

We have a recruiting class that looks like we're hoping to win the A10 in a few years.

Let's not forget that JC was able to win with sub-A10 recruits at Northeastern, and that enabled him to get the UConn job, where he was able to bring in A10 level recruits and win an NIT championship with them. Proving he could win with A10 recruits enabled him to get Big East level recruits. Proving he could get to the Elite Eight with them enabled him to get the guys who got him a championship.

If you put aside the 2014 championship that KO won, you also have to put aside the expectations that JC built up for UConn. The fact is every coach has to build his credibility. Calipari and Krzyzewski didn't get to the top overnight.

For KO, credibility starts with winning with guys like Polley and Whaley, and then getting a few of them to the NBA. Small accomplishments that you build on. He will do it.

 

[Huskymagic]

No one in their right minds think this program or this head coach is trending in the right direction including the Pollyannas.

My opinions on this matter are well known so I am not going to pile on.

I don't know why many are surprised we lost Sid the Kid to St Johns. I posted this last night that the fathers quotes regarding UCONN were a clear indicator that we were not getting him.

My recommendations for Ollie are simple.

1.) He needs to change his soft personality and get tough Calhoun style with the players. He needs to instill fear and discipline in his team. Drop the Mr Preacher/ Mr Nice Guy routine and get real.

2.) Drop the nonsensical Olliesms and hyperbole of players and be realistic and humble.

3.) Win big this season and send Jalen to the NBA via lottery and have Larrier join him in the first round. That will do wonders for recruiting

 

[Mooch82]

This last 6 weeks has been extremely depressing. After all the defections, I still had optimism that Oz and some of the others were right about us still getting some good players. Oz has been absolutely brutally wrong with his information in just about every respect, and the fact that his source is a coach directly makes me think the coaches also have no clue.

Not sure who Zionn's source is, but it (unfortunately) seems to be pretty damn accurate. I'm guessing an AAU source; just seems crazy that AAU guys know more than the coaches.

Isaiah Whaley - as much as I'd love him to be good, isn't even something I'd even call a positive at this point. If anything, it's a negative as we weren't able to backfill one of our transfers with someone better. Certainly worth taking, but I don't think any of us were truly excited about his commitment if we're being honest with ourselves.

Mamoudou was supposed to be a lock, Wilson (to many) was a lock. Waters has been a lock. The Devon Daniels thing seems to have come and gone. There's very little to get excited about as a UConn fan right now.

Best we can hope for at this point is that Waters does end up deciding UConn is best for him, although this appears to be an extreme longshot right now. I actually think Wilson going elsewhere helps us with Waters at it ensures we will need to be playing 3 guards a lot of the time this year, and makes it a no brainer that he would get 25-30 minutes a game. But, again, seems like a major longshot so I'm not getting my hopes up.

Would love for someone to come forward with some positive news they are actually 100% confident in. Until then, I'm going to curl up in a ball and hope this is all a bad dream.

 

[TRest]

This last 6 weeks has been extremely depressing. After all the defections, I still had optimism that Oz and some of the others were right about us still getting some good players. Oz has been absolutely brutally wrong with his information in just about every respect, and the fact that his source is a coach directly makes me think the coaches also have no ****** clue.

Not sure who Zionn's source is, but it (unfortunately) seems to be pretty damn accurate. I'm guessing an AAU source; just seems crazy that AAU guys know more than the coaches.

Isaiah Whaley - as much as I'd love him to be good, isn't even something I'd even call a positive at this point. If anything, it's a negative as we weren't able to backfill one of our transfers with someone better. Certainly worth taking, but I don't think any of us were truly excited about his commitment if we're being honest with ourselves.

Mamoudou was supposed to be a lock, Wilson (to many) was a lock. Waters has been a lock. The Devon Daniels thing seems to have come and gone. There's very little to get excited about as a UConn fan right now.

Best we can hope for at this point is that Waters does end up deciding UConn is best for him, although this appears to be an extreme longshot right now. I actually think Wilson going elsewhere helps us with Waters at it ensures we will need to be playing 3 guards a lot of the time this year, and makes it a no brainer that he would get 25-30 minutes a game. But, again, seems like a major longshot so I'm not getting my hopes up.

Would love for someone to come forward with some positive news they are actually 100% confident in. Until then, I'm going to curl up in a ball and hope this is all a bad dream.

Waters has never been close to a lock if you take chief's lunacy out of the equation. He couldn't be more obvious about not wanting to land here.

 

[Huskybass]

Let's not forget that JC was able to win with sub-A10 recruits at Northeastern, and that enabled him to get the UConn job, where he was able to bring in A10 level recruits and win an NIT championship with them. Proving he could win with A10 recruits enabled him to get Big East level recruits. Proving he could get to the Elite Eight with them enabled him to get the guys who got him a championship.

If you put aside the 2014 championship that KO won, you also have to put aside the expectations that JC built up for UConn. The fact is every coach has to build his credibility. Calipari and Krzyzewski didn't get to the top overnight.

For KO, credibility starts with winning with guys like Polley and Whaley, and then getting a few of them to the NBA. Small accomplishments that you build on. He will do it.

I think your post is really good overall, I am just not as optimistic about KO turning things around. There is so much that needs to be fixed, it would be mind boggling to see it get fully turned around quickly.

 

[Captbluefin]

WHO..??? Who the hell do you "fire Ollie" guys think you are getting to replace him ????
Honestly and be realistic..... You really think your going to steal some proven Coach to come here in the American? The American is where coaches come to hang on to what's left of their carrers... Get real.. All you fire Ollie guys are the ones who are the delusional ones!!!!!!

Give Ollie and Chill a full recruiting cycle to produce not 3 freakin months with Chill. Then fire him for some half-assed guy who just won some one-bid conference that's worse than ours..

And see who he gets for recruits.? At least we are in play on many national guys..

I know Tuna fishing some times you pull the hook like today sometimes you get the Harpoon in them like Jalen,Gilbert, Larrier and Vital...

 

[InKembaITrust]

No one in their right minds think this program or this head coach is trending in the right direction including the Pollyannas.

My opinions on this matter are well known so I am not going to pile on.

I don't know why many are surprised we lost Sid the Kid to St Johns. I posted this last night that the fathers quotes regarding UConn were a clear indicator that we were not getting him.

My recommendations for Ollie are simple.

1.) He needs to change his soft personality and get tough Calhoun style with the players. He needs to instill fear and discipline in his team. Drop the Mr Preacher/ Mr Nice Guy routine and get real.

2.) Drop the nonsensical Olliesms and hyperbole of players and be realistic and humble.

3.) Win big this season and send Jalen to the NBA via lottery and have Larrier join him in the first round. That will do wonders for recruiting

Couldn't agree more...said something similar to this earlier in the thread. Classic signs of a guy early in his coaching career

 

[JMick]

WHO..??? Who the hell do you "fire Ollie" guys think you are getting to replace him ????
Honestly and be realistic..... You really think your going to steal some proven Coach to come here in the American? The American is where coaches come to hang on to what's left of their carrers... Get real.. All you fire Ollie guys are the ones who are the delusional ones!!!!!!

Give Ollie and Chill a full recruiting cycle to produce not 3 freakin months with Chill. Then fire him for some half-assed guy who just won some one-bid conference that's worse than ours..

And see who he gets for recruits.? At least we are in play on many national guys..

I know Tuna fishing some times you pull the hook like today sometimes you get the Harpoon in them like Jalen,Gilbert, Larrier and Vital...

you're right. no good coach would ever come here. there's no one else. no one can do better than missing the tournament 2 of the last 3 years.

 

[August_West]

So when I talk about expectations, I refuse to let this program fall back into 'oblivion'

Yeah because your words on a message board are going to make us a top 5 perennial program. Thanks for the good fight. I'm sure the UConn administration and staff appreciates you not letting us fall into oblivion.

 

[superjohn]

WHO..??? Who the hell do you "fire Ollie" guys think you are getting to replace him ????
Honestly and be realistic..... You really think your going to steal some proven Coach to come here in the American? The American is where coaches come to hang on to what's left of their carrers... Get real.. All you fire Ollie guys are the ones who are the delusional ones!!!!!!

Give Ollie and Chill a full recruiting cycle to produce not 3 freakin months with Chill. Then fire him for some half-assed guy who just won some one-bid conference that's worse than ours..

And see who he gets for recruits.? At least we are in play on many national guys..

I know Tuna fishing some times you pull the hook like today sometimes you get the Harpoon in them like Jalen,Gilbert, Larrier and Vital...

Nice to see you have such a sh@#^y opinion of UConn basketball.

 

[gtcam]

The pollyannas might want to sit this one out. There are some real concerns around this program, and sniping every overreaction is a petty look at this point.

Stick it with your BS Pollyanna crap
Your consistent negative attitude towards everything KO and bashing is nauseating
UConn loses out to a hometown team - never mind a state team and all hell breaks out - yeah like it never happens
If you consider me a Pollyanna - so be it - I've forgotten more college basketball than you will ever know -

 

[gtcam]

what is your hard on for Ollie all about?

A completely f###ed up statement towards Ebonz

 

[JMick]

A completely f###ed up statement towards Ebonz

go away old man

 

[Mooch82]

Waters has never been close to a lock if you take chief's lunacy out of the equation. He couldn't be more obvious about not wanting to land here.

There was certainly some hyperbole there but it's been more than just Chief that have said things have looked good at one point or another.

 

[upstater]

you're right. no good coach would ever come here. there's no one else. no one can do better than missing the tournament 2 of the last 3 years.

If Ollie is fired after this year, it would be astonishing if the next coach managed to go to the NCAAs twice and win win a national championship in his first 5 years. It would probably be a guy like Steve Pikiell anyway.

 

[Huskybass]

People can try to spin this however they want, but things are pretty bleak with the program right now. So many things need improvement that it's hard to find much reason for optimism. We have 10 scholarship players on May 20th and 3 of them missed last season due to injuries. I fear that Jalen is going to be an exceptional player on a bad team.

 

[huskyrob1]

The sad thing is Jalen deserves so much better. Things are really bad right now, the good news is Benedict knows what's going on and seems to be unafraid of making the difficult decisions.

Yeah but would he have the balls to fire Ollie? And if he did who would he get to replace him? I mean who's out there? Pete Gillen? Fran Frischilla? Lol

There, I said it!!!

 

[JMick]

If Ollie is fired after this year, it would be astonishing if the next coach managed to go to the NCAAs twice and win win a national championship in his first 5 years. It would probably be a guy like Steve Pikiell anyway.

the dichotomy is astounding. We have supposed fans who believe that Ollie is the only saving grace for UConn. But they're supposedly the "positive" posters.

Do you know how bad this argument is? Do you want to go through the wringer?

By your logic, Kevin Ollie could coach here for 10 more years and go sub-500 every year and by your standards, he shouldn't be fired. thats how terrible your logic is.