This loss is all on Ollie's shoulders

[InKembaITrust]

I know Hamilton played poorly, but I don't know WTF Ollie was doing out there tonight. I normally don't post this kind of stuff right after games, but right off the top of my head, three huge miscues:

1.) Miller didn't touch the ball the last 6-8 minutes of the game. We got something good literally every time Miller touched the ball in the post. Don't tell me it wasn't there. It was there every time on the slip on that Gibbs/Miller side ball screen.

2.) Why the duck* is Phil Nolan in the game on offense in the final three minutes? Want to go offense/defense? Fine. But why in the world are you playing a guy who is a zero offensively in high leverage offensive possessions? You're essentially playing four on five.

3.) How the duck* do you not give the foul when Brown drives with under five ticks left? It was so obvious that I was yelling it from my couch as soon as he put it on the floor.

Damn. Most frustrating loss I can recall in some time. Temple is not good. Hamilton not diving on the floor for that loose ball late in the game was as maddening an expression of indifference that I've seen from a UConn player in a while. You can't lose at home to Temple. Not with four upperclassmen and two grad transfers in the starting lineup, along with a kid as talented as Hamilton. This is a bad one.

Couldn't have said it better.

We completely strayed away from what was working the entire game the last 10 minutes. I desperately wanted to see more of Jalen out there on the floor. The sooner we realize Gibbs should NOT be running the point the better off were going to be. Jalen is twice the player Gibbs is when it comes to getting into the lane and creating for others. Anyone using there eyes and common sense can see that Jalen is a true natural point guard that needs to run this team. You stick Gibbs at the point and the team looks stagnant, lost & its all isolation for either Gibbs or Hamilton. I said this in another thread but why the heck was Gibbs even on the floor that last defensive set!?? Jalen should have been in there with his defensive ability and athleticism. That shot that was put up on Gibbs would have been swatted away by Jalen.

Ollie better learn fast what kind of team he has and who deserves to start or else this season is going to run away from him pretty quickly. AKA Jalen should be seeing 25-30 minutes every single game. Put Gibbs on the wing, period.

 

[Excalibur]

we will not be going to the NIT. every year we have a WTF loss, this will be it. Ollie was terrible, the team played terrible, Temple played inspired off a blowout loss, bad combo.

NIT is a very real possibility with this team, whether we want to admit it or not. Do we look like we will have 5 losses or less the rest of the way? That's what it will take.

 

[ASweet3781]

Love all the ones pointing out it's only one game. Well with Memphis, at Tulsa, at Houston coming up all will be losses with a repeat performance. And you can kiss the NCAA's goodbye if that happens.

 

[Jaybo]

I wish we had a Terrance Samuels on D

 

[Jerry1714]

I wish the committee used AP Top 25 instead of the RPI. Our RPI will be triple digits after this baby!

no it wont, it wont be close to it

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

You're whistling past the graveyard. "Temple played inspired"?!?! You're high - they weren't even good.

You can call it a WTF loss when, otherwise, they're playing well. Not after eking out a win over Tulane and without a single win over a guaranteed tournament team on their resume.

This team is not very good right now and they're not very well-coached right now. And when you add the fact that they seem to have virtually no chemistry on the court and they don't play very hard, it's not a WTF loss. It's an indicator of exactly how they're playing right now. Temple is marginally better than Tulane. So they played like _____ again and they lost. And if they keep playing like this they'll lose to Memphis, and then Tulsa, and then Houston.

Temple was .500. UConn is not in a position where they can afford to lose games like this. If it comes back to bite them, they deserve it.

There are some very good component pieces on this team being absolutely wasted by the coach right now.

we will not be going to the NIT.

every year we have a WTF loss, this will be it.

Ollie was terrible, the team played terrible, Temple played inspired off a blowout loss, bad combo.

 

[scotty0330]

you can say that but you would be wrong. it is one game, we are currently ranked, we are not on the bubble, stop being dramatic

We have plenty of games to firmly plant ourselves on bubble. Way this team plays besides the obvious bottom of barrel no win in this conference is a given. Smu twice, Houston twice, Cincinnati twice. Even Tulsa is no given. No reason to think the light will go on and all of a sudden this team is gonna get it. nit could be a reality in not too distant future. You are kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

 

[Hi-Low]

we will not be going to the NIT.

every year we have a WTF loss, this will be it.

Ollie was terrible, the team played terrible, Temple played inspired off a blowout loss, bad combo.

We struggled against Tulane, lost to Temple and many tougher games than those left on the schedule. Temple was nothing special, a good team would have blown us out. I don't see how we go 13 - 5 in AAC at this point, especially missing Brimah. Truth is 6 losses in AAC is probably NIT.

 

[intlzncster]

Sometimes I think that Kevin has poor body language on the bench. During our five minute drought in the first half, he just kinda slumped on the bench. JC usually looked like he wanted to strangle someone. I know its not his personality but not looking deflated would be a step in the right direction.

He doesn't do it all the time, and sometimes he does show fire, but he also has the habit of poor body language that is obvious.

Not saying your wrong, but sometimes you just gotta:

 

[AZHuskiePop]

When does Brimah come back? H probably blocks there last shot.
These guys are lost out there.
This loss is huge any home loss is

 

[CTBasketball]

When does Brimah come back? H probably blocks there last shot.
These guys are lost out there.
This loss is huge any home loss is

The last shot should have been a foul once he took his first driving step.

 

[intlzncster]

Our WTF loss was Syracuse. This is a bad team loss.

That's the essence of a WTF loss.

 

[PWS]

I wish I could like this post 1,000 times.....other than the fact that Miller took an extremely bad 3 pointer with a couple minutes left, but I knew where you were going. I don't know whether to blame Ollie or the assistants, but apparently they were ALL asleep at the same time. Wow.....Dom Perno never coached the bad a game.

Miller's 3 pointer was a bad shoot, but there was 4 seconds on the shoot clock & the rest of them were standing there w their thumbs up their ass

 

[Jerry1714]

You're whistling past the graveyard. You can call it a WTF loss when, otherwise, they're playing well. Not after eking out a win over Tulane and without a single win over a guaranteed tournament team on their resume.

This team is not very good right now and they're not very well-coached right now. And when you add the fact that they seem to have virtually no chemistry on the court and they don't play very hard, it's not a WTF loss. It's an indicator of exactly how they're playing right now. Temple is marginally better than Tulane. So they played like _____ again and they lost. And if they keep playing like this they'll lose to Memphis, and then Tulsa, and then Houston.

Temple was .500. UConn is not in a position where they can afford to lose games like this. If it comes back to bite them, they deserve it.

There are some very good component pieces on this team being absolutely wasted by the coach right now.

Temple's RPI was 103 coming into tonight will be sub 100 after this, it is a game we should have won, but it is not a "horrible" loss for NCAAT purposes.

We have 2 top 50 RPI wins, will be 3 soon the way osu is trending.

Well have 11 more games against sub 100 RPI teams, tonight was awful, but plenty of opportunities to erase it.

I know this is unpopular stance, since after every loss the BY says we will miss the tournament, we suck and Ollie is awful.

 

[MexicoHusky]

That was pretty bad. Temple was as bad as you will find and we couldn't win at home. The game plan was nonexistent.

 

[Waquoit]

The loss has to fall at least a bit on the guys who played lackluster and shot 31%.

So you sit those lackluster guys and put the guys who were playing better back in the game.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

That was a horrendous game by Ollie.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Not saying your wrong, but sometimes you just gotta:

JC with head in hands, half-asleep; Blaney ripping someone a new one. Was this photo taken in the Twilight Zone?

 

[Horatio]

I wish we had a Terrance Samuels on D

I was gonna bring this up weeks ago but didn't because of the backlash. It's so true. Plus he would at least give us some fire and grit. This team is filled with a bunch of nice guys. They have no edge. There's no one on the team that's gonna yell out " yo , what the " "are you doing" or " yo , don't do that " " again". We had a solid five years of that kinda player with all of those guys overlapping in years ( Kemba, Bazz , Boat). There's just a lack of toughness or player that would grab a big and say " you better get this rebound". Smh

 

[JMick]

Guys, we just lost to a bad Temple team at home. Everyone saying not to panic and to not point out terrible coaching is delusional

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Temple's RPI was 103 coming into tonight will be sub 100 after this, it is a game we should have won, but it is not a "horrible" loss for NCAAT purposes.

We have 2 top 50 RPI wins, will be 3 soon the way osu is trending.

Well have 11 more games against sub 100 RPI teams, tonight was awful, but plenty of opportunities to erase it.

I know this is unpopular stance, since after every loss the BY says we will miss the tournament, we suck and Ollie is awful.

I admire your optimism. But if you can't see the causes for alarm with this team based on far more than tonight's abomination I'm not sure what you're watching.

 

[mauconnfan]

I admire your optimism. But if you can't see the causes for alarm with this team based on far more than tonight's abomination I'm not sure what you're watching.

If you honestly watched the last 60 minutes of basketball vs 2 of the worst teams you will face and don't see huge problems vs Memphis this weekend then you weren't watching. It's scary how bad they can be at times. 53 points vs Temple at home is disgraceful and no one seemed to give a rats a** quite honestly minus a couple guys. The passion wasn't there, DHam is making awful decisions, the guards are inconsistent on both ends.

Not pretty!

 

[Jerry1714]

I admire your optimism. But if you can't see the causes for alarm with this team based on far more than tonight's abomination I'm not sure what you're watching.

never said I was happy with the way the team played tonight or for long stretches against Tulane. we need to play better, a lot better, but I understand its one loss and a loss at the end of the day if we play better and win the games we should win down the stretch (2 months is a long stretch) won't affect us much.

just as an point for thought, we have just as many top 50 wins as PC and marquette has a much worse RPI than temple, I wonder if they are thinking NIT over there.

 

[SHS72]

Couldn't agree more guys. KO better get the guys together soon. Otherwise NIT is our future.

 

[mauconnfan]

never said I was happy with the way the team played tonight or for long stretches against Tulane. we need to play better, a lot better, but I understand its one loss and a loss at the end of the day if we play better and win the games we should win down the stretch (2 months is a long stretch) won't affect us much.

just as an point for thought, we have just as many top 50 wins as PC and marquette has a much worse RPI than temple, I wonder if they are thinking NIT over there.

I doubt it Jerry they're 13-2 not 10-4. Not thinking NIT but it does our guys no good to make the road much harder than it already is in a very winnable game, that's the issue here.

 

[Jerry1714]

I doubt it Jerry they're 13-2 not 10-4. Not thinking NIT but it does our guys no good to make the road much harder than it already is in a very winnable game, that's the issue here.

10-4 is 14 games, we play 31 before the AAC tournament.

lotta basketball to play, including a lot with Brimah on the floor

 

[mauconnfan]

10-4 is 14 games, we play 31 before the AAC tournament.

lotta basketball to play, including a lot with Brimah on the floor

He doesn't make that kind of difference, they need to coach and play basketball better now. They should have beaten Temple by 15 tonight without him, this loss has little to nothing to do with him not playing. I agree, lots of basketball to be played but if you're not nervous about this team not being there every night then you're the iceman jerry.

 

[CTBasketball]

I'm going on hiatus. Someone refill my bottle of gin every 5-6 hours.

 

[Jerry1714]

He doesn't make that kind of difference, they need to coach and play basketball better now. They should have beaten Temple by 15 tonight without him, this loss has little to nothing to do with him not playing. I agree, lots of basketball to be played but if you're not nervous about this team not being there every night then you're the iceman jerry.

we played and coached awful tonight and should have handled temple, 100% agree.

I bet we blow out Memphis Saturday, I think this will wake the team up, I have absolutely no concern about making the NCAAT, none. Do I think we can do much when we get there? No, not really.

 

[mauconnfan]

I'm going on hiatus. Someone refill my bottle of gin every 5-6 hours.

Tangueray, Boodles?