Not good.

[whaler11]

Why would losing to USF be such a big deal?

It was a lost season while they were still in Hawaii.

Who cares which team puts them out of their misery this week?

 

[QDOG5]

Ollie's apologists need to get a grip. I said it early that 2017-2018 season was judgement day for Ollie and our university moving forward. If Ollie misses the NCAA tournament next year, and we cant lure a Gregg Marshall who is the only candidate I would be looking for then a Tim Jankovich type I'm sure would do just fine at UCONN with the pedigree that UCONN provides. Watching what we have witnessed for the last 3 years only a fool would not be concerned about our program and its future. We are at risk of becoming Georgetown, St. Johns, UNLV, etc.

The problem with Ollie is that he is too much of a brother and preacher to players than a disciplinarian and Sargeant with players that you need to be successful. He thinks the "cool guy" personality who can relate to his players approach works, but it never works. I doubt he can change because that's who he is personality wise.

PS: We will return to the BEAST if we are ever in the situation to choose between basketball and football. By doing that we will be able to find some of the best coaching minds in the country make no mistake about that.

PS: What's the buyout on Ollie's new contract?

Tim Jankovich got fired at Illinois St. He's riding Larry Brown's coattails and SMU will never be as good as they are this year with him has HC. Mark it down.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Why would losing to USF be such a big deal?

It was a lost season while they were still in Hawaii.

Who cares which team puts them out of their misery this week?

Pride. If putting on a UConn jersey doesn't mean that you expect more than that, then it doesn't mean anything and this program is done.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I think it was Fishy who just pointed out they made one tourney in the 20 years prior to Marshall.

As I wrote in my original post, BEST CASE SCENARIO: you hire an excellent coach (which Marshall is) and you exit the tourney the first weekend every year.

Sorry, this program will not survive a Wichita St. existence.

And people here accuse me of accepting mediocrity?

How in the world can you possible make the claim that the only way UConn soldiers on as a top program is with Ollie in charge? If we continue to underperform and not make the NCAAs and we continue to not improve players and get them to the NBA, I doubt the fact that KO was a journeyman in the NBA a decade ago is really a strong sell to recruits. Kids want a chance to make the NBA above all else and we've done a very poor job in developing talent to go to the next level.

The idea that a) we couldn't hire a good coach given the salary we are paying and b) never make it past the first weekend on the NCAAs unless we have KO is absurd.

Make no mistake, the best case scenario for UConn is that KO improves and becomes the coach we all hope he can be, but at the same time how many more seasons can you give him to figure it out? If we're fearing not making the Sweet 16 without him, but we can't even make the Tournament with him, I just see a flaw in that logic.

 

[Excalibur]

You're like one post away from my ignore. Indiana is in the B1G, which means they can recruit players without much headwind. Ollie could go to Indiana tomorrow, recruit top 5 classes year after year, and win national championships. UConn is a different story. UConn is not Indiana. Everyone understands that.

I see what the problem is now. Many of you are delusional when you imagine UConn's place in the pecking order.

What you're missing is that we've been only somewhat competitive in the conference that we are in. There are plenty of reasons to not consider moving on now -- injuries, the weakness of the post-sanctions classes, upperclassmen who are clearly limited as players . . . but next year should and will be an appropriate point to make a judgment.

 

[Excalibur]

Fish I agree with you on Ollie. Here is my question if we somehow lose to USF in the opener of the AAC tournament which is not out of the question considering this team's mental state right now, what do you think the right course of action should be? How much leeway should Ollie get?

This weekend should have no bearing on any decision.

 

[QDOG5]

1. Did anyone else wish we WEREN'T on CBS yesterday?
2. We started 3 seniors all year. Despite the thin bench and injuries our record should have been better.
3. Expecting 25-6 next year is a reach. I'd settle for 24-7.
4. After the Cincy game I put on my 1999 NC tshirt and took my dogs for a walk. I want that competitive feeling again. Not sweating out a loss to ECU.

 

[CTBasketball]

W's and L's can be tallied. You can get some W's in this conference playing some pretty garbage basketball.

Quality of basketball, offense and defense, is what hurts to watch the most. We've almost regressed in those categories.

 

[upstater]

If it's all about P5 then explain Wichita State? Gonzaga? Hell, Cinci and SMU have been strong for those last three years in this league. Great coaches win anywhere. Stevens did it at Butler. UConn may not be in the same position as Indiana, Duke, UNC, UK or KU, but it's got more pull with recruits than WSU, Gonzaga and any other school in the AAC, along with most of the P5 programs. So that cannot be an excuse.

I don't want to fire him. I want him to learn how to coach college basketball. It isn't the NBA and he needs to stop acting like it is. He needs better advice from his assistants.

Gonzaga is the only one that is special. They have a singular coach who recruits very highly. If you're saying UConn can replicate Gonzaga, then I agree. But--chances are, UConn will not be able to do what every single other non-P5 has been trying to do now for ages: replicate Gonzaga. In fact, many P5s would love to replicate Gonzaga.

Cincy? I even mentioned them as example #1 of what we don't want to be. A good coach who seldom recruits top 100 players. And it shows. They bow out first weekend every year.

In fact, UConn had a better year than them LAST YEAR! Won the AAC championship--over Cincy. Beat Colorado, a P5 team. Many here are calling that a bad year. Well, it may have been a bad year, but it was still better than Cincy's year. And yet I agree with all of you that UConn should aspire to much more. My argument is the exact opposite of settling for mediocrity.

Cincy has been in that groundhog day loop for quite awhile.

SMU hasn't even done anything yet.

As I wrote earlier, I don't think it's a stretch to say a New England recruit might prefer PC over UConn for any number of reasons: conference, location, and if Ollie leaves, coach.

 

[boog204]

KO's earned one more year; that's what that title buys. Had Amida not caught the board against St. Joe's this might be it for KO. But that title gives him one WTF year. That being said, I have been extremely disappointed in the way we have played the past two years. No offensive cohesion, the same mistakes being made over and over again, and horrible fundamentals. The coach needs to be there to fix those issues and it has not happened. I cannot remember who posted it, but the gist was essentially that KO had one great year coaching (20-10, NCAA ban), one year with an incredible run (2014 title; many were not happy with how the team played at least 1/2 of that year), one bad year (Boat's SR year), one inconsistent year (last year) and one WTF year. That's basically 1/2 of his time here having been a bit eh overall. We have been decimated by injuries; we all know that. But there is talent on this team that has not gelled and worse yet, have looked lost for most of the season. That is as Fishy succinctly stated, is "not good."

 

[upstater]

So your solution is to keep a coaching mediocrity? If we get more of the same next year, how long can we survive that?

That's not my solution.

 

[upstater]

So we can't survive winning the league regular season and tournament every year, and being ranked in the top 25? But we can survive never winning a league regular season...ever, and not qualifying for the NIT? I don't understand your logic.

Stay with the guy that won the national championship. Don't fire him for a guy that won't sniff that.

 

[whaler11]

Pride. If putting on a UConn jersey doesn't mean that you expect more than that, then it doesn't mean anything and this program is done.

What I or anyone else expects is a separate issue.

Why would you make the decision to fire Ollie based on who they lose to in this tournament? Bring him back if they lose to Houston but fire him if they lose to USF? That makes zero sense.

 

[jibsey]

1. Did anyone else wish we WEREN'T on CBS yesterday?
2. We started 3 seniors all year. Despite the thin bench and injuries our record should have been better.
3. Expecting 25-6 next year is a reach. I'd settle for 24-7.
4. After the Cincy game I put on my 1999 NC tshirt and took my dogs for a walk. I want that competitive feeling again. Not sweating out a loss to ECU.

Exactly what I was thinking. Entire country saw us right?

 

[dennismenace]

Let's stipulate that at this time, given this year's circumstances, I don't think anyone in their right mind would want Ollie out. I think, given a national championship and a strong history of March productivity, regardless of whose players you think they were, he's earned a chance to crawl out of this hole. That year demonstrated that he can motivate and take a capable group of players where he wants them to go.

OTOH, if you were going to replace him after a bad year with a healthy and (allegedly) talented team, you're right that you wouldn't get a coach with "recent final fours and top recruiting classes." Those guys already have stable jobs mostly in P5.

That's not what I'd want, or expect. I'd want a guy who has an eye for talent regardless of national rankings and who can close on those guys he wants (coffee is for closers!); I'd want a guy who can X & O with the best of them, identifying the advantages his team has and utilizing them while neutralizing their disadvantages, putting pressure on the opponent on both ends of the floor; I'd want a guy who can motivate the team to be cohesive and to perform above their expectations consistently, playing aggressively and with effort, particularly as the season progresses. And this may be a no-name guy at a smaller conference school.

Kinda like Calhoun.

As your attributes continued I was thinking that it sounded just like JC....LOL
I think their is a change with the kids coming up in more recent years. I could see it in the latter years with Calhoun where many were just turning off to that style and more self centered. I think the big challenge will be trying to find kids with character (unselfish) and coachability (BBIQ/ mental toughness/listen, trust and DO) instead of the most athletic, long or talented. I think this is something the staff needs to address.
I don't believe that you can turn around someone's character that easily; especially with the competition and college campus challenges of D1 ball. I think we have to stick with KO but next year will be telling. Wish him the best. Someone mentioned JC's coaching alter ego G. Blaney and how they meshed together. I also remember JC saying he would never allow a recruiter like Tom Moore that much latitude again with
all the "athletes" but lacking in so many other attributes that are required to win at
top D1 level.

 

[7774]

1. Did anyone else wish we WEREN'T on CBS yesterday?
2. We started 3 seniors all year. Despite the thin bench and injuries our record should have been better.
3. Expecting 25-6 next year is a reach. I'd settle for 24-7.
4. After the Cincy game I put on my 1999 NC tshirt and took my dogs for a walk. I want that competitive feeling again. Not sweating out a loss to ECU.

I really laughed hard at #3.

 

[HuskyHawk]

What I or anyone else expects is a separate issue.

Why would you make the decision to fire Ollie based on who they lose to in this tournament? Bring him back if they lose to Houston but fire him if they lose to USF? That makes zero sense.

He isn't getting fired this year. But I'll be damned if the close to this year's basketball season doesn't resemble the close to the football season. A coach who seems to have lost the ability to get his kids to play. No effort. No hustle. No rebounding. Completely outworked on both ends of the court, even by a bad team like ECU. That's not on lack of skill, few D1 teams could look as bad as we did yesterday from a sheer effort and competence perspective. Losing to USF would be a further wake-up call to what is already obvious; some changes need to be made on that staff. Not Ollie however. Not yet.

 

[dennismenace]

See, I totally get what you are saying, but I feel as though you are bringing emotion into it way too much.

Why should those in charge of the program allow valuable brand power whither away over time purely for the sake of nostalgia? This is a super successful franchise in a huge, highly competitive field. Since 1990, the "15 years" I think you were coyly referring to, our brand has skyrocketed in value, think of us as a stock. Each of us with a UConn degree has quite literally increased the value of their degrees with the success of UConn. I'm sure your UConn diploma from 1965 wouldn't be nearly as valuable without the blood, sweat and tears from the Calhoun era which I believe played a big role in UConn's rapid expansion as a university both in size and academic rank and reputation. The "CEO" in charge needs to protect the value of the product. I'm sure shareholders wouldn't be happy if Microsoft's CEO justified year after year poor performance on the fact that he is old enough to remember when Microsoft products were developed in Bill Gates' mother's garage. That is flawed logic and unnecessarily sentimental. At some point the program needs to evaluate the direction it's heading and I think that time is approaching in the next coming years.

Interesting comment. I worked in the financial and accounting field since 1970 and UConn grads in that field were very highly regarded back then as they are today. I don't see, at least in that field, where basketball had anything to do with it. It just made for great conversations among people when you worked with a grad because practically everyone in the state became a fan no matter where they went to school once the Calhoun/ Big East era got rolling.

 

[Pudge]

Quite frankly ...

If you have to post your opinion multiple times in slightly different language in the same thread - including the OP - I understand. It is a frustrating season. And KO chose a path. He would not go after Andrew White or others, like he went for Shonn Miller - Sterling Gibbs, last year. That was a choice because WE (UCONN) still have that available. (though I agree that Gregg Marshall or Shaka Smart types aren't rotating to Storrs). Terry Larrier was a choice, a kid with 3 years of eligibility. Get 11 (or more) stacked up and develop. See if you get to solid role defined team by year 3 to go FAR in March Madness. KO did achieve something in the three classes. I see talent all through those names.

I think in terms of comparables. Matt Painter is number One in the B1G today. He's been at Purdue since 2005 after following their legend. He had two under .500 teams about 4 years ago, now he is building to a higher run in MM after two good solid years of making the NCAA. A lot of mediocre years.

See: I think KO is still a young developing coach. And we ARE a development Program. We were better roster wise than Syracuse this year. But injuries and just the arc of this program dragged us at times. We weren't better than Cincinnati or SMU with all our 13. SMU was a surprise ... until you see them on the floor. Houston beat us, but I would argue that we could have supplanted them with a full complement of a roster. Sampson is a really damn good coach. And this conference is getting better top to bottom. Smith & Dawkins & the SMU guy are solid.

I think WE have a guy in KO who is frustrated as well. And Jim Calhoun is near and certainly involved. There will be a hard long evaluative process this March and April. KO would leave before the UConn AD steps into this. So ... the issue is twofold: Who do you think is going to come in and do better? (remember not only brand but the GOODWILL of 40 guys and Calhoun and all that built up equity) and ... I also agree with the earlier post about looking in the mirror. You are a entitled whiny fanbase and you should stay the last 8 minutes of the Seniors last game. The Seniors? That is a narrative. KO not only inherited Calhoun's guys, he got tagged with crippling sanctions Day one. It is the 11 guys stacked up from Jalen Adams through MAL,Carlton,Polley that is our future. I think we are going to be solid 2018-2019. And Ollie proved one thing to me in 2014 NC: he knows how to define roles for a Team. As far as the overall HC job, he is still not there yet. And Jim Calhoun? Everyone of 350 programs wishes they had that bastard.

 

[dennismenace]

why is it a stupid argument? If we lost that first game, do you think people on the board would give Ollie any rope at all this point? He did a marvelous job with the team in the post season and taking over for Calhoun.

What accounts for such a drop off then? Is it the divorce? Ollie doesnt seem like he has that same fire as when he first started.

Have to wonder if you are right. Some times he is animate on the sidelines like he used to be; other times (a lot) just sitting with sad faces. If this is a big problem I hope he gets help. I just don't know but the body language is really saying something. Grief can be devastating.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

@Pudge Good post. Think you hit on a lot of good points.

I actually think most of the fanbase is in the same place with KO. Sure there are some that think he needs to be fired today or some that think the program is doomed without him, but most of us are in the middle. I just think the outlier posts from either side has caused us the moderates to dig our heels in harder to our agenda when most of us think the same thing (kind of like politics).

 

[Chief00]

Quite frankly ...

If you have to post your opinion multiple times in slightly different language in the same thread - including the OP - I understand. It is a frustrating season. And KO chose a path. He would not go after Andrew White or others, like he went for Shonn Miller - Sterling Gibbs, last year. That was a choice because WE (UCONN) still have that available. (though I agree that Gregg Marshall or Shaka Smart types aren't rotating to Storrs). Terry Larrier was a choice, a kid with 3 years of eligibility. Get 11 (or more) stacked up and develop. See if you get to solid role defined team by year 3 to go FAR in March Madness. KO did achieve something in the three classes. I see talent all through those names.

I think in terms of comparables. Matt Painter is number One in the B1G today. He's been at Purdue since 2005 after following their legend. He had two under .500 teams about 4 years ago, now he is building to a higher run in MM after two good solid years of making the NCAA. A lot of mediocre years.

See: I think KO is still a young developing coach. And we ARE a development Program. We were better roster wise than Syracuse this year. But injuries and just the arc of this program dragged us at times. We weren't better than Cincinnati or SMU with all our 13. SMU was a surprise ... until you see them on the floor. Houston beat us, but I would argue that we could have supplanted them with a full complement of a roster. Sampson is a really damn good coach. And this conference is getting better top to bottom. Smith & Dawkins & the SMU guy are solid.

I think WE have a guy in KO who is frustrated as well. And Jim Calhoun is near and certainly involved. There will be a hard long evaluative process this March and April. KO would leave before the UConn AD steps into this. So ... the issue is twofold: Who do you think is going to come in and do better? (remember not only brand but the GOODWILL of 40 guys and Calhoun and all that built up equity) and ... I also agree with the earlier post about looking in the mirror. You are a entitled whiny fanbase and you should stay the last 8 minutes of the Seniors last game. The Seniors? That is a narrative. KO not only inherited Calhoun's guys, he got tagged with crippling sanctions Day one. It is the 11 guys stacked up from Jalen Adams through MAL,Carlton,Polley that is our future. I think we are going to be solid 2018-2019. And Ollie proved one thing to me in 2014 NC: he knows how to define roles for a Team. As far as the overall HC job, he is still not there yet. And Jim Calhoun? Everyone of 350 programs wishes they had that bastard.

Calhoun is not nearly as involved on a daily basis as he was the first two years - when he was like a senior strategist. If he was more involved you would definitely not be seeing so many gimmick zones that give up offensive rebounds by the bushel.

 

[Vancat]

what would we be seeing?

 

[Pudge]

Calhoun is not nearly as involved on a daily basis as he was the first two years - when he was like a senior strategist. If he was more involved you would definitely not be seeing so many gimmick zones that give up offensive rebounds by the bushel.

You are a Forrest Gump character ... never know what chocolate we are gonna get and always in the name dropping circus.

I don't ever call my attorney ... but he's a phone call away. Calhoun has a legacy and he (plus 40 others) is near. Maybe not in the strategic meetings ... but not too far. (How far is that beach house? Chief?)

 

[champs99and04]

If next years team is in the vicinity of .500 again, something has gone catastrophically wrong.

I don't think we're at the point yet where the words "fire" and "Ollie" need to be put together. It's not worth thinking about yet, and I say that even in the face of three years worth of terribly coached basketball teams.

Great coaches can have poorly coached teams. Calhoun had more than his fair share and Ollie has had a couple now. He deserves at least to see the current recruiting class through their junior years before we even think of looking elsewhere. There is way too much good in the grand scheme to think otherwise - I suspect that there is some in the moment posting going on right now and that those thoughts will be revised in a couple months when we start seeing our players on all-American watch lists, etc.