The Program's Turning Point | Page 2 | The Boneyard

The Program's Turning Point

I know most will disagree but I think the turning point was winning the championship in 2014. From what I have read this seems to be when Ollie thought he no longer needed the support of his mentor, Calhoun, and the other very knowledgeable bb people around him. He wanted credit for the championship and felt too much was given to others. That attitude and possibly issues in his personal life derailed what looked at the time to be a promising future.

would we trade the championship for future success? Maybe not.
 
The Funster said:
Not quite true. Some of us thought that Ollie was forced on the program by Calhoun. We hit the lottery in 2014 with JC's players and KO hit the lottery with a big fat extension. The rest as they say is history
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When 2014 happened,and we had a top 15 class, plus the best grad transfers, those people were wrong...

Until they were right.
 
Fishy said:
2014.

Two players decommit because they couldn’t get Kevin Ollie on the phone.
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That was bad but the recruiting based off youtube highlights might have taken the cake.
 
superjohn said:
That was bad but the recruiting based off youtube highlights might have taken the cake.
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Btw, I assume KW never published that tell-all story that he wanted to make public .....
 
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McLovin said:
I think the turning point was when Calhoun's last players graduated, and every player remaining was left with no guidance or coaching from the staff.

One of the worst fireable offenses Ollie ever committed, if true, was when Jackson and his dad came in after the season to talk about his development plan for the future. Ollie's plan for him was to "hit the gym". Obviously, after that conversation Jackson transferred. I know the school alleges misconduct, and the NCAA agrees, but in my opinion this lack of competence to develop players or even care to try to develop players is what cost him his job. Had he developed his players and kept on winning, there is no way UConn dismisses him for his recruiting "violations".

I was optimistic before this season that 2 years of coaching under Hurley would change the attitude and mindset of the Ollie hold overs (and I am going to hold on to that hope throughout the season), but after the start to this season it appears we may have to wait until these players clear out before we can see any real change in the program...
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There are lots of good reasons to bash KO, but I'm not sure an inability to take Jackson and his dad seriously is one of them. The ego to talent ratio there was way, way, way out of whack, and Ollie taking them seriously in terms of what he was going to teach the kid that was going to make him acknowledged as the star of the team was never going to happen.

The story I'd like to know is what the heck happened between him and Durham.
 
The Funster said:
Not quite true. Some of us thought that Ollie was forced on the program by Calhoun. We hit the lottery in 2014 with JC's players and KO hit the lottery with a big fat extension. The rest as they say is history
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That ignores the job KO did his first year where he achieved beyond what any thought we could achieve with a team that didn't have a post-season to play for.
 
Vital was never touted as highly as the rest of the “fab 5”. Even though what happened with that class was much more of a killer to our program , I also believe Daniel Hamilton leaving early hurt us he was definitely not ready for the NBA - He could’ve used one more year. Shud never have left. Cudda came. Back an all American and could have bridged the gap with the incoming guys. Both were killers. So crazy it’s almost like every possible worst case scenario needed to happen to put us in the spot we are in now. Unreal
 
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turning point for me will be the start of next season when more than half the roster- either 8, 9, or 10 of the 13 players- will be Hurley's
 
Turtle got hurt in high school and the Larrier injury was a big setback too.

The Wiggins, Curtis Kelly, Sticks, Dyson, Mandeldove class didn't nearly live up to its hype either. And that wasn't injury related. I remember one game Sticks had 21 in the first half...... I also remember Curtis Kelly doing a behind the back pass, getting the Calhoun yank, and never seeing the light of day again.
 
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Jay-Bone said:
Turtle got hurt in high school and the Larrier injury was a big setback too.

The Wiggins, Curtis Kelly, Sticks, Dyson, Mandeldove class didn't nearly live up to its hype either. And that wasn't injury related. I remember one game Sticks had 21 in the first half...... I also remember Curtis Kelly doing a behind the back pass, getting the Calhoun yank, and never seeing the light of day again.
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That class went to a final 4 their junior year.
 
I’m going to take this way back and blame the university. My turning point has always been after the 2004 championship. The university should have capitalized on UConn’s dominance, built the new practice facilities way earlier instead of being behind the curb, and should have been grooming Calhouns successor or at least named him while before all the negative recruiting was going on about his age. The university has consistently been followers and not leaders when it comes to the next great thing. Their being slow footed after that second championship lead to a gradual decline with occasional highs. You can blame Ollie all you want but the UConn brand had been in decline way before him.
 
Uconn10922 said:
I’m going to take this way back and blame the university. My turning point has always been after the 2004 championship. The university should have capitalized on UConn’s dominance, built the new practice facilities way earlier instead of being behind the curb, and should have been grooming Calhouns successor or at least named him while before all the negative recruiting was going on about his age. The university has consistently been followers and not leaders when it comes to the next great thing. Their being slow footed after that second championship lead to a gradual decline with occasional highs. You can blame Ollie all you want but the UConn brand had been in decline way before him.
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I, too, think our decline included two national championships and a Final Four
 
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D Hamilton transferring.
Ridiculous amount of injuries. ( we played NCAA basketball games with only 6-7 players at times).
High ranking players that never lived up to their rankings due to injuries.

Grad transfers that were absolutely horrible.

Grad transfers that were absolutely horrible.
And Grad transfers that were horrible.
 
Jay-Bone said:
Turtle got hurt in high school and the Larrier injury was a big setback too.

The Wiggins, Curtis Kelly, Sticks, Dyson, Mandeldove class didn't nearly live up to its hype either. And that wasn't injury related. I remember one game Sticks had 21 in the first half...... I also remember Curtis Kelly doing a behind the back pass, getting the Calhoun yank, and never seeing the light of day again.
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Senior year that class made the final 4, they lived up to the hype.
 
Enoch didn't leave UConn any more than KO left Enoch. He had no business averaging only 12 minutes a game his sophomore season, especially when we only had 8 healthy guys most of that year.

Neglecting Tremont Waters, whose dream school was UConn, and pursuing MAL instead was just absurd too.
 
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Pmurph678 said:
Senior year that class made the final 4, they lived up to the hype.
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I don't think you realize how good of a recruiting class that was. Only 2 of them played in the FF. Those 2 were both criticized as under-performing.

Let me put it into perspective for you. Mandeldove was the fifth best recruit. He was ranked around where Javonte Brown Ferguson is. Boneyarders are doing back flips over landing Javonte Brown Ferguson.
 
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Cuse Socks said:
Enoch didn't leave UConn any more than KO left Enoch. He had no business averaging only 12 minutes a game his sophomore season, especially when we only had 8 healthy guys most of that year.

Neglecting Tremont Waters, whose dream school was UConn, and pursuing MAL instead was just absurd too.
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I think most of us on here know why Water$ didn't get much interest from UConn. Every wonder why he ended up at L$U? I know he wanted a great academic school and L$U is basically the Harvard of the South and all but....... :rolleyes:
 
FartMan69 said:
Id bet a million dollars that you didn't have this thought. The whole board thought he was going to be a superstar.
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When Ollie was hired, I thought it was a dubious hire but thought JC deserved to have his desires for a successor respected, and hoped it would work out.

When Ollie won the national championship, I was optimistic that it would work out, but aware that Calhoun, Blaney, and others had contributed in a big way to the championship.

Then after another year, it was clear Ollie had certain serious weaknesses. I hoped he could fix them. But the breach between Ollie and JC suggested it wasn't going to happen. If you know you need to grow in a job, you don't drive away a Hall of Fame mentor.

As time went on it became clear his weaknesses were difficult or impossible to fix. He was the classic B- guy who surrounds himself with C level people. Moreover his heart didn't seem to be in coaching the way it had been in playing.

I'm grateful for Ollie but I never thought he would be a superstar. I thought he had a chance to be a quality coach who could build a great story around himself, based on 13 years surviving in the NBA on meager talent, and a quick national championship. The story would have been: he knew the little things necessary for success, and could pass them on to players, helping a player get over the hurdle from non-NBA to NBA. This would have to be validated by actually developing players. When he failed to develop players, his pitch was busted.
 
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