The whole injury picture

[superjohn]

Quite a rousing defense of Coach Smart. Sure, he's 10-20 but I bet KO would do worse. It's gotten pretty sad around here.

Talk about reaching and going all ad hominem. How is my comment a rousing defense of Shaka Smart? You're a good poster when you provide some sort of analysis or content, when you use ad hominem attacks for no reason you're hard to take.

 

[huskymagic]

It's not just bad luck why so many guys are getting injured there's a whole plethora of reasons including certain guys being stiffs, some due to bad conditioning, some due to being chronically predisposed to being injured, and some due to lackadaisical and funky play on the hardwood. Whatever the reasons, we can't afford anymore 6th place finishes in the AAC and then come to Ollie's defense why it's acceptable next year or any other year. Too many players in our team are soft and lack bravado and toughness that Calhoun recruited for. Ollie is recruiting too many of the gym rat type of athlete with weak frames but somewhat muscular whereas Calhoun recruited guys with solid frames and some bulk on them mostly. Those type of players rarely got injured if at all.

 

[upstater]

It's not just bad luck why so many guys are getting injured there's a whole plethora of reasons including certain guys being stiffs, some due to bad conditioning, some due to being chronically predisposed to being injured, and some due to lackadaisical and funky play on the hardwood. Whatever the reasons, we can't afford anymore 6th place finishes in the AAC and then come to Ollie's defense why it's acceptable next year or any other year. Too many players in our team are soft and lack bravado and toughness that Calhoun recruited for. Ollie is recruiting too many of the gym rat type of athlete with weak frames but somewhat muscular whereas Calhoun recruited guys with solid frames and some bulk on them mostly. Those type of players rarely got injured if at all.

How in the world do concussions, sprained ankles, and ACLs work into this theory of yours?

Smacking head on the floor? Weak frame. Landing on someone's ankle? Weak frame. Tear your ACL? Weak frame. You may have a point with Alterique Gilbert and his shoulder, but the kid is a McD's All-American with incredible hops, great quickness. You might even say he is very Ryan Boatright-like. How did that work out for UConn.

The thin rail guys like Facey, Brimah, Durham, haven't been hurt this year. Larrier has good size, he tore his ACL. Hard to blame that on his thin frame.

 

[Marty Jackson]

Nice work 916 - and there are plenty who are talking as if there is a need for a change which is crazy. When you factor in the above, with the fact that we all know that Hamilton should still be on this team, it is easy to see why we dropped a bit. Hamilton leaving put a huge dent in things. Add Larrier, Hamilton and Gilbert and you have an entirely different narrative - an no kentucky, duke and North Carolina don't all go through this...

I like Ollie (see my pic), and think he is the right coach for Uconn right now.
That being said, there is a level for the program that Ollie must maintain.
If we don't start to see an upward progression and deep runs into March, I can be swayed.

There are some questionable trends that need to be addressed:
Big Man development (is it that hard to call Clyde? Has he paid the price yet?)
Front court depth
Overall player IQ
Inconsistent play (even in 2014, weren't we 9-9 in conference play)...
AAC performance (lack of dominance)

I'm sure others have more to add.

 

[Stainmaster]

It's not just bad luck why so many guys are getting injured there's a whole plethora of reasons including certain guys being stiffs, some due to bad conditioning, some due to being chronically predisposed to being injured, and some due to lackadaisical and funky play on the hardwood. Whatever the reasons, we can't afford anymore 6th place finishes in the AAC and then come to Ollie's defense why it's acceptable next year or any other year. Too many players in our team are soft and lack bravado and toughness that Calhoun recruited for. Ollie is recruiting too many of the gym rat type of athlete with weak frames but somewhat muscular whereas Calhoun recruited guys with solid frames and some bulk on them mostly. Those type of players rarely got injured if at all.

"Certain guys being stiffs" and "lackadaisical and funky play on the hardwood" lead to injuries? Wow. You're brilliant. You should be hired in place of Doran.

I also wasn't aware that by purposefully recruiting players who are "soft and lack bravado," Ollie is setting us up to have an injury-plagued team. You mean it's just as easy as recruiting guys with the right intangible qualities?

Every single player on this team is putting their bodies on the line for the University of Connecticut, and is sacrificing pain, strain, and discomfort so we can be happy. You, on the other hand, are a fat, balding, 60-something insurance salesman who's the laughingstock on an online message board. I think I know who's the soft one here.

 

[huskymagic]

"Certain guys being stiffs" and "lackadaisical and funky play on the hardwood" lead to injuries? Wow. You're brilliant. You should be hired in place of Doran.

You, on the other hand, are a fat, balding, 60-something insurance salesman who's the laughingstock on an online message board. I think I know who's the soft one here.

Your off by 30 years, a full head of hair, and nothing to do with sales. If I was anywhere near the team we would be a lot better than what we are right now I can tell you that, but I wouldn't want a trainer's job, but one on the coaching staff. Good try though Stair in your efforts they are admirable. The players play for themselves first not for me or you or the university. The university is the vehicle needed to take them where they want to go. I didn't question their efforts in representing UCONN just offered an insight of why there are so many injuries.

 

[Stainmaster]

If I was anywhere near the team we would be a lot better than what we are right now I can tell you that, but I wouldn't want a trainer's job, but one on the coaching staff.

I'm quite sure we'd have an 0-30 season on our hands if that happened.

 

[UChusky916]

Assuming JSM is in the thread? I've got him on ignore and seeing lots of posts not making sense. Thank god.

 

[nyhuskies13]

Am I the only person on the planet who thinks its ridiculous this season was thrown away back in November because of injuries?? How can anyone look at that list and claim we are 14-15 in a horrible conference because of injuries.

Mamadou never stepped a foot on the court - how can the team be missing him. The 3 players who account for 90% of the injuries played a TOTAL of 5 games in a husky uniform. Ollie, the team, the media/announcers, and the fans allowed this season to fall apart because 3 guys got hurt early in the season??

They showed promise, but youd think we lost Okafor and Gordon in '04 the way the team has played. We had 8 players, that's a normal college rotation. Some were young - but we were definitely more experienced than '11.

All need to stop drinking the coolaid on the injuries... they shouldnt score 12pts in a half no matter what. free throws, turnovers, poor situational awareness.. none of that has to do with injuries.

"ahhh the injuries.. we get a pass this year.... thats BS" they mailed it in a long time ago

 

[uconnell]

Assuming JSM is in the thread? I've got him on ignore and seeing lots of posts not making sense. Thank god.

That's my first guess when the thread goes downhill as I have him on ignore also.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Am I the only person on the planet who thinks its ridiculous this season was thrown away back in November because of injuries?? How can anyone look at that list and claim we are 14-15 in a horrible conference because of injuries.

Mamadou never stepped a foot on the court - how can the team be missing him. The 3 players who account for 90% of the injuries played a TOTAL of 5 games in a husky uniform. Ollie, the team, the media/announcers, and the fans allowed this season to fall apart because 3 guys got hurt early in the season??

They showed promise, but youd think we lost Okafor and Gordon in '04 the way the team has played. We had 8 players, that's a normal college rotation. Some were young - but we were definitely more experienced than '11.

All need to stop drinking the coolaid on the injuries... they shouldnt score 12pts in a half no matter what. free throws, turnovers, poor situational awareness.. none of that has to do with injuries.

"ahhh the injuries.. we get a pass this year.... thats BS" they mailed it in a long time ago

Yes, you are the only person on the planet who thinks this season was "thrown away" as far as I know.

 

[HooperScooper]

Inconsistent play (even in 2014, weren't we 9-9 in conference play)...

They were 12-6 in the AAC (4th seed in the AAC Tournament) and 24-7 overall in 2013-2014. You're probably thinking of 2010-2011 when they were 9-9 in the BE going into the BET.

 

[UChusky916]

Am I the only person on the planet who thinks its ridiculous this season was thrown away back in November because of injuries?? How can anyone look at that list and claim we are 14-15 in a horrible conference because of injuries.

Mamadou never stepped a foot on the court - how can the team be missing him. The 3 players who account for 90% of the injuries played a TOTAL of 5 games in a husky uniform. Ollie, the team, the media/announcers, and the fans allowed this season to fall apart because 3 guys got hurt early in the season??

They showed promise, but youd think we lost Okafor and Gordon in '04 the way the team has played. We had 8 players, that's a normal college rotation. Some were young - but we were definitely more experienced than '11.

All need to stop drinking the coolaid on the injuries... they shouldnt score 12pts in a half no matter what. free throws, turnovers, poor situational awareness.. none of that has to do with injuries.

"ahhh the injuries.. we get a pass this year.... thats BS" they mailed it in a long time ago

Wow, what a trash post. You are simply wrong on so many accounts:

• "How can anyone look at that list and claim we are 14-15 in a horrible conference because of injuries."
  • Easy -- because of my original post. At BEST, we're fielding 2/3 of a team out there because of injuries. Pretty obvious to see that injuries are the biggest reason why we've been losing.
  • We lost Larrier and Gilbert, 2 of our top 3 players, just 3 games into the season. So, it's pretty simple -- we have LESS TALENT out on the floor than we normally would, meaning we're NOT NEARLY AS GOOD as we would have been. We lost top talent.
  • We've played multiple games with NO POINT GUARD in a GUARD-ORIENTATED offense.
  • We've had other depth guys get hurt too -- Durham, Enoch, and Diarra all play in the post and would have provided great depth at the 4/5 spot. Instead, because of their injuries, we have to rely on Facey and Brimah staying out of foul trouble and playing 35 minutes per game.
  • With all of the shuffling in and out of injured players, we haven't had a consistent and cohesive line-up to form team chemistry.
    • When we didn't have injuries to our starters for a stretch of the season, we had a streak where we won 9 of 11 games.

• "they mailed it in a long time ago"
  • Want to explain the furious comeback versus Memphis? We were down 17 at one point, and closed out the game on a 12-2 run to win it. But yeah, they mailed it in, right?
  • What about the comeback against Temple? Again, down double digits mid-way through the second half, we came back and won. But yeah, they mailed it in, right?
  • Go find me a game clip from www.uconnhuskygames.com where it's obvious that a player 'mailed it in' on a play. We've got guys out there playing 35-40 minutes NIGHTLY. I've never ONCE seen a player not hustle to get back on defense or go up for a rebound. Find me some evidence that this team has 'mailed it in'. You can't.

6 posts in to your account, might be time to call it quits. You're either an insufferable human or just an idiot.