First 0-2 start in almost 50 years

[JMick]

But everyone is still defending KO, right?

 

[BNich]

WOW

 

[FartMan69]

The only people defending him are the usual posters who literally defend everything UConn. He doesn't get fired right now but he has some SERIOUS coaching flaws one of them being lack of a fluent offense. This has been exposed the last 3 seasons without Bazz to bail out some awful possessions. Yeah it doesn't help Brimah is a liability in every aspect at this point and there is no consistent outside shooter but you need to find a system with the personnel at your disposal or start recruiting more polished big men to rebound and provide an inside threat on offense. This is inexcusable and some serious changes need to be made because this program will quickly fade into oblivion with mediocre regular seasons in an awful conference.

 

[jayteeman]

I'm blaming the ceiling peeling away....how can you shoot the ball with that background...it's disgusting!!!

 

[storrsroars]

30 years since last losing season (9-19 in 86-87, JC's 1st season).

This team and coach has a chance to make history.

 

[JMick]

30 years since last losing season (9-19 in 86-87, JC's 1st season).

This team and coach has a chance to make history.

If KO doesn't get his fire back and make some philosophical changes it's going to look like this until he has his "perfect" players like Shabazz/Boat/Daniels/Giffey.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Hey maybe we win every away game. Guess we just don't like playing at Gampel.

 

[Deepster]

The only people defending him are the usual posters who literally defend everything UConn. He doesn't get fired right now but he has some SERIOUS coaching flaws one of them being lack of a fluent offense. This has been exposed the last 3 seasons without Bazz to bail out some awful possessions. Yeah it doesn't help Brimah is a liability in every aspect at this point and there is no consistent outside shooter but you need to find a system with the personnel at your disposal or start recruiting more polished big men to rebound and provide an inside threat on offense. This is inexcusable and some serious changes need to be made because this program will quickly fade into oblivion with mediocre regular seasons in an awful conference.

I was the biggest Calhoun hump and UConn apologist as there was. Nope. I'm out. I have lost faith in Ollie. Period.

 

[JMick]

Hey maybe we win every away game. Guess we just don't like playing at Gampel.

How bad has KO killed our Gampel win%? It has to be pretty bad

 

[JMick]

I was the biggest Calhoun hump and UConn apologist as there was. Nope. I'm out. I have lost faith in Ollie. Period.

No one should have any more faith in Ollie until he shows he has faith in himself and his team again. It's been 2 years since then.

 

[Towney007]

Programs clatter into obscurity when they get too obsessed with keeping things 'in the family.'

We're literally on the cliff of going full-blown UMass right now. This guy's Bruiser Flint. He drops to 0-5 - and honest to god, based on the first two games that's got an amazing shot at happening - and finds a way to get blown out by Syracuse - Ollie's not riding the bus home. There's times where you kind of wait things out and let things fall into place; but let's be honest - that 'fall into place' time was supposed to be this year. At the very least a step forward and the entire roster is a disaster developmentally.

Purvis? Same old.
Facey? Same old.
Brimah? Same old.
Adams doesn't look like he's taken even a half step forward.
The offense is a MESS. And yeah - same old. Go on a run for three minutes where they look like world beaters and then take the next 8-10 minutes off.
We STILL don't have an actual, starting Division-1 big man on this roster. Just don't. Dunno why. But we don't.

It *LITERALLY* looks like this team didn't even hold on offseason practice. Honest to god. It's like everyone showed up a week ago, ran through some of the old plays and went home and played X-Box all afternoon. Their conditioning hasn't looked particularly good.

This is literally a disaster right now - two games into the season. These are the losses that cement worst fears, lose recruits and set you back. Completely unacceptable.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I wonder what they do in practice. Boxout drills? Nope
Transition defense? Nope
Running any semblance of an offense? Nope.
Perimeter defense? Nope.

I bet Ollie runs practice like a 60 yr old gym teacher. Rolls a few balls out there and says "don't hurt yourselves."

You hear UConn basketball, UConn basketball, UConn basketball. KO this ain't UConn basketball. He'll, you're making Diaco look like Vince Lombardi.

 

[JMick]

I wonder what they do in practice. Boxout drills? Nope
Transition defense? Nope
Running any semblance of an offense? Nope.
Perimeter defense? Nope.

I bet Ollie runs practice like a 60 yr old gym teacher. Rolls a few balls out there and says "don't hurt yourselves."

You hear UConn basketball, UConn basketball, UConn basketball. KO this ain't UConn basketball. He'll, you're making Diaco look like Vince Lombardi.

I think that's what pisses me off the most. UConn basketball is toughness and he brings none of it to his teams; whether it be by his recruiting or his attitude, yet he still throws the term out there all the time. I really think he's neutering his players - look at the crap Adams got last year for being fired up.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I think that's what pisses me off the most. UConn basketball is toughness and he brings none of it to his teams; whether it be by his recruiting or his attitude, yet he still throws the term out there all the time. I really think he's neutering his players - look at the crap Adams got last year for being fired up.

I've never seen teams show such little emotion out there. P

 

[TrueBlue02]

Programs clatter into obscurity when they get too obsessed with keeping things 'in the family.'

We're literally on the cliff of going full-blown UMass right now. This guy's Bruiser Flint. He drops to 0-5 - and honest to god, based on the first two games that's got an amazing shot at happening - and finds a way to get blown out by Syracuse - Ollie's not riding the bus home. There's times where you kind of wait things out and let things fall into place; but let's be honest - that 'fall into place' time was supposed to be this year. At the very least a step forward and the entire roster is a -ing disaster developmentally.

Purvis? Same old.
Facey? Same old.
Brimah? Same old.
Adams doesn't look like he's taken even a half step forward.
The offense is a MESS. And yeah - same old. Go on a run for three minutes where they look like world beaters and then take the next 8-10 minutes off.
We STILL don't have an actual, starting Division-1 big man on this roster. Just don't. Dunno why. But we don't.

It *LITERALLY* looks like this team didn't even hold on offseason practice. Honest to god. It's like everyone showed up a week ago, ran through some of the old plays and went home and played X-Box all afternoon. Their conditioning hasn't looked particularly good.

This is literally a disaster right now - two games into the season. These are the losses that cement worst fears, lose recruits and set you back. Completely unacceptable.

Harsh....but so very true.
Truth hurts and KO has been hurting UConns rep since 2014...yes he won a championship but with Calhoun's guys. This is the year for him to prove himself as a well rounded coach. So far...not good

 

[temery]

Harsh....but so very true.
Truth hurts and KO has been hurting UConns rep since 2014...yes he won a championship but with Calhoun's guys. This is the year for him to prove himself as a well rounded coach. So far...not good

Nice analogy as far as record is concerned, but Bruiser didn't have the players. Not even close.

 

[selles]

Harsh....but so very true.
Truth hurts and KO has been hurting UConns rep since 2014...yes he won a championship but with Calhoun's guys. This is the year for him to prove himself as a well rounded coach. So far...not good

No matter how many times people say this, it's still not going to be true. Daniels and Giffey developed under Ollie, not Calhoun. Boat figured out that he needed to complement Bazz and not try to compete with him to be lead dog under Ollie, not Calhoun. Bazz figured out how to effectively lead a team under Ollie, not Calhoun. At this dark moment it's easy to forget how much KO willed that undermanned 2013 squad to a very good season despite having no postseason to play for, and how much he willed that 2014 team to the title.

With that said, other than some brief flashes in postseason tournaments, since 2014 we really haven't seen the effervescent, emotional, humble and hungry KO that we saw speaking from the heart when it was announced that he was taking the head coaching job. I don't know why. Maybe the stuff in his personal life took a heavy toll. Maybe the major success of the championship came too easily if that makes any sense, in a way that success in his playing career never did. I have no idea. But what I do know is that the past couple years it seems like KO and the team only show up for the postseason, and that's not a recipe for success. We badly need the 2013 version of KO back, putting everything out there on the table and playing/coaching for pride.

I also agree with those who say that there have been troubling trends the past couple years regarding a lack of player development, a tendency to play 'not to lose' in the regular season instead of trying to rip the other team's throat out, and a failure to tailor our offense to our personnel - we seem to want to play controlled 'Bazz ball' all the time, but we don't have Bazz.

My hope for a bright side from these two losses is that the embarrassment is enough to shake the coaching staff to its core, to bring back the old KO, to get us playing like we have nothing to lose. Benching this guy or that guy is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. This isn't a player issue, it's an issue of team approach, style and attitude. Let's loosen the reins, and not play and coach like we're afraid to lose. We have length and depth. Let's really run, let's press, let's trap, let's dictate tempo. Let's play everyone. We may take some beatings as we're adjusting to that style, but once we do adjust we could end up being a pretty decent team. Hope springs eternal, but there need to be some major changes and they need to happen now.