Ollie's infatuation with Onuorah

[Edward Sargent]

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.

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

 

[my2cents]

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.

 

[Kenny11]

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.

 

[Huskybass]

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.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

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.

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.

 

[Sphinx]

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.

 

[JimHurley]

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.

 

[upstater]

This entire thread really boils down to the poor recruiting.

Otherwise, people are grasping at straws.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

This entire thread really boils down to the poor recruiting.

Otherwise, people are grasping at straws.

I disagree. Not when Diarra, Whaley and Williams play a combined 6 minutes last night.

 

[upstater]

I disagree. Not when Diarra, Whaley and Williams play a combined 6 minutes last night.

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.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

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.

But Upstate, we were playing a team that doesn't play anyone over 6'7. That's the whole point that you are choosing to ignore.

 

[HuskyHawk]

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.

Yes, I want us to play with Diarra at center. Or Cobb. And I never again want to see Larrier at the 4. Or anybody like him (Polley next year).

 

[upstater]

But Upstate, we were playing a team that doesn't play anyone over 6'7. That's the whole point that you are choosing to ignore.

I am not ignoring it. Look at the size of those kids. Zanna is a monster. He's as chiseled as Onuorah even if he's only 6'7. He even weighs the same. Harris only played 5 minutes but he is 6'10.

All year long I've seen our bigs backed down for easy hoops.

 

[jibsey]

Was Cobb injured last game?

 

[HuskyBoi]

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.

walk ons dont have his size. but i still dont think onuorah should see the court again.

 

[the Q]

If you like BPM, DO is one of our best defenders.

If you hate BPM, you say that BPM sucks because it says DO is one of our best defenders.

 

[jdb50]

This entire thread really boils down to the poor recruiting.

Otherwise, people are grasping at straws.

Wrong. None of our freshman have shown much if any improvement this year. 2 years in a row Ollie has had lineups with many freshman and newcomers and he has failed to get them to play well as a team. Last year at full strength he lost to 2 low majors at Gampel. This year we barely beat 2 low majors at Gampel in overtime. Early season letting opponent runs go on without calling timeout. His no feel for the game or his own team substitution patterns. His reliance on meaningless phrases like "we need to share the basketball better" to explain the obvious lack of a plan to deal with other teams shutting down Jalen and therefore our offense. At the half against Houston you knew they were going to make it harder for Jalen to be a factor in the second half. We had no plan for this. In addition we let Gray take the ball whenever Houston needed when denying him the ball in the first place would have been a smart move as we could not stop him. Our defenders gave him 10 feet of space when he did not have the ball. More than one color announcer this year talking about how our guards do not make good use of picks by not cutting tight to the screener so the defender can't get by the pick. Ollie did well with a team that had veterans and players who needed a few tweaks to maximize their potential in 2013 and 2014. His ability to really coach up players that need a lot of improvement and give them a system that they execute well is lacking.

 

[upstater]

Wrong. None of our freshman have shown much if any improvement this year. 2 years in a row Ollie has had lineups with many freshman and newcomers and he has failed to get them to play well as a team. Last year at full strength he lost to 2 low majors at Gampel. This year we barely beat 2 low majors at Gampel in overtime. Early season letting opponent runs go on without calling timeout. His no feel for the game or his own team substitution patterns. His reliance on meaningless phrases like "we need to share the basketball better" to explain the obvious lack of a plan to deal with other teams shutting down Jalen and therefore our offense. At the half against Houston you knew they were going to make it harder for Jalen to be a factor in the second half. We had no plan for this. In addition we let Gray take the ball whenever Houston needed when denying him the ball in the first place would have been a smart move as we could not stop him. Our defenders gave him 10 feet of space when he did not have the ball. More than one color announcer this year talking about how our guards do not make good use of picks by not cutting tight to the screener so the defender can't get by the pick. Ollie did well with a team that had veterans and players who needed a few tweaks to maximize their potential in 2013 and 2014. His ability to really coach up players that need a lot of improvement and give them a system that they execute well is lacking.

What does that have to do with the lack of centers on this team? You're never going to coach non-centers to be centers. Might as well recruit Peter Dinklage.

 

[jdb50]

We faced very few players that would qualify as true centers this year like Tacko Fall or someone like Brimah. Mostly frontcourt players with ability to play down low or pop out and make a three.

 

[upstater]

We faced very few players that would qualify as true centers this year like Tacko Fall or someone like Brimah. Mostly frontcourt players with ability to play down low or pop out and make a three.

I disagree. We faced a good many teams with brawny types who were 6'8" like Carlton. They backed people down at will and scored. Onuorah had so many deficiencies, but strength was not one of them. You can't say the same about Whaley and Diarra.

Just one example. East Carolina had a guy, 6'8" 230, Spasojevic, at center. He shot 9-13 against UConn in 2 games. He did whatever he wanted down there. Teams have been doing damage in the paint all year against UConn. Another example, Parks from Memphis, 15-26, down low. 18 boards. These centers have been unstoppable. Even out of conference. Spencer of Auburn played 19 minutes, had 9 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks.

 

[Caronimo]

DO should give up basketball and immediately join the NFL combine. He’s in the wrong sport