We will be a top 25 team next year - Lock it in

[intlzncster]

I know, I read it before the deletion. When ever you start a reply "What are you talking about???!!!" Mods will take notice. Lol

Sadly, I think I might have done it myself. The post showed up three times on my screen, so I deleted one....and they all went away.

 

[huskyrob1]

I wrote a long reply but it got deleted. The gist:

• I didn't quote your post out of context. How so?
• You said look at recent history to see future results
  • That would only makes sense if we had the same staff. We don't.
• Guards make the best coaches as they are the best communicators, the 'coach on the floor'
• Big men don't go into coaching as often as guards.
• Most staffs don't have former big men coaching bigs
• Playing a position has nothing to do with being able to coach it
  • BB can coach QBs as well as anyone -> never played the position
  • That's just one extreme, but the examples are legion
• Never has one mans impact been so over-exaggerated as Clyde Vaughn's at UConn
  • Only 1.5 years of coaching
  • One recruiting class.
  • Thank Chief for that.

Ok, here goes...I do agree with your 3rd, 4th, and 5th bullets, disagree somewhat with 6, and strongly disagree with 7.

With 6, BB has been around QB's for 40 years, Coach K was a guard but has been around basketball coaching for almost 50 years, they both have the experience and wisdom to teach ALL positions to varying degrees. While Ollie is a seasoned veteran, he does need, IMHO, a bigs coach to help him, especially when recruiting bigs who for lack of a better word are projects. Firing Miller or letting Glen leave, was a huge error on KO'S part.

 

[Confident Carl]

Im not sweating this Wilson thing. We will be starting 3 big time players next year - Jalen, Terry, and Alterique. We have another very good player in Vital. College basketball is all about guard play. IF Tremont comes even better. Go Huskies! PS. I think Cobb and Whaley are better than people think

Confident Carl approves!

 

[justinhub2003]

I know most of the media and basketball fans are counting out UCONN for next season, but as a UC fan, I'm actually really pulling for UCONN to surprise everyone.

And I absolutely believe they can. Kevin Ollie, as much as I don't like his stank face, seems to do a great job of getting his guys to play harder and better when no one expects them to. He will rally his team around being the under dogs.
And its not like UCONN is returning a bunch of 2 star players. The wing core of Adams, Gilbert and Larrier is pretty damn formidable. And should be an upgrade over Purvis and Jackson starting last year. I don't think they end up missing Brimah and while Facey really came on strong his senior year, its not like these new Bigs have to replace 2 super stars.

They could very well end up a top 40 or better team and I personally wouldn't be all that surprised by it.

 

[Kenny11]

I see it like this:
Adams: will be excellent, but he will always suffer through some high turnover, lackadaisical games
Gilbert: If healthy, will be very good. Him and Adams will need to have some better chemistry. Their chemistry sucked the first couple games of last year
Vital: Will be improved and a quality player. Hopefully shoots over 40% from 3
Larrier: I worry about Larrier. Not only is he coming off a knee surgery, but I just don't see any court vision or basketball IQ from him (in limited action last season). He seems to like taking contested 2s and dribbles into nowhere with his head down before pulling up. I really hope that I'm wrong about him. He is obviously long and athletic, which is a plus.
Cobb: No idea but not expecting much
Carlton: He is the guy I like the most of out of the freshmen. I do believe he's udnerrated and hes going to play a lot of minutes.
Polley: If he plays a lot its because Larrier isn't healthy or good enough to play 30+ minutes per game. I think Polley will need a year to adjust to this level.
Anderson: seems like he can only be a help. He will need to be effective especially when giving Adams a rest.
Diarra: I still don't understand what his injury was. He is a great leaper and his game relies on that athleticism, since he isn't very tall for a power forward. So, if he's not athletically hampered, he will be a plus for us.
Whaley: No freaking idea

All together, there are a lot of question marks but also a lot to work with. No matter what, it would be unacceptable to have a worse season than last year especially in the conference. There are so many winnable games on the schedule and Ollie is going to have to win them.

 

[The Funster]

40-0

 

[AZHuskiePop]

40-0

Then after accomplishing all we can in the college ranks we challenge and beat the NBA Champs in a tough 7 game series.

 

[pj]

I've seen a couple comparisons thrown around to the 2011/2014 teams for next season. To me, the best modern day comparison happens to be the postseason ban squad of 2012-2013.

Roster construction between both teams is nearly identical:

Top 3 scorers were Shabazz (Jalen), Boatright (Alterique), & Daniels (Larrier). Your top 3 scorers are identical next season for 2013-14, but your supporting cast had not fully developed. 2012-13 was before the emergence of Giffey (4.9 PPG v. 8.4 PPG; 29.4% from 3 v. 48.3% from 3).

There was also a 4th player who averaged double digits that season...Omar Calhoun who was 32.1% from 3 (Christian Vital was 36.6% last year). No one else on that team averaged above 5 PPG and thus had any tangible value on the offensive end.

2012-13 was also the 1st and last time under Ollie that KenPom rated UConn's AdjO above AdjD. In fact, that team had the second best rated offense under KO only after the 2014 National Championship team.

For context the 2016-17 team was AdjO 156 & AdjD 63; 2012-13 was AdjO 55 & AdjD 59. Even in a down year, the defense was fine, it was the offense that lagged significantly (I think everyone knew this already but we at least have data to back this up).

2012-13 was also the last year UConn was in the Big East yet despite the fact that this team that was very top heavy on talent and played a tougher schedule than the one faced with today, they still went 20-10 without playing any games in the Big East Tourney/NCAA Tourney. This team also was ranked in to the Top 25 for 2 weeks in November until losing to New Mexico at the Paradise Jam.

The point of all this is that if you believe UConn has the talent and coaching abilities similar to 2012-2013 then I don't think this kind of season is unreasonable to hope for in 2017-18.

2012-13 v. projected 2017-18
Napier (17.1 PPG) -- Adams (last year 14.4 PPG)
Boatright (15.4 PPG) -- Gilbert (last year 10.3 PPG in 3 games)
Daniels (12.1 PPG) -- Larrier (last year 13.5 PPG in 4 games)
Calhoun (11.1 PPG) -- Vital (last year 9.1 PPG)
Giffey (4.5 PPG) -- Polley (N/A)
Olander (4.3 PPG) -- Diarra (N/A)
Wolf (3.4 PPG) -- Cobb (N/A)
Evans (3.1 PPG) -- Anderson (last year 11.1 PPG for Fordham)
Tolksdorf (1.7 PPG) -- Whaley (N/A)
Nolan (1.4 PPG) -- Cobb (last year 10.9 PPG at Chipola)

I'm not guaranteeing that Adams/Gilbert/Larrier/Vital can replicate what was done 4 years ago, but I think the ability to replicate it is there and I also believe that while not great, this upcoming team has a roughly equal supporting cast 5 thru 10 as a team that went 20-10 in the Old Big East.

This is a great comparison and if I thought Adams and Larrier would be around for 2018-19, I'd be really excited about our 2019 championship chances.

 

[jibsey]

If Larrier is healthy he will be a star next season and be very productive. He's the least of our worries.

 

[Horatio]

We need two more players and I'll feel good about the upcoming season.

 

[mauconnfan]

We need two more players and I'll feel good about the upcoming season.

Just 2 Horacio? Okay here we go:

 

[Horatio]

Just 2 Horacio? Okay here we go:

Just two more bro. That show was too "stimulating" for Pre teen boys like myself.

 

[whaler11]

I get shunning the pessimists - but mentioning potential national championships with this roster shows a complete disconnect with reality.

 

[upstater]

I get shunning the pessimists - but mentioning potential national championships with this roster shows a complete disconnect with reality.

The disconnect for me happens not with the roster but rather with the fact that almost all of them have never played together before and they need a helluva lot of coaching.

If this were 2018-2019 and the roster were the same and the lineup looked like this...?

C Cobb (Sr.), Carlton (So.)
F Larrier (Jr.), Diarra (So.), Whaley (So.)
G Vital (Jr.), Polley (So.)
G Adams (Sr.)
G Gilbert (So.)

... I would never say this is not a championship caliber lineup. It is extremely hard to win the thing, but this lineup would be capable, especially with some good guard recruits.

Next year is near impossible given the lack of seasoning and the coaching upheaval.

 

[superjohn]

I get shunning the pessimists - but mentioning potential national championships with this roster shows a complete disconnect with reality.

This board is insane. We've got people in another thread saying Vital is the next Ben Gordon and will do special things in March and we have a National Championship prognostication over here.

 

[mauconnfan]

Just two more bro. That show was too "stimulating" for Pre teen boys like myself.

Show me a "pre-teen" who didn't dream of shacking up in that bottle with Barbara Eden?

 

[Bonehead]

I already made this bet with someone on here months ago.

NO BETTING!

;-)

 

[imno1]

40-0

Are we getting tee shirts?

 

[dennismenace]

This is a great comparison and if I thought Adams and Larrier would be around for 2018-19, I'd be really excited about our 2019 championship chances.

Thanks for the in depth analysis. It's an interesting take.

 

[Austin316]

Post NBA draft deadline college hoops Way-Too-Early Top 25

It feels like 2011 all over again... go in unranked... shock the world!

I believe!

 

[3rdbass]

I see it like this:
Adams: will be excellent, but he will always suffer through some high turnover, lackadaisical games
Gilbert: If healthy, will be very good. Him and Adams will need to have some better chemistry. Their chemistry sucked the first couple games of last year
Vital: Will be improved and a quality player. Hopefully shoots over 40% from 3
Larrier: I worry about Larrier. Not only is he coming off a knee surgery, but I just don't see any court vision or basketball IQ from him (in limited action last season). He seems to like taking contested 2s and dribbles into nowhere with his head down before pulling up. I really hope that I'm wrong about him. He is obviously long and athletic, which is a plus.
Cobb: No idea but not expecting much
Carlton: He is the guy I like the most of out of the freshmen. I do believe he's udnerrated and hes going to play a lot of minutes.
Polley: If he plays a lot its because Larrier isn't healthy or good enough to play 30+ minutes per game. I think Polley will need a year to adjust to this level.
Anderson: seems like he can only be a help. He will need to be effective especially when giving Adams a rest.
Diarra: I still don't understand what his injury was. He is a great leaper and his game relies on that athleticism, since he isn't very tall for a power forward. So, if he's not athletically hampered, he will be a plus for us.
Whaley: No freaking idea

All together, there are a lot of question marks but also a lot to work with. No matter what, it would be unacceptable to have a worse season than last year especially in the conference. There are so many winnable games on the schedule and Ollie is going to have to win them.

I totally disagree with this statement! He was the best player on the court the 3 and half games he was there as he was very aggressive and looked pretty strong for his size. If healthy he will be the key for us being good.

 

[LStudfellow]

There are many reasons for concern about next year - and most of them (injuries, no size, short bench, lack of talent) have been mentioned. But there's one more thing which I think is a huge factor: only two of these guys have really played together before. Unfortunately, it looks like UConn is going into the season with ten scholarship players, and eight of them are essentially new to the team. This team has a lot of issues to overcome, and there's a lot more negatives than positives at the moment.

This is an excellent and significantly underrated point. Adding to that, there is one other factor that has been mentioned in passing but really deserves a top headline next to the question of how fast these 10 players can gel: which Kevin Ollie and coaching staff are we going to get next year? The one that significantly out-performed expectations in years 1 and 2? Or the one who was not on the same page with his associate head coach, uneven coaching in-games situations and unable to get the level of development we hoped for (and expected) over the last two years.

KO has not been good enough recently. And although most of us are encouraged by the changes to the staff, we need to see that turn into a better foundation of a consistent, cohesive message and execution, both in the off-season and during games. If KO, Chill, Kill, Moore and Dixon are on the same page and the message and execution are strong and cohesive, then we will all enjoy next year, and hopefully significantly longer.

If not... we will be looking for a new coach and probably staff within 2 years.

Please note I am not changing my tune from earlier threads and going as far as some to call KO "incompetent" or use phrases like "horribly mismanaged". I think that kind of verbiage is ridiculously unfair to the man and all-too-typical of people on forums who go to the extreme on everything when the truth lies significantly closer to the middle. That having been said, the underlying points do have validity - and with a coaching staff that is virtually new within the last year, it is absolutely a huge question mark at this time. And so is Kevin. He and they have a huge job of getting these 10 guys, 8 of which have not played together, molded into a cohesive unit by mid-November. In addition to the fact that they also have the job of making themselves into a cohesive unit as well.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

I think this season really hinges on Jalen. It's his third year and he has shown an ability to really take over games and make his teammates better when he's on. He has to work on his conditioning so he can take on heavy minutes and really be the 2nd coach on the floor.

We've had teams in the past that did well without great interior presence. 2011 only had Oriaki who was an effective, true big man. 2014 had Phil Nolan starting.

The guards and Terry are good enough to carry the team. Jalen just has to really breakout and be the clear head of the team.

 

[Kenny11]

I totally disagree with this statement! He was the best player on the court the 3 and half games he was there as he was very aggressive and looked pretty strong for his size. If healthy he will be the key for us being good.

I hope I'm wrong about that. It could be that the beginning of the season was so horrible that I was finding flaws in every player. At the time, I just didn't see the court vision and decision from him.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

I hope I'm wrong about that. It could be that the beginning of the season was so horrible that I was finding flaws in every player. At the time, I just didn't see the court vision and decision from him.

I noticed that he needed some work to get comfortable being the guy who flashed to the foul-line against zone defenses. He would catch the ball and turn to look to pass inside, but would often rush in his deciding what to do. I would love to see him find a way to slow down the game and become better able to find his teammates in the right spot at the right time.