Rodney Purvis

[RedsoxCowboys]

I watched Rodney Purvis play for USA basketball last night in the FIBA qualifying. This was not the Rodney Purvis I saw at UConn. He was in control, he made some really good passes, and it looked like he knew what he was doing on the offensive and defensive end. I immediately want to blame Ollie for not getting the most out of Purvis, and I don't think I'm wrong. I think Ollie just tells them to go out there and play basketball, and there is very little coaching. Also, Rodney Purvis did not step out of bounds in the game last night. lol

 

[UConnStats]

 

[upstater]

I watched Rodney Purvis play for USA basketball last night in the FIBA qualifying. This was not the Rodney Purvis I saw at UConn. He was in control, he made some really good passes, and it looked like he knew what he was doing on the offensive and defensive end. I immediately want to blame Ollie for not getting the most out of Purvis, and I don't think I'm wrong. I think Ollie just tells them to go out there and play basketball, and there is very little coaching. Also, Rodney Purvis did not step out of bounds in the game last night. lol

Everyone looks great when the team is winning. Losing? Rodney played well at UConn, and if they were winning, people would be focusing on his 3 point shooting and his defense, but because they were losing, we focused on free throw shooting and stepping out of bounds. If they were winning, people would be complimenting Ollie on helping to show Purvis out of his free throw woes. Instead Ollie is blamed for never telling him not to step out of bounds. If we were losing in 2011, people would be saying Roscoe Smith has a low basketball IQ instead of him being lauded as a ferocious defender. Jalen Adams looked fantastic against Cincy his freshman season--when he wasn't the defense's focus. It's all relative.

 

[Austin316]

This makes me happy in pants

 

[champs99and04]

I'm all for holding Ollie accountable, but I don't get how you could have watched Purvis at UConn and concluded that he needed more or better coaching. I've never seen a player think more on the court than him. If anything, he needed to think less and play. He's one of those kids where we would have blamed Calhoun for "over-coaching" if he had played for him.

Glad to hear he's playing well. He's a hard guy not to root for and I miss him every game.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

This makes me happy in pants

☹️

 

[RedsoxCowboys]

I'm all for holding Ollie accountable, but I don't get how you could have watched Purvis at UConn and concluded that he needed more or better coaching. I've never seen a player think more on the court than him. If anything, he needed to think less and play. He's one of those kids where we would have blamed Calhoun for "over-coaching" if he had played for him.

Glad to hear he's playing well. He's a hard guy not to root for and I miss him every game.

Yeah I miss all the missed layups and stepping out of bounds he did, which is on Purvis. There is no way we got the best of Rodney Purvis, and maybe it was more on Purvis than Ollie.

 

[Stainmaster]

Yeah I miss all the missed layups and stepping out of bounds he did, which is on Purvis. There is no way we got the best of Rodney Purvis, and maybe it was more on Purvis than Ollie.

It’s almost as if Rodney only played for us during the 2014-15 season, and the two years where he barely missed layups/stepped out of bounds didn’t exist.

 

[Spokesbender]

I'm all for holding Ollie accountable, but I don't get how you could have watched Purvis at UConn and concluded that he needed more or better coaching. I've never seen a player think more on the court than him. If anything, he needed to think less and play. He's one of those kids where we would have blamed Calhoun for "over-coaching" if he had played for him.

Glad to hear he's playing well. He's a hard guy not to root for and I miss him every game.

Phil Nolan also was hurt by his tendency to overthink everything he did

 

[RedsoxCowboys]

It’s almost as if Rodney only played for us during the 2014-15 season, and the two years where he barely missed layups/stepped out of bounds didn’t exist.

He underachieved at UConn, and I think I heard that he admitted to that fact, in a recent interview. I wish him nothing but the best moving forward, and he is playing very well.

 

[UConnRock]

I'm all for holding Ollie accountable, but I don't get how you could have watched Purvis at UConn and concluded that he needed more or better coaching. I've never seen a player think more on the court than him. If anything, he needed to think less and play. He's one of those kids where we would have blamed Calhoun for "over-coaching" if he had played for him.

Glad to hear he's playing well. He's a hard guy not to root for and I miss him every game.

There is an element of coaching that is directly associated with "over-thinking". Over-thinking happens when: 1) players are not put in a system that matches their natural skills, or 2) players are afraid of failure and being pulled from the game. I don't think Purvis was afraid of failure. The funny part is that Ollie's premise for his "system" is that it is an NBA scheme, but players leave his system for the NBA G-league (Hamilton and Purvis) and look much more comfortable and confident in the G-league..

 

[JimHurley]

This is what happens when players play for a coach that's actually good at player development. I saw Purvis play at the Peach Jam back in 2011 and the player I saw there was much different than the one at UConn. Purvis now (G-League) averaging over 20 PPG looks like the Purvis from high school. The guy spent 4 years under a coach that most of us agree can't develop players.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

There is an element of coaching that is directly associated with "over-thinking". Over-thinking happens when: 1) players are not put in a system that matches their natural skills, or 2) players are afraid of failure and being pulled from the game. I don't think Purvis was afraid of failure. The funny part is that Ollie's premise for his "system" is that it is an NBA scheme, but players leave his system for the NBA G-league (Hamilton and Purvis) and look much more comfortable and confident in the G-league..

What's the funny part? Purvis has been pretty candid about how the spacing in the NBA game has been beneficial for him, and anyone who watched him in college could see that coming. I get that we're going to try to pin literally everything on some failing by Ollie but this is becoming increasingly absurd.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

This is what happens when players play for a coach that's actually good at player development. I saw Purvis play at the Peach Jam back in 2011 and the player I saw there was much different than the one at UConn. Purvis now (G-League) averaging over 20 PPG looks like the Purvis from high school. The guy spent 4 years under a coach that most of us agree can't develop players.

The Purvis from high school couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

 

[RedsoxCowboys]

What's the funny part? Purvis has been pretty candid about how the spacing in the NBA game has been beneficial for him, and anyone who watched him in college could see that coming. I get that we're going to try to pin literally everything on some failing by Ollie but this is becoming increasingly absurd.

UConn does spacing, but the players just stand there. Ollie doesn't know how to teach an offense, so the offense they run is on Ollie. He is not a good coach.

 

[Tuna]

What's the funny part? Purvis has been pretty candid about how the spacing in the NBA game has been beneficial for him, and anyone who watched him in college could see that coming. I get that we're going to try to pin literally everything on some failing by Ollie but this is becoming increasingly absurd.

I used to go over and lurk the Syracuse board just to fuel my visceral hate for them based on how they bashed UCONN and especially the fans here. Sad to think I might actually hate UCONN fans more than Cuse fans now.

 

[Whtdmd]

This is what happens when players play for a coach that's actually good at player development. I saw Purvis play at the Peach Jam back in 2011 and the player I saw there was much different than the one at UConn. Purvis now (G-League) averaging over 20 PPG looks like the Purvis from high school. The guy spent 4 years under a coach that most of us agree can't develop players.

Purvis was alot better at UCONN then at NCST. HE was benched at at NCST because he could not get his game together. He was cut from the u20 USA team between his transfer to freshman yr n UCONN. He did get alot better at UCONN but that is not the narrative

 

[gtcam]

I used to go over and lurk the Syracuse board just to fuel my visceral hate for them based on how they bashed UCONN and especially the fans here. Sad to think I might actually hate UCONN fans more than Cuse fans now.

Wow - there is another who sometimes thinks that way
Welcome aboard
Don't you love how someone starts a thread by blaming KO and in successive posts he starts back peddling?
It's like lets throw some anti KO stuff up here and I'll get a dozen likes

Like Tom said in his post - let's stop bashing KO and the players - let's talk basketball

 

[JimHurley]

The Purvis from high school couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

Outside shooting is something he has consistently gotten better at. But he could still score at will in high school. He wouldn’t miss on drives in high school. At UConn, I think his shooting percentage went down as he got closer to the basket.

 

[UConnRock]

What's the funny part? Purvis has been pretty candid about how the spacing in the NBA game has been beneficial for him, and anyone who watched him in college could see that coming. I get that we're going to try to pin literally everything on some failing by Ollie but this is becoming increasingly absurd.

That is great if you are pleased with UConn producing G-league players that are moderately successful in the "college game" but are much improved in the "NBA game". If UConn's offense doesn't work well against various college defenses then that offense has to change. Getting proper spacing and running an offense that works against college defenses is part of running a quality college program. Ollie hasn't shown a willingness to change or hasn't recruited the players to make that change possible.

 

[upstater]

There is an element of coaching that is directly associated with "over-thinking". Over-thinking happens when: 1) players are not put in a system that matches their natural skills, or 2) players are afraid of failure and being pulled from the game. I don't think Purvis was afraid of failure. The funny part is that Ollie's premise for his "system" is that it is an NBA scheme, but players leave his system for the NBA G-league (Hamilton and Purvis) and look much more comfortable and confident in the G-league..

Maybe because they've been schooled in an NBA system, but in the cramped college game, the system just doesn't work. You have the 3 point line, for one, is smaller. You have all sorts of zones. You have guys packing in the paint because big guys can't hit 3s.

 

[upstater]

This is what happens when players play for a coach that's actually good at player development. I saw Purvis play at the Peach Jam back in 2011 and the player I saw there was much different than the one at UConn. Purvis now (G-League) averaging over 20 PPG looks like the Purvis from high school. The guy spent 4 years under a coach that most of us agree can't develop players.

He can't develop some players. He can develop others. There's a long list of players who developed under him. There's a long list of players who didn't develop under him.

What do you think of Deandre Daniels or Ryan Boatright?

 

[ZenConn]

Phil Nolan also was hurt by his tendency to overthink everything he did

I agree. Only Phil Nolan would ever think about doing a 360 pirouette in the paint without moving his pivot.

 

[Spokesbender]

I agree. Only Phil Nolan would ever think about doing a 360 pirouette in the paint without moving his pivot.

It takes some serious mental awareness to pull that off. I think he even managed a full 720 which is an even greater feat.

 

[champs99and04]

There is an element of coaching that is directly associated with "over-thinking". Over-thinking happens when: 1) players are not put in a system that matches their natural skills, or 2) players are afraid of failure and being pulled from the game. I don't think Purvis was afraid of failure. The funny part is that Ollie's premise for his "system" is that it is an NBA scheme, but players leave his system for the NBA G-league (Hamilton and Purvis) and look much more comfortable and confident in the G-league..

Purvis simply was not a great offensive player. He didn't have the vision or handle to use ball screens effectively, he struggled to finish at the rim, and he didn't shoot the ball quite well enough to do any major damage as a spot-up shooter. He was just an awkward offensive player and would have been in any system. That doesn't mean he was Terrence Samuel, but you can find a billion players like him in college basketball that could have performed the same way he did.

He was a good player. Nothing more, nothing less. Would have gotten minutes pretty much everywhere and seemed to play his best basketball in the biggest games. If he was held back by anything, I think it's the fact that he was never quite as explosive athletically as we thought. He was never the rim-shattering force who seized big men up at the rim and put them on a poster - if anything, he turned out to be more of a singles hitter who was better served hitting floaters.