Most of us kind of knew that and said as much, even THAT year.
That Bazz was the coach might be the most ignorant BY meme ever. That is was Calhoun players is also ignorant but not as absurd.
The reality is Bazz was so in tuned with his coach after 4 years together he was able to execute what the coach was trying to do perfectly. But that team was special.
Bazz could sit and the team didn’t miss a Beat. The lesser talented guys who stepped up on that team in Key situations are really unprecedented.
What the BY doesn’t understand is Bazz was in total awe of KO , why not
He not only was the starting PG on some iconic UConn teams . managed to stick in his dream NBA for many years with limited talent , hard work and a high BB IQ .Beyond that that the kids that stayed loved him , he was like a father to Bazz and saw in RB a potential for defense from the start, possibly without his getting the job they might have left. The only exception possibly was Giffey whose 2pts a game average for two years spelled lower mid major.
KO ‘s story is an old one , a guy who spent his life in the background finds incredible celebrity, The ESPN guys had him getting away from mid major UConn almost nightly Unfortunately he believed the hype ,and mailed it in , forgetting the real reasons he got as far as he did..Having.never achieved celebrity it’s impossible for me to judge , but the results were personally disastrous for him .
He managed to destroy a promising career , relationships and a marriage in the process. I’m sure the UConn job was the pinnacle of his objectives and his marriage seemed sound . His story is the stuff off tragedy. Hopefully he returns to his core values gets away from the sharks and gets a guard coaching job somewhere teaching kids how to run an offense. That’s his core competence
I loved Purvis but a lot of his grip is he wasn’t allowed to play PG which.given his other attributes “IF” he succeeded would have made sticking in the NBA.easier . He certainly is entitled to an opinion. He had to play a wing a lot because of circumstances.and maybe if he played 3 years as a combo getting drafted might have been a possibility. Maybe .
Frankly he had chances because we were so short handed those years and JA was forced to be on the ball. the whole game . Possibly he progressed since UConn but anyone who believes he should have been our PG should take up another sport. My recollections are when he was forced into the role we all shuddered.
2014-15 we had RB
2015-16 we had Gibbs Purvis , Adams
That was his opportunity to show he was a lead guard . Gibbs was a great 2 and Adams was a Freshman. We had a good 3 and 4 .
but Gibbs and eventually Adams beat him out
2016-17 we had *Gilbert , Adams , Vital Purvis . In a 6 -7 man rotation . he was the backup PG by default
Frankly the guy that got screwed over was Adams
Rodney did make the all rookie G league team
He got multiple 10 day looks and was signed for the duration of the year but was traded twice before being cut by the Celtics. Some guys don’t get that chance
6’3 guys have to be special it’s a cruel occupation.
With a guard coach as good as vintage Ollie and 4 years maybe he makes him into a NBA PG . However a teams Is not a personal clinic and there are other guys with similar aspirations and the objective is build a team.
In a debate you can make a much better case factually that Ollie did more to save the program than hurt it but this is the BY
where opinion trumps reality. That UConn was a JC anomaly was destroyed by KO.
That’s huge for a program.
*3 games
