My run down of the Ollie years.

[mauconnfan]

Come for the misreading of OP as Mau, stay for the ouch .

LOL I feel some of maine's pain but not to the full extent.

I've been out of touch and not at all in the mood to argue or reply all that much, that pup in my avatar seems to be down to her last days and UConn basketball has taken a back seat for the past few days, it makes me sadder than I already am by watching them.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

LOL I feel some of maine's pain but not to the full extent.

I've been out of touch and not at all in the mood to argue or reply all that much, that pup in my avatar seems to be down to her last days and UConn basketball has taken a back seat for the past few days, it makes me sadder than I already am by watching them.

So sorry to hear this. I sensed your absence. Hang in there.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Read what you wrote about coming into this year. Lost a good chunk of their best recruiting class in a few years. Your solid core of Adams, Larrier, and Gilbert lost one, the ball handler. Your "good supporting cast" was clearly not based on seeing all of the newcomers play, but based on hope, I guess. Throw in a very tough schedule and your expectations were way too optimistic coming into the season.

I disagree. I had similar feelings coming in. When you have new players, you project. Same with returning players. Otherwise, how would Kentucky be ranked, since they play half freshmen almost every year?

Based on what we had coming in, we had a stud PG in Gilbert coming off of injury. A guy in Larrier who looked very good before getting hurt last year. Adams, who played almost by himself last year and still got us to 18 wins. Vital who showed promise and who should take a step up. Diallo, a highly regarded recruit with a very solid body, and a year in the program (although he didn't play). Some nice pieces coming in with Carlton, Cobb, Polley, Whaley, and I expected a couple to emerge as key contributors (which they have). Add Anderson and DO for veteran depth.

Did it pan out? No. But not due to the freshmen, but because:

• Gilbert was lost again
• Larrier has played very tentatively around the basket on offense, shying away from contact
• Adams had to once again shift from SG mentality to PG, and is running an offense that doesn't properly direct him. Defenses are keying on him and our system relies too much on him to create.
• Diallo has either disappointed or Ollie is too dumb to let him play through the young player mistakes. Probably some of both
• Vital decided that his contributions late last season meant that he was the second coming of Michael Jordan. He has regressed.
• Cobb showed flashes of skill, but got himself suspended