John Silver says "Crossroads" ... like 1979

[upstater]

Freescooter how the hell are you going to say Ollie's a bad coach and that's a fact . Youre nuts . You have no idea his potential as a coach and at this point neither do I . but he's sure done a great job with what he has + it being his FIRST year.

The guy never even showed up after the Michigan st. win and several others. He popped up after their second loss to NC State to start calling him a bad coach.

 

[caw]

yeah, I watch the games. and I see a team that struggles with the likes of Quinnipiac. that ranks 320 out of 347 in rebounding while playing mostly garbage teams, 313 in offensive rebounding, a coach who can't figure out how to recruit guys above the mid-major level (and don't give me the contract b*llsh^&). Some of those numbers would be defensible if we had played anyone. But given our schedule to date??? Pudge, I know you guys all want to think Ollie is Jim Calhoun Jr. Fact is that this team is not good and this coach, nice guy though he may be, is not very good either.

You're happy to see UConn as a mid-major "power" like Xavier, then maybe Ollie is your guy. If you have any higher aspirations for the program, come April first, thank him for his efforts and bring in someone who can do the things that need to be done.

I want to know what Ollie would have to do this year to show he is deserving of a long term contract at UConn?

Grades: we shall see soon...
Press: Fantastic job so far, this really can't be questioned.
Recruiting: Facey or Samuels =/= mid-major talent, Facey in particular, that's crazy talk. They both can play at UConn. They may not be stars but they are not mid-major talents either. The only ways to prove whether the contract situation has affected recruiting is by either hearing it from the horses mouth (not likely to happen) or by seeing how Ollie does in the spring and 2014 with a contract.

SOS: 32nd right now, and it was top 20 before the UMES game. 3 top 25 games, who has played more?

Wins/losses: 8-2

UConn has talent (not top 25 talent though), they have also won all 7 games they should have won.​

They also had a shot at three upsets against better teams, and the cherry on top, they actually succeeded against one. ​

Statistics: Rebounding has been an issue, but I think pulling on statistic about the team and saying that is the reason a coach isn't good, is just flawed and grasping.
Performance: Did they struggle against some inferior teams, yes but they won. Did Calhoun's teams never struggle with inferior teams? Did Syracuse (#4 in the country) not just struggle against Detroit? Does the offense get bogged down sometimes? Yes. Does Ollie hold onto TO's sometimes? Yes. Did Calhoun teams do the same and still win? Yes. Is Ollie teaching during the game? Yes. Are we seeing improvements? Yes.
Practice: I see nothing on the court to suggest he doesn't have the kids attention and they aren't doing what he wants of them.
What else is there that can be judge so far?
Ollie is going to go either 9-3 or 10-2 OOC (barring some monumental defeat against Fordham). If the kids do well in class, I think Ollie has done as well as he could OOC. Perfect? No, but darn good.
The BE is a different animal and big test, but so far, I'm not seeing many negatives in Ollie's coaching. The worst you can say is they are only slightly outperforming expectations. I had them at either 7-5 or 8-4 OOC before the season started.

 

[freescooter]

Of course, Uconn's struggles can't possibly have anything to do with the dearth of talent on the roster - right freescooter? It has to be because Kevin Ollie can't coach. Because if it was for any other reason, you wouldn't get to tell everybody how smart you are.

And Michigan State (who beat Kansas) has to be overrated, right? Because otherwise, you'd have to admit that Ollie beat a good team in his very first game as head coach. And Kentan Facey and Terrence Samuel, despite being recruited heavily by major programs, have to be mid-major level recruits. And Ollie's lack of contract, despite 9,000 people who know a lot more than you saying time and time again that it's a major issue, has to just be a "b*llsh^&" excuse. And on and on and on. If Ollie won the Big East regular season title this year, you're response would be "Yeah, but how many games did he win in the Big East tournament? None!"

It's blatantly obvious that you're rooting for Ollie (and therefore the team) to fail. By that very definition, you are not a Uconn fan. Just go away.

Michigan State was the first game. It was in an odd place under abnormal conditions. Lots of strange things can happen. But come on. We're getting out rebounded by teams that don't have a single player who could walk on and sit on the current UConn bench, never mind log time as starters. We have certainly had more talented teams, but are you seriously going to say we aren't more talented than Quinnipiac or UNH or Stony Brook? Because if you are, we should just forget it, tell these guys to give back the scholarships and try to join the NESCAC or something. And on recruiting Facey had offers from mostly lower level Big East/ACc programs (Providence, Rutgers and mid-majors) And UConn and UCLA. Samuels was similar. Mostly offers until late in the game. Louisville and Cincy came after he verballed us. We were competing against the likes of Dayton and Rhode island when he announced. Let's just agree that neither of these guys is expected by anyone to be Kemba next season.

 

[freescooter]

I guess we just disagree. You guys think he's great. I think he's done no more than expected, and not really done that. My guess is that we'll be firing him in 2 or 3 years anyway and I'd rather not waste that time, go out and hire a big time coach and avoid having to dig ourselves out of too big a hole. I have high expectations for UConn. I get that most posters here never really did, and never really thought we'd sustain our position after Calhoun anyway. So it doesn't really matter. Kevin Ollie, Keno Davis, doesn't really matter. Our days of actually competing are over for anything but a slot in the lower half of the top 25. They were when Calhoun retired. they absolutely are now that the Big East has imploded. So why not hire an inexperienced guy who won't cost us a lot of money even if he's only ok or worse. to paraphrase Gene D when he hired spaz, at least we know he's a UConn guy.

 

[Pudge]

It's not easy responding to freescooter.

He lacks an open mind on this. And, apparently, cannot see basic strategic nor talent aspects of the Men's game of College Basketball.

But ... number ONE ... Kemba Walker wasn't recruited to be Kemba. He was developed. Fact is: UConn has rarely brought in the NBA ready kid.
number TWO ... Kevin Ollie was given a roster. He has little flexibility. It's not like Pro Sports that there is a waiver wire. You are given guys like Enosch Wolf (in a year that we are down schollies) & you have to develop him. Tyler Olander is your best interior player? In the last five years, we have had times that we had 4 Tyler's. Having pointed this out, the MAJOR thing Ollie is doing is developing players. I give him CREDIT for DeAndre Daniels looking like he can advance. Boatwright & Napier look a little better. Wolf is emerging. In a year, I expect many of these kids to get better: that is consistently a UConn asset versus CBB peers.
number THREE ... Ollie's offense, IMHO, looks more fluid than we played under Calhoun.
FINALLY ... we are playing every second of each possession. Sounds simple. We got used to this with Calhoun; but, this is not universal.

I think Ollie is our guy. Warde Manual will reluctantly extol his virtue soon. And, we shall see over a longer tenure whether he is a good replacement for an All-time HOF legend. As I pointed out earlier, not many NC Programs have transitioned well past the exit of their NC coach. Let's try this way.