There comes a point where you need to say "It's just not working"

[Marty Jackson]

Its the culture of the conference is the problem. This is a southern football conference. Even though Cinci isn't a southern football school, they're closer to one than we are. How do you sell UConn to future recruits. We play a bunch of no name programs (from a basketball standpoint) that are thousands of miles away. The fact that our closest opponent is >350 miles away, and the second closest one is almost 800 miles away is a huge drag on recruiting. Forgot to mention that we have no rivals in this conference. Yeah I get cinci is our rival, but we are never going to hate them the way we hate Syracuse and the way Syracuse hates us.

Very very very simple. Get in the car and drive down to NYC. See if anyone there has some bb talent (rumor has it they do play bb there), and recruit the crap out of them. I am pretty sure they would look at UConn as a positive, the schedule a positive, and the conference doesn't matter.

Stop the conference insanity.
Here's why conference doesn't matter. One name:. g. Auriemma

 

[August_West]

Here's why conference doesn't matter. One name:. g. Auriemma

Holy Lolz!

 

[August_West]

I’m really tired of the conference excuse. Cincinnati hasn’t missed a beat, SMU has moved up dramatically. Wichita State is a top 10 team regularly, Gonzaga went to the Finals and is regularly among the best in the country. There are others. A couple of the newer Big East teams were real good before joining that league. So clearly it can be done. Just not by Ollie.

Mick Cronin = Cincinnati coach 12 years. Assisant coach 10 years before that.
Cronin 1st 4 years:
11-19
13-19
18-14
19-16
No Final 4's, no titles

SMU
Brought back by one of the greatest Hoops minds of all time. larry brown. Lets see if it sustains.


Greg Marshall = Witchita State 10 years. Before that 8 years Head Coach at Winthrop. Before that 10 years assistant
1st 4 years at WSU (in MVC)
11-20
17-17
25-10
29-8

1 Final four

Kevin Ollie = Connecticut. 5 years head Coach. 2 years Assistant
first 4 years
20-10
32-8
20-15
25-11

1 Final 4. 1 National Title.



So I want to see all you mouth breathers here stop making SMU,WSU and Cincinatti comparisons.

They wouldnt have ANY success if you had your way. You wouldve already fired Cronin and Marshall

 

[noeynox]

Mick Cronin = Cincinnati coach 12 years. Assisant coach 10 years before that.
Cronin 1st 4 years:
11-19
13-19
18-14
19-16
No Final 4's, no titles

SMU
Brought back by one of the greatest Hoops minds of all time. larry brown. Lets see if it sustains.


Greg Marshall = Witchita State 10 years. Before that 8 years Head Coach at Winthrop. Before that 10 years assistant
1st 4 years at WSU (in MVC)
11-20
17-17
25-10
29-8

1 Final four

Kevin Ollie = Connecticut. 5 years head Coach. 2 years Assistant
first 4 years
20-10
32-8
20-15
25-11

1 Final 4. 1 National Title.



So I want to see all you mouth breathers here stop making SMU,WSU and Cincinatti comparisons.

They wouldnt have ANY success if you had your way. You wouldve already fired Cronin and Marshall

I'm all for giving Kevin the whole year and even one more. But enough of the conference excuse. Kids left this program in never before numbers after last year. He's been here long enough to have established a "program" in the likeness that he wants it to be.

Can't bury our heads in the sand much longer. Kevin Ollie needs to do better with what he has. That includes great, facilities, great long term and recent history, and damn good pay.

 

[August_West]

I'm all for giving Kevin the whole year and even one more. But enough of the conference excuse. Kids left this program in never before numbers after last year. He's been here long enough to have established a "program" in the likeness that he wants it to be.

Can't bury our heads in the sand much longer. Kevin Ollie needs to do better with what he has. That includes great, facilities, great long term and recent history, and damn good pay.

Conference isnt an excuse. If Ollie cant cut it in AAC he wont be able to cut it in BigEast.

Conference doesnt help, but a good coach coaches you to wins no matter where you are.

 

[UCweCONN]

The root of our current malaise is that KO didn't capitalize on the NC in 2014 to bring in blue chip recruiting classes. We got no bump at all. If it's not the conference's fault, than its KO. Simple as that. Not sending players to the NBA anymore is compounding the problem.

 

[August_West]

The root of our current malaise is that KO didn't capitalize on the NC in 2014 to bring in blue chip recruiting classes. We got no bump at all. If it's not the conference's fault, than its KO. Simple as that. Not sending players to the NBA anymore is compounding the problem.

Absolutely we got a bump. We brought in the #7 or #8 (cant remember) recruiting class in the country last season that was a DIRECT result of the NC.

Now why we couldnt keep them is a different story and may point to other issues that need to be addressed but cmon, your statement couldnt be more off. 2016 class after 2014 title, thats exactly what you call a HUGE recruiting bump.

 

[noeynox]

Absolutely we got a bump. We brought in the #7 or #8 (cant remember) recruiting class in the country last season that was a DIRECT result of the NC.

Now why we couldnt keep them is a different story and may point to other issues that need to be addressed but cmon, your statement couldnt be more off. 2016 class after 2014 title, thats exactly what you call a HUGE recruiting bump.

True, but like you said we didn't keep an. This past class included 2 jucos and a grad transfer just to be able to field enough players to have a team. The trend is not our friend at the moment.

 

[Deadrody]

Mick Cronin = Cincinnati coach 12 years. Assisant coach 10 years before that.
Cronin 1st 4 years:
11-19
13-19
18-14
19-16
No Final 4's, no titles

SMU
Brought back by one of the greatest Hoops minds of all time. larry brown. Lets see if it sustains.


Greg Marshall = Witchita State 10 years. Before that 8 years Head Coach at Winthrop. Before that 10 years assistant
1st 4 years at WSU (in MVC)
11-20
17-17
25-10
29-8

1 Final four

Kevin Ollie = Connecticut. 5 years head Coach. 2 years Assistant
first 4 years
20-10
32-8
20-15
25-11

1 Final 4. 1 National Title.

So I want to see all you mouth breathers here stop making SMU,WSU and Cincinatti comparisons.

They wouldnt have ANY success if you had your way. You wouldve already fired Cronin and Marshall

You realize these are not valid comparisons, right ? If you're talking about Mick Cronin or Greg Marshall's first 4 years, taking a program on the outs and bringing it to national prominence, then the comparison you're looking for is Jim Calhoun, not Kevin Ollie.

Neither of them were asked to take a national power near it's peak, just 2 years removed from a national title and maintain that level of performance.

What you're arguing is that Kevin Ollie was a good "interim" hire to steward UConn through a transition period to a high level head coach. Yeah, he was able to take the program with Calhoun's players and Calhoun's assistants and he was able to excel - for a couple years.

The funny thing is, I see people referring to UConn's current status as "rebuilding", but that implies things are on the upswing. They're not. They continue to degrade.

 

[UCweCONN]

Absolutely we got a bump. We brought in the #7 or #8 (cant remember) recruiting class in the country last season that was a DIRECT result of the NC.

Now why we couldnt keep them is a different story and may point to other issues that need to be addressed but cmon, your statement couldnt be more off. 2016 class after 2014 title, thats exactly what you call a HUGE recruiting bump.

By bump, I meant more than one year. Those recruits were heavily recruited prior to the NT. How much influence did it have 2-3 years later? Very little because we sucked.

 

[August_West]

True, but like you said we didn't keep an. This past class included 2 jucos and a grad transfer just to be able to field enough players to have a team. The trend is not our friend at the moment.

Nope. Amazing how quickly the tides have turned for the worse on that front. But this years class was a function of last years. Top recruits didnt want to sit behind our other top recruits and by the time those top recruits left, it was too late.

Also, our best recruit of last year was Alterique he was the crown jewel of that class. We were meant to have the great UConn backcourts of yore again. Even if Alterique didnt make us that much better last year (and I think we wouldve been better with him,still flawed, but better) a full season last year wouldve set us up nicely for this year. We wouldve come into the season with Alterique with a full year under his belt ready to take the next step, and combined with Jalen that is pretty formidable. His loss not only this year, but last year stings REALLY bad. Its not an excuse. We still have to find ways, but allow yourself to imagine for a minute a healthy Alterique with a full season already under his belt combined with Adams. Dont imagine it for too long though, because it instantly leads to depression on our current state of affairs.

 

[tower1]

Maybe we need a coach/ promotor/snake oil salesman to snag talent. I would have preferred the alumni, moral, bible loving, slogan making KO but in the end you can’t win without talent. Even coach K can’t. Just don’t know who fits that.

If Ollie bleeds any blue at all, he would resign immediately. This can't go on any longer.

 

[August_West]

Neither of them were asked to take a national power near it's peak, just 2 years removed from a national title and maintain that level of performance.

Peaking into a Post season ban, recruiting sanctions and the most terribly underachieved season in UConn history.

 

[Dove]

UCONN just had an unofficial on-campus visit. The kid videoed the drive into Storrs today...

 

[August_West]

By bump, I meant more than one year. Those recruits were heavily recruited prior to the NT. How much influence did it have 2-3 years later? Very little because we sucked.

I dont think you understand recruiting time lines so we will leave it at that.

 

[ucp990411]

I am obsessed with UConn men's basketball and this is killing me. I just watched videos from 2011 and 2014 and my heart is racing and my smile is broad. We have got to get back to the mountaintop. Please AD Dave and Pres Herbst get us out of this freakin conference and please KO figure it out. I live in Northern Vt and the only way I can watch games is to have my brother face time me and I watch on my phone. It breaks my heart to see the program that JC built hit the skids. I go back to the days of Hugh Greer so I have seen the rise and I do not want to see the fall.

 

[TheRealKBuks]

Very very very simple. Get in the car and drive down to NYC. See if anyone there has some bb talent (rumor has it they do play bb there), and recruit the crap out of them. I am pretty sure they would look at UConn as a positive, the schedule a positive, and the conference doesn't matter.

Stop the conference insanity.
Here's why conference doesn't matter. One name:. g. Auriemma

The women's team isn't comparable though because Geno and the woman's team have their own brand. They are by far the greatest women's team in the history of the game, while also having its greatest coach.

If what happened to UConn, happened to Coach K and Duke they would still be top 5 team every year because of Coach K's reputation. Once Coach K retired, I would bet that Duke would begin to struggle. We all thought UConn MBB was a big enough brand to survive what ever conference we were thrown in. Reality slapped us in the face and showed us we're not. We needed the Big East as much as it needed us. The true Big East is never coming back, but the current one would save our program.

Here's a scary question, what happens to the women's team when Geno leaves or retires?

 

[traitor71]

UCONN just had an unofficial on-campus visit. The kid videoed the drive into Storrs today...

Jesus, are those people driving into Los Angeles or Mordor?

 

[noeynox]

I am obsessed with UConn men's basketball and this is killing me. I just watched videos from 2011 and 2014 and my heart is racing and my smile is broad. We have got to get back to the mountaintop. Please AD Dave and Pres Herbst get us out of this freakin conference and please KO figure it out. I live in Northern Vt and the only way I can watch games is to have my brother face time me and I watch on my phone. It breaks my heart to see the program that JC built hit the skids. I go back to the days of Hugh Greer so I have seen the rise and I do not want to see the fall.

No internet in northern Vermont yet?

 

[TheChamps990411]

I’m really tired of the conference excuse. Cincinnati hasn’t missed a beat, SMU has moved up dramatically. Wichita State is a top 10 team regularly, Gonzaga went to the Finals and is regularly among the best in the country. There are others. A couple of the newer Big East teams were real good before joining that league. So clearly it can be done. Just not by Ollie.

Thank you. Now read my previous post and its saying exactly what you are saying. Im also tired of the excuses.

 

[ucp990411]

No internet in northern Vermont yet?

games are blacked out on ESPN 3 for some reason

 

[TheRealKBuks]

Yeah, surely guys that we're recruiting from all over the country are considering opponent travel distance moreso than offensive style or Ollie's track record of getting guys to the NBA.

Its not going to be the reason we don't get looks, but it will be the reason we will lose every tie between us and another school. If it a stud recruit came down to UConn and another Major program. The travel schedule will break a lot of ties.

 

[GemParty]

Its not going to be the reason we don't get looks, but it will be the reason we will lose every tie between us and another school. If it a stud recruit came down to UConn and another Major program. The travel schedule will break a lot of ties.

I read an article the other day suggesting some believe Gonzaga Would be a candidate for the Big East one day. I think the Creighton AD liked the idea. Seems impossible. But I never thought Nova, Cuse, UConn, Rutgers would be in four different conferences either.

 

[80shusky]

Yes, God forbid people voice their displeasure with the current state of the program. Might as well just close up shop on everything other than game day threads, and even then only make positive remarks while we're watching the team's non-existent offense.

But seriously how many different threads do we need that all say the same thing?

 

[UConnDan97]

So NielsIsGood is now back as a scrambled name of Niels Giffey?? LOL...