Hard questions

[Fishy]

The rally at the end was nice, but meaningless. This felt like a loss five minutes into the game.

1) Kevin Ollie doesn't have this team ready to play. It's February and the games that we could stick in with our defense have evaporated as other teams have improved offensively throughout the year. Ollie's team hasn't improved one iota on offense.

I don't know if Ollie has ever shown himself to be a great coach - it's too early in his career to expect him to be one - but the one thing he has shown is that he is a magician in terms of managing and getting his players to play hard.

That is not happening now.

2) And the talent. People actually think that our roster scares off recruits...I have no idea why. Who gets the blame for this roster? There isn't a single shooter on the team. We have one ball handler. Not a one of them outside of Boatright can get their own shot. Our center is a project, our power forward is a project and our off guard spot is an interchangeable trio of guys who can't shoot or dribble a basketball. Our front court reserves are a pair of players who are MAAC-level talents. "But we win championships after bad years"...not with these parts, kids. We need the projects to get better, we need Omar and Rodney to play like they're capable, but we also need more talent.

3) I have high hopes for Rodney Purvis over the next two years, but I am starting to wonder if KO has ever seen a Ferrari. I think he saw a Fiat once and got confused.

4) Our players are routinely pushed all over the court. Our guys look juiced at the end of games. Nagging injuries sprout like daisies. Cincy and Houston look like they just walked out of a gym - we look soft as hell. Weight room.

5) If there was any justice in this world, Ryan Boatright would grow three inches between now and the draft. The difference between a truly humiliating defeat and a narrow loss was that superhuman little dude. Because of what he did in the the last eight minutes, Kevin Ollie won't be asked what exactly he spent the previous two hours doing.

6) I absolutely hate the AAC. I despise how they're selling us out to help the rest of the conference sell tickets on their Saturday dates and I hate how they are selling us out to fill gaps in weekend programming on Sundays. The defending champion just played a game 1,800 miles from campus in front of a dozen fans. You can hear the high-fives in Bristol, Syracuse and Chestnut Hill.

6) These are dangerous times for UConn athletics. If you want to see what happens when a program gets aced out of a major conference and has to make due in a mid-major league, take a look at Houston. They are the cautionary tale.

We can't afford to string together down years and we're not replacing players the way we need to. We didn't have a player to fill in next to Boatright in the backcourt. After a couple of years of failing to recruit a decent backcourt player, we're going to try to replace both Boatright and Napier next year with Adams. Enoch will help fill in the gap where Lubin and Nolan have thus far failed.

But that's not enough - we need another impact player in the backcourt. If we can weasel back into the Stone derby, great, but we need someone who can shoot and handle the ball. If that's one player, fine. If it takes two players to get that done, then get two.

This year is already f---ed - time to make sure that next year isn't f--ed, too.

 

[husky99]

Fishy those are truly glaring questions. ... this team plays terrible D and can not develop a play on O

 

[OkaForPrez]

Corollary to Ollie not getting guys to play hard: The guy sounds like Eeyore on the Mic lately. In some press conferences he's not raising his eyes off the table in front of him. He has fully lost his own confidence and it's no surprise its translated to the kids. I think the speculation Ollie's personal problems are bleeding into his work are weird conclusions to jump to, but I hate this side of him. He should be angry in every press conference he walks into for the rest of the season. Enough hang dog.

 

[UCweCONN]

There is no way the personal issue isn't impacting his game preparation. I went through it and it was a huge distraction. I held it together and no one at work knew what I was going through but it definitely hurt my focus on work. We can only hope his issues get resolved and he doesn't have this hanging over into next year. Mine was a year long and after it was over I still have to deal with BS that comes up.

 

[tentoes4rings]

There is no way the personal issue isn't impacting his game preparation. I went through it and it was a huge distraction. I held it together and no one at work knew what I was going through but it definitely hurt my focus on work. We can only hope his issues get resolved and he doesn't have this hanging over into next year. Mine was a year long and after it was over I still have to deal with BS that comes up.

Couldn't KO's wife have had the decency to wait until we got into a real conference before filing for divorce?

 

[minidarren]

There is no way the personal issue isn't impacting his game preparation. I went through it and it was a huge distraction. I held it together and no one at work knew what I was going through but it definitely hurt my focus on work. We can only hope his issues get resolved and he doesn't have this hanging over into next year. Mine was a year long and after it was over I still have to deal with BS that comes up.

Get ready to be slaughtered. I was two weeks ago for making this very comment. I'm sure many others are going to start donning around to it because it is probably true.

 

[jibsey]

I know it's not easy to do but the emphasis on recruiting has to be to get a guard or 2 to add to Adams as Fishy said to handle and be able to get their own shot. TSam made a 17 footer today and looked good on it but it's the end of year 2 and if he could shoot a 3 we would have seen it by now. I'm hopeful that Lubin can help next year and want him to get the minutes now so we can see if he has that potential. 3 minutes a game isn't enough.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

Can we start a Kickstarter to get Dorsey to visit?

 

[UC990411]

Get ready to be slaughtered. I was two weeks ago for making this very comment.

Asme here

 

[uconnbill]

Very disappointed in their lack of effort and the lack of leadership from the coaching staff.

 

[Horatio]

If you think about it , the only player that has a sure spot in the starting five next Year is Hamilton . Thats pitiful. If there's anything left as far as good/ very good 2015 recruits , playing time should be a sure selling point. Due to our AAC situation , we can't wait for kids to finally develop in their third / fourth year anymore.

 

[Kitaman]

With Hobbs, Moore and Ollie coaching you would think point guard problems would be non-existent or at list solutions forthcoming.

Adams will be part solution, but come on get another reliable ball handler, more than a floor pounder. A Taliek type would suffice.

 

[Hoophound]

Get ready to be slaughtered. I was two weeks ago for making this very comment. I'm sure many others are going to start donning around to it because it is probably true.

You got slaughtered but it seems you were right. He just doesn't seem like himself. His confidence was so critical to the team's confidence the last two years. He just hasn't had it all season.


In regard to Fishy's first comment above, KO was masterful as a coach his first two seasons. He made all the right moves with game plans, substitutions, halftime adjustments and player development. While he hasn't proven himself for the long haul, he's proven an awful lot. For me, the ultimate litmus test was that I was certain JC couldn't have lead that team to the Elite 8 let alone win the nation title and I figured it was time for him to retire. KO came in and won 20 games with a band of misfits and then won it all the next year. Just an incredible job.

In regard to the team and it's constitution going forward, I think there is lots to work with. We need a pure point guard to help bring out the skills of the current guys. We also need to add some shooting and slashing, but we don't need a lot of players to make this a good team. We need a couple of guys with ball skills so that the guys we already have can work within their abilities. I suspect that adding two skilled ball handlers to the roster will work wonders in elevating the play of our existing wings and big men. It will result in less turnovers, easier baskets, better offensive flow and will turn us into a good ball handling team rather than a weak one because with the exception of Amida and Lubin, everyone has a little handle. Even Nolan has put the ball on the floor for open court dunks a few times the past.

Hopefully, Adams and Dorsey are talking, because Adams alone can't fix the problem. With the two of them, we can turn things around quick. Not only do we have obvious shortcomings in the backcourt right now, but we can't play our traditional style either. UConn has been most successful with two point guards and a 3 with very good ball skills. Adams can be a scoring point and Dorsey is a do it all big guard that can shoot from deep. He would be a huge get after what we've seen this season.

 

[buddy]

There is no way the personal issue isn't impacting his game preparation. I went through it and it was a huge distraction. I held it together and no one at work knew what I was going through but it definitely hurt my focus on work. We can only hope his issues get resolved and he doesn't have this hanging over into next year. Mine was a year long and after it was over I still have to deal with BS that comes up.

I believe that you are correct. The problem is, and you will see it yourself, that it never really goes away...ever. Especially is you have given a number of years of your life. You can suppress it, but is always there in the background. And then when you get old, it gets even worse, and you become more and more hateful and vengeful. 'Til death do you part', truer words were never spoken.

 

[buddy]

With Hobbs, Moore and Ollie coaching you would think point guard problems would be non-existent or at list solutions forthcoming.

Adams will be part solution, but come on get another reliable ball handler, more than a floor pounder. A Taliek type would suffice.

Unfortunately, we all get hyped up over certain recruits thinking that are going to solve all of the problems. I remember when Daniel Hamilton committed, everyone thought that he would take over. Turns out most of them are just a lot of talk and no action. I believe that recruiting has taken a hit for UConn. Everyone wants to blame the AAC, but I am beginning to wonder about the ability of our asst staff to actually recruit some players. I have had a couple of drinks and am watching the SuperBowl while I post this, but I would be interested to hear what you all might have to say about this. I am so disappointed in this lackluster team. It is one of few things I have had to look forward to to get over dismal winters. Now, I can't even watch a whole game.

 

[sammydabiz]

With Hobbs, Moore and Ollie coaching you would think point guard problems would be non-existent or at list solutions forthcoming.

Adams will be part solution, but come on get another reliable ball handler, more than a floor pounder. A Taliek type would suffice.

Taliek was McD all american..... Good luck getting one of those Kitaman

 

[Fishy]

Daniel Hamilton is about the 2,736th thing we have to worry about - he'll be a 15 and 8 guy next year.

Tyler Dorsey would be perfect.

 

[LStudfellow]

I have been reading you guys for weeks... and there is one thing that hardly gets mentioned if at all as an important part of this years' and next years' problems - the ban two years ago. It had a definite negative effect on our recruiting for two years. You all seem to forget that our recruiting visits, the number of recruiters we could have out there, and the amount of time they could be on the recruiting trail were all significantly restricted during the ban in addition to our number of scholarships.

I am bewildered when no one brings this up when it comes to how we got beaten out this year in particular on so many guys in recruiting. Because it was during those times when everyone started to build relationships with this class and last year's class that we were unable to do so. Our depth, particularly in the front court, was obviously affected. It is also why we have only one - ONE senior or junior playing significant minutes on this team.

Has Ollie or the coaching staff been great this year? No. Have the players done a good job of coming together as a team? No to that question, as well. But to leave out the aforementioned part of the sanctions during our ban when having these discussions is absolutely unfair to the coaches and this team.

 

[Dove]

Love the Ferrari quip.

 

[pnow15]

Ollie thought like all of us that TSam would be a decent backup and that between the Chevette on the blocks and SlowGunSam that he could
get fifteen minutes a game of ball handling and adequate passes and shot making. He over estimated. The three of them together do not equal Donald Brown. He caught a bad break with Brimah injury, keeping him out of the weight room. He found no one on the grad transfer list that wanted to come to UConn that could help.
Teams scout us and realized that doubling Boat and backing them up with third player would force DHam and Purvis, twin turnover machines, to make plays on a consistent basis. This leads to a tired Boat and unlimited turnovers. Omar was forced to try to make plays he was not capable, being a spot up shooter. Feeding Brimah in the post became problematical between his lack of strength and poor delivery from the the guards. Things snowball and confidence is lost. Until it ends up with Boat playing one on five.
The absolute disappearance of Nolan no one could have foresaw. He went from a respectable backup to as someone put it a puddle on the floor. Lubin is a freshman.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

we did try to recruit shooters, they just cant shoot or arent agressive enough. Dham, Sam Cassell Jr was supposed to be a good 3 point shooter. Its like when Scottie harallson was recruited and supposed to be the next Rashad Anderson and couldnt make a 3 unless it was with 2 seconds left up 30 points and calhoun was waiving to not shoot.

 

[tentoes4rings]

we did try to recruit shooters, they just cant shoot or arent agressive enough. Dham, Sam Cassell Jr was supposed to be a good 3 point shooter. Its like when Scottie harallson was recruited and supposed to be the next Rashad Anderson and couldnt make a 3 unless it was with 2 seconds left up 30 points and calhoun was waiving to not shoot.

Finally someone mentions Cassell. People keep killing TSam but if TSam could be the high energy defensive presence for 15 minutes guy he was expected to be this could be a good team. Unfortunately because other guys like Purvis, Cassell and Calhoun are not holding up their end of the bargain KO has been forced to play him more minutes and at the 2 where he's not well suited.

 

[champs99and04]

Daniel Hamilton is about the 2,736th thing we have to worry about - he'll be a 15 and 8 guy next year.

Tyler Dorsey would be perfect.

Any chance we go the grad transfer route? Not saying I would turn Dorsey down, but I wonder if he and Adams could be a bit redundant in the back court.

 

[James]

lets fire ollie, so he can go coach the lakers with okafor and randle

 

[uconnbill]

Any chance we go the grad transfer route? Not saying I would turn Dorsey down, but I wonder if he and Adams could be a bit redundant in the back court.

I disagree on them being redundant as two ball handlers are needed for next year and both can score. Something UCONN could use this year with no one stepping up and becoming the second or third option.