James Akinjo and Emmitt Mathews

[Hans Sprungfeld]

We do NOT want Larrier back. He's not a winning player, turnover machine, awful decision making. Sid Wilson will be twice the player Larrier will ever be.

Even if I agreed with some or all of what you've written, I'd tell you that "We..." does not apply. You are unremittingly awful, and the board would be better off if you never posted again.

PS - My second sentence is just mimicking the mock authority & bad energy of your posts.

 

[Chief00]

Matthews judging by the article seems committed to UCONN and not strictly to Kevin Ollie which is good because I like Matthews game.

Akinjo is more 50/50 but can be persuaded by a good incoming hire to stay.

Whatever their decision, these guys are not can't miss prospects that are worth keeping Ollie around for.

PS: One of the main requirements for our next head coach will be ability to bring in good players right away and recruit well.

They wouldn’t have pass the Blaze criteria unless they are really good. Chief can assure you of that.

 

[Hoophound]

Facey was listed as 66 by Rivals....Really??? Let us not get overly excited by rankings.

Facey's career was squandered by the coaching staff. He needed some minutes. We stored him in a root cellar until his senior year.

 

[UCweCONN]

Ollie goes, everybody goes.

The fans are already gone. If he goes, at least they'll return.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

1. rankings are no the be all, end all, but it's tough to deny that players that are more highly ranked tend to pan out at a better rate than those who aren't
2. Has KO shown that he has a good eye for talent?
3. Has KO shown that he can develop unheralded talent?

I just read 4 posts by you and didn't get much out of any of them. It's not really a knock on you, so much as wondering what's the point of framing things the way you did on a post about two recruits having good senior years.

If you'd like James Akinjo to come here and think he'd be good, let us (and him) know. The rest of what you say misrepresents & exaggerates & ignores context. It's like you're going out of your way to complain about something that isn't being said, when you'd be happy with what is still possible.

 

[Son of Robert]

I just read 4 posts by you and didn't get much out of any of them. It's not really a knock on you, so much as wondering what's the point of framing things the way you did on a post about two recruits having good senior years.

If you'd like James Akinjo to come here and think he'd be good, let us (and him) know. The rest of what you say misrepresents & exaggerates & ignores context. It's like you're going out of your way to complain about something that isn't being said, when you'd be happy with what is still possible.

Dude, I've had my eye on you for three weeks or so. You are on a tear. A noble quest to bring civility, positivity, and correctness to your fellow denizens of the boneyard. Bless your good works and travel in peace.

 

[JimHurley]

Even if I agreed with some or all of what you've written, I'd tell you that "We..." does not apply. You are unremittingly awful, and the board would be better off if you never posted again.

I go to school here. I do not care if you have a problem with me referring to the basketball team that represents my school as “we.”

 

[KodiacKemba]

Some ppl just need the sweetness of a dr. Pepper

 

[Danzz]

Ollie goes, everybody goes.

Ollie will get 1 more year whether he deserves it or not. Having a true PG will make a huge difference in the flow of our offense. Shooting will improve along with fewer turnovers as we get better shots. Rebounding is a big question second only to injuries.

 

[PAHusky]

I just read 4 posts by you and didn't get much out of any of them. It's not really a knock on you, so much as wondering what's the point of framing things the way you did on a post about two recruits having good senior years.

If you'd like James Akinjo to come here and think he'd be good, let us (and him) know. The rest of what you say misrepresents & exaggerates & ignores context. It's like you're going out of your way to complain about something that isn't being said, when you'd be happy with what is still possible.

It's pretty simple. As I said in those four posts about nothing, I like Akinjo. I just don't like people in this thread saying that we absolutely need to keep KO to keep Akinjo around. I used his contextualized rankings to illustrate the absurdity of keeping a coach in order to retain a recruiting class like next year's.

Hope that clears up any confusion.

 

[AdamaNation]

Ollie will get 1 more year whether he deserves it or not. Having a true PG will make a huge difference in the flow of our offense. Shooting will improve along with fewer turnovers as we get better shots. Rebounding is a big question second only to injuries.

For the Ollie haters think of it as a year to advertise the program and roster. Because anything short of a sweet sixteen appearance, top four aac ranking, top 25 2019/20 class, some semblance of ranking nationally, and a great apr, while keeping players, and giving a few a sniff at the league, folks will still be looking for his replacement. Maybe we should be looking for Mrs Ollie’s replacement. No what I mean? Problem solved. Mic drop emoji.

 

[80shusky]

For the Ollie haters think of it as a year to advertise the program and roster. Because anything short of a sweet sixteen appearance, top four aac ranking, top 25 2019/20 class, some semblance of ranking nationally, and a great apr, while keeping players, and giving a few a sniff at the league, folks will still be looking for his replacement. Maybe we should be looking for Mrs Ollie’s replacement. No what I mean? Problem solved. Mic drop emoji.

You're becoming tiresome. I mean that in the best possible way.

 

[Scrutineer]

What was Shabazz ranked again?
What was Lamb ranked again?
Oakfor ?

Good point on all three. I think Shabazz' rating, if there was one, was adversely affected by the fact he wasn't projected to go to college until the next year, same situation as Olander.
Okafor literally came out of nowhere as a late Spring signee and had to be the all-time "find" for UConn.
Lamb was the much lower rated Lamb of the two in his class. The higher rated one was Doron Lamb who UConn lost to Kentucky. Turned out to be as good a loss as Ashton-Langford might be, as Doron is not in the league and Jeremy seems to be coming into his own.
As for Akinjo, the rankings seem oddly low. The Peach Jam is the preeminent summer AAU tournament and features all the high ranking players in the country. Akinjo took his lightly regarded Oakland team to the championship and was named the MVP. MVP of the Peach Jam is pretty high praise.

 

[Chief00]

Chief honestly, no one cares about the Blaze strategy. If the Blaze strategy is to recruit good basketball players who can shoot and play D, please explain why it took KO four years to figure that out? Have KO and Chill shown enough to trust their talent evaluations over those of the recruiting services and, perhaps more damning, those of the other coaches? Please stop waiving away our failures in recruiting by imploring us to recruit a "strategy" that's as opaque as Andre Drummond's travel plans.

Blaze is a cute little moniker. It's a way for KO to save face after going after the blue chip recruits and failing to land any of them to the detriment of us taking lower ranked kids who actually wanted to come here. Again, this isn't to denigrate any of our recruits - I like them all and think they'll be good college players, but a team with this dearth of talent needs more than role players year after year, especially since the last few recruiting classes haven't panned out, to put it mildly

I think Coach Chill brought in a willingness to try a fresh approach. He did not spend his time finger pointing about who on the staff or KO was responsibility for past failures. So Chill could get to the solutioning step quickly. It was great to see.

 

[mauconnfan]

Facey's career was squandered by the coaching staff. He needed some minutes. We stored him in a root cellar until his senior year.

He didn't deserve them though that's the issue. He never was in the right spot on D when he came in, always lost and on the defensive end always boxed out. While he was a good offensive rebounder it's his fault he wasn't able to get minutes. To me anyone watching knew he didn't understand the game on either end all that much just threw out his natural abilities and they weren't enough. I mean for all of you who said "see he should've been playing" for his 12 or so game stretch his senior year there was more proof the end of the year when he disappeared again for the same amount of games. Nice athlete but like Brimah didn't really get it never did. And you will suffer when you play 2 guys together who don't know where to be on defense and it showed when they played together. Brimah was able to make up for some of his shortcomings by blocking some shots that was the difference in the 2.

Quite honestly this is the biggest gripe with the recruits under KO, not enough high IQ basketball players thus far. Need basketball players, all the tools even if not really special with any of them at least they're coachable.

 

[Chief00]

He didn't deserve them though that's the issue. He never was in the right spot on D when he came in, always lost and on the defensive end always boxed out. While he was a good offensive rebounder it's his fault he wasn't able to get minutes. To me anyone watching knew he didn't understand the game on either end all that much just threw out his natural abilities and they weren't enough. I mean for all of you who said "see he should've been playing" for his 12 or so game stretch his senior year there was more proof the end of the year when he disappeared again for the same amount of games. Nice athlete but like Brimah didn't really get it never did. And you will suffer when you play 2 guys together who don't know where to be on defense and it showed when they played together. Brimah was able to make up for some of his shortcomings by blocking some shots that was the difference in the 2.

Quite honestly this is the biggest gripe with the recruits under KO, not enough high IQ basketball players thus far. Need basketball players, all the tools even if not really special with any of them at least they're coachable.

For me, you are preaching to the choir. Lack of Bigs development. Facey was a great example of good upside but he did not fully develop to anything near his full potential, even in his senior year, when he did display improvement.
The reasons for that might include poor Big coaching by Miller, recruiting low BB IQ players, poor S&C development until Chief sounded the alarm and lack of effective work by certain players.

 

[the Q]

For me, you are preaching to the choir. Lack of Bigs development. Facey was a great example of good upside but he did not fully develop to anything near his full potential, even in his senior year, when he did display improve.
The reasons for that might include poor Big coaching by Miller, recruiting low BB IQ players, poor S&C development until Chief sounded the alarm and lack of effective work by certain players.

Doesn’t sound like that very last part has been solved yet....at all.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Dude, I've had my eye on you for three weeks or so. You are on a tear. A noble quest to bring civility, positivity, and correctness to your fellow denizens of the boneyard. Bless your good works and travel in peace.

Thank you.
From a humble place, I'm just trying to make adjustments and improve throughout the season.

 

[Madmannsucks]

For me, you are preaching to the choir. Lack of Bigs development. Facey was a great example of good upside but he did not fully develop to anything near his full potential, even in his senior year, when he did display improve.
The reasons for that might include poor Big coaching by Miller, recruiting low BB IQ players, poor S&C development until Chief sounded the alarm and lack of effective work by certain players.

Yup, not since Vaughn have the had a guy who could really develop bigs. What the difference maker on "D" was always the big presence who could make up for defensive lapses by blocking a shot.

 

[Rico444]

He didn't deserve them though that's the issue. He never was in the right spot on D when he came in, always lost and on the defensive end always boxed out. While he was a good offensive rebounder it's his fault he wasn't able to get minutes. To me anyone watching knew he didn't understand the game on either end all that much just threw out his natural abilities and they weren't enough. I mean for all of you who said "see he should've been playing" for his 12 or so game stretch his senior year there was more proof the end of the year when he disappeared again for the same amount of games. Nice athlete but like Brimah didn't really get it never did. And you will suffer when you play 2 guys together who don't know where to be on defense and it showed when they played together. Brimah was able to make up for some of his shortcomings by blocking some shots that was the difference in the 2.

Quite honestly this is the biggest gripe with the recruits under KO, not enough high IQ basketball players thus far. Need basketball players, all the tools even if not really special with any of them at least they're coachable.

Yeah, this 100%. I would've loved Facey to have taken the bull by the horns and force his way into the rotation, but he never did it consistently. I remember he looked like the best player on the team in the Duke game back in the 2014-2015 season when we played them in the IZOD center, but then he was nowhere to be found -- he played 19 minutes the next game against Colombia and had one rebound. it wasn't until his senior season that he really put it all together.

 

[Chief00]

Doesn’t sound like that very last part has been solved yet....at all.

I think the recruiting part by Chill has been but agree on the rest - there is little evidence of improvement. I will be frank, Chief doesn’t have a good handle on the current S&C program. Chief was excited about Carlos Daniels, started building a relationship and then he left abruptly. I really liked his hands on approach with the players. He was about getting a lot stronger and being able to bring it for 40 minutes.
The new dude I have just kind of not engaged until he’s here for awhile?

 

[the Q]

I think the recruiting part by Chill has been but agree on the rest - there is little evidence of improvement. I will be frank, Chief doesn’t have a good handle on the current S&C program. Chief was excited about Carlos Daniels, started building a relationship and then he left abruptly. I really liked his hands on approach with the players. He was about getting a lot stronger and being able to bring it for 40 minutes.

Can you confirm that this team isn't exactly the hardest working group? In or out of the weight room?

 

[gtcam]

Facey's career was squandered by the coaching staff. He needed some minutes. We stored him in a root cellar until his senior year.

Couldn't disagree with this statement more. Facey received the playing time that his play/practice deserved. He didn't decide to turn it on until his senior year, when KO was the coach but no kudos because that would disrupt the out with KO mantra, and then when teams started to pressure and body him, he wilted.

 

[gtcam]

Can you confirm that this team isn't exactly the hardest working group? In or out of the weight room?

Nobody on this board is qualified to confirm 90% of team doings beyond what they see on the TV or at the games. Love all this speculative digging.

 

[RipCity]

Nobody on this board is qualified to confirm 90% of team doings beyond what they see on the TV or at the games. Love all this speculative digging.

Yes, it takes a brave man to assume nothing is wrong/no change will happen when everything is pointing to the contrary. You’re doing god’s work.

 

[Chief00]

Can you confirm that this team isn't exactly the hardest working group? In or out of the weight room?

I don’t like to lump everyone together although there’s a natural tendency to do that. As a general statement, I agree. Sometimes it just takes one or two leaders and most of the rest will follow their good habits. Unfortunately, it pains me to say I have not seen that consistent player leadership with this group. While shooting is to some extent a gift and good form developed at a young age - but since it’s so bad even in shooting practice - I just can’t believe that great work habits in the gym at night couldn’t improve things to mediocre at least. The guys say they do that or LOL a millennial version of that - but I just don’t honestly see the crazy dedication needed to do that. Chief just keeping it real.
I believe, and I educated guess that KO believes Gilbert has that something special character to be that leader but because of his injuries - he has not been able to lead by example. Just working hard at rehab with the trainer doesn’t translate to shooting with someone at midnight @ Gampel the night before the game.

 

[8893]

I don’t like to lump everyone together although there’s a natural tendency to do that. As a general statement, I agree. Sometimes it just takes one or two leaders and most of the rest will follow their good habits. Unfortunately, it pains me to say I have not seen that consistent player leadership with this group. While shooting is to some extent a gift and good form developed at a young age - but since it’s so bad even in shooting practice - I just can’t believe that great work habits in the gym at night couldn’t improve things to mediocre at least. The guys say they do that or LOL a millennial version of that - but I just don’t honestly see the crazy dedication needed to do that. Chief just keeping it real.

Truth.

 

[the Q]

I don’t like to lump everyone together although there’s a natural tendency to do that. As a general statement, I agree. Sometimes it just takes one or two leaders and most of the rest will follow their good habits. Unfortunately, it pains me to say I have not seen that consistent player leadership with this group. While shooting is to some extent a gift and good form developed at a young age - but since it’s so bad even in shooting practice - I just can’t believe that great work habits in the gym at night couldn’t improve things to mediocre at least. The guys say they do that or LOL a millennial version of that - but I just don’t honestly see the crazy dedication needed to do that. Chief just keeping it real.
I believe, and I educated guess that KO believes Gilbert has that something special character to be that leader but because of his injuries - he has not been able to lead by example. Just working hard at rehab with the trainer doesn’t translate to shooting with someone at midnight @ Gampel the night before the game.

Yeah, i've just been hearing some nasty rumors lately. I'll PM cause I don't wanna cause any drama on the board for things that aren't verified.

 

[VAHuskyFan]

Didn’t Princeton just beat out ALABAMA football for a qb recruit?

Princeton has more national championships in football than Alabama does.

 

[FlakeyFoont]

Intrigued by the thought of putting a three guard lineup on the floor next year consisting of Adams (God willing), Gilbert (God willing) and Akinjo.