This team hurt badly by the loss of Gilbert last two years

[scrappy2.0]

AND the purge of our young big players.

With a GOOD pg--a PG that gets everyone involved--we couldve been much more of a threat with all of that size we had. I really thought that V Jackson had great potential and the two bigs couldve came a long. If there is a snafu--I think being drained like that was too much to handle for a program that didnt have the back up besides transfers.

 

[SubbaBub]

There is zero evidence to support this.

 

[polycom]

That profile picture makes this post hard to read.

 

[UC313]

That profile picture makes this post hard to read.

More like hard to breathe. (Fans himself).

 

[Kemba429]

If we had gilbert wed be better, however, our record wouldnt really change that much.

 

[Hankster]

I know there have been posts on the "wish we had Gilbert playing". I could agree. But to think he would of made a world of difference is unfounded. One of our huge problem is rebounding. I though Gilbert was a guard. When you have Vital in on rebounds there is something wrong. When three of our guys go up for a rebound and get out rebounded by one opponent, there is something wrong. Although Gilbert could get a couple off the rim I don't see him resurrecting the program. Outside shooting? Maybe so.

 

[noeynox]

I thought Vance was a big loss. Reminded me of Tracy Murray from UCLA back in the day. Kid will probably average 20 a game at New Mexico at some point.

 

[jibsey]

AND the purge of our young big players.

With a GOOD pg--a PG that gets everyone involved--we couldve been much more of a threat with all of that size we had. I really thought that V Jackson had great potential and the two bigs couldve came a long. If there is a snafu--I think being drained like that was too much to handle for a program that didnt have the back up besides transfers.

Enoch, Vance and Gilbert. We would be worse off or no improvement with them? Please.

 

[UConnJim]

Gilbert would have helped as he would be the point guard and Adams and Vital could play as combo guards and probably get much better shots. I think we would have won a couple of extra games with him this season with this roster. Our bigs and defense would still be problems.

 

[Lefty2one]

He certainly would have helped but I don't know how different our record would be. He's not changing the outcome of any of those 20+ point losses.

 

[KembaStepback]

AG helps in that he is a scoring option on a team lacking them. He's crafty, a decent shooter, and likes getting into the lane. He'd help promote team ball and I think he'd help fix our problem of getting in scoring draughts at points of games. We are absolutely a few wins better with him in the lineup. Obviously the 20+ point losses wouldn't change, but they prob wouldn't be 20 points.

 

[KodiacKemba]

The huge take away from all of this is simple .. Teams don’t fear us anymore, just look at every game the last 3 -5 years albeit we won a championship... teams push us around in every aspect of the game , we panic, no cohesion, they pretty much snatch UCONN off our players chest .. ppl not taking responsibility of their own efforts, just going with the motion, defensively we suck last 3 years, it’s like they forgot how to play defense... they have to take pride on that end of the floor

 

[HuskyHawk]

Maybe if we had LeBron. He still has eligibility right?

I'm not saying Gilbert isn't going to be a nice player, but the players we have should still be able to win 20 games, with competent coaching. And did anyone actually watch the games where Adams played with Gilbert? Adams is not a good off the ball player. His skill set requires that he has the ball in his hands. They do not play well together.

 

[8893]

They do not play well together.

I don't disagree with this, but you have to admit it's based on a very small body of work. I had similar concerns about Bazz and Boat playing together and that is one relationship I credit Ollie for managing about as well as anyone could have.

 

[mauconnfan]

Maybe if we had LeBron. He still has eligibility right?

I'm not saying Gilbert isn't going to be a nice player, but the players we have should still be able to win 20 games, with competent coaching. And did anyone actually watch the games where Adams played with Gilbert? Adams is not a good off the ball player. His skill set requires that he has the ball in his hands. They do not play well together.

The recruits he has are his, it's his fault. But can't agree with anyone winning 20 games with this bunch are you watching Hawk? Not a coach out there who could win 20 with these guys and the fact he brought these guys in here on him, and that is part of coaching. They can't shoot, they don't have a lot of natural basketball players with high IQ's on the court (again) and they are not physical. Their best player has to do it all and he can't be asked to. Their best shooter is afraid to mix it up and their 2nd best scorer is a 6th or 7th man normally so he is out of place in the line up getting 30 plus minutes. It's a bad team, not well coached and not well put together no wining 20 with this crew.

 

[Stainmaster]

I don't disagree with this, but you have to admit it's based on a very small body of work. I had similar concerns about Bazz and Boat playing together and that is one relationship I credit Ollie for managing about as well as anyone could have.

Erm...Calhoun managed that relationship, not Ollie.

 

[Waquoit]

We need to cut this out. The guy had only played a few games. Shoulders are tough, chances are he doesn't play much next year. Does that mean they get a free pass to suck again?

 

[tentoes4rings]

AND the purge of our young big players.

With a GOOD pg--a PG that gets everyone involved--we couldve been much more of a threat with all of that size we had. I really thought that V Jackson had great potential and the two bigs couldve came a long. If there is a snafu--I think being drained like that was too much to handle for a program that didnt have the back up besides transfers.

You also thought Rakim Lubin was going to be a star.

 

[scrappy2.0]

I mean its a no brainer 9 man rotation

Gilbert at PG
Adams SG
V Jackson SF
Larrier F
Durham C

Enoch
Vital
Whaley
Andersen

Wed be 18-7 or maybe slightly better.

 

[tentoes4rings]

I mean its a no brainer 9 man rotation

Gilbert at PG
Adams SG
V Jackson SF
Larrier F
Durham C

Enoch
Vital
Whaley
Andersen

Wed be 18-7 or maybe slightly better.

So you’re assuming all three of those guys would have stayed if Gilbert didn’t reinjure his shoulder? Enoch and his dad wouldn’t have been concerned about his lack of development, Vance Sr and Jr wouldn’t have concerns about his role, and Durham would be contently here as the starting center? Maybe Diallo and MAL would be on the roster instead of Whaley and Anderson. Why only 18-7? I think we’d be more like 23-2.

 

[freescooter]

You can speculate all you want but actual evidence requires you to also consider Wagner and Northeastern. People who speculate about how great we would be with Gilbert or Vance or Enoch need to account for the fact that with those guys we lost to not 1 bad team which occasionally happens, but multiple bad teams, which doesn’t.

 

[boog204]

I thought Vance was a big loss. Reminded me of Tracy Murray from UCLA back in the day. Kid will probably average 20 a game at New Mexico at some point.

This. Like him personally or not, Vance knew how to play, especially on the offensive end. We have one guy on the team now who knows how to do that. I think Vance was right in his assessment of his role here. He is more than a spot up shooter; he has a lot of skill and the fact that KO essentially told him to work out more is a real poor assessment of his skill. Obviously, he needed to work harder defensively and get into better shape, but he was marginalized if all KO wanted him to be was a standstill shooter. I'm certain he will be a big scorer.

 

[tentoes4rings]

This. Like him personally or not, Vance knew how to play, especially on the offensive end. We have one guy on the team now who knows how to do that. I think Vance was right in his assessment of his role here. He is more than a spot up shooter; he has a lot of skill and the fact that KO essentially told him to work out more is a real poor assessment of his skill. Obviously, he needed to work harder defensively and get into better shape, but he was marginalized if all KO wanted him to be was a standstill shooter. I'm certain he will be a big scorer.

Great post. Vance used to always post about Ten Toes In and playing at UConn. I think he really wanted to be here and had big time potential. If Durham’s strength improves I think all 3 transferring big men will be good for their new schools but Vance was the one that really hurt.

 

[VAHuskyFan]

If we were losing a bunch of games by 4 or 5 points, I could see the argument that Gilbert might conceivably have pushed us over the edge in some of those games.

But we are 0-17 in games against RPI Top 50 teams over the past two years and every single one of those losses has been by 8 points or more. Most by much more (our average margin of loss has been 17 points).

The problems with the roster KO has constucted run far far deeper than the loss of one player to injury.

 

[champs99and04]

Are people really arguing the OP's point? I thought it was pretty non-controversial - the team is significantly better with Gilbert than without. Last season he may have been the difference between an NIT appearance and not, plus, who knows how the Cincinnati game plays out differently with him out there. This season, we obviously played our best basketball before he went down. In fact, even though the sample is really small, you could argue he was more valuable than Jalen.

Vance Jackson turned out to be a much greater loss than I anticipated. He's clearly better than Larrier and could have been a real weapon as early as this season. I knew Vance would be good, but with no other UConn level players in the front court, it turned out to be a double whammy.

All things considered, this season has still been bad enough to warrant Ollie losing his job.