Staff Changes Needed

[Matrim55]

It says something about me, that I can lurk on this board for 5 years without responding to any of the intelligent, enlightening posts, but this hot garbage drags me in.

I can defend the development of the bigs but in the end I'd be forced to admit my argument (and yours) is subjective and therefore inconclusive, which by the way is one strike against you. I can tell you that Phil & Amida are playing well and I have no idea what team you're watching if you think they aren't doing thier job.

I agree that Kentan isn't where I'd hoped but I wonder if you had the same criticism of Edmond prior to his senior year. Due to his lack of pt I have to assume he's not embracing (and putting in the work) his role.

Whatever the case the Huskies didn't lose that game because of the bigs, they lost a game they should have won by 30 because they didn't have a pg on the floor. The reason for that is a hangover from the post season ban, you remember that? The one that caused a laps in good recruiting & resulting in the usual boneyard suspects calling for a recruiting "closer"?

Next year Jalen plays off ball with a legit pg on the floor.

What irritates me most about the reactionaries like the op is that thier opinion literally comes from a place of ignorance. Get rid of Glen Miller?

Who scouted for the Butler game? You don't know.

Who scouted for the Kentucky game? Oh you don't know that either?

Who is responsible for helping the team insert more motion? Let me guess.

Great post and welcome. We need more like you.

Thanks to you, Bruce, Kita, Stair and a few others for trying to bring a little bit of sanity to this train wreck of a thread.

 

[tcf15]

how many of those 33 attempts do you think were completely uncontested? hell, any decent high school player could hit 50% from 3 if he's just standing there wide open

You keep bringing up this "decent shooter" argument. Any decent shooter would be hitting more than 21% in games, whether they are contested or not.

 

[Tacodrone]

Ricky Moore has been connected to most of our best recruiting.

We're lucky to have him, I think he's got a bright future. Recruiting is a team effort though, one coach can ruin it but it takes all of the coaches, entirety of staff and commitment by the school to be successful. It's an exciting time to be a Connecticut fan.

 

[huskyblooz]

Need an Offensive Coordinator from outside the family, who has new ideas. Too much jogging thru their cuts.
Tired of scoring in the 50's

 

[intlzncster]

The truth is obviously somewhere in the middle - in between they are bumbling fools and they are a basketball Mensa society on their way to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a collective group. These were the guys game planning and making adjustments in March and April of 2014, which not many staffs can brag about, and they are the ones who have game planned and adjusted us to 7 winnable losses this year, which they deserve some criticism for. But a couple things in this thread jump out at me.

Ricky is the best defensive guard I've ever seen in college. All of our perimeter guys in the last few years have gotten exponentially better on defense. Could be coincidence, I suppose. I'm not privy to what goes on in practice and maybe he just supervises the managers while others coach defensive principles for all I know. But if you fail to imagine what coaching acumen he could possibly be bringing to the table, I'm not sure how to lay out any dots that are easier to connect than our guards improve defensively. A lot.

Bazz was awesome in 14, but to act like the coaches just went along for the ride is nonsense. Bazz stunk against St. Joe's, got in foul trouble against Nova and was effectively game planned out of the game by Florida. Every time, we adjusted. And those last three games saw our opponents struggle to score 50 points. That wasn't any one player doing that. That was an organized, well-coached team. We show some of that now with our defensive effort too, but we still haven't quite put it all together yet. Five minutes left against Tenple, I felt great about how we were progressing over a month-long arc - now we got ourselves a nut punch that pretty much flattens that arc out straight again in a matter of minutes. Sports does that to you sometimes. It's now about how we respond to it.

Also, the original poster has a blind spot for micro/macro issues. He'll opine that if we miss a free throw in a tie game in the first half, it's an epic disaster that will start the ball rolling for the entire state university system to collapse. So grain of salt.

Great post Gurley.

Tangentially, it seems most posters on here forget that there is a lot of room to grow for some of these coaches, especially Ollie. It takes time. These guys aren't static. This isn't who'll they'll be in 1, 2, 5, etc years.

Ollie is struggling in-game coaching right now. Doesn't mean he always will. He'll likely grow most in the offseason, as he looks back and analyzes what he did wrong throughout the year. I've no doubt he'll get together with JC and do the same.

We've got the players coming in, and that is the key, more than anything. And if we don't crush it next year (depending on who comes back though), people need to chill out. He's not taking a bunch of freshman to the promised land.

 

[intlzncster]

^^ This is it in a nutshell.

We have a team full of 2-guards. Honestly, I think we might have more 2-guards than scholarships! Gibbs, Purvis, Calhoun, Cassell Jr....all 2-guards. Our only true "point" is a freshman. And he makes freshman mistakes.

So who runs the point, then? Our forward, of course! Picture a UConn fast break this year in your head. Who's dribbling the ball up the court in your mental picture? If it isn't Hamilton, then I think you've been watching a different team this year than I have.

If Adams can put it together down the stretch, we are going to be in for another classic April run by our Huskies. If he can't, then next year is the year that we take it all, especially if Gilbert turns out to be as good as they are saying he is...

Even Adams isn't a true point. He's a classic combo. But he's got enough skill to play a true point role. Not sure about the experience though. And, potentially, where his head is at atm.

 

[intlzncster]

It says something about me, that I can lurk on this board for 5 years without responding to any of the intelligent, enlightening posts, but this hot garbage drags me in.

I can defend the development of the bigs but in the end I'd be forced to admit my argument (and yours) is subjective and therefore inconclusive, which by the way is one strike against you. I can tell you that Phil & Amida are playing well and I have no idea what team you're watching if you think they aren't doing thier job.

I agree that Kentan isn't where I'd hoped but I wonder if you had the same criticism of Edmond prior to his senior year. Due to his lack of pt I have to assume he's not embracing (and putting in the work) his role.

Whatever the case the Huskies didn't lose that game because of the bigs, they lost a game they should have won by 30 because they didn't have a pg on the floor. The reason for that is a hangover from the post season ban, you remember that? The one that caused a laps in good recruiting & resulting in the usual boneyard suspects calling for a recruiting "closer"?

Next year Jalen plays off ball with a legit pg on the floor.

What irritates me most about the reactionaries like the op is that thier opinion literally comes from a place of ignorance. Get rid of Glen Miller?

Who scouted for the Butler game? You don't know.

Who scouted for the Kentucky game? Oh you don't know that either?

Who is responsible for helping the team insert more motion? Let me guess.

Post more often dude.

 

[Tacodrone]

Need an Offensive Coordinator from outside the family, who has new ideas. Too much jogging thru their cuts.
Tired of scoring in the 50's

Why would they need a new coach with new ideas when you've so deftly and concisely identified the problem? Just get floor seats and yell "cut harder" at Rodney, problem solved. I know those seats go for a lot of scratch but think of it as taking one for the team.

 

[intlzncster]

how many of those 33 attempts do you think were completely uncontested? hell, any decent high school player could hit 50% from 3 if he's just standing there wide open

Bullsh_t. Not under that pressure. Kid got a hot hand. That's all. I mean,tThis kid shoots a worse percentage from 3 than most BIG guys these days.

Could we have contested the weakest 3pt shooter on the floor a bit more? Absolutely. But that is one among a ton of other failures during that game.

 

[intlzncster]

You keep bringing up this "decent shooter" argument. Any decent shooter would be hitting more than 21% in games, whether they are contested or not.

As I said before, the kid hits a worse percentage than most bigs these days.

 

[intlzncster]

One thing that stands out to me. This is a program in transition in sooo many ways. As much as most posters want (expect) to see it happen immediately, it takes longer than 2 years to effect change. And it comes in fits and starts, not as a smooth progression. We are doing well in a number of areas, but struggling in others. Will be interesting to see how it pans out.

 

[UConnSwag11]

What a crock. Temple couldn't get a good look because we have one of the best defenses in the country. Then a 21% 3-point shooter hit three in a row, and they closed the gap, the guys panicked, and we blew it. You're being a reactionary. Please don't try to pretend otherwise.

this year is the only year that we have not had a true leader on the floor, especially pg wise to settle everyone down, get on guys for not being mentally in the game, and to get the ball, take the shot and take the pressure off of everyone... hamilton you can see last game when i think it was gibbs who had the ball, he was slapping his hands together demanding the ball then gibbs gave him the ball in a bad position... imo hamilton is trying to step up and be that guy, followed by adams...someone needs to be that guy and quick

 

[mauconnfan]

how many of those 33 attempts do you think were completely uncontested? hell, any decent high school player could hit 50% from 3 if he's just standing there wide open

Well this is false have you watched kids shoot anymore? You wouldn't get 50% of the kids to shoot 50% standing alone and that goes for college players too. They want to dunk not shoot these days.

 

[Matrim55]

Could we have contested the weakest 3pt shooter on the floor a bit more? Absolutely. But that is one among a ton of other failures during that game.

Yes - and this one I will put on Ollie to a certain extent, because it was pretty clear by about the 7 minute mark that a number of our guys were gassed. When kids get tired, turnovers happen, and when turnovers happen, the opponents get open looks.

Ollie's short rotation vs. Temple really made no sense. Just a couple of minutes from Adams, Facey & Enoch could have drastically changed the shape of the game.

One thing that stands out to me. This is a program in transition in sooo many ways. As much as most posters want (expect) to see it happen immediately, it takes longer than 2 years to effect change. And it comes in fits and starts, not as a smooth progression. We are doing well in a number of areas, but struggling in others. Will be interesting to see how it pans out.

And this I agree with 100%. These last two years - the suffering and uncertainty - are the point of sanctions, and we're transitioning out of them at a pretty decent clip IMO. Next year will be better, and the year after that, and the year after that, etc.

 

[tentoes4rings]

Great post Gurley.

Tangentially, it seems most posters on here forget that there is a lot of room to grow for some of these coaches, especially Ollie. It takes time. These guys aren't static. This isn't who'll they'll be in 1, 2, 5, etc years.

Ollie is struggling in-game coaching right now. Doesn't mean he always will. He'll likely grow most in the offseason, as he looks back and analyzes what he did wrong throughout the year. I've no doubt he'll get together with JC and do the same.

We've got the players coming in, and that is the key, more than anything. And if we don't crush it next year (depending on who comes back though), people need to chill out. He's not taking a bunch of freshman to the promised land.

This still doesn't excuse being on course to miss the Big Dance two years in a row. As far as JC goes, I get the impression Ollie doesn't ask JC for mentoring and JC stays out of the way.

 

[champs99and04]

Aside from Ollie's baffling decision to bench Adams for the second half (he may have had a good reason, I wasn't there), I did not come away from Thursday's game with much to complain about in regards to coaching. In fact, quite the opposite - this coaching staff doesn't get nearly enough credit for the job they do scouting and game-planning. Our streak of holding opponents to 40% or less from the field can be attributed in large part to the fact that our players are so well versed in knowing the tendencies of opposing players. They know where the primary relieve valves are, who they can leave open, how they can navigate a particular screen, when to double the post, etc. In my opinion, it's one of the best scouting staffs in the country (the 2014 tournament is as finely scouted and planned a stretch as you will find), and frankly, Temple took the shots we wanted them to take. Sometimes, a player that is not a good shooter hits a string of shots. That happened with Dingle. And sometimes, a really good player hits difficult shots against tough defense. That happened with DeCosey. To explicate anything incriminating about the coaching staff on the basis of those events is incorrect, IMO.

I'm not typically the type that is going to assign romantic meaning to the solitary events of a basketball game, but if you want the truth, I question whether a few of the guys on this team have enough dog in them. I wonder if when it's time to raid the village, break some glass and take prisoners if a couple of the guys on the team have second thoughts. Rodney Purvis has the physical gifts, the work ethic, and the character to be a great college basketball player. He seems like a great kid, a great representative of the University, and obviously he's a huge part of the team. But there are recurring moments of amazement with him in which he has trouble doing some of the things that any basketball player past the age of ten should not have trouble doing. I've literally never seen a player double-dribble, in that spot, completely unguarded. I've never seen a player miss so many open layups and I've never seen a player step out of bounds so many times. Amida Brimah and Phil Nolan and, to a lesser extent, Daniel Hamilton are hardly exonerated in that respect, either.

I'm under no delusions that I'm any sort of couch titan in comparison. Playing on national TV, with your future professional fate in the balance, cannot be easy. Road games amplify that X3 and when it's crunch-time I don't even know how some of these kids breathe. You look at the current roster, though, and you don't see Shabazz Napier, Ryan Boatright, or Kemba Walker. It isn't just the player you don't see, it's the personality, the spirit that they were indestructible. And that's OK. A lot of players don't have that, but that's also the type of player this program has been built on, and the only current player that seems to have that demeanor is a freshman.

 

[intlzncster]

This still doesn't excuse being on course to miss the Big Dance two years in a row. As far as JC goes, I get the impression Ollie doesn't ask JC for mentoring and JC stays out of the way.

How do you know this? Specifically in regards to the offseason? Where does this come from?

 

[Stainmaster]

This still doesn't excuse being on course to miss the Big Dance two years in a row. As far as JC goes, I get the impression Ollie doesn't ask JC for mentoring and JC stays out of the way.

I get the impression you're just throwing crap at the wall and hoping it sticks.

 

[tentoes4rings]

I get the impression you're just throwing crap at the wall and hoping it sticks.

It's fair. I was going to say I had nothing concrete to go off, just speculation. Other than the emphasis on defense, their coaching styles are very different. JC was an absolute master of working refs, a skill that clearly hasn't been imparted on KO. As far as being on course to miss the dance again this year, neither of you can honestly disagree as of today, can you? It's looking like win the AAC Tournament or bust.

 

[tcf15]

It's fair. I was going to say I had nothing concrete to go off, just speculation. Other than the emphasis on defense, their coaching styles are very different. JC was an absolute master of working refs, a skill that clearly hasn't been imparted on KO. As far as being on course to miss the dance again this year, neither of you can honestly disagree as of today, can you? It's looking like win the AAC Tournament or bust.

Yes, that second part about being on course to miss the NCAAs, is very easy to disagree with. UConn is nowhere close to the bubble at the moment.

 

[Stainmaster]

It's fair. I was going to say I had nothing concrete to go off, just speculation. Other than the emphasis on defense, their coaching styles are very different. JC was an absolute master of working refs, a skill that clearly hasn't been imparted on KO. As far as being on course to miss the dance again this year, neither of you can honestly disagree as of today, can you? It's looking like win the AAC Tournament or bust.

I'm going to make my decision based on whether or not we will make the tourney independent of the histrionics and panicking that occur here. Among the pundit community and in terms of the metrics, it's not a clear consensus.

Every year at the beginning of the year, people think we can win the title. And every year, during our midwinter slump people think we're dead dogs. I'm not going to ride the wave.

 

[tentoes4rings]

I'm going to make my decision based on whether or not we will make the tourney independent of the histrionics and panicking that occur here. Among the pundit community and in terms of the metrics, it's not a clear consensus.

Every year at the beginning of the year, people think we can win the title. And every year, during our midwinter slump people think we're dead dogs. I'm not going to ride the wave.

I definitely applaud the optimism. I was pretty bullish recently as well, the Temple game just took a lot out of me. To get back on track of this thread, I hope we retain Ricky but make a change or two to the staff, specifically to bring in someone to coach the big men after this season.

 

[CallMeBruce]

You keep bringing up this "decent shooter" argument. Any decent shooter would be hitting more than 21% in games, whether they are contested or not.

Not to mention that, if the guy had only taken 33 three-pointers, they were probably all wide open. Obviously this isn't a guy who is forcing shots from long-range.

 

[PWS]

The biggest problem with this team is we do not have a top flight point guard. No one to take control at the end of games, hence the panic. That presence can only be coached up so much. Either you have it or you don't. I live in Terp Country & during Turgeon's first 3 years they lost tons of close games didn't make the tournament & they all wanted him fired. Melo Trimble shows up & they were co-big ten champs & a 3 seed last year. A friend of mine was at a Md open practice & Turgeon pointed to Melo & said, all of a sudden, I learned how to coach. Ollie knew this last August when he was looking for the Alpha Dog. He hasn't found him yet. Hopefully, the Adams/Gilbert combo will be the answer.

 

[Danzz]

The coaching has been a big problem for 2 years now.

KO deserves to coach his own recruits, and has at least 2 years beyond this one to prove he's the right guy long-term. But he will be on notice if this season continues the way it has, with two big disappointments in a row.

The rest of the staff needs a shake-up. This "all in the family" coaching staff is a cute look and maybe it fits the "family" storyline we pitch to recruits. But I'm not convinced the guys we have now add a G-D thing when it comes to
1) recruiting
2) player development
3) in-game tactics

Recruiting was a concern for some time, but KO -- essentially on his own -- seems to have righted the ship.

The bigs, plainly, have not significantly improved during KO's tenure. Because of the horrific recruiting, none of the bigs we have (Nolan, Facey, Brimah) were going to morph into Olajuwon. But after 3 or 4 years, we should have seen much more than we have.

It's become cliche to say it, but we need to bring in an assistant who can challenge, instill toughness in, and improve the skills of our bigs. We're not going to be recruiting the Jahlil Okafors and Karl-Anthony Townses of the world. If we can't develop bigs, our frontcourt will always be a weakness.

Whatever Glen Miller is supposed to be providing here, in terms of big-man coaching, game-planning, and strategy, it's not cutting it.

Karl Hobbs may be past his expiration date as well.

Have you ever even been near a practice? You don't have a clue whether these guys can coach or not.

 

[mauconnfan]

I definitely applaud the optimism. I was pretty bullish recently as well, the Temple game just took a lot out of me. To get back on track of this thread, I hope we retain Ricky but make a change or two to the staff, specifically to bring in someone to coach the big men after this season.

I'm good with this as long as we bring some big men in to coach. Steve will need a coach to help him but he seems to be learning little by little anyway, it takes time for some big men. Others just never get it.

 

[Tacodrone]

I'm good with this as long as we bring some big men in to coach. Steve will need a coach to help him but he seems to be learning little by little anyway, it takes time for some big men. Others just never get it.

Which of our coaches would you like to fire in order to appease your suspicion that bigs would be better developed under someone else?

 

[mauconnfan]

Which of our coaches would you like to fire in order to appease your suspicion that bigs would be better developed under someone else?

I honestly do not believe the coaches on this staff have anything to do with why a couple of these guys haven't gotten better. It's the players themselves who haven't matured in the instincts of the game as well as the physicality of their position. If we watch Steve E in the next couple of years I believe he will prove it's not the coaches, it's the kid himself.

I like the staff, not sure why they missed some things like plays out of TO's, taking TO's in strategic parts of games, knowing who to be sure the players aren't fouling on the other team at the end of games things like that. Are they not noticing or is KO just not listening? Not sure enough to say who's not doing their job to critique any of them.

 

[jibsey]

Kids who have basketball instinct, talent, and listen to what their coaches tell them improve. Miss any one of those 3 things and it's a formula to blame coaches when performance is not there.

 

[Chief00]

It's the APR World now - back in the Coach day - if a guy doesn't improve or take to coaching - he is gone voluntarily or not. I like the old way better.