Mamadou Diarra played three more minutes than David Onuorah this season | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Mamadou Diarra played three more minutes than David Onuorah this season

uconnbill said:
Diarra was misused this entire season and should have played more and anyone who can see knows this.

Diarra was not on Agau most of the time.
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I just rewatched Agau's minutes. Diarrra was on him much more than anyone!! He really was. Watch it.

I would have liked to see Diarra a lot more this year too. At PF. But he was also a foul machine. I think I would have gotten to see him more... if this were the old 6-foul Big East.
 
upstater said:
You'll see next year what a disaster Enoch is. You can't give layups to 6 foot guards without any resistance whatsoever.

You guys are trying to fit weaker 6'6" guys into the center position. Diarra is just not strong enough. Carlton is much stronger, and he only has 2 more inches on him.
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We need the kind of center the late Al McGuire always called an "aircraft carrier". We have zero rim protectors because none of our bigs are big or strong enough to do what Brimah did, even though he was a foul machine.

Our perimeter D is so bad we need a Brimah/Okwandu/Thabeet/Okafor/Voskuhl type as our last line of rim defense. If we could start scaring some of these teams away from the rim we might have a chance to guard somebody on the perimeter. When we give up drives to the basket, we need somebody there to erase those mistakes.
 
selles said:
Blah blah blah. I was a KO defender for a long time but I always thought one of his biggest weaknesses was refusing to play young bigs because of their failings in positional defense. How do you get better at your failings if you don't play? This was true of Facey as a frosh, Lubin (yeah I know a limited player, but Nolan was horrific), and Enoch as a freshman. It was also true this year with Dave O vs. the youngsters.

You have to give young guys minutes so that they can improve. KO does that in the backcourt, but does not do it AT ALL in the frontcourt.

As for the "he's not a center" argument, blue93 is right. Play TWO of them, instead of trying to pretend Larrier is remotely capable of being a 4. If you're Whaley or Carlton or Diarra and Larrier is your 4, WTF chance do you have at trying to stop anything inside? And yet somehow the blame for that always falls on them.

Finally, and the crucial point - Dave O didn't ever stop anyone from anything anyway so why on earth play him so much.
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It all goes back to having no real Bigs Coach as Chief has been advocating for a few years. In Ollie’s mind he solves that problem by bringing in a precoached grad transfer, who must lead the country in illegal screens per minutes played.
So what that Clyde V paid $10 for a BJ 14 years ago on a Hartford street. The dude could coach and recruit.
 
upstater said:
Akoy Agau had the best game of his career against mainly Diarra today.

I mean, what more proof do you need?

This is a replay of the Enoch/Brimah argument last year.

When Enoch was in, there was absolutely no resistance at all.

There's a reason so many bigs, like Agau, have been successful against UConn this year.

Williams? At center? Please.

People were even calling for Cobb. What a disaster that was today.
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I don't have any doubt Diarra could play the 5 but he would need to understand defense a heck of a lot more. Agau didn't have a career game because Diarra is too small it was because he's clueless on positioning on D, whether it would be bodying up or playing off his man. He has decent feet but that doesn't matter of you don't know how/when to use them, and he's strong enough too. Williams, no way.
 
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selles said:
As for the "he's not a center" argument, blue93 is right. Play TWO of them, instead of trying to pretend Larrier is remotely capable of being a 4. If you're Whaley or Carlton or Diarra and Larrier is your 4, WTF chance do you have at trying to stop anything inside? And yet somehow the blame for that always falls on them.
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This. I wrote in another post that Ollie’s seemingly-beloved 3 guard lineup is useful down the stretch when you’re protecting a lead and you want FT shooting and ball-handling on the court. And possibly if the team you’re playing can’t hurt you inside. But if they can hurt you, then you have to double inside, and that leaves - ta da! - open threes.

Larrier isn’t a four, and is a lousy defender to boot. Ollie from day 1 needed to develop a 4/5 rotation involving Carlton/Cobb at 5, Diarra/Williams at 4, and Whaley swinging 4-5 depending on matchups. Period, full stop.
 
selles said:
Finally, and the crucial point - Dave O didn't ever stop anyone from anything anyway so why on earth play him so much.
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Because:
1) he made our team defense schemes go from patently abysmal to just simply horrible
2) Because he showed a better motor in practice and games than the other choices. Say what you want about DO his skillsets were lacking but he played harder than everyone.
 
August_West said:
Because:
1) he made our team defense schemes go from patently abysmal to just simply horrible
2) Because he showed a better motor in practice and games than the other choices. Say what you want about DO his skillsets were lacking but he played harder than everyone.
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Both true, but his 1 year timeline and very limited upside means you have to see the big picture and develop players to supplant him.
 
August_West said:
Because:
1) he made our team defense schemes go from patently abysmal to just simply horrible
2) Because he showed a better motor in practice and games than the other choices. Say what you want about DO his skillsets were lacking but he played harder than everyone.
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He did not play harder than Kwintin Williams. Your statement is absolutely false.
 
mauconnfan said:
I don't have any doubt Diarra could play the 5 but he would need to understand defense a heck of a lot more. Agau didn't have a career game because Diarra is too small it was because he's clueless on positioning on D, whether it would be bodying up or playing off his man. He has decent feet but that doesn't matter of you don't know how/when to use them, and he's strong enough too. Williams, no way.
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Don't think he's strong enough. Even when he has position, he gets blown back when backed down on the blocks. Even Carlton does better with that. Strength is my main beef with him.
 
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Chief00 said:
It all goes back to having no real Bigs Coach as Chief has been advocating for a few years. In Ollie’s mind he solves that problem by bringing in a precoached grad transfer, who must lead the country in illegal screens per minutes played.
So what that Clyde V paid $10 for a BJ 14 years ago on a Hartford street. The dude could coach and recruit.
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Enoch, Durham, Brimah, Facey went out the door. The calendar said it was May.

Your options at that point are: Whaley, Cobb, Onuorah.

This comes down on Ollie for bad recruiting, but not because he has a plan to bring in well-coached Ivy League transfers.
 
Guys, I just ran a few of my statistical models. If Diarra played more minutes, it turns out our record would be exactly the same. The clear conclusion after sorting through piles and piles of data was that while you all are right that DO isn't any good, neither is Diarra, except of course at getting called for a foul.
 
blue93 said:
Personally I think it can only work if you have a true 4 in there too. Larrier had no business being our 4 all year. And unfortunately if KO is back, Sid Wilson will probably get stuck in the same role. It's like KO is trying to recreate Deandre Daniels.
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This right here.

Larrier is not a 4, Sid Wilson is not a 4. Ollie loves small ball and wants so badly to have a stretch 4 and that has hurt this team this year. Next year people on the BY are even calling for Sid to play the 4. I don't care if he is a 20 times better rebounder than Larrier he is not a 4 at the college level. When you have a stretch 4 you take away any chance of an offensive rebound.
 
Doctor Hoop said:
This. I wrote in another post that Ollie’s seemingly-beloved 3 guard lineup is useful down the stretch when you’re protecting a lead and you want FT shooting and ball-handling on the court. And possibly if the team you’re playing can’t hurt you inside. But if they can hurt you, then you have to double inside, and that leaves - ta da! - open threes.

Larrier isn’t a four, and is a lousy defender to boot. Ollie from day 1 needed to develop a 4/5 rotation involving Carlton/Cobb at 5, Diarra/Williams at 4, and Whaley swinging 4-5 depending on matchups. Period, full stop.
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Absolutely. Diarra needed to play, and would have learned how not to foul, and defend. But he also needed to play alongside Carlton, as a PF. That's his position. All season, Ollie insisted on the stupid 3 guard lineup, and played a swingman (Larrier or Polley) out of position. That made both Larrier and Polley less effective, hurt our rebounding and interior defense, and just generally made us easy to defend. That he didn't recognize this is astonishing. The front court rotation should probably have been Carlton with Diarra and Cobb with Whaley, with variations on match-ups. Larrier at the 3, and Polley as his backup. Adams and Vital, with Anderson backing up both of them. That's it. It's not rocket science.

I don't think there was anybody on this team that really knew what their role was game to game. Now we'll do it all over. When Adams knew he was a PG and played as a PG, he was tremendously effective. But for two years in a row, he prepared to be an off guard. Now he will do that all over again. It's a role he's not good at.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Absolutely. Diarra needed to play, and would have learned how not to foul, and defend. But he also needed to play alongside Carlton, as a PF. That's his position. All season, Ollie insisted on the stupid 3 guard lineup, and played a swingman (Larrier or Polley) out of position. That made both Larrier and Polley less effective, hurt our rebounding and interior defense, and just generally made us easy to defend. That he didn't recognize this is astonishing. The front court rotation should probably have been Carlton with Diarra and Cobb with Whaley, with variations on match-ups. Larrier at the 3, and Polley as his backup. Adams and Vital, with Anderson backing up both of them. That's it. It's not rocket science.

I don't think there was anybody on this team that really knew what their role was game to game. Now we'll do it all over. When Adams knew he was a PG and played as a PG, he was tremendously effective. But for two years in a row, he prepared to be an off guard. Now he will do that all over again. It's a role he's not good at.
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Ok, we agree on lots but....

Cobb?!?!?!

Ball handling is of course a big problem on this team as well.

Pick your poison. No resistance down low, or no ball handling.
 
upstater said:
Ok, we agree on lots but....

Cobb?!?!?!

Ball handling is of course a big problem on this team as well.

Pick your poison. No resistance down low, or no ball handling.
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I'd expect Cobb and DO to split that backup center job based on performance. I think Cobb is rather talented, he just doesn't have any discipline. But a rotation like this allows you to coach properly. He screws up and drifts outside, you yank him and explain why. Same every single time Vital hoists up a stupid shot. Or Adams goes 1 on 4. Or Larrier dribbles into traffic. Hook....teachable moment. Over and over and over. Ollie set his lineups in such a way that he couldn't do that. He's done it for 3 years in a row now, and not surprisingly, nobody gets better.
 
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Huskybass said:
He did not play harder than Kwintin Williams. Your statement is absolutely false.
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Kwintin Williams didnt meet the criteria of number 1. And from all accounts was not bringing in practice.
 
champs99and04 said:
This is about his inability to grab a 19 year old kid by the balls and say listen son, next time your man nails a three while you’re drifting I’m putting you on a tee and sending you to mars.
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And here I was thinking that the only good thing about this season was that our coach wasn’t grabbing 19 year olds by the balls.
 
Doctor Hoop said:
Both true, but his 1 year timeline and very limited upside means you have to see the big picture and develop players to supplant him.
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I think KO made a big mistake with Diarra this year and if you go back to my obesrvations from early this season I was screaming for Diarra to get minutes. He was pretty much our best player in the two back to back early season Overtime victories. Diarra has by far the highest upside of any of our bigs and that includes Carlton. Diarra is an high level athlete who has quick twitch muscle reactions, strong at rim, active and bouncy on the offensive glass, and can catch and finish quickly.

He (like Enoch) is taking a while to grasp team defense concepts. And he sure fouls a lot.

In any case, he should have gotten way more minutes this year.
 
Lots of discussion on this thread about letting MD play and let him "learn" how not to foul. Who is going to teach him to do that? Would it be the same coaches that taught Brimah for 4 years? MD has now completed 2 years in the program. If his intent was to get better, he would have heard all the game advice being given to Brimah last year, all the film review for 2 years, etc. and all of the "coaches" critique for 2 years.

I like the tenacity of the kid, but his approach is to try and swat at everything in sight - rendering him in continuous foul trouble. Where is the coaching, or the intent to learn?

Coaching is very hard work, not many are cut out to be a coach/teacher/administrator/leader/disciplinarian/mentor/communicator...could go on for a bit.
 
August_West said:
Kwintin Williams didnt meet the criteria of number 1. And from all accounts was not bringing in practice.
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"All accounts" or one quasi sort of implied account? The whole "practice motor" thing reminds me of when Jimy Williams was managing the Sox and would answer every question with "Manager's decision".

Jimy, why are you batting Darren Lewis leadoff even though he can't hit? "Manager's decision"

KO, why can't Kwintin Williams get off the bench even though he was the only guy who showed a glimmer of a pulse last game? "Practice motor"
 
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Foul trouble led him on the bench ... can’t trust him out there .. every time he defended one on one was either a score or he fouled now granted some calls were horrible.. do I like his upside yes , do I trust him not contesting without fouling nope ...! And he got abused by a guy avg 4 points a game ... another game somebody reaches a career high on us...! Only thing I was mad at big O yesterday was him getting his shot blocked by the rim ... man if Whaley has Big O size he would be a monster ... let’s hope we can find that do it all big like a shonn Miller but taller
 
selles said:
"All accounts" or one quasi sort of implied account? The whole "practice motor" thing reminds me of when Jimy Williams was managing the Sox and would answer every question with "Manager's decision".

Jimy, why are you batting Darren Lewis leadoff even though he can't hit? "Manager's decision"

KO, why can't Kwintin Williams get off the bench even though he was the only guy who showed a glimmer of a pulse last game? "Practice motor"
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How many games did you go to this year?

I like the energy Kwintin brought in a couple blow out losses. But did you ever sit in the crowd and strictly focus on Kwintin on the rare times he got in a game that wasnt a blowout? Because a TV wont spot shadow him.

He had absolutely no idea where to be on the floor on both ends. NONE.

If he did play harder than DO it wasnt by much. And their defensive awareness in comparison isnt on the same planet.

Do people really think Kwintin williams not seeing the floor this year was a long term problem? He doesnt really have a future here any more than DO did. So take the "he needs to develop" part out of this equation. THe dude is 24 years old with one year of organized basketball under his belt.

CMON

From a "player needs minutes to develop standpoint"
Diarra not seeing the floor is a problem. Polley not getting enough run....Whaley even. Kwintin Williams? Nope.
 
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Horatio said:
In Andersons defense, he played outside of his Initial role on the team. He wasn't suppose to get that many minutes (I hope) but he did due to injury and a decommit. That's not his fault.
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I don't know about that. KO sang his praises early in the year about playing at the next level
 
Our entire front line had issues. Each player showed signs of good things, followed by extended periods of WTF basketball.
Re-arranging the deck chairs on TITANIC makes no sense because the ship was going down.
This season we were clearly going nowhere so the minutes should have been allocated to the freshman more so than 1 year senior
Then Ollie could have done his development magic, the same way he did with Brimah, lol kidding
 
my2cents said:
Our entire front line had issues. Each player showed signs of good things, followed by extended periods of WTF basketball.
Re-arranging the deck chairs on TITANIC makes no sense because the ship was going down.
This season we were clearly going nowhere so the minutes should have been allocated to the freshman more so than 1 year senior
Then Ollie could have done his development magic, the same way he did with Brimah, lol kidding
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Agree with the Titanic analogy.
The reason that I have heard from talking with some associated with the team is that DO was the one guy in practice who pushed himself and others, meanwhile Diarra practiced hard but missed some time nursing the knees, and the others just haven't learned/understood that practice makes a difference. Also heard that Cobb started the season as a practice beast but slowly started to trend down as his game time dwindled due to fouls/mistakes and bonehead plays
AB was a different case - at 7' he should have cared enough to work on those aspects of the game he needed but the guy, from reports, was not a hard worker during the off season
 
Onourah's greatest legacy will be that he helped our APR score average for a few years down the road.
 
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