James Akinjo and Emmitt Mathews | Page 2 | The Boneyard

James Akinjo and Emmitt Mathews

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superjohn said:
A four and a three star recruit are reason to keep KO. With this kind of thinking he is unfireable.

This place really is crazy town.
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Yeah ratings are so dependable... Kentucky has a bunch of 5 stars and they might not make the dance. Past players of ours such as Bazz, Emeka, Lamb... not highly rated. You are just as crazy as we are but on the opposite spectrum. Only difference is you are most likely wrong.
 
Huskie2019 said:
He was named a contender for the game which is a lot better than the guys we have playing now lol. The kid is just getting better, other schools are noticing and still recruiting him, and he is the leader of his team to a 21-1 season. You obviously have not done your research. If Ollie had a point guard like him this season, we would not be where we are right now. Jalen Adams is not a natural point guard, which is why we suck because UConn has always based its teams on star point guards (as most teams do). We will miss him and another team will have hit the jackpot if Ollie is fired, mark my words.
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Jalen Adams is a fine point guard. The problem is that he pretty much has to play by himself.
 
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No quotes from Vance Sr? Borges has his head in the sand
 
Love their mindset, the attitude. Akinjo has me psyched. Just realizing it’s very likely KO is back next year. Don’t think the AD wants to roil these recruits. Mixed feelings. We need players who can shoot and are willing to fight it out on the court. Finally, I have the feeling Jalen is coming back.
 
intlzncster said:
Jalen Adams is a fine point guard. The problem is that he pretty much has to play by himself.
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While he is the only one who knows what he is doing he is not a natural great point guard like Shabazz or Kemba, he doesn't keep the ball close and tight when he dribbles resulting in turn overs. He just doesn't have that grace and precision focus, not sure if he'll ever get it.
 
Kevin Ollie is currently a bad basketball coach and has been one since he took over as hc. Yes he use to coach with more “passion” on the side line but that doesn’t mean he was coaching well. Recruiting now is about the coach more than the school. We’ll see what happens over the summer.
 
The Viking said:
Three big ifs

If JA comes back
If AG comes back healthy
If teh current young bigs IMPROVE from year to year

Then you bring in this young hungry recruiting class and it could be fun to watch.....but you need all 3 of those IF's to hit jackpot.
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Terrific Article! Glad these guys are 10 toes in. One of em better be able to shoot the ball. Defenses have the option of cheating off of every man on the floor except for Jalen and Larrier.

I think these bigs have a long way to go before they can do much for the team. Carlton looks better, but he is not going to anchor a team down low next year.

AG/JA and all of our bigs aren't going to do much for us from an improvement standpoint. None of the other guys can shoot .... and especially from deep. We need to have a reliable 3 point option that is not a volume shooter. Akinjo may be able to make some shots and I hope he can find that role. If we don't have a 3 point shooter then the defenders have to guard half of the floor area. I hope someone can do it, but with out a Rashad/Giffey type of player at a minimum you just can't balance the floors for a bunch of guards that rely on slashing to the hole.
 
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It seems like both guys were underrated and 10 ties in. But until we know ollie’s Future we won’t know for sure.

But man, these are the kinds of guys that can jump start a major retooling. That get you back in the right direction
 
intlzncster said:
If Jalen comes back, UCONN will def be more talented next year. But that's starting from a very low floor.

There's a minimum 4 incoming guys who'll get immediate minutes, counting Gilbert.
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We will actually have an infusion of talent and fresh blood. The difference in these incoming players is that they have an appetite to win and are hungry. Gilbert and Sid Wilson should also be hungry after sitting out. Should Gilbert shoulder heal 100% without any setback, watch out. That man has a GORILLA on his back. Ollie should be back to shepherd the flock and with this group we will win 23-25 games.
 
Javjudah said:
We will actually have an infusion of talent and fresh blood. The difference in these incoming players is that they have an appetite to win and are hungry. Gilbert and Sid Wilson should also be hungry after sitting out. Should Gilbert shoulder heal 100% without any setback, watch out. That man has a GORILLA on his back. Ollie should be back to shepherd the flock and with this group we will win 23-25 games.
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People said the same thing about this years class. I would say the only players that consistently play with "hunger" are Vital and Whaley. Everyone else is either soft or hasn't been given a chance. Jalen I'm 5050 on. We have no idea how much heart the recruits have, because unlike the coaches we haven't seen them in practices, games when they're down in the 4th, or spoken to AAU guys, or even just watched them play more than in highlights. I wouldn't get carried away.

It's pretty easy to say "these guys have heart" when you're winning. We aren't.
 
superjohn said:
A four and a three star recruit are reason to keep KO. With this kind of thinking he is unfireable.

This place really is crazy town.
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It's more the buyout is untenable, so might as well get these kids in here and give it one last shot. We also give Alterique one last shot at getting healthy and we move on from the Terry/Jalen Alpha battle royal rumble they have had.
 
Out of everything in that article, this stood out the most to me...

“He loved it over there,” Alwert said. “The whole family did. “I know the big seller at UConn was Coach Calhoun, when they brought him in, talking to the family.”
 
noeynox said:
It's more the buyout is untenable, so might as well get these kids in here and give it one last shot. We also give Alterique one last shot at getting healthy and we move on from the Terry/Jalen Alpha battle royal rumble they have had.
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Jalen really needs to stay. He's not on any mock drafts.
 
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husky429 said:
People said the same thing about this years class. I would say the only players that consistently play with "hunger" are Vital and Whaley. Everyone else is either soft or hasn't been given a chance. Jalen I'm 5050 on. We have no idea how much heart the recruits have, because unlike the coaches we haven't seen them in practices, games when they're down in the 4th, or spoken to AAU guys, or even just watched them play more than in highlights. I wouldn't get carried away.

It's pretty easy to say "these guys have heart" when you're winning. We aren't.
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Let's be realistic, the roster we had coming back this season after the transfers and injuries was atrocious. I am sure everyone was hoping for success. At one point we weren't even sure if we would have enough players to play 5 on 5 at practice. If Adams, Polley, Whaley, Carlton, Vital, Gilbert, Diarra, Wilson and everyone in the incoming class stay committed I believe we will enjoy success next season. The jury is still out on Williams and Cobb and Terry Larrier can turn Pro.
Onuorah, Cobb, Anderson and Williams couldn't have success playing against weaker competition for four year in college what makes anyone think they were going to be better at UCONN.
 
the Q said:
Jalen really needs to stay. He's not on any mock drafts.
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Of the two, I hope he comes back. But I've never felt he and Terry could co exist. I feel Jalen has tried harder. Terry just jacks up shots every chance he gets it feels like.
 
superjohn said:
A four and a three star recruit are reason to keep KO. With this kind of thinking he is unfireable.

This place really is crazy town.
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Why do you consistently worry about rank of recruits? Who cares? All I care about is it they can play. Didn't Matthews have a big growth spurt? Hasn't Akinjo been climbing? Whaley and Carlton weren't highly ranked and look like players. Aside from the top top players, rankings are complete trash. No one knows ANYTHING it's a joke.
 
KembaStepback said:
Why do you consistently worry about rank of recruits? Who cares? All I care about is it they can play. Didn't Matthews have a big growth spurt? Hasn't Akinjo been climbing? Whaley and Carlton weren't highly ranked and look like players. Aside from the top top players, rankings are complete trash. No one knows ANYTHING it's a joke.
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He'd be excited about these 2 kids if he didn't have an agenda, there's your answer. Honestly almost wish they would keep KO just to watch that show from guys like him LOL :D
 
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KembaStepback said:
Why do you consistently worry about rank of recruits? Who cares? All I care about is it they can play. Didn't Matthews have a big growth spurt? Hasn't Akinjo been climbing? Whaley and Carlton weren't highly ranked and look like players. Aside from the top top players, rankings are complete trash. No one knows ANYTHING it's a joke.
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Because the logic in keeping a bad coach because of a couple of recruits is ridiculous especially when they aren't can't miss top 10 types. Whaley and Carlton look like guys ranked where they were ranked.
 
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husky429 said:
People said the same thing about this years class. I would say the only players that consistently play with "hunger" are Vital and Whaley. Everyone else is either soft or hasn't been given a chance. Jalen I'm 5050 on. We have no idea how much heart the recruits have, because unlike the coaches we haven't seen them in practices, games when they're down in the 4th, or spoken to AAU guys, or even just watched them play more than in highlights. I wouldn't get carried away.

It's pretty easy to say "these guys have heart" when you're winning. We aren't.
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It was said about this years class, the class the year before that and every other class. The #8 recruiting class was raved about and those kids said all the right things.
 
I hope we keep these two Blaze certified recruits.
I think people are making a mistake if they don’t understand how Blaze changed everything and regardless of what happens at the end of the season, we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
 
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superjohn said:
A four and a three star recruit are reason to keep KO. With this kind of thinking he is unfireable.

This place really is crazy town.
Expand ...
Every time I look at your avatar, I can't help thinking that we're not getting your best. But I do appreciate that the Likes you got for this post rallied the troops.
"C'mon in, the water's fine."
 
The delusions in this thread are baffling to me. I love this kid's heart, I think he's underrated, and I would love to see him in a UConn uniform next year. But keeping KO after the debacles of the last few years because we may lose a kid ranked one spot below a Princeton recruit? Wildly irrational. He's ranked about the same as Mamadou Diarra coming in. The tune I'm hearing sung about how we need to write this year off to injuries and poor recruiting choices is the same thing that was said after last year. Yes, it's natural to assume that this team will be better next year provided Gilbert can actually play, Sid is what that say he is (and not another ferrari in the garage situation), the freshman this year grow up and next year's can step in right away. Not likely.

KO has you all brainwashed. For the last few years, the wheels have come off early (the two awful losses last year before any injuries, the Arkansas/Auburn/pick any number of blowouts), a few injuries happen, KO looks lost, and then he insists things will be ten toes in the next year. His 8th ranked recruiting class didn't pan out and we expect next year's class to be infinitely better? He had a mass exodus last offseason, what stops the same thing from happening now with the threat of sanctions looming? Are we just ignoring the fact that the team sucks and we're under investigation?

I like the team more than I like Ollie, and right now he's not doing much to convince me he's the solution to turning things around.
 
Chief00 said:
I hope we keep these two Blaze certified recruits.
I think people are making a mistake if they don’t understand how Blaze changed everything and regardless of what happens at the end of the season, we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
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I want to see what Chill can do, but I'm also skeptical of Ollie's ability to coach and develop anyone brought in. I need to see the following to get remotely excited about him returning next season:
  • We see some form of quality basketball akin to what was exemplified @ Tulane, v. UCF, v. SMU in the post Gilbert part of the season (i.e. show that they can beat lesser talent by a good margin, stay competitive with better teams)
  • Able to retain Jalen Adams in offseason, Larrier I would be psyched, too, but not counting on it (historically Ollie has not done well with significant roster turnover, as any coach would struggle with this issue, and the team desperately needs these guys back to have a shot at being competitive next year)
  • Able to limit transfers (if any) to the guys at the end of the bench (same reason as point #2)
I really have wanted to Ollie to succeed all season but for every time we see some remote progress in the team and players, they take 2-3 steps back. I personally need all of 3 of these conditions met to feel good about 2018-19 with Ollie at the helm.
 
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