What happened to these college hoops powerhouses? NY Post

[sledog]

Connecticut

Barring a collapse, UConn is going to reach the NCAA Tournament. But this year wasn’t just about being one of the 68 teams selected, it was supposed to result in a Sweet 16 and potentially a Final Four. Both are very unlikely, if not improbably considering how underwhelming the Huskies (18-7, 8-4) have been, losing to Temple twice and Tulsa.

The biggest issue for Connecticut — ranked 20th in the preseason Associated Press poll — has been its play inside. Big men Amida Brimah and Kentan Facey just haven’t developed. Freshmen Jalen Adams and Steven Enoch haven’t made the impact some expected, and Seton Hall transfer Sterling Gibbs hasn’t performed up to expectations, shooting just 39 percent from the field.

And now questions are starting to pop up about Kevin Ollie, who missed the NCAA Tournament last year with his own recruits and hasn’t done much better with them this year, either, after winning it all with Jim Calhoun’s players in 2013-14.

http://nypost.com/2016/02/14/what-happened-to-these-college-hoops-powerhouses/

 

[Bryan Lord]

This should be fun.

 

[Bryan Lord]

I don't really get why they're also railing on gonzaga..pretty random throw in with UConn and Georgetown.

 

[polycom]

This will absolutely end in a storm.

 

[BoatShow]

"It's only okay when I rip UConn basketball to shreds"
-UConn fans

 

[Inyatkin]

With a title like this I was sure it was going to be about San Francisco or CCNY. I think we're doing OK.

 

[jibsey]

Lies! lies! lies! Wait a minute.......

 

[SouthBayHusky]

Sounds like something straight from the Boneyard.

 

[Kitaman]

I just wish we could garner some good publicity in the media. The high expectations many of us had were valid. You can only blame the team (collectively).

 

[SouthBayHusky]

He losses total credibility when he says the Zags were not as much of a disappointment as Uconn or the Hoyas while while stating in the same breath the Zags were ranked #9 in the preseason and are not getting an at large, yet Uconn ranked #20 in the preseason who he states will be receiving an at-large barring a total collapse is the bigger disappointment. HUH?

 

[Dove]

Thanks @sledog. It HAD (!!) to be posted.

 

[Bryan Lord]

Gonzaga isn't a lock for the tourney?

 

[Leebo]

Gonzaga isn't a lock for the tourney?

Well, they're still the favorites to win their conf tourney, but the only thing of note on their resume is that they beat us. And that win lost value over the season.

They're projected to have an SOS outside the top 100 too.

 

[Bryan Lord]

Oh wow I just assumed they were fine, forgot about their conference though.

 

[jibsey]

Along with some good players KO inherited a sh!tstorm that affected recruiting that is just recovering, but he's right about some of his moves. Enoch who showed offense was not a huge recruit and was not put into significant minutes that development would require once Brimah and Facey proved inadequate. Unfortunately as I try to counter this piece most of what he says is correct including the part about John Thompson III who if he didn't have daddy in the stands would be coaching div3 or be in an unemployment line. We were preseason 18 SI.

 

[BoatShow]

Gonzaga isn't a lock for the tourney?

Gonzaga is a powerhouse?

 

[Bryan Lord]

Gonzaga is a powerhouse?

As much as Georgetown I suppose... This article is just pointless.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Connecticut

Barring a collapse, UConn is going to reach the NCAA Tournament. But this year wasn’t just about being one of the 68 teams selected, it was supposed to result in a Sweet 16 and potentially a Final Four. Both are very unlikely, if not improbably considering how underwhelming the Huskies (18-7, 8-4) have been, losing to Temple twice and Tulsa.

The biggest issue for Connecticut — ranked 20th in the preseason Associated Press poll — has been its play inside. Big men Amida Brimah and Kentan Facey just haven’t developed. Freshmen Jalen Adams and Steven Enoch haven’t made the impact some expected, and Seton Hall transfer Sterling Gibbs hasn’t performed up to expectations, shooting just 39 percent from the field.

And now questions are starting to pop up about Kevin Ollie, who missed the NCAA Tournament last year with his own recruits and hasn’t done much better with them this year, either, after winning it all with Jim Calhoun’s players in 2013-14.

http://nypost.com/2016/02/14/what-happened-to-these-college-hoops-powerhouses/

Let's pick these apart one at a time, factually.

"Barring a collapse, UConn is going to reach the NCAA Tournament."
Yep.

"supposed to result in a Sweet 16 and potentially a Final Four"
This is right in line with the expectations of this board coming into the year.

"Both are very unlikely, if not improbably considering how underwhelming the Huskies (18-7, 8-4) have been, losing to Temple twice and Tulsa."
Might be a little premature, but not outlandish to say a S16 is unlikely, considering we'll probably have to go through a #1 or #2 seed. A FF would take even more. At this point I'd say a 20% chance of a S16 and a 5% chance of a FF.

"The biggest issue for Connecticut — ranked 20th in the preseason Associated Press poll — has been its play inside. "
I don't think this is correct. The biggest issue has been the lack of PG leadership, but this is more of the "why" part of the article than the "what".

"Big men Amida Brimah and Kentan Facey just haven’t developed."
Ignorantly glosses over the fact that Brimah was out for 2 months, so there are extenuating circumstances. But the overall assertion isn't far off.

"Freshmen Jalen Adams and Steven Enoch haven’t made the impact some expected"
Kind of silly to lump these two together. Adams was somewhat of a disappointment for the first few months, coming along more slowly than we (or KO) expected. He's been generally good the last few weeks though. Enoch was never supposed to have an impact this year.

"Seton Hall transfer Sterling Gibbs hasn’t performed up to expectations, shooting just 39 percent from the field."
Again, the overall statement is correct, but it's not his shooting that's been the problem. It's been the fact that he's not a point guard, can't break anyone down off the dribble, can't handle late-clock situations, and struggles to finish at the rim. In fact, spot-up shooting is the one thing he's been pretty good at, and should do more of.

"And now questions are starting to pop up about Kevin Ollie, who missed the NCAA Tournament last year with his own recruits and hasn’t done much better with them this year, either, after winning it all with Jim Calhoun’s players in 2013-14."
Again ignores extenuating circumstances, where most of "his recruits" were brought in during a period where we were hurt by restrictions. As I've said elsewhere, he needs 2 more years to show what he really can do with "his recruits". We shouldn't render our final judgment on him for underachieving with the Phils Nolans, Kentan Faceys, and Terrence Samuels of the world.

Overall, it's hard to argue with the "what" of the blurb -- we have been disappointing this year relative to expectations. But the "why" is usually off, and a lot of mitigating factors are completely ignored.

 

[OkaForPrez]

The issue is context. When all of the traditional powers that be in college basketball have a half dozen losses, spotlighting a few of them doesn't tell the story. UConn's metrics still have them top 25 in the country.

 

[UconnFanNVa]

Wait, they called us a powerhouse??!?!?!? YEESSSS!!!!!

 

[Gurleyman]

I've said this often, but I just don't like credit being taken away from KO for the title. He was on the staff for everyone's entire career at UConn, took over a team of scraps after a mass exodus, and built it up. Don't care who Bazz originally was recruited by - KO won with his own team.

 

[huskyharry]

I've said this often, but I just don't like credit being taken away from KO for the title. He was on the staff for everyone's entire career at UConn, took over a team of scraps after a mass exodus, and built it up. Don't care who Bazz originally was recruited by - KO won with his own team.

Absolutely! The rhetoric that Ollie only won with the tremendous talent left over from JC is just garbage. The only NBA player on the 2014 team is Bazz and he struggles to find minutes as a 2nd to 3rd string point guard. That type of talent resume is rare for an NCAA champion.

 

[caw]

Let's pick these apart one at a time, factually.

"Barring a collapse, UConn is going to reach the NCAA Tournament."
Yep.

"supposed to result in a Sweet 16 and potentially a Final Four"
This is right in line with the expectations of this board coming into the year.

"Both are very unlikely, if not improbably considering how underwhelming the Huskies (18-7, 8-4) have been, losing to Temple twice and Tulsa."
Might be a little premature, but not outlandish to say a S16 is unlikely, considering we'll probably have to go through a #1 or #2 seed. A FF would take even more. At this point I'd say a 20% chance of a S16 and a 5% chance of a FF.

"The biggest issue for Connecticut — ranked 20th in the preseason Associated Press poll — has been its play inside. "
I don't think this is correct. The biggest issue has been the lack of PG leadership, but this is more of the "why" part of the article than the "what".

"Big men Amida Brimah and Kentan Facey just haven’t developed."
Ignorantly glosses over the fact that Brimah was out for 2 months, so there are extenuating circumstances. But the overall assertion isn't far off.

"Freshmen Jalen Adams and Steven Enoch haven’t made the impact some expected"
Kind of silly to lump these two together. Adams was somewhat of a disappointment for the first few months, coming along more slowly than we (or KO) expected. He's been generally good the last few weeks though. Enoch was never supposed to have an impact this year.

"Seton Hall transfer Sterling Gibbs hasn’t performed up to expectations, shooting just 39 percent from the field."
Again, the overall statement is correct, but it's not his shooting that's been the problem. It's been the fact that he's not a point guard, can't break anyone down off the dribble, can't handle late-clock situations, and struggles to finish at the rim. In fact, spot-up shooting is the one thing he's been pretty good at, and should do more of.

"And now questions are starting to pop up about Kevin Ollie, who missed the NCAA Tournament last year with his own recruits and hasn’t done much better with them this year, either, after winning it all with Jim Calhoun’s players in 2013-14."
Again ignores extenuating circumstances, where most of "his recruits" were brought in during a period where we were hurt by restrictions. As I've said elsewhere, he needs 2 more years to show what he really can do with "his recruits". We shouldn't render our final judgment on him for underachieving with the Phils Nolans, Kentan Faceys, and Terrence Samuels of the world.

Overall, it's hard to argue with the "what" of the blurb -- we have been disappointing this year relative to expectations. But the "why" is usually off, and a lot of mitigating factors are completely ignored.

It should also be noted that Nolan has actually played fairly well since Brimah got injured.

Ollie's recruits were almost all freshman and sophomores last year if you are only counting those he recruited as full head coach. It's absurd to argue he doesn't deserve credit for winning it all because those weren't his recruits then argue he deserves blame while still having mostly Calhouns recruits.

You can argue next year will be the first Ollie will be coaching solely his recruits considering he wasn't named head coach until the fall so he wasn't recruiting the Calhoun/Nolan class as named head coach.

 

[7774]

I've said this often, but I just don't like credit being taken away from KO for the title. He was on the staff for everyone's entire career at UConn, took over a team of scraps after a mass exodus, and built it up. Don't care who Bazz originally was recruited by - KO won with his own team.

Hey man, when you have the likes of Tyler Olander and Niels Giffey on your roster, you only need to roll the balls out.

 

[bballgrda]

Hey man, when you have the likes of Tyler Olander and Niels Giffey on your roster, you only need to roll the balls out.

I don't think it is fair to Giffey to group him w/ Olander.