Makai Ashton Langford asks for Release

[TRest]

I was planning a quiet celebration with friends because of the Wichita State news, and this really puts a damper on things.

 

[Tuna]

Or, it is different people.

Some people have been critical of MAL all along, including a certain poster who attends many games and has never been impressed. The same poster recently said he is sold on MAL because Ollie is sold, and because MAL's team seems to always win, and those were his first words before launching into a stream of negatives.

MAL is highly regarded, but we can't pretend that he doesn't have his detractors. He does.

I will say after watching an 8 minute video of him the other day I was a little nervous that it was like he didn't even have a left hand. Unless he goes to syracuse, best of luck to him and hope we land one of the available pg's.

 

[JMick]

Oz seems weirdly happy makai is gone. Eithet he's gone off the deep end evidenced by his strange comments recently OR he knows something we dont. Im hoping its the latter

Sure looks like he's gone off the deep end to me.

 

[KingAG]

hence the word "unofficial" which you glossed right over in order to make a point.

But he isnt even unofficial. He's literally one of us...A FAN that knows KO. No other fans of any othet school know or care what Oz has to say. I gurantee you makai also doesnt care what Oz has to say. He's just as much a mouth piece as 99 or any other underground insider

 

[HuskyHawk]

Quite a few big boys (Kansas & Duke in particular) could use a true PG.

Nope. Malik Newman is now at KU (former #2 overall recruit went to Miss State), and Graham is back.

That leads me to a larger point I'm not understanding here. Mediocre players are unwilling to stay at UConn and get solid minutes if not "star" minutes, while higher rated recruits go to places like Kansas and sit on the bench.

 

[the Q]

I hate to be the one to say it but if a kid wants to come to UConn, then great but everyone works for minutes. No freshman, unless maybe if he's the second coming of LeBron or Jordan, should really have the expectation of picking up 20+ minutes per game. This year was anomalous with all the injuries. Minutes need to and should be earned. I don't give a rat's hairy backside if you were the best player on your high school/JUCO/AAU team. At UConn, we play for the name on the front of the jersey - not the back. If a guy isn't willing to do that, well... NEXT...

This sucks, absolutely. But the sky isn't falling. Look at our teams that have taken the national title - how many of those kids were top 10, 20, 30, 50 guys? (I honestly don't know the answer to this.) I'd have to say (and would like to think) most of them were blue collar guys who wanted to work for UConn.

I think the most loaded team we ever had was 06...and it proved to be an embarrassingly bad waste of talent.

 

[Tenspro2002]

It's not officially bad news until Tenspro comes in here to tell us that Ollie only has 2 years left to show us something.

How much rope do you give him?

His 2017 class is basically nothing. His 2016 class has produced so far one good player who's actually played and is sticking around. The on-court results have been pathetic the last 3 years. Player development has been lacking.

At some point the results have to be there, or we have to go another direction. It's that simple.

 

[husky99]

But ollie cell number is not in my contact list.

But he isnt even unofficial. He's literally one of us...A FAN that knows KO. No other fans of any othet school know or care what Oz has to say. I gurantee you makai also doesnt care what Oz has to say. He's just as much a mouth piece as 99 or any other underground insider

 

[gampelcrazies]

TBH I never understood why he would come here. He would have to play behind Alterique Gilbert and Jalen Adams (if they are still here). Why would a top recruit do that?

 

[BUConn10]

I was planning a quiet celebration with friends because of the Wichita State news, and this really puts a damper on things.

The stuff our fan base celebrates in 2017. Not a dog at you btw Trest just funny.

 

[the Q]

Nope. Malik Newman is now at KU (former #2 overall recruit went to Miss State), and Graham is back.

That leads me to a larger point I'm not understanding here. Mediocre players are unwilling to stay at UConn and get solid minutes if not "star" minutes, while higher rated recruits go to places like Kansas and sit on the bench.

If i'm not mistaken Newman is a 2 and while Graham's game is interesting, he's more of a combo guard himself.

 

[BUConn10]

TBH I never understood why he would come here. He would have to play behind Alterique Gilbert and Jalen Adams (if they are still here). Why would a top recruit do that?

We need to re-evaluate our definition and weight we give to the term "top recruit".

 

[Storrs South]

TBH I never understood why he would come here. He would have to play behind Alterique Gilbert and Jalen Adams (if they are still here). Why would a top recruit do that?

He probably thought Jalen would be in the NBA and he and Gilbert would run the show.

 

[BlueMAB]

If he doesn't think he's good enough to earn PT then I don't want him. I'm not saying we aren't impacted by this (unless/until we sign a replacement), but I don't want kids scared to compete for playing time. Our backcourt hasn't changed one iota since his commitment.

We need guys who want to play for the name on the front of the jersey, not the back. We need to build a team again, and then let the chips fall. Jackson is all about Jackson. Enoch is all about Enoch. If Vital wants to play somewhere where they can't/wont recruit somebody better than him, then he should drop down to division 2, because there's no place in division 1 where a coach wouldn't bother trying to recruit over him. That's the nature of college sports, you only get a few years, and they have to continually replace the talent. Deal with it.

 

[Mooch82]

Harris averaged 16 MPG on a solid EYBL team, MAL was the stud of the best Adidas Gauntlet and NEPSAC team. Harris is very good, but he is not MAL.

Obviously, Harris can fit into the 2 spot easier and is a very good talent, so I hope we land him. But it hurts to see our biggest signing go.

Definitely hurts....agreed. But MAL is no Jalen/Alterique/Kemba...watched him a few times and he isn't at that level. Again, Harris wouldn't be much of a drop off.

 

[Drew]

But he isnt even unofficial. He's literally one of us...A FAN that knows KO. No other fans of any othet school know or care what Oz has to say. I gurantee you makai also doesnt care what Oz has to say. He's just as much a mouth piece as 99 or any other underground insider

But ollie cell number is not in my contact list.

Thank you @husky99 for stating more clearly than me my point. its just not a good look, especially when what you're saying is more than likely inaccurate. You don't think other colleges we repeatedly go up against at least know of Oz? Almost every school has a few of these guys. I'm a Nebraska football fan- theres 3 or 4 guys that the fanbase and twitter paparazzi knows are very well connected to the program. Doesn't mean national journalists follow them or care about them but if you're close enough to the head coach that you are hanging around the team, photographed with him before games, and interacting with players on a somewhat consistent basis you probably shouldn't be mouthing off on twitter whenever a kid leaves. Its a bad look.

 

[UConnSwag11]

How much rope do you give him?

His 2017 class is basically nothing. His 2016 class has produced so far one good player who's actually played and is sticking around. The on-court results have been pathetic the last 3 years. Player development has been lacking.

At some point the results have to be there, or we have to go another direction. It's that simple.

The only year I give him heat is with Miller and Gibbs. A lot of talent and didn't utilize Miller and Adams properly

 

[BUConn10]

Now that we can be frank... I always thought MAL was a gear slower than everyone else in what I saw of him. Still stings like a mother though.

 

[Yankees32123]

I'm not sure this whole crazy strange trip is over yet. Sounds like the staff is holding onto every player they can.

What are you hearing?

 

[Stainmaster]

You want to know what drives me crazy about the crap Stairmaster says? Ask him who would replace KO in the event he leaves.

Last time we got into this same thing he said we should fire KO because we can't do any better, and then went on to suggest that our best bet would be to have to resort to poaching King Rice from Monmouth, the guy who turned down the Duquesne job recently, are you fn kidding me, that's the definition of delusion, frankly it's offensive.

For the last goshdarn time, you can't have it both ways.

You call this program a raging inferno, others are calling it a death spiral. If things get worse than they are now to the point where Ollie is canned, who in their right mind would still want this job?

We live in a world where coaches are leaving non-P5 schools with unquestionably better basketball programs for P5 ADs that can give them much more coin (Buzz Williams and Will Wade just to name two). Why would someone jump on board with a UConn program that Kevin Ollie runs far enough into the ground to lose his job after being Calhoun's handpicked guy and winning a title in his second year, especially now that the AAC is starting to become a serious drain on the AD's finances compared to the P5? Even "diehard fans" are running for cover, if that's happening then who honestly believes that someone who's being offered more money to coach in the B1G or the ACC, play against a much higher level of in-season competition and have a much easier time recruiting would come here? I heard Archie Miller and Gregg Marshall thrown around here a few weeks ago - people thought he would come to "dumpster fire" UConn over IU, a B1G school where he can actually recruit 5-star talent on a level playing field, and where it's so easy to amass success that Tom friggin' Crean won the conference multiple times? People thought Marshall would leave the program he built for another school that will likely be in the exact same conference, get paid less than what the Koch brothers are throwing at him, and have to recruit an entire region of the country he has no familiarity with? And to think you call me delusional...

Also, the fact that you're whining about me receiving likes shows that you are not to be taken seriously, that is quite honestly garbage. I don't care one iota what other people think of my views, and I certainly don't need others to shower me with attention and positive affirmation the way you seem to.

 

[KingAG]

Thank you @husky99 for stating more clearly than me my point. its just not a good look, especially when what you're saying is more than likely inaccurate. You don't think other colleges we repeatedly go up against at least know of Oz? Almost every school has a few of these guys. I'm a Nebraska football fan- theres 3 or 4 guys that the fanbase and twitter paparazzi knows are very well connected to the program. Doesn't mean national journalists follow them or care about them but if you're close enough to the head coach that you are hanging around the team, photographed with him before games, and interacting with players on a somewhat consistent basis you probably shouldn't be mouthing off on twitter whenever a kid leaves. Its a bad look.

If thats what you believe then your not wrong. I just dont believe what Oz tweets or says matter at all outside of die hard UConn fans ljke me and you.

 

[djct1999]

I'm not sure this whole crazy strange trip is over yet. Sounds like the staff is holding onto every player they can.

Good. Time to strip this down to the bare bone and start fresh.

 

[BUConn10]

For the last goshdarn time, you can't have it both ways.

You call this program a raging inferno, others are calling it a death spiral. If things get worse than they are now to the point where Ollie is canned, who in their right mind would still want this job?

We live in a world where coaches are leaving non-P5 schools with unquestionably better basketball programs for P5 ADs that can give them much more coin (Buzz Williams and Will Wade just to name two). Why would someone jump on board with a UConn program that Kevin Ollie runs far enough into the ground to lose his job after being Calhoun's handpicked guy and winning a title in his second year, especially now that the AAC is starting to become a serious drain on the AD's finances compared to the P5? Even "diehard fans" are running for cover, if that's happening then who honestly believes that someone who's being offered more money to coach in the B1G or the ACC, play against a much higher level of in-season competition and have a much easier time recruiting would come here? I heard Archie Miller and Gregg Marshall thrown around here a few weeks ago - people thought he would come to "dumpster fire" UConn over IU, a B1G school where he can actually recruit 5-star talent on a level playing field, and where it's so easy to amass success that Tom friggin' Crean won the conference multiple times? People thought Marshall would leave the program he built for another school that will likely be in the exact same conference, get paid less than what the Koch brothers are throwing at him, and have to recruit an entire region of the country he has no familiarity with? And to think you call me delusional...

Also, the fact that you're whining about me receiving likes shows that you are not to be taken seriously, that is quite honestly garbage. I don't care one iota what other people think of my views, and I certainly don't need others to shower me with attention and positive affirmation the way you seem to.

I can't take someone who thinks the best we can do is King Rice seriously, there's problems but that's offensive. As for the "raging inferno" putting words in my mouth is a great way to start a page long whine about being called out for being wrong, all while doing it in a signature doosh fashion. Finally, "likes" are a way to estimate public support for something or another, there's nothing childish about mentioning it, but if your name calling I can tell you are desperate at this point.

 

[Walker11]

The slimmest part of me wants to see more destruction for the Oz schadenfreude.

 

[Tenspro2002]

The recruiting track record is turning out to be awful. KO just isn't going after the right type of players.

Setting aside the 2013 class where we largely took what was available, and were hampered by awful BBIQ (Purvis, Brimah, Facey), this is who KO has brought in:

2014
Hamilton (talented and heady, but no toughness or leadership and no desire to be here)
Lubin (nowhere near good enough for this level)

2015
Adams (bona fide stud)
Enoch (no skill, toughness, or IQ, and didn't want to be here)

2016
Larrier (TBD, highly rated but had a mediocre season at VCU before getting injured here)
Gilbert (injury problems coming in showed up again)
Diarra (chronic injury problems)
Durham (multiple injuries coming in)
Vital (underrated, with classic UConn toughness)
Jackson (decent player, but no desire to be here)

2017
Diallo should have been a slam dunk for us, put all our eggs in that basket and failed
MAL shied away from competition before setting foot on the court
Cobb (TBD, low-rated, who knows what we'll get)
Polley (TBD, low-rated, who knows what we'll get)
Carlton (TBD, low-rated, who knows what we'll get)

That's basically 2 sure-fire successes, 5-6 failures, and a whole bunch of question marks. Nowhere near good enough.

Hopefully Chillious will be able to turn this around.

 

[TopDogs]

Enoch (no skill, toughness, or IQ, and didn't want to be here)

I don't know if it's fair to say Enoch didn't want to be here. In the end, no, I don't think he did, but when he was recruited, didn't he call UConn his dream school?

 

[Waquoit]

As much as a prized recruit he was, the truth is he never played a game for us. Not a consolation by any means just some perspective.

What perspective is that?

 

[TopDogs]

What perspective is that?

Maybe perspective that you can't miss what you never had?

 

[Mike Honcho]

The slimmest part of me wants to see more destruction for the Oz schadenfreude.

Ha. I'm with you.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Has there been any follow-up on the reason for this de-commit?

Was it concern about playing time?
Relationship with Miller?

Anyone close enough to the situation reveal anything beyond the usual platitudes and double-speak?