Uconn ... the real story

[HuskyHawk]

It is not swimming, when I played our team was nationally ranked.

As soon as you said "abroad" I guessed soccer, circa the early 80's based on the "56".

 

[UConNation]

It is not swimming, when I played our team was nationally ranked.

Mr. Dougan, I couldn't find the professional team you played on, but welcome to the BY nonetheless!

I gave your OP a like because I do agree that we, a fans, need to show up next year. Some of the other stuff... ehhh.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Are you Russ Steinberg

This is meaner than anything I've ever said to Russ, and that's saying a lot.

 

[rip7774]

Was Steinberg a gymnast or maybe a Math-lete? Totally him

 

[Marat]

Yep -

 

[huskyrob1]

I have watched the mixed feelings in these forums over the last several months. I am a former Uconn All---Conference athlete. I was fortunate enough to go on to a professional career in the States and abroad. We are all Uconn-junkies, or at least I will speak on my own behalf...I am a Uconn Hoops junkie. before anyone takes a swat at what I am about to write, just know it is my personal observations. You may agree or disagree, certainly that is everyone's choice.

I've watched kids from the state, that seldom got away under Calhoun, slip through without much notice. Dunn to Providence, Heron to Auburn (leading scorer as a freshman), Diallo to KY, etal. This simply didn't happen under Calhoun, or at least as frequently. He shut the door on the Pressley's, the Pinnone's, the Jenson's as Rollie used to camp out in CT, he slammed that door shut.

I have no angst against Kevin Ollie, but some is starting to build. I have been in the sports world my whole life, and the business world for a good chunk of it as well. There is an old adage, "When a fish stinks, it stinks from the head." What exactly does that mean? It means the AD, and Kevin Ollie regarding Uconn basketball. Trouble is watching players get thrown out of the huddle, watching players fight (with words), on the court, more times than I cared to watch, watching JA get scolded by KO, and JA erupts back in KO's face. I guarantee you, if that was Jim Calhoun, Adams would of been in the locker room, done for the night.

I have issues with the entire coaching staff being all former guards. Does it matter? I believe it matters in 2 ways. recruiting against Uconn is going to point this out for any big man. Yes, a coach knows what to tell a big, and can coach him, but he never lived it, and that is tough.

Recruiting is getting harder and harder. WHY? The AAC is just not where it is at. case in point, just 3 players in the top 100 signed with AAC schools this year, and 2 of those were in the 90s. Why does this matter? It ultimately is going to weaken the conference, and as it is, SMU 30-4, is a #6 seed. Cincinnati, 29-5 is a #6 seed. They both got bounced early. The optics of that are not good. We have seen AAC teams with 23,24 wins the last few years left out of the Big Dance. WHY? Because the opportunity for quality wins is very limited. You have to win 25 games in this conference to be a sure thing, 23/24 maybe 50-50. Uconn can no longer schedule 4-5 big out-of-conference games, they have to be like Geno, and schedule almost every game vs a top 25 team. If not, accept the fact that 23 wins, 24 wins may not be enough.

What has happened the last week or so, is not the problem, it is a symptom of a much bigger problem. I don't know KO, all I have heard and seen is he is a great guy, and I assume that is correct. You are what your record says you are, but the winning team he had was with a bunch of Calhoun's kids. he made the tournament one time with his own kids, on an answered 70 ft. prayer heave by Adams. What's next?

First off, Ollie is going nowhere, as Benedict locked him up for 5 years, and his stock once extremely high, has taken a big hit. he is a competitor supreme, his resume in the NBA is proof of that. He will take this personally, and what that means is he will rise above it all, and succeed, or fall flat on his face, in over his head. That script has yet to be written.

Larrier and Gilbert only played 3 games, and while they looked promising, that script is not written either. Theyfaced Wagner, northeastern, and Loyola,Marymount, 3 cupcakes, and did a respectable job. It would be easy to pencil them in for great careers, but we don't have that answer yet. Larrier is now 2 full years away from competition, Gilbert 1. It may matter, it may not.

If Ollie wins 23+ games with this team, as presently constituted next year, he did a fantastic job. If he makes the NCAA Tournament, he did an incredible job. If he doesn't, it will make his job unreasonably difficult going forward, as the perception of the public, the recruits, the coaches recruiting against them, will be Uconn is no longer Uconn, it would be 4 of 6 years out of the Dance, Calhoun missed it 4 times in his final 22 years, and if Ollie reaches 4 whiffs in 6 years, it will spell huge problems.

This brings me to the point of all this. Next season is as critical of a season for Uconn, perhaps in their history. Regardless of your feelings right now, and they are probably concerned, wounded, or carry on, don't under-estimate the need for every body in the stands, every cheer and reassurance one can give, because this is the biggest moment for Uconn basketball in our lifetimes, it is the biggest oment for everyone associated with Uconn basketball.

let's take what we have been gifted to, and not expect it, but put all your will into making it continue, and hopefully that trickles down to coaches and players. GO UCONN!

Agree with everything you said, but wanted to drop a couple more names that somehow slipped through Calhoun's fingers....

Ryan Gomes, Marcus Camby.

 

[RUSS56]

Agree with everything you said, but wanted to drop a couple more names that somehow slipped through Calhoun's fingers....

Ryan Gomes, Marcus Camby.

Very nice, but in part that makes my point, I said Calhoun never got all of them, but here is the point. Ollie has lost 4+ already, apparently there is a difference, that is all I am saying.

 

[RUSS56]

Agree with everything you said, but wanted to drop a couple more names that somehow slipped through Calhoun's fingers....

Ryan Gomes, Marcus Camby.

A pair of very good players, but your going back 24 yrs for Camby, and 16 for Gomes.

 

[BlueDogs]

No truer words ever spoken ....The fish does stink from the head. Rarely does replacing a number 2 fix a fundamental leader problem.

 

[Scottzer]

He played in CT, and Dunn was on Ollie's watch, not Calhoun's. Name one CT kid that is in the NBA, or was in the NBA that Calhoun let get away the last 20 yrs?

Was Vin Baker within the last 20 years? Close - was Ryan Gomes a CT kid? I know Calhoun took flack for not getting him (although as he pointed out, Okafor wasn't too bad!). I know Gomes was no NBA star but I can't imagine he didn't play at all...

 

[mjmoney23]

Ryan Gomes, Marcus Camby, Jordan Williams (played 43 games for the Nets), Will Solomon.

You had me until jordan williams, who was recently arrested for kidnapping that was narcotics driven.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Golf, or track?

 

[RUSS56]

here are the CT kids rated 4 stars or higher that Ollie has let out of the state in the last 3 years:

Waters - rated 34 G'Town 4 star
Diallo - rated 9 KY 5
Spellman rated 18 Vill 5
Heron rated 19 Aub 5
Moyer rated 40 Syracuse 4
Powell rated 105 Seton Hall 4
Chukaw rated 61 Providence 4

Signed:

Diarra rated 133 3 star
Vitale rated 145 3
Enoch rated 58 4


So 7 kids rated 4* or better got out of the state, that is in a program that has won 4 National Championships in last 17 years. Calhoun was recruiting most of them, even before he had the resume, and did lose some, but that is not the point. When he came in he said himself, before you can recruit elite players outside your state, you have to keep the ones in your state. So let's say Ollie got 4 of the 7 above, or 3 of the 7 above, we wouldn't be looking at what we are looking at right now. All I'm saying is the all important in-state recruiting has diminished, and with that so has the program....for now

 

[gtcam]

He played in CT, and Dunn was on Ollie's watch, not Calhoun's. Name one CT kid that is in the NBA, or was in the NBA that Calhoun let get away the last 20 yrs?

Gomes

 

[Tuna]

He played in CT, and Dunn was on Ollie's watch, not Calhoun's. Name one CT kid that is in the NBA, or was in the NBA that Calhoun let get away the last 20 yrs?

If you're going to use Diallo from Queens playing at Putnam as an example then let's start with the South Kent School. Notable alumni include Dorell Wright, Isaiah Thomas, Muarice Harkless, Russ Smith and Ricky Ledo. That's one school.

 

[aceboon]

here are the CT kids rated 4 stars or higher that Ollie has let out of the state in the last 3 years:

Waters - rated 34 G'Town 4 star
Diallo - rated 9 KY 5
Spellman rated 18 Vill 5
Heron rated 19 Aub 5
Moyer rated 40 Syracuse 4
Powell rated 105 Seton Hall 4
Chukaw rated 61 Providence 4

Signed:

Diarra rated 133 3 star
Vitale rated 145 3
Enoch rated 58 4


So 7 kids rated 4* or better got out of the state, that is in a program that has won 4 National Championships in last 17 years. Calhoun was recruiting most of them, even before he had the resume, and did lose some, but that is not the point. When he came in he said himself, before you can recruit elite players outside your state, you have to keep the ones in your state. So let's say Ollie got 4 of the 7 above, or 3 of the 7 above, we wouldn't be looking at what we are looking at right now. All I'm saying is the all important in-state recruiting has diminished, and with that so has the program....for now

More kids listed in there that are not from CT and played at CT prep schools, you really have no clue. If you're going to do this with KO then you better go back and do it with Calhoun and all the kids who went to St Thomas Moore, South Kent, Chesire Academy, etc that have NO CT ROOTS.

 

[Stainmaster]

Some of these NEPSAC kids spent only one year playing high school ball in Connecticut - Spellman, Moyer, Powell. Growing up in Ohio and New Jersey, I'd assume they were like most other kids from there and had no sentimental attraction to UConn. Echoing @Tuna's point, many of the kids who come here for their prep ball are from all over the country. Diallo's old PSA team has players from Brooklyn, Arizona, France, and Louisiana on their roster who are only here for one season.

Heron, as mentioned earlier, had handler issues (possibly i$$ue$) that steered him away from here. Alabama and Mississippi State were in his Top 5 - I don't think even Calhoun would have gotten him interested in UConn.

Waters I am okay with losing given that the staff made a just as good (if not better) choice in MAL. One could also argue that given the amount of talent in the MA/greater Boston area that's exploded onto the scene in recent years, that may be a more important pipeline to maintain than CT natives.

The number of recruits ranked as high as Diallo UConn has ever gotten can be counted on one hand. Drummond, Bynum (but he didn't make it to campus), maybe Donyell or Ray? It took Calhoun 26 years here and he only ended up with those four.

Chukwu's final 2 were Providence and St. Joe's. His host family was pretty set on him going to a private Catholic school, not much we can do there. They also made his host brother getting a walk-on spot a condition of his transfer to Syracuse. Not every school wants to deal with handlers who try to make deals like that. Plus, looking at his on-court performance thus far, he wouldn't have given us anything his freshman year that Brimah or Nolan didn't give. Before he got injured this past year, his rebounding appears decent given the minutes he played, but that comes from beating up against Syracuse's killer non-conference slate of Colgate, Holy Cross, and South Carolina State. It'll be interesting to see how he recovers from the eye issues, but I don't think he can be counted as a huge miss.

 

[gtcam]

here are the CT kids rated 4 stars or higher that Ollie has let out of the state in the last 3 years:

Waters - rated 34 G'Town 4 star
Diallo - rated 9 KY 5
Spellman rated 18 Vill 5
Heron rated 19 Aub 5
Moyer rated 40 Syracuse 4
Powell rated 105 Seton Hall 4
Chukaw rated 61 Providence 4

Signed:

Diarra rated 133 3 star
Vitale rated 145 3
Enoch rated 58 4


So 7 kids rated 4* or better got out of the state, that is in a program that has won 4 National Championships in last 17 years. Calhoun was recruiting most of them, even before he had the resume, and did lose some, but that is not the point. When he came in he said himself, before you can recruit elite players outside your state, you have to keep the ones in your state. So let's say Ollie got 4 of the 7 above, or 3 of the 7 above, we wouldn't be looking at what we are looking at right now. All I'm saying is the all important in-state recruiting has diminished, and with that so has the program....for now

WORTHLESS absolutely worthless post

You could do this with any state or city
Based on the 10 players you cited as 4 + star it looks like KO had a 30% success rate - that I would guess is pretty damn high - I challenge that JC even came close to that
JC was and is one the greatest NCAA coach and he could not keep the best of the state to stay here at UConn - there is a long list
All the coaches at St Johns including Lou (Hall of Fame) should have kept all NYC players in city???

You talk BS about KO "scolding" players - yeah he does it like JC right? A ridiculous accusation
UConn coaching staff is all guards- not completely true but Tell me where are the big men on the Duke coaching bench? I would bet that if there are former players who are coaches at most ant level - 80% were guards

You spent a lot of time spewing little or nothing - do something different

 

[Stainmaster]

It's funny looking back on the Jalen-KO tiff - I seem to recall the board consensus at the time being that since KO was doing a bad job coaching, it was perfectly alright (and perhaps even a good thing) for one of his players to light into him.

 

[banshee]

JC retired on September 13, 2012. I believe school already started at PC when Kris Dunn was a freshman. Dunn wasn't coming here with Calhoun or Ollie.

 

[RUSS56]

If you're going to use Diallo from Queens playing at Putnam as an example then let's start with the South Kent School. Notable alumni include Dorell Wright, Isaiah Thomas, Muarice Harkless, Russ Smith and Ricky Ledo. That's one school.

Ok, I'm not sure why I have to do this, all I tried to do is make a point, and the point is valid. It's fine if you disagree with the point, I accept that, but when you come up with stuff like this, it just doesn't play. Let's review the 5 players you called Calhoun out for not landing:

Isaiah Thomas- Thomas was a very late bloomer, he ranked 187th in the country as a prospect, not the type of guy that got away, because Calhoun didn't recruit that low.

Dorell Wright - This kid never played a game in college, went straight to the NBA.

Maurice Harkless - Ranked 37th, one that truly got away, albeit a 1 and done guy, but a miss for Calhoun.

Russ Smith - He was 2012-13, and it was an Ollie miss, not Calhoun

Ricky ledo - This kid was ineligible his entire freshman year, and never played a game, went right to the NBA.

So to review your 5 players that got away from Calhoun, 1 is true, 4 others are simply false.

 

[Husky1]

I have sat behind the bench area for many years and I can assure you that at least in public there have been very few if any players who swore at JC and did not face immediate, major repercussions. I can tell you that JC (a coaching god imo) was an animal at times
on the bench and was know to absolutely rip a new one in some of his players, dropping f-bombs and other pleasantries on his players at times. Of course, what most of us did not see it the love and caring that he showed on those same players the other 180 hours a week. The idea of a player swearing at JC during a game and then staying in game and program quite frankly is absurd.

 

[CJS87]

I have watched the mixed feelings in these forums over the last several months. I am a former Uconn All---Conference athlete. I was fortunate enough to go on to a professional career in the States and abroad. We are all Uconn-junkies, or at least I will speak on my own behalf...I am a Uconn Hoops junkie. before anyone takes a swat at what I am about to write, just know it is my personal observations. You may agree or disagree, certainly that is everyone's choice.

I've watched kids from the state, that seldom got away under Calhoun, slip through without much notice. Dunn to Providence, Heron to Auburn (leading scorer as a freshman), Diallo to KY, etal. This simply didn't happen under Calhoun, or at least as frequently. He shut the door on the Pressley's, the Pinnone's, the Jenson's as Rollie used to camp out in CT, he slammed that door shut.

I have no angst against Kevin Ollie, but some is starting to build. I have been in the sports world my whole life, and the business world for a good chunk of it as well. There is an old adage, "When a fish stinks, it stinks from the head." What exactly does that mean? It means the AD, and Kevin Ollie regarding Uconn basketball. Trouble is watching players get thrown out of the huddle, watching players fight (with words), on the court, more times than I cared to watch, watching JA get scolded by KO, and JA erupts back in KO's face. I guarantee you, if that was Jim Calhoun, Adams would of been in the locker room, done for the night.

I have issues with the entire coaching staff being all former guards. Does it matter? I believe it matters in 2 ways. recruiting against Uconn is going to point this out for any big man. Yes, a coach knows what to tell a big, and can coach him, but he never lived it, and that is tough.

Recruiting is getting harder and harder. WHY? The AAC is just not where it is at. case in point, just 3 players in the top 100 signed with AAC schools this year, and 2 of those were in the 90s. Why does this matter? It ultimately is going to weaken the conference, and as it is, SMU 30-4, is a #6 seed. Cincinnati, 29-5 is a #6 seed. They both got bounced early. The optics of that are not good. We have seen AAC teams with 23,24 wins the last few years left out of the Big Dance. WHY? Because the opportunity for quality wins is very limited. You have to win 25 games in this conference to be a sure thing, 23/24 maybe 50-50. Uconn can no longer schedule 4-5 big out-of-conference games, they have to be like Geno, and schedule almost every game vs a top 25 team. If not, accept the fact that 23 wins, 24 wins may not be enough.

What has happened the last week or so, is not the problem, it is a symptom of a much bigger problem. I don't know KO, all I have heard and seen is he is a great guy, and I assume that is correct. You are what your record says you are, but the winning team he had was with a bunch of Calhoun's kids. he made the tournament one time with his own kids, on an answered 70 ft. prayer heave by Adams. What's next?

First off, Ollie is going nowhere, as Benedict locked him up for 5 years, and his stock once extremely high, has taken a big hit. he is a competitor supreme, his resume in the NBA is proof of that. He will take this personally, and what that means is he will rise above it all, and succeed, or fall flat on his face, in over his head. That script has yet to be written.

Larrier and Gilbert only played 3 games, and while they looked promising, that script is not written either. Theyfaced Wagner, northeastern, and Loyola,Marymount, 3 cupcakes, and did a respectable job. It would be easy to pencil them in for great careers, but we don't have that answer yet. Larrier is now 2 full years away from competition, Gilbert 1. It may matter, it may not.

If Ollie wins 23+ games with this team, as presently constituted next year, he did a fantastic job. If he makes the NCAA Tournament, he did an incredible job. If he doesn't, it will make his job unreasonably difficult going forward, as the perception of the public, the recruits, the coaches recruiting against them, will be Uconn is no longer Uconn, it would be 4 of 6 years out of the Dance, Calhoun missed it 4 times in his final 22 years, and if Ollie reaches 4 whiffs in 6 years, it will spell huge problems.

This brings me to the point of all this. Next season is as critical of a season for Uconn, perhaps in their history. Regardless of your feelings right now, and they are probably concerned, wounded, or carry on, don't under-estimate the need for every body in the stands, every cheer and reassurance one can give, because this is the biggest moment for Uconn basketball in our lifetimes, it is the biggest oment for everyone associated with Uconn basketball.

let's take what we have been gifted to, and not expect it, but put all your will into making it continue, and hopefully that trickles down to coaches and players. GO UCONN!

This post is nothing more than a ranting... you're all over the map. You're not making any logical point or points, rather you're simply belching out a bunch of thoughts. The insanity of this board is mind boggling.

 

[aceboon]

Ok, I'm not sure why I have to do this, all I tried to do is make a point, and the point is valid. It's fine if you disagree with the point, I accept that, but when you come up with stuff like this, it just doesn't play. Let's review the 5 players you called Calhoun out for not landing:

Isaiah Thomas- Thomas was a very late bloomer, he ranked 187th in the country as a prospect, not the type of guy that got away, because Calhoun didn't recruit that low.

Dorell Wright - This kid never played a game in college, went straight to the NBA.

Maurice Harkless - Ranked 37th, one that truly got away, albeit a 1 and done guy, but a miss for Calhoun.

Russ Smith - He was 2012-13, and it was an Ollie miss, not Calhoun

Ricky ledo - This kid was ineligible his entire freshman year, and never played a game, went right to the NBA.

So to review your 5 players that got away from Calhoun, 1 is true, 4 others are simply false.

Russ Smith was class of 2010, yet another thing to add to the many things you continue to be wrong about in your own thread. The fact that you haven't been able to figure out that a good deal of these kids that played at CT prep schools aren't from CT make whatever point you are trying to make null and void.