Sean Miller says Arizona’s effort is ‘terrible’ and its roster is ‘not that talented’

[HooperScooper]

I'm obviously not there everyday to hear what Ollie says to the players but to the media he is way too forgiving and doesn't hold the players accountable. He seems not to want to admonish them or else he'll lose their attention or worse they'll transfer out. I think athletes at any level, including the pros, will take any excuses a coach gives and use them to accept what happened. I've heard Parcells and Belichick say that. Calhoun never did that. Successful coaches usually don't do that.

I don't like stuff like this:

“To get back on a plane [in Portland on Sunday] and fly back commercial,” Ollie said, “and do all the different things they did and then to get up get up and fight like this, they could have easily gave in. But they didn’t. Proud of the guys.”

So he basically gave the players a reason for why they didn't need to play hard. They can use the travel (on a commercial airline no less!) as an excuse. Successful coaches are better off being hard ____es. But there is a fine line between being a hard ____ and being understanding. I just don't think Ollie knows where that line is yet. Which is understandable since he's a relatively inexperienced coach. Just my opinion.

 

[methodology]

@HooperScooper

Not giving an excuse for team but that's a short turnaround flying from Oregon to CT and playing less than 48 hours later. I'm sure most haven't experienced that type of travel and playing. Their bodies and minds didn't get much rest and readjustment time.

Still need to play harder and for 40 minutes. Let's see what happens Saturday

 

[jibsey]

I honestly think that players were scared to death of Calhoun. He would curse, fly off the handle, pull them from the game, and when they did what he wanted, he would give them some love. Don’t know what KO does but there’s no cursing and he’s definitely not as tempermental. It’s like parenting, sometimes you have to be a hard .

 

[HooperScooper]

@HooperScooper

Not giving an excuse for team but that's a short turnaround flying from Oregon to CT and playing less than 48 hours later. I'm sure most haven't experienced that type of travel and playing. Their bodies and minds didn't get much rest and readjustment time.

Still need to play harder and for 40 minutes. Let's see what happens Saturday

We'll disagree then. I think you're being way too easy on the team. The game was 3 days later (they flew back Sunday night and played Wednesday night). Don't make excuses. Tell the players they need to fight through it. That is a good life lesson that sports teach people. Need to be mentally tough. I guess maybe I'm a hard ___!

 

[HooperScooper]

I honestly think that players were scared to death of Calhoun. He would curse, fly off the handle, pull them from the game, and when they did what he wanted, he would give them some love. Don’t know what KO does but there’s no cursing and he’s definitely not as tempermental. It’s like parenting, sometimes you have to be a hard .

Exactly. It is like parenting. You can't be your kids' best friend all the time. Perfect analogy.

 

[pj]

I'm obviously not there everyday to hear what Ollie says to the players but to the media he is way too forgiving and doesn't hold the players accountable. He seems not to want to admonish them or else he'll lose their attention or worse they'll transfer out. I think athletes at any level, including the pros, will take any excuses a coach gives and use them to accept what happened. I've heard Parcells and Belichick say that. Calhoun never did that. Successful coaches usually don't do that.

I don't like stuff like this:

“To get back on a plane [in Portland on Sunday] and fly back commercial,” Ollie said, “and do all the different things they did and then to get up get up and fight like this, they could have easily gave in. But they didn’t. Proud of the guys.”

So he basically gave the players a reason for why they didn't need to play hard. They can use the travel (on a commercial airline no less!) as an excuse. Successful coaches are better off being hard a$$es. But there is a fine line between being a hard and being understanding. I just don't think Ollie knows where that line is yet. Which is understandable since he's a relatively inexperienced coach. Just my opinion.

My view too, we can see in the games he doesn't pull players who aren't giving effort and in public speeches he's not pointing out their failures. Maybe he's tough in private, but whatever his method of instilling discipline, it hasn't translated to the games. I'd rather see guys who aren't defending with effort sit on the bench, and that includes Jalen and Terry.

 

[HooperScooper]

Coaches that don't hold players accountable usually end up being ex coaches!

 

[methodology]

We'll disagree then. I think you're being way too easy on the team. The game was 3 days later (they flew back Sunday night and played Wednesday night). Don't make excuses. Tell the players they need to fight through it. That is a good life lesson that sports teach people. Need to be mentally tough. I guess maybe I'm a hard ___!

What time do you think their flight was? They played at 3 pm eastern. By the time the game was over they did their media obligations, etc. They didn't leave the arena until probably 7-730 eastern time. Chances are they didn't get on a flight prior to 8 pm Pacific time. About a 10 hour flight (adding 3 hours for time difference) with a connection to Bradley they didn't get into CT until 6 am and didn't get back to campus probably till 8 am. Monday is a lost day to regroup and try to readjust. Tuesday back to grind and practice. Wednesday there no way they were back to their regular routines and 100% readjusted.

Let's see what they look like on Saturday

 

[Jerry1714]

am i the only one who thinks this is pretty weak? granted, i didn't watch the whole press conference, but this is a perennial do-less-with-more coach (under fbi investigation!) who is blaming his players when he should probably be blaming himself.

It is called motivating

 

[beakumhawks]

To say his players are just not that talented is a complete cop-out. Who recruited those players?

 

[Jaker]

It is called motivating

There is a fine line between motivating and losing your team. A kid who is going to be a top 10 pick in the NBA probably doesen't care what the coach thinks.

 

[Allbite]

I honestly think that players were scared to death of Calhoun. He would curse, fly off the handle, pull them from the game, and when they did what he wanted, he would give them some love. Don’t know what KO does but there’s no cursing and he’s definitely not as tempermental. It’s like parenting, sometimes you have to be a hard .

Kids know instinctively if you care or not. Conflict is a natural part of life. Can anyone honestly say he or she didn't need a kick in the butt from time to time? And if you got it from someone you know cares at least something for you, deep down at least, you appreciated it. If you never have a conflict with someone you have a "relationship" with, then whatever you have for a relationship is fool's gold, and in time, this will be revealed.

 

[intlzncster]

What time do you think their flight was? They played at 3 pm eastern. By the time the game was over they did their media obligations, etc. They didn't leave the arena until probably 7-730 eastern time. Chances are they didn't get on a flight prior to 8 pm Pacific time. About a 10 hour flight (adding 3 hours for time difference) with a connection to Bradley they didn't get into CT until 6 am and didn't get back to campus probably till 8 am. Monday is a lost day to regroup and try to readjust. Tuesday back to grind and practice. Wednesday there no way they were back to their regular routines and 100% readjusted.

Let's see what they look like on Saturday

Maybe it was a factor, but there's going to be something damn near every game. Finals, injuries, back-to-backs, or whatever. Part of the deal is being able to get past that, mentally and physically. It's a good thing Kemba and crew didn't listen to damn near everyone who said it was impossible to win 5 games in 5 days. And then run the Big Dance. Think they were tired too?

 

[HooperScooper]

Maybe it was a factor, but there's going to be something damn near every game. Finals, injuries, back-to-backs, or whatever. Part of the deal is being able to get past that, mentally and physically. It's a good thing Kemba and crew didn't listen to damn near everyone who said it was impossible to win 5 games in 5 days. And then run the Big Dance. Think they were tired too?

Someone on here gets it.

 

[methodology]

You guys are underestimating the effects of jet lag flying east.

How Long Does it Take to Get Over Jet Lag?

We finally have the science to back up why flying east is so much worse for jet lag than flying west
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-is-jetlag-worse-when-flying-east-2016-7
Flying east, on the other hand, eats up hours, and forces our circadian rhythms to be cut even further.

The researchers came to the conclusion that when traveling west, our bodies need a little bit less than one day per time zone change to readjust, while when flying east, we crave about one and a half days per time zone. So, flying from New York to Paris - a difference of six hours - would take about eight full days to fully adjust, while the reverse would take less than six days.

There's still no cure for jet lag

While the study is significant and pinpoints the cell behavior responsible for a well-known response to travel, the fact remain that jet lag sucks, and there's no magic cure to adjusting to your new alarm clock.

Ollie understood their situation cause he lived it playing in the NBA. Lets see how they perform tomorrow

 

[pj]

There is a fine line between motivating and losing your team. A kid who is going to be a top 10 pick in the NBA probably doesen't care what the coach thinks.

Well then, it's lucky for KO we don't have any players like that.

 

[Javjudah]

Instead Ollie said after the game he didn’t care if they won by 1 point or 40 points. Well the fans do care coach because Columbia absolutely SUCKS and we should beat them by 40.

We should have beaten George Mason by 40 in the 2005-2006 ELITE 8 game but we lost. Arguably UCONN'S most talented team of all time.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Has he thanked god for his team though?

 

[ZenConn]

It's a good thing Kemba and crew didn't listen to damn near everyone who said it was impossible to win 5 games in 5 days.

Kemba and crew only needed to listen to one poster on the BY and that was Muppets.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

You guys are underestimating the effects of jet lag flying east.

How Long Does it Take to Get Over Jet Lag?

We finally have the science to back up why flying east is so much worse for jet lag than flying west
Flying east, on the other hand, eats up hours, and forces our circadian rhythms to be cut even further.

The researchers came to the conclusion that when traveling west, our bodies need a little bit less than one day per time zone change to readjust, while when flying east, we crave about one and a half days per time zone. So, flying from New York to Paris - a difference of six hours - would take about eight full days to fully adjust, while the reverse would take less than six days.

There's still no cure for jet lag

While the study is significant and pinpoints the cell behavior responsible for a well-known response to travel, the fact remain that jet lag sucks, and there's no magic cure to adjusting to your new alarm clock.

Ollie understood their situation cause he lived it playing in the NBA. Lets see how they perform tomorrow

This is serious travel. Then to Zona in a few days. I agree though that travel easily could lead to a bad result finally with a team like Zona. But...

 

[LStudfellow]

We should have beaten George Mason by 40 in the 2005-2006 ELITE 8 game but we lost. Arguably UCONN'S most talented team of all time.

Ok. I have seen a few people say this in different threads over the last few years. Can we please put this to bed? The 2005-2006 team had a lot of individual talent on it, that is true. HOWEVER, it was not the most talented TEAM, arguably or otherwise.

I would absolutely take either the 98-99 1st National Championship team or the 03-04 2nd National Championship team over the 05-06 "team" every day of the week. The 05-06 team was thin and weak at the most important position on the basketball court - Point Guard. Now, if AJ Price had been an active member on that team and playing at full potential, then you would have an argument. But Marcus Williams was our starter, and Craig Austrie as a last-minute Freshman add-on who was mostly in over his head was our back up. Marcus Williams was an excellent distributor for sure, but only an adequate scorer and frankly slow on defense. His less than stellar defense caused us to struggle controlling tempo against teams with better point guards, particularly later in the year.

Our problems at point guard were exposed in our loss in the Big East tournament to Syracuse, and throughout the NCAA's where we struggled with 16-seed Albany, struggled again with Kentucky, should have lost to Washington in the Sweet 16 and then did lose to George Mason.

And one other thing I see people conveniently forget on here... hypothetically if we had beaten George Mason, we would have faced Florida in the next game in the Final 4. And I believe Florida would have soundly beaten us. They were playing much better as a team, and they proved it by dominating that same George Mason team that we struggled with, and then going on to win the championship by also dominating UCLA in the final. Their guards Lee Humphrey and Taurean Green would have shut dominated Williams and definitely Austrie... as they did Arron Afflalo and Jordan Farmar in the championship.

 

[Rocktheworld]

True, that's why I said not saying KO or anyone should say that, it's situation -dependent, but for what an outsider knows ab AZ, he's hitting on what would be my message to them as well.

I feel like in that moment I would say something like “these guys aren’t nearly as good as they think they are, letting Columbia pull away like that.” And in the locker room I’d be like “WHO IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, YOU AIN’T NOTHIN’”

The real point is that KO was anything but disgusted with that performance.

 

[Javjudah]

Ok. I have seen a few people say this in different threads over the last few years. Can we please put this to bed? The 2005-2006 team had a lot of individual talent on it, that is true. HOWEVER, it was not the most talented TEAM, arguably or otherwise.

I would absolutely take either the 98-99 1st National Championship team or the 03-04 2nd National Championship team over the 05-06 "team" every day of the week. The 05-06 team was thin and weak at the most important position on the basketball court - Point Guard. Now, if AJ Price had been an active member on that team and playing at full potential, then you would have an argument. But Marcus Williams was our starter, and Craig Austrie as a last-minute Freshman add-on who was mostly in over his head was our back up. Marcus Williams was an excellent distributor for sure, but only an adequate scorer and frankly slow on defense. His less than stellar defense caused us to struggle controlling tempo against teams with better point guards, particularly later in the year.

Our problems at point guard were exposed in our loss in the Big East tournament to Syracuse, and throughout the NCAA's where we struggled with 16-seed Albany, struggled again with Kentucky, should have lost to Washington in the Sweet 16 and then did lose to George Mason.

And one other thing I see people conveniently forget on here... hypothetically if we had beaten George Mason, we would have faced Florida in the next game in the Final 4. And I believe Florida would have soundly beaten us. They were playing much better as a team, and they proved it by dominating that same George Mason team that we struggled with, and then going on to win the championship by also dominating UCLA in the final. Their guards Lee Humphrey and Taurean Green would have shut dominated Williams and definitely Austrie... as they did Arron Afflalo and Jordan Farmar in the championship.

My post was in response to someone stating that we should have beaten Columbia by 40. That 2005-2006 team had 6 players that were NBA draft picks and still lost to George Mason in the elite 8 game.

 

[Javjudah]

The difference between the two is that the Arizona roster is loaded with lottery picks, including a kid who may go #1. Miller is insulting them and trying to light a fire under them. Ollie is trying to keep his team from totally imploding. Big difference.

And should this happen, Players will transfer, Ollie will get fired, we will lose recruits and we are guaranteed to be terrible for a long time. Coach Calhoun is 75 years old, he can't save us. The cycle continues...