Random thoughts on the past season and the tourney.

[RichZ]

And I do mean random.

1. When Ollie was appointed as an assistant 4 years ago, I posted that he would be our next head coach. I got laughed at a lot, and the prevailing logic was that he needed 4 or 5 years as an assistant, followed by a few years of head coaching success at the D2 or preferably a mid-major D1 level to be even considered for the job, and it was unlikely that JC would be around that long, so the timing of his arrival pretty much precluded that possibility. Then, when he was appointed HC WAY ahead of that theoretical schedule, there were mixed feelings on the yard. To those doubters, I just want to say, "Neener Neener!" In a friendly way, of course.
2. With so many of the talking heads annointing Bazz as the best player in the country now, you have to wonder how the hell he wasn't even a finalist for the Wooden.
3. Why is Bazz's post game comment a bigger story than his basketball? And if the media wants to play it up, why not write the whole story -- about the financial scandal that occurred under Emmert's watch at UConn and his denial of knowing anything about it (along with scandals at LSU and Montana), then once he got into the NCAA, leading a vendetta against UConn and especially the men's basketball program, with the over the top execution of the Miles/Nochism incident, and the retroactive enforcement of the whole APR thing.
4. Most programs, coaching becomes pretty game specific by the time the conference season rolls around. Seems pretty obvious that Ollie never stopped working on fundamentals and on molding the team to his vision for them. The improvement in this team over the ENTIRE season, including the post season, was just awe inspiring.
5. The whole "inspiration" thing gets overlooked. Ollie flat out inspired these guys, and that was at least as important to our overall success as his Xs and Os. He molded them into a family, and they played as a unit, not as individual players.
   
6. There was a lot of second guessing Ollie's staff selections over the course of the season. I might have been one of those who wondered why we were limiting our options to former UConn players and why we seemed to be trying to assemble of group of point guards as coaches. I'm done questioning the logic. The results are magnificent. KO is committed to the concept that guard play wins the tourney. And as a result, we didn't just have the best back court in the country -- by the tourney, we had the best overall guard play in recent memory. And the entire coaching staff as part of the whole family deal. Just as inspired by the boss as the kids were.
   
7. Speaking of guard play -- when KO pulled a polished TSam out of his back pocket and put him right into the mix in the tourney -- NO-ONE saw that coming. And it was certainly a pretty important factor in our success in the tourney. We ended up playing way more minutes with two wings and three point guards on the floor than anyone in their right mind would have considered. To me, it was one of the more magical developments of the tourney.
8. Early in the game, the Kentucky team struck me as amazingly slow footed. We seemed to be 2-1/2 steps ahead at every turn. Their sluggishness eventually went away -- until late in the game, anyway.
   
9. At half time last night, the team of assembled idiots just kept talking about Cal's great strategy in switching to a zone, and attributed the Kentucky resurgence entirely to that. No mention was made that it coincided with DD having to sit because of foul trouble. Might not have made a difference, but DD has been integral to our demolition of zone defenses in the tourney, and it was certainly worth commenting on.
10. The squid should probably stop using the "We aren't going to make you do the boring crap like running laps and practicing foul shots," spiel on his blue chip recruits. Endurance and foul shooting carried us through this tourney. Along with other-worldly defense on the perimeter, but that's another talking point.
11. And Cal should also stop saying they couldn't win because they are all just freshmen. Building a team with all freshman talent and no cohesion or BBIQ was your plan for success. Just admit it was a bad plan and be done with it.
12. I like having Bazz and Boat's mothers so visible at games. Just like Kemba's mom in 11. They are there for their sons, but they really root for the whole team and get heavily involved in the games.
13. Speaking of visibility at games, I can't recall a championship game in which the former players in the stands didn't get TV face time and at least an acknowledgement from the commentators before. Maybe we just had too many there for them to contend with?
14. Giffey. When his shot deserted him, KO evidently told him to not worry about the shot, and just change your game completely to be a terror on the glass. No problem, coach!
15. What ever happened to our nuns from 99?
16. Did RA Derek survive last night?
17. Senhor can now retire to a life of idle tomfoolery with Charlie Sheen. We'll need a new mojo totem for next year. Have faith in Deep to find us one.
    
18. Regarding my workout mojo contribution. Now that the mojo has done its job, I think I'm taking a couple days off from the gym. At least until my right calf starts looking something like skin color again. It's back to a reasonable facsimile of the right size and shape and the soreness is mostly gone. The color? That's different story. I'm pretty sure I went way beyond a "Good job!" from my Cardiac rehab guy to a "What are you, ' crazy?"
    
    
    
    
    
    

 

[upstater]

On #1, there were several of us that believed in Ollie years ago.

 

[RichZ]

On #1, there were several of us that believed in Ollie years ago.

I know that. But the timing argument did make sense at the time. We didn't know that JC was going to force KO down the administration's throat like he did by retiring just before the season started.

I had the sequence wrong though. I thought Ollie would move into the associate head coach role after three years or so, and JC would retire a year or two later.