If Gilbert is out for the year again...

[superjohn]

Well we should have one more open scholarship for next year with JA , TL, DO and AA leaving. We fill that with a guard and work on getting KW to transfer as he surely doesn't belong at this level. You recruit another guard for that position so you will have 5 guards for next year with 4 healthy ones.

Who are the 4 guards for next year? From what I know Jalen is gone and we don't know if Alterique will ever be right again. I see Vital and Akinjo for next season.

 

[huskiesnyc]

Who are the 4 guards for next year? From what I know Jalen is gone and we don't know if Alterique will ever be right again. I see Vital and Akinjo for next season.

Top 100 stud Bryce Wills is considering taking an official to UConn next week. The staff needs to do whatever it takes to get him on campus and promise him whatever he wants because playing time is available. Time to stop being friends and start selling and closing.

 

[ctchamps]

Yep. Polley is gonna have to step up. Once Cobb is healthy we should be fine with the bigs. Under regular circumstances I think
Whaley would be a redshirt and probably wouldn't be here if Sid just came to Uconn in the first place. There's just too many plot twists.

Kwintin, David and Cobb were all last second players taken to fill out the roster. Hope I’m wrong but it will be a five by committe. I’d be pleasantly surprised if Cobb consistently contributes. Seems some fans forgot or unaware that Steve was an unexpected departure that left staff scrambling for a replacement.

Either Whaley or Polley would or both would probably not have been at UConn if Sid did not chose Samson Johnson initially.

 

[Paesano]

Are you thick? No improvement?

Last year we were 4-4 ( and really only 3 actual wins since one was against Chaminade)

This year 6-2.

That’s actually quite easy to find. Troubling you aren’t able to.

I have not searched the archives for our rating at the same time last year but, compared to our rating at the end of last year, no, there is no improvement at this time. That year end rating was a number that represents the average performance for the entire season. The current rating represents the average performance for all games played this year. It could get better. It could get worse. Right now it is what it is.

If you could comprehend the logic and math behind it, you would understand it, but you don't. That is why you hand wave a weak argument based on your biased interpretation of what you think you are seeing and then, ironically, call other people thick. A record, without context, is pretty damn weak. How good were the wins? How bad were the losses? What was the quality of the competition? Don't bother presenting your opinions. I would rather look at an unbiased analysis, improved over years, created by an MIT mathematician which uses a global optimization algorithm to best measure the average performance of each team. It isn't perfect. No algorithm is. But it is better than the rantings of a biased fan.

Edit: I am chilling so I went to the wayback machine and you will be happy to know that, yes, our start this year is better than last year, going by the Sagarin ratings on the same date. THAT is solid data based on a solid, unbiased, analysis. It is not simply saying 6-2 is better than 2-4. That is just weak.

Now, if the team improves at the same rate as last year's team, they should finish with a better rating. That would be nice. But here is the catch, all of this implies that the team was playing quite a bit better at the end of last year than they are at the beginning of this year. Maybe that is ok, given the turnover and such, but that is, again, up to opinion.

 

[ctchamps]

Are you thick? No improvement?

Last year we were 4-4 ( and really only 3 actual wins since one was against Chaminade)

This year 6-2.

That’s actually quite easy to find. Troubling you aren’t able to.

You an MIT grad?

 

[Paesano]

You an MIT grad?

Who are you asking?

 

[freescooter]

Ollie won't get a pass on it but the big fall in team play is directly related to the lack of AG. Since he went out, this team has not been playing well.

Yeah ‘cause they played really well against Stonybrook. But they might be a tourney team. In fact I’d give Ollie a pass this year because every team on the schedule “might” be a tournament team.

 

[upstater]

Yeah ‘cause they played really well against Stonybrook. But they might be a tourney team. In fact I’d give Ollie a pass this year because every team on the schedule “might” be a tournament team.

Yeah, according to you Alterique sucks, but the truth is you've never been a UConn fan, who are you kidding. You hated 2014, admit it.

 

[intlzncster]

Y’all got shizzle’d

Most of your likes are Pool guys right there haha

 

[intlzncster]

The idea Ollie will get a pass if Gilbert is out is absurd. The idea many gave him a pass last year, with multiple injuries, is absurd.

“Oz and others” seem to the type hoping for a crappy season so Ollie would be fired.

I think that the season sinking when you lose your two best players in less than 3 games earns one a lot of leeway. It's really, really tough to recover from that. But at the same time, the product that was on the floor was not great either.

This year no? No. Should have had MAL in the fold.

 

[UCDaveD]

Need to use this as a selling point to recruits too. Let them know that AG isn’t physical capable of running the show anymore.

 

[Tenspro2002]

You guys do know that Durham is at Notre Dame right?

And that Diarra is starting to look pretty good?

Can we be fair? Gilbert’s shoulder may keep him from contributing but what the heck was Ollie supposed to do about that?

Convince his top recruit 2017 to not abandon his commitment.

 

[intlzncster]

Life is unfair. If injuries contribute to his firing, so be it. Here's the bottom line, how is the team performing? Even if you adjust expectations for the loss of Gilbert, they still look bad. Pulling out OT wins AT HOME against the likes of Columbia and Monmouth is not much of a silver lining. They should never have been in the position to need the heroics. Right now the team is 82nd in the Sagarins. Last year they finished 81st. There is no improvement no matter how hard people try to find it.

Not letting Ollie off the hook, but this year just started. Haven't even gotten to conference play yet. Those ratings don't mean much yet.

 

[intlzncster]

Why does God hate UConn?

KO's fault.

 

[8893]

KO's fault.

It was the divorce, wasn't it?

Damn, I knew it.

 

[king conn]

We haven't been all over anything for awhile now

 

[Jaker]

If there was a God, Sid would be given the nod to play this year.

 

[intlzncster]

For those saying Waters was never interested in UConn - Waters called UConn his dream school in 8th grade. His fascination with UConn lasted a few years. He was on campus MANY times. As the program began to crumble, Waters seemed to lose interest, or maybe the rumors of a him wanting a guaranteed starting role had something to do with it, I don't know, but anyway, saying he was never interested in coming here is dead wrong. At one time this was the only place he wanted to be.

He was 13 years old man. He said a lot of nice things about a lot of schools over the years. Calhoun leaving probably shifted his thinking, no matter who came next.

But a huge part of it was probably his reportedly asking for the keys to the kingdom from day 1. Look at where he ended up. That speaks volumes. More than anything anyone else here has to say.

 

[intlzncster]

Actually, you are making excuses. Listen, with Gilbert, this should have been a very good team. Without him, no one expects a run at the final four or even the sweet sixteen ir anything like that. But, even with adjusted expectations, what we are seeing is bad.

Maybe could have been a good team. HUGE question marks up front going in. Now, they are limited in several spots.

 

[intlzncster]

We fill that with a guard and work on getting KW to transfer as he surely doesn't belong at this level. You recruit another guard for that position so you will have 5 guards for next year with 4 healthy ones.

Dude. Don't post crap like that. There's a reason it's against the board rules.

 

[Horatio]

Need to use this as a selling point to recruits too. Let them know that AG isn’t physical capable of running the show anymore.

Yep. It'll have to be said some kind of way. We kinda went through this with Omar Calhoun.

 

[Pudge]

Hast the NCAA made a decision on Sid yet. I know clearance for this year was never likely, but it would be nice if they issued a decision one way or the other.

Actually - the NC State case that was stated as comparable GAVE the player clearance. You are right. These things, by the NCAA, should be clear, timely and conclusive. And they never are: They Suck.

 

[intlzncster]

I blame millenials ( for their instant gratification needs and ADD) and spoiled baby boomers ( for being the most selfish front runners ever) . They all suck

Way to work that one in there Auggie. I approve.

 

[Pudge]

I don't know what the answer is for AG. But, I can tell you that this re-occurrence of shoulder injuries is a constant over the last 30 years of me watching BB or other sports. And while you can promote the RedSox doctors, the PREMIER Taj Mahal of sports medicine (including a fellowship at Harvard) is Doctor James Andrews in Pensacola. Incredible 80 doctor staff and the premier rehab- sports enhancement facility in the country. IF AG is going there, this is a serious attempt to get to a good place.

UConn Fall 2016 is a strange comparable to UConn Fall 2017. You can't lose Diarra, Gilbert, Larrier (as we now have seen each at their best play over minutes) ... and have anything but a shaken team. Lacking consistency through 8-10 games given that sequence is pretty obvious; and thus, we eventually played well until we sank year end. I have often opined on Brimah and Purvis. Good Huskies. WE have to be more optimistic with this current crew (which includes the autopsy on the departure of Jackson, Enoch, Durham): more usable parts; more hope for progressive play from Polley, Larrier, Carlton, Cobb, Whaley (and even Vital) than I can (20/20 hindsight) remember for the departed. I do have hope that we can find a strike zone for 8 guys to play like a good Team.

Did you see Houston beat Arkansas?

 

[superjohn]

He was 13 years old man. He said a lot of nice things about a lot of schools over the years. Calhoun leaving probably shifted his thinking, no matter who came next.

But a huge part of it was probably his reportedly asking for the keys to the kingdom from day 1. Look at where he ended up. That speaks volumes. More than anything anyone else here has to say.

He ended up at LSU because the Duke and Kentucky offers never came through. It says a lot that his interest in Uconn disappeared. Not getting a point guard this class was another huge miss.