KO and this season

[Palatine]

KO deserves some of the blame for the meltdown. He said so himself.

It's the coaches job to put the players in a position to win. It's the coaches job to figure out what players can and can't do and ask them to do the things they are capable of and to minimize their weaknesses. It the coaches job to devise a game plan. He needs to be able to adjust it. He also needs to adjust his personnel during the course of a game. To find advantageous match ups.

Ollie didn't do any of these particularly well in L'ville. Certainly the players shot the ball very poorly. But a lot of responsibility for their play lies with KO.

BTW, I don't think we gave up. I thought the Huskies looked gassed. L'ville was clearly the better conditioned team. And their substitution pattern kept them fresh. And yes, some of that is coaching as well.

 

[Lefty2one]

It's definitely on him to a certain extent but honestly he's still WAY a head of the game for being a coach with two years experience. He isn't going to walk in the door and be a HOFer from Day 1. There are going to be some bumps in the road. I still like a lot about how the kids has played on the court since he took over.

That and we're still reeling for the APR ban, Calhoun leaving and Ollie's short-term deal that hurt us on the recruiting trail. Simply put, this isn't a typical UConn team from a talent perspective. I don't know that we've had such a glaring weakness on one of our teams (the front court) in the past 25 years.

I'm going to give KO at least three more years and let our 2014 and 2015 kids come in and see where we are there.

 

[OkaForPrez]

At least he's never looked like the coach of the Lobos did last night when Steve Fisher went 1-3-1 to take away the high low. The guy looked dumbfounded. Even the sideline reporter said he was just sitting in the huddle not talking during the timeouts.

 

[SixRings]

Hiring a coach into D1 without any HC experience is risky but WM knew this. But he also knew that KO's top strength starting out would be developing a recruiting pipeline with his NBA experience, history with players, history with UConn and overall likability and competency as a person. If KO can build his coaching resume quickly, while this recruiting is going on, he will be great. He has recruited an extremely talented group of kids so far. I don't think you have to go too far out on a limb to say that he is going to be an incredible recruiter over the next few years as long as they win to some measurable degree. Now, in order for the high level of recruiting to continue after he has to show he is building his ability to coach to the highest level, and beat some HOF coaches in a national spotlight (beyond S16), win with his recruits and ultimately put them into the NBA. Or the flow slows and the process breaks down. But he passes with a big gold star so far and knows what the next steps are. Did I mention recruiting is important?

 

[JLock819]

You'd think we were a .500 team struggling for the NIT if you read this thread without watching a game.

 

[caw]

Some people are seriously over analyzing this UL game. Sometimes a bad matchup is just a bad matchup. Throw in a ton of missed layups, free throws and even open jumpers UConn usually hits and you end up with the final score. Go watch the game again and count how many missed shots UConn had. It wasn't effort or hustle or defense or even rebounding (well at least for the first 30 minutes). It wasn't even always bad offense.

UL has issues with Memphis because Memphis has bigger stronger guards who don't get as worn out with physical defense UL plays.

UConn has two smaller guards. Even Kemba had trouble with UL. The last time UConn outplayed UL UConn had AJ and Dyson who were bigger and stronger guards. Not to mention Thabeet and Adrien.

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

For some reason according to this board, if you question the coach then you're not a uconn fan. But if you rip the players to shreds, Blame it all on them, and question their heart and effort then that's ok.
Makes sense I guess. I'm not a uconn fan because I'm questioning KOs in game coaching and preparation. Ya know only after our WORST LOSS IN 22 YEARS.

Right. Got it

 

[mauconnfan]

For some reason according to this board, if you question the coach then you're not a uconn fan. But if you rip the players to shreds, Blame it all on them, and question their heart and effort then that's ok.
Makes sense I guess. I'm not a uconn fan because I'm questioning KOs in game coaching and preparation. Ya know only after our WORST LOSS IN 22 YEARS.

Right. Got it

You can question him, he's the coach. Just don't doubt he belongs as many did. Let's check to see what coach was on the other end that awful performance "22 years ago"?? Oh gee he turned out pretty good didn't he and I'm guessing there were some people jumping off the ledge then too……..

 

[James]

Interested to see how we bounce back.

 

[NCHusky91]

BTW, I don't think we gave up. I thought the Huskies looked gassed. L'ville was clearly the better conditioned team. And their substitution pattern kept them fresh. And yes, some of that is coaching as well.

About them being gassed, a lot of that could have to do with the excessive travel of this lousy conference and too many Wednesday 9:00 PM games.

 

[upstater]

Some people are seriously over analyzing this UL game. Sometimes a bad matchup is just a bad matchup. Throw in a ton of missed layups, free throws and even open jumpers UConn usually hits and you end up with the final score. Go watch the game again and count how many missed shots UConn had. It wasn't effort or hustle or defense or even rebounding (well at least for the first 30 minutes). It wasn't even always bad offense.

UL has issues with Memphis because Memphis has bigger stronger guards who don't get as worn out with physical defense UL plays.

UConn has two smaller guards. Even Kemba had trouble with UL. The last time UConn outplayed UL UConn had AJ and Dyson who were bigger and stronger guards. Not to mention Thabeet and Adrien.

I agree there wasn't a lack of hustle per se, but for sure they were intimidated. You could even see it in Bazz's wide open 3 on the break. He threw up a line drive. None of the arc you typically see on Bazz's 3s.

 

[Ewekon]

I am confident KO will become a good coach. If you looked at 3 time NC champ JC could it possibly surprise you he was getting his way to the end? Not a dime back in any metaphor you choose. He did essentially shove KO down Warde's throat. That may in time turn out to be the best thing that ever happens for us. Still, as one poster who's handle I cannot remember often says, "We are UConn dammit. Our HC job would be coveted regardless of the BS conference situation. A full search with KO possibly and probably getting the job would have been nice. JC deft played his final hand as is 3 NC and 4 saw fit. God bless him.

 

[Huskygamble19]

I think KO is a work in progress, but is learning every game. He envisions the bigger guards to alleviate the pressure of the type of zone that teams such as louisville throw at him. He will need more scoring from the bigs and hopefully they can actually take a dish and finish it off. the bigs now bobble the ball and lose it out of bounds on most trips. This is all in his plans for the future. He is saddled with smaller guards now and has to make do with that for now. Bazz is the only competent real scorer and is pressured constantly by opposing teams because Boat can't be counted on to take up the slack. Calhoun has been a major disappointment this year and has really hampered the KO plan. I think KO will be a success as a coach, but only time and his vision will tell.

 

[Kitaman]

He is still coaching Calhoun's team with the exception of Samuel and Brimah. Remember back then he did not have a secure contract which made it practically impossible to recruit. He now has security, and is unrestricted from recruiting, a winning record, great media coverage and he's just getting started.

So he's our 'baby coach', we just have to watch him grow, celebrating the big steps, smiling at the miscues and encouraging him through the tough times.

To me he is exempt from judgement (which is different than critiquing) for 4-5 more years. So please don't jump to conclusions, its his nature to work hard, get better and be victorious at the end. The team he has now is not a Final Four team, no matter how hard we try to make them one. BUT he has them winning, playing competitive and representing UConn quite well.

Just wait till he has 'his team', then the real fun begins.

 

[jibsey]

I would like to watch the first practice after the blowout because I'm pretty sure KO and his staff do everything right, in fact coaches on the broadcasts are always lauding KO for what they see in his preparations, but remember what a great coach John Wooden was? Remember the talent he had? Our deficiencies in talent at certain spots rear their ugly head at times so I'm giving KO slack.

 

[freescooter]

Ollie earns his bones or he doesn't by the way this team performs from here on. Qualifying for the Dance was something they needed to do and they did but it wasn't exactly a brutal march given that we had a dozen games against pretty awful basketball teams. That they only lost one of the real crapola games is a to be commended. Now the real season starts.

And nelson, I'm not sure if you followed Jim Calhoun's pre-UConn career. He took a team that was playing D2 and within 3 years of an upgrade had them getting to the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament. Jim Calhoun was Jim Calhoun even then.

 

[freescooter]

I would like to watch the first practice after the blowout because I'm pretty sure KO and his staff do everything right, in fact coaches on the broadcasts are always lauding KO for what they see in his preparations, but remember what a great coach John Wooden was? Remember the talent he had? Our deficiencies in talent at certain spots rear their ugly head at times so I'm giving KO slack.

In the strange thread about the sabotage, people compare Ollie to Pasqualoni. Its insane, but the supposed lack of talent was a P style excuse. Next we'll be reading that the "cupboard is bare."

 

[Ct79]

While you are not wrong that it is more advantageous to have bigger players against a zone, small guards can get it done. Kemba and Shabazz had no problem. Khalid had no problem. Not have any offensive presence whatsoever in the post is a killer. Omar being a black hole is a killer. Streaky 3pt shooters is a killer. Lack of athleticism at the wing position is a killer. We don't have just one issue is what I'm trying to say.

I feel like Kemba and Bazz did have problems with the zone. I 2011 every team would use the zone against us because we couldn't beat it until we started getting consistent production from Lamb and even Jamal Coombs-McDaniel had a few big games busting up the zone. We don't have the athleticism on the wing like we are used to and that is a big problem but on saturday I felt like Daniels, Giffey and Kromah were trying to get into the middle of the zone but the gaurds weren't giving them the ball enough.

 

[caw]

In the strange thread about the sabotage, people compare Ollie to Pasqualoni. Its insane, but the supposed lack of talent was a P style excuse. Next we'll be reading that the "cupboard is bare."

There isn't a lack of talent at all. I agree. There is a lack of bulk though. Unfortunately this UConn team has a lack of big inside players and smaller guards. This was known, I don't get why some find this to be a shock.

Watching the stats. UConn was matching UL rebound for rebound up until the ten minute mark in the second half. The bigger issue was missed shots. Open or contested. Nothing was falling. That and some bad luck.

The turning point was a ball that bounced through a bigs hands off Boats head, off the floor between the two UConn players and to ULs big SVT. It looked like it was UConn on a delayed fast break down 7 (or 9?) and turned into a quick UL score which set up their press and began the quick slide. Not saying that UConn would have won if that had landed in a UConn players hands, just pointing out how sometimes even luck is against you.

 

[pj]

Most plausible complaints about KO:
1. He has failed at working the officials. It's like NBA officials calling fouls on rookies and letting stars get away with murder - the HOF 30-year coaches have been getting all the calls and KO/UConn have gotten none.
2. A number of players (DD is the foremost example) seemingly haven't progressed on the strength and conditioning front. JC's teams used to be some of the best-conditioned teams in the NCAA.
3. The team has had lapses of will from time to time. JC was always demanding his kids to impose their will on the opponent, to out-will them. KO hasn't obviously focused as much on this aspect.

(1) may not be in KO's power to change, in any case it's the least important aspect of a coach's job. Officials have the obligation to call the game fairly. (2) is something he ought to be able to leave to the strength and conditioning staff and the players. We have a new S&C staff in place and hopefully we'll see better results there next year. (3) is a concern, but teams often focus better in the post-season than in the dog days of the regular season. Also, KO has to create his own personal coaching style, different from JC's, and it may take a few years of KO maturing and/or him getting his own recruits who respond to that style, before his style begins to show its merits.

Most of the other problems with this team are limitations of the players.

 

[aceboon]

In regards to #3....where do you guys come up with this stuff? So when the 2010 & 2012 teams didn't live up to season expectations, was it because JC did a poor job of instilling his will into the team(I actually just laughed while typing that because of how silly it sounds)? If you were to attend a practice, do you really think you could determine how much time KO spent practicing "instilling will"? When a team comes up short, and contrary to popular opinon on here, JC coached teams did actually get blown out or give up leads to teams, its not always a case of a team lacking in "will".

Most plausible complaints about KO:
1. He has failed at working the officials. It's like NBA officials calling fouls on rookies and letting stars get away with murder - the HOF 30-year coaches have been getting all the calls and KO/UConn have gotten none.
2. A number of players (DD is the foremost example) seemingly haven't progressed on the strength and conditioning front. JC's teams used to be some of the best-conditioned teams in the NCAA.
3. The team has had lapses of will from time to time. JC was always demanding his kids to impose their will on the opponent, to out-will them. KO hasn't obviously focused as much on this aspect.

(1) may not be in KO's power to change, in any case it's the least important aspect of a coach's job. Officials have the obligation to call the game fairly. (2) is something he ought to be able to leave to the strength and conditioning staff and the players. We have a new S&C staff in place and hopefully we'll see better results there next year. (3) is a concern, but teams often focus better in the post-season than in the dog days of the regular season. Also, KO has to create his own personal coaching style, different from JC's, and it may take a few years of KO maturing and/or him getting his own recruits who respond to that style, before his style begins to show its merits.

Most of the other problems with this team are limitations of the players.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

They completely imposed their will on Iowa State in the tourney two years ago. Unfortunately, they also got run out of the gym. But the will thing was important, so kudos to Calhoun for that.

 

[James]

In other news jeff goodman published an insider article today saying KO is one of five coaches who could leave for an nba HC gig , today. But a large portion of posters on this board still think he is still trying out for this uconn job , ha. Delusional

 

[Jluc]

We're 24-7 with no offensive big men. We are going to the NCAA tournament as a seed between 4-6. We have beaten Florida, Cincy, and Memphis (twice) this year. This guy is in his SECOND year of head coaching at any level and is barley 40 years old. He has not really even had his own recruits to work with yet and we know how good he's been recruiting so far. He's going to be a great coach and anybody that thinks otherwise probably should think about whether or not they actually are a UCONN fan. Relax people.

 

[pj]

In regards to #3....where do you guys come up with this stuff? So when the 2010 & 2012 teams didn't live up to season expectations, was it because JC did a poor job of instilling his will into the team(I actually just laughed while typing that because of how silly it sounds)? If you were to attend a practice, do you really think you could determine how much time KO spent practicing "instilling will"? When a team comes up short, and contrary to popular opinon on here, JC coached teams did actually get blown out or give up leads to teams, its not always a case of a team lacking in "will".

call it what you will -- toughness, tenacity, dedication, competitive spirit -- but when March came around JC's teams were sometimes defeated, but they were never beaten.

This is KO's first March so we shall see.

For the record, I was defending KO, arguing that there is little he can be criticized for. But if you don't think competitive fire and tenacious drive matter, or that the coach has something to do with whether teams have those, then I don't know what to say.

 

[freescooter]

I'll give you my measuring stick, which most of the KO cheer squad won't do (whoever said 5 years is just inane.) This year he had to: A. Make it to the Dance; B.get to the Finals of the AAC tournament; and C. get through at least the first round of the NCAA tournament. A good performance in C outweighs a poor one in B. A good perofrmance = Sweet 16.

 

[mauconnfan]

There isn't a lack of talent at all. I agree. There is a lack of bulk though. Unfortunately this UConn team has a lack of big inside players and smaller guards. This was known, I don't get why some find this to be a shock.

Watching the stats. UConn was matching UL rebound for rebound up until the ten minute mark in the second half. The bigger issue was missed shots. Open or contested. Nothing was falling. That and some bad luck.

The turning point was a ball that bounced through a bigs hands off Boats head, off the floor between the two UConn players and to ULs big SVT. It looked like it was UConn on a delayed fast break down 7 (or 9?) and turned into a quick UL score which set up their press and began the quick slide. Not saying that UConn would have won if that had landed in a UConn players hands, just pointing out how sometimes even luck is against you.

There may not be a lack of talent but there is a lack of "game"……..Everyone needs to explain the me the many talents that DD, Omar, Niels, Lasan, Phil, Tyler, Omar have? please remember in basketball "talent" means being able to dribble more than once with someone guarding you, pass to someone without someone stealing it, dribble past someone who does guard you so you can get a lay up twice a year, rebound with a guy next to you whom you have to beat to the ball and stop a guy who is a bench player normally from getting 13 rebounds? I'm missing something people if you believe these guys are better than they are….we have a 5'11 guy leading them in everything and the 5'9 guy may be 2nd………KO has some blame but please, real it is not much. Kids have the chance to get better if they want…..let's remember our HOF coach had to deal with 2 kids who refused to come back ready in 2011 in AO and Roscoe and I'm guessing they're off season wasn't all that much of hard work……certainly showed!!

 

[James]

There may not be a lack of talent but there is a lack of "game"……..Everyone needs to explain the me the many talents that DD, Omar, Niels, Lasan, Phil, Tyler, Omar have? please remember in basketball "talent" means being able to dribble more than once with someone guarding you, pass to someone without someone stealing it, dribble past someone who does guard you so you can get a lay up twice a year, rebound with a guy next to you whom you have to beat to the ball and stop a guy who is a bench player normally from getting 13 rebounds? I'm missing something people if you believe these guys are better than they are….we have a 5'11 guy leading them in everything and the 5'9 guy may be 2nd………KO has some blame but please, real it is not much. Kids have the chance to get better if they want…..let's remember our HOF coach had to deal with 2 kids who refused to come back ready in 2011 in AO and Roscoe and I'm guessing they're off season wasn't all that much of hard work……certainly showed!!

Mentioned Omar twice! ha. Also Napier is 6'1 people. DD's skills are so absolute, he's good at two things : set jumpers and blocking shots (preferably weakside). I have a hard time believing he can even complete a competent ball handling drill. He's obviously staying this year, he better chug whey protein and bring spalding with him everywhere on campus.
On another note, recently i was looking back at a fonder time when I had believed Olander could turn into a marginial nba player when he was in HS... wow It really hurts he never developed since his freshman year. A developed olander, (see tim abromitis, TO had much higher upside in HS; dunking, hitting threes) would be the perfect solution for this squad. A guy who could knockdown midrange jumpers when a small gets trapped and also rebound. All in all KO is coaching is ass off so theres nothing really for me to complain about.

 

[mauconnfan]

Didn't mean the Omar squared mention….sorry

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

call it what you will -- toughness, tenacity, dedication, competitive spirit -- but when March came around JC's teams were sometimes defeated, but they were never beaten.

I mean, that's just completely untrue. I'm sorry but in Calhoun's last game as a coach they got embarrassed.