Honestly, I think the issue with AD affecting AO's performance is purely a result of AO's mentality and approach to the situation. Last summer he seemed excited for AD to be joining the team... but when the games started it seemed like he began to feel more threatened by AD and that all the attention AD was getting (for being so highly rated and such an athletic freak) began hurting his ego. I think that's a big reason why he fell in the slump he did. I just don't buy for a second that AD caused AO to regress for any reason other than the mentality of AO. He was selected as a captain and never acted like one. If Oriakhi could play alongside Majok his frosh year and Adrien could play alongside Thabeet for several years then there is zero reason why AO shouldn't be able to play alongside AD. There IS room for two big men to rebound, block shots, and complement one another in the game of basketball. It is all about chemistry and your mentality... and neither of those two components seemed to be right this year.
At this point, as much as I hate to say it... I think I would rather see Drummond return than Oriakhi. I always loved Oriakhi and appreciate everything he's done for the program, especially last year, but at least Drummond expressed a desire to WANT to be at UConn. He said in December that he would be returning for a sophomore year regardless of the circumstances... Oriakhi is considering transferring or going to the NBA for reasons that seem to be entirely based on ego-related issues. He could easily spend all summer working with Drummond (and the rest of the team obviously) to develop the needed chemistry as Kemba did two summers ago. Sure, Oriakhi called a team meeting and preached the "all in no matter what" thing... but that doesn't mean a damn thing if you can't/don't walk the walk. And he has yet to take the bull by the horns and walk the freakin walk. He is a captain on this team and rather than acting like one he pouts and blames others. As others have said, the whole charade where he'd throw his hands up in the air and shake his head everytime he got his shot blocked (or any other play that didn't go his way) is the perfect example of everything I'm talking about in this post. He never had the "I'll make up for it on the other end now" mentality this season... he'd simply rather blame others or act like he is always a victim of a no-call/bad call/whatever.
God... I didn't really intend for this post to be as much about ripping Alex apart as it ended up being. I'm just sick of the "blame everyone else" type attitude especially now that he has brought up transferring the DAY AFTER a loss in the 1st round of the NCAA tourney. And now for people to say we'd be better of if AD never came this year... screw that. AD gave us an opportunity to have a very good backcourt and well-rounded team this year. The fact that it didn't work out that way is not his fault IMO.
Just my opinion. Again, before everyone tries telling me how AO was such a big factor last year and everything... trust me I'm aware. I have been rooting for Oriakhi to develop into a very good/great player since the day he put on a UConn uniform. I loved Jeff Adrien and hoped that Alex could try to learn a bit from Adrien's attitude/heart/will, because that type of player can be infectious (in a good way obviously) to a team. I've just grown sick of seeing AO's whining/insulting tweets and now the transfer/NBA crap has made me sick and tired of his overall attitude this year.
