Ollie's infatuation with Onuorah

[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