Ollie

[QDOG5]

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.

UConn couldn't recruit Pinone the first time. I think his eligibility is up. (No malice intended, just trying to lighten up a dark cloud)

 

[Bagel&Cheese]

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.

Ollie recruiting at a high level is very debatable. The fact we are in this crappy conference has a lot to do with it but he has yet to get difference maker players and with our track record since we won the title, I don't see it ever happening again. When you don't have the stallions, the only way to win is to have a great coach and that he is not!

 

[Burnsbros23]

It sucks too watching Gonzaga last night and they have two highly skilled freshman big just tearing up San Diego state.

 

[BUConn10]

The whole downside of hiring a head coach with no prior coaching experience at a major program with big expectations is starting to manifest. It's starting to become clear Ollie may have never had a real chance to develop his X's and O's and clipboard game.

 

[krinklecut]

My 2 cents: We need a coach on the bench next to Ollie to get in the kids' faces. Ollie can't be that guy. KO is able to connect with kids coming from similar circumstances as himself, and be more of a brother than an authoritarian father. I want him to be tougher but I feel like that would impede recruiting. We need a good cop bad cop bench. I don't know a ton about coaching, so like with everything else, grain of salt, etc.

 

[lange10]

The whole downside of hiring a head coach with no prior coaching experience at a major program with big expectations is starting to manifest. It's starting to become clear Ollie may have never had a real chance to develop his X's and O's and clipboard game.

Couldn't agree more. Glen Miller seems to be a nice man, but I think it's time we move on and look elsewhere. He is our associate head coach and our big man coach as well. We need someone offensive minded to come in and shake things up big time who can help Ollie out with the X's and O's that it seems he may need. I can't watch this 6th grade offense anymore.

 

[pnow15]

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.

I am saying is that the team you saw lose to games my have little resemblance to the team that starts league play.

 

[chiller99.5]

Reluctantly I have to say it appears that KO has diminished fire in his heart since his divorce. After reading many times about his spirituality and his inspiring the teams he played for and coached I just have to wonder if his martial issues have him second guessing himself? I say this with all due respect to Coach and from self experience on this change and its effects on everyday life.

 

[freescooter]

One real issue is that Ollie has built a team that doesn't function too well in the real world. Mostly smaller back court/wing types without a true 4. It is a team that is designed to run but you can't run without someone who can rebound and stArt the break. Our big is a shot blocker but not a rebounder. Facey isn't any good and the kid from Norwalk isn't either. This team desperately needs a Freeman, Daniels or someone else who does the dirty work inside. Rebound, score on putbacks and so forth.

 

[Paesano]

It sucks too watching Gonzaga last night and they have two highly skilled freshman big just tearing up San Diego state.

People here will tell you they would rather have Enoch and Facey over their freshman.

 

[Mr. French]

The whole downside of hiring a head coach with no prior coaching experience at a major program with big expectations is starting to manifest. It's starting to become clear Ollie may have never had a real chance to develop his X's and O's and clipboard game.

But why?

I have serious issues with what's going on, and has been for a bit...but I don't think his in game coaching was bad early on...so with 5 years of coaching he can't at all?

I don't have the specific answer, and without being there none of us do, but there's something clearly not working with how the offense is run. For about 2 years now.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

The bigs need big man development; the guards need playmaker development; the shooters need to knock it down when open; and KO needs a week with Brad Stevens learning offense.

And could somebody please learn a ball fake? That about sum it up?

 

[donyell34]

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.

I concur on this,mystery as to what the coaches are seeing out there. Couple years now of more of the same. No rebounding , no scoring. UMASS -LOWELL had 78 against Indiana and we struggle to get 60 pts. against Wagner and Northeastern .

 

[jibsey]

We all know KO's creds as an NBA point guard playing under the best coaches who ever lived, so he knows what to teach especially regarding how to run an effective offense. So I think it comes down to this, the players are not following through, not trying as hard as they should or being tough enough. There is always the possibility that some of them don't have the skills needed, as in our bigs are flawed, we all know that's true. Our guards can't throw the ball away or make stupid decisions, and they have to make shots. To this point Jalen and Gilbert are not solid shooters, ditto Purvis. Hoop brought up ball fake which i totally agree with because every other big we play against uses it against us to make easy baskets rather than getting the ball slammed back in their face. It's inconceivable that Brimah and Facey haven't been shown it in 4 years, they just can't do it. Same with boxing out and giving up on and leaking out on rebounding. These guys are not listening and if they don't start who knows but I can't lay it all on KO.

 

[upstater]

We can only speculate. We did have coaches like Hobbs on the bench in the last couple of years, who has a track record teaching guards, and who has been a head coach before. We saw great offensive sets and coaching in 2014.

My speculation is that Ollie imagines these players doing something that is on another level, something he learned from the pro game. Everyone outside the 3, one screener, isolation, pick and rolls. He is simply imagining something these kids have a hard time doing.