Kevin Ollie, UConn ready to rebound after rough season

[Walker11]

Oregon is not losing Payton Pritchard and is bringing in a 5 * freshman and 2 of the best grad transfers. Extremely important game. They didn't gel until late last year so hopefully that continues.

 

[temery]

Keep ranked isn't going to be easy, but if he does that it will be impressive. I think the year will be judged more on how they are prepared for each game, how they compete and if they show they can win games they should while throwing a few surprise W's in. The hope is hanging around #25 as well as making the tourney. Not sure we should throw "numbers" around as the barometer as fans we will see what's going on and the direction this team is heading.

The pre and early season rankings have done more harm than good. Until it's earned, rankings mean little.

 

[pj]

Keep ranked isn't going to be easy, but if he does that it will be impressive. I think the year will be judged more on how they are prepared for each game, how they compete and if they show they can win games they should while throwing a few surprise W's in. The hope is hanging around #25 as well as making the tourney. Not sure we should throw "numbers" around as the barometer as fans we will see what's going on and the direction this team is heading.

Yes. In addition to competitiveness, team chemistry, preparedness, and winning, I will look at

• the big man coaching. We have a lot of young big men and DK is coaching bigs for the first time. If we see the frontcourt develop that would relieve a lot of worries.
• tempo. Can we push the pace offensively and defensively? KO has a full roster of his own recruits for the first time. The team should play his style. If he can't teach his own recruits to play his style, then he is still immature as a coach.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Hard to perform when you're redshirting.
You can argue about Vital >< Jackson.
Gilbert and Larrier were starters before they went down, and better than the guys that left. All of them.
At worst, we return our 3 best players. The 4th is debatable. There isn't a huge difference.

C'mon. The 5 best players last season were Jalen Adams, Purvis, Vital, Jackson and either Facey or Brimah. The best returning players are Adams & Vital and that's it. After those 2 UConn lost 96% of the minutes played last year. Two guys that played less than 7 games total and 1 that played 0 are not returning players. Its a pretty simple definition of returning player to have played.

You can play semantics and say our top 4 talent is intact, but fact is they don't have playing experience and that's exactly why the early season learning to play together will take time and unknown if they will be firing on all cylinders early. Plus the fact that they haven't played and missed time makes us all nervous that something else injury-wise is unfortunately at least in play.

 

[BlueMAB]

@Dogdeacon

I'll give you Purvis, I forgot about him. It's not semantics. The only reason Jackson and Vital got the minutes they did is because Gilbert and Larrier were hurt.

Gilbert and Larrier played. They were starters. They will be starters again this year. You can pretend that's not the case to argue for the sake of arguing, but regardless, we return 3 of our best 4 players from last year.

If they aren't good enough to start, then this team is going to be really, really, good.

 

[pj]

UConn v Oregon is a great matchup because the teams are comparably talented and both have a lot of newcomers and have to build chemistry fast. In that sense it is a great test for the head coaches - who can get their team up to speed fastest?

 

[Dogdeacon]

@Dogdeacon

I'll give you Purvis, I forgot about him. It's not semantics. The only reason Jackson and Vital got the minutes they did is because Gilbert and Larrier were hurt.

Gilbert and Larrier played. They were starters. They will be starters again this year. You can pretend that's not the case to argue for the sake of arguing, but regardless, we return 3 of our best 4 players from last year.

If they aren't good enough to start, then this team is going to be really, really, good.

Its not for the sake of arguing, its the fact that they don't have a year of game experience and didn't spend enough time playing thru a season together. For example you cannot argue with this; UConn has to replace 96% of its minutes.
Therefore its nonsensical to say they'll accomplish that with 3 returning players. Two didn't play in the final 29 games and one never played at all. That's why every article about UConn mentions near total roster overhaul.

I agree that at a minimum the 3 most talented are still on the roster - only with the caveat that Larrier & Gilbert's lack of game/playing experience will be a hurdle to overcome especially with a brand new bigs.

 

[Huskybass]

Yes. In addition to competitiveness, team chemistry, preparedness, and winning, I will look at

• the big man coaching. We have a lot of young big men and DK is coaching bigs for the first time. If we see the frontcourt develop that would relieve a lot of worries.
• tempo. Can we push the pace offensively and defensively? KO has a full roster of his own recruits for the first time. The team should play his style. If he can't teach his own recruits to play his style, then he is still immature as a coach.

On the topic of tempo, every year we hear that the team is going to run. I will believe it when I see it. Way too many 61-58 rockfights over the past 3 seasons in my opinion. If they can rebound and run a little, it will be fun to watch.

 

[ctchamps]

UConn v Oregon is a great matchup because the teams are comparably talented and both have a lot of newcomers and have to build chemistry fast. In that sense it is a great test for the head coaches - who can get their team up to speed fastest?

How about home court factor?

 

[ctchamps]

On the topic of tempo, every year we hear that the team is going to run. I will believe it when I see it. Way too many 61-58 rockfights over the past 3 seasons in my opinion. If they can rebound and run a little, it will be fun to watch.

Part of the reason for that low scoring is because of tempo in the games UConn plays. And part of that tempo is the result of really good UConn defense.

But I agree UConn has not been able to put up numbers on offense. I can't believe the number of times players missed bunnies last season.

 

[intlzncster]

On the topic of tempo, every year we hear that the team is going to run. I will believe it when I see it. Way too many 61-58 rockfights over the past 3 seasons in my opinion. If they can rebound and run a little, it will be fun to watch.

This has been true, largely because of guys like Brimah, Nolan, Enoch, Facey, et al. When you can't board well and can't throw outlets at all, it's really, really tough to run.

Apparently, Cobb can pass. That's huge. I'm hoping the new blood, with the energy and athleticism can rebound better than in recent years.

 

[Waquoit]

But if someone is arguing that Ollie hasn't shown the ability to beat weak teams, it's absolutely relevant to remind that poster how silly he sounds.

Ollie didn't have the team ready to play start last season. It's not silly to be concerned that might happen again.

 

[MSGSeven]

Ollie didn't have the team ready to play start last season. It's not silly to be concerned that might happen again.

There's no excuse for losing to Wagner and Northeastern especially at home and I'm sure no one's more aware of that than KO. Jalen wasn't Jalen until Maui and I (as I'm sure many UConn fans are) am very happy to be moving on from the Purvis and Brimah eras.

It's a new team and new season. I think KO and staff did an excellent job putting this current team together especially with all the defections and negativity surrounding the program. We got some momentum here with some quality commitments for next year. We might even get a huge break and have Wilson for this season. Regardless, it's time for Husky Nation to put last year behind us and support this program/team 100%. KO and the players are saying and doing all the right things.

Just talking in general not jumping on you Waquoit cause your point is valid.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Yeah because people won't understand that Dec Arizona is always going to better than Dec UConn.

Why does that have to be the case? Why can't we be the program that comes out in November firing on all cylinders, punching people in the mouth, and cementing top 10 status.

Not saying that will or should happen this year, but there's no reason why it should never happen.

 

[polycom]

Why does that have to be the case? Why can't we be the program that comes out in November firing on all cylinders, punching people in the mouth, and cementing top 10 status.

Not saying that will or should happen this year, but there's no reason why it should never happen.

It should however recent history hasn't shown that to be true, however I shouldn't have said never.

 

[Tenspro2002]

It should however recent history hasn't shown that to be true, however I shouldn't have said never.

That's fair. It's true that KO lately has not had his teams ready to play at the start of the year.

That's different than saying that the program is incapable of fast, dominant starts. To say that is tantamount to relegating our program to second-tier (or worse) status, which isn't acceptable.

 

[KingAG]

Nope, I was responding to somebody else who said we own Arizona and we've beat them in December a couple times. So I asked how that was remotely relevant to this year's team? New year, new team. In fact, really new team.

I believe its relevant because someone said we are never better than zona in nov and dec so he brought up times when we were. Unless im reading it wromg

 

[BlueMAB]

Its not for the sake of arguing, its the fact that they don't have a year of game experience and didn't spend enough time playing thru a season together. For example you cannot argue with this; UConn has to replace 96% of its minutes.
Therefore its nonsensical to say they'll accomplish that with 3 returning players. Two didn't play in the final 29 games and one never played at all. That's why every article about UConn mentions near total roster overhaul.

I agree that at a minimum the 3 most talented are still on the roster - only with the caveat that Larrier & Gilbert's lack of game/playing experience will be a hurdle to overcome especially with a brand new bigs.

You keep saying "they" don't have a year of game experience. Larrier played his freshman year at VCU, so he does have college experience.

My only point was to refute what @gtcam said. he made the argument there's a "huge difference" between returning your best players based on "performance" or based on "name".

Larrier and Gilbert weren't starting because of their names. They were starting because of their talent and their performance in practice and in the games. They were, and still are, 2 of our best players.

I never said there weren't a ton of other players that had to be replaced, only that our "best" players are back.

 

[Stainmaster]

Larrier played his freshman year at VCU, so he does have college experience.

In before someone claims Larrier's "mediocre" freshman year numbers mean that year doesn't count.

 

[dennismenace]

C'mon. The 5 best players last season were Jalen Adams, Purvis, Vital, Jackson and either Facey or Brimah. The best returning players are Adams & Vital and that's it. After those 2 UConn lost 96% of the minutes played last year. Two guys that played less than 7 games total and 1 that played 0 are not returning players. Its a pretty simple definition of returning player to have played.

You can play semantics and say our top 4 talent is intact, but fact is they don't have playing experience and that's exactly why the early season learning to play together will take time and unknown if they will be firing on all cylinders early. Plus the fact that they haven't played and missed time makes us all nervous that something else injury-wise is unfortunately at least in play.

Not disputing anything in your very good post above. There is one factor that can help balance this picture. We have experienced (Adams and Vital) guards as well as pretty impressive guys who were doing just fine until felled by injuries last year (Gilbert and Larrier). Some rust yes, but they should be better than they were at the start of last season. I like their character a lot and I think they are ready to come at some people. It must have killed them to watch last year.
Add a lot of hungry huskies itching for playing time and I feel fairly confident that this team has enough leadership to play with their heads and hearts and not witness again what we saw last year. I am really looking forward to these guys showing us something; especially a no quit, no excuses attitude. That in itself will tell us what they are made of. Can't wait!

 

[intlzncster]

Why
does that have to be the case? Why can't we be the program that comes out in November firing on all cylinders, punching people in the mouth, and cementing top 10 status.

Not saying that will or should happen this year, but there's no reason why it should never happen.

It should however recent history hasn't shown that to be true, however I shouldn't have said never.

Also, it helps having 5star studs or very good experienced upperclassmen. Along with a team that's played together.

 

[gtcam]

You keep saying "they" don't have a year of game experience. Larrier played his freshman year at VCU, so he does have college experience.

My only point was to refute what @gtcam said. he made the argument there's a "huge difference" between returning your best players based on "performance" or based on "name".

Larrier and Gilbert weren't starting because of their names. They were starting because of their talent and their performance in practice and in the games. They were, and still are, 2 of our best players.

I never said there weren't a ton of other players that had to be replaced, only that our "best" players are back.

I guess you can refute if you look at who someone assumes to be our best players last year but when I looked at the best players, I can only base it on performance and they would be JA, RP, VJ and CV. AG and TL played extremely limited time and while I agree "on paper' they look to be two of the best, no one knows what would have happened if they played full year
I am not sure what Oregon has on the roster but know they lost 3 big time contributors but also had 3 underclass who played a lot.
My point was guys who played - not redshirts or injured etc.
Its potential vs reality and I have a hard time saying someone is" best" based on potential vs actual game experience
To me the difference is huge but I can see both sides of the argument

In the end - it's 2017-2018 and a complete new team for UConn and perhaps for Oregon also
Last year means nothing to me now and I assume it means nothing to the players of both teams

 

[champs99and04]

C'mon. The 5 best players last season were Jalen Adams, Purvis, Vital, Jackson and either Facey or Brimah. The best returning players are Adams & Vital and that's it. After those 2 UConn lost 96% of the minutes played last year. Two guys that played less than 7 games total and 1 that played 0 are not returning players. Its a pretty simple definition of returning player to have played.

You can play semantics and say our top 4 talent is intact, but fact is they don't have playing experience and that's exactly why the early season learning to play together will take time and unknown if they will be firing on all cylinders early. Plus the fact that they haven't played and missed time makes us all nervous that something else injury-wise is unfortunately at least in play.

Vital and Jackson were not better than Facey or Brimah last season. Jackson was a horrendous defender and probably a net negative player overall and Vital was probably average at best on defense and didn't start shooting the ball well until conference play. Purvis was arguably better than both of those two as well - even though he had a historically bad shooting season he was a beast defensively who looked like he should have been playing safety in the NFL.

To some extent I agree that it will be tough to gel immediately given the roster turnover, but at the same time I think that's a bit of a crutch in an era of college basketball where it's the exception and not the norm to be retaining a large portion of your roster. We return our leader, best player, and floor general in addition to a ballsy sophomore who played nearly every second of our biggest games last season and three talented red-shirts who at the very least have been around the program for over a year, practiced for a month, and gotten game experience. I'm not expecting us to be the best team next season, but there is no reason we shouldn't be ready to go for day one and I don't think the unbalanced schedule is a great excuse.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Vital and Jackson were not better than Facey or Brimah last season. Jackson was a horrendous defender and probably a net negative player overall and Vital was probably average at best on defense and didn't start shooting the ball well until conference play. Purvis was arguably better than both of those two as well - even though he had a historically bad shooting season he was a beast defensively who looked like he should have been playing safety in the NFL.

To some extent I agree that it will be tough to gel immediately given the roster turnover, but at the same time I think that's a bit of a crutch in an era of college basketball where it's the exception and not the norm to be retaining a large portion of your roster. We return our leader, best player, and floor general in addition to a ballsy sophomore who played nearly every second of our biggest games last season and three talented red-shirts who at the very least have been around the program for over a year, practiced for a month, and gotten game experience. I'm not expecting us to be the best team next season, but there is no reason we shouldn't be ready to go for day one and I don't think the unbalanced schedule is a great excuse.

You kind of take both sides, I think there's absolutely a reasonable case that you outlined for Brimah & Facey being better and more important that Vital or JaCkSoN. But either way we lose 3/4 and on-court UConn experience is lacking. Sure there's immense turnover in today's CBB, but most of the evidence from KO's coaching tenure is that his team's take awhile to come together. So I think realistic optimism for up & down potentially disjointed start (yet hopefully signs to talent evidenced by signature win) and healthy hopes for a very good team once they gel. But we need a lot to go right most importantly an energized, rededicated Ollie riding hard on all of this.

 

[Huskymagic]

You kind of take both sides, I think there's absolutely a reasonable case that you outlined for Brimah & Facey being better and more important that Vital or JaCkSoN. But either way we lose 3/4 and on-court UConn experience is lacking. Sure there's immense turnover in today's CBB, but most of the evidence from KO's coaching tenure is that his team's take awhile to come together. So I think realistic optimism for up & down potentially disjointed start (yet hopefully signs to talent evidenced by signature win) and healthy hopes for a very good team once they gel. But we need a lot to go right most importantly an energized, rededicated Ollie riding hard on all of this.

Losing almost every big game in November and December is not good enough at UCONN. Of course we want to gel in February and March but not at the cost of trying to sneak into the NCAA by having to win the AAC tournament.

We need to be the team that dishes out the pain against top opponents not the other way around. That's how you build toughness and a will to win in teams.

With Calhoun this was almost always the case as UCONN played great against out of conference opponents. If Ollie can't do that then we will not be the same UCONN again.

 

[intlzncster]

Losing almost every big game in November and December is not good enough at UCONN. Of course we want to gel in February and March but not at the cost of trying to sneak into the NCAA by having to win the AAC tournament.

We need to be the team that dishes out the pain against top opponents not the other way around. That's how you build toughness and a will to win in teams.

With Calhoun this was almost always the case as UCONN played great against out of conference opponents. If Ollie can't do that then we will not be the same UCONN again.

With JC, people were whining about scheduling so many cupcakes so early. Too many 'regional' games. Even though it was the smart thing to do. One or two big games fine.

But it's a different animal now. Damn near ALL our big games are in the first half. Tough to run train that way.

Yeah, we should win more (last year doesn't even need to be mentioned). But it helps having an experienced club. Nobody should be using 2011 as a barometer. There's a reason that season was 'magical', and really, it started in Maui.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I think the fact we have 13 legimate players to go at full bore preseason gets us better prepared to start the season.
With Diarra out and other guys rehabbing ,last years preseason practices had to be less than what a coach would want.

 

[Waquoit]

Based on the optimism here, I have a future book ticket on UConn. Ten smackers gets me back a thousand. Go Huskies!

 

[BlueMAB]

Ollie didn't have the team ready to play start last season. It's not silly to be concerned that might happen again.

Again, I didn't say anything about him not having the team ready.

Palatine said Ollie hasn't "shown the ability" to beat Yale, Northeastern, and Wagner.

That's silly.

 

[David 76]

I'm getting whiplash from the turnaround here.

For months I kept hearing how horrible this team,this coach, league and our whole situation was. Emergency recruits were three star nobodies that confirmed our failure.
Now posters are saying if we aren't near or at a thirteenth-five team, it is a failure of coaching. I know we brought in two good recruits. But it is likely neither will play this year. How differing from garbage to top 25?

Is it the optimism of pre-season? Is it different posters than those that were so pessimistic? Is it the pessimists setting themselves up for their next gripe? I'm seriously confused.
Calling our front court a question mark Is being generous. We have two players that have played basketball together on this team.
Those looking for a fast start and a top 25 season are really optimistic. I hope it happens but expecting it or being critical of less is far too Pollyanna for me.