Ollie's infatuation with Onuorah | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Ollie's infatuation with Onuorah

upstater said:
Carlton has freakishly long arms and a knack for grabbing balls over people without fouling. Also a knack for offensive putbacks off the glass. In Kisunas's video, he doesn't have long arms and he struggles with putbacks. Unless he develops his game, he is going to be a useful big body.
Expand ...

Iv seen a few videos of him and that's it. I was not impressed at all.
 
Kemba2Rememba said:
Anyone have any updates on Kisunas?

Unless Carlton is able to clean up his propensity for fouls, I presume Kisunas will be picking up DO’s minutes
Expand ...

I think a second year Carlton will be a better Carlton. But then again KO hasn't proven he can develop his recruits. But then again most have bailed on him so we really don't know.
 
.-.
tentoes4rings said:
I just think KO is delusional enough to think this team can still go on a run and was willing to sacrifice future development of the young bigs because he thought for some reason DO gave him a better chance of winning this season.
Expand ...

I mean, I'd be trying to win no matter what. I don't fault KO for fighting for his team and for his job. Play to win the game in front of you. He doesn't have the luxury of wait til next year.

That said, what's strange about KO is that he think DO gives himself the best chance to win.

Mind boggling.
 
I wish Ollie had tanked the season too, and played the young kids. That way you have a chance of winning the High School draft lottery.
 
upstater said:
I wish Ollie had tanked the season too, and played the young kids. That way you have a chance of winning the High School draft lottery.
Expand ...
Nobody said anything about tanking tough guy but when a coach has to be realistic at some point about what a team’s potential is and try to develop kids for the future when he knows the potential isn’t there. And we are talking David Onourah here, not exactly a high ceiling guy who gives you a decidedly better chance of winning this year.
 
tentoes4rings said:
I just think KO is delusional enough to think this team can still go on a run and was willing to sacrifice future development of the young bigs because he thought for some reason DO gave him a better chance of winning this season.
Expand ...

I mean CBB is different than any other sport since you can be an awful team and then go on a 3 game run and make the tournament so he's not delusional, he should play the guys he thinks gives them the best chance to win until the end. Why he thinks DO is up to the task is a whole other question, I don't get it.
 
.-.
HuskyBoi said:
he's old enough to be considered past a kid. he constantly kills us with ridiculous moving screens, and if he somehow manages to set a screen, he rolls so quickly.
Expand ...
You nailed it. He is a runaway freight train playing the wrong sport. I am saddened KO puts him in no win situations, meaning on the court, but particularly when we are up 4 w/ 5 minutes to play and with him in we end up losing by 10.
 
Greathusky said:
An additional turning point was KO screaming at DO after that foul. Looked like a lover's quarrel!
Expand ...
DO looked like he was going to cry. It made me a bit uncomfortable.
 
tentoes4rings said:
Nobody said anything about tanking tough guy but when a coach has to be realistic at some point about what a team’s potential is and try to develop kids for the future when he knows the potential isn’t there. And we are talking David Onourah here, not exactly a high ceiling guy who gives you a decidedly better chance of winning this year.
Expand ...

Tough guy? Jeez. Really?
Anyhow, if you put in guys to get plowed, all the other guys suffer by extension. How does help the team (the young guys) if the opposition is exploiting a weakness and thereby making it hard for the team to function at all? Diarra, Whaley and Williams will never be centers at UConn, so what could possibly be accomplished by playing them there?

And isn't it tanking if you decide to emphasize future development by playing youngster? That's the definition of tanking.
 
Here's the Per 40 stats on the season for the bigs:

FG%:

1. Kwintin Williams (57.1%)
2. Isaiah Whaley (55.8%)
3. Mamadou Diarra (52.6%)
4. Josh Carlton (50.5%)
5. David Onuorah (47.8%)
6. Eric Cobb (44.4%)

TRB/40:
1. Eric Cobb (14.7)
2. Kwintin Williams (12.1)
3. Josh Carlton (10)
4. Mamadou Diarra (9.9)
5. David Onuorah (7.9)
6. Isaiah Whaley (6.4)

BLK/40:
1. Mamadou Diarra (2.9)
2. Isaiah Whaley (2.9)
3. Josh Carlton (2.0)
4. David Onuorah (1.7)
5. Eric Cobb (0.4)
6. Kwintin Williams (0)

TO/40:
1. Eric Cobb (6)
2. David Onuorah (3.2)
3. Josh Carlton (2.6)
4. Mamadou Diarra (1.5)
5. Isaiah Whaley (1.2)
6. Kwintin Williams (1.1)

Fouls/40:
1. Mamadou Diarra (8.8)
2. David Onuorah (8.4)
3. Josh Carlton (6.3)
4. Eric Cobb (5.6)
5. Kwintin Williams (4.6)
6. Isaiah Whaley (4.3)

PTS/40:
1. Josh Carlton (11.8)
2. Mamdou Diarra (10.4)
3. Eric Cobb (9.1)
4. Kwintin Williams (8.9)
5. Isaiah Whaley (7.5)
6. David Onuorah (3.6)

Overall Box Plus/Minus
1. Isaiah Whaley (5.4)
2. Josh Carlton (0.6)
3. Kwintin Williams (-1.9)
4. David Onuorah (-2.9)
5. Mamadou Diarra (-3.0)
6. Eric Cobb (-7.2)

Minutes Per Game
1. Josh Carlton (15.4)
2. Isaiah Whaley (14.6)
3. David Onuorah (10.4)
4. Mamadou Diarra (9.9)
5. Eric Cobb (8.1)
6. Kwintin Williams (6.6)

To summarize Onuorah can't put the ball in the hoop, turns the ball over a lot, fouls a lot, can't get a rebound, is not the team's best rim protector, and is not even close to the most effective big man on the floor and yet gets the 3rd most minutes among big men. There are at least 3 if not 4 guys who should be playing ahead of him plus the fact they have 2-3 years more with the program so every minute invested now is a minute towards development & growth for next year and they give the team the best chance to win today.

Does no one on the staff look at advanced metrics at all (or have eyes since I was not surprised to find these numbers)? You would think Onuorah is the coach's son for such poor decision making.
 
Last edited:
Storrs South said:
Here's the Per 40 stats on the season for the bigs:

FG%:

1. Kwintin Williams (57.1%)
2. Isaiah Whaley (55.8%)
3. Mamadou Diarra (52.6%)
4. Josh Carlton (50.5%)
5. David Onuorah (47.8%)
6. Eric Cobb (44.4%)

TRB/40:
1. Eric Cobb (14.7)
2. Kwintin Williams (12.1)
3. Josh Carlton (10)
4. Mamadou Diarra (9.9)
5. David Onuorah (7.9)
6. Isaiah Whaley (6.4)

BLK/40:
1. Mamadou Diarra (2.9)
2. Isaiah Whaley (2.9)
3. Josh Carlton (2.0)
4. David Onuorah (1.7)
5. Eric Cobb (0.4)
6. Kwintin Williams (0)

TO/40:
1. Eric Cobb (6)
2. David Onuorah (3.2)
3. Josh Carlton (2.6)
4. Mamadou Diarra (1.5)
5. Isaiah Whaley (1.2)
6. Kwintin Williams (1.1)

Fouls/40:
1. Mamadou Diarra (8.8)
2. David Onuorah (8.4)
3. Josh Carlton (6.3)
4. Eric Cobb (5.6)
5. Kwintin Williams (4.6)
6. Isaiah Whaley (4.3)

PTS/40:
1. Josh Carlton (11.8)
2. Mamdou Diarra (10.4)
3. Eric Cobb (9.1)
4. Kwintin Williams (8.9)
5. Isaiah Whaley (7.5)
6. David Onuorah (3.6)

Overall Box Plus/Minus
1. Isaiah Whaley (5.4)
2. Josh Carlton (0.6)
3. Kwintin Williams (-1.9)
4. David Onuorah (-2.9)
5. Mamadou Diarra (-3.0)
6. Eric Cobb (-7.2)

Minutes Per Game
1. Josh Carlton (15.4)
2. Isaiah Whaley (14.6)
3. David Onuorah (10.4)
4. Mamadou Diarra (9.9)
5. Eric Cobb (8.1)
6. Kwintin Williams (6.6)

To summarize Onuorah can't put the ball in the hoop, turns the ball over a lot, fouls a lot, can't get a rebound, is not the team's best rim protector, and is not even close to the most effective big man on the floor and yet gets the 3rd most minutes among big men. There are at least 3 if not 4 guys who should be playing ahead of him plus the fact they have 2-3 years more with the program so every minute invested now is a minute towards development & growth for next year and they give the team the best chance to win today.

Does no one on the staff look at advanced metrics at all (or have eyes since I was not surprised to find these numbers)? You would think Onuorah is the coach's son for such poor decision making.
Expand ...

Here's where advanced metrics fail you:

If there's no big guy in the middle (Carlton preferably, but also Onuorah) the other guys at PF don't have the same stats.

No one here is arguing that DO is good. The argument is that none of the other guys can play center.
 
All of the front court guys are pretty bad.

Carlton is currently not very good, but he has prospects.

The rest are bad.

I just don’t understand playing the guy who is bad and whose future with the team will expire in about six days. If you have a lot of bad choices, pick the younger bad choices so that your choices next year might be slightly less bad than they are now.
 
.-.
upstater said:
Here's where advanced metrics fail you:

If there's no big guy in the middle (Carlton preferably, but also Onuorah) the other guys at PF don't have the same stats.

No one here is arguing that DO is good. The argument is that none of the other guys can play center.
Expand ...

Onuorah is big, but does not exhibit any attributes of typical players his size as noted by the metrics and KO continued to invest minutes in him despite the fact that he will not be here next year (the season has been over since January).

Now I'd wager good money that whether or not KO returns at least 1 if not 2 of the other guys will transfer to destinations where the coach will let them play over less skilled players.
 
Storrs South said:
Here's the Per 40 stats on the season for the bigs:

FG%:

1. Kwintin Williams (57.1%)
2. Isaiah Whaley (55.8%)
3. Mamadou Diarra (52.6%)
4. Josh Carlton (50.5%)
5. David Onuorah (47.8%)
6. Eric Cobb (44.4%)

TRB/40:
1. Eric Cobb (14.7)
2. Kwintin Williams (12.1)
3. Josh Carlton (10)
4. Mamadou Diarra (9.9)
5. David Onuorah (7.9)
6. Isaiah Whaley (6.4)

BLK/40:
1. Mamadou Diarra (2.9)
2. Isaiah Whaley (2.9)
3. Josh Carlton (2.0)
4. David Onuorah (1.7)
5. Eric Cobb (0.4)
6. Kwintin Williams (0)

TO/40:
1. Eric Cobb (6)
2. David Onuorah (3.2)
3. Josh Carlton (2.6)
4. Mamadou Diarra (1.5)
5. Isaiah Whaley (1.2)
6. Kwintin Williams (1.1)

Fouls/40:
1. Mamadou Diarra (8.8)
2. David Onuorah (8.4)
3. Josh Carlton (6.3)
4. Eric Cobb (5.6)
5. Kwintin Williams (4.6)
6. Isaiah Whaley (4.3)

PTS/40:
1. Josh Carlton (11.8)
2. Mamdou Diarra (10.4)
3. Eric Cobb (9.1)
4. Kwintin Williams (8.9)
5. Isaiah Whaley (7.5)
6. David Onuorah (3.6)

Overall Box Plus/Minus
1. Isaiah Whaley (5.4)
2. Josh Carlton (0.6)
3. Kwintin Williams (-1.9)
4. David Onuorah (-2.9)
5. Mamadou Diarra (-3.0)
6. Eric Cobb (-7.2)

Minutes Per Game
1. Josh Carlton (15.4)
2. Isaiah Whaley (14.6)
3. David Onuorah (10.4)
4. Mamadou Diarra (9.9)
5. Eric Cobb (8.1)
6. Kwintin Williams (6.6)

To summarize Onuorah can't put the ball in the hoop, turns the ball over a lot, fouls a lot, can't get a rebound, is not the team's best rim protector, and is not even close to the most effective big man on the floor and yet gets the 3rd most minutes among big men. There are at least 3 if not 4 guys who should be playing ahead of him plus the fact they have 2-3 years more with the program so every minute invested now is a minute towards development & growth for next year and they give the team the best chance to win today.

Does no one on the staff look at advanced metrics at all (or have eyes since I was not surprised to find these numbers)? You would think Onuorah is the coach's son for such poor decision making.
Expand ...
Hear, hear!
 
champs99and04 said:
I agree with your conclusion but I'm not sure it's this simple. For one, Diarra played four minutes today, turned it over twice, committed two fouls, and put up zeros across the board everywhere else. Does he deserve a longer leash? IMO yes. But you could just as easily run with the narrative that KO is teaching his freshman that nothing comes easy and that you have to pay attention to the little things even if you have talent.

Carlton wasn't exactly tearing it up today with his 2 rebounds in 21 minutes, plus, he's probably the worst defender of all the big men. All things considered, he gets plenty of time.

Williams can sometimes be even more of a black hole on offense because he can't screen like Onuorah can. Then there's the fact that Ollie clearly doesn't seem to like him for reasons that I'm sure he's not just making up. The kid hasn't exactly played a lot of organized basketball in the recent past and at this point there is reason to doubt he will be part of our future.

13 minutes for Onuorah - a guy that just can't play at this level - is too many. No way around it. But at the same time, when Diarra isn't effective and Carlton is tired, we don't really have a ton of good options. Ollie clearly felt this was his best option guarding the pick and roll and he clearly had some set plays with Onuorah prominently involved as a screener that he wanted to use at key moments of the game. Ultimately, this sort of thing can be traced back to Durham leaving last spring. We knew that was going to kill us and in these sort of games it just does.
Expand ...
Onourah is not an effective screener unless he is hip checking the guy. None of our guards are very effective at using screens either though
 
DO has big biceps...that's the only thing I can see that he brings to the party.
Actually playing the game, not so much.
 
It makes no sense. DO sucks at basketball. My guess is that he's a great person and probably works his a** off in practice but there are guys on many teams that also fit that description and don't play. They are called walk-ons.
 
DO works hard and seems like a great young man. I thank him for all his efforts and wish him nothing but success both on and off the court.

That said, he was thrust into a far larger role than his talents warrant. It was inevitable that the results would be underwhelming.
 
.-.
upstater said:
It's basketball.

You need a big guy.

Carlton gives decent minutes but he collects fouls. You need another big guy.

Or do you want to play with Diarra at center?

Jeez.
Expand ...
But Houston is a team where you could easily go small. Davis (6'6 225), Zanna (6-6 240), and White (6-7 210) were their biggest players who played more than 7 minutes last night. Onuorah's minutes could have been more minutes for Diarra and Whaley or a few minutes to go to Williams, who while only 6-7 211, he's very strong for his size. He could have easily been on Davis or White when they were at the 5 when Zanna was out.
 
There were four guys this year who had the wherewithal to become the frontcourt physical presence that the team needed -- Cobb, Onuorah, Diarra and Williams. KO and staff failed to develop any of them. They took on Cobb as a bad boy rehab project and failed completely to motivate him or control him. They gave up on Williams before giving him the slightest chance. They failed to apprise Diarra and Onuorah of even the basic fundamentals of defense-without-fouling. In the end, KO settled on Onuorah only because Diarra is not three inches taller.
 
The worst part was coming down the stretch when we really needed buckets. Every possession was must-score and we had Onuorah in - so basically 4 on 5. Ollie has no clue how to manage lineups.
 
Hey Adrien! said:
I disagree. Not when Diarra, Whaley and Williams play a combined 6 minutes last night.
Expand ...

Whaley is a pencil. Diarra is 6'5" and was a disaster in there. Williams can't play center. My god. Ollie deserves a lot of criticism for the roster. But harping on the fact that you guys want incapable people to play center in just mind boggling.

I remember people couldn't wait for Brimah to leave.

You need someone to plug up the middle even if he's a statue and doesn't move easily.
 
.-.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,336
Messages
4,565,421
Members
10,466
Latest member
agiglax


Top Bottom