Not another negative thread, a rational thread.

[USNA90]

What exactly is it that all the "complimentary" and/or "athletic" players bring to this team? What role do all these "role players" play? It would be one thing if they had a guy who was a lights-out shooter they brought in for instant offense and to shoot free throws at the end of a game, or an offensively-challenged big who eats space in the center and can rebound - that's what role players do. UConn doesn't have those guys. From what I can see, it's basically Adams, Vital, Larrier, and then a bunch of "role players" who can't shoot, (based on tonight's performance) can't rebound, can't dribble, and can't pass. It's like this team has eight guys who do nothing more than bring five fouls to the table.

Sad to say, but the talent on last year's team was head and shoulders above the talent on this team. Last year, UConn had at least six guys who you could potentially score (Adams, Vital, Brimah, Purvis, Jackson, and even Facey on occasion). To think I was hoping that this team would be better due to addition by subtraction.

 

[bazzdog]

This is what it currently feels like:

1. Beginning of the season the roster is healthy
2. Slowly but surely started to show promise with the roster (blew out BU, beat Oregon in Oregon)
3. Gilbert gets injured
4. Team starts playing an embarrassing brand of basketball
5. For the next 11 games, the team looks mediocre to OK
6. Team finally starts to figure out with roster less Gilbert v. UCF & Tulane
7. Then Larrier goes out and likely is the straw that breaks the camels back

My point is that this was a horribly coached game by KO and looking at how we got here, it feels like it takes him a while to course correct as the lineup keeps thinning out. It's not an excuse, just an observation.

I'll also add that this is not the game I would ballistic on KO. Hard when you have one truly good player and a bunch of guys that are more complimentary in skillset. That title belongs with [insert bad loss here of your preference since 2014].

Vital is good when he doesn't have to force it up or create too much -- he was asked to do both today and the results were horrendous.

I'm not going to draw anything from this but Ollie did not do a good job (obviously).

I also don't play AA and DO rest of season. They are both bad and I'd rather let young guys get experience who are the future.

Bingo-it's a combination of everything......injuries, coaching, limited talent.

I agree no more AA and DO. May be AA for a few minutes but let the young bigs play and develop.

 

[nms233]

No other coach takes this current group of players (and next year's) and makes them better. Sorry. Someone mentioned going with 3 guards last night as a coaching issue - who else brings up the ball if we don't play Anderson?

 

[The Funster]

Guys can't shoot, dribble and pass. Guys can't defend the 3 ball or the rim, don't know how to properly rotate and box out. We've got guys with low energy to start games, guys with headaches and bad shoulders and guys who get overly demonstrative when they hit a three and a two consecutively. We've got guys who make faces, stare at the ground while holding rolled up papers and pretend that drawing up a simple inbounds play is the equivalent of writing War and Peace.

We can rip the kids all we want but only one person is responsible for this hot steaming mess: the coach.

 

[nms233]

Guys can't shoot, dribble and pass. Guys can't defend the 3 ball or the rim, don't know how to properly rotate and box out. We've got guys with low energy to start games, guys with headaches and bad shoulders and guys who get overly demonstrative when they hit a three and a two consecutively. We've got guys who make faces, stare at the ground while holding rolled up papers and pretend that drawing up a simple inbounds play is the equivalent of writing War and Peace.

We can rip the kids all we want but only one person is responsible for this hot steaming mess: the coach.

No other coach makes Antoine Anderson a better shooter. No other coach makes Antoine Anderson a better ball-handler. No other coach makes Vital a better ball-handler. You can bench him for show-boating, you can yell at him for being overly demonstrative, but he's a top 3 scorer on this team so unfortunately, you don't have the luxury of pulling him for an extended period of time. No other coach puts 20 lbs of muscle on Whaley and Carlton to stop Parks from bullying his way to 21 pts and 11 rebounds.

 

[tentoes4rings]

I have a buyout thought for everyone. Why wouldn’t the famed nba alum pony up the loot to save the U if they felt KO was killing it? Not a jab at the haters just a thought. Wouldn’t take much more than a phone call or brute to for those guys to get 9 mill together in a week or so.

This is actually a great point but KO is their brother essentially. I can’t see them kicking in to cost him his job.

 

[Waquoit]

Tonight was just a crap show, nothing else to be said.

Worse. They figured they weren't going to win without Larrier so they took the night off.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

And some think hanging onto Ollie is worth it to keep the commitment of the 90th best high school player?

Serious question, where is the cash coming from to buy out KO's contract (I apologize in advance if you are a significant enough contributor to cover it)? Most who aren't crying constantly about the need to can our current head coach are accepting of the strong likelihood of him being here for the remainder of this season and the entirety of next season.

If it were presented to us that the buyout has already been covered, I'm sure nearly everyone here would be posting about who they would like to see as our next head coach.