Oriakhi's Ride on the Escalator

[partial]

Then provide a reasonable explanation as to what his stats are there for if not to compare how he improved as a player? I don't think he improved his draft stock significantly by going to missouri, but the stats quoted in the op are misleading because they imply that he didn't improve as a player at missouri and therefore he didn't improve his draft stock significantly. So either he cherry picked those figures because they fit with his point or the op doesn't know about any other way to measure basketball stats which is what i said.

 

[7774]

Then provide a reasonable explanation as to what his stats are there for if not to compare how he improved as a player? I don't think he improved his draft stock significantly by going to missouri, but the stats quoted in the op are misleading because they imply that he didn't improve as a player at missouri and therefore he didn't improve his draft stock significantly. So either he cherry picked those figures because they fit with his point or the op doesn't know about any other way to measure basketball stats which is what i said.

He picked minutes per game, points per game, and rebounds per game. The most basic stats. I really doubt it's the conspiracy you're making it out to be. And it's pretty obvious from the stats he provided that AO improved from last year. Again, he was terrible last year. He pretty much returned to his sophomore level of play, which was sometimes great and sometimes not.

You agree that he didn't improve his draft stock, which is the point of the OP, so I'm not sure what your argument is.

 

[partial]

We all have pet peeves this is one of mine. The numbers tell their own story if you're going to use them i think they should be used correctly and i didn't think they were.

 

[AJC88]

he sucks.

 

[White Dwarf]

I don't let teenagers bother me

 

[Excalibur]

Does anyone else here appreciate the irony of criticizing the cherry picking of stats by cherry picking stats?

 

[CL82]

Does anyone else here appreciate the irony of criticizing the cherry picking of stats by cherry picking stats?

I think pretty much everyone, except for one guy.

 

[mauconnfan]

He sucked a year ago, changed to a conference that didn't challenge his ineptness and did okay......no one in the NBA noticed I'm sure excpet maybe the fact his hands still sucked and he had TWO rebounds against a physical Colorado State team which Louisville manhandled - there's more proof of how tough he is........typical of AO and love the ending!!

 

[Palatine]

So efficiency, free throw percentage and adanced statistics are irrelevant? By any reasonable measure his stats have significantly improved at missouri, and a rational reading of just the numbers leads one to the opposite conclusion as in the op. That is the premise seemed to be he has not improved at all in his draft status and here are numbers to back that up because of min, pts per game and rebounds, whereas if you look at any other basketball metric they show that he has improved.

The major stats are minutes, points and rebounds. A deeper dive into the numbers can be illuminating but using the major stats and giving them for all four years is not cherry picking.

 

[partial]

I think pretty much everyone, except for one guy.

must be true no one has liked my posts.

I gave a link to all the stats i could find, i pointed out some that i thought should be included, and the full numbers indicate he had the best year of his career at missouri which is what i said. I don't particularly care for AO and i must be tilting at windmills, but to me his stats alone clearly paint the opposite picture of the assertion in the op and i don't think they were included as a counterpoint.

If everyone will excuse me now i have to take some crazy pills and continue beating a dead horse.

 

[partial]

The major stats are minutes, points and rebounds. A deeper dive into the numbers can be illuminating but using the major stats and giving them for all four years is not cherry picking.

That i overreacted seems true, that no one cares about this as much as me seems abundantly clear. But, i don't think i'm wrong about my critique.

 

[Uconn93]

Don't cherry pick or at least if you're going to use numbers do a thorough job: his efficiency, free throw percentage and rebounding rate improved drastically at missouri compared to his last year. If anything the stats seem to show that he showed improvement at UConn until his junior year which resulted in a nose dive, and at missouri he markedly improved or equalled his best in every major statistic. http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Alex-Oriakhi-5099/stats/

Anyway in terms of exposure you may be right, but by looking at numbers i wouldn't be surprised at all if someone takes a chance on him in the second round just because of that, he'll certainly be able to go to the D league route if he wants to. I don't know how much it'll help but he has certainly shown a lot of improvement and that can only be a good thing for his draft status.

As one of the posters points out below, including all of his numbers on minutes, points and rebounds is hardly cherry picking. I think when you analyze the numbers, including the periphery numbers you include, it shows that there is a ceiling to Oriahki and his abilities. He reached that ceiling his sophomore year at Uconn as demonstrated by the fact that his senior year numbers are the same as his sophomore year numbers. If the grass really was greener in Missouri, he would have exceeded those sophomore year numbers substanially.....and he didn't. Everybody looks for upside in a player. I think the numbers show that there is little upside to Oriakhi.

 

[Bryan Lord]

Most people still pronounce his name Or-e-ah-chi outside of UConn and Missouri fans. No one cares or knows or cares to know him besides us.

Best of luck to him.

 

[freescooter]

He was entering his Sr year and UConn was banned from the Tournament. Transferring was a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Let it go.

 

[Uconnrick]

AO left the Big East and played in a much easier conference this year. He should have had better stats, and he did. Did he help himself this year....probably not.

He cooked his own goose last year with the NBA scouts. If you think they didn't see that he quit on the team, treated his HOF coach with disrespect during the season and then had the poor judgment to trash him again after he left; think again. I'll be amazed if he gets drafted. Questionable talent and a head case to boot does not an NBA career make. I wish the kid well but it's going to be in the D league or overseas

 

[gtcam]

AO left the Big East and played in a much easier conference this year. He should have had better stats, and he did. Did he help himself this year....probably not.

He cooked his own goose last year with the NBA scouts. If you think they didn't see that he quit on the team, treated his HOF coach with disrespect during the season and then had the poor judgment to trash him again after he left; think again. I'll be amazed if he gets drafted. Questionable talent and a head case to boot does not an NBA career make. I wish the kid well but it's going to be in the D league or overseas

Agreed but he is neither D league talent nor will an overseas team waste a spot at least in euro maybe south america. the kid is a bad egg made more rotten by a father who lives thru his son. look at his adopted brother Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and you see a continued hitory of errors in judgement

 

[Danzz]

I'm not Oriaki fan but I really believe Drummond was subtraction by addition. While Drummond was an incredible athlete, Uconn was going nowhere without Oriaki playing well. Instead, sitting got to him and his relationship with JC fell apart. I said at the beggining of that season that Oriaki playing well was the key to success. To say he didn't play well would be kind. Things may have been different if we didn't sign Drummond and if JC did a better job of coaching.Or things would have been the same. We'll never know.

 

[huskyniner]

He was entering his Sr year and UConn was banned from the Tournament. Transferring was a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Let it go.

For the thousandth time, it's not that he left, it's how he left.

 

[mauconnfan]

I'm not Oriaki fan but I really believe Drummond was subtraction by addition. While Drummond was an incredible athlete, Uconn was going nowhere without Oriaki playing well. Instead, sitting got to him and his relationship with JC fell apart. I said at the beggining of that season that Oriaki playing well was the key to success. To say he didn't play well would be kind. Things may have been different if we didn't sign Drummond and if JC did a better job of coaching.Or things would have been the same. We'll never know.

Although Andre did not make the impact we all thought he would he was a superior player than Alex ever could have been no matter who came in......if there was no Andre the team would not have made the tourney, AO was that bad!!

 

[Tenspro2002]

Last year's team wasn't going anywhere with either Oriakhi or Drummond. Both were dumb as rocks on the basketball court.

The talent of our guards should have been able to overcome that, but didn't. Lamb/Bazz/Boat never gelled. Just an all-around horrible year.

I miss the teams like 2009 that just kicked ass wire to wire and could beat you in a number of different ways. That was the last real UConn-caliber team, in my opinion.

 

[CL82]

Yeah, I kinda liked the 2011 team.

 

[Husky68]

He was entering his Sr year and UConn was banned from the Tournament. Transferring was a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Let it go.

As one of the posters points out below, including all of his numbers on minutes, points and rebounds is hardly cherry picking. I think when you analyze the numbers, including the periphery numbers you include, it shows that there is a ceiling to Oriahki and his abilities. He reached that ceiling his sophomore year at Uconn as demonstrated by the fact that his senior year numbers are the same as his sophomore year numbers. If the grass really was greener in Missouri, he would have exceeded those sophomore year numbers substanially.....and he didn't. Everybody looks for upside in a player. I think the numbers show that there is little upside to Oriakhi.

Wonder if any coincidence that his "better" years had fellas named Kemba and Pressy as point guards and his weak year had a hurt/learning Bazz and wild Boat as point guards. Jason Kidd made Josh look like an NBA player with the Nets.

 

[businesslawyer]

That i overreacted seems true, that no one cares about this as much as me seems abundantly clear. But, i don't think i'm wrong about my critique.

That's about as bad an apology as Newt Gingrich's (by apologizing for his affairs and then saying they were caused by how much he loved his country). If you're not sorry, please don't waste bandwidth saying you are.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Yeah, I kinda liked the 2011 team.

I loved that team, but let's be honest. Talent-wise, they weren't on par with the dominant teams of yore (1995, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2009), or even the teams a notch below that (1994, 1998, 2002, 2005). You could make the argument that they were closer to those third-tier teams (2000, 2003, 2008) than to any of those teams above that garnered #2 seeds or higher.

 

[partial]

That's about as bad an apology as Newt Gingrich's (by apologizing for his affairs and then saying they were caused by how much he loved his country). If you're not sorry, please don't waste bandwidth saying you are.

Oh i see that's clever because if anything the use of the internet is about efficiency, as i assume all your 5000+ posts reflect.

Let me be more clear I don't think i'm wrong and remain unconvinced that my analysis was incorrect, but i can see that no one shares my opinion so i'll just be the unusually quite guy with an unkempt beard and a card board sign that says we are all doomed.