Ollie

[nychuskyfan]

In a couple more years, when the same offense is being put into place, UConn will have zero top 25 teams being scheduled in or out of conference, XL center will bring in about 9,000 people a game, and ESPN will be on there way to making a 30 for 30 on how a basketball program that took control of the world for 25 years, melted away into irrelevance.

Thanks Debbie Downer. Wah...waaah. We are all down but this is a bit over the top.

 

[MexicoHusky]

I know people are down on KO, but JC was not exactly killing it in his last few years. Other than 2011 of course. I doubt that really comforts anyone. Personally, I'm going to sit and wait. Enjoy my Huskies regardless and watch the young kids grow. I'm not a big fan of Purvis, Brimah and Facey, but I'm not going to pile on them, but they are kinda old news for me.

 

[housekeys]

You know instead of preaching the mantra, "run, run, run", he should teach them to "rebound, rebound, and rebound".

Stay on your man, stay in position to rebound, and do not go up court until you have secured the ball.

PS. No rebound = can't run

 

[BUConn10]

Having a revolving door of athletic directors lately doesn't help the situation either. Put yourself in Benedict's shoes right now. What the hell is the right move on his part. He's a football guy who just got his first AD job in basketball country and there are a lot of old UConn names involved with old history. Can he really shake things up and does he have the perspective necessary as a new guy?

 

[NielsisGood]

And those non starters were all ranked in the top 50
C'mon that's not even a comparative

Yeah because the men's team doesn't have any top 50 recruits. Women beat a highly ranked team on the road (after losing one of the greatest players in their program's history), meanwhile the men can't even win home games against 2 programs that nobody will hear from the rest of the season.

 

[temery]

You know instead of preaching the mantra, "run, run, run", he should teach them to "rebound, rebound, and rebound".

Stay on your man, stay in position to rebound, and do not go up court until you have secured the ball.

PS. No rebound = can't run

I don't know a lot about basketball, but I think if the other team scores, you get to take the ball and run, yes?

 

[Kitaman]

Well the big question coming up will be:

'Are we using escalators or stairs?'

 

[Paesano]

I don't know a lot about basketball, but I think if the other team scores, you get to take the ball and run, yes?

You can but it is harder.

 

[80shusky]

@superjohn the talent is there to win games. Certainly to have won these last two games. Could he put in an offense that works? Some of you guys say he is running an NBA style pick and roll offense but it looks more to me like everyone is just sort of running around doing their own thing. He doesn't have the people to run what he wants to run, so maybe try something else. Then, in the off-season maybe he could find a good Xs and Os guy to put on his bench?

 

[HuskyHawk]

@superjohn the talent is there to win games. Certainly to have won these last two games. Could he put in an offense that works? Some of you guys say he is running an NBA style pick and roll offense but it looks more to me like everyone is just sort of running around doing their own thing. He doesn't have the people to run what he wants to run, so maybe try something else. Then, in the off-season maybe he could find a good Xs and Os guy to put on his bench?

The problem is that he's an NBA guy, running an old NBA isolation style offense that can only be effective if (a) you have great individual players that can beat their man and (b) the other team can't play zone. We aren't going to see anything but zone all year long.

With zone now effectively legal in the NBA, even the NBA has changed. You can't run those offenses anymore. They almost never worked at the college level. Ollie needs someone from outside of the UConn family on that bench. He needs perspective. It's the equivalent of asking Diaco to fire the OC....Ollie desperately needs a new offensive coordinator. He could use some defensive help too. We stuck to man to man against Northeastern and they abused it. Calhoun always had 4-5 flavors of defense ready every game, and switched often during the game to make sure the offense couldn't be comfortable. Ollie just sits there with his head in his hands and watches it, with no adjustment.

 

[80shusky]

The problem is that he's an NBA guy, running an old NBA isolation style offense that can only be effective if (a) you have great individual players that can beat their man and (b) the other team can't play zone. We aren't going to see anything but zone all year long.

With zone now effectively legal in the NBA, even the NBA has changed. You can't run those offenses anymore. They almost never worked at the college level. Ollie needs someone from outside of the UConn family on that bench. He needs perspective. It's the equivalent of asking Diaco to fire the OC....Ollie desperately needs a new offensive coordinator. He could use some defensive help too. We stuck to man to man against Northeastern and they abused it. Calhoun always had 4-5 flavors of defense ready every game, and switched often during the game to make sure the offense couldn't be comfortable. Ollie just sits there with his head in his hands and watches it, with no adjustment.

Yes, the highlighted part above is what I meant by adding an Xs and Os guy to the bench.

 

[Milo65]

2011-12 Huskies had Napier, Boat, Drummond, Smith, Olander, Oriakhi, Lamb, Daniels, Giffey. Lots of young pro talent, but young and they never could gel that year. Losing record in league and one and done in the tourney.

Even so, the talent on this team should beat the likes of Wagner and Northeastern. They need to get back to basics: Rebound and Tough Defense. The offense will come with the stops. Right now this team is poor offensively, defensively, can't rebound, can't shoot. Three guard offense is showing no signs of helping us on offense, but killing us on defense and on the boards. Teams switch us to death until they find a mismatch or an open guy. Pull Brimah out of the middle and we have nobody else to rebound.

 

[J-dog]

Lets face it... Ollie had the dubious job of following a once in a lifetime Hall of Fame coach that pulled-off one of the greatest coaching achievements of all time.

Ollie's early success was sweet but it immediately raised the bar & put him an impossible position as far as expectations were concerned.

I now watch Ollie on the sidelines & it's hard not to compare & contrast his style to Calhoun's. The things that at times drove me crazy about Calhoun (Quick TO's; Even quicker hooks; his "in your face" style when dealing with players & their on the court mistakes, etc.), are the very things I now miss.

All that said, I think Ollie deserves & should get ample opportunity to fight his way through this. He could have easily walked to the Pro's after the National Championship but he chose to stay. We need to return the favor & stay with him through these tough times.

 

[freescooter]

Hawk gets it. For a young guy Ollie is stuck in the NBA of the 1990s in his offensive thinking. Without A. a great guard and B. above average 3 point shooting it can't work. We have neither. He just looks so totally befuddled out there that I feel bad for the guy.

 

[80shusky]

Hawk gets it. For a young guy Ollie is stuck in the NBA of the 1990s in his offensive thinking. Without A. a great guard and B. above average 3 point shooting it can't work. We have neither. He just looks so totally befuddled out there that I feel bad for the guy.

Can't he see it though? The other coaches? I mean we can see it and we are armchairing this thing to death. They must be able to see it.

 

[pnow15]

So, it was Ollie's fault that his McDonald All America recruit bricked two free throws and then missed the final jumper.
Calm down here.
No one really appreciated how short Ollie's bench was last year. Now that he has to depend on that bench, we now know the inconvenient truth. Facey and Enoch can't play.
Enoch is running on defensive delayed timer and can't make a layup and is always out of position and has no feel for the game. Facey is worse. Pin the loses on these two.
They have brought a negative result on the court so far this season.
Ollie has already gotten it right with Larrier, Jackson, Brimah, Adams and one of the new points. I am not sure which one of the two freshman points should start. Purvis is should play when he is hitting. We need on of the two freshman bigs to step up. I would limited time for both Facey and Enoch as I doubt they could outrebound Calhoun and he is in his seventies.
Playing Facey or Enoch just leaves to everyone getting doubled team upon entering the land. A pass off to either one of these guys is a turnover. Brimah can block shots.
We have to look at this team as a freshman team with tons of growing pains.

 

[GuardU]

I get that as a coach you're subbing more at this point in the season than you will down the road, but doesn't there come a point in a game where you shorten the bench to win? Why did Purvis play so much and Jackson so little? If you're going to try and send a message to Purvis by starting Jackson then you stick by that statement and continue to play Jackon over Purvis thru the game unless either showed reason to reduce/increase their minutes. I didn't see any evidence that would justify Purvis playing double the minutes over Jackon last night, and Jackon seemed to be doing the little things and making some key shots. Also, why yank Brimah after getting his 8th block? I don't recall how much time was left but he's the type of player that feeds off momentum - putting him on the bench after a block doesn't do him or the team any good. Very questionable substitutions IMO.

 

[huskyrob1]

My biggest issue is the lack of development in our bigs. Under Calhoun Bigs would come back looking like different players for the better. I remember having such high hopes as Amida he's the same player he was as a freshman. Enoch can't stay on the court. Facey is the same as he was when he came as well. Facey and Enoch were both top 75 kids coming out. Facey is a senior four star recruit and he can't do anything. Even after the national championship i didn't think Ollie was a great X and O coach and that appears to be true. Need to put more of an emphasis on skill and IQ in receuiting.

We need some big beefy dudes with good fundamentals to clog the middle. We don't seem to recruit those types anymore...a Boo Willingham, a Jake Voskuhl, a John Pinone, an Ed Nelson, a Jeff Adrien. Recruiting tall lean shot blockers like Brimah who can't put the ball in the hoop from two feet away is not going to win games for us.

 

[Bagel&Cheese]

You won't find a bigger Ollie fan than me but those saying we'll be fine and Ollie is just fine are in denial. I spoke about these signs last season, as did Fishy and a couple other posters. Don't see how people can deny it anymore. Can't use talent as an excuse, the team is comprised of pretty much all 4 and 5 stars. Can't use youth as an excuse. We are supposed to be starting 3 seniors, a sophomore transfer and a sophomore.

He did a great job motivating a team who was banned from the tourney in his first season and then magic happened in his second season. He outcoached some of the best in the game during the tournament but he also had hands down the best backcourt in the country and the best player in the country. There were signs that season that he may not be a great or even good coach of offense. Well now it's the start of year 5 and it's pretty clear he can't coach offense. That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world considering Calhoun was never a great half court offensive coach. What is beyond alarming is that all those areas where Calhoun made up for it just aren't there with Ollie. We don't set screens, we don't box out, we don't rebound. In the past few years I've seen us get punked by teams more than in Calhoun's whole career, mid majors are punking us. At 74 years old if Calhoun saw this he would be a raving lunatic on the sideline, he would be in players faces, he would bench the whole five on the floor, he would get a tech or two to fire up the troops...Ollie just sits there with cry face the entire time.

With the disaster that is football, We all waited for many grueling months to watch this group and they are totally unprepared. The veteran players have regressed and none of the fundamentals are there. I knew a long time ago Diaco wasn't the guy and am devastated to say I feel more like Ollie isn't the guy than that he is the guy. Haven't felt this down as a UConn fan in an incredibly long time.

Well said about Ollie. The last possession sums up that Ollie is clueless when coaching a half court offense. Down 3 with about 25 seconds to go and ALL 5 PLAYERS were playing outside the 3 point line. Nobody inside that flashed to the middle or foul line. All they did was pass the ball around the perimeter and Larrier chucked up a bad 3 point shot. How can you call a time out and come up with that type of execution. I'm sure Tim Welsh wanted to really say what was happening but didn't want to call out Ollie on. Enough of this is a young team nonsense. Adams, Purvis, Facey, Brimah, Larrier, Enoch are not 18/19 year old freshman. For once, can't Ollie pull someone right away when they screw up. It never happens. Get in their face and make them play with a purpose. He seems to care more about the players liking him then being their coach. Doesn't work that way in big time college ball.

 

[Bagel&Cheese]

So, it was Ollie's fault that his McDonald All America recruit bricked two free throws and then missed the final jumper.
Calm down here.
No one really appreciated how short Ollie's bench was last year. Now that he has to depend on that bench, we now know the inconvenient truth. Facey and Enoch can't play.
Enoch is running on defensive delayed timer and can't make a layup and is always out of position and has no feel for the game. Facey is worse. Pin the loses on these two.
They have brought a negative result on the court so far this season.
Ollie has already gotten it right with Larrier, Jackson, Brimah, Adams and one of the new points. I am not sure which one of the two freshman points should start. Purvis is should play when he is hitting. We need on of the two freshman bigs to step up. I would limited time for both Facey and Enoch as I doubt they could outrebound Calhoun and he is in his seventies.
Playing Facey or Enoch just leaves to everyone getting doubled team upon entering the land. A pass off to either one of these guys is a turnover. Brimah can block shots.
We have to look at this team as a freshman team with tons of growing pains.

So you are pinning the 2 losses on Facey and Enoch? I agree that Facey can't play and most likely Enoch won't add up to much of anything either but don't blame it on those 2 guys. I still want to give Enoch time but this team will only go anywhere with the youngsters getting more playing time and less for Facey and Purvis. But at the end of the day, it's up to the Big Toe Sgt. Hulka to get this team in line and to follow him into battle. Go Huskies!

 

[pnow15]

So you are pinning the 2 losses on Facey and Enoch? I agree that Facey can't play and most likely Enoch won't add up to much of anything either but don't blame it on those 2 guys. I still want to give Enoch time but this team will only go anywhere with the youngsters getting more playing time and less for Facey and Purvis. But at the end of the day, it's up to the Big Toe Sgt. Hulka to get this team in line and to follow him into battle. Go Huskies!

You can't go twenty minutes a game without anyone scoring or rebounding or playing defense in the middle of the lane and expect to win.

 

[Bagel&Cheese]

You can't go twenty minutes a game without anyone scoring or rebounding or playing defense in the middle of the lane and expect to win.

I agree. They have no interior game whatsoever. These are Ollie's recruits so he has to get the most out of them and play off their strengths to offset their weaknesses inside... and at this point, I'm still trying to find out their strengths.

 

[pnow15]

I agree. They have no interior game whatsoever. These are Ollie's recruits so he has to get the most out of them and play off their strengths to offset their weaknesses inside... and at this point, I'm still trying to find out their strengths.

I think Wooden won a championship where every guy was under 6'5.
I say play the best 5 regardless of position.

 

[dogpause]

KO has shown that he can recruit at a high level, and considering the conference we're in that's a major accomplishment. Unfortunately, he's yet to figure out that he's failing in player development and bench coaching, while also failing to have any semblance of a viable offensive or defensive system. It seems as if we need offensive and defensive coordinators, and that he needs a mentor on the staff. He seems to have surrounded himself with weak personalities.

 

[freescooter]

So, it was Ollie's fault that his McDonald All America recruit bricked two free throws and then missed the final jumper.
Calm down here.
No one really appreciated how short Ollie's bench was last year. Now that he has to depend on that bench, we now know the inconvenient truth. Facey and Enoch can't play.
Enoch is running on defensive delayed timer and can't make a layup and is always out of position and has no feel for the game. Facey is worse. Pin the loses on these two.
They have brought a negative result on the court so far this season.
Ollie has already gotten it right with Larrier, Jackson, Brimah, Adams and one of the new points. I am not sure which one of the two freshman points should start. Purvis is should play when he is hitting. We need on of the two freshman bigs to step up. I would limited time for both Facey and Enoch as I doubt they could outrebound Calhoun and he is in his seventies.
Playing Facey or Enoch just leaves to everyone getting doubled team upon entering the land. A pass off to either one of these guys is a turnover. Brimah can block shots.
We have to look at this team as a freshman team with tons of growing pains.

Make all the excuses you want. We just lost to Wagner and Northeastern not Duke and UNC. Those are teams from the lower reaches of college basketball. Gee maybe we can play Trinity and Wesleyan next. Come on! If you don't get that there is no excuse for losing to teams like this I don't know what to tell me you.