Ollie could learn from Jay Wright

[Madmannsucks]

Very true - to me Chill can recruit better than the three coaches mentioned - but I would pick Blaney and Hobbs to assist on the bench. Miller would be my scouting report guy except for Big games in which I would have George do the scouting report. I would have Miller keep track of minutes, fouls and timeouts during games.

Hobbs left to stay with Pikiell. Pike was an assistant under Hobbs, so when He left for Rutgers, Hobbs followed to work with him. He was getting more $$ at Rutgers, so the move made sense.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Hobbs was kind of forced out. Not as blatant as the way Miller was canned but KO wanted the staff to be his staff, not JC's staff.

Hobbs was an enormous loss for the program. Considering who the clubhouse leader is as KO's replacement and the friendship Hobbs has with his lead assistant, KH returning to his alma mater may not be out of the question.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

While I believe that returning to what made him a decade long NBA player and a quality assistant then head coach during his first few years here would be the exact remedy needed (and possibly the best solution for the school), does anyone believe the vocal portion of our fan base would be willing to offer that opportunity?

 

[Huskybass]

While I believe that returning to what made him a decade long NBA player and a quality assistant then head coach during his first few years here would be the exact remedy needed (and possibly the best solution for the school), does anyone believe the vocal portion of our fan base would be willing to offer that opportunity?

Absolutely not. People want him gone, yesterday. We were a top 20 Program not that long ago. Now we are in the bottom 1/3. We absolutely need a new Head Coach.

Go take a look at the other UConn basketball boards. Less than 10% of those commenting want KO to continue to dig a bigger hole.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Absolutely not. People want him gone, yesterday. We were a top 20 Program not that long ago. Now we are in the bottom 1/3. We absolutely need a new Head Coach.

Go take a look at the other UConn basketball boards. Less than 10% of those commenting want KO to continue to dig a bigger hole.

The question was rhetorical.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Recruiting. Xs and Os.
Meh.
What Ollie lacks and what Ollie has always lacked is an ability to teach/develop players and to motivate them to play the best they can. Simple as that.
Calhoun had some crap teams, for sure. And some of those crap teams had chemistry issues. True. But all but maybe one or two played hard nosed basketball every time on the floor. They respected and feared the head coach.
Ollie has never had that and never will.
Jay won with his own guys and his own system. So "returning" to his roots was simple.

What has Ollie to return to? Jim Calhoun's team of Giffey, Shabazz, Boatright, Daniels? With Miller on the bench?

I don't agree that Ollie showed phenomenal coaching chops during the NCAA run. The entire starting team had a chip on their shoulders from the ban year. Shabazz was an on-the-floor coach whose NPY type play down the stretch carried us - not great offensive coaching. Lots of poised seniority. Guys who improved over 4 years at UConn.

There were dozens of coaches who would have been able to ride that wave all the way to shore.

Since then - nada. Year after year of undeveloped players, guys not playing hard, guys bailing, guys de- committing.

It's too easy to claim that the NC made Ollie soft. Nonsense.

Guys don't want to play hard for him, and they never have. That simple. He can't develop, and he can't motivate. No amount of recruiting or X and O prowess can counter that double fatal flaw.

The concept that Ollie might pull a Jay Wright and "return to what got him the 1st NC" is Simple Jack level thinking.

I stopped watching after the game after MSU, and I won't watch again until he's gone.

He was never good, but at least he didn't stall the last momentum JC left with the program. Now he's toxic.

Just shocked at the remaining contingent of Ollie supporters who think that the problem isn't simply that the guy is an awful coach who lucked into a NC ready team.

You could boil it down to this:
- When JC handed him a roster of his recruits, KO could get them to buy in
- When KO was forced to go out and assemble his own teams and get them to buy in, he failed

 

[Storrs South]

You could boil it down to this:
- When JC handed him a roster of his recruits, KO could get them to buy in
- When KO was forced to go out and assemble his own teams and get them to buy in, he failed

The former was a privilege, the latter is the job title.

 

[Madmannsucks]

Absolutely not. People want him gone, yesterday. We were a top 20 Program not that long ago. Now we are in the bottom 1/3. We absolutely need a new Head Coach.

Go take a look at the other UConn basketball boards. Less than 10% of those commenting want KO to continue to dig a bigger hole.

I agree the majority want him out. I do not think it is close to 90/10. To be honest, I have not counted. Just guestimating in my head.

 

[Huskybass]

The question was rhetorical.

Then I will ask you a question with sincerity. Buyout figure set aside, what have you seen from Kevin Ollie over the past 4 seasons that makes you want him to stay on as Head Coach next season? In other words, what are the Ollie supporters seeing that causes optimism for the future?

My guess is that lots of what you are really viewing as positives are from the 2012-14 timeframe.

 

[Huskybass]

I agree the majority want him out. I do not think it is close to 90/10. To be honest, I have not counted. Just guestimating in my head.

Go have a look at the Rivals site. I bet it is north of 90%. Even the Daily Campus, which would ordinarily be a friend to the program and staff has used words like "slaughtered" in its headlines this season. The commenters on Facebook pages are almost entirely in favor of a new head coach.

 

[Madmannsucks]

Go have a look at the Rivals site. I bet it is north of 90%. Even the Daily Campus, which would ordinarily be a friend to the program and staff has used words like "slaughtered" in its headlines this season. The commenters on Facebook pages are almost entirely in favor of a new head coach.

I left the FB page(Beware of the dog)because I disagreed with the admin and he "sent a message"(blocking me from posting for 24 hours)...THAT page was not 90%.

 

[intlzncster]

I posted this in another thread to make a point, but it probably belongs here as well. This is an example of what good coaching will get you.

It's not as difficult to recruit to the AAC as people make out. You don't need monster classes. It comes down to identifying the RIGHT guys for your system, and then coaching them up. You don't need Top 10 players. You just need good coaching and identification of the right players. Look at the class rankings of TEAM X below.

From 247
2015 - 29
2014 - 48
2013 - 36
2012 - 27

From ESPN
2015 - 24
2014 - 37
2013 - 31
2012 - >25

That team is Villanova. Those classes led to a NC. They are currently #3 in the nation. Their 2016 class rankings were 45 and 33 respectively

You don't think UCONN can achieve those class rankings?

 

[Huskybass]

I left the FB page(Beware of the dog)because I disagreed with the admin and he "sent a message"(blocking me from posting for 24 hours)...THAT page was not 90%.

Go look at the Rivals site. I doubt you will find anything recent that is is support of our current Head Coach.

 

[Tuna]

Absolutely not. People want him gone, yesterday. We were a top 20 Program not that long ago. Now we are in the bottom 1/3. We absolutely need a new Head Coach.

Go take a look at the other UConn basketball boards. Less than 10% of those commenting want KO to continue to dig a bigger hole.

You know we were a top 20 program last year? Preseason #18

 

[Huskybass]

You know we were a top 20 program last year? Preseason #18

Pre-season rankings are not earned. And they promptly lost to Wagner and Northeastern (with a full roster) and were never ranked again.
And we all saw how that turned out. You are proving my point, not yours.

 

[Chief00]

Hobbs was kind of forced out. Not as blatant as the way Miller was canned but KO wanted the staff to be his staff, not JC's staff.

Hobbs was an enormous loss for the program. Considering who the clubhouse leader is as KO's replacement and the friendship Hobbs has with his lead assistant, KH returning to his alma mater may not be out of the question.

I agree Hobbs leaving was not just about the money and reuniting with Steve. In this case it’s not so much what I know but the vibe I got that there never was any real chemistry between KO and Karl. Not so much that they disliked each other but ironically that KO was closer to Miller which seemed strange given the time history linkage. At the time, I wrote it off to KO’s divorce and Glen being the type that was more up for a spontaneous trip to Shrine or whatever.

 

[Tuna]

Pre-season rankings are not earned. And they promptly lost to Wagner and Northeastern (with a full roster) and were never ranked again.
And we all saw how that turned out. You are proving my point, not yours.

I have no idea what your point is. I'm sure I could find out by reading any one of your last thousand posts but I'll save myself the pain. I simply asked if you were aware that when they played their first game last year they had a little #18 next to their name.

 

[Huskybass]

I have no idea what your point is. I'm sure I could find out by reading any one of your last thousand posts but I'll save myself the pain. I simply asked if you were aware that when they played their first game last year they had a little #18 next to their name.

Yes, UConn was ranked number 18 in the pre-season. Then they lost to Wagner and Northeastern and were never ranked again, finishing with a losing record and not even going to the NIT.

Here we are a year and a half later in the bottom 1/2 of the AAC with a losing record for the 2nd straight year.

 

[Tuna]

Absolutely not. People want him gone, yesterday. We were a top 20 Program not that long ago. Now we are in the bottom 1/3. We absolutely need a new Head Coach.

Go take a look at the other UConn basketball boards. Less than 10% of those commenting want KO to continue to dig a bigger hole.

And we are ranked in the top 1/2 of BPI, Massey and Kenpom and top 1/3 of RPI and Sagarin. Are you using a different metric, struggle with fractions or just feel the need to pile on?

 

[mauconnfan]

Yes, UConn was ranked number 18 in the pre-season. Then they lost to Wagner and Northeastern and were never ranked again, finishing with a losing record and not even going to the NIT.

Here we are a year and a half later in the bottom 1/2 of the AAC with a losing record for the 2nd straight year.

Damn I didn't know this so glad people are darn up on things they can reiterate these facts well over 100 times a year.

Really? Why even throw the record on if it's broken? It's not bad enough as it is, but I know it makes you feel better.

 

[Huskybass]

And we are ranked in the top 1/2 of BPI, Massey and Kenpom and top 1/3 of RPI and Sagarin. Are you using a different metric, struggle with fractions or just feel the need to pile on?

Kenpom has UConn at #171. That is at least 100 spots away from being on the bubble. Any team ranked lower than about #75 isn't relevant on the national landscape. So whether it's #171, 221, or 321 it's kind of meaningless. None of those teams are relevant as they won't be playing in the postseason.

I guess we have vastly different expectations for UConn basketball. I believe that UConn should always be in the hunt for an AAC regular season title and that NCAA tournament appearances should happen with much greater frequency than once in the last 4 seasons.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Then I will ask you a question with sincerity. Buyout figure set aside, what have you seen from Kevin Ollie over the past 4 seasons that makes you want him to stay on as Head Coach next season? In other words, what are the Ollie supporters seeing that causes optimism for the future?

My guess is that lots of what you are really viewing as positives are from the 2012-14 timeframe.

??????

I haven't said that replacing KO would be a mistake. I was merely pointing out the disconnect between a thread stating what KO could do to return to the level of coach he was and what the boneyard's reaction would be to the school giving him that opportunity.

 

[Madmannsucks]

I am not going to argue on the ranking. The team is not as good as it should be in my opinion. 2 things. Ollie has faced adversity and rebounded, so I still believe he can. If I didn't I would advocate letting him go. I know I could be wrong. The class next year looks promising.
I do not want Danny Hurley or any other guy looking for his next chance at the big time.
Those are my reasons for not wanting Ollie fired.
Does not make me clueless or an idiot.
On the last board I was on, someone who is almost 60 and lives with his mother called Ollie a loser....
Draw the line somewhere.

 

[Tuna]

Kenpom has UConn at #171. That is at least 100 spots away from being on the bubble. Any team ranked lower than about #75 isn't relevant on the national landscape. So whether it's #171, 221, or 321 it's kind of meaningless. None of those teams are relevant as they won't be playing in the postseason.

I guess we have vastly different expectations for UConn basketball. I believe that UConn should always be in the hunt for an AAC regular season title and that NCAA tournament appearances should happen with much greater frequency than once in the last 4 seasons.

None of your blabbering has anything to do with what I asked. I know where they are ranked in all of the metrics I mentioned, I looked them up. Unless you do in fact struggle with fractions, maybe you should ask yourself why a fan would feel the need to continuously pile on his own team's shortcomings?

 

[HuskyHawk]

What did anyone learn from that read about Jay Wright?
Most know KO's biggest drawback has been in the area of recruitment
If you swing and miss at the top too many times you need to get back to basics

I think recruiting is the thing he’s best at. Development, running a good offensive system, scouting and game prep, in game adjustments, talent recognition, he’s worse at all of those than he is at recruiting.