Wow. Kevin Ollie.

[BoatShow]

5 losses already

 

[UC990411]

I have heard some things from players deep on the bench over the last two years that were surprising to me but could play a role in what you mention. I won't air it out in a public forum but if you want to know send me PM.

This is scary, do you even know these walk ons?

 

[3rdbass]

I have heard some things from players deep on the bench over the last two years that were surprising to me but could play a role in what you mention. I won't air it out in a public forum but if you want to know send me PM.

I'm sure you are referring to his divorce? As that seems to coincide with downward spiral of emotion and zest for the game.

 

[JimHurley]

We just don't have any inside game and that makes us easy to defend. Disagree with those who say this team doesn't play hard. They play plenty hard enough but too often they get stuck on the perimeter and launching 3's. We win this game if Hamilton drives more and puts up his floaters in the lane instead of launching outside shots. Also Rodney is still inconsistent and Adams is playing tentative.
We may look terrible but we are early in the conference schedule and there is still plenty of time. One more thing: Ollie has to get off his rear and coach like he did in the championship season. Remember when he would actually get in a defensive stance and run up and down the sideline? Sitting on the bench with the whining look doesn't look encouraging.

We were the same way in 2011 and 2014. No big men but great guards and we still won the NC. The problem with this team is there's no leader.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I can't understand why Ollie is always just sitting in his chair. Haith, for example, was standing and engaged in the game the whole time. Ollie just sits there with that befuddled look, and doesn't have nearly the same fire I remember from a couple years ago. This team is beyond frustrating to watch.

In fairness, Haith was standing because he sold his chair for cash.

 

[hardcorehusky]

The pick and roll offense doesn't work against a zone. We look lost against a zone, and we don't up tempo (taking the ball to the hoop, not hoist 3's) to take advantage of our athleticism. Not pressing either in order to get turnovers and get into transition. It is ugly and the players look lost.

time to press, speed up the game and go to the basket!!

 

[InKembaITrust]

This one of those "bumpable" threads. I hate how the team played vs Tulsa but calling for kos head ? Yeah sure fishy. This is a process, do people not realize our defensive anchor is injured ? Yeah let's fire Ollie lmao

Hello our defense was fine tonight, it's the offense that looks absolutely horrendous.

 

[superjohn]

I can't read this whole thread, so sorry if it's repetitive. I'm trying not to use hindsight, but Manuel was put in the practical position of having to hire KO when the program needed the benefit of a national search and we were still in the BE at the time. We all love KO. But two things came together that gave him a pass against what has been a constant lack of consistency on both sides of the court. The first pass was we weren't tourney eligible and we were not horrible. The second was winning the NC despite a very inconsistent year, masked by Brimah's heroics in game one or else there were no achievements in his favor. Granted, the team played well the rest of the tournament, especially on D and Napier was heroic. But the inconsistency has been the overall feature.

I can't understand how a team with almost every bench coach having been a guard and a head coach can be so awful on O and no clue how to attack a zone. Pointing out his lack of activity on the bench misses the main point. Jim Calhoun lived off of his strong personality and his team rarely played beautiful basketball. Having one of his people come in to a system that no longer had his intensity and then didn't have smart execution is showing up. Obviously I want KO to succeed, but UConn's success comes first. Now we are a mediocre team in a mediocre league. If KO can't at least keep us near the top of the league, and he isn't retained after the next year or so, a national search probably won't get the ready quality possible after JC left and the bloom will be off our attractiveness as a program. I hope the ship gets righted so we don't get into that situation.

Sorry but this post is stupid. Ollie is doing a terrible job this year and you can also blame him for last year if you want but his first year we were a tournament team that had some huge wins and could have made some noise if we weren't banned, his next season he won the title taking out a who's who of big time coaching. Bash him all you want for the last two seasons, I'll join you but you sound ridiculous talking about his first two seasons.

 

[3rdbass]

We also really suffer from a lack of offense from the post positions. Nolan/Facey/Brimah/Enoch aren't true offensive threats in the post although Brimah has improved in this area and Facey can make that jumper. Hard to draw something up for any of these guys when theres no real confidence from anyone that they'll make the right play with it.

Would like to see Purvis/Hamilton in ball screens with Miller, and Brimah on the opposite block with Calhoun in the strong side corner. Lots of options and I trust Hamilton's passing ability and/or Purvis' driving ability in that situation.

We have as much inside offense or more than we had in 2014 when we won it with DD. SM is definitely doable in the post as he showed against a bigger Memphis team. Problem is we are consistently running our offense inside out which we need to do to keep the defense honest. This will also open up cleaner inside shots for SM.

 

[Justin M]

There is a reason they call Ollie a players coach. How about against Memphis, under 5 seconds left, Gibbs makes 2 free throws to make it a 3 point game. Memphis, who has no timeouts, has to drive the ball the length of the floor with no timeouts and hit a 3 to tie, and KO calls a timeout and allows them to set up a play!! Just bad coaching.

The only true PG on this team this team is Adams, allow Gibbs and Purvis to play on the wings, slash and drive. DHam can play that foul line area he loves and creates and let Shonn play on the blocks. Shooting 30% in a game isn't a matter of not hitting shots. Its a matter of shooting bad shots, which you're forced to take when you can't run a half court offense.

 

[BUConn10]

I keep hearing this "only true PG on this team is Adams" thing, but the truth is that even Adams is not a "true" point guard by fundamental basketball standards. He is a textbook scoring combo guard.

 

[Stainmaster]

I keep hearing this "only true PG on this team is Adams" thing, but the truth is that even Adams is not a "true" point guard by fundamental basketball standards.

The announcers kept referring to him as a "pass-first point guard". Normally I don't care about who calls our games, but can they at least make an effort to scout us? Maybe watch 10-15 minutes of tape?

 

[SouthBayHusky]

This one of those "bumpable" threads. I hate how the team played vs Tulsa but calling for kos head ? Yeah sure fishy. This is a process, do people not realize our defensive anchor is injured ? Yeah let's fire Ollie lmao

I don't know about let's fire Ollie, but I do know people are incredibly disappointed that his coaching has declined the past 1 1/2 years. You don't need Brimah to beat Tulane, Temple or Tulsa; especially with five star athletes like Daniel Hamilton, Rodney Purvis, Jalen Adams and a bevy of talented upperclassman and transfers. Instead, you need good in game coaching, you need to motivate your players with the kind of energy you demand on the sidelines, you need to correct player issues, and most of all your face cannot share the same frustrated faces your players make when they miss shots. Ollie needs to be a leader and a voice of inspiration, confidence and motivation for his players consistently. Yes, premature calls for his firing are misplaced, however this pattern has got to change before it's too late, and this season may already be gone in terms of making the NCAA tournament. I'm not saying this team can't go on and massive run and turn things around but right now it doesn't look good.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I keep hearing this "only true PG on this team is Adams" thing, but the truth is that even Adams is not a "true" point guard by fundamental basketball standards.

This was not a secret coming in either. He's always been a scoring guard. I don't know where this "true point guard" thing is coming from.

 

[3rdbass]

This was not a secret coming in either. He's always been a scoring guard. I don't know where this "true point guard" thing is coming from.

Probably because he is the only guard who can break his man off the dribble and drive to the basket.

 

[CTBasketball]

This was not a secret coming in either. He's always been a scoring guard. I don't know where this "true point guard" thing is coming from.

You can pretty much bank on any highly touted PG coming into to be a score-first, pass later guard. That's how you get into the NBA - they assume anyone can pass.

 

[Justin M]

I keep hearing this "only true PG on this team is Adams" thing, but the truth is that even Adams is not a "true" point guard by fundamental basketball standards.

Clarification....the only player who can somewhat initiate the offense and run the point effectively is Adams

 

[CTBasketball]

Clarification....the only player who can somewhat initiate the offense and run the point effectively is Adams

I think you mean Jalen is the only one who can drive and dish successfully half the time.

 

[HuskyCLT]

To the point made earlier about Ollie being described as a positive coach who is always encouraging and buddies with his players... How much more does it suck that Ollie publicly puts so much of the losses solely on his players? I mean, he has to be losing the players at some point over this stuff. He needs to publicly take accountability for his mistakes if he makes them. The most egregious one was the Maryland paper-flinging technical that he brushed off. If I'm a player on that team, there's no way I'm not disheartened by the way he's been acting. If we can see it from our television sets, the players can see it too. The players give their effort every time they play, but it has to take a toll on them with the way Ollie just hasn't seemed to be totally "there."

 

[Stainmaster]

Clarification....the only player who can somewhat initiate the offense and run the point effectively is Adams

When did you see Adams set any of his teammates up? He made a couple of nice floaters but I didn't see him do anything notable from a distributor's standpoint at all.

 

[3rdbass]

When did you see Adams set any of his teammates up? He made a couple of nice floaters but I didn't see him do anything notable from a distributor's standpoint at all.

He set up Kelis Fisher for a nice basket.

 

[CTBasketball]

Have a goodnight, all. And to all the hyper-aggressive "I only come out after a bad loss, posters" have a good night as well. Take a swig of tequila for me before you go to bed. It'll help.

 

[Justin M]

When did you see Adams set any of his teammates up? He made a couple of nice floaters but I didn't see him do anything notable from a distributor's standpoint at all.

Not just about setting his teammates up, he moves the ball around the perimeter effectively and passes the ball ahead on the break.... A lot of our guys love pounding the ball into the floor for 25 seconds then throwing up a fadeaway

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Jalen's just the kid who gets the anti-Brimah treatment this year. Probably because Gibbs is not the PG some on here expected him to be, they project a ton of ___ onto Jalen that's not there right now.

 

[Mr. French]

Hes the only "true" PG in that he utilizes PG skills in the games...which Gibbs and Purvis don't, namely attacking and having the option to dish/score. He's not a "true" PG in that he's a scorer/slasher but he he is a PG, not a SG.

And as for Ollie, again I'm not defending his poor coaching recently, except to say that when we stand around and dribble then hoist up bad shots...ANY offense can be that way if that's all the players do.

I can't sit here and say he tells them to play the way they do on O, with very little attacking dribble movements. If his offense is set up to attack at given spots, and all the players are either too reticent to do so or too afraid of turning ot over or whatever...thats what you get.

It's not like most offenses are set plays. They are offenses. At this level he can't tell each player each movement, he has to coach them on when and how to attack it properly. In 2014 he did that, clearly. So is it a matter of these players not being as good, not being as willing, not understanding the game?

His role is to get that out of them, so it doesn't clear him of blame. But people I think are going too far blaming the entirety of the stagnation on him.

He has to push some different buttons, clearly. But it's on these guards to take ownership and start playing with some toughness and leadership, and dare I say, basketball IQ.

 

[gtcam]

He set up Kelis Fisher for a nice basket.

Yes he did but 1 does not make one a point guard
This team cries out loud for a REAL point guard - KEA, Kemba, Rick Moore, T Brown, Bazz, AJ - where are you?????
Hell. I'll even take a D Beverley - at least he took it to the hoop

 

[3rdbass]

Yes he did but 1 does not make one a point guard
This team cries out loud for a REAL point guard - KEA, Kemba, Rick Moore, T Brown, Bazz, AJ - where are you?????

I never said he was a great Pt guard. He obviously is more of a combo guard who can take his man off the dribble. I still think the best line up is starting SG, JA, RP, DHAM and SM. It gives us the best chance to win games.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

"Adams is a combination guard that thinks scoring first." First sentence of his ESPN recruiting evaluation.

 

[boog204]

The pick and roll offense doesn't work against a zone. We look lost against a zone, and we don't up tempo (taking the ball to the hoop, not hoist 3's) to take advantage of our athleticism. Not pressing either in order to get turnovers and get into transition. It is ugly and the players look lost.

time to press, speed up the game and go to the basket!!

We (nor really anyone besides VCU) have pressed in like 600 years. It's not going to happen. Some miraculous turnover inducing crazed trap is not going to just materialize and compensate for our dumpster fire offense. Teams that press today generally get picked apart in 8 seconds.

The vaunted UConn press was really only a factor for two years before teams scouted it and figured it out. After that, our press was used to control pace and tempo. Then JC took it away for good around 09.

 

[3rdbass]

Another problem we have this year is there is really no bench to speak of. I mean at the beginning of the year there was so much hope for Omar , SC jr. and JA and even SE. Though JA has been alright none of them have been effective enough to be counted on game in and game out. Problem is we need to give JA more minutes as our offense is best when we have options.