UConn is Finally Free of APR, Nate Miles-Induced Penalties

[husky99]

http://borgesblognhr.blogspot.com/2013/08/uconn-is-finally-free-of-apr-nate-miles.html?m=1

 

[huskiesnyc]

Isn't this article about 6 weeks late? I could be wrong but I thought we had no restrictions after July 1

 

[GlastonTim]

I find it hard to believe there aren't better out of conference schedules.
“I’m also going to work the guys hard and get them prepared for a tough season,” he promised. “We’ve got an out-of-conference season that’s second-to-none, and I’m very proud of that. We’re going to have to perform
on a big stage, and we’re going to have to perform right away, because Maryland is no pushover team.”
The Huskies kick off their season on Nov. 8 against the Terrapins at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. UConn will also face Florida, Boston College, Stanford, Washington and possibly Indiana in non-conference games.

 

[7774]

I find it hard to believe there aren't better out of conference schedules.
“I’m also going to work the guys hard and get them prepared for a tough season,” he promised. “We’ve got an out-of-conference season that’s second-to-none, and I’m very proud of that. We’re going to have to perform
on a big stage, and we’re going to have to perform right away, because Maryland is no pushover team.”
The Huskies kick off their season on Nov. 8 against the Terrapins at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. UConn will also face Florida, Boston College, Stanford, Washington and possibly Indiana in non-conference games.

Complaining about the out of conference schedule? Really?

 

[GlastonTim]

Complaining about the out of conference schedule? Really?

Not complaining at all, just think the comment is not accurate.

 

[OkaForPrez]

Not complaining at all, just think the comment is not accurate.

KO is already politicing for seed.

 

[CAHUSKY]

Not complaining at all, just think the comment is not accurate.

Based on what? Can you provide another that's more difficult ?

 

[RichZ]

While having four fewer hours of practice time per week would seem to put a team at a competitive disadvantage, it actually served as somewhat of a benefit for UConn. For one, the team was able to concentrate more on its studies, and by all accounts the Huskies are doing much better in the classroom.

Really points out the idiocy of punishing current players for the transgressions of past players. These aren't the guys who needed the extra classroom time. They all left years ago.

“We learned a lot from last year, where we couldn’t practice all the time,” Ollie explained. “We had 16 hours where it allowed us to take a couple of days off here and there. It really helped our guys be energized and had their bodies in good shape to perform when it counts.”

Weren't we down to like 5-1/2 men by the end of last season?

 

[GlastonTim]

Based on what? Can you provide another that's more difficult ?

Kenucky and Kansas' look stronger, not all have released them yet.
http://www.kentucky.com/2013/05/01/2622660/kentucky-announces-non-conference.html
http://www.stjosephpost.com/2013/05...2014-non-conference-mens-basketball-schedule/

 

[aceboon]

so would you have liked KO to say our schedule is around the 5 or 6th best in the country to be more accurate? It is just coach speak, who cares, man you guys will complain about everything.

 

[upstater]

Not complaining at all, just think the comment is not accurate.

Indiana, Florida, Stanford, Washington, Maryland, BC, Harvard. That is a solid schedule. 6 ranked teams if Washington is as good as Pac-10 fans think they will be.

 

[Gurleyman]

Saying "second to none" is just a figure of speech. It would be like if he said top of the line or top notch non-conference schedule, even though there are no actual lines or notches.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Really points out the idiocy of punishing current players for the transgressions of past players. These aren't the guys who needed the extra classroom time. They all left years ago.

I don't agree with you on this point. You don't think this could perhaps be tied to a lack of institutional oversight or awareness? Priorities emphasizing basketball over academics? We used to have Tim Tolokan round up this effort, then he left, and there was a leadership void.

 

[ctchamps]

so would you have liked KO to say our schedule is around the 5 or 6th best in the country to be more accurate? It is just coach speak, who cares, man you guys will complain about everything.

give us more time and that feet will be accomplished. Grramatical and spelling mistakes purposeful.

 

[Gurleyman]

I don't agree with you on this point. You don't think this could perhaps be tied to a lack of institutional oversight or awareness? Priorities emphasizing basketball over academics? We used to have Tim Tolokan round up this effort, then he left, and there was a leadership void.

If the current group of players was exhibiting some of the same issues as their predecessors, then yes. By all means. I for one would not have argued the penalty - retroactive or not, since it would indicate that the program had systemic failures and we would need to fix a lot of things internally. But our most recent APR was 980 when they enforced the penalty (from the NC season), so it was pretty clear that whatever problems there were from 2009-10 had been taken care of.

If the APR is so volatile that you can go from 830 to 980 in one season, then it shouldn't be used for sweeping judgments about institutional oversight, because it really doesn't tell you anything other than what that specific group of players (a small sample size for hoops) has done/is doing. However you feel about APR as a fair way of measuring academic progress, the fact is that it doesn't take much at all to fix, as we plainly showed.

 

[RichZ]

I don't agree with you on this point. You don't think this could perhaps be tied to a lack of institutional oversight or awareness? Priorities emphasizing basketball over academics? We used to have Tim Tolokan round up this effort, then he left, and there was a leadership void.

I'm sorry, but limiting the playing time to increase the study time of players who weren't even around during the period of low grades is strictly a punitive action. When the penalty is being decided, there is zero indication that the current students will benefit from this, which is what Amore sees to indicate happened with his remark. Do you think the APR will go down again now that those hours are back in the bball practice side of the ledger?

 

[Mike Honcho]

I'm sorry, but limiting the playing time to increase the study time of players who weren't even around during the period of low grades is strictly a punitive action. When the penalty is being decided, there is zero indication that the current students will benefit from this, which is what Amore sees to indicate happened with his remark. Do you think the APR will go down again now that those hours are back in the bball practice side of the ledger?

No, but that's because I think UConn wised up to the system. I don't think the new APR scores reflect academic progress, as both you and Gurleyman seem to be arguing. They just mean that we now have a person dedicated to making sure our student athletes make the grades (or transfer in good standing, or go pro in Germany when their scholarship is pulled). Maybe that also means choosing easier majors, cherry-picking teachers, etc.

Clearly, we have limited visibility into what's going on, and having the NCAA force corrective action (in essence, mandating study halls) is putting lipstick on a pig. But given that we were not rigging APR scores and we failed miserably, I think there's probably some credence to saying we took our eye off the ball academically and needed to take measures to correct that. The forced study hall is a very visible action that players and coaches alike had to confront each week. It likely helped to reinforce the underlying message and change the culture around academics. Was it needed? I'm sure we could have gotten to the end result without it (I'm talking improved academics, not APR), but it couldn't have hurt and I don't think it was foolish.

 

[Mike Honcho]

If the APR is so volatile that you can go from 830 to 980 in one season, then it shouldn't be used for sweeping judgments about institutional oversight, because it really doesn't tell you anything other than what that specific group of players (a small sample size for hoops) has done/is doing. However you feel about APR as a fair way of measuring academic progress, the fact is that it doesn't take much at all to fix, as we plainly showed.

My take on this is that we didn't rig the APR before. No . We were the only major school to be banned from post-season play. It's not like our student athletes were worse students than their peers at other schools. Everyone else was just smarter about managing the APR and covering up their players' academic issues. We didn't.

The fact that we've since wised up to the game says nothing about how our players are improving academically. If anything, it just spotlights that there were inherent problems when we weren't rigging the system.

 

[GlastonTim]

My bad......walking away with tail between my legs.

 

[ctchamps]

My take on this is that we didn't rig the APR before. No . We were the only major school to be banned from post-season play. It's not like our student athletes were worse students than their peers at other schools. Everyone else was just smarter about managing the APR and covering up their players' academic issues. We didn't.

The fact that we've since wised up to the game says nothing about how our players are improving academically. If anything, it just spotlights that there were inherent problems when we weren't rigging the system.

My take as well and both JC and RE tried to get Hathaway to compromise but he wouldn't comply. It wasn't an issue with Geno because the athletes he could get were academically proficient. JH was antagonistic to challenge so he essentially threw the football and men's bb program under the bus. He hated strong male challengers. More JC than RE because JC didn't pull punchers. The new administration has rectified the problem but unfortunately UConn is living with Hogan/Hathaway's legacy (postseason ban, apr issue, Nate Miles, CR).
I'm optimistic that things are changing for the positive for UConn. Actually felt that way when SH pushed JH out the door, mended fences with JC and when WM and SH agreed to KO.

 

[Gurleyman]

My take on this is that we didn't rig the APR before. No . We were the only major school to be banned from post-season play. It's not like our student athletes were worse students than their peers at other schools. Everyone else was just smarter about managing the APR and covering up their players' academic issues. We didn't.

The fact that we've since wised up to the game says nothing about how our players are improving academically. If anything, it just spotlights that there were inherent problems when we weren't rigging the system.

We paid closer attention to it, but a lot of the reason for the quick increase was our roster rolled over significantly. We brought in the Lamb-Scoe-Giffey-Napier-Wolf-Olander class to replace Smith, Trice, Edwards, Sticks (who missed a semester), Dyson and Mandeldove (who was still on our books). They are different people - so they could have just simply been better students. Kemba, Donnell and AO were among the holdovers, who were academic bright spots during our lean years, and took care of business. Plus Okwandu overcame earlier academic struggles to graduate - he probably counted against us in 2009, but as a positive in 2011.

Saying we "rigged" the system implies that this batch of new guys couldn't hack it on their own because their predecessors came up short. Kemba and Bazz have actually progressed ahead of schedule - they didn't need rigging. AO isn't the most popular guy around, but he had over a 3.0 when he transferred. We did monitor them more closely, more study halls, which perhaps made a difference with some of the freshmen getting off on the right foot, but it doesn't automatically imply that there was some sort of magic formula we implemented to rig it. Just because Gavin Edwards fell behind or Darius Smith was a bad student, doesn't mean Giffey or Lamb were the same way.

 

[upstater]

We paid closer attention to it, but a lot of the reason for the quick increase was our roster rolled over significantly. We brought in the Lamb-Scoe-Giffey-Napier-Wolf-Olander class to replace Smith, Trice, Edwards, Sticks (who missed a semester), Dyson and Mandeldove (who was still on our books). They are different people - so they could have just simply been better students. Kemba, Donnell and AO were among the holdovers, who were academic bright spots during our lean years, and took care of business. Plus Okwandu overcame earlier academic struggles to graduate - he probably counted against us in 2009, but as a positive in 2011.

Saying we "rigged" the system implies that this batch of new guys couldn't hack it on their own because their predecessors came up short. Kemba and Bazz have actually progressed ahead of schedule - they didn't need rigging. AO isn't the most popular guy around, but he had over a 3.0 when he transferred. We did monitor them more closely, more study halls, which perhaps made a difference with some of the freshmen getting off on the right foot, but it doesn't automatically imply that there was some sort of magic formula we implemented to rig it. Just because Gavin Edwards fell behind or Darius Smith was a bad student, doesn't mean Giffey or Lamb were the same way.

Susan Herbst made 3 summer short courses mandatory, and they had one week Xmas credits as well (as in 2011 when they visited art galleries in NYC). I'm not criticizing this as much as I used to because athletics was ahead of the game. Now the entire university system has become a joke with equal opportunity joke classes for everyone.

 

[upstater]

My take as well and both JC and RE tried to get Hathaway to compromise but he wouldn't comply. It wasn't an issue with Geno because the athletes he could get were academically proficient. JH was antagonistic to challenge so he essentially threw the football and men's bb program under the bus. He hated strong male challengers. More JC than RE because JC didn't pull punchers. The new administration has rectified the problem but unfortunately UConn is living with Hogan/Hathaway's legacy (postseason ban, apr issue, Nate Miles, CR).
I'm optimistic that things are changing for the positive for UConn. Actually felt that way when SH pushed JH out the door, mended fences with JC and when WM and SH agreed to KO.

Another telltale sign is that Ted Taigen left the program and they hired Felicia Crump to take his place. Now, I am not going to judge Crump since I have no way of knowing about her job performance. I only know that a professional hired to do that job takes directions from her superior, whereas a faculty member like Taigen with tenure can refuse to do something. I'm not saying that faculty members are superior (the guy down at North Carolina was a total disgrace) but that they have protection from going along with any schemes. In other words, no one forced that North Carolina guy to create bogus courses. He did that of his own volition. (I still suspect he was paid handsomely for it, though how can you prove that? What could possibly be the motivation for a man taking risks like that? Risking disgrace?)

 

[uconnfan68]

Another telltale sign is that Ted Taigen left the program and they hired Felicia Crump to take his place. Now, I am not going to judge Crump since I have no way of knowing about her job performance. I only know that a professional hired to do that job takes directions from her superior, whereas a faculty member like Taigen with tenure can refuse to do something. I'm not saying that faculty members are superior (the guy down at North Carolina was a total disgrace) but that they have protection from going along with any schemes. In other words, no one forced that North Carolina guy to create bogus courses. He did that of his own volition. (I still suspect he was paid handsomely for it, though how can you prove that? What could possibly be the motivation for a man taking risks like that? Risking disgrace?)

Disgrace? They are probably planning a parade for him.

 

[Gurleyman]

Susan Herbst made 3 summer short courses mandatory, and they had one week Xmas credits as well (as in 2011 when they visited art galleries in NYC). I'm not criticizing this as much as I used to because athletics was ahead of the game. Now the entire university system has become a joke with equal opportunity joke classes for everyone.

The Xmas thing can be construed as rigging - I kind of agree there. I actually figured our players were taking summer credits all along, which is pretty much routine in DI hoops (except at Ivies and Patriots) - keep them on campus, keep them with your strength+conditioning staff, let them scrimmage with each other, get a jump on credits, etc. That was when MW and AJ ended up in trouble. Although it probably wasn't mandatory.