Kevin Ollie: 'If They Rebound, They'll Play.'

[HooperScooper]

Notes from today's practice by David Borges.

Kevin Ollie: 'If They Rebound, They'll Play.'

 

[superjohn]

I freaking love Kevin Ollie. I want to run through a brick wall for him, can't imagine how the players must feel. Would've loved to play for a coach like him.

 

[HooperScooper]

Another one from the Connecticut Post. Mostly about how the team is emphasizing academics.

http://blog.ctnews.com/uconnbasketball/2013/10/11/ollie-proud-of-huskies-in-the-classroom/

 

[James]

What boring notes, half of it was discussing olander... Like that hasn't been done ad nauseam. One would think olander is a key contributor with all this coverage from him and amore

 

[champs99and04]

Olander is an important piece to this team. What else are you going to talk about? He's the main story because he's made himself the main story.

 

[CAHUSKY]

What boring notes, half of it was discussing olander... Like that hasn't been done ad nauseam. One would think olander is a key contributor with all this coverage from him and amore

Uconn fans can find the dark cloud within the silver lining better than anyone I've ever met. Well done James

 

[CL82]

Love the walls going up on the bb practice facility.

 

[James]

Uconn fans can find the dark cloud within the silver lining better than anyone I've ever met. Well done James

good thing my name isn't James

Olander is an important piece to this team.

Nah

 

[champs99and04]

Yeah, he is. Experience is often overrated but it doesn't hurt to have a three year starter with a national championship ring in your rotation. He represents a nice change of pace from Facey, Brimah, and Nolan. He's not as athletic as those players, but he's more skilled and allows Ollie to experiment with different lineup configurations. The kid isn't cut out to play big time minutes, but people have to realize that a kid does not get minutes on a national championship team if he can't play.

 

[James]

Yeah, he is. Experience is often overrated but it doesn't hurt to have a three year starter with a national championship ring in your rotation. He represents a nice change of pace from Facey, Brimah, and Nolan. He's not as athletic as those players, but he's more skilled and allows Ollie to experiment with different lineup configurations. The kid isn't cut out to play big time minutes, but people have to realize that a kid does not get minutes on a national championship team if he can't play.

I remember playing against ct gold which had ryan and tyler on the team, and when I heard he committed to storrs later on I was excited. Real nice jumper for a guy his size, and he was actually pretty athletic if I remember. As you stated he had pretty nice freshman year, ranging from the BET to the energy boost he would give at times in ncaat. Thing is he has made no effort to improve his game whatsoever, he doesn't really have much interest in the sport it seems, and all of that reflects itself tenfold during games. That's fine and dandy , but calling him a key contributor is erroneous; his role is bench warmer plus some spot minutes. Not everyone can be a 'key contributor'

 

[boog204]

I remember playing against ct gold which had ryan and tyler on the team, and when I heard he committed to storrs later on I was excited. Real nice jumper for a guy his size, and he was actually pretty athletic if I remember. As you stated he had pretty nice freshman year, ranging from the BET to the energy boost he would give at times in ncaat. Thing is he has made no effort to improve his game whatsoever, he doesn't really have much interest in the sport it seems, and all of that reflects itself tenfold during games. That's fine and dandy , but calling him a key contributor is erroneous; his role is bench warmer plus some spot minutes. Not everyone can be a 'key contributor'

Spot minutes? I'd be surprised if he's not playing at least 15-20 a game and i'd think probably a bit more. Assuming he's got his crap in order, he's probably a starter.

 

[mauconnfan]

I remember playing against ct gold which had ryan and tyler on the team, and when I heard he committed to storrs later on I was excited. Real nice jumper for a guy his size, and he was actually pretty athletic if I remember. As you stated he had pretty nice freshman year, ranging from the BET to the energy boost he would give at times in ncaat. Thing is he has made no effort to improve his game whatsoever, he doesn't really have much interest in the sport it seems, and all of that reflects itself tenfold during games. That's fine and dandy , but calling him a key contributor is erroneous; his role is bench warmer plus some spot minutes. Not everyone can be a 'key contributor'

So the 16 and 9 vs ND wasn't a contribution? Obviously he has to do this or something close to this more consistently but this proves ha can be more than a "bench warmer". Unless you know Brimah is going to be ready and Nolan has improved enough to claim the spot then we all need Tyler to be game ready while playing key minutes quite often. Between foul trouble, slumps and injuries I promise his minutes will be much more than that of a bench warmer.......

 

[James]

So the 16 and 9 vs ND wasn't a contribution? Obviously he has to do this or something close to this more consistently but this proves ha can be more than a "bench warmer". Unless you know Brimah is going to be ready and Nolan has improved enough to claim the spot then we all need Tyler to be game ready while playing key minutes quite often. Between foul trouble, slumps and injuries I promise his minutes will be much more than that of a bench warmer.......

How is he going to do that more consistently mau ? I think my assumption is reasonable seeing as he's only scored over ten points 5X in his career, while being afforded plenty of opportunity & minutes. That's a big deal because he's an offensive player. The first three times Nolan was allotted more minutes he showed to be a more aggressive rebounder and to have better defensive instincts-- check the advanced stats.

 

[mcs333]

Nolan has to show he can stay on the floor. He was very foul prone. We will need all three centers.

 

[Kitaman]

Disappointed that Giffey is not going to Memphis, but I'm sure there's a reason. As long as he's named Captain I'll be fine.

 

[James]

Nolan has to show he can stay on the floor. He was very foul prone. We will need all three centers.

'Very foul prone' is also erroneous, fabricated. Olander once had 4 fouls in 11 minutes vs georgetown... Last year. And then there was the proud achievement of fouling out in 12 minutes vs freaking pc. Are you just remembering one of nolans first experiences in d1 hoop vs quinnipiac? It's unreasonable to think he couldn't improve on that through experience. He's never even had more than 3, TO had 4 in his first two college games.

 

[ctchamps]

I remember playing against ct gold which had ryan and tyler on the team, and when I heard he committed to storrs later on I was excited. Real nice jumper for a guy his size, and he was actually pretty athletic if I remember. As you stated he had pretty nice freshman year, ranging from the BET to the energy boost he would give at times in ncaat. Thing is he has made no effort to improve his game whatsoever, he doesn't really have much interest in the sport it seems, and all of that reflects itself tenfold during games. That's fine and dandy , but calling him a key contributor is erroneous; his role is bench warmer plus some spot minutes. Not everyone can be a 'key contributor'

I'm not sure it's a disinterest in the sport. IMO it's more the kid is prone to getting down on himself. Of course there is no emotional meter that allows us to determine which of these two possibilities exists, but I believe it is more than coincidence that TO's slide began after the Fairfield game against his brother.

 

[James]

Yeah I agree. That's why spot minutes are important, so he doesn't have too much time to overthink and f up. I'm surprised by all this olander support, it seems like some of you guys ignore numbers or may have just skipped last season as a whole. The assessment that he should be a starter is preposterous

 

[AZHuskiePop]

'Very foul prone' is also erroneous, fabricated. Olander once had 4 fouls in 11 minutes vs georgetown... Last year. And then there was the proud achievement of fouling out in 12 minutes vs freaking pc. Are you just remembering one of nolans first experiences in d1 hoop vs quinnipiac? It's unreasonable to think he couldn't improve on that through experience. He's never even had more than 3, TO had 4 in his first two college games.

Before we dump on TO to much remember these facts:
He was a contributor on our 2011 who stayed Loyal to UConn in are darkest hour.
He never hurt the program academically.
He played most of last year with an injury.
Never complained once.

He was key in our road win at Notre Dame. (If we were eligible it would have been a the key road win for the NCAA tourney.)
He was not strong enough or big enough to play the 5 yet he went out their and played the best he could as we had limited options.
Actually he wasn't bad as a low post distributor which was his primary function.
He has gotten minutes for tough guys like JC because he works hard in practice which serves as an example to younger more talented players.

 

[selles]

There's some truth in what you say but I don't agree with this:

He was not strong enough or big enough to play the 5 yet he went out their and played the best he could as we had limited options.

He started the year ok but by mid-year he was wasn't just rebounding poorly, he was failing to get rebounds that seemed impossible for him to miss based on where he was standing and the angle of the carom. The smaller and weaker Giffey was far more effective when he got some time in the post toward the end of the year. Let's not lionize TO for simply taking the court. Even taking into account size and strength limitations, TO had a poor, poor year.

TO has to prove himself this year not just off the court, but on. I will be rooting for him to do so, partly for himself and partly because I agree that the team will need him to provide some decent minutes (though I think closer to 10 than 20).

 

[champs99and04]

I remember playing against ct gold which had ryan and tyler on the team, and when I heard he committed to storrs later on I was excited. Real nice jumper for a guy his size, and he was actually pretty athletic if I remember. As you stated he had pretty nice freshman year, ranging from the BET to the energy boost he would give at times in ncaat. Thing is he has made no effort to improve his game whatsoever, he doesn't really have much interest in the sport it seems, and all of that reflects itself tenfold during games. That's fine and dandy , but calling him a key contributor is erroneous; his role is bench warmer plus some spot minutes. Not everyone can be a 'key contributor'

I'm not quite sure where you're drawing the conclusion that he's disinterested in the sport. He certainly has had his share of problems off the court, but I've never heard his work ethic questioned by anyone involved in the program. As for "key contributor", maybe we're arguing semantics, but to me a key contributor is basically anybody in the rotation. I expect Tyler to play 15-20 minutes a game this season because he's our best offensive option at the five (probably by a good margin) and he has much more continuity with everybody else on the floor than Facey and Brimah will. What happens when we see a zone? We're going to prefer Olander at the foul line over Facey or Nolan.

 

[BNich]

Olander is an important piece to this team. What else are you going to talk about? He's the main story because he's made himself the main story.

Important piece?! He barely fit in as a role player last year. Looked much better the year before.

 

[champs99and04]

Important piece?! He barely fit in as a role player last year. Looked much better the year before.

Wolf is gone and we don't know if Facey will be cleared. We need Olander to give us 15-20 minutes a night. If a guy playing 15-20 minutes a night isn't important, then only about five guys on this team are important.

 

[BNich]

They didn't play many guys last year at all. The team hasn't been deep in a number of years. It's a shame. No bigs that fight like adrien. Miss his game. Need another like him.

 

[Dmike]

Olander is the most experienced reliable big on the roster. He's shown flashes of potential and I think that KO didn't allow him back on the team and made him miss the first week of practice after the DUI charges were shown to be bogus in order to figure out a way to motivate a young kid, who has thus far been unable to maximuize his potential. Olander was huge in the Michigan State upset last year and when he is focused has the potential to be a 25 - 30 minute player. If KO can get him to just play his best when he's out there, not even overachieve, Olander can easily average 10 and 6 a night, throw in 3 assists an a block with it. He's always reminded me of a Gavin Edwards type player and this could finally be his year to shine.