Simi Shittu Update

[pj]

Ok, I read what you wrote and the arguement still is stale. Stop living in 2014. 4 years later, the program is a shell of what it was at that time.

KO was compensated for that run. Its long over due for him to earn it.

We're seeing in real life how hard it is to succeed a Hall of Fame coach. There is no patience for growing pains. Even if you win a national championship, a few down years causes the fair weather fans to turn on you.

 

[upstater]

Ok, I read what you wrote and the arguement still is stale. Stop living in 2014. 4 years later, the program is a shell of what it was at that time.

KO was compensated for that run. Its long over due for him to earn it.

So your argument is that he didn't excel at Xs and Os in 2014.

The games were won by gutsy players whose gutsiness was instilled by Calhoun.

 

[superjohn]

We're seeing in real life how hard it is to succeed a Hall of Fame coach. There is no patience for growing pains. Even if you win a national championship, a few down years causes the fair weather fans to turn on you.

It's not the typical growing pains you expect from transitioning from a hall of fame coach. Ollie had unbelievable success right away but it has pretty much been a disaster since. You expect the x's and o's growing pains and overall lack of in game coaching experience but his utter lack of knowing how to run a program is unacceptable. He's created a situation where kids no longer want to play for him.

He doesn't have years to turn this around and there is simply no time for patience. He either wins right now and turns it around where kids again want to play for UConn or he is out. He gets paid over 3 million per year, there are expectations that come along with that.

 

[champs99and04]

There are plenty of people that I can have reasonable discussions with about Ollie and the future of the program. The folks who continually downplay what he did in 2013 and 2014 are not among them.

Shabazz was great. He also was not the greatest basketball player ever and he certainly wasn't anywhere near the national radar when Ollie first took the job.

Jalen Adams, incidentally, is going to be one of the best players in college basketball this year, so prepare your next charade now. The "Ollie can only win when he has great players" narrative will be compelling.

 

[djct1999]

So your argument is that he didn't excel at Xs and Os in 2014.

The games were won by gutsy players whose gutsiness was instilled by Calhoun.

My arguement is that using his title run in 2014 is stale. We all agree that those six games were great. It's the 90 since. To use 2014 as a reason to keep him around in 2019 is as absurd as you keep trying but failing to make this point.

 

[djct1999]

There are plenty of people that I can have reasonable discussions with about Ollie and the future of the program. The folks who continually downplay what he did in 2013 and 2014 are not among them.

Shabazz was great. He also was not the greatest basketball player ever and he certainly wasn't anywhere near the national radar when Ollie first took the job.

Jalen Adams, incidentally, is going to be one of the best players in college basketball this year, so prepare your next charade now. The "Ollie can only win when he has great players" narrative will be compelling.

no one is downplaying what he did. Some of us choose to focus on what he is doing.

 

[upstater]

My arguement is that using his title run in 2014 is stale. We all agree that those six games were great. It's the 90 since. To use 2014 as a reason to keep him around in 2019 is as absurd as you keep trying but failing to make this point.

Why do people imagine arguments never made?

The point was simple: His X's and O's are just fine enough to win an NC.

 

[JeepCSC]

Winning is not the same as x's & o's. The guy usually seen as the preeminent master of diagramming plays is Tom Izzo, someone who has ended his last 17 years with a loss. And most years the losses were to guys not considered a better tactician than him. Sometimes he got out coached, sometimes his teams got outplayed, sometimes both happened. But he runs a good program which sometimes turns out great seasons. At the end of the day, running the program well is the goal, while recruiting and x's & o's and motivation are just a few of the many roads to get there.

 

[Stainmaster]

no one is downplaying what he did.

Yes, people are.

 

[David 76]

dick1999,
KOs accomplishments get maligned daily here. It was Calhoun. It was Shabazz. It was the incredible talent of the team. Just stupid stuff coming from people, some involved in this thread.
It also happened with Calhoun btw. " He is past his prime. He should retire. He can't relate to modern players."
Benedict will decide Ollie's fate. In the meantime, rest assured we know your opinion and don't feel compelled to post it every day on every recruiting thread.

 

[Huskymagic]

Ollie benefited greatly from Calhoun being around a lot the first 2 years, having Hobbs and Miller on the bench, and of course having good players that Calhoun recruited to UCONN like Napier, Boat, Griffey, and Daniels all high level recruits who were coached either 2 years or 1 year under Calhoun and got to play and practice against Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lamb, Andre Drummond, etc.

That's the real story and it's not a negative it's just the truth. Ollie gets credit of course for the title because he was head coach and coached well in the tournament, but having those players and coaches helped Bigly.

Since then with his own players, it's been a struggle finishing above 6th in the AAC with yearly losses to Tulsa. No NBA player produced and the old guard has been replaced and our ace recruiters can't beat Rutgers the Johnnies and Texas Tech for recruits. This is why people are rightfully concerned.

 

[Chief00]

No, Pitino lost multiple games to Josh Pastner that year, and couldn't beat him. Couldn't beat Calipari multiple times either. And Calipari couldn't beat Donovan all 3 times they played. And Donovan couldn't beat Ollie the 2 times they player.

The array of coaches Ollie beat is much more meaningful than any head-to-head.

AND it was about Xs and Os.

The idea that Calhoun has somehow taught Daniels, Boatright, in the 1 year he had them, and that this was more meaningful than the 2 or 3 years Ollie had them, it's completely bogus. This board denigrated Napier during his sophomore year. He ramped up his game during his junior and senior years.

And it's not only that. The 2014 team was lacking in talent compared to the 3 of the 4 teams it beat in succession. (With the exception of Florida). You can't credit the talent on that team for the victories for the simple reason that they were the ONLY recent champ to win with only 1 NBA player. That was a true TEAM effort, more of a team than almost any recent one that anybody can think of.

And the Xs and Os were solid.

Sorry, Chief00 has got to call you on this. In 2013 and 2014 Calhoun was still attached to the hip with the program. Jim attended nearly every practice and game. The descent started when Jim got the ESPN job and his time around the program diminished greatly and this past season it was almost nonexistent for reasons I prefer not to share.

 

[upstater]

Ollie benefited greatly from Calhoun being around a lot the first 2 years, having Hobbs and Miller on the bench, and of course having good players that Calhoun recruited to UCONN like Napier, Boat, Griffey, and Daniels all high level recruits who were coached either 2 years or 1 year under Calhoun and got to play and practice against Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lamb, Andre Drummond, etc.

That's the real story and it's not a negative it's just the truth. Ollie gets credit of course for the title because he was head coach and coached well in the tournament, but having those players and coaches helped Bigly.

Since then with his own players, it's been a struggle finishing above 6th in the AAC with yearly losses to Tulsa. No NBA player produced and the old guard has been replaced and our ace recruiters can't beat Rutgers the Johnnies and Texas Tech for recruits. This is why people are rightfully concerned.

BS

Daniels hardly played a freshman. Boatright developed greatly his 3 years under Ollie. People stuck it to Napier on this board during his sophomore year.

Miller was around for the last 3 years, Hobbs for 2 years.

You're totally wrong.

Daniels was high level. And he didn't play under Calhoun. Giffey high level? Say what (not Griffey by the way, do you even know what you're talking about)? Boatright developed under Ollie.

 

[upstater]

Sorry, Chief00 has got to call you on this. In 2013 and 2014 Calhoun was still attached to the hip with the program. Jim attended nearly every practice and game. The descent started when Jim got the ESPN job and his time around the program diminished greatly and this past season it was almost nonexistent for reasons I prefer not to share.

Wait, you're claiming Calhoun was teaching the team Xs and Os in 2014?

That's what you're saying?

 

[Whtdmd]

Ollie benefited greatly from Calhoun being around a lot the first 2 years, having Hobbs and Miller on the bench, and of course having good players that Calhoun recruited to UCONN like Napier, Boat, Griffey, and Daniels all high level recruits who were coached either 2 years or 1 year under Calhoun and got to play and practice against Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lamb, Andre Drummond, etc.

That's the real story and it's not a negative it's just the truth. Ollie gets credit of course for the title because he was head coach and coached well in the tournament, but having those players and coaches helped Bigly.

Since then with his own players, it's been a struggle finishing above 6th in the AAC with yearly losses to Tulsa. No NBA player produced and the old guard has been replaced and our ace recruiters can't beat Rutgers the Johnnies and Texas Tech for recruits. This is why people are rightfully concerned.

Your answer to everything is to fired Ollie and rehire Glenn Miller. I wonder why is that???

 

[Stainmaster]

Wait, you're claiming Calhoun was teaching the team Xs and Os in 2014?

That's what you're saying?

I was waiting for the day that Rubicon would be crossed.

 

[tcf15]

 

[David 76]

Ollie benefited greatly from Calhoun being around a lot the first 2 years, having Hobbs and Miller on the bench, and of course having good players that Calhoun recruited to UCONN like Napier, Boat, Griffey, and Daniels all high level recruits who were coached either 2 years or 1 year under Calhoun and got to play and practice against Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lamb, Andre Drummond, etc.

That's the real story and it's not a negative it's just the truth. Ollie gets credit of course for the title because he was head coach and coached well in the tournament, but having those players and coaches helped Bigly.

Since then with his own players, it's been a struggle finishing above 6th in the AAC with yearly losses to Tulsa. No NBA player produced and the old guard has been replaced and our ace recruiters can't beat Rutgers the Johnnies and Texas Tech for recruits. This is why people are rightfully concerned.

And thank you for being repetitive on every thread regardless of thread topic. Again, we were not sure of your opinion so please take up more space. I think your point is that things suck. We all thought things were great. Again thanks.

 

[David 76]

dick ,magic and JSM are going to be pissed you interrupted their thread with this recruiting news

 

[djct1999]

dick1999,
KOs accomplishments get maligned daily here. It was Calhoun. It was Shabazz. It was the incredible talent of the team. Just stupid stuff coming from people, some involved in this thread.
It also happened with Calhoun btw. " He is past his prime. He should retire. He can't relate to modern players."
Benedict will decide Ollie's fate. In the meantime, rest assured we know your opinion and don't feel compelled to post it every day on every recruiting thread.

What incredible insight. Thanks for sharing. Benedict will decide Ollie's fate.......mind blowing.

 

[David 76]

What incredible insight. Thanks for sharing. Benedict will decide Ollie's fate..mind blowing.

If, like you, I repeat it 1000 times, it will be even better.

 

[djct1999]

If, like you, I repeat it 1000 times, it will be even better.

You must be one of these casual fans Chief always talks about. I forgive you. No sense debating some one who has no idea what they are talking about. Repeat 1000x? If you think I I have repeated this arguement, maybe show some constraint the next time you hit the bottle.

 

[mauconnfan]

The things we read here are sometimes insightful, sometimes just hilarious and ridiculous rolled in one (magic you're the leader of this brigade and the King of worthless broken record BS) and some just being as optimistic as possible during trying times. We've all heard KO did "something" to change his ways and make it tough to recruit. I guess based on some things that have happened there has to be some truth to this, but how much, I doubt it's all about KO.

Instead of going into any long rants which I would love to based on those who are choosing to jump off the bandwagon, I'm going to just point to one thing which makes me believe MOST of the crap being flung around is BS. Here's your choice, listen and agree with Steve Enoch and Juwan Durham who both played a lot less than they thought while I'm sure getting the wrath of KO for not working hard enough at times, therefore leaving because they need greener pastures. Or maybe Vance Jackson who'd dad did everything but call KO a mumu and probably scared off almost all major coaches with his rants on public media about KO and also how he his kid needs to be used. And MAL - 4 guards who may be in front of him could make that decision easier but no, you guys instead come out here and throw Vital under the bus right? "Yeah sure like he's going to be scared off by Christian Vital hahaha" - nicely done kid worked his tail off for your team and now he's not good enough to make another kid think about the situation? A lot of you suck.

Here's my take after reading an article last week about our newest 5th year grad transfer from Cornell, he was told about the family atmosphere, the coach and how hard he works you and yet how much he has your back, makes the team hungry. He was impressed with the kids coming together for the university and the coach, working real hard to make up for what he saw as a very lackluster year and his buddy told him this was the perfect fit. Yeah Shonn Miller who many of you really liked, an intelligent hard working kid who came here to win and while many of you see that year as underachieving he was still proud of the year he played for KO at UConn. Proud enough to point David in our direction, supposedly a direction to his friend to go play for a coach who sucks, players don't like any more and doesn't show any love? LOL..I will go with David and Shonn Miller, 2 Cornell graduates who elected to play for KO because of his passion and quit reading the crap you bandwagoners toss around. Guessing these 2 know a little more than you dopes!

 

[pj]

Here's my take after reading an article last week about our newest 5th year grad transfer from Cornell, he was told about the family atmosphere, the coach and how hard he works you and yet how much he has your back, makes the team hungry. He was impressed with the kids coming together for the university and the coach, working real hard to make up for what he saw as a very lackluster year and his buddy told him this was the perfect fit. Yeah Shonn Miller who many of you really liked, an intelligent hard working kid who came here to win and while many of you see that year as underachieving he was still proud of the year he played for KO at UConn. Proud enough to point David in our direction, supposedly a direction to his friend to go play for a coach who sucks, players don't like any more and doesn't show any love? LOL..I will go with David and Shonn Miller, 2 Cornell graduates who elected to play for KO because of his passion and quit reading the crap you bandwagoners toss around. Guessing these 2 know a little more than you dopes!

Yes, the Shonn Miller endorsement tells us that anything that went wrong was largely confined to one year. I think before that KO was still finding his way as a coach, learning what he needed in a staff and in players, and not having everybody meshed hindered performance a bit; but he always got the team playing its best in March, so he was able to bring them together somewhat. Last year obviously things went south, and not just due to injuries. It seems that differences between KO and staff (Miller) and KO and players (Durham, Enoch) kind of blew up. KO now has "his" staff and "his" players and hopefully he's learned something about how to meld a team a little faster. Having a clear style of play and working on it consistently will help. I think Chillious has really helped focus the recruiting on the types of guys KO needs to succeed.

Several posters hint that KO's personal life since the divorce has been used against him in negative recruiting and has led to some of the resistance from recruits' parents. Whatever -- if he dedicates himself to his players' success and maintains Christian faith and behavior, people will soon forgive him for a few bad years in the aftermath of a divorce.

I see this experience as largely the growing pains of a first-time head coach. I think he'll continue to grow and become an outstanding head coach.

 

[dennismenace]

We have a whole new season ahead of us. A little patience with the team and staff as they get things together is in order. Thanks
to all the diehard BY'ers who have resisted the urge to dwell and speculate on the negative. I think we have some Hungry Huskies that fit that character profile. New coaches who are focused and locked in. It's summertime; heading into Autumn. Look for the good..........you'll find it. If you look for the bad.........you'll find it. Your choice.

 

[Wordbomar]

We have a whole new season ahead of us. A little patience with the team and staff as they get things together is in order. Thanks
to all the diehard BY'ers who have resisted the urge to dwell and speculate on the negative. I think we have some Hungry Huskies that fit that character profile. New coaches who are focused and locked in. It's summertime; heading into Autumn. Look for the good.....you'll find it. If you look for the bad....you'll find it. Your choice.

Let's get back to the dance!

 

[Chief00]

Wait, you're claiming Calhoun was teaching the team Xs and Os in 2014?

That's what you're saying?

From your post it's clear you need to go back and get some facts (LOL). Calhoun is a master motivator, strategists and program management guru. Jim would give KO invaluable feedback after observing the games and practices. I said I was done reliving last season but I can assure you that certain things that happpened absolutely would not have happened if Calhoun and KO's relationship hadn't gone south. Jim had a way of making players tougher but yet having the love that meant at the end of the day he had their backs.

 

[djct1999]

Yes, the Shonn Miller endorsement tells us that anything that went wrong was largely confined to one year. I think before that KO was still finding his way as a coach, learning what he needed in a staff and in players, and not having everybody meshed hindered performance a bit; but he always got the team playing its best in March, so he was able to bring them together somewhat. Last year obviously things went south, and not just due to injuries. It seems that differences between KO and staff (Miller) and KO and players (Durham, Enoch) kind of blew up. KO now has "his" staff and "his" players and hopefully he's learned something about how to meld a team a little faster. Having a clear style of play and working on it consistently will help. I think Chillious has really helped focus the recruiting on the types of guys KO needs to succeed.

Several posters hint that KO's personal life since the divorce has been used against him in negative recruiting and has led to some of the resistance from recruits' parents. Whatever -- if he dedicates himself to his players' success and maintains Christian faith and behavior, people will soon forgive him for a few bad years in the aftermath of a divorce.

I see this experience as largely the growing pains of a first-time head coach. I think he'll continue to grow and become an outstanding head coach.

So wait......the last three years are due to his growing pains as a coach? The same coach who won the tournament because of his tactics and player development in year 2? Wow. naybe you are right.....let's hold the boneyard responsible. Not the staff. They have no accountability for the current state of the program. It's us. It's negative recruiting. It's the conference. It's everything but them.

 

[mauconnfan]

So wait.the last three years are due to his growing pains as a coach? The same coach who won the tournament because of his tactics and player development in year 2? Wow. naybe you are right.....let's hold the boneyard responsible. Not the staff. They have no accountability for the current state of the program. It's us. It's negative recruiting. It's the conference. It's everything but them.

Again no one has ever said it's not on KO or the staff. It's how much you perceive it to be in compared to injuries, aac etc etc.. He and the staff have to be better, the players need to be better and healthier and they need to win period. Think they can and I think they will answer the bell. That's all I got.

 

[Banta55]

From your post it's clear you need to go back and get some facts (LOL). Calhoun is a master motivator, strategists and program management guru. Jim would give KO invaluable feedback after observing the games and practices. I said I was done reliving last season but I can assure you that certain things that happpened absolutely would not have happened if Calhoun and KO's relationship hadn't gone south. Jim had a way of making players tougher but yet having the love that meant at the end of the day he had their backs.