Give Kevin a Chance

[Huskybass]

You're hilarious. Speaking of a steamy pile of crap thats every post from you, nothing of substance ever! Awful fan from what I've read over the last 2 years - someone who wants everyone to know he still went to the games but hates KO - you're pititful!

Why do you feel compelled to constantly insult other posters? It's one thing to disagree, but there really isn't any need to insult a bunch of people who have a different opinion than yours.

 

[Dogdeacon]

I don't think they'll care. He doesn't have to worry about recruiting or keeping an eye on the kids. It's just basketball at that level and his responsibilities will be a fraction of what they are as a college head coach.

He proved he can handle playing in the NBA and that day-to-day life, he should be fine as an assistant.

Maybe and I think his NBA cred is likely at least still mediocre with some friends that maybe could pull strings for him. But (speaking of friends, KD) Steve Kerr is not hiring Ollie at GState. There definitely could be some Al Skinner similarities here in terms of rationale if let go and the laziness tag is very difficult to shed.

 

[mauconnfan]

Why do you feel compelled to constantly insult other posters? It's one thing to disagree, but there really isn't any need to insult a bunch of people who have a different opinion than yours.

Why do you feel compelled to spew the same crap about someone day in day out for over a year now? It's sickening bass. You were right, there! Leave it be now let it play out now we all know he's on his way out.

You're correct I flew off the handle and you didn't deserve that but it really is annoying. My apologies you are probably a great guy, just not over the past few months from my pint of view, at least here.

 

[Waquoit]

You're correct I flew off the handle and you didn't deserve that but it really is annoying. My apologies you are probably a great guy, just not over the past few months from my pint of view, at least here.

Apology accepted

 

[Madmannsucks]

Why do I torture myself. Those of us who would like to see him one more year(just in case)ain't changing our minds. Those with the opposing view are also unlikely to be swayed. At the end of the day, Pay the man 10 million and send him away...or let's see if the program can be righted. Investigation truly means nothing at this point....who really knows where this will end up?

 

[mauconnfan]

Apology accepted

"my PINT of view" - was that supposed to be on the BEST BEER

 

[WestHartHusk]

I have read a lot of great comments and penetrating analyses on the issue, actually. Honestly, I cannot add any more to the well-thought out pile that would be considered novel by any means. But the wisest opinion I can identify with is that of retaining KO for yet another year because that is the least risky move of all. His departure will decimate the program of good players for several years. Ohio State is an outlier which we cannot certainly duplicate because it is, well, an outlier. The team - if Sid, Akinjo, Matthews , and Kasunas will all come and the majority of the players (including Adams and Gilbert) remain, it can be a very good team. We hung with MSU and Arizona for quite a bit with and/or minus Gilbert - evidence that with more experienced players, the team can go over the hump and do well. Let us give KO another year. It's the least riskiest move, guys.

Even the great Calhoun placed 9th in 2011, am I right?

There isn't one player I'd be so concerned about losing to keep KO on another year.

 

[Huskybass]

Why do you feel compelled to spew the same crap about someone day in day out for over a year now? It's sickening bass. You were right, there! Leave it be now let it play out now we all know he's on his way out.

You're correct I flew off the handle and you didn't deserve that but it really is annoying. My apologies you are probably a great guy, just not over the past few months from my pint of view, at least here.

In my opinion, different views on Kevin Ollie including his effectiveness, capabilities and competency have been the biggest point of contention in the history of the Boneyard. I agree with you that the KO era is essentially over.

My hope is that a very good new coach will guide the program back to playing the UConn basketball we grew accustomed to. I miss the excitement of having a dog in the hunt in March. I'm sure you do too.

 

[mauconnfan]

In my opinion, different views on Kevin Ollie including his effectiveness, capabilities and competency have been the biggest point of contention in the history of the Boneyard. I agree with you that the KO era is essentially over.

My hope is that a very good new coach will guide the program back to playing the UConn basketball we grew accustomed to. I miss the excitement of having a dog in the hunt in March. I'm sure you do too.

Only thing I can say if the rumors are true that the lifestyle changed and the recruiting efforts became stagnant, then at that point he was no longer the guy they had the 1st 2 years. I will admit the guy they had the first 2-3 years had passion and could get kids to play hard. After that he changed and so did his impact on the kids, especially the one's he brought in. That's on him because I think we all knew he still had a lot to learn about "coaching" even after the first 2 years but the baseline was there to be very good eventually as long as he didn't rest on his laurels. Well he seemed to have done just that, fell behind too far to make up that ground and now it's too late.

 

[jibsey]

KO has been unable to recruit enough high quality players and BBIQ in to the program. KO has been unable to recruit enough quality shooters into the program. Forget about class rankings and the star system. We have 1 big injury this year but what we trot out onto the floor nightly has been a disgrace.

 

[Tuna]

And that's why my son has about 30 participation trophies from soccer. We need little Timmy to feel good about himself despite a 3-8 record.

That poor coach.

 

[Huskybass]

That poor coach.

Why don't you tell us more about how Kevin Ollie is going to turn things around next season?

 

[tentoes4rings]

KO has been unable to recruit enough high quality players and BBIQ in to the program. KO has been unable to recruit enough quality shooters into the program. Forget about class rankings and the star system. We have 1 big injury this year but what we trot out onto the floor nightly has been a disgrace.

He continually ignored certain types of players, hence the lack of BB IQ and shooting ability. A great team needs a mixture of different skills, namely ballhandling, shooting, rebounding, toughness. KO's positionless ideal resulted in a team lacking in ballhandling, shooting, rebounding, while making guys unclear about their roles and a poor team result.

 

[PAHusky]

I have read a lot of great comments and penetrating analyses on the issue, actually. Honestly, I cannot add any more to the well-thought out pile that would be considered novel by any means. But the wisest opinion I can identify with is that of retaining KO for yet another year because that is the least risky move of all. His departure will decimate the program of good players for several years. Ohio State is an outlier which we cannot certainly duplicate because it is, well, an outlier. The team - if Sid, Akinjo, Matthews , and Kasunas will all come and the majority of the players (including Adams and Gilbert) remain, it can be a very good team. We hung with MSU and Arizona for quite a bit with and/or minus Gilbert - evidence that with more experienced players, the team can go over the hump and do well. Let us give KO another year. It's the least riskiest move, guys.

Even the great Calhoun placed 9th in 2011, am I right?

Least risky in what sense? In the sense that we know exactly what we can expect going into next year - probable roster turnover, a mediocre recruiting class, and a lot of question marks - then yes, he's the least risky choice. Arguing that we should keep someone we're paying $3m a year who is about to put up back to back losing seasons in ugly fashion just because doing otherwise introduces uncertainty into the equation seems completely ludicrous to me.

How do people not understand the concept of taking one step back to move the program forward? Big picture, we can suck it up and replace KO and potentially lose some players in the short term, or we can keep going with KO as coach and get exactly what he's shown us since we last won the title.

 

[UConn_Top_Dog]

The best part of this thread is that whenever an anti-Ollie post is made and the thread gets bumped, the first thing that is seen on the home page is "Give Kevin A Chance". Great way to spread a subliminal message if you are pro-KO.

 

[Dogdeacon]

In my opinion, different views on Kevin Ollie including his effectiveness, capabilities and competency have been the biggest point of contention in the history of the Boneyard. I agree with you that the KO era is essentially over.

My hope is that a very good new coach will guide the program back to playing the UConn basketball we grew accustomed to. I miss the excitement of having a dog in the hunt in March. I'm sure you do too.

I guess its the biggest point of contention in terms of massive crisis. But in terms of polarizing opinions or frequency of discussion I think it pales in comparison to conference realignment and Taliek Brown.

 

[Tenspro2002]

KO has been unable to recruit enough high quality players and BBIQ in to the program. KO has been unable to recruit enough quality shooters into the program. Forget about class rankings and the star system. We have 1 big injury this year but what we trot out onto the floor nightly has been a disgrace.

Put Gilbert into this system and tell me how the product looks appreciably better or what additional games we win.

 

[Tenspro2002]

He continually ignored certain types of players, hence the lack of BB IQ and shooting ability. A great team needs a mixture of different skills, namely ballhandling, shooting, rebounding, toughness. KO's positionless ideal resulted in a team lacking in ballhandling, shooting, rebounding, while making guys unclear about their roles and a poor team result.

KO confused position-less with skill-less. He's in love with the skinny 6'8 guy regardless of whether they can shoot, pass, dribble, or rebound.

 

[Tuna]

Why don't you tell us more about how Kevin Ollie is going to turn things around next season?

Relax, I was kidding.

 

[Huskybass]

I guess its the biggest point of contention in terms of massive crisis. But in terms of polarizing opinions or frequency of discussion I think it pales in comparison to conference realignment and Taliek Brown.

Funny that I don't recall Taliek Brown being as polarizing as the KO situation. I liked Taliek alot, perhaps I just wrote off his detractors as nutjobs.
As to conference realignment, I never read that stuff. It just doesn't interest me. If we eventually get into a better conference I will be happy, however, me reading about it on a message board really doesn't impact what happens either way. I really only read the men's basketball posts and occasionally something to do with the women if there is a topic that interests me.

 

[Travelman6]

Put Gilbert into this system and tell me ... what additional games we win.

Two Tulsa games for sure.

Perhaps Memphis and wsu at home and at ucf.

A lot of those 25 or 26 or 28 point losses would at least be cut in half and zona would be single digits.

 

[UconnFanDC]

Absolutely Not wait wait.... Kevin is this you?

 

[jibsey]

Why don't you tell us more about how Kevin Ollie is going to turn things around next season?

Or “Daddy, read us the story of how Kevin Ollie won the National Championship the year after everyone wanted him fired.”It’s the one in the book right after Jack and the Beanstalk.

 

[mauconnfan]

Funny that I don't recall Taliek Brown being as polarizing as the KO situation. I liked Taliek alot, perhaps I just wrote off his detractors as nutjobs.
As to conference realignment, I never read that stuff. It just doesn't interest me. If we eventually get into a better conference I will be happy, however, me reading about it on a message board really doesn't impact what happens either way. I really only read the men's basketball posts and occasionally something to do with the women if there is a topic that interests me.

How dare you call me a nutjob.

 

[Paesano]

Tom doesn’t want us discussing Ollie’s character so I’ll tread carefully, but I do wonder whether or not any of the rumors about work ethic/other stuff have burned his bridges with other members of the coaching committee.

Maybe the reason he looks so dejected on the sideline is he knows a) he blew it here, and b) he’s not getting another job anywhere for quite a while.

Would Tom be OK with people commenting on Trump's character? If so, why isn't it ok to discuss the character of a high profile coach being paid over 3mill a year by a umiversity that is impacted by his actions? People shouldn't make false accusations but why are facts an issue? And why is it not ok to say *IF* Ollie does X then it implies Y about his character when X is being openly discussed?

 

[Madmannsucks]

Because every character implication is just a rumor....unless you have a fact, you should keep it to yourself. If you have a fact about something - post it. An opinion about his character is immature and irresponsible.

 

[freescooter]

Two Tulsa games for sure.

Perhaps Memphis and wsu at home and at ucf.

A lot of those 25 or 26 or 28 point losses would at least be cut in half and zona would be single digits.

Ok so let’s here it:

N-I-T! N-I-T!

 

[Huskybass]

Why do you feel compelled to spew the same crap about someone day in day out for over a year now? It's sickening bass. You were right, there! Leave it be now let it play out now we all know he's on his way out.

You're correct I flew off the handle and you didn't deserve that but it really is annoying. My apologies you are probably a great guy, just not over the past few months from my pint of view, at least here.

I don't spew the "same crap". The 20 plus point blowouts, head scratching substitutions, and failure to reward productivity with increased playing time are all relatively new points.

 

[mauconnfan]

I don't spew the "same crap". The 20 plus point blowouts, head scratching substitutions, and failure to reward productivity with increased playing time are all relatively new points.

OK

 

[UConnRock]

Two Tulsa games for sure.

Perhaps Memphis and wsu at home and at ucf.

A lot of those 25 or 26 or 28 point losses would at least be cut in half and zona would be single digits.

Realistically, I look at Gilbert making a difference (by difference I mean a chance to win) in the following games:

Syracuse, Wichita (H), 2 Tulsa games, UCF, Cincy (H), Arizons, and Memphis (H). Remember Arizona was a 2 point game with 6:00 left. Lets say Uconn wins both Tulsa games, the UCF game, and one each of 'Cuse/Memphis and Wich/Cincy. That is 5 more wins and currently 19-11 with 4 -5 of those wins being in conference, so 11-6 0r 12-5 in conference. That would have been about the expectations if you told me that Larrier was not going to come close to expectations. I would suspect that a true playmaker at PG would have limited several of the huge early deficits that UConn faced in many games when teams focused on Adams and Uconn didn't know which Larrier or Adams was going to show up.

The bottomline is nobody knows where this team could have gone with a healthy Gilbert and a win against Syracuse, maybe Arizona, playing Wichita St. tougher at home, and beating Tulsa. A 4-1 start to the conference schedule would have been a confidence builder. I do think Gilbert would have enhanced the development of the youngsters in the middle. It may have ended up being an NIT team, but it would have been a team with a defined path forward.