That Confirms It

[TheChamps990411]

I think this #3 ranked class maybe the most overrated class in UCONN history. Diara is gone, Jackson and Vital are OK, Durham has a tough hill to climb with two ACL tears, and let's hope Gilbert will be as good as advertised next year. #3 IMO is really a stretch, I rank it at between 10 and 12. You talk about blinders on the early season losses, well maybe take the blinders off also for an untested and slightly over ranked class.

I like the recruiting class but im one of the few that told some to pump the breaks. I think Larrier and Gilbert are studs but the other four guys i was never sold on and am still not. I really really hate the injury to Larrier as i think he was on his way to being our best player. The kid is young though and hopefully he recovers fully.

 

[yukonyc212]

What a guy does in high school means jack once he steps on the court.

Some here are claiming that just because Gilbert was a McDonalds AA and top player in high school he was already going to be one of our best players with only a 3 game sample size to gauge his college career on. So which is it? High school rankings do or don't matter?? Because I'm in complete agreement with you. People here are calling 2 kids that played a total of 3 games for us 2 of our top 3 players. That is a HUGE stretch.

 

[yukonyc212]

Which is much different than the exceptional final 4 season we had in 2014, 3 years ago? And by the way for everyone who asks for KO to do better since Bazz left who led the way for JC that year - similar I would say no?

The big difference is that Calhoun followed it up with a title 2 years later. Not 1 NIT, 1 2nd round blowout and 1 CBI...... That 09 team was a collective effort. One of our best all around teams... not relying on 1 superstar night in and night out. I would say Price and Adrien led the way in 09 with Kemba off the bench.

 

[UCfor3]

Who would be their competition to be 2 of our 3 best players? Facey? Purvis? It is not a big leap to extrapolate that Gilbert and Larrier would have been 2 of our top 3 players as the season went on and they settled in. Facey has improved and is solid and Purvis is a mixed bag of inconsistent extremes, but neither of those guys have the ability to impact the team that the other two guys had the potential to. I get it though. It is all hypothetical at this point and none of us will really know for sure how things would have unfolded. We are all just offering opinions I guess. Just a frustrating season. We are all looking for answers. Next year is a HUGE season for so many reasons. I for one am worried about recruiting in our present state.

 

[yukonyc212]

Who would be their competition to be 2 of our 3 best players? Facey? Purvis? It is not a big leap to extrapolate that Gilbert and Larrier would have been 2 of our top 3 players as the season went on and they settled in. Facey has improved and is solid and Purvis is a mixed bag of inconsistent extremes, but neither of those guys have the ability to impact the team that the other two guys had the potential to. I get it though. It is all hypothetical at this point and none of us will really know for sure how things would have unfolded. We are all just offering opinions I guess. Just a frustrating season. We are all looking for answers. Next year is a HUGE season for so many reasons. I for one am worried about recruiting in our present state.

From the onset one would have thought that Purvis would have killed it here from the jump. He had all the accolades that Gilbert does. He just didn't adapt to the college game. Who's to say Gilbert will either? It's all just speculation at this point and impossible to call someone that has never played for us one of our top players. As far as Larrier, he had a very mediocre freshman year at VCU. That's all you can really go off of.

 

[Chief00]

I like the recruiting class but im one of the few that told some to pump the breaks. I think Larrier and Gilbert are studs but the other four guys i was never sold on and am still not. I really really hate the injury to Larrier as i think he was on his way to being our best player. The kid is young though and hopefully he recovers fully.

I like Vital - he is a very good player, who is smart enough to improve.

 

[Athlete94]

If PP or Bobby red pants had a national title under their belt (regardless of who recruited the players) each would have been given even more than the considerable slack each received.

Yeah keep telling yourself that, you could have coached them to that win..

 

[LoveMeSomeUC]

Not to beat a dead horse, but fruits of his labor before the injuries = 2 losses against Wagner and Northeastern. As well as barely squeaking by LMU. If anything, we're not much different than before the injuries in the sense that we are continuing to lose or struggle against teams like ECU, Chaminade, BU. That said, I'm still on the fence with Ollie but I do think he deserves at least another full year. I just don't buy all of the excuses and justifications because with the injuries and without our record seemed similar, and even with the injuries we're much more talent rich than the sub-250 teams we continue to lose to.

Well said! Couldn't agree more!

 

[Chief00]

I like Vital - he is a very good player, who is smart enough to improve.

Confirmed.

Oh well - thought I would put one of my Confirmed guarantees next to this assessment- since this dude really improves. He must work very hard.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

From the onset one would have thought that Purvis would have killed it here from the jump. He had all the accolades that Gilbert does. He just didn't adapt to the college game. Who's to say Gilbert will either?

If you simply go by stats, sure, Larrier had a meh freshman season at VCU, and Rodney was a McDAA, with both very highly rated out of HS. So what convinced me from the outset that the former was a great get but the latter wasn't going to wow us? I watched them play (at VCU and NCSt, respectively). You cannot judge by stats and accolades alone. As for Gilbert, I want to see a little more court smarts in terms of running the team, and a money outside shot. I think he'll develop both, but he didn't have them from the get-go, hence Wagner and Northeastern.

 

[mauconnfan]

The big difference is that Calhoun followed it up with a title 2 years later. Not 1 NIT, 1 2nd round blowout and 1 CBI. That 09 team was a collective effort. One of our best all around teams... not relying on 1 superstar night in and night out. I would say Price and Adrien led the way in 09 with Kemba off the bench.

Listen you have it all figured out in your mind so stick to that. But be sure to be here eating crow when your pessimistic view crumbles in your face that's all I ask. Because people like you get theirs, I promise.

By the way Kemba did it '11 like Bazz in '14 that's where I was going. Everyone wants to say KO hasn't won since, how were JC's follow up years from '11 just curious? I love JC, KO is not him may never be but that doesn't make him worthy. There's not too many JC's and some idiots need to realize that mold will probably never make its way here again.

 

[huskymagic]

Listen you have it all figured out in your mind so stick to that. But be sure to be here eating crow when your pessimistic view crumbles in your face that's all I ask. Because people like you get theirs, I promise.
By the way Kemba did it '11 like Bazz in '14 that's where I was going. Everyone wants to say KO hasn't won since, how were JC's follow up years from '11 just curious? I love JC, KO is not him may never be but that doesn't make him worthy. There's not too many JC's and some idiots need to realize that mold will probably never make its way here again.

Mau you know better than to put Kevin Ollie in the same sentence with Jim Calhoun. Very touchy and sensitive towards any and all Kevin Ollie criticism that is well deserved unless you consider losing to Wagner, Northeastern with a full squad an example of good coaching or potentially missing the NCAA tournament twice in 3 years. How much does Kevin pay you to be his knight in shining armor on the yard? You know how to silence critics Mau: win baby. Nobody questions a winner, and until we see that don't expect UCONN nation to be patient while KO takes us over a cliff.

PS: DoctorHoop agreed that Larrier is much better than Rod there is no debate there. Vital is also much better than him despite being ranked so low out of high school.

 

[yukonyc212]

Listen you have it all figured out in your mind so stick to that. But be sure to be here eating crow when your pessimistic view crumbles in your face that's all I ask. Because people like you get theirs, I promise.

By the way Kemba did it '11 like Bazz in '14 that's where I was going. Everyone wants to say KO hasn't won since, how were JC's follow up years from '11 just curious? I love JC, KO is not him may never be but that doesn't make him worthy. There's not too many JC's and some idiots need to realize that mold will probably never make its way here again.

Keep rationalizing that a top 10 paid coach in the nation the past 3 years has followed up a title with the NIT, blown out in the 2nd round, and probably won't even make the NIT this year. Unfortunately when you get paid the big bucks like that you have to produce results and there are no excuses. Not sure what you do for a living, but in my profession if I don't produce on a yearly basis I'll be packing my bags as well. Not sure why you're ok with poor results. If any of those coaches in that top 10 group produced results like we've seen the past few years I would suspect most of the fan bases would be apopoplectic.

 

[ctchamps]

Mau you know better than to put Kevin Ollie in the same sentence with Jim Calhoun. Very touchy and sensitive towards any and all Kevin Ollie criticism that is well deserved unless you consider losing to Wagner, Northeastern with a full squad an example of good coaching or potentially missing the NCAA tournament twice in 3 years. How much does Kevin pay you to be his knight in shining armor on the yard? You know how to silence critics Mau: win baby. Nobody questions a winner, and until we see that don't expect UCONN nation to be patient while KO takes us over a cliff.

PS: DoctorHoop agreed that Larrier is much better than Rod there is no debate there. Vital is also much better than him despite being ranked so low out of high school.

I have to say you make me love chief.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Not to beat a dead horse, but fruits of his labor before the injuries = 2 losses against Wagner and Northeastern.

Fruits of his labor meant on the recruiting trail only. We're starting to see higher ranked recruiting classes coming in.
There's no justifying the early season losses to sub-par teams. To me it was the abysmal defense in those early games. Waaaaaay too much help defense and not enough covering your own man, leaving lots of shooters wide open. At Connecticut, the offense comes from the defense. But I digress.

 

[ctchamps]

Read it dopey I said Ko is not JC, you get that or are you really as stupid as your posts? Why are you still here?

You do realize that they need someone to post against to feel sanctimonious. You're only feeding the trolls. Love your effort. Totally agree with your bullet points. But bullets don't hurt dummies. Leave them to their own circle jerk. The ether doesn't determine the future or change events and you're only going to aggravate yourself.

Of course I could be wrong and you are getting satisfaction going after these dudes. I just prefer to make my points and allow those who might consider them the option of applying them. The folks you are responding to are entrenched and will fizzle out quicker if people just ignored them.

 

[mauconnfan]

Keep rationalizing that a top 10 paid coach in the nation the past 3 years has followed up a title with the NIT, blown out in the 2nd round, and probably won't even make the NIT this year. Unfortunately when you get paid the big bucks like that you have to produce results and there are no excuses. Not sure what you do for a living, but in my profession if I don't produce on a yearly basis I'll be packing my bags as well. Not sure why you're ok with poor results. If any of those coaches in that top 10 group produced results like we've seen the past few years I would suspect most of the fan bases would be apopoplectic.

You can't be reasoned with so why even spew your nonsense? I mean if you couldn't accept what this season was going to be months ago then you just don't like KO, because you just can't make up what happened this season, no one can. Maybe Cal with his 12 deep McD AA's or K but not us, it's just facing reality without being a total d**k about it which some of you can't resist, that's your prerogative right?

By the way in my profession it's all about numbers and and I am never packing my bags. But if I treated any of my guys the way you treat KO I'd be ashamed. I had one guy for instance lose well over 500K in business at high margin due to moving out of US and another customer which our national accounts team lost to competition. His numbers will be 35% short going in, not his fault but if he doesn't make it up by July I should fire him right?

LOL, again stupid analogy but you had it coming.

 

[yukonyc212]

You can't be reasoned with so why even spew your nonsense? I mean if you couldn't accept what this season was going to be months ago then you just don't like KO, because you just can't make up what happened this season, no one can. Maybe Cal with his 12 deep McD AA's or K but not us, it's just facing reality without being a total d**k about it which some of you can't resist, that's your prerogative right?

By the way in my profession it's all about numbers and and I am never packing my bags. But if I treated any of my guys the way you treat KO I'd be ashamed. I had one guy for instance lose well over 500K in business at high margin due to moving out of US and another customer which our national accounts team lost to competition. His numbers will be 35% short going in, not his fault but if he doesn't make it up by July I should fire him right?

LOL, again stupid analogy but you had it coming.

Not stupid at all bruh. I trade a derivatives book. If I start losing the firm money on a yearly basis I will be gone. Like anyone else in my profession. Kinda like a big time top 10 paid college coach that loses games. How many losing years does a 3mm + per year coach get before the fan base / institution want what they paid for or go looking elsewhere???

Are you going to be ok if we have another poor year next year?? If we make 1 tournament in 4 years...win a total of 1 tournament game in 4 years??

 

[Huskybass]

The fact that anyone is even trying to argue that KO is a good head coach is laughable given these last 3 seasons. His offensive gameplan is dreadful. He simply doesnt have what it takes to be to be a successful head coach. Half the teams UConn lost to this season would kill to have the talent on UConn's roster, even with all the injuries.

 

[ctchamps]

Fruits of his labor meant on the recruiting trail only. We're starting to see higher ranked recruiting classes coming in.
There's no justifying the early season losses to sub-par teams. To me it was the abysmal defense in those early games. Waaaaaay too much help defense and not enough covering your own man, leaving lots of shooters wide open. At Connecticut, the offense comes from the defense. But I digress.

Totally agree and I felt that comes with not having a five who covers most aspects of defense well as opposed to being a savant with one aspect of defense and poor in all the other aspects. And that player was the result of APR sanctions. Even DHam was forced to hedge last season because of Amida's limitations leaving his player open for 3's.

No one can be certain how a player translates from high school to college. My guess is that Zach Brown would have been a significant upgrade over Amida and Steve and that his loss will impact UConn next season.

 

[mauconnfan]

Not stupid at all bruh. I trade a derivatives book. If I start losing the firm money on a yearly basis I will be gone. Like anyone else in my profession. Kinda like a big time top 10 paid college coach that loses games. How many losing years does a 3mm + per year coach get before the fan base / institution want what they paid for or go looking elsewhere???

Are you going to be ok if we have another poor year next year?? If we make 1 tournament in 4 years...win a total of 1 tournament game in 4 years??

No I won't be okay but I'm confident it won't happen. Difference in you and I obviously is just that, we will be good again and this year is just what it is, frustrating to all including the kids and the staff. Doesn't mean I have to tell them how much they suck or can't do their job, instead I wait and allow the years difference to show me. You just like to hate - don't deny it! You haven't been here before when they were eying so jump off the bandwagon, do us all a favor we'd prefer less of your type!

 

[mauconnfan]

The fact that anyone is even trying to argue that KO is a good head coach is laughable given these last 3 seasons. His offensive gameplan is dreadful. He simply doesnt have what it takes to be to be a successful head coach. Half the teams UConn lost to this season would kill to have the talent on UConn's roster, even with all the injuries.

Everyone complained about JC's offense when they sucked too. That's what's laughable where have all of you been all these years?

 

[Wordbomar]

I have a vastly different opinion on Ollie and where we're at right now. He came into a tough situation and did a great job with Calhoun's players. It takes a while to make inroads with players and to get them interested in your school, so for a year or 2 he was playing catch-up trying to recruit the type of players he wants. I think we're finally starting to see quality classes and the fruits of the labor. This year has been a bust given the injuries, but my expectations for him and the team will be increasing. If Adams comes back and either we find a new pivot or Enoch is able to greatly up his defense, I'd be very optimistic for next season.

Great Point, Adams coming back, MAL coming in, and returning to being healthy will make expectations next year very very high.

 

[ctchamps]

Great Point, Adams coming back, MAL coming in, and returning to being healthy will make expectations next year very very high.

What's your impression of the 5 position?

 

[Wordbomar]

What's your impression of the 5 position?

I believe if we don't get a transfer big man, we will likely play a 4 out style offense with Vance or Larrier at the 4. And Carlton, Enosch, and Polley will likely rotate at the 5. That could end up being an issue if Enosch does't develop. But Ollie is high on him, so the eggs are in his basket.