The Athletic: KO Article

[gwhuskyfan]

Anyone have a subscription to that new sports website The Athletic -- they just posted a story on KO.

Winning came early for Kevin Ollie at UConn. A coach and a...

Anyone able to summarize?

 

[Fishy]

It a very well-reasoned, fair and depressing assessment of what’s happening to UConn athletics.

The basketball team is bad, the conference affiliation is bad and that we’re having trouble remaining relevant.

It’s not critical of Ollie necessarily, but it’s another national writer noticing that we’re drowning.

 

[tcf15]

It's a frustrating read, but mainly because it's right. Good outsider opinions from Calhoun, Jere Quinn and some anonymous sources instead of the coach speak we've heard in the past from KO.

And this...

“They’re stuck,’’ the athletics source says. “That’s the best way to describe them — stuck.’’

ugh.

 

[Guapo]

I used to be 75% stick it out in the AAC.

Then I moved to 50/50.

Now I'm 75% thinking it's best to put basketball in the NBE. Football will figure itself out, somehow, someway.

I'm not sure if that makes sense to anyone else, but that's how I feel.

 

[Slasher]

It's a very interesting read, and theAthletic has pretty good content in general. It's worth the couple bucks a month.

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

It's a frustrating read, but mainly because it's right. Good outsider opinions from Calhoun, Jere Quinn and some anonymous sources instead of the coach speak we've heard in the past from KO.

And this...

“They’re stuck,’’ the athletics source says. “That’s the best way to describe them — stuck.’’

ugh.

are we stuck though? we seem to be moving backwards

 

[HungryHuskies]

Everything Calhoun has built is going down the toilet. That's the brutal honest truth. We have to go to the NBE.

PS if Calhoun wants to be recruiter, why not recruit for UConn on his own time?

 

[pj]

PS if Calhoun wants to be recruiter, why not recruit for UConn on his own time?

Violation.

 

[Austin316]

I read the first 8 sentences and wanted to keep reading.. but my wallet laughed at me.

 

[auror]

I haaaaate when national writers mis-represent the truth of what happened during the Big East breakup.

The cannibalism left the Big East in shambles, and when the league opted to return to its basketball roots, UConn suddenly fit nowhere. The American Athletic Conference rode in as a savior....

Neither the ACC nor the Big Ten bit on the Huskies’ football program, and when the Big East reconfigured without pigskin, UConn no longer fit there either. With limited options, the school joined the AAC.

This is just inaccurate. I'm sure she knows the truth, too.

 

[UConnJim]

It a very well-reasoned, fair and depressing assessment of what’s happening to UConn athletics.

The basketball team is bad, the conference affiliation is bad and that we’re having trouble remaining relevant.

It’s not critical of Ollie necessarily, but it’s another national writer noticing that we’re drowning.

I reject the premise. The problem is that our men's basketball and football teams are underperforming and are both are cyclical lows. No matter what conference you are in, you need to have coaches that win. Winning begets more winning. It's that simple. If you look at the "G5", they have averaged ~ 3 teams in the AP Top 25 football and 5 teams in the AP Top 25 basketball polls over the past 4 years. If other schools are doing it, UConn should be able to as UConn is spending at the top of the G5.

I would agree that attendance is negatively impacted by the teams we are playing, but nobody is preventing the UConn home basketball schedule to be filled with old Big East rivals and attractive match ups instead of this year's Colgate, Stony Brook, BU, Columbia, Monmouth, and Coppin St.

The only way UConn is going to get a chance to move up during the next round of conference shakeups (and it will happen again) is to stay in the AAC and win at football.

 

[Mots010]

are we stuck though? we seem to be moving backwards

We're stuck in reverse.

 

[Penfield]

I'm not going to pay to read the article but some thoughts.

We are not landing GREAT recruits but we are having some success. I think the biggest issue is recruiting big men that are either ready to play, or getting an assistant that actually knows wth he is doing. Issue number two is having to cobble things together after de-commits and transfers. We will have to keep bringing in lower tier players as long as kids continue to bail on us. Would moving to the Big East solve this problem? Maybe recruiting would improve a bit. I'm not sure.

If we went to the Big East tomorrow we would still be a bad basketball team. Coaching needs to improve regardless of which conference we are in. Whether that means Ollie getting his shiz together or bringing in someone else- That is a question for the end of the season IMO.

I think people need to ask themselves if the Conference is really the reason we are not playing good basketball. I think the answer is no. If we had taken advantage of winning in 2014, landed some great recruits and continued to win I don't think we would be having this conversation. People would be more content waiting out the process if we dominated this league the way we all expected we would. Would we be happier in the Big East, maybe? But we wouldn't be content. We would still be hoping for a spot in the ACC or Big 10.

I think Big East would improve attendance, but it's only a band aid. People don't want to pay to watch bad basketball. That isn't going to change if we are playing Georgetown every year, and its certainly not going to change if we are playing DePaul & St. Johns every year.

The American conference is improving in basketball. It is a slow process though. The question is if people will ever really care.

I still think UConn deserves a spot in a P5 conference. Unless we are able to work out a deal that allows football to play in the American, moving our basketball teams to the Big East is likely the end of that dream. It is not an easy decision to make and it shouldn't be made on a whim.

TL;DR - Move BBall to the Big East if we can leave football in the American, but our problems won't be solved if the team still sucks.

 

[8893]

“Come to UConn: We’re stuck!”

Ugh.

Suddenly I’m pining for the days of “Great pick!”

 

[CL82]

If we had taken advantage of winning in 2014, landed some great recruits and continued to win I don't think we would be having this conversation.

So...if we were winning, people wouldn't be complaining about the fact that program isn't winning?

Agreed.

Now is the time to stay the course and hope, against all reason, that will get a P5 invite. If nothing happens after the end of the current TV deals for the B1G, the ACC and the Big 12, we are done and will have to adapt our program expenditures to that reality.

Until then stay the course. Oh and enjoy what we have now, because things will get worse before the stabilize.

 

[8893]

I'm not going to pay to read the article but some thoughts.

We are not landing GREAT recruits but we are having some success. I think the biggest issue is recruiting big men that are either ready to play, or getting an assistant that actually knows wth he is doing. Issue number two is having to cobble things together after de-commits and transfers. We will have to keep bringing in lower tier players as long as kids continue to bail on us. Would moving to the Big East solve this problem? Maybe recruiting would improve a bit. I'm not sure.

If we went to the Big East tomorrow we would still be a bad basketball team. Coaching needs to improve regardless of which conference we are in. Whether that means Ollie getting his shiz together or bringing in someone else- That is a question for the end of the season IMO.

I think people need to ask themselves if the Conference is really the reason we are not playing good basketball. I think the answer is no. If we had taken advantage of winning in 2014, landed some great recruits and continued to win I don't think we would be having this conversation. People would be more content waiting out the process if we dominated this league the way we all expected we would. Would we be happier in the Big East, maybe? But we wouldn't be content. We would still be hoping for a spot in the ACC or Big 10.

I think Big East would improve attendance, but it's only a band aid. People don't want to pay to watch bad basketball. That isn't going to change if we are playing Georgetown every year, and its certainly not going to change if we are playing DePaul & St. Johns every year.

The American conference is improving in basketball. It is a slow process though. The question is if people will ever really care.

I made the point you are making here among some friends last week who generally have more information than I do in terms of what’s going on inside the program and they say what they are hearing is that the conference is killing our recruiting. When I pointed to the successes of other AAC schools they said that the difference is that most kids won’t want to come to Storrs to play in that league; whereas they might be more willing to go elsewhere within the AAC. In other words, the perception is that it’s not a good fit for us in terms of culture and geography. Even though I think the AAC makes more sense than the NBE for us, I think the perception is the opposite.

And perception has a way of becoming reality.

 

[Penfield]

If we were winning, people wouldn't be complaining about the fact that program isn't winning.

Agreed.

Now is the time to stay the course and hope, against all reason, that will get a P5 invite. If nothing happens after the end of the current TV deals for the B1G, the ACC and the Big 12, we are done and will have to adapt our program expenditures to that reality.

Until then stay the course. Oh and enjoy what we have now, but things will get worse before the stabilize.

I was trying to say people wouldn't be complaining about being in the American if we were winning.

Now that I am seeing some of the quotes from HS bball coaches I may have been wrong in my assessment that the Big East wouldn't necessarily improve recruiting...

 

[Guapo]

I'm not going to pay to read the article but some thoughts.

We are not landing GREAT recruits but we are having some success. I think the biggest issue is recruiting big men that are either ready to play, or getting an assistant that actually knows wth he is doing. Issue number two is having to cobble things together after de-commits and transfers. We will have to keep bringing in lower tier players as long as kids continue to bail on us. Would moving to the Big East solve this problem? Maybe recruiting would improve a bit. I'm not sure.

If we went to the Big East tomorrow we would still be a bad basketball team. Coaching needs to improve regardless of which conference we are in. Whether that means Ollie getting his shiz together or bringing in someone else- That is a question for the end of the season IMO.

I think people need to ask themselves if the Conference is really the reason we are not playing good basketball. I think the answer is no. If we had taken advantage of winning in 2014, landed some great recruits and continued to win I don't think we would be having this conversation. People would be more content waiting out the process if we dominated this league the way we all expected we would. Would we be happier in the Big East, maybe? But we wouldn't be content. We would still be hoping for a spot in the ACC or Big 10.

I think Big East would improve attendance, but it's only a band aid. People don't want to pay to watch bad basketball. That isn't going to change if we are playing Georgetown every year, and its certainly not going to change if we are playing DePaul & St. Johns every year.

The American conference is improving in basketball. It is a slow process though. The question is if people will ever really care.

I still think UConn deserves a spot in a P5 conference. Unless we are able to work out a deal that allows football to play in the American, moving our basketball teams to the Big East is likely the end of that dream. It is not an easy decision to make and it shouldn't be made on a whim.

TL;DR - Move BBall to the Big East if we can leave football in the American, but our problems won't be solved if the team still sucks.

I don't strongly disagree with you on any of this and in fact I agree with you and almost all of it.

The counter argument that I think has some credence, however, is that a move to the NBE increases conference prestige and, thus, changes how the program is perceived by the fans, media and recruits.

Better conference+increased prestige=a change in how the program is perceived=better attendance=better recruiting=better basketball=even better attadance etc etc.

I think for a lot of fans, they view the path back to prominence as clearer in the Big East than in the AAC.

And I don't think they're wrong.

 

[whaler11]

It’s not critical of Ollie really at all.

Funny for those who want to talk Big East in this thread:

And despite the wishful whispers for UConn to rejoin the Big East, that is easy to say and nearly impossible to do.

 

[Waquoit]

Better conference+increased prestige=a change in how the program is perceived=better attendance=better recruiting=better basketball=even better attadance etc etc.
I think for a lot of fans, they view the path back to prominence as clearer in the Big East than in the AAC.
And I don't think they're wrong.

 

[whaler11]

I was trying to say people wouldn't be complaining about being in the American if we were winning.

Now that I am seeing some of the quotes from HS bball coaches I may have been wrong in my assessment that the Big East wouldn't necessarily improve recruiting...

Being in the Big East would certainly make recruiting easier. How much easier? Nobody really knows.

 

[superjohn]

I made the point you are making here among some friends last week who generally have more information than I do in terms of what’s going on inside the program and they say what they are hearing is that the conference is killing our recruiting. When I pointed to the successes of other AAC schools they said that the difference is that most kids won’t want to come to Storrs to play in that league; whereas they might be more willing to go elsewhere within the AAC. In other words, the perception is that it’s not a good fit for us in terms of culture and geography. Even though I think the AAC makes more sense than the NBE for us, I think the perception is the opposite.

And perception has a way of becoming reality.

Bologna, our recruiting has been better than any other AAC team it's just that now everyone has so much ammunition to recruit against Ollie with.

I do agree about the Big East and perception. It's to the point where we have to get creative and seriously consider moving back. I have no doubt being back in the Big East would be a huge bump to our perception and in turn a huge bump to our program.

 

[whaler11]

Orlovsky has an article on it as well today on Matt Stafford.

 

[Penfield]

I made the point you are making here among some friends last week who generally have more information than I do in terms of what’s going on inside the program and they say what they are hearing is that the conference is killing our recruiting. When I pointed to the successes of other AAC schools they said that the difference is that most kids won’t want to come to Storrs to play in that league; whereas they might be more willing to go elsewhere within the AAC. In other words, the perception is that it’s not a good fit for us in terms of culture and geography. Even though I think the AAC makes more sense than the NBE for us, I think the perception is the opposite.

And perception has a way of becoming reality.

I guess I can kinda see this. UConn is seen as damaged and as something less than what we used to be because of our conference affiliation. Whereas, Houston, SMU, Memphis all moved up in the world. They have a new selling points, while we lost our biggest selling points. We aren't necessarily losing recruits to them because we are not going after the same kids. But we are losing out on option A and ending up with option D.

 

[Penfield]

Maybe I under appreciated what the Big East could do for recruiting. I still see them as a lesser league compared to the ACC, but for recruits maybe its not that big a deal.

Either way we are in a crappy situation.