We can solve Problem #1, we can't solve Problem #2

[tzznandrew]

The program is effectively dead as a powerhouse as long as we're in the AAC. A new coach can make us respectable again but we'll be one of those schools that makes a Sweet 16 run once or twice a decade. Our ceiling is still higher than Cincy's but not by a ton: we'll produce a first-round pick once every 8-10 years by finding a diamond in the rough, we'll have nice regular seasons beating up on terrible AAC teams and then we'll lose on the first weekend of the tournament. That's our ceiling for as long as we reside in the AAC. I will bet any amount of money that we'll never sniff the Final Four in this conference. Hell, I'll be surprised if any program in this bastard of a conference ever makes it that far.

The other elephant in the room is that we were not a 'final destination' program anymore. If a young coach rebuilds the program they'll leave for the right ACC or Big Ten opening.

We sold our basketball soul in search of football glory and it's been a massive failure. Our two "money sport" programs are a laughing stock.

Yeah, I don't buy this. The right coach can make this school a consistent Top 25 team and a frequent Top 10 team.

What are the "right" B10 and ACC schools? Money isn't everything to a smart coach. They going to leave for UMiami? Boston College? Virginia Tech? Most of the "right schools" already have good coaches, which is why they're the "right schools." Duke, UNC, Michigan State, Michigan... But we were afraid we were going to lose Jim Calhoun to South Carolina in the late 1990s!

Get a good coach. Win. Both of those are possible in our league. We won a title out of it. Hope Memphis and Temple get their crap together. Hope Houston and SMU keep their crap together. Hope Marshall stays at WSU. But more important: win. Win, and the rest will take care of itself.

 

[dennismenace]

That's all true. But realize that it is a "4 year job" to even sniff that success. Because those schools successes are built around lesser ranked players staying around for 4 years and meshing. And it takes a while even to get the right group to establish that formula. Once you do, it kind of feeds on itself in that you start cycling the "right" lower ranked players in the underclass groomed to take the place of the seniors, rinse repeat. It's most likely the model we will have to follow in the future, in this conference especially. But again.....that is at minimum a 3-4 year build up if everything goes perfectly to start. Does this fan base have the patience for that? I dunno. We are (and Im not saying its wrong) screaming for the neck of a Coach who won a title 4 years ago after only 2 bad seasons.
Whoever we get from here is going to have more bad seasons than that before we become something again. But if we see progress we will have to accept it. The bar has now been changed forever on how we can measure success.
No ONE, Not even Larry Brown (well maybe only Larry Brown) is coming in here and putting us in the tourney next year.

All of this may be true but what galls most fans is that even if the talent wasn't that great they almost never looked like they knew what they were doing on the floor and constant lackadaisical play (failure to hustle). Just about everyone we played looked better than Uconn in this regard even if many of them did not have the talent. There were some individual bright spots but other than a few fast breaks they never looked liked they jelled as a team. If we have more "teams" like that I don't think that the fans will tolerate it and vote with their feet or other support. This team looked clueless most of the time. Very, very sad. Major changes needed starting at the top. I don't see how this is supposed to change with the present coaching staff; it is not the players. They cannot all have low bb IQ and unteachable charachters.

 

[auror]

So which would be the better option if we can't have both ?

A) Keep KO and play in the new Big East ?

B) Let him go, find new coach, and rebuild in the AAC ?

Before this year I would have said A). But we've reached the point where the evidence suggests it should be B).

 

[August_West]

All of this may be true but what galls most fans is that even if the talent wasn't that great they almost never looked like they knew what they were doing on the floor and constant lackadaisical play (failure to hustle). Just about everyone we played looked better than Uconn in this regard even if many of them did not have the talent. There were some individual bright spots but other than a few fast breaks they never looked liked they jelled as a team. If we have more "teams" like that I don't think that the fans will tolerate it and vote with their feet or other support. This team looked clueless most of the time. Very, very sad. Major changes needed starting at the top. I don't see how this is supposed to change with the present coaching staff; it is not the players. They cannot all have low bb IQ and unteachable charachters.

I mean I can't argue with that.
Ten toes in we definitely were not this season.

 

[dennismenace]

How does that end the thread?

Because it would be a "Happy Ending"

 

[RichZ]

I can end this thread with one name..Mick Cronin.


/endthread

How does that end the thread?

Can't post after vomiting on the keyboard?

 

[AdamaNation]

That’s why I feel he may be one of the few who would want to and feel he owes it to us all to dig us out. At least for his part. But as has been stated to know end. The conference is mediocre purgatory. Baseball is the money sport and Hockey isn’t even in the aac. What about that ad Dave!!!

 

[UConn990411]

The AAC is a legitimate issue. But I’m yet to hear anyone who brings this up explain how Cincy and SMU have managed to consistently make the tourney out of this conference.

There are plenty of obstacles that Ollie has to overcome that did not exist when UConn was in the Big East. None of those obstacles justify the current state of the program.

 

[UConnSwag11]

The program is effectively dead as a powerhouse as long as we're in the AAC. A new coach can make us respectable again but we'll be one of those schools that makes a Sweet 16 run once or twice a decade. Our ceiling is still higher than Cincy's but not by a ton: we'll produce a first-round pick once every 8-10 years by finding a diamond in the rough, we'll have nice regular seasons beating up on terrible AAC teams and then we'll lose on the first weekend of the tournament. That's our ceiling for as long as we reside in the AAC. I will bet any amount of money that we'll never sniff the Final Four in this conference. Hell, I'll be surprised if any program in this bastard of a conference ever makes it that far.

The other elephant in the room is that we were not a 'final destination' program anymore. If a young coach rebuilds the program they'll leave for the right ACC or Big Ten opening.

We sold our basketball soul in search of football glory and it's been a massive failure. Our two "money sport" programs are a laughing stock.

No, we’re dead as a powerhouse as long as we keep losing. It’s not that difficult to understand. You win and good things happen.

 

[SubbaBub]

Cincinnati and WSU are in the Top 10. I'm not ready to buy that we can't recruit here. KO did not capitalize on his NC in terms of recruiting guys who could play. He either picked the wrong guy or was unable to get the right guys. That is a fact and the fact that may cost him his job.

 

[weyuo]

The AAC is a legitimate issue. But I’m yet to hear anyone who brings this up explain how Cincy and SMU have managed to consistently make the tourney out of this conference.

There are plenty of obstacles that Ollie has to overcome that did not exist when UConn was in the Big East. None of those obstacles justify the current state of the program.

I don't agree that the AAC is a legitimate issue. The AAC gets an automatic bid just as much as the B1G, The ACC, The SEC, The Big12, Pac 12, ect. UConn schedules pretty competitive out of conference. The only problem is they haven't been winning. No one here would have any complaints about the AAC if UConn men mirrored the women in dominating their conference. It ain't the conference. It's the coaching.

 

[auggie22]

The right coach can recruit anyone to play anywhere. With the right coach, top 20 kids would be willing to play at UConn.
(Sad thing is, a while back I thought we had that guy.)

Jay Wright has built a juggernaut with top 150 guys, not top 20. Put a system in place and manage to it and we will be better than fine. We won’t care about our league tourney anymore, that is true; but we can have a challenging OOC and play in NYC a few times a year, plus regularly look forward to March... it won’t be what we once had but it will be more than enough for me.

 

[FlakeyFoont]

UConn should be the class of this conference and be shredding the conference every year, just like the women's team does. The pedigree of the men's program should have been preserved, despite conference realignment, just the way Geno did it with the women. No tailspin there, no decline, no falling off a cliff. The best women high school players still want to be Huskies four years into the AAC. That should have been Ollie's legacy and 2014 should have been the jumping off point for his magic reign. Instead, we have this wretched mess.

 

[Mr. French]

Cincinnati and WSU are in the Top 10. I'm not ready to buy that we can't recruit here. KO did not capitalize on his NC in terms of recruiting guys who could play. He either picked the wrong guy or was unable to get the right guys. That is a fact and the fact that may cost him his job.

This is very true.

Similar to my long winded rant in the other thread.

He’s not going to get the chance most likely, and deservedly so, but I think some form of picking the wrong players, managing the roster and/or not getting the right guys who can do what he needs is why he’s been so awful lately. Not because he doesn’t know basketball.

Something isn’t working with the guys he’s brought in, and that’s on him. It’s correctable but he won’t and doesn’t deserve to get the time to fix it here.

 

[Robertelamin]

The AAC is a legitimate issue. But I’m yet to hear anyone who brings this up explain how Cincy and SMU have managed to consistently make the tourney out of this conference.

There are plenty of obstacles that Ollie has to overcome that did not exist when UConn was in the Big East. None of those obstacles justify the current state of the program.

It's a loser mentality. Honestly I'm surprised how many people treat this program like it's UMass-Lowell after a few poor years.

 

[imno1]

Something happened after Ollie's divorce. Things started going south. Blaney wasn't there to be a mentor any more. Ollie started hiring his homies for coaches instead of looking for the best big man coach out there, the best wing man and the best defensive coaches that can be found. Ollie is a good position coach but when your the head you need to be just as good a manager and that means hiring the best assistants you can. That's his down fall. He's a good motivator and probably a great point guard coach but as far as a manager....

I don’t get the “he’s a good motivator”. I just do see it.

 

[6xChamps]

Cincinnati is going to be a 2 or 3 seed. Wichita St a 3 or 4. They are in our conference.

 

[weyuo]

Yeah, it's not the conference. Anybody blaming the conference doesn't see the real problem with UConn MB or is trying to push some ridiculous agenda about getting rid of the football program in favor of joining a Big East conference that top to bottom is no better and in the long run will have less to offer the TV networks. UConn has a very young D-1 football program still trying to find it's way. The very best place for UConn football right now is exactly where it is. UConn basketball is in a place where it can compete for national championships just as easy or arguably easier than in the ACC or the diluted Big East.

 

[tzznandrew]

Cincinnati is going to be a 2 or 3 seed. Wichita St a 3 or 4. They are in our conference.

I'm betting you will see those teams seeded lower than that. Not because of some vendetta against the AAC, but because Cincy has 2 Top 50 RPI wins out of conference (Buffalo and UCLA), and has only 6 Q1 wins.

Wichita State's best OOC win is South Dakota State, and they have only 4 Q1 wins.

Houston beat PC and Arkansas, but has two Sub-150 losses.

Our conference has some really good teams, but they seem to crap themselves out of conference still.

 

[UCHuskies08]

Yeah, it's not the conference. Anybody blaming the conference doesn't see the real problem with UConn MB or is trying to push some ridiculous agenda about getting rid of the football program in favor of joining a Big East conference that top to bottom is no better and in the long run will have less to offer the TV networks. UConn has a very young D-1 football program still trying to find it's way. The very best place for UConn football right now is exactly where it is. UConn basketball is in a place where it can compete for national championships just as easy or arguably easier than in the ACC or the diluted Big East.

Hello, can you please direct me to your weed dealer? I want whatever he's selling.

 

[Ewekon]

It wasn't a bad season. It was an underperformance given the talent on the team. It should have been an even better team. It should have won the league regular season title, not just the tournament.

As for OP, the Big East nonsense is so old and so off base. The biggest problem with this league is that UConn sucks. If we didn't suck, it would have 4 ranked teams going to the tournament,with others on the bubble. Which is where the Big Ten is.

At some point you have to realize that Larrier is not a talent.

 

[kemba]

I don’t get the “he’s a good motivator”. I just do see it.

Yea. honestly my #1 problem with him is that it seems clear the players don't respect him. Years one and two the players definitely had his back. Whether it was that Calhoun's coaching was still rubbing off on them, or they were players that are just going to leave it all out there regardless, or he was able to build a different relationship with them as an assistant coach that he hasn't been able to do as a head coach, some combination, I don't know. But since then we've seen no player development, effort, or toughness from this team

 

[Ewekon]

Recruiting hasn’t been the problem. Keeping kids here and developing them has been

Respectfully partially disagree. We don't currently recruit well and can't keep them and/or marginally develop them beyond a low ceiling.

 

[freescooter]

Nobody goes to Carolina or Duke to play in the ACC. They go there to play for Carolina or Duke. When Carolina had a bad coach the ACC didn’t help them. Hiring Roy helped them. With the right coach people UConn will be fine.

 

[tzznandrew]

Nobody goes to Carolina or Duke to play in the ACC. They go there to play for Carolina or Duke. When Carolina had a bad coach the ACC didn’t help them. Hiring Roy helped them. With the right coach people UConn will be fine.

It does matter that you can sell good opponents along with that tradition. It's how JC sold UConn in the 80s: play Georgetown, Syracuse, etc.

Still, UConn has enough tradition behind it, and the league is good enough, that the right coach will be just fine here.

 

[Banta55]

Nobody goes to Carolina or Duke to play in the ACC. They go there to play for Carolina or Duke. When Carolina had a bad coach the ACC didn’t help them. Hiring Roy helped them. With the right coach people UConn will be fine.

Exactly, for years the SEC was awful kids went to Kentucky and Florida for the brand...

 

[NCHusky91]

Ok then, so if the conference allegedly doesn't matter then how about travel or TV? Who's up for Thursday in Tulsa on ESPNNEWS? Or Sunday 3:00 PM in Greenville, NC?

 

[TheChamps990411]

Some people here really think recruiting here is impossible. It’s harder, not impossible.

The recruiting stuff is a bunch of crap! Ollie cant recruit PERIOD! Ollie has failed to develop players PERIOD! Ollie has had a lot of recruits and players leave his program PERIOD! He needs to go!

 

[buddy]

I don’t get the “he’s a good motivator”. I just do see it.

Afters today's disaster, the players themselves stated that they came out without energy and didn't realize even what the score was until halftime. Starting games without energy falls on the coaching staff. Yank them and put in the walk ons. If they don't want to play, then sit. He never did this. Not even once. Not even in a game that was a certain loss. This has nothing to do with the conference. It is laughable that posters here say that recruits don't want to play in half filled arenas of Tulsa, Tulane, Houston, etc. You can add UConn to that group as well, and UConn cannot even beat these teams. Tulsa is a four seed, UConn was an 8 seed. No one here could really be mocking other teams or other conferences. UConn is a bottom feeder in the AAC!

 

[kemba]

Ok then, so if the conference allegedly doesn't matter then how about travel or TV? Who's up for Thursday in Tulsa on ESPNNEWS? Or Sunday 3:00 PM in Greenville, NC?

Look everything matters, I wish we were in a better conference. But we have a big enough brand that we can overcome a lot of that stuff. We also play in major preseason tournaments every year. We can schedule powerhouse programs out of conference. And if you have a coach and program that wins games, guys know they'll be in the spotlight in the tournament.

There's enough there that with a good hire we can have success. Then maybe down the road we'll be in position to improve the conference situation