Rothstein: "UConn’s struggles shouldn’t be a massive surprise"

[StunningSteve]

From the Rothstein Files:

"
The Huskies haven’t normally been 10-9 through 19 games over the last 30 years, but that’s what they are this season for a number of reasons.

UConn’s season drastically changed when Alterique Gilbert was lost for the year due to a shoulder injury. Now Kevin Ollie’s squad is feeling the effects of that injury and the transfers of Vance Jackson, Juwan Durham and Steve Enoch roughly 10 months ago.



Rothstein Files | Kansas Finally Has Roster Clarity

 

[BUConn10]

"Ollie needs players"

Yea well... we have been saying that for a couple years now. Unfortunately, his time to do so has run out. Time to give someone else a shot at it.

 

[Candyman]

This is all so true. When we lost those players and Mal any injury to Adams, Gilbert or Larrier would kill us. Still shouldn't be getting blown out of these games like this. Ollie needs to lose the pro style sets which hasn't worked in 3 years.

 

[Storrs South]

Personally, I don't think it's the struggles that are the issue. If the team was 12-7 or 11-8 and had not been blown out by Arkansas, Auburn, and Memphis and played competent basketball against ECU/Coppin State and not gone to OT v. Columbia & Monmouth we would all feel better today. If only 1 or 2 of these things happened fine, it happens. Even the women didn't play their best against Tulsa the other day but it was out of character for them because it is out of the norm.

The issue is all these things happened and overall continues my belief that this team is underperforming even when you consider Gilbert's injury or even Larrier's injury v. Memphis. I've stated before that the 16-17 season last year was very similar in that regard and should have been a 20 win season that likely would have limited the damage in the offesason. Instead, they lost to Wagner, Northeastern, ECU, and Tulsa. All unacceptable.

That's the issue that needs to be corrected: getting the talent that is already here to work and we haven't seen that since 3 weeks in March 2016 and outside of that 4 weeks in March/April 2014. I don't blame the conference or injuries or travel or the players. I blame the man making over $3 million dollars a year because it's his job to prevent these issues from happening.

 

[Fishy]

The transfers were a killer. Losing MAL was a killer.

Replacing them with younger lesss-talented players was a killer. Replacing them with two graduate-transfers was a killer.

The takeaway is that if you don’t like to recruit and you tend to alienate players, your job will get a lot harder than it needs to be.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Disagree that underperformance is a significant issue. Maybe the Tulsa game, maybe a couple of close wins could've been more comfortable. But outside of the Tulsa loss, there's no game we lost that we realistically win with the healthy roster we have. Rothstein is spot on here, there's just not a lot of talented players playing. Anderson and DO are just downright bad and not skilled to be playing at a level beyond the bottom of D1, we can't sugarcoat it. Carlton, Diarra and Whaley are developing into nice players and have some good raw skill, but aren't at the level they need to be in order to produce consistently at this level. Vital is a great 6th/7th man at this point in his career, not our top 2-guard. If Gilbert is healthy, we beat Tulsa, we have a shot against Syracuse and Arizona, and that's it. Polley and Williams aren't meaningful additions. We just don't have good players playing valuable minutes. Counting on developing and/or severely undertalented players for 120 minutes (at a minimum) per game doesn't cut it.

 

[August_West]

The transfers were a killer. Losing MAL was a killer.

Replacing them with younger lesss-talented players was a killer. Replacing them with two graduate-transfers was a killer.

The takeaway is that if you don’t like to recruit and you tend to alienate players, your job will get a lot harder than it needs to be.

And thats been my thing.

Absolutely hold Ollies feet to the fire for player retention. and the off the court stuff that effects it. I get it. And if last April happens again I will be the first one in line donating to the buyout. Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

But with the pieces gone and the injury to Alterique (and even stretching back to last year with the injury to Alterique and Terry) I can't muster up the hatred for the floor game we have shown. I obviously like everyone else wish it was better, and Im sure KO couldve paddled through some of these turbulent waters a bit better on the game floor (for example the worst sub patterns in the country for my money) , but he is still a young coach in that manner... I just can't judge him fully on his actual full coaching ability, and I still think there may be something to work with. It's not like he is losing with a loaded squad. We are severely, severely undermanned. He gets a pass from me for last April ONCE.

 

[polycom]

And thats been my thing.

Absolutely hold Ollies feet to the fire for player retention. and the off the court stuff that effects it. I get it. And if last April happens again I will be the first one in line donating to the buyout. Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

But with the pieces gone and the injury to Alterique (and even stretching back to last year with the injury to Alterique and Terry) I can't muster up the hatred for the floor game we have shown. I obviously like everyone else wish it was better, and Im sure KO couldve paddled through some of these turbulent waters a bit better on the game floor (for example the worst sub patterns in the country for my money) , but he is still a young coach in that manner... I just can't judge him fully on his actual full coaching ability, and I still think there may be something to work with. It's not like he is losing with a loaded squad. We are severely, severely undermanned. He gets a pass from me for last April ONCE.

!remindme in April

 

[August_West]

!remindme in April

Im dead serious. the off court craziness vis a vis transfers and decommits means that no matter how promising KO may be in other aspects of running a program, we will never ever be able to build anything without multi-year buy in from players who want to stay here.

 

[polycom]

Im dead serious. the off court craziness vis a vis transfers and decommits means that no matter how promising KO may be in other aspects of running a program, we will never ever be able to build anything without multi-year buy in from players who want to stay here.

The way you’ve supported Ollie just have a hard time believing you will adjust your thoughts on him if some players transfer. So many people blamed the players or players parents but Ollie took very little blame.

 

[August_West]

The way you’ve supported Ollie just have a hard time believing you will adjust your thoughts on him if some players transfer. So many people blamed the players or players parents but Ollie took very little blame.

that's a one time pass. twice is a pattern.

 

[Storrs South]

Im dead serious. the off court craziness vis a vis transfers and decommits means that no matter how promising KO may be in other aspects of running a program, we will never ever be able to build anything without multi-year buy in from players who want to stay here.

And that's kind of the point. I don't want to discredit what KO did from 2012-2014, as the National Media and the rest of CBB has already done ("Calhoun's players", etc., etc.). I think KO did a great job coaching during that time frame, however, it does lend itself to the following metaphor:

KO is great at constructing a house where the foundation was already built but can't construct the foundation on his own. By the nature of CBB (4 year scholarships, one and dones, Hamilton's opting to go G-League) that foundation is reset in very short time frames unlike say CFB, WBB or professional sports.

Maybe he's learned from his mistakes of the past of taking shooters for granted or Blaze has been around enough to get it and can course correct. My position at this point hasn't changed much: no midseason firing, it doesn't accomplish anything. KO deserves to be fired based on now likely missing the tournament 3 out of the last 4 years, however, that doesn't necessarily mean it can or should happen considering buyouts, resulting player turnover if he was canned (can't wait to see attendance after that), and obviously the injuries that have plagued the team for two years (not an excuse for the bad losses but an excuse for lowering the ceiling on the seasons.)

That being said, I expect he'll be back next year since it sounds like the people with money want him here. Fine, just win some games please KO and stop getting embarrassed on national TV and stop being antagonistic to fans, he's playing with house money (effective guaranteed contracts) so no reason to taunt the people paying that salary.

 

[UConnStats]

That being said, I expect he'll be back next year since it sounds like the people with money want him here.

Suffice it to say that this isn’t the case anymore. The only entity backing KO is his contract buyout at this point. Unfortunately, that is a significant hurdle.

 

[LIuconn]

Even with Sid, AG, Jalen + the new kids, are we then competing with Arkansas or Wichita? Probably not. Just like what any head coach would have to do, we need to rebuild the foundation, and that starts with hiring a competent recruiter and X/O guy.

 

[auggie22]

that's a one time pass. twice is a pattern.

Agreed that twice is the start of a pattern. But by definition, if you are waiting to see a pattern around transfer activity then you would need to be fooled at least twice.

 

[jibsey]

Honestly, if he doesn’t get lots of players there’s no sense giving him another season next year. He has until late spring to get those players if I were the one deciding this because why would next year be different?

 

[August_West]

When you play one of the best schedules in the country with this personnel scenario, what’s happening now is what should happen after 19 games.

Scheduling - time for a rethink?

 

[Blaneylover]

I concede that Gilbert's injury is a huge contributor to why the losses have been so one-sided. My concern is that the Gilbert injury (and now the Larrier injury) are going to prolong the inevitable here. My concern is that there will be no change at the top of the program, going forward.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

... we will never ever be able to build anything without multi-year buy in from players who want to stay here.

Or a multi-year buyout and successful reboot.
I honestly don't know which it's gonna be, but I accept the "fool me twice..." paradigm even if it actually takes three to form a pattern.

 

[GemParty]

I'm willing to bet Ollie can buy himself some time. Whether he deserves any, has been discussed thouroughly. He needs to do one thing that would cool the fires getting ready to torch him. It's not about X & O. All he needs is for Chill to land a 5 star top 25 guy in the next 90 days. That's why he fired Miller. Can he save himself?

 

[August_West]

"fool me twice..." paradigm even if it actually takes three to form a pattern

I can't honestly say he has earned the 3rd. I do believe he has earned the 2nd.

It seems like forever ago but it really hasnt been that long ago (a season and a 1/2) where we were an 8 (or was it 9 seed) in the NCAA's and won a game and met up with a 1 seed after looking pretty damn good winning AAC tourney (after getting through an epic 4 OT game) .... it was about as good a result as we couldve expected coming off a so so regular season and the future looked OK with the #8 recruiting class coming. Obviously last year and the beginning of this year have been brutal on our psyche as fans used to "UConn" basketball. But it hasnt been very long since we could compete. Its been one full season and the start of this one.

 

[Candyman]

I just don't understand what people who are wanting to give Ollie another year think is going to change next season? Lets take a look-

• Non-Conf schedule- So I doubt he will schedule a non-conference slate like this year and will line-up more cupcakes. So maybe a few more wins.
• Most likely losing Adams and Larrier- Top two scorers. - Think about that- a team that will finish below .500 will lose its top two scorers.
• The incoming players- Akinjo, Lukas, Mathews, and Wilson. None are shooters. So our top issue from this season will not be resolved. Akinjo, Mathews, Vital and Gilbert can get hot from three but none are known for their shooting prowess. Plus first year players always struggle some unless your a top 10 player and NBA ready.
• Hoping Diarra and Whaley figure it out and Carlton develops into a stud during off season. Lots of questions marks still in frontcourt.

I see the same as this year with Akinjo and Gilbert using high screens to drive and play hero ball. Vital will jack up bad threes and play out of control and pound his chest after every score. I just don't see a 20 win team with Ollie running the offense.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

He should have been begging Jackson, Durham, Enoch, and MAL to stay. All would have been starters. The fact the sophomores decided to sit on the bench this season and in the cases of Durham and Enoch maybe the rest of their career instead of start for KO is telling.

 

[KodiacKemba]

I agree with Ollie on this point we’re 3-3 in conference which should easily be 4-2. It’s not about the ooc games imo that is going to keep us out the tournament it’s about the aac. Win ya league you win a bid it’s that simple.. looking at the aac it’s a winnable league and if we play the right way and have winning strategies we’ll be above water to actually have a good chance of getting a bid

The only ugly lost was to Memphis, smu is down this year, Houston, Cincinnati still in that can’t shoot category, we beat Tulane,ucf w tacko, had Tulsa but didn’t foul, ECU and was in the game vs Wichita until the last 3 mins and you never know which temple team ur going to get

Everyone is knocking each other off, so these next 8 games are big for seeding for the aac tourney. We can really see what we have in Polley with Larrier on the shelf, bring in hustle/active guys like Williams to spell Whaley and feed Carlton more.. I’ll give it til end of season to give my final take on our situation

 

[Palatine]

From the Rothstein Files:

"
The Huskies haven’t normally been 10-9 through 19 games over the last 30 years, but that’s what they are this season for a number of reasons.

UConn’s season drastically changed when Alterique Gilbert was lost for the year due to a shoulder injury. Now Kevin Ollie’s squad is feeling the effects of that injury and the transfers of Vance Jackson, Juwan Durham and Steve Enoch roughly 10 months ago.

With those three players no longer in the program and Gilbert on the shelf, the Huskies have limited bodies in their sophomore class to provide any substance.

Instead, the Huskies are relying on Antwoine Anderson — a grad transfer from Fordham — to play nearly half the game and be counted on as a primary piece; that’s a hard thing to do if you’re trying to be a top-25 team.

In addition to Anderson, a pair of freshmen — Isaiah Whaley and Josh Carlton — along with a sophomore — Christian Vital — have been thrust into major roles as starters.

None of these players were recruited to be showcased so soon in their careers.

UConn has two bonafide players in Jalen Adams and Terry Larrier, but after that it’s a blend of this and that.

When you play one of the best schedules in the country with this personnel scenario, what’s happening now is what should happen after 19 games.

How do the Huskies get back to being what they were?

It starts with players. Ollie needs lots of them."

Read the rest here:
Rothstein Files | Kansas Finally Has Roster Clarity

Don't they know it's all Ollie's fault?