That’s a little bit unfair. The last year of JC, we were playing a two big lineup (Drummond, Oriakhi) with Roscoe at the 3 and we really struggled. Then there was a mass exodus - Roscoe, Oriakhi, and Bradley transferred (Bradley didn’t play but took away a big body), and Drummond and Lamb went pro. Giffey and Daniels were buried in 2011-12, but they had to play, and we had no choice but to go small with Daniels as a stretch 4, and Olander at the 5. It was very much not a JC-style lineup, who liked two traditional bigs and a big 3 man (Rudy-Sticks-Roscoe). Ollie’s team had to play a lot differently at both ends due to going small - and maybe his assistants played more of a role in shaping the teams those two years than KO did. But he wasn’t able to pick up where the program left off because it was an entirely different type of team.
As for his coaching in 2014, I still think back to the Florida game - the Gators defensive scheme took Bazz out of the game by aggressively doubling the high screens, and we looked like we were going to struggle to score 20 points after the first 10 minutes. But we made adjustments, attacked more from the wings with Boat and DD, dug in defensively and flipped the script. In the second half when Florida was desperate and threw a zone at us, we were immediately prepared and beat it with three lobs. Whether it was all Bazz and his IQ (there was a beautiful No look lob from Boat as well), the assistants, or whoever - we looked well coached during that whole run. We might have blown the doors off Kentucky if Boat and DD didn’t both get two fouls up 15 in the first half, and we dominated Nova with Bazz on the bench in the foul trouble. When adversity came (Bazz foul trouble, Michigan State surging up 9 in the second half, Florida dominating early, Kentucky comeback, etc.), we answered.
But subsequent evidence makes it harder to give KO as much credit as we gave him at the time (hard to believe now, but we were totally panicked that he was going to take an NBA job). By the end, we never responded to any adversity at all - we’d just lose by 30 once things started going off the rails. The entire era was just weird. Did the divorce really change him that much - did he just rest on his laurels after winning the title and not want to work hard any more - was Bazz masking his deficiencies? Whatever the answer, or combination of answers, the program cratered and is still trying to recover.
Brimah’s putback against Saint Joe’s changed a lot of trajectories. Without that bucket, Bazz is mostly forgotten, we never see Boat’s defensive wizardry, those memorable Garden games never happen, and KO is probably out sooner and regarded as a big mistake, instead of a mixed bag.
