Ollie's Contract

[Athlete94]

You've made it to the big time, huskymagic agrees with you!

Lol

 

[Athlete94]

Yep more than me. Congratulations.
It still begs the question as to your record? I'm just curious if you have been more successful than KO. Did you coach at the Division 1 level? If so did you bring your team to the NCAA tournament? If so how far did you go in the tournament? How often? If not D1 why not? What stopped you? If not is your criticism towards KO sour grapes?

Maybe you're JC and this is an outlet for you. I want you to know I still have the autograph from the Simon and Garfunkle concert.

I promise you I won't belittle your accomplishments. I'm just curious if you hold yourself accountable to the same standards you insist on others.

Yes, I do and where and when I coached is irrelevant. I'm not the one who looks like I don't have any answers even when the roster is full. Look, I believe KO to be a great person and leader of the kids, doesn't make him a bad person, just don't believe he's the guy for us long term. Yes, he won a title, top recruiting blah blah.. unfortunately, today is all about what have you done for me lately.. that can't be disputable, whether you like KO or not...

When you've actually coached or played at the D1 level or any level, then comment on my opinion, otherwise, stop whining, I love UCONN as much as you or anyone else, but facts are facts and we suck now and that's that

 

[Athlete94]

Read his response to me and realize that it wasn't a mistake before you comment. Go back to the car wash...

Yeah I did, get a life man

 

[Athlete94]

Damn if your ability to think as a coach was anywhere near the level of thinking you've displayed in this thread, whoever hired you should have been inducted into the Bad Decision Making Hall of Fame immediately.

Yeah, and you are probably typing your reply from your mom's basement

 

[7774]

And in the face of all this, the response you'll get from the people you're talking about is "We're UConn so blah, blah, blah".

That's sadly the most advanced level on which they are capable of thinking.

PS: We want to see UCONN be at least Cincinnati or SMU during the regular season, which is the least that should be expected for a program of our stature.

Thanks for providing an example man, I can always count on you to bring the stupid.

 

[huskymagic]

Thanks for providing an example man, I can always count on you to bring the stupid.

Its always nice to have your clown routine 7774. Take the whole post for context not your SNL routine through cherry picking lines that are still factually true.

What are your expectations for next year for Ollie and the team? What result is acceptable next year with a roster that coming out of high school is better than any in the AAC? We would love to hear them or is it a wait and see approach because of all those new pieces that Ollie has to incorporate which is completely different from all the top teams in America right. At least Shaka Smart is keeping him in good company.

 

[tower1]

A man takes over a program with the endorsement of the greatest basketball coach in ncaa men's history. He then deals with the loss of scholarships due to apr and the defection of key players. He coaches up the players who stay and wins a national championship against the odds. He wins 20 or more games in every season he coaches here. He pulls down multiple top 100 recruits in the process, even while being stuck in the lower profile AAC basketball conference. And even during this aberrant year of injury after injury, most of the young players like Vance, Adams, etc., continue to improve their game.

Not accepting the facts? Son, I seem to be one of the few people on this board willing to accept them...

No, You just don't want to accept the truth. We all want the program to succeed but it is headed in the wrong path. And I will say it again, We need a big man coach.

 

[7774]

Its always nice to have your clown routine 7774. Take the whole post for context not your SNL routine through cherry picking lines that are still factually true.

What are your expectations for next year for Ollie and the team? What result is acceptable next year with a roster that coming out of high school is better than any in the AAC? We would love to hear them or is it a wait and see approach because of all those new pieces that Ollie has to incorporate which is completely different from all the top teams in America right. At least Shaka Smart is keeping him in good company.

I'm not going to take your whole post. There really isn't enough time in the day to respond to every individual idiotic thing you say, so I'm just going to go with the highlights.

It must be weird to think that in sports what's happened in the past entitles you to anything going forward, and that the actual situation at hand is meaningless. Seems like watching sports for only 1 or 2 years would make it obvious that it doesn't work like that, but your ability to process information in an intelligent way is basically non existent, so I guess you get a pass.

I don't have super high expectations for next year. We'll have 0 seniors on the roster, so that's a bad start. Lots of variables with key guys recovering from major injuries, potential transfers, no obvious good interior defenders/rebounders, and Jalen's presence on the roster not a certainty. I've said multiple times here that I don't think we have a chance to be really good until the guys in this year's freshman class become upperclassmen. I think Ollie deserves to be the coach until he fails with upperclassmen from his actual recruiting classes, not the guys he scraped together when he first got the job.

 

[UCweCONN]

I'm not going to take your whole post. There really isn't enough time in the day to respond to every individual idiotic thing you say, so I'm just going to go with the highlights.

It must be weird to think that in sports what's happened in the past entitles you to anything going forward, and that the actual situation at hand is meaningless. Seems like watching sports for only 1 or 2 years would make it obvious that it doesn't work like that, but your ability to process information in an intelligent way is basically non existent, so I guess you get a pass.

I don't have super high expectations for next year. We'll have 0 seniors on the roster, so that's a bad start. Lots of variables with key guys recovering from major injuries, potential transfers, no obvious good interior defenders/rebounders, and Jalen's presence on the roster not a certainty. I've said multiple times here that I don't think we have a chance to be really good until the guys in this year's freshman class become upperclassmen. I think Ollie deserves to be the coach until he fails with upperclassmen from his actual recruiting classes, not the guys he scraped together when he first got the job.

When he has too many talented players and can't find the right matchups/lineup to be successful next season, that will be the ultimate indictment of Ollie's coaching ability. I guess we'll need to wait until next year to find out.

 

[7774]

When he has too many talented players and can't find the right matchups/lineup to be successful next season, that will be the ultimate indictment of Ollie's coaching ability. I guess we'll need to wait until next year to find out.

No clue what this means, but maybe you meant to respond to someone else. We'll have max 2/3 upperclassmen on the roster next year (depending upon how you classify Larrier) , so I'm not sure how we'll have too many talented players. How do people not grasp that upperclassmen drive this program's success?

 

[Doctor Hoop]

 

[Travelman6]

Damn if your ability to think as a coach was anywhere near the level of thinking you've displayed in this thread, whoever hired you should have been inducted into the Bad Decision Making Hall of Fame immediately.

Look at the attitude displayed in this thread, obviously it is representative of how things went.

 

[Travelman6]

Yep more than me. Congratulations.
It still begs the question as to your record? I'm just curious if you have been more successful than KO. Did you coach at the Division 1 level? If so did you bring your team to the NCAA tournament? If so how far did you go in the tournament? How often? If not D1 why not? What stopped you? If not is your criticism towards KO sour grapes?

Maybe you're JC and this is an outlet for you. I want you to know I still have the autograph from the Simon and Garfunkle concert.

I promise you I won't belittle your accomplishments. I'm just curious if you hold yourself accountable to the same standards you insist on others.

You are expecting a proper, well thought response to any of this? haha, he will just say something stupid and unfounded in regards to age! God forbid you try to be friendly or ask thoughtful questions!

 

[mauconnfan]

No, You just don't want to accept the truth. We all want the program to succeed but it is headed in the wrong path. And I will say it again, We need a big man coach.

Who coached Kentan Facey?

 

[UConnDan97]

Who coached Kentan Facey?

Stop. Using. Facts.

Just so unfair...

 

[mauconnfan]

Stop. Using. Facts.

Just so unfair...

But Dan in fairness every team has a 6'10 big mans coach like Patrick Ewing on their bench you do know that right? No one else knows anything about basketball on the staff, at least when it comes to footwork and making plays on the low block.

 

[huskiesnyc]

Who coached Kentan Facey?

Facey was the POY in New York out of high school. His talent was pretty obvious from day one, but for whatever reason he didn't get many minutes his first 3 years. Let's not act like he was a 2 or 3 star recruit

 

[intlzncster]

Holy crap, this thread is exactly like the libs vs cons debates on the cesspool.

 

[intlzncster]

Facey was the POY in New York out of high school. His talent was pretty obvious from day one, but for whatever reason he didn't get many minutes his first 3 years. Let's not act like he was a 2 or 3 star recruit

So was Omar Calhoun. Why didn't he become a world beater? Injuries were a big part, sure, but the fact is, what kids do in high school isn't a perfect indicator for college success.

I mean, Scott Hazelton was an AA before coming to UCONN. Nice career at URI I guess.

 

[champs99and04]

You can sell me that Purvis and Brimah were going to confound whichever coach they played for. Facey, though, falls on the coaches. He's about the furthest thing from a feather in the staff's hat from a development standpoint. Even now, as a senior, while at the peak of his game, he's a limited player...and he has way too many tools to still be as limited as he is.

Coaching might not be the biggest problem this season, but it's definitely up there. Forget the player deficiencies - they've looked unprepared and disjointed for much of the season. They're the very antithesis of the SMU team that routinely trounces us (they had 27 assists today in their victory over Houston); the execution is lacking, the fundamentals are poor, and the rotations are jumbled.

There are red flags here that are real, even if the results at large can be rationalized by a number of things. The biggest, at least for me, is that we have completed nearly the first five years of Ollie's tenure without developing a single big man - and by that I mean one capable of facilitating the offense, both as a screener and as a passer out of the low post - into a functional chess piece. It's the biggest reason we've rarely generated easy baskets, even during the national championship season. You watch other teams make it look so simple and you wonder how Nolan, Brimah, Olander, Facey, Enoch, and even Miller would have progressed differently in systems that allowed them to breathe a little bit.

Ollie's made a philosophical choice to run the offense through the guards and that's fine. Those guards' lives would be a hell of a lot easier, though, if we had big's who could screen and navigate an overload defense. Pardon them for Nolan, Brimah, and Olander if you're inclined. But you look at Facey and you question their ability to develop and you look at Enoch and you question their ability to identify the right player. The staff has gotta do better.

 

[mauconnfan]

Facey was the POY in New York out of high school. His talent was pretty obvious from day one, but for whatever reason he didn't get many minutes his first 3 years. Let's not act like he was a 2 or 3 star recruit

His talent was crap hnyc when he got here and his natural instincts were that of Amida Brimah - they were one in the same. One finally got it and brought it to the court. Sorry but not sure of what you were watching, he had no clue where to be, what to do his ability in HS was obviously 6'9" and could jump, nothing else came to Storrs with him.

 

[Hugo]

You can sell me that Purvis and Brimah were going to confound whichever coach they played for. Facey, though, falls on the coaches. He's about the furthest thing from a feather in the staff's hat from a development standpoint. Even now, as a senior, while at the peak of his game, he's a limited player...and he has way too many tools to still be as limited as he is.

Coaching might not be the biggest problem this season, but it's definitely up there. Forget the player deficiencies - they've looked unprepared and disjointed for much of the season. They're the very antithesis of the SMU team that routinely trounces us (they had 27 assists today in their victory over Houston); the execution is lacking, the fundamentals are poor, and the rotations are jumbled.

There are red flags here that are real, even if the results at large can be rationalized by a number of things. The biggest, at least for me, is that we have completed nearly the first five years of Ollie's tenure without developing a single big man - and by that I mean one capable of facilitating the offense, both as a screener and as a passer out of the low post - into a functional chess piece. It's the biggest reason we've rarely generated easy baskets, even during the national championship season.. You watch other teams make it look so simple and you wonder how Nolan, Brimah, Olander, Facey, Enoch, and even Miller would have progressed differently in systems that allowed them to breathe a little bit.

Ollie's made a philosophical choice to run the offense through the guards and that's fine. Those guards' lives would be a hell of a lot easier, though, if we had big's who could screen and navigate an overload defense. Pardon them for Nolan, Brimah, and Olander if you're inclined. But you look at Facey and you question their ability to develop and you look at Enoch and you question their ability to identify the right player. The staff has gotta do better.[/QUOTE

Good post, hitting on our big man problem

I've said it before and I'll say it again, by basically ignoring any low post offense the past 2 or 3 years (you could argue that Miller was an exception, but he was not a true big man in the sense of Brimah, Enoch, Nolan, etc.) it impacts us in three ways. First, the post players don't have a chance to develop, the scoring shifts almost exclusively to the backcourt where they need to create their shots without the benefit of an inside-out game and third we can not recruit top level post players. Why would they come here if we aren't going to utilize them down low.

I do think KO has attempted to address this by using Facey more this year, but this should have happened before this year. A switch didn't just come on for Facey, his improvement came from having more playing time and a greater role in the offense where he can play to his strengths.

 

[intlzncster]

You can sell me that Purvis and Brimah were going to confound whichever coach they played for. Facey, though, falls on the coaches. He's about the furthest thing from a feather in the staff's hat from a development standpoint. Even now, as a senior, while at the peak of his game, he's a limited player...and he has way too many tools to still be as limited as he is.

Coaching might not be the biggest problem this season, but it's definitely up there. Forget the player deficiencies - they've looked unprepared and disjointed for much of the season. They're the very antithesis of the SMU team that routinely trounces us (they had 27 assists today in their victory over Houston); the execution is lacking, the fundamentals are poor, and the rotations are jumbled.

There are red flags here that are real, even if the results at large can be rationalized by a number of things. The biggest, at least for me, is that we have completed nearly the first five years of Ollie's tenure without developing a single big man - and by that I mean one capable of facilitating the offense, both as a screener and as a passer out of the low post - into a functional chess piece. It's the biggest reason we've rarely generated easy baskets, even during the national championship season. You watch other teams make it look so simple and you wonder how Nolan, Brimah, Olander, Facey, Enoch, and even Miller would have progressed differently in systems that allowed them to breathe a little bit.

Ollie's made a philosophical choice to run the offense through the guards and that's fine. Those guards' lives would be a hell of a lot easier, though, if we had big's who could screen and navigate an overload defense. Pardon them for Nolan, Brimah, and Olander if you're inclined. But you look at Facey and you question their ability to develop and you look at Enoch and you question their ability to identify the right player. The staff has gotta do better.

Now I'm depressed.

 

[Mr. French]

You can sell me that Purvis and Brimah were going to confound whichever coach they played for. Facey, though, falls on the coaches. He's about the furthest thing from a feather in the staff's hat from a development standpoint. Even now, as a senior, while at the peak of his game, he's a limited player...and he has way too many tools to still be as limited as he is.

Coaching might not be the biggest problem this season, but it's definitely up there. Forget the player deficiencies - they've looked unprepared and disjointed for much of the season. They're the very antithesis of the SMU team that routinely trounces us (they had 27 assists today in their victory over Houston); the execution is lacking, the fundamentals are poor, and the rotations are jumbled.

There are red flags here that are real, even if the results at large can be rationalized by a number of things. The biggest, at least for me, is that we have completed nearly the first five years of Ollie's tenure without developing a single big man - and by that I mean one capable of facilitating the offense, both as a screener and as a passer out of the low post - into a functional chess piece. It's the biggest reason we've rarely generated easy baskets, even during the national championship season. You watch other teams make it look so simple and you wonder how Nolan, Brimah, Olander, Facey, Enoch, and even Miller would have progressed differently in systems that allowed them to breathe a little bit.

Ollie's made a philosophical choice to run the offense through the guards and that's fine. Those guards' lives would be a hell of a lot easier, though, if we had big's who could screen and navigate an overload defense. Pardon them for Nolan, Brimah, and Olander if you're inclined. But you look at Facey and you question their ability to develop and you look at Enoch and you question their ability to identify the right player. The staff has gotta do better.

But how can you say for sure its the coaches who didn't develop him far enough? Maybe this improvement is 100% on them and him not going FURTHER is 100% on him?

Fact is, we don't know that ... We can guess that he should be more than he is but that's all guessing from a distance. For all we know, every bit of his improvement is due to the coaches ...

Based on how Purvis plays, I don't think its the same. I think we can all tell the parts of the game HE isn't developing, not that he's not being coached properly. So why would we assume that for Facey?

 

[Matrim55]

There are red flags here that are real, even if the results at large can be rationalized by a number of things. The biggest, at least for me, is that we have completed nearly the first five years of Ollie's tenure without developing a single big man - and by that I mean one capable of facilitating the offense, both as a screener and as a passer out of the low post - into a functional chess piece.

First, I disagree with this: Facey has clearly developed into a functional chess piece, even if it only finally happened 10 games into his senior year. God I wish we'd redshirted him as a freshman.

Second, from 2013 through 2015 we landed four big men out of high school. One (Lubin) wasn't good enough for this level, while the other three (Facey, Brimah, Enoch) came to the game late and lacked the baseline fundamentals -- how to set & reverse a screen, where to look first when passing out of a double, how to freaking box out -- that kids who've played the game their entire lives have baked into them by thousands of hours on the court.

The good news is that in the last two classes we've added three big men (Durham, Diarra & Carlton) who've all played the game for a decade before coming to Storrs. They're limited in different ways, but it's a safe assumption that their developmental paths will be different than what we've seen from our current group of bigs.

I am more willing to blame Ollie for prioritizing Abdul-Malik Abu and Leron freaking Black over Bonzie Colson in recruiting than I am to blame him for our current crop of bigs being limited. YMMV.