To all those predicting our demise. | Page 7 | The Boneyard

To all those predicting our demise.

HuskiesAllDay said:
KO didn't have to build anything August. He took a national powerhouse program and in 5 years we can barely beat mid majors and cant even dominate the northeast.
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This quote pretty much sums it up! Let me add attendance is a joke now and recruiting has fallen off.

I work on a campus of around 2,000 people in North Haven, CT and the casual fan finds UConn irrelevant or laughable. This is what Ollie has built since winning a NC.
 
upstater said:
Anderson looks so much like Gibbs to me. The ball basically stops moving when Anderson gets it. 2 years ago we had both Hamilton and Gibbs killing ball movement. This year it's Anderson.
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He's not half the shooter that Gibbs is. He is taking way too many shots. So is Jalen. Jalen moves it, as long as it comes back to him. I see all three of the PGs, plus Vital at times, beat their man on the perimeter. If the path to the rim is clear, go for it. But where are the cutters from the wing or baseline? As those bigs collapse on the guard, and they will, where is that bounce pass to the guy behind the D for the dunk? We've done it like 3 times all season. Even with Brimah he'd slide in and catch lobs on occasion. Carlton and Diarra seem more offensively capable than him. Larrier certainly is. Where are those plays to those three guys plus Polley?

It frustrates me that we have the pieces to be so much better. I really hope they start to figure this out.
 
August_West said:
Let me tell you something about yourselves.

You aren't basketball geniuses. You are disingenuous hedgers. I see right through it.

You can look at a season start and find stuff wrong on a 6 and 2 young team. Sure. No problems there. The rest of us see it too. Let's discuss it.

But there are so many declarative "The seasons over, Fire Ollie posts" here. The way they are positioned makes the game here abundantly clear.

If we do in fact go in the toilet (and there is no way for anyone to know that now. Its a long season), you all can smugly sit here and say "Ollie needs to go Right now!" every time we lose a game. You feel good about a UConn loss, your position is made. (Even though its not ;you think it is).

But if they reel off some wins and actually get better as a team over the course of the season you will all be here reveling in the success of a young team getting better.

Its a win/win for you. You can feel like a genius in the teams misery (when applicable) to mitigate the hurt losing does to your oh so fragile psyches. And a win, hell ,is a win (because youre supposedly a UConn fan; there should be some semblance of satisfaction out of one of those still....I hope)
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I think this takes the cake for the most self-righteous post I've ever seen on the Boneyard. It's a pity since it helps take away from how incredibly inaccurate and off-base the injunction is.
 
NielsisGood said:
Oh yeah, inheriting a talented roster at a marquee program was definitely overshadowed by a 1 year postseason ban and loss of 1 scholarship per year over, what, 2 years? And the conference situation has proven to be the death knell of Nova, Wichita, Gonzaga, even Cincy.


Surprised Ollie is even capable of going toe to toe with the likes of Columbia and Monmouth after that Hiroshima level devastation the NCAA laid down upon the program 5 years ago.
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It was the recruiting restrictions (in terms of contact and time on the road) that were the most devastating. That left a bare pipeline even before he arrived.

And let's face it, no matter who was in place, the great Jim Calhoun was no longer there. No HOFer is replacing an HOFer. And the desire to attend falls in concert.
 
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intlzncster said:
It was the recruiting restrictions (in terms of contact and time on the road) that were the most devastating. That left a bare pipeline even before he arrived.

And let's face it, no matter who was in place, the great Jim Calhoun was no longer there. No HOFer is replacing an HOFer.
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There's a pretty vast difference between expecting one of the best 2-3 college coaches ever and what we've gotten.


I won't deny that the loss of scholarships and strict contact rules involved didn't hurt, but that was several years ago, and there was already some pretty great talent on hand that Ollie got to start with.


None of that has anything to do with the uneven (at best) product on the court, or all the problems as far as being able to keep kids in the program, all of that falls solely on Ollie.
 
intlzncster said:
It was the recruiting restrictions (in terms of contact and time on the road) that were the most devastating. That left a bare pipeline even before he arrived.

And let's face it, no matter who was in place, the great Jim Calhoun was no longer there. No HOFer is replacing an HOFer.
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Why is everything all or nothing with so many of you. "People expect a title every season" "Not replacing a Hall of Famer with another Hall of Famer" "If Uconn gets rid of Ollie they will fold up the basketball program" etc.

I think most people expected or should have expected we would have a coach after Calhoun who is a good coach. Someone who would put us as at the top of the AAC and comfortably put us in the tournament almost every season. Someone who would handily beat the patsies early in the season and put up a pretty gaudy record in the AAC while keeping us relevant on the national scene where when we play a big name out of conference people still take notice.

Basically keep the legacy of Uconn basketball in good shape where people still talk about us for the good things we do on the court instead of being the butt of the joke.
 
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superjohn said:
Why is everything all or nothing with so many of you. "People expect a title every season" "Not replacing a Hall of Famer with another Hall of Famer" "If Uconn gets rid of Ollie they will fold up the basketball program" etc.

I think most people expected or should have expected we would have a coach after Calhoun who is a good coach. Someone who would put us as at the top of the AAC and comfortably put us in the tournament almost every season. Someone who would handily beat the patsies early in the season and put up a pretty gaudy record in the AAC while keeping us relevant on the national scene where when we play a big name out of conference people still take notice.

Basically keep the legacy of Uconn basketball in good shape where people still talk about us for the good things we do on the court instead of being the butt of the joke.
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Soccer mom culture.
 
superjohn said:
Why is everything all or nothing with so many of you. "People expect a title every season" "Not replacing a Hall of Famer with another Hall of Famer" "If Uconn gets rid of Ollie they will fold up the basketball program" etc.

I think most people expected or should have expected we would have a coach after Calhoun who is a good coach. Someone who would put us as at the top of the AAC and comfortably put us in the tournament almost every season. Someone who would handily beat the patsies early in the season and put up a pretty gaudy record in the AAC while keeping us relevant on the national scene where when we play a big name out of conference people still take notice.

Basically keep the legacy of Uconn basketball in good shape where people still talk about us for the good things we do on the court instead of being the butt of the joke.
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All or nothing? No, I was just explaining why it wasn't all hunky-dory when JC left. The point of the HOFer thing is you'd expect a drop off, especially in recruiting, when a HOF coach leaves. No matter who you replace the guy with, he will not have the draw that JC did. There's no shame in that.

And I haven't claimed all of those things you mentioned, so I'm not sure where you got that. At one point, firing Ollie would have been a blow to the program, given what had transpired, but not as much now.

I would think a reasonable expectation of the program would be Gonzaga. I don't consider them a mid major mind you, despite their conference*. If we could do better than that, then fantastic.

*as an aside, the AAC is superior to their conference, but it's still not a draw. Nobody wants to play in the AAC. But because there's more talent, it's tougher to run it. Weird situation.
 
Lefty2one said:
I think this takes the cake for the most self-righteous post I've ever seen on the Boneyard.
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Apparently you have never read the Cesspool.
 
Bound to get better - can't get any worse.
All besides the point. Anyone who knows the game can recognize bad coaching.

The longer the AD waits to act, the more difficult it will be to get back to the to 20.
 
intlzncster said:
I couldn't be further from that type of thinking if I tried.
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I can't speak to whether superjohn was referring to you in particular, but I took it to mean he was talking about the Ollie apologists in general. That's what I was referring to anyways.
 
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upstater said:
First, I'm pessimistic about this season, moreso than last year. So you don't need to tell me about dissatisfaction.

But for the Fire Ollie people, let me ask you: what are you trying to accomplish?

Ollie's buyout is astronomical, the school's budget is being scalped by the state. He isn't going anywhere.

So what do you hope to accomplish?
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They want Ollie gone.

Demote him to assistant coach and maybe he will want to leave on his own accord.

Are the Lakers still interested?
 
Bonehead said:
They want Ollie gone.

Demote him to assistant coach and maybe he will want to leave on his own accord.

Are the Lakers still interested?
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So, do something that has never before been done? And make UConn the only school to ever do it. And the next coach will be thrilled to go to a school that humiliates its coach because it is too poor. Great.
 
upstater said:
So, do something that has never before been done? And make UConn the only school to ever do it. And the next coach will be thrilled to go to a school that humiliates its coach because it is too poor. Great.
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The next coach isn't going to be too thrilled with what is left behind either.

I'm happy to see you and I are both on the same page on worrying about the next coach.
 
We have already witnessed it in football. We are living it in basketball. Its one thing for a coach to lose a locker room. Its an entirely different story for a coach to lose a fan base. Over the last few years, Ollie has a dug a fairly deep hole that I don't think he will climb out of. The longer we wait, the longer the next coach will need to rebuild. Even now, if hypothetically KO was let go after this season, the roster is so bad that it will take 3plus years to start.
 
Bonehead said:
The next coach isn't going to be too thrilled with what is left behind either.

I'm happy to see you and I are both on the same page on worrying about the next coach.
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If UConn humiliates Ollie by demoting him instead of firing, the next coach is going to come out of the student section.
 
Sonova said:
I suppose that’s all in the definition of “peak.” Many folks would say 18 months removed from a National Championship and 3.5 years from another final four - not to mention the list of lottery picks, NBA all stars, etc was pretty “peak-ish”. I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on that...as well as your take on Ollie improving UConn’s status in ‘13 & ‘14. That being said, it’s mind-numbing to see how far that status has fallen...I’d guess we agree on that.
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Interesting that 3.5 years from a final four in 2013 counts but being 3.5 years from a NC in 2017 doesn't.
But anyway, yes. UConn was looking better in 2014 than when Ollie got the job. And I think the word peak's meaning ins pretty universal. I'm done with the semantics. UConn was in a pretty precarious place when Ollie took over and people wondered if it would ever be the same. Two years later we were all pretty happy.
 
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Deadrody said:
I'm sorry, but what ? The committee "notices" if you manage to avoid losing to a mid-major ?

No. No they do not.
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What are you even talking about ding dong....they notice if you do, so obviously they notice if you don't. Have you never watched a selections show?
 
businesslawyer said:
Let me translate -- nothing has changed since the first season he didn't win a National Championship. Seems sillier that way, doesn't it?
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Yup. That's the criticism. Ollie hasn't won another championship since 2014. Intentionally putting words in people's mouth that they aren't saying is disingenuous, at best.
 
Jay-Bone said:
What are you even talking about ding dong....they notice if you do, so obviously they notice if you don't. Have you never watched a selections show?
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No, no, no, no, no. Just because you look bad for losing games you should win, does not mean you get bonus points for winning those games. They're looking for good wins and bad losses. No team in the history of basketball has made the tournament because they managed to avoid losing to a mid-major in November and December. Not one.
 
Deadrody said:
No, no, no, no, no. Just because you look bad for losing games you should win, does not mean you get bonus points for winning those games. They're looking for good wins and bad losses. No team in the history of basketball has made the tournament because they managed to avoid losing to a mid-major in November and December. Not one.
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He didn't say that beating mid majors gets you a tournament bid. He suggested that the committee notices whether you take care of business by avoiding losses to mid majors. Obviously that's a factor in the committee's review. How is that controversial? What on earth drove you to pick this sort of picayune argument several days after the original post?
 
selles said:
He didn't say that beating mid majors gets you a tournament bid. He suggested that the committee notices whether you take care of business by avoiding losses to mid majors. Obviously that's a factor in the committee's review. How is that controversial?
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Because the committee doesn't start by looking for teams that beat mid-majors. Maybe they look at that as a way to break a tie way down the line but you don't get credit for it. A tourney team is supposed to beat mid-majors. Sounds like you and Jay want a cookie.
 
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