What will be the difference in style of play next year?

[Palatine]

JC ran a motion offense. Looked to force the ball inside. Wanted one-on-ones.

On defense, zone was a dirty word. He would play man-to-man 95+% of the time. Ran a little 2-2-1 press after a make.

He had other styles in the past. He had the suicidal press that looked to get the first good shot on offense. He ran the fast break even after a make. The four-second offense.

Ollie? Any guesses, educated or otherwise?

 

[dapriest]

Well, I think we can get a really good idea of which offensive scheme Ollie will run by looking at what Ollie did with previous teams he coached.

With that in mind, Ill jump right to what I'd love to see in the next offense.

I'd like to see something that doesn't involve our guards dribbling around for the lion's share of the shot clock and then trying to create something in the last 5 seconds. Set plays. Pick and rolls, with well executed picks. Screens. Back door cuts. And so on. I'd like to see Napier shoot more set 3 point shots earlier in the clock, and fewer heaves from 5 feet behind the line later in the clock. I'd like to see anybody receive a pass in the post and execute a move that looks like a move that was practiced.


Sometimes over the last few seasons it has felt to me like the team only halfheartedly ran plays or didn't run plays at all. I'd like to not have that feeling.

As sad as it was to see Alex go, I WILL NOT miss his stumbling through the lane attempt at a back-to-the-basket game.

Oh yeah. And run. I want to see us run. And perhaps press. I want Ollie to implement the strategy upon which JC built the program, to wit:

We can win with less talent if we work harder than them.​

That's UConn basketball, and we need to return to that.

 

[EricLA]

Assuming that KO is the permanent head coach, I think it will take a little time to establish and teach whatever kind of offense/defense he wants to see. He has kids who have already been in the program under JC's tutelage, so in a way, all the kids now are "freshmen" (in that they are all brand new to Ollie - obviously they are stronger and better than when they were true freshmen)...

As the above poster said, I'd love to see more team oriented offense. Yeah I get that the NBA is filled with 1 on 1 players and kids often need to be great at that to succeed at the next level, and the motion offense is great, but not when it's your PG dribbling the ball around the perimeter for 30 seconds of the shot clock. It's Ollie's chance to try things that are new (to UCONN) and more modern in the approach to how an efficient offense should work. He will get a chance to mix and match based on the players he has.

I think it's pretty clear to most that UCONN's strength this year will be in the back court and possibly on the wings. So an offense that takes the most advantage of the strengths and masks the weaknesses. A strategy of "imposing our will" on the other team will simply not work this year. I'd love for him as a HC to be a real student of the game and take all his years of experience in the NBA and look at what worked vs. what didn't and use that to help the team to be as good as they can be.

Obviously KO's more talented than I since he's the HC and I'm sitting here at my computer, but that doesn't mean we, as fans, aren't observant. And some UCONN fans are at least as smart as the yahoo's who call/analyze the games.

One last thing - given what I hope is Ollie's recruiting acumen, I hope he can win by working harder than other teams AND by having more talent than most.

 

[prankster]

JC ran a motion offense. Looked to force the ball inside. Wanted one-on-ones.

On defense, zone was a dirty word. He would play man-to-man 95+% of the time. Ran a little 2-2-1 press after a make.

He had other styles in the past. He had the suicidal press that looked to get the first good shot on offense. He ran the fast break even after a make. The four-second offense.

Ollie? Any guesses, educated or otherwise?

Does KO even know how to play zone?

 

[UConnSwag11]

man to man/press, have that stud who can take over a game, and run... run and run and run

 

[UConnSwag11]

Does KO even know how to play zone?

i hope not, i dont think kids who want to go to the nba would come here if we play zone and ollie will know how to get them to the nba... look at lville and cuse

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

There will be a lot of running. Lots and lots of running. This group is gonna run like a pack of Forrest Gumps. Leakouts, end-to-end forays, quick hitters, drive and dish for threes. You name it, if it involves running, this team will do it.

Ryan Boatright is a blur with the ball, and it will be up to him to get the defense backpedaling to open up shots and drives for Napier, Calhoun, Daniels, Evans, Giffey, Tolksdorf, Nolan, and Olander. The more they try to slow it down and bang, the worse the scoreboard will look.