It's now fair to wonder about coaching . . .

[mauconnfan]

Without being a Debbie Downer, a lot has to break right for this team to be appreciably better next season. As good as Jalen Adams might be, he's replacing Boatright. So the other guys have to get a hell of a lot better.

Because of some limitations this required improvement may have a lower ceiling than we wish it to.

 

[willie99]

does anyone think KO will get an NBA offer this year? I'm thinking pouting won't play well at the next level, but recently I've been more wrong about anything involving UConn hoops than I have been my entire life

I sit their watching the game, trying to be loud, but not really knowing what to think

I'm a beaten man, my dog is kicking me, RU fans a busting my chops and the Memphis Tigers are celebrating on my home court. I'm waiting for Paul Pasquolini to be rehired has the football team's motivation speaker, that should close the deal

 

[Tenspro2002]

Without being a Debbie Downer, a lot has to break right for this team to be appreciably better next season. As good as Jalen Adams might be, he's replacing Boatright. So the other guys have to get a hell of a lot better.

Brimah with a healthy offseason in the gym (basketball and weights) could make a significant leap. That's about it. He, Hamilton, and Adams will be the team, with occasional contributions from Purvis (offset by equal or greater levels of terribleness at other times).

Facey isn't going to amount to much, and it's hard to project improvement from any of the returning backcourt of Samuel, Cassell, Purvis, and Calhoun. Nolan is what he is. Lubin hasn't played enough to know, but that's probably an indication in itself.

This is about a 25-30-year low in terms of talent, and unfortunately Ollie hasn't shown himself (yet?) to be the recruiting guru we were hoping for and desperately need.

 

[pnow15]

Phil Jackson, John Wooden and Adoph Rupp could not coach these guys to an ACC championship. You have a center that rebounds poorly.
A backup point who can not dribble, pass or shoot. A basket case at shooting guard. A 195lb freshman leads the team in rebounding.
You have two power forwards that if either hits a jumper or grabs a rebound, we think it is a gift from heaven..

 

[Cheeky]

Phil Jackson, John Wooden and Adoph Rupp could not coach these guys to an ACC championship.

Wistful, Freudian slips.
Sigh.

 

[superjohn]

Ollie has had a couple of stinkers this season and the Dan Guest debacle is indefensible but if you have longterm concerns about Ollie's coaching ability you should get your head checked. He took Jay Wright, Tom Izzo, Billy Donovan and Calipari to the woodshed in the tournament last season and what he did with a team that was banned from the postseason the year before was almost just as heroic. There are a lot of reasons we are bad this year and Ollie's coaching ability is very far down the list.

 

[Offhegoes]

Disagree with OP #2 with Purvis. You have to realize that besides Boat, this is a young team. Who are you putting in for Purvis? Purvis needs this to grow as a player. He's fully capable when he matures and gains experience. The kid has the tools, he just needs some time and sesaoning. Patience.

 

[Husky25]

Fan expectations going into this season were off the charts. UConn lost 5 key contributors, including a Wooden Award candidate, off a national title team and some were fitting them with another Final 4 ring. Those 5 players represented 75% of the teams rebounding and 65% of the scoring. It's so much easier though to blame coaching (as it was said before, same guy) than to adjust your own expectations. Nope. Can't do that.

 

[Dribbles]

They had 15 made field goals for the game. Fifteen. That looks like a typo.

And as many t/o's as assists...

 

[Dribbles]

You know, the comparison is only one of the inconsistency, not the overall game.
I never thought I'd say this, but I'd swap JD, any year, for RP in a heartbeat. Jerome was frustrating, and he had plenty of 1 for 12 type games, but kid always was a lock down defender, and was good for 3 or 4 boards, 1 or 2 steals, and 2 or 3 assists a game, even if he wasn't hitting.
You put JD on this team and we have 5 more wins.
I think I like JD more right this second than I did since his freshman year, when I loved his game.

And Rome usually got the first down...

 

[djct1999]

This loss was not on Ollie. I have no problem putting in a senior walk on for a series when your team is down 12 and lifeless. Ollie had to do something to shake this team up and on senior night he elected to be a class guy. Nothing wrong with that and no, that didn't cost them the game. The problem tonight was execution and down the stretch, we were simply awful.

 

[Milo65]

To all the people that are putting this on coaching instead of execution, what do you suggest be done about it? And please be realistic...

Exactly, this team lacks some crucial things:

1. Leadership: Boatright is a great player, but he lacks the ability to be a true floor general. The whole team's selfish play last night was pitiful and Boat was the worst offender. Including the last shot where he tried to drive against a triple team and had Hamilton wide open on the wing

2. Basketball IQ: This team is Jeckel and Hyde. They look great, sharing the ball, inside/outside game against SMU and then revert back to street ball against Memphis. Not learning from their mistakes

3. Talent: Playing with some guys who quite frankly wouldn't crack the lineup on many DI squads.

4. Experience: Young, Young, Young

5. Luck: Sometime you make your own, sometime the ball doesn't bounce in your direction. Memphis, Yale, Texas games could have easily gone in a different direction. If they did, we would be having a different conversation now.

 

[polycom]

Exactly, this team lacks some crucial things:

1. Leadership: Boatright is a great player, but he lacks the ability to be a true floor general. The whole team's selfish play last night was pitiful and Boat was the worst offender. Including the last shot where he tried to drive against a triple team and had Hamilton wide open on the wing

2. Basketball IQ: This team is Jeckel and Hyde. They look great, sharing the ball, inside/outside game against SMU and then revert back to street ball against Memphis. Not learning from their mistakes

3. Talent: Playing with some guys who quite frankly wouldn't crack the lineup on many DI squads.

4. Experience: Young, Young, Young

5. Luck: Sometime you make your own, sometime the ball doesn't bounce in your direction. Memphis, Yale, Texas games could have easily gone in a different direction. If they did, we would be having a different conversation now.

Finally a sane minded post. The one place I disagree is that Boat is 100% the leader of this team..he just can't will his lesser teammates to victory the way Bazz or Kemba could.

 

[Danzz]

The problem wasn't coaching it was execution. Does anybody really think that KO would call for a play that would be a shot clock violation?

 

[David 76]

Cheeky, who would you put in for Purvis? For all his inconsistency,he's all we got. He just went 7 for 7 from the charity stripe.

 

[Cheeky]

Cheeky, who would you put in for Purvis? For all his inconsistency,he's all we got. He just went 7 for 7 from the charity stripe.

David - Problem is, he's wildly inconsistent. So if you build a team with Purvis as a starter, you're subjecting yourself to games where he's going to go 1 for 10 with 3TOs. As I said earlier in the season, it's difficult to win, long term, with streaky guys because on their off days your whole team gets out of sync.

That said, I go with the next best option and use Purvis off the bench. Bring him off at the 15 minute mark and give him 5 minutes to see if he's got it going. If so, get him some PT. If not, bench him.

With the team the way it is now, I'd have been starting Calhoun and given him a lot of PT to try to get him rolling.

Obviously, there aren't a lot of options at 2 right now. This is why next year is so worrisome. When it's crunch time and Jalen is not hitting and Purvis is having a 1 for 12 game, we're in deep crap.

This is why guys like Purvis are "giveth" and "taketh away" guys. When they have giveth games, you beat SMU in a thriller. When they have taketh away games, you lose to depleted Memphis. Hard to muster any kind of a sustained run.

Another problem with Purvis is the fact that, when he has a poor shooting night, he tends to not do anything else either. Last night, in 28 minutes, he had 3 points, 3 boards, 0 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks, 1 TO, and 2 fouls.

Calhoun, in 12 minutes, had 5 points, 2 boards, 0 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 0 TO, and 0 fouls.

I think Ollie is going with Purvis hoping he'll turn it on and go into SMU mode at some point.

I'd rather go with Calhoun and know that I'm going to get a guy who is going to hit the glass, play hard, and be able to hit from the line, if needed.

 

[ctchamps]

David - Problem is, he's wildly inconsistent. So if you build a team with Purvis as a starter, you're subjecting yourself to games where he's going to go 1 for 10 with 3TOs. As I said earlier in the season, it's difficult to win, long term, with streaky guys because on their off days your whole team gets out of sync.

That said, I go with the next best option and use Purvis off the bench. Bring him off at the 15 minute mark and give him 5 minutes to see if he's got it going. If so, get him some PT. If not, bench him.

With the team the way it is now, I'd have been starting Calhoun and given him a lot of PT to try to get him rolling.

Obviously, there aren't a lot of options at 2 right now. This is why next year is so worrisome. When it's crunch time and Jalen is not hitting and Purvis is having a 1 for 12 game, we're in deep crap.

This is why guys like Purvis are "giveth" and "taketh away" guys. When they have giveth games, you beat SMU in a thriller. When they have taketh away games, you lose to depleted Memphis. Hard to muster any kind of a sustained run.

Another problem with Purvis is the fact that, when he has a poor shooting night, he tends to not do anything else either. Last night, in 28 minutes, he had 3 points, 3 boards, 0 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks, 1 TO, and 2 fouls.

Calhoun, in 12 minutes, had 5 points, 2 boards, 0 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 0 TO, and 0 fouls.

I think Ollie is going with Purvis hoping he'll turn it on and go into SMU mode at some point.

I'd rather go with Calhoun and know that I'm going to get a guy who is going to hit the glass, play hard, and be able to hit from the line, if needed.

Let me see if I understand you. You prefer starting someone who has played poorly for two years to start over someone who has played inconsistently for one year.

 

[David 76]

Don't disagree at all except I go with Purvis over Omar. But you are talking talent, not coaching.
AB, Boat & DHam have talent. Two of them are still learning
Purvis is the best of the rest. If you think TSam, Sam Jr., or Omar have more upside than Purviss, then we disagree.
Do we need more help at the 2? No doubt. Did Ollie think he had it covered between Purvis & the 3 others. I assume yes. And he was wrong (at least for 2015). Now JC recruited OC and KO recruit TS and SC JR.

So I think it is fair to lay that portion of guard recruiting at his feet. But he didn't forget how to coach or motivate in a year

 

[ctchamps]

Memphis was in the bonus so you can wipe out that point there. I agree with the Dan Guest insertion and DHam spending too much time on the bench, but DHam didn't have the greatest of games. To me this whole season boils down to Purvis, he just has too many wild swings from game to game and sometimes within the game. If we could rely on him for a dependable 12pts game in and game out, which is what you would hope for from a 3rd year/former top 20 recruit, the wins and losses would look a whole lot different on the ledger. They don't need 28pts or even 20, hell all they needed was just a couple of baskets from him to pull this one out. In every loss besides the ones he was injured you can pretty much go to the boxscore and see him MIA on the offensive end. This team is just not deep enough or talented enough to not get any production out of someone with his talent.

This game and this season had a whole lot of bad by a whole lot of players to single out one player. Heck DHam was responsible directly for three end of the game daggers that, had they not happened, the entire season might have changed.

Outside of OC and PN the players had a bad game. Perhaps AB is questionable. Decent intimidation with his shot blocking but no offensive threat or rebounding threat so not one of his better games. Certainly was not a good game for Ryan.

I get that people are expecting more from Rodney. Last game demonstrated he has skills. Something is holding him back. IMO it's a confidence issue. But that probably holds true for OC and to a lesser extent DHam.

I would love to put TSam's or AB's moxie into Rodney. Or Rodney's skills into TSam.

 

[Cheeky]

Let me see if I understand you. You prefer starting someone who has played poorly for two years to start over someone who has played inconsistently for one year.

The way I'd phrase it is this:

I'd start someone who shows consistent effort and potential . . .
over . . .
A guy who is extremely streaky and has entire games where he has little to no positive impact.

Yes.

Calhoun could potentially gain his confidence back and be a 10 ppg player. He's already showed that.
Purvis is going to be a streaky player who has virtually zero production games. He's already showed that.

I go with Calhoun.

 

[joober jones]

I wish Donnell Beverly's stroke from 3 would somehow filter into TSam.

 

[Marty Jackson]

What bothers me is that if Goodwin's last shot misses/if we made one more stupid duck*ing tip-in, this post doesn't happen. Nobody would be "worried about Ollie" if we won. If this were a blowout, I would understand people freaking out about his lack of coaching acumen. But this game could have literally gone either way, and if we eked out the win, nobody would've given a rat's ass about Ollie.

What bothers me is the guy just won a freaking NC...
And he did it by out coaching some serious talent...

Lightening in a bottle I suppose.

 

[SixRings]

What bothers me is the guy just won a freaking NC...
And he did it by out coaching some serious talent...

Lightening in a bottle I suppose.

What bothers me is the number of posters that are heaping mess emotionally. Either we win and the players are NBA bound while on our way to another NC or we lose and want to fire the coach, bench all of the same players and burn down Gampel.

 

[mauconnfan]

Calhoun over Rodney? That's may be the most hilarious and ridiculous thought of the year. Omar played very hard the other night I agree but his overall game and impact is usually not very positive at all, especially the WHOLE 2nd half of the season. He can't guard anyone, really he's almost the worst defender on the team. His 3 pt shooting % has stayed in the 30's somehow after a pretty hot start to the year but hasn't made a big one or 2 in a row since early season when the hope was back. The kids struggling again for whatever reason. To begin to think you should put him in for a guy who got 28 for you the other night is insane!

 

[Tommyboy]

I wish Donnell Beverly's stroke from 3 would somehow filter into TSam.

hell, I wish Taliek Brown's stroke from 3 could filter into TSAM.

 

[tzznandrew]

hell, I wish Taliek Brown's stroke from 3 could filter into TSAM.

He was 1 for 17 his junior year. Maybe the next 3 for TSAM will tie him there.

Taliek was 17 for 75 from 3 for his career...with 53 of those attempts--and 15 of those makes--coming in his Freshman and Sophomore years.

 

[Tommyboy]

He was 1 for 17 his junior year. Maybe the next 3 for TSAM will tie him there.

Taliek was 17 for 75 from 3 for his career...with 53 of those attempts--and 15 of those makes--coming in his Freshman and Sophomore years.

I still find it funny that TSAM finally hit one but it was after a whistle.

 

[ARIDE]

What bothers me is the guy just won a freaking NC...
And he did it by out coaching some serious talent...

Lightening in a bottle I suppose.

Bottom line is coaching can't cover up lack of talent and ability, In short , we have no post player's or anyone who can rebound and get a put back. I could go on about Calhoun and his lack of ball handling skill for a top 50 guard or that Tsam has no game away from the rim. I could go on but its all in here somewhere. They are just breaking hearts and its tough to take. Ollie is Ollie and yes we have a NC with him so people chill. Maybe by Sunday all will be healed!

 

[ctchamps]

Calhoun over Rodney? That's may be the most hilarious and ridiculous thought of the year. Omar played very hard the other night I agree but his overall game and impact is usually not very positive at all, especially the WHOLE 2nd half of the season. He can't guard anyone, really he's almost the worst defender on the team. His 3 pt shooting % has stayed in the 30's somehow after a pretty hot start to the year but hasn't made a big one or 2 in a row since early season when the hope was back. The kids struggling again for whatever reason. To begin to think you should put him in for a guy who got 28 for you the other night is insane!

It seems he also forgot that KO started OC for a stretch and kept him in the starting role in spite of the things you point out, hoping he would get his confidence back. It's not insanity btw. It's a bias that most likely is the result of something about Rodney that disturbs him so much his arguments become extremely flawed. But here's the bigger issue. Why is such a flawed postulation getting very little rebuttal?

 

[businesslawyer]

This loss was not on Ollie. I have no problem putting in a senior walk on for a series when your team is down 12 and lifeless. Ollie had to do something to shake this team up and on senior night he elected to be a class guy. Nothing wrong with that and no, that didn't cost them the game. The problem tonight was execution and down the stretch, we were simply awful.

Even mentioning Dan Guess's cameo is bizarre. We spend all year, in all sports, listening to whining that kids who haven't earned playing time aren't getting a chance and the fans can't see that they are not getting playing time for a reason. Then, on a senior night, a walk on WHO SPENT TWO YEARS AS A BACK OF THE ROTATION SCHOLARSHIP PLAYER IN THE A-TEN, playing a position where we've been getting nothing off the bench gets a shot and it means our coach isn't good enough.

The Board as a whole should be banned for this one. It would be nice if people remember that at the time you make a decision you don't actually get to know in advance how it will turn out.