Just plain terrible.

[Fishy]

I don't know what Kevin Ollie is doing right now.

1) He insists on putting Nolan, Cassell and Calhoun on the court....at the same time. I'd love to see the +/- numbers there. It takes our offense long enough to get into the swing of things and it just completely derails when he's off on his bizarre rotation binges.

2) He's been a statue for three years and he gets a technical foul now?! Oh, my lord. What in the holy f--- was he thinking?

He managed to have get his first two teams to play well over their heads - gotta get back to whatever magic dust he was sprinkling on those teams.

On the front court....jesus. It just hasn't gotten any better. Everyone wearing a suit on our bench is to blame there. I'm on Team Chief - bring back Clyde or anyone who can convince one of these kids to actually rebound. It's full-blown coaching malpractice at this stage.

Amida was scared of Stone before the game started. He's really fired up to swat low-major shots, but he's plain intimidated against better competition - it's way too predictable these days. Given that Nolan and Enoch are not really options, we desperately need Brimah to play to his potential.

So, to recap, we played on half of basketball. Fourth straight game going down double-digits. We were outscored from the free throw line by 14 and out rebounded by about 25. We still managed to get within 3 before the head coach emerged from his coma and depth-charged the rally.

And we lose by ten.

Someone try to defend that performance.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Exactly, everything is right. Some people on the board saying that KO was doing alot on the sidelines but all i saw for most of it was him sitting down and shaking his head, other than the tech. Obviously we made a run but why not give a full court press a shot? Our defense was already giving up layups in the halfcourt, press can spark a team. Only sending Jalen to kind-of pressure the ball isn't doing anything. The defense needs to be fixed. And im tired of Amida looking like a ragdoll when he is on the post, he can't move any post player. Overall, lots and lots of negatives, one positvie was Dham being assertive and taking over in the second half.

 

[Huskybass]

I can't argue with anything you posted. Loads of talent and potential, but very little chemistry. Bazz covered up lots of deficiencies in his junior and senior seasons. Too many shots that aren't within the flow of the offense and a really poor job on the boards. We will feast on cupcakes and really struggle against top 25 teams.

 

[tzznandrew]

Brimah had a bad first half, but he was fine in the second half. He picked up that third foul after we made a run, and then seemed to sit on the bench an interminably long time while we gave them open lanes to the rim. When he came back in again, we cut it to 3 before the T.

KO needs to figure out how to work the refs. He should have gotten a T, just somewhere after Miller missed a, let's say "contested" floater, and Miller got shoved out of bounds on the rebound. Maryland's interior defense was really very good, but there were some egregious no-calls in the paint.

KO needs to figure out the rotation, like you said. It's baffling.

This was not a good game for Gibbs. I'm not quite sure what's going on there, since he was quite good at SH against top level competition. Maybe he doesn't quite have his role figured out?

 

[NC_Uconn_Fan]

Really disappointing season so far. Not much to say.

 

[TheRogers]

It's terrible but I really wished Vitale would get a stroke during the game. The overbearing slobbering really got to me.

 

[Tenspro2002]

The frontcourt coaching is becoming a concern. We used to be able to count on raw, unheralded bigs developing over their 4 years here. Are Nolan, Facey, and Brimah significantly better than they were when they got here?

 

[tzznandrew]

The frontcourt coaching is becoming a concern. We used to be able to count on raw, unheralded bigs developing over their 4 years here. Are Nolan, Facey, and Brimah significantly better than they were when they got here?

Brimah is, certainly. He didn't play as much as he could have, but he was rebounding okay and playing better help defense without fouling. Obviously he's been a Boneyard pinata, but I didn't think he was bad today, other than one bad foul on Trimble that got him to 2.

Facey is hard to tell. Certainly he's not where we'd like him. Nolan is what he is.

 

[traitor71]

I don't know what Kevin Ollie is doing right now.
2) He's been a statue for three years and he gets a technical foul now?! Oh, my lord. What in the holy f--- was he thinking?

Mind boggling. I don't care how bad the call was that led to he going nuclear, but you simply can not lose it at that point in the game. That's a move for the first half, or when you are being run out and need to vent at the refs, not when you are in a position to possibly steal a win.

I'm really starting to wonder about Ollie. He had Shabazz, who at any given time was the best player on the court and could win games himself. Without him, things don't look so good anymore.

I hope I'm wrong and this is just a bump in the road.

 

[Palatine]

Brimah made our defense respectable in the second half. When he wasn't in there it was a lay up line. When he got in there it was a contested lay up line. But that was a huge difference.

 

[superjohn]

I don't know what Kevin Ollie is doing right now.

1) He insists on putting Nolan, Cassell and Calhoun on the court....at the same time. I'd love to see the +/- numbers there. It takes our offense long enough to get into the swing of things and it just completely derails when he's off on his bizarre rotation binges.

2) He's been a statue for three years and he gets a technical foul now?! Oh, my lord. What in the holy f--- was he thinking?

He managed to have get his first two teams to play well over their heads - gotta get back to whatever magic dust he was sprinkling on those teams.

On the front court....jesus. It just hasn't gotten any better. Everyone wearing a suit on our bench is to blame there. I'm on Team Chief - bring back Clyde or anyone who can convince one of these kids to actually rebound. It's full-blown coaching malpractice at this stage.

Amida was scared of Stone before the game started. He's really fired up to swat low-major shots, but he's plain intimidated against better competition - it's way too predictable these days. Given that Nolan and Enoch are not really options, we desperately need Brimah to play to his potential.

So, to recap, we played on half of basketball. Fourth straight game going down double-digits. We were outscored from the free throw line by 14 and out rebounded by about 25. We still managed to get within 3 before the head coach emerged from his coma and depth-charged the rally.

And we lose by ten.

Someone try to defend that performance.

His player rotations have been horrible so far this year and nobody is helping on defense, Gibbs and Hamilton get burned out on the perimeter and nobody ever rotates to stop the layup line. Ollie also needs to figure out Adams has to be the point guard, I can live with the mistakes because the ceiling is higher with him than continuing to pretend Gibbs is a point. He needs to apologize to the team for the technical, it's inexcusable at that juncture in the game. Just a bad stretch for Ollie, I'm sure he will figure it out.

 

[LIuconn]

Frontcourt coaching and recruiting. Doesn't seem like an impact big body is on his way to campus any time soon.

 

[mauconnfan]

Coaching again really? He is awful on offense and if he could improve he would have. He has zero game on offense and that's not on coaching - no 7 footer in history has fallen short of improving like this guy. It's painful as hell to watch and everyone wants to blame Gibbs and everyone else but when he's in we have no flow. Every other team has bigs who PICK like men and actually help their guards, then roll the right way facing the basket to score. not him he "Wanders" anywhere and everywhere. Putrid.

He blocked shots and had some rebounds but it can't continue. He needs to be part of the offense. In case you guys haven't noticed against really good smart teams the alley oops is no longer.

Play small.

 

[HuskyFich]

I hate to do this as bad as we played, but I must take one massive haymaker at the refs here.

In the age of refs being told to call more fouls to enhance scoring and open freedom of movement...

UConn drew 4 fouls in the second half. Maryland drew 12.

UConn drew 1 foul in the final 11:34 of the second half

What the flipping f---?

 

[Fishy]

Stone did everything but mount, stuff and put Brimah on his mantle - he's an open-door when it comes to defending the glass.

I like Nolan, Cassell and Calhoun as people - they came here, they're Huskies, all good.

But they're all very limited as players. You can get away with playing one of them here and there, but it scares the hell out of me that Ollie thinks he can put all three on the court at the same time. There is something wrong with our head coach's brain right now.

 

[Dove]

When all three are on the court...means Ollie is seriously pissed at Gibbs, Purv and Brimah/Miller.

 

[superjohn]

The frontcourt coaching is becoming a concern. We used to be able to count on raw, unheralded bigs developing over their 4 years here. Are Nolan, Facey, and Brimah significantly better than they were when they got here?

It's a problem, not seeing any growth.

 

[uconnfan68]

It's terrible but I really wished Vitale would get a stroke during the game. The overbearing slobbering really got to me.

And take Saunders with him.

 

[tzznandrew]

But they're all very limited as players. You can get away with playing one of them here and there, but it scares the hell out of me that Ollie thinks he can put all three on the court at the same time. There is something wrong with our head coach's brain right now.

It's not hard to get one of them out there at a time. We have enough other competent players. It's truly baffling.

 

[NC_Uconn_Fan]

Serious question, I really like ollie. How many games does Calhoun win with this same roster vs Syracuse, zags and Maryland?
Again, no way am I trying to be disrespectful to coach ollie.

 

[Gurleyman]

Brimah is, certainly. He didn't play as much as he could have, but he was rebounding okay and playing better help defense without fouling. Obviously he's been a Boneyard pinata, but I didn't think he was bad today, other than one bad foul on Trimble that got him to 2. Facey is hard to tell. Certainly he's not where we'd like him. Nolan is what he is.

Wasn't even a foul I'd get on his case for. Trimble jumped sideways to draw the contact and made a crafty play. The problem was our guys handing Trimble the ball on the perimeter and giving him a breakaway - Brimah tried to get back, but asking a 7-footer to have perfect body control on a full sprint is asking a lot.

He's a Boneyard piñata, though, so everyone complained about the foul and not the turnover - or the guys who just jogged back while watching the breakaway and didn't hustle at all. If Brimah had blocked it, I don't think anyone else was hustling back to get the rebound anyway.

 

[pnow15]

Ollie's great screw up cost one point, down six instead of five. The foul was the killer.
It was no different than if MD hits a three, except the didn't have to hit the three.
And do you that these refs had run out of whistles. There would have been another.
Purvis missing those foul shots early was bad. I though he corrected that.

 

[mauconnfan]

And take Saunders with him.

Saunders was much worst the Dickie, not close. He was awful form our viewpoint for whatever reason. He sucks anyway, go harass another ESPN chick.

 

[Fishy]

To comment on some of the above -

1) A haymaker at the refs is justified. The Adams call was brutal, especially at that point in the game. Everything Ollie did in reaction was exactly right until he went after the paperwork.

2) Gibbs is not a point guard. We'll be better in March if Adams starts playing more now. Calhoun can take spot duty on the wing, Cassell can become the next Donnell Beverly.

 

[BoatShow]

When I looked up and we were down 24-4 or whatever and our lineup was Cassel, Calhoun, Nolan, Facey and poor DHam I knew our ferocious second half rally would fall short.