I hate this place after losses

[AntG168]

Yes, it is similar. Very similar. This Arkansas team is 10x the team that Houston team was. Losing to Houston while having no idea what to do on offense was a huge embarrassment. Houston!! This Arkansas team is a returning tourney team with better players. Houston?

It isn’t. That team was undermanned. Tonight we were out played and outclassed. Arkansas isn’t 40 point better than us. We had no idea what to do on offense because we literally had no pg. what was our excuse tonight??

 

[upstater]

I'll repeat. People complained ad nauseum last year about lack of effort. And in a number of other years as well. (2010).

People always look like they aren't trying when they're getting beat. Unless they're fighting. I coach, I know. When one team is winning big, the other team looks like bums who don't care.

True, and in Oriakhi's last year under Calhoun too. 2012.

This is in stark contrast to some very mediocre teams, such as the 2015 team which played with a lot of heart when Boatright was a senior.

 

[upstater]

It isn’t. That team was undermanned. Tonight we were out played and outclassed. Arkansas isn’t 40 point better than us. We had no idea what to do on offense because we literally had no pg. what was our excuse tonight??

Undermanned or not, they had a lot of talent out there to not go down like that. Do I need to remind you the score was 36-12 at the half before they let up?

And undermanned or not, they had 7 core players all getting double digit minutes. You can even say they had MORE experience than this year's team. Purvis, Vital, Brimah, Facey, Jackson, Durham, Enoch.

 

[champs99and04]

I didn’t say I miss the days of Rodney and Amida. I said on a night like tonight you miss those qualities. I praised them for battling mich st for a half. But that then excuses this performance tonight? I’ll never except not playing hard idc what you’ve done in the past. Tonight they did not play hard

It doesn't excuse anything. Losing like they lost today is a rough look for any college athlete that's on scholarship. My biggest problem is with fans - and this is virtually everybody, myself included - who feel the need to apply a narrative to every entry of data. Sometimes we just don't know. That doesn't mean you can't guess, but I also think it's OK to sit here right now and admit to being really freaking confused. That is the result of conflicting data. The first three halves of this tournament we played at the level of a top 25 team, the fourth, fifth, and sixth halves we were thoroughly embarrassed and noncompetitive. I can't explain it.

Now, we're building towards a large enough sample with Ollie where some judgement is warranted. I simply find it very difficult to extract anything related to the players' character when my interpretation has diametrically changed from the first game of this tournament to the last.

Best case scenario for us, the players boarded the plane expecting to win the tournament, emptied the fuel tank on Thursday and Friday, sulked for 36 hours, and then came back and moped around like they'd rather have been back on campus than playing in a third place game on Sunday. That wouldn't exactly be unprecedented.

There are real questions for Ollie to answer to. I'm not there yet when it comes to interrogating the competitiveness of the current players. They're badly outmatched in the front court, they're not very deep, and their schemes rely on a couple of players to do a lot on both ends of the floor. Maybe it's unrealistic to compare them to Kemba or Shabazz, but if last years team is our reference point then I think we're getting carried away.

 

[cohenzone]

Q: would you have traded the 2014 championship for a better coach?

Did you read what I wrote? Have you loved how his teams play? The NC was great. But his teams perform consistently inconsistently. I suspect you know that.

 

[AntG168]

Undermanned or not, they had a lot of talent out there to not go down like that. Do I need to remind you the score was 36-12 at the half before they let up?

And undermanned or not, they had 7 core players all getting double digit minutes. You can even say they had MORE experience than this year's team. Purvis, Vital, Brimah, Facey, Jackson, Durham, Enoch.

Ok you’re going to make believe that team wasn’t severely undermanned against a good Houston team. Cool. There is nothing further to discuss here

 

[upstater]

Did you read what I wrote? Have you loved how his teams play? The NC was great. But his teams perform consistently inconsistently. I suspect you know that.

I was responding to the part of your post in which you said Manuel should have ignored Calhoun and hired another coach through a national search.

 

[upstater]

Ok you’re going to make believe that team wasn’t severely undermanned against a good Houston team. Cool. There is nothing further to discuss here

The part I take issue with is "a good Houston team." Not in the same universe as Arkansas.

 

[Milo65]

Either our players aren’t good enough or our players were not prepared or they lacked effort... All of these excuses fall on KO. Wrong recruits, losing recruits, unprepared teams, offensive and defensive strategy. Use all the excuses that you want, but don’t give me the AAC excuse. It doesn’t work for Cincy, Witchita State, SMU or UCF who seem to be able to win and recruit in this league. KO’s NC won’t save him. He needs to win or he is gone.

 

[superjohn]

You surprise me, nah you don't you're one of those I guess after all.

Do you seriously think people are happy that we aren't any good? I have something like 20 or 30K posts on this board, I haven't missed a Uconn game I had the ability to watch in close to 30 years. It freaking kills me that we are no longer relevant, that blowouts, and losses to former cupcakes have somehow become tolerated, and most of all it kills me that Ollie isn't the guy.

I'm a Giants fan, I rooted for McAdoo too but it became pretty clear he isn't up to the task. I care way less about McAdoo the human being than I do Kevin Ollie the human being but that doesn't change my feelings that Ollie isn't up to the job. As much as I like Ollie as a person I care more about Uconn basketball than I do about hurt feelings.

Some people won't recognize the situation no matter how how many times they are hit over the head and shown how bad it is but none of that really matters, I'm confident Benedict knows what's going on and will deal with it.

But to pretend that any Uconn fanatic is happy or celebrating any of this is farcked up.

 

[AntG168]

It doesn't excuse anything. Losing like they lost today is a rough look for any college athlete that's on scholarship. My biggest problem is with fans - and this is virtually everybody, myself included - who feel the need to apply a narrative to every entry of data. Sometimes we just don't know. That doesn't mean you can't guess, but I also think it's OK to sit here right now and admit to being really freaking confused. That is the result of conflicting data. The first three halves of this tournament we played at the level of a top 25 team, the fourth, fifth, and sixth halves we were thoroughly embarrassed and noncompetitive. I can't explain it.

Now, we're building towards a large enough sample with Ollie where some judgement is warranted. I simply find it very difficult to extract anything related to the players' character when my interpretation has diametrically changed from the first game of this tournament to the last.

Best case scenario for us, the players boarded the plane expecting to win the tournament, emptied the fuel tank on Thursday and Friday, sulked for 36 hours, and then came back and moped around like they'd rather have been back on campus than playing in a third place game on Sunday. That wouldn't exactly be unprecedented.

There are real questions for Ollie to answer to. I'm not there yet when it comes to interrogating the competitiveness of the current players. They're badly outmatched in the front court, they're not very deep, and their schemes rely on a couple of players to do a lot on both ends of the floor. Maybe it's unrealistic to compare them to Kemba or Shabazz, but if last years team is our reference point then I think we're getting carried away.

I don’t disagree with anything you said. But I and many others are more than warranted at calling out their effort tonight. We are talking about this game. I didn’t say they’ve never played hard or they never will play hard, I simply said they didn’t. I then cited 3 former huskies who were less talented but seemed to always play hard. That’s it. Anyone arguing that I’m being unfair by calling that out can’t truly be a fan of UConn basketball and what it stands for

 

[Candyman]

I want Ollie to change his offense and defense philosophy and been calling for this for a while now. Not a fan of a motion offense or the switching defense.

Will next years team be any better? Can’t rely on freshman as their just freshman. So Gilbert, Polley, Whaley, Williams, Cobb, Carlton, Vital and Diarra. Is this a better team?

 

[UConn990411]

This game was disgusting, but I wouldn't be overly concerned if it were an outlier.

What worries me is that things have consistently been trending in the wrong direction since they won the title. When an entire roster turns over - and then it turns over a second time - and the same problems keep arising, at some point you have to start pointing the finger at the one constant (Ollie).

I think he's at least tried to address those issues with the past two coaching hires, and I'd like to see him have through next year to figure it out. But they need to show signs of trending in the right direction by the end of this season.

 

[AntG168]

The part I take issue with is "a good Houston team." Not in the same universe as Arkansas.

And last yrs team that played against Houston isn’t in the same universe as this yrs. We have more talent with JA, AG, and TL than last yrs team had with Rodney at point, Kentan, and Amida

 

[JMick]

But to pretend that any Uconn fanatic is happy or celebrating any of this is farcked up.

it's insulting to say the least. it's also completely fabricated with no sort of evidence to support the idea.

 

[mauconnfan]

Do you seriously think people are happy that we aren't any good? I have something like 20 or 30K posts on this board, I haven't missed a Uconn game I had the ability to watch in close to 30 years. It freaking kills me that we are no longer relevant, that blowouts, and losses to former cupcakes have somehow become tolerated, and most of all it kills me that Ollie isn't the guy.

I'm a Giants fan, I rooted for McAdoo too but it became pretty clear he isn't up to the task. I care way less about McAdoo the human being than I do Kevin Ollie the human being but that doesn't change my feelings that Ollie isn't up to the job. As much as I like Ollie as a person I care more about Uconn basketball than I do about hurt feelings.

Some people won't recognize the situation no matter how how many times they are hit over the head and shown how bad it is but none of that really matters, I'm confident Benedict knows what's going on and will deal with it.

But to pretend that any Uconn fanatic is happy or celebrating any of this is farcked up.

One answer john, yes I do and a few very much are. I highly doubt you are one of them but you do react with them. They know who they are, it's pitiful.

I hate mediocrity and if you don't know that you don't read well. As far as grouping you I will apologize you don't deserve them but this place has some pitiful fans, not because they complain but because they love this board for now. I hate it it for now.

 

[mauconnfan]

it's insulting to say the least. it's also completely fabricated with no sort of evidence to support the idea.

No evidence either way Mick so live with it, I am but I can tell.

 

[80shusky]

It's uglier on this board after losses than it is on the court. Even with today's game. One thing to keep in mind as we are all jumping off the roof is that we are 4-2. Last year after 6 games we were 2-4 and one of those wins was against Chaminade. Today was an embarrassment. There is no question about that. But, it was one game. The team has a lot more games to play this year. The team appears to be trying to play to the strengths it knows it has to a fault. Let the guards create, they are the best players. But they should probably get some more folks involved in their offensive execution. Like the bigs, who never get the ball passed to them. Hopefully the staff makes some adjustments to try to get more of the players involved offensively because I don't think the team can win trying to ride three players all year.

 

[cohenzone]

I was responding to the part of your post in which you said Manuel should have ignored Calhoun and hired another coach through a national search.

He couldn’t ignore Calhoun. That was the problem. As I said, the program deserved a national search and Manuel no way could have realistically done anything but hire KO without a search. This is big business. You don’t anoint a successor. I hope this team performs, but I wouldn’t give KO any more than the rest of this year to show he can produce a good, consistent brand.

 

[dennismenace]

This wasn't just a garden variety loss.

This was a complete and utter no-show against an unranked team, coming on the heels of a 20-point loss to an excellent team that should have provided motivation in and of itself. It also comes on the heels of an awful season in which motivation and passion on the part of players and coaches were called into question.

It was the continuation of a very disturbing trend.

The season is far from over, and we have plenty of time to turn things around, but today's result does not suggest that the unacceptable performance of a year ago is firmly behind us.

Very succint and accurate summary. I am really having trouble putting thoughts together on what I am feeling after watching that pathetic performance. I really can't say anything bad about any player. I felt like they were leaderless from a coaching standpoint and if KO watched the replay how could he think that face was going to inspire anyone? I feel bad for the players
who have put their futures into coming here with this kind of leadership.

 

[upstater]

And last yrs team that played against Houston isn’t in the same universe as this yrs. We have more talent with JA, AG, and TL than last yrs team had with Rodney at point, Kentan, and Amida

I disagree. We are lacking in the middle much more than last year.

 

[upstater]

He couldn’t ignore Calhoun. That was the problem. As I said, the program deserved a national search and Manuel no way could have realistically done anything but hire KO without a search. This is big business. You don’t anoint a successor. I hope this team performs, but I wouldn’t give KO any more than the rest of this year to show he can produce a good, consistent brand.

I understand. I just wouldn't want it done any other way because it brought us a championship in 2014. Wouldn't trade that year for 3 tournament years following.

 

[MadDogRevival]

This was an embarrassing game, for sure. BUT one result doesn't make things that different.

I've been strongly on the "take it easy" train going back for some time. Yes, much of the board, including me, reacts to the good and the bad. Yes, much of the reactions are overreactions.
The only issue I have with your post is that this loss kinda makes things different because, unlike the loss to MSU, this loss felt just like last year. Which is setting off many alarm bells in my head.
It was supposed to be different this year. Today felt awfully the same.
So. We'll see. I totally respect your thoughts on this, and my heart is with you in believing that this storm will pass and halcyon days are ahead.
My brain, however, has battened down all of the hatches, stowed the sails, put on a life jacket, and woken up the captain, o captain, because it believes that we're heading into a Clooney-esque storm and the potential for disaster is acute.