KO

[CTBasketball]

So basically, your argument is that Calhoun would have lost the Marquette game by two more points than Ollie did?

On a more serious note, you're really grasping at straws here with some of your criticisms. We see ranked teams being upset by mid-majors all the time, and you're saying our three wins over mid-major teams of 17 points or more are "too close for comfort?" Are you aware that UNC and Notre Dame lost to mid-majors yesterday? Or that the #1 team in the country played a barn burner with Columbia the other day? Or that Indiana beat LIU by one point? What if you were a fan of any of those teams?

Maryland, Boston, and Yale all gave us games. We were 1 quick run from being down to Yale and Boston with less than 8 minutes to go. The Maryland game was decided by a shot with their star PG out.

I'm not saying he's doing a bad job. I'm saying more TO's during quick runs will calm the team down and get them focused. Calling a TO in those situations can only benefit. Because good teams will capitalize and take advantage of the game. Obviously it hasn't happened yet because we haven't played a good team yet, but it can happen when we go on defensive lapses.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

We were 1 quick run from being down to Yale and Boston with less than 8 minutes to go.

And if BU didn't go on their one quick run at the end of the first half, we win that game by 30 instead of 17. The bottom line is we beat both Yale and "Boston" by 17 points or more. The outcome of the Yale game in particular was never once in doubt once Giffey caught fire in the first half. And we essentially ran BU out of the gym on two different occassions yesterday.

I get your overall point - maybe Ollie needs to be quicker with his timeouts. But don't start acting like those "mistakes" almost led to us losing to Yale or BU. We won those games quite comfortably.

 

[bear]

Maryland, Boston, and Yale all gave us games. We were 1 quick run from being down to Yale and Boston with less than 8 minutes to go. The Maryland game was decided by a shot with their star PG out.

I'm not saying he's doing a bad job. I'm saying more TO's during quick runs will calm the team down and get them focused. Calling a TO in those situations can only benefit. Because good teams will capitalize and take advantage of the game. Obviously it hasn't happened yet because we haven't played a good team yet, but it can happen when we go on defensive lapses.

We've shown long stretches of absolute dominance against every team we've played. We've also had bad stretches where we've blown leads. Guess what, it's November 18th. These things are going to happen. The '11 championship team got blown out by St. John's and I recall the '04 team getting beaten pretty good by Georgia Tech early in that season.

The important thing is that we're 4-0 and the team hasn't given us reason to be anything but anxiously hopeful for this season. We've won 3 of our 4 games by 15+ points and beat Maryland on a neutral court in the first game of the season. I'll take it.

 

[hthusky74]

Welcome to Olliewood baby!

 

[Gurleyman]

I'm not following the timeout issue people seem to have.

We called one at 19-11 when BU went on a 7-0 run. That was our "use it or lose it" timeout in the first half.

It is foolish to call a timeout with a minute left in the half to stop momentum. You have a 15-minute halftime coming up to do that and make all the adjustments you want. Looking back in hindsight, you could say a timeout with 1:00 left would have been helpful to maybe keep the lead at 10-12, but these decisions are made in real time, and we had veteran leadership out on the floor. Giffey and Bazz missed shots and Giffey turned it over.

The one place we certainly could have called one and didn't was when BU took the lead after an 8-0 run in about 60 seconds. But we responded OK there - got ourselves regrouped before the first media TO and went on a 22-6 run.

 

[OklahomaUconn]

From everything I have seen and heard so far, Kevin Ollie is the perfect coach for Uconn. Everyone on the team seems to really like him and I have read virtually no negative comments. The team is becoming a family who really believes in him and will do anything for him. Even the opponents and the media seem to have great respect for him. He is talking to the right recruits and is bringing in some pretty good ones. The future is bright.

I tip my hat to Jim Calhoun who brought him in and practically forced Uconn to give him the job.

The ONLY thing i noticed was his substitution strategy game 1 after halftime. Not giving giffey minutes after being red hot. I give him the benefit of the doubt since having this much talent at his disposal makes it a little tough for any coach to give appropriate minutes to the appropriate players at the appropriate times. I hope i have appropriately conveyed my thoughts.

 

[Gurleyman]

The ONLY thing i noticed was his substitution strategy game 1 after halftime. Not giving giffey minutes after being red hot. I give him the benefit of the doubt since having this much talent at his disposal makes it a little tough for any coach to give appropriate minutes to the appropriate players at the appropriate times. I hope i have appropriately conveyed my thoughts.

And I think that issue could be explained in part on the other end. The guy he was guarding was just as hot, and DD was doing a good job on him in the second half, so they were hesitant to switch that up. You can argue whether it was the right move, but it wasn't just irrational.

 

[Palatine]

There are probably a lot of coaches who could do a great job at UConn. Ollie needs to be evaluated in the same fashion of any coach. As long as he continues to produce he has a place on the bench.

That said. I really like how well KO represents the school. And yes, he is doing a great job.

 

[babysheep]

We were 1 quick run from being down to Yale and Boston with less than 8 minutes to go.

Man good thing those runs never happened or else we would've been

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMED

because this team totally needs > 8 minutes to erase a BU lead.

 

[OklahomaUconn]

And I think that issue could be explained in part on the other end. The guy he was guarding was just as hot, and DD was doing a good job on him in the second half, so they were hesitant to switch that up. You can argue whether it was the right move, but it wasn't just irrational.

Yea also someone else pointed out that omar was red hot as well. So KO wouldn't want to pull him out. So who knows what was in his head at the time. I think he is doing great just by his ability to motivate.

 

[Afroabe224]

Too close for comfort? Lol. Please tell what margins of victory would be available for you.

"If [they're] not dead, it doesn't count"
-Mike Tyson

 

[ConnHuskBask]

This thread is priceless.

Former Huskies love him, the current Huskies love him and Jim Calhoun loves him.

NBA players love him, Hall of Fame coaches love him and NBA organizations love him.

Hell, even the mainstream media at ESPN loves the guy.

Yet on the Boneyard, he's getting picked apart by people who are complaining we aren't blowing teams out by enough points.

Sounds about right.

 

[60'sfan]

The ONLY thing i noticed was his substitution strategy game 1 after halftime. Not giving giffey minutes after being red hot. I give him the benefit of the doubt since having this much talent at his disposal makes it a little tough for any coach to give appropriate minutes to the appropriate players at the appropriate times. I hope i have appropriately conveyed my thoughts.

I was thinking the same thing as you but then it occurred to me that this is a preseason game and it may be that Ollie is trying to get as many minutes for everyone so he can see what they can do. I think he knows what Giffey can do and in a big game he will get plenty of minutes.

 

[Gurleyman]

This thread is priceless.

Former Huskies love him, the current Huskies love him and Jim Calhoun loves him.

NBA players love him, Hall of Fame coaches love him and NBA organizations love him.

Hell, even the mainstream media at ESPN loves the guy.

Yet on the Boneyard, he's getting picked apart by people who are complaining we aren't blowing teams out by enough points.

Sounds about right.

All we ask is that we start every game with a 15-0 or 20-2 run and then gradually pull away from there. Not asking too much.

 

[Inyatkin]

All we ask is that we start every game with a 15-0 or 20-2 run and then gradually pull away from there. Not asking too much.

Don't forget all our players putting up 20-10-5 on a nightly basis.

 

[jleves]

Don't forget all our players putting up 20-10-5 on a nightly basis.

Double doubles are for pussys!

 

[Robertelamin]

KO is easily the worst head coach we have had since Calhoun.