Rothstein: UConn and Big East have had discussions

[upstater]

To knowing whether he can sustain national prominence (given the uphill battle of being in the AAC).

18 months aren't going to tell you anything other than whether or not they can rebound from next year. As for national prominence, they could be 26-4 and ranked 8 next year, then fall off the next year when Jalen Adams leaves.

Regardless, Ollie is going to cycle through his classes and have breakout years when they stick together. So far, Caliparis one-and-dones haven't done anything for the fanbase than that 1 national championship with the superstar stud of a player. UConn is going to make a run every 3 or 4 years as always.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

18 months aren't going to tell you anything other than whether or not they can rebound from next year. As for national prominence, they could be 26-4 and ranked 8 next year, then fall off the next year when Jalen Adams leaves.

Regardless, Ollie is going to cycle through his classes and have breakout years when they stick together. So far, Caliparis one-and-dones haven't done anything for the fanbase than that 1 national championship with the superstar stud of a player. UConn is going to make a run every 3 or 4 years as always.

18 months will tell us whether KO and the staff can coach players "up" - I have seen little evidence of this in his tenure (yes, there have been a few examples, but this is not a strength of this staff). Personally I think a few staff changes need to be made and at least bring in someone with success improving big men.

18 months will give us one more crank of the wheel to see if we can overcome brutal AAC SOS/RPI issues.

18 months will tell us whether we can get back to winning percentages in the range of the low-700's versus where we have been in the 680's under KO.

18 months will inform us of another recruiting class and whether we can get another top-25 recruiting class. I think we can and we need it, but let's see. Top players want to play in top leagues and the AAC is not that.

18 months will tell us about home game AAC attendance. Can supposed winning overcome lame opponents?

They could, as you noted above, be 26-4 next year, but they also could be 21-9 (which is a .700 clip and not bad). I love Jalen and I think he can be a decent NBA'er but I don't think his departure will create a deep drop off (given what else they will have on the roster).

The next 18 months may cement whether we are operating as a top-40 program in a very pedestrian BB conference or operating as a top-20 program in a very pedestrian BB conference. Big difference in my book. And as fickle as the many within the CT sports crowd can be with many "local"pro sports options, we can't slip into top-40 level.

 

[upstater]

18 months will tell us whether KO and the staff can coach players "up" - I have seen little evidence of this in his tenure (yes, there have been a few examples, but this is not a strength of this staff). Personally I think a few staff changes need to be made and at least bring in someone with success improving big men.

18 months will give us one more crank of the wheel to see if we can overcome brutal AAC SOS/RPI issues.

18 months will tell us whether we can get back to winning percentages in the range of the low-700's versus where we have been in the 680's under KO.

18 months will inform us of another recruiting class and whether we can get another top-25 recruiting class. I think we can and we need it, but let's see. Top players want to play in top leagues and the AAC is not that.

18 months will tell us about home game AAC attendance. Can supposed winning overcome lame opponents?

They could, as you noted above, be 26-4 next year, but they also could be 21-9 (which is a .700 clip and not bad). I love Jalen and I think he can be a decent NBA'er but I don't think his departure will create a deep drop off (given what else they will have on the roster).

The next 18 months may cement whether we are operating as a top-40 program in a very pedestrian BB conference or operating as a top-20 program in a very pedestrian BB conference. Big difference in my book. And as fickle as the many within the CT sports crowd can be with many "local"pro sports options, we can't slip into top-40 level.

He has coached many players up. In the past. On this team. You think Jalen Adams isn't getting great coaching? Really? Kid is improving leaps and bounds. AND, you're not going to get a top 25 recruiting class with 2 scholarships and a stacked team. Ain't going to happen. Calhoun was similar in that regard. Go back and look at the rankings in the 2000s. There were many off years. And attendance? How is that relevant?

 

[uchusky32]

He has coached many players up. In the past. On this team. You think Jalen Adams isn't getting great coaching? Really? Kid is improving leaps and bounds. AND, you're not going to get a top 25 recruiting class with 2 scholarships and a stacked team. Ain't going to happen. Calhoun was similar in that regard. Go back and look at the rankings in the 2000s. There were many off years. And attendance? How is that relevant?

CV and VJ seem to to getting much better. I guess KO has nothing to do with that.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

He has coached many players up. In the past. On this team. You think Jalen Adams isn't getting great coaching? Really? Kid is improving leaps and bounds. AND, you're not going to get a top 25 recruiting class with 2 scholarships and a stacked team. Ain't going to happen. Calhoun was similar in that regard. Go back and look at the rankings in the 2000s. There were many off years. And attendance? How is that relevant?

My eye test tells me that too many important players in the past few years have not improved much/at all (i.e. Brimah, Purvis)... Guys come in with varying levels of upside - I and most other observers could tell from day one that Adams was one of those guys with a very large amount of natural ability, length, and basketball IQ that would improve over his 3/4 years here almost regardless of who was coaching. Usually 75% of the roster needs to be coached up - and I cannot tell you I am comfortable with this staff's ability to do that especially with the non-point guards.

Agreed that he does not have the chance to bring in 4-5 bodies to get into the top 25 ranking, but you get my drift in terms of the top-25 quality players... What top 75 overall recruit will want to come somewhere where they are unsure about improvements (again, especially the non-guards)? Attendance is related - what top-75 recruit will want to play in front of 7,500 people at XL Center?

My point is that the Assistants are going to be under extreme scrutiny. And KO is the man at the helm. AD Dave is going to make sure that the Assistants can get it done. KO can go into anyone's living room and recruit mom/dad/the recruit, but if the Assistants cannot improve the raw material then we have a very large problem.

But, I am going to stop now b/c I think we might have hijacked the original topic.

 

[upstater]

My eye test tells me that too many important players in the past few years have not improved much/at all (i.e. Brimah, Purvis)... Guys come in with varying levels of upside - I and most other observers could tell from day one that Adams was one of those guys with a very large amount of natural ability, length, and basketball IQ that would improve over his 3/4 years here almost regardless of who was coaching. Usually 75% of the roster needs to be coached up - and I cannot tell you I am comfortable with this staff's ability to do that especially with the non-point guards.

Agreed that he does not have the chance to bring in 4-5 bodies to get into the top 25 ranking, but you get my drift in terms of the top-25 quality players... What top 75 overall recruit will want to come somewhere where they are unsure about improvements (again, especially the non-guards)? Attendance is related - what top-75 recruit will want to play in front of 7,500 people at XL Center?

My point is that the Assistants are going to be under extreme scrutiny. And KO is the man at the helm. AD Dave is going to make sure that the Assistants can get it done. KO can go into anyone's living room and recruit mom/dad/the recruit, but if the Assistants cannot improve the raw material then we have a very large problem.

But, I am going to stop now b/c I think we might have hijacked the original topic.

You are exaggerating things.

Look up the real attendance #s. It is not near 7500.

As for the development of non-guards, it's overblown, especially because of Brimah.

Look at Daniels. He developed under Ollie. This year we've seen Vance develop. Giffey developed.

With the guards, we saw Boatright become a player, Napier, etc.

Someone just posted the recruiting classes. Have a look. For every Hilton Armstrong, there were guys who DIDN'T develop. Not every player is going to develop.

 

[dayooper]

18 months will inform us of another recruiting class and whether we can get another top-25 recruiting class. I think we can and we need it, but let's see. Top players want to play in top leagues and the AAC is not that.

The top players want to play where they get to the NBA, nothing more, nothing less. If a kid thinks his best shot at getting to the NBA is to play at UConn, they will go there. Kentucky consistently has the one of top recruiting classes despite being in the worst P5 basketball conference year in and year out. Why? Because Kentucky's kids go to the NBA. The perception is that Calapari prepares those kids for the NBA in one year and they will be first round locks.

If playing the best competition is what these kids want, than the other ACC schools besides UNC and Duke would be loaded, but they aren't.

 

[billybud]

The ACC is competitive this year...Kenpom has five conference teams in the Top 20 in RPI....