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

[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

 

[UConnNick]

So I sort of agree. The dismantling the Big East was tragedy. It literally was the great basketball conference of all time. There will be never be another another tournament like the BET. One epic game after another with talented teams coached by great coaches going incredibly hard at one another. Makes me a little depressed just to talk about it.

That said, a decent UConn team can become a magnet for NYC point guards again. We won't be able to beat the Dukes and Kentuckys for kids, but we really never did.

We did beat Kentucky for a recruit at least one time...Ray Allen!

 

[tzznandrew]

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?

Nobody wants to watch those games because all teams involved in those games currently suck. Did you ever care that much for UConn/DePaul? UConn/Rutgers? Those games got better times and better schedules in part because UConn was awesome and it had some general interest.

Consider: through the 1990s nobody cared about Miami basketball. A terrible team and a waste, by and large; Pitt, too. As a fan, we watched the games but the teams just weren't compelling. And then in the late 1990s and early 2000s, each of those teams got really good, and those games began to mean something. Those teams weren't close to UConn. But they were good and played us tough--and we were good--so people cared.

We'll likely never care about ECU. They'll never be nationally relevant. But Cincy/Wichita/SMU/Houston all are, or have been, and Memphis/Temple have been recently. We've had sold out games for these teams, and have sold out there.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't the glory days of the Big East. But unless we're dropping football to go to the BE (a totally different league than we knew it to be, too), or getting to the ACC or B1G, we are where we are. It doesn't have to be bad.

It will be particularly bad, though, if we can't win games. Win games and this is a different conversation.

 

[tzznandrew]

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.

RPI Team
8 Cincy
12 Wichita
19 Houston
48 Temple
69 Tulsa
77 UCF
105 UConn
111 SMU
112 Memphis
157 Tulane
272 East Carolina
274 South Florida

There are two absolute clunkers on this list. If UConn and Memphis were themselves, and SMU and UCF didn't get hit with injuries, though, we'd have 3-5 Top 25 teams, 5-7 Top 50 teams, and 9 Top 100 teams.

It would be a 4-6 bid league.

This isn't WCC, or CUSA after the BE raided it. All I did for this year was give us a win vs. Syracuse, home wins against Cincy, WSU, and Memphis, and a sweep of Tulsa. 21-10, RPI 26, SOS 25. And that's with no really good OOC win.

It's not hard to get a good RPI from this league if we schedule well.

We just need to win.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I tend to think that the best thing for UConn would be for KO to find his groove and for him to succeed here.

If it was just growing pains, I'd consider letting it ride out for the betterment of the program long term.

However, we're paying KO $3M and by many accounts he's not putting in the requisite effort to earn that.

Think we have to move on.

P.S. if we became we a current day Cincinnati or a Temple from their A10 days, i.e. always a tournament team but without many deep runs, I think you'd have be pretty happy. We were spoiled and that new reality may not sit with a lot of people.

 

[Ts5034]

I was listening to Joe and Evan on WFAN yesterday and they had Brandon Tierney on who broadcasts St Johns games on the radio. They were talking about the Big East tournament and the old Big East came up in conversation and he said he would love to have UConn back in the league. Benigno went on to say how UConn lost their identity when they “left” the Big East. That statement is 100% true and that has become the narrative about the program nationally.

Its true that we won a National Championship as a member of the AAC, but when this conference was formed it just kind of felt like we were forced to start over. Thats why I dont buy the argument when people say that we can be a powerhouse in this league just because of what Cincy and SMU have done. Our situation coming into the AAC was completely different than all those schools. I understand that financially we will be better off in the AAC compared to the Big East, but I just think it will take a special coach as in a once in a lifetime hire that could turn things around to win consistently in this league and to get back to the days of being a perennial top 25 program.

 

[SouthBayHusky]

If 2015-16 is a "bad season," then I don't know when you'll be satisfied again.

I don’t think he said that. Read what he wrote. He never said “bad” season. He said underachieving and not great and only became relevant in last week and half. That means mediocre, or more precisely, exactly what he said “not great”, “underachieving” and “not relevant” til very end of season

 

[Scrutineer]

The right coach can matter more than every other factor combined in recruiting. Make the right hire, it will work itself out.

Excellent point. Look at the turnaround at Ohio State this year.

 

[beakumhawks]

Kevin Stallings is available if you are looking for a Head Coach to replace Ollue

Pitt fires coach Stallings after 0-19 ACC run

 

[Stainmaster]

I don’t think he said that. Read what he wrote. He never said “bad” season. He said underachieving and not great and only became relevant in last week and half. That means mediocre, or more precisely, exactly what he said “not great”, “underachieving” and “not relevant” til very end of season

No, he pretty explicitly called 2015-16 a "bad season."

And, to correct a premise: it's not 2 bad seasons, it's 4 bad seasons. The 2016 team underachieved and was relevant for a week and a half. That's not a good season.

 

[Stainmaster]

Kevin Stallings is available if you are looking for a Head Coach to replace Ollue

Pitt fires coach Stallings after 0-19 ACC run

Why do you still post here?