Ollie wants to win soon

[ctchamps]

Here's the thing: I'm on record as thinking that--providing we fill our roster out a bit (not a guarantee) and that Gilbert and Larrier (and Diarra to a lesser extent) stay health--I think this team can actually be sneaky good. We'd have a true PG, a dynamite combo guard who can run the point, a sniper in CV, and an all around stud scorer in Larrier. That team can win games when it jells and the injured get their legs.

But without a post player I'm confident in, or back-ups (and I think MAL would have gotten good minutes off the bench), I'm much less confident.

I felt the post was a weakness even if Durham and Steve played next season. But I was hoping something went off with one or both of them and they would have made a leap from this season. Now there isn't even this hope.

And the pickings are slim.

Now if we get Harris and Mamaoudou, I think there is some damage control with guards/wings but I still would have preferred MAL and Vance.

REALLY REALLY REALLY want Sandro. I think he's the piece that gives the core players (assuming all the injured are fully recovered) the best chance to make some noise.

 

[RUSS56]

He's one of the best guards in the country. Period.

Adams is not even close to being one of the best guards in the country, he had 99 turnovers, shot 43%, and had too many dead games. He is talented for sure, and could turn into one of the top guards in the country, but he is distant in that conversation. He is not even on the draft board for 2017, and also 2018, that could certainly change.

 

[BlueMAB]

I believe Enoch should have played more than Brimah the last 1/3 of the year - to see what he could do before this type of thing happened. We weren't going anywhere last season.
Let's keep in mind you need to score baskets to win games and not turn the ball over.. Brimah had a 0.1 assist to turnover ratio - I have never seen one so bad in all my years of basketball. He was not the efficient player some built him up to be.

Chief, I respect your ability to be completely full of and still pretend to have serious things to say.

Let's pretend the turnover to assist ratio actually mattered for centers (since we already know that Brimah's numbers were better for the stats that matter at his position).

Per 24 minutes:
Brimah averaged .2 assists, and 1.5 turnovers.
Enoch averaged .2 assists and 2.2 turnovers.

As I said the other day. Even when you move the goal posts, you still miss the mark. Kudos.

 

[superjohn]

Of course he wants to win soon, he wants to keep his job.

 

[BlueMAB]

I understand that but statistically our problem was an offense which would not score for many minutes at a time.

So the solution is to play the 6'11" center who shoots 41% from the field? Got it.

 

[intlzncster]

Here's the thing: I'm on record as thinking that--providing we fill our roster out a bit (not a guarantee) and that Gilbert and Larrier (and Diarra to a lesser extent) stay health--I think this team can actually be sneaky good. We'd have a true PG, a dynamite combo guard who can run the point, a sniper in CV, and an all around stud scorer in Larrier. That team can win games when it jells and the injured get their legs.

Actually, as of right now, we really need Diarra.

 

[Chief00]

So the solution is to play the 6'11" center who shoots 41% from the field? Got it.

Young fellow - Bigs you have to let play and wTch them improve - they are different than wings or guards. Brimah failed to improve in 4 years - Enoch deserved a chance but with better coaching.

 

[maineuconnfan]

thats true

 

[BlueMAB]

Young fellow - Bigs you have to let play and wTch them improve - they are different than wings or guards. Brimah failed to improve in 4 years - Enoch deserved a chance but with better coaching.

We would have lost even more games if Enoch played those minutes over Brimah. That's not fair to anyone on the team, but especially the seniors. "You play. To win. The game."

Old fella.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I have a feeling all this turnover is to bring in guys that can have a greater impact than the ones leaving in an immediate fashion. He needs to have a big year next year, and probably felt that those guys were not ready to take it to the next level. So he probably will bring in some seasoned transfers, maybe a solid international and maybe another freshman or two, that are willing to play some D. It is a little unsettling, with all of this turnover...but again, I am taking the wait and see approach. Lets see what we have come November 1st. The one thing that we do have going for us is that we might, once again, have one of the best point guards in the country next year in Jalen adams....that is a recipe for Husky success. A great guard with some solid d, and some great role players. I think for me the big question mark will be how gilbert and Larrier return....will they have a long adjustment period.

Problem with this analysis: there aren't players he can realistically bring in that are better than those we lost.

 

[Jaker]

Our front court has been terrible for the past 3 years, maybe ollie has said-enough is enough.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Our front court has been terrible for the past 3 years, maybe ollie has said-enough is enough.

So the solution is to have no front court players at all?

 

[Walker11]

Let's be real, the chances of winning soon are slim. Depth is so important and we don't have any.

Depth is overrated, unless you have injuries. At least for 1 season. You definitely want to develop your depth so that they are good in the future and that's where we may get screwed. But next years team could be pretty good.

Most good teams have rotations with 7 or 8 guys. With a few complementary pickups, we should have a very nice rotation. But we will be watching every game in absolute terror that either our kid with a degenerative knee issue gets hurt, or the guy returning from an ACL gets hurt, or as Fishy said, the kid whose "arm has fallen off in 2 of his last 4 games" re-injures his shoulder.

We are due for some good luck. Not only on the injury front. We have ranked as one of the unluckiest teams in the country 2 out of the last 3 years in KenPom's luck rating, whatever the hell that measures.

And some of you guys are going to be very surprised by JA next year, it seems. I am only slightly lower on him than @champs99and04.

 

[Jaker]

So the solution is to have no front court players at all?

yeah, 5 guard hydrid offense.

He is freeing up scholly's to get some bigs that can score and rebound?

 

[intlzncster]

We would have lost even more games if Enoch played those minutes over Brimah. That's not fair to anyone on the team, but especially the seniors. "You play. To win. The game."

Old fella.

You also earn it in practice. Without that, you got nothing.

 

[Hugo]

If this is what KO is doing (and i don't believe it is) it would be very irrational. Push out all the young recruits for unknown 5th yr players and other transfers. Again, i dont agree with the original post, but if it were accurate i would be very disappointed in KO. It would be a KO initiated fire sale of our program.

And, maybe an acknowledgement by KO that his recruiting over the past few years was not as good as many here believed. The one that doesn't fit into this paradigm is MAL, unless KO initiated the de-commit after re-evaluating his skill set and MAL's ability to fit in and play in his system.

 

[4UConn]

Maybe Henefeld has a son...

 

[Towney007]

He's got next year to at least take a step forward. If he doesn't, there's no way he's still here. None.

 

[TheDude]

He's got next year to at least take a step forward. If he doesn't, there's no way he's still here. None.

well I think that there is a lot of things that we don't know. But with hiring of Chill I think KO is pretty confident
he can get some help for next year. I think Blake Harris is a done deal almost for UConn, especially when he sees the tradition rich guard to the NBA from UCONN. I do however think that he is going to target grad transfers and JUCOs. He need players with game experience that can step in right away. He doesn't care ionr
and done. Then he can go after the good players for 2018 from High School. With what happened this year he doesn't have time to rebuild over 3 or 4 years. I think he knows that. I also think that a lot of people are getting nervous for nothing. I think KO, Chill and Kill have a plan.

 

[Towney007]

Oh they have a plan now, but it wasn't the plan a year ago. The first attempt at a rebuild was a total, umitigated disaster. There's no other way to paint it.

They painted themselves into this plan. They mis-recruited a lot of last year's class - they found talented kids, but not kids that meshed with their system, kids that lacked maturity and kids that seemingly lacked chemistry with their peers. I really don't care how good these kids look on mixtapes or what list they were on - they really weren't *that* good. It was a bust, a whiff, everything. Even if they go elsewhere and succeed - for Uconn- it's a bust.

And with half those guys gone - it's just more bodies to throw on a whole stack of misses who haven't been as good as advertised, not good at all or in some cases, totally over their heads here. This year wasn't the first of these kinds of things. You could go on and on. They're not executing on this plan because they want to be. To me - it's a big of a miss to have Ollie in the hot seat already. I'm not ready to see him get fired, but this is pretty much rock bottom. For a program with the reputation UConn does in the realignment situation they're in, they don't have 3-4 years for Ollie to rediscover himself.

The flip side of it is - that rebuilds are painful. And Ollie's ripping all the crap out by the roots. He's ripping it down to the studs. Soft kids, me-me kids, kids who don't really want to listen to their coaches, etc; see ya later. Good bye. Go be 'talented' somewhere else. There's enough raw talent for them to be decent this year, but a lot of stuff has to come together. Basically this year has to be a monster recruiting year for them. Not only do they need to put next year's team together, but they've gotta completely run the table next year, too. And if we don't see results or progress next year - there's not a single, solitary reason to keep Ollie around. If this teams' as bad next year as they were this year - he's gone. You don't get paid $3 million year to be absolutely atrocious.

So again - I'm sure he's got a plan and so far I like what i'm seeing; but the rubber's gotta hit the road. I know there's a lot of fanny-pack wearing remember the 90's homers around here that'd let him burn their houses down with them in it, but I don't care where he came from. ya gotta win.

 

[BUConn10]

I do not believe so but I may be mistaken.

 

[nomar]

Sandro Mamukelashvili.

Gesundheit.

I mean, it's not outside the realm of possibility that we land some post-grad transfers and incoming guys who are rotation players or even difference makers. And I know that's what Chillious is here for. But time is short and until I see some results I'm just looking at a roster that has some major holes.

I do think Gilbert is going to be great. I've been looking forward to seeing him a LOT more than I've been excited for MAL, which softened that blow for me. Larrier's really going to have to play well for us to be a good team. But without some reinforcements in the front court, this coming season's going to be tough. I'm expecting Polley and Carlton to play like freshmen. Cobb is a complete wild card.

 

[nomar]

Adams is not even close to being one of the best guards in the country, he had 99 turnovers, shot 43%, and had too many dead games. He is talented for sure, and could turn into one of the top guards in the country, but he is distant in that conversation. He is not even on the draft board for 2017, and also 2018, that could certainly change.

The number of turnovers is pretty much irrelevant if you don't consider the number of assists (195) and the ratio between the two.

I don't care about the draft board. Kid's a player.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

So the solution is to have no front court players at all?

Diarra, Cobb, Carlton, Larrier and Polley resemble front court players, at least superficially.

 

[BlueMAB]

Gilbert, Larrier and Adams are the next Shabazz, Deandre Daniels and Kemba Walker. Vital is Rahsard Anderson. Polley is our next Jeremy Lamb and Carlton = Josh Boone.

We're fine. Everything is fine. Ollie wants to win soon.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Diarra, Cobb, Carlton, Larrier and Polley resemble front court players, at least superficially.

Combined games in a UConn uniform: 2

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Combined games in a UConn uniform: 2

And yet, there are five of them!!

 

[Giddyup5]

Here's the thing: I'm on record as thinking that--providing we fill our roster out a bit (not a guarantee) and that Gilbert and Larrier (and Diarra to a lesser extent) stay health--I think this team can actually be sneaky good. We'd have a true PG, a dynamite combo guard who can run the point, a sniper in CV, and an all around stud scorer in Larrier. That team can win games when it jells and the injured get their legs.

But without a post player I'm confident in, or back-ups (and I think MAL would have gotten good minutes off the bench), I'm much less confident.

Problem is that we need to be great early. With the Nike tourney and our early OOC schedule, can we afford to wait until February & March to get our injured players their sea legs and new players their chemistry?

 

[BlueMAB]

Sarcasm off...

FWIW I'm impressed with Polley's JR highlights, and Carlton's SR highlights. But I was also impressed with the highlights of the guys we just lost. I expect Cobb to rebound, help defend the paint, and give us 4 fouls, anything else would be a bonus. Same for Diarra. We cannot afford for Carlton to go through Enoch's defensive struggles unless we sign another center.

I have no idea how much they'll be able to contribute, but we can't suffer more frontcourt recruiting misses.

Pray to the old gods and the new that Gilbert and Larrier come back healthy. With Adams, those three can all get to the rim, and hit enough threes that you have to respect the shot. There's speed and athleticism to contend with, our best offense is likely a turnover or rebound on defense and transition basketball.

If these three can develop a chemistry on the court, which would may happened last year, then there's hope.

 

[uconnbill]

Adams is not even close to being one of the best guards in the country, he had 99 turnovers, shot 43%, and had too many dead games. He is talented for sure, and could turn into one of the top guards in the country, but he is distant in that conversation. He is not even on the draft board for 2017, and also 2018, that could certainly change.

Not many returning that are better.
He is the best player on the team and had little help this past season. That should change next year.