Ollie's coaching

[huskiesnyc]

B1G TIME!! He completely out coached Pastner, and exploited mismatches especially Daniels and Kromah. Memphis is a very good team and we went into their house and TOOK IT just like we always did under Coach Calhoun with our backs against the wall. We played 40 minutes tonight folks and I'm so proud of this team. This win tonight reminds me of beating Indiana in Bloomington in 07'. My tweet below sums up this win in a nutshell..

sam s ‏@huskiesnyc
That win epitomizes what UConn basketball is all about. Get down everyone writes us off then we take the nation by storm. #bleedblue

 

[Chin Diesel]

Ollie's substitutions were spot-on and his use of the TO's was damn good too.

 

[DOZE860]

I like the way he called the time outs in the 2nd half when the plays broke down. like the rotation he had.. def one of the best coached games by him.

 

[Palatine]

I like that he stayed away from the "no center" look as long as he could.

 

[CTBasketball]

Giffey played great when he was in. Could have used him in some of our offensive lapses, especially when Napier got rest.

 

[zls44]

Great job tonight.

 

[Hugo]

Agree that his was one of KO's better coaching jobs. Not to be a downer, but one move really puzzled me though. After Brimah fouls out late in the half when we are up by 7 or 8 with the game still in doubt, he sends Nolan in when the one thing we don't want to do is foul. What does Nolan do, he fouls almost immediately about 10 seconds into their possession when there was absolutely no need to. Why not TO or play small, just don't have Nolan out there at that point.

On the plus side, he used OC and Kromah perfectly and overall his substitution patterns for the 5 were great.

 

[mauconnfan]

KO is a process and his timeliness on subs and TO's the last 2 have been very influential in the outcome and improvement is noticeable…….. all Ten Toes have been in as of late!

But again, they have played really well in 2 straight games and he gets a check mark for assisting in this bounce back………the players have been all in too so they make the staff look good!

 

[CTGoonie]

How about the progress the team has made in the rebounds department?!? Three straight games we outrebounded the opponent. First time in Ollie's tenure that has happened.

 

[Chin Diesel]

How about the progress the team has made in the rebounds department?!? Three straight games we outrebounded the opponent. First time in Ollie's tenure that has happened.

Yep.

Team is positive rebounding for the season. Big upgrade over last year.

 

[ctchamps]

Giffey played great when he was in. Could have used him in some of our offensive lapses, especially when Napier got rest.

I actually felt OC had a better game than Giffey. I thought KO was a master in this game. There were only five possessions that UConn lost composure. The turnovers were a problem, but the flow of the game was all UConn's except those five possessions.

 

[caw]

I actually felt OC had a better game than Giffey. I thought KO was a master in this game. There were only five possessions that UConn lost composure. The turnovers were a problem, but the flow of the game was all UConn's except those five possessions.

I'd just love to know what Napier was thinking on those two passes to the bench. Was the corner man supposed to cut? Was the pass just off? Napier has had a few of those this year where it looks like he expects the player to do something but the player doesn't, I wonder if the player should be.

 

[tykurez]

I'd just love to know what Napier was thinking on those two passes to the bench. Was the corner man supposed to cut? Was the pass just off? Napier has had a few of those this year where it looks like he expects the player to do something but the player doesn't, I wonder if the player should be.

One of them you could clearly tell came off his hand early - as he was wiping his hand off after the pass. I just assumed the same thing happened again.

 

[ctchamps]

I'd just love to know what Napier was thinking on those two passes to the bench. Was the corner man supposed to cut? Was the pass just off? Napier has had a few of those this year where it looks like he expects the player to do something but the player doesn't, I wonder if the player should be.

In the UCF game players were cutting to the basket on the weak side as Bazz penetrated the lane and Bazz was finding them. I think he was expecting them to do that in those plays as well. Nolan just messed up on which side of the basket he was supposed to position himself on the first toss to the trainer. OC chose to stay on the perimeter, but the play should have been for him to move to the basket, if only for the purpose of rebounding. It was less of an issue IMO, then Nolan not being in position. It's a situation in which players learn to understand what each is thinking. I'm sure we'll see OC go to the basket in the future if this play is repeated.

 

[Marat]

One of them you could clearly tell came off his hand early - as he was wiping his hand off after the pass. I just assumed the same thing happened again.

On the other one, he was barking at Calhoun.

 

[ctchamps]

One of them you could clearly tell came off his hand early - as he was wiping his hand off after the pass. I just assumed the same thing happened again.

He was trying to pull back the pass because he realized Nolan was out of position, but he noticed it too late.

 

[ctchamps]

I'd just love to know what Napier was thinking on those two passes to the bench. Was the corner man supposed to cut? Was the pass just off? Napier has had a few of those this year where it looks like he expects the player to do something but the player doesn't, I wonder if the player should be.

These are classic examples of how far ahead he is compared to the rest of the team outside of RB. He has to dumb down his game, every game to play at the rest of the teams level.

 

[Silk City]

Agree that his was one of KO's better coaching jobs. Not to be a downer, but one move really puzzled me though. After Brimah fouls out late in the half when we are up by 7 or 8 with the game still in doubt, he sends Nolan in when the one thing we don't want to do is foul. What does Nolan do, he fouls almost immediately about 10 seconds into their possession when there was absolutely no need to. Why not TO or play small, just don't have Nolan out there at that point.

On the plus side, he used OC and Kromah perfectly and overall his substitution patterns for the 5 were great.

That's not true. Nolan came in with 4 fouls with about 4 and a half to go and didn't foul out until a minute or so left. Not saying he went above and beyond but at least kept us with a big body in there

 

[WillB4]

Another thing that Coach brings is stability. During the whole game there was no pressing, no rushing, the guys knew what was happening and responded to it every time.
Have they arrived? We will see Sat nite.
Go Huskies.

 

[Deleted member 3149]

"Not impressed" -Freescooter

 

[ctchamps]

That's not true. Nolan came in with 4 fouls with about 4 and a half to go and didn't foul out until a minute or so left. Not saying he went above and beyond but at least kept us with a big body in there

And that fifth foul was a real question mark.

 

[Hugo]

And that fifth foul was a real question mark.

The point I was making is that Nolan is a foul waiting to happen. He committed 5 fouls in only 13 minutes. No way he should be in the game at that point questionable foul or not. Go small or put TO in, but not Nolan.

 

[ctchamps]

The point I was making is that Nolan is a foul waiting to happen. He committed 5 fouls in only 13 minutes. No way he should be in the game at that point questionable foul or not. Go small or put TO in, but not Nolan.

That's second guessing. In the end KO was forced to do this. But I'm not sure things would have turned out better or worse had he done things differently. Niels had three fouls on him and part of the decision to keep Nolan in until he fouled out might have been to have Niels available at the end.

 

[mauconnfan]

That's second guessing. In the end KO was forced to do this. But I'm not sure things would have turned out better or worse had he done things differently. Niels had three fouls on him and part of the decision to keep Nolan in until he fouled out might have been to have Niels available at the end.

I thought the same thing as hugo at the time but it worked out and I agree with fleudy, they may have thought the best team in the end was to go small and protect the ball, make FT's…….

 

[ctchamps]

I thought the same thing as hugo at the time but it worked out and I agree with fleudy, they may have thought the best team in the end was to go small and protect the ball, make FT's…….

All game you could tell they had their preferences who they wanted in at crunch time. When AB had two fouls in the first half, KO put in PN for a stretch even though he was also saddled with two fouls. They only took Nolan out and put in Tyler when Phil picked up the third. You could tell their preference was to have AB in crunch time as opposed to PN. Unfortunately thing nothing they did prevented AB from fouling out early.

When AB fouled out I suspect that some similar reasoning went into effect by keeping PN in and protecting NG. It's not necessarily the preferences of the coaching staff to have to constantly juggle players in to play the post, but the players are not giving the staff much choice. The best thing is they are improving and if UConn does well, some of those calls don't get called in the future as reputations develop.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The only questions can be why he didn't take Brimah out (for at least a couple of minutes) once he got the fourth foul and why he didn't try to get a couple of minutes out of Olander before risking a second center fouling out once AB did foul out. Beyond that KO did a great job and was miles above Pastner (but to be fair JP is far from a mastermind when it comes to in-game coaching).

 

[boog204]

The only questions can be why he didn't take Brimah out (for at least a couple of minutes) once he got the fourth foul and why he didn't try to get a couple of minutes out of Olander before risking a second center fouling out once AB did foul out. Beyond that KO did a great job and was miles above Pastner (but to be fair JP is far from a mastermind when it comes to in-game coaching).

I don't think he really had a chance to take AB out unless he did it immediately or called a timeout. Amida committed # 5 on the next defensive possession.

 

[imno1]

I thought coach managed the game perfectly including using AB and PN even though they fouled out. One of these days soon we will catch a break, one less questionable foul will be called and our guys will commit one less boneheaded foul and then we will be real dangerous. Love their intensity though

 

[Gurleyman]

The only questions can be why he didn't take Brimah out (for at least a couple of minutes) once he got the fourth foul and why he didn't try to get a couple of minutes out of Olander before risking a second center fouling out once AB did foul out. Beyond that KO did a great job and was miles above Pastner (but to be fair JP is far from a mastermind when it comes to in-game coaching).

It was OK to leave him in, I thought. Only about 4:30 left, we had two guys backing him up, and he isn't vital to our late game strategy. If he was a better straight up defender in the post he would be more vital. You're kinda already in crunch time at 4:30, so play it out and maximize his usage - be it 20 seconds or all 4:30. But you can make the case that the "play it out" cutoff should be a little later.