Ollie finally lost them | Page 4 | The Boneyard

Ollie finally lost them

Status
Not open for further replies.
Ollie lost them, LMFAO

we just put the least talented team we've had on the court since Jimmy's 1st year, and this lineup may even have a bigger disadvantage because they're all playing new rolls due to recent injuries
 
I'm glad I fell asleep early in the second half and missed what some found so upsetting. Yep, I just gave up. I didn't intend to, but I was tired. I'm sorry. I'll take the blame.
 
The team on the floor last night would have lost to Oak Hill. I will admit one thing..............I suppose Ollie lost me, I went to bed with 10 mins to go. Cant remember the last time that has happened. Anywho, what the hell is up with Boatright? He is doing one hell of a job limiting his options to 1............he has to come back after this past month.
 
Hans Sprungfeld said:
I'm glad I fell asleep early in the second half and missed what some found so upsetting. Yep, I just gave up. I didn't intend to, but I was tired. I'm sorry. I'll take the blame.
Expand ...

I didn't make it through the 2nd TV time out. Watched the C's win, changed the channel and fell asleep
 
Ollie has done a wonderful job all year, but the effort in the second half last night was severely lacking. That said, Boat and Calhoun would have had to have played really well to get the W, and they obviously struggled. Did they quit in the second half? Yes. But I wouldn't say Ollie has lost the team.
 
.-.
caw said:
This is what I was worried about happening all year and it finally happened. The kids have finally given up. Giffey and Napier provide most of the grit for this team. With both out they don't have the talent or passion. No excuse, this is the type of game that should eliminate a team from the NCAAT (not that UConn is eligible).

It will be interesting to see if Ollie can get them back.
Expand ...
I was at the game and don't agree. Daniels and Evans showed up and played their respective games games. We just did not get out of RJ what we would get out of Shabazz. He is simply not Shabazz and this isn't on Ollie. Olander gave us a typical Olander game. He simply is a back up 4/5 playing starters minutes - thats not Ollies fault. He does look to be out of shape which is on the coaches. He also came out with what looked like a high ankle sprain late in the second half. Nolan didn't give us what he did in Cincy and looked tentative - that may be on the coaching staff to better prepare him. Enosch Wolf - again who's fault he's not with the team? Giffey - again not Ollie's fault he fractured his finger. Omar - has been really bothered by the sprained wrist on his shooting hand. He was clearly bothered by the sprain and/or the tape job. He kept flexing it all game long. He made 1 of 9 threes and was even bothered with the floaters he attempted and missed. It affected his grip on the attempted dunk after which he really did give up though. Ryan - well here I have to step back and say this guy needs a lot more coaching. Watched him all game. He didn't run the offense hence few assists (versus Collins who ran up 12 assists mostly on lobs to back door cuts), he couldn't take any of the USF guards off the dribble and the few times he did got stuffed. He's not a very good shooter wh was forcced to take ill advised shots. On defense Collins was taking him o the dribble even though as one USF fan pointed out to me Collins only goes right, never goes left.

We had a good season with a very flawed team.
 
Last year boatright looked as athletetic or should I say quick as most. Even against mcw he was great. but the juxtaposition between boat and Daniels is striking. Ollie could have lost boat, he's play of recent would indicate a complete disregard to game film. Daniels however, seems engaged and picking his spots; so ollie definitely has him. Ollie has omar too. conditioning is a problem if I'm Ollie I want our guys to be able to play 10 OTS. pick your damm spots.
 
Caw is one of the top 5 posters I enjoy reading on this board. Unlike 90% of people on here, he brings facts and stats to most of his arguments and has good analysis of the game and players.

I agree with the poster that said it was a loaded phrase. For whatever reason the defensive effort wasn't there in the second half. If you've played competitive sports before, a similar situation has happened to you before where the mental focus and effort wasn't there. I don't think it has to do with heart at all. They were as many have pointed out, severely undermanned.

Just like some posters are giving the team the benefit of the doubt cause every other game this year. IMO Caw also should get a pass for the overall quality he brings to this board.
 
Giddyup5 said:
If you've played competitive sports before, a similar situation has happened to you before where the mental focus and effort wasn't there. I don't think it has to do with heart at all. They were as many have pointed out, severely undermanned.
Expand ...

I was going to post the exact same thing last night. Anyone who played competitive sports have experienced the scenario you described.
 
It's still a loss to the dregs of the conference. If we are going to ridicule pc fans for excuses regarding their early season losses at least have the dignity to not turn around and do the same thing
 
.-.
mpxc55 said:
It's still a loss to the dregs of the conference. If we are going to ridicule pc fans for excuses regarding their early season losses at least have the dignity to not turn around and do the same thing
Expand ...

The dregs of the conference for years you mean in PC??? They had a bench we don't.......UConn is better with 1-6 healthy they are better with 1-9 healthy. And they were healthy for the BE.....and by the way duckk PC
 
mpxc55 said:
It's still a loss to the dregs of the conference. If we are going to ridicule pc fans for excuses regarding their early season losses at least have the dignity to not turn around and do the same thing
Expand ...

They also beat G'Town. Stuff happens. USF crushes Brown.
 
Exactly. Stuff happens. A lot of people are making the team out to be martyrs and we aren't the only team that gets hit with injuries
 
I don't necessarily think Ollie lost them. I just think they were overwhelmed. It happens. You can "rise to adversity" only so many times, then mental and/or physical exhaustion takes over. You start thinking "Oh man, not again" and just finally give in. The other point, I think, is that while lots of teams have injuries, when they have several to key guys, they usually lose games. I didn't really think they would win last night and I'll be pretty surprized of they beat Providence on Saturday. The guys we are sending out there are just not all that good, or at least not as good as the guys who are hurt and the ones who are still healthy are being asked to do things they can't do that well. If Boatright were a better ball handler as Napier he'd be handling the ball and napier would be the off guard. If Nolan was a better front court player than Olander, he'd have been starting in the front court.
 
mpxc55 said:
Way to miss the point entirely
Expand ...

No I didn't...........just don't agree with your point as it's an open topic..........I hate people making "excuses" too whether it would be injuries or referees but they have a right here like it or not!! And your point on "if PC an then..." means nothing here.......that's all other than that you have your opinion too.............:)
 
.-.
Of course every team has injuries, but not every team lost four underclassmen starters in the off-season in the middle of complete coaching and conference turmoil, which made finding short-term replacements tough. We were kinda thin to begin with.
 
mauconnfan said:
No I didn't...........just don't agree with your point as it's an open topic..........I hate people making "excuses" too whether it would be injuries or referees but they have a right here like it or not!! And your point on "if PC an then..." means nothing here.......that's all other than that you have your opinion too.............:)
Expand ...
I'm not really sure it's an excuse when you say: without our best players, we're not very good. I mean, that's not UConn related, that's fact related. I mean, was there some excuse involved with saying the 1999 Bulls weren't as good as the 1998 because Jordan and Pippen were gone?
 
tzznandrew said:
I'm not really sure it's an excuse when you say: without our best players, we're not very good. I mean, that's not UConn related, that's fact related. I mean, was there some excuse involved with saying the 1999 Bulls weren't as good as the 1998 because Jordan and Pippen were gone?
Expand ...
The 99 Bulls clearly lacked for effort. Also, defensive rotations.
 
mauconnfan said:
No I didn't...........just don't agree with your point as it's an open topic..........I hate people making "excuses" too whether it would be injuries or referees but they have a right here like it or not!! And your point on "if PC an then..." means nothing here.......that's all other than that you have your opinion too.............:)
Expand ...
I'm just objectively pointing out there seems to be a double standard. I guess the pc complex has grown too large for you to see that.
 
The 2004 team got blown out by Georgia Tech at MSG when Okafor was out with back spasms. That same year in the final, with Okafor back in, UConn was up by 25 before taking the foot off the gas. Injuries play a role.

When you lose your best player who happens to make everyone else better, and your first man off the bench and your small forward/shooting guard has an injured wrist which causes him to shoot 1-14, losses like this will happen. We were a hot rod with 3 spark plugs out in our V8. Ain't gonna win many drag races like that.
 
Stuff happens. Crazy games all year - Miami recently lost to Wake. By 15 points. Wake is the 2nd worst team, or maybe the worst, in the ACC. Anyway, bummer we lost. If we had Shabazz, we probably win. Several people, myself included, said that anything over a .500 record for the season would be a huge success given the adversity this coach and this team faced this year. At 19-10, and 9-8 in the BE, we still have a shot at 20 wins, and we managed to beat Michigan State, Notre Dame and Syracuse.

This team has far surpassed even my most lofty ideas of what they might do this year. The team has been on the verge of being ranked for much of the season and again, if we had Shabazz, we are probably a NCAA team if we were to end 20-10.

Am I disappointed that we lost? Of course - I root for us to win every game. Am I disappointed in the team or the coaches? No way. This team has shown more heart than anyone ever had a right to expect. Lesser teams could have folded and pissed the season away. Not these guys. Easiest team to root for (IMHO) in the history of the program. These guys may not win any "awards" this season, but they came together in as great a way as any UCONN team in our storied history...

I get the disappointment that we lost, but how anyone can NOT be so proud of the entire team (coaches included) is lost on me. I'm just grateful for the unbelievable ride they gave us this year. Seriously, it is an honor to be a UCONN fan with regards to this team.
 
.-.
We barely beat them at home with us at full strength. Boat is overmatched on the floor without Napier. We were limping the whole game and the guys did what they could. Ollie couldn't lose what he didn't have-players.
 
caw said:
This is what I was worried about happening all year and it finally happened. The kids have finally given up. Giffey and Napier provide most of the grit for this team. With both out they don't have the talent or passion. No excuse, this is the type of game that should eliminate a team from the NCAAT (not that UConn is eligible).

It will be interesting to see if Ollie can get them back.
Expand ...

Laughable.
 
I don't think one game is really enough to make that proclamation. This was going to be a tough game for all the reasons already mentioned and I'm sure that even Al Pacino talking about inches would not have been able to motivate this team further.

As an aside way before somebody put a ring on it, when i got drunk enough i more or less recited that speech to hit on the ladies(at least what i could slur my way through):

 
freescooter said:
I don't necessarily think Ollie lost them. I just think they were overwhelmed. It happens. You can "rise to adversity" only so many times, then mental and/or physical exhaustion takes over. You start thinking "Oh man, not again" and just finally give in. The other point, I think, is that while lots of teams have injuries, when they have several to key guys, they usually lose games. I didn't really think they would win last night and I'll be pretty surprized of they beat Providence on Saturday. The guys we are sending out there are just not all that good, or at least not as good as the guys who are hurt and the ones who are still healthy are being asked to do things they can't do that well. If Boatright were a better ball handler as Napier he'd be handling the ball and napier would be the off guard. If Nolan was a better front court player than Olander, he'd have been starting in the front court.
Expand ...

Looks like he will be starting our last game, as TO was described as "doubtful" due to his injury from last night.
 
caw said:
This is what I was worried about happening all year and it finally happened. The kids have finally given up. Giffey and Napier provide most of the grit for this team. With both out they don't have the talent or passion. No excuse, this is the type of game that should eliminate a team from the NCAAT (not that UConn is eligible).

It will be interesting to see if Ollie can get them back.
Expand ...

Good poster. Horrendous Post. Yikes.
 
Basketball is a team game. Defense needs a team effort. As much heart as RJ has he is at best a mid major level talent, and does not have the speed or the ability to play good defense at this level. Allen, regardless of his scholarship is a walk-on and Nolan was a work in progress that has shown signs of improvement in small bursts but is not ready to be a major contributor on offense or defense yet. Add Calhoun to that with his wrist bothering him to the point that he was focusing on it the whole game and it left you with two people on the floor that had the skills to play defense at this level. Is it any wonder that they shredded our defense?

All year long we have been playing with a very small margin of error due to our team being undermanned. With the loss of Wolf it got even smaller, when Calhoun hurt his wrist it became smaller still. Shabazz's injury made the margin become razer thin, and Giffey sliced into it more. The fact that the team couldn't balance on that edge this last game doesn't mean that Ollie lost the team, it just means that for one game we didn't have the ability to negotiate it. If nothing changes for Saturday except we also lose Olander, there is a good chance that we will fall off that edge again.

Somewhere we have to realize that the reason teams that are undermanned lose games is because they aren't as good and will miss shots, and be beaten on defense. I get the feeling that although we know that going into a game when we actually see it we can't accept it and get mad at the players and coach like they should be able to overcome their deficiencies. For the most part by hard effort and coaching we have done that for a good part of the year. But sooner or later, just like if you were playing Jenga it you keep taking pieces away from the structure it will fall, no matter how sturdy the hand guiding it is.
 
.-.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,379
Messages
4,569,551
Members
10,475
Latest member
Tunwin22


Top Bottom