Making UCONN Basketball Great Again

[huskymagic]

Fellow Boneyarders as disappointing as the loss to Wagner was last night and it was for all of us, there is a way to make UCONN basketball great again. Going forward, it is very clear that Alterique is a natural point guard and one of our top 3 players. He needs to start and play max minutes. Jalen needs to start at the 2 as he is a combo guard who works better off the ball. He is similar to Jerome Dyson. Rodney is a 6th man type who should be on th bench going forward. We need to reward the best players and most effective and high basketball IQ players on the court who have the right chemistry. Christian Vital showed that he is an upgrade over Purvis in terms of ball handling, passing, defensive intensity, and understanding and reacting to the game. He should be starting as well. Terry showed he has the talent and game and was our best player along with Alterique. He should be playing max minutes unless in foul trouble. At the center spot, no question that Brimah is still our best big man. Despite all his faults, none of our big men are better than him yet. It is obvious that we need to play a smaller, more cohesive unit with Amida as the anchor. Guys need to be held accountable during game time that poor play and effort on defense will be immediately rewarded with a nice warm seat on the bench.

P.S. Jim Calhoun needs to be added as a special assistant on the bench to help Kevin Ollie for the next 2 years with in game-decision making, personnel decisions, and understanding when to take time outs and light a fire under players who aren't performing. UCONN needs a tough guy coach who players fear not a "feel good" coach with catchy cliches.

P.S. I really find it mind-boggling that Jalen blamed the loss on the freshman guys inexperience as he called it. That's scary coming from your supposed best player and team leader. Without the freshman and Terry we would have been blown out by 30.

Starting lineup going forward: Alterique, Christian Vital, Jalen, Terry, Amida

Bench: Rodney, Vance, Juwan, Mamadou.

 

[temery]

P.S. Jim Calhoun needs to be added as a special assistant on the bench to help Kevin Ollie ...

Had the idea. Love the idea. But my guess is it's been considered but rejected.

 

[Kemba'sYogurt]

What's the deal with mamadou? Still dealing with a sore knee?

 

[pnow15]

I would like to see Mamadou before benching him.

 

[temery]

I would like to see Mamadou before benching him.

Buy him some flowers and make your move.

 

[8893]

I'm sure they'll be stronger together soon.

Or not.

 

[Kitaman]

AG is not the answer, he'll get starters minutes. The answer to me is simply sit those who are not performing and let them sulk until they do, especially in the early season. Wait too long it will be too late. I know that old school, cruel and potentially confidence destroying but JC had that approach down pat along with a quick hook.

I see no message(s) being sent when players produce mediocre and poor performances during games. Makes me wonder what is the expectation, and what is unacceptable.

 

[jdb50]

I'd like to see less in game sad faces and more in game coaching from KO.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Had the idea. Love the idea. But my guess is it's been considered but rejected.

Jim Calhoun is nobody's Assistant, no matter how "special".

 

[temery]

Jim Calhoun is nobody's Assistant, no matter how "special".

Funny thing is if he wanted to do it I doubt he'd care. He is one of the least pretentious men on the planet.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Funny thing is if he wanted to do it I doubt he'd care. He is one of the least pretentious men on the planet.

Not even from an ego standpoint. I don't think he has a passive gene in his body. Too "alpha", as some may put it, to sit on a UConn bench in an assistant role.

Would be like Kemba coming back to play behind Jalen.

 

[temery]

Not even from an ego standpoint. I don't think he has a passive gene in his body. Too "alpha", as some may put it, to sit on a UConn bench in an assistant role.

If ego were his motivation, he'd be seen as the white knight coming to the rescue. More than enough to feed an ego.

Regardless, it's not going to happen.

 

[huskymagic]

AG is not the answer, he'll get starters minutes. The answer to me is simply sit those who are not performing and let them sulk until they do, especially in the early season. Wait too long it will be too late. I know that old school, cruel and potentially confidence destroying but JC had that approach down pat along with a quick hook.

I see no message(s) being sent when players produce mediocre and poor performances during games. Makes me wonder what is the expectation, and what is unacceptable.

Agree that Ollie needs to develop a tough guy attitude and demeanor on the sidelines and hold players accountable. I absolutely agree with that. However, Alterique is more of an answer than Kentan or Purvis. He needs to play and start for us to be a good team. Our perimeter defense, intensity, and rebounding leave a lot to be desired. That is the main problem on our team we don't have toughness and heart out there. Guys like Alterique and Vital showed they have it.

Rebounding is about attitude, will, and desire more than anything. We have too many guys not showing that and playing like they are in pick-up games. That is on Ollie to immediately call timeouts and get angry with guys and bench them when they are being outworked by smaller and less talented teams.

 

[huskymagic]

P.S. Guys that are complaining about scheduling Wagner are delusional and part of the problem. We are UCONN and should not be worrying about scheduling a team with an RPI in the 200s. Kansas is playing Indiana. Arizona is playing Michigan St on Day 1. The bigger problem is guys not knowing their roles, being tentative and soft on offense and defense, being outworked by smaller and less talented teams.

Kevin Ollie needs to look in the mirror an stop overhyping guys and teams before they show anything. Guys needs to have a workman's atittude and a warrior mentality on the court and that is exactly what is missing.

 

[UconnFanNVa]

AG is not the answer, he'll get starters minutes. The answer to me is simply sit those who are not performing and let them sulk until they do, especially in the early season. Wait too long it will be too late. I know that old school, cruel and potentially confidence destroying but JC had that approach down pat along with a quick hook.

I see no message(s) being sent when players produce mediocre and poor performances during games. Makes me wonder what is the expectation, and what is unacceptable.

My fear is that ko wants to give amida and purvis a chance to prove themselves for an NBA opportunity. I say you need to earn minutes and if they aren't producing bench them! We'll see what Ollie does.

 

[UConnNick]

My fear is that ko wants to give amida and purvis a chance to prove themselves for an NBA opportunity. I say you need to earn minutes and if they aren't producing bench them! We'll see what Ollie does.

Neither one of them is within light years of being good enough for anything but a courtesy workout with any NBA teams. Ollie should be able to see that. They would each have to improve exponentially to have any hope of making the NBA. We're not primarily running an NBA training academy. Ollie should play whomever gives us the best chance to win now.

 

[nhHusky]

This was a terrible loss that I really never thought could happen. Therefore we should all meet at the Towers Quad, march down to Gampel, and begin full fledged rioting, burning and looting, while expressing fear for the future of our university.
Maybe we can train Jonathan to become a therapy dog in the event of any future loss.

 

[BugsyCT]

Not to attack Brimah or Purvis, but after watching them the last 2-3 years, we're not going far if they are the leaders of this team. KO has to develop the young players quickly and get them involved & playing as a cohesive unit. Otherwise we're in for a long frustrating season.

 

[sledog]

From 1 game, it seems Gilbear has the spirit.

 

[CTBasketball]

Not to attack Brimah or Purvis, but after watching them the last 2-3 years, we're not going far if they are the leaders of this team. KO has to develop the young players quickly and get them involved & playing as a cohesive unit. Otherwise we're in for a long frustrating season.

In order to be a true leader, you need to have a high basketball IQ. Brimah does not have a high basketball IQ. Purvis is streaky, but I think he knows the game better than most on our team.

See the following:

• Shabazz Napier
• Kemba Walker
• AJ Price
• Jeff Adrien
• Emeka Okafor
• Caron Butler
• Ricky Moore
• Khaled El-Amin
• Doron Sheffer
• Ray Allen