(01-20-2016 01:05 PM)Titans3775 Wrote: (01-20-2016 01:01 PM)HartfordHusky Wrote: (01-20-2016 12:25 PM)Titans3775 Wrote: I see so much of Pastner in Ollie. Great recruiter and great waster of talent. Without Shabazz what would people being saying of Ollie today? I really don't see him as being very good coach. The UConn-Memphis game he just sat idly on the sidelines while a bad Memphis team nearly pulled off the upset. UConn has so much talent on its roster right now and I know yall can't be happy with these past few years of results.
Considering we were banned in 2013, won it all in 2014, and missed the tourney in 2015, I'd say we're pretty happy with what he's done outside of last year, which we all expected to be somewhat of a down season. We'll see how the rest of this season plays out. Hopefully, we get Brimah back soon. Our local beat writer just took the fanbase to task this morning about being too hard on Ollie.
I feel like his in-game coaching is nearly none existent in the games that I have watched. I really feel like yall should be better with the amount of talent there right now. Just my observations though.
In 2014, he outcoached Izzo, Donovan, Hoiberg, Phil Martelli, Calipari, etc. He coached his butt off.
And the two recruiting classes UConn has been relying on were 2012 and 2013. These are our seniors and juniors.
They are Kentan Facey (backup PF), Omar Calhoun (great freshman year, but big injuries including hip surgery for 2 years in a row), and Terence Samuel (who transferred).
UConn essentially has a donut hole for 2 recruiting classes. Through its history UConn has always passed the baton from PG to PG. Chris Smith to Kevin Ollie to Khalid El-Amin to Taliek Brown to Marcus Williams to AJ Price to Kemba Walker to Shabazz Napier. Guess what? There was no baton passing after Shabazz left. Why? Because of various factors.
Loss of a Hall of Fame coach, a totally bogus APR probation which never should have happened, the dissolution of the strongest BBall conference in college history, and scholarship reductions that reduced the classes to one or two incoming players.
Terence Samuel would have been the PG to take over the reins, but (although he gave UConn huge helpful minutes in the 2013 tourney) he was a top 20 recruit, and he has since transferred out.
Jalen Adams is now the heir apparent, but he's never played with a great PG ahead of him. He actually looks great. Kemba Walker did not do much freshman year either. So UConn has high hopes here. But what's missing right now, despite the addition of Sterling Gibbs who has not settled into Ollie's offense, and who also prefers playing off guard, is a leader. Especially from the PG position. Someone who will run the offense.
Essentially, UConn is playing without a PG right now. Last year's team simply lost too much talent, including 2 players that went in the first 32 picks of the NBA draft, a couple big men, Giffey, etc.
And yet, despite all the negative stuff, the dissolution of the conference, Calhoun's retirement, the scholarship bans, the probation and postseason ban, they won 2 national championships in this era.
It really is absurd to say he does little with talent. 2013 he really coached them up and had them playing well. In 2014, he won a national championship with a team that was not the most talented in the land. In 2015, they lost a ton of top players and were not very talented. This year, they have been without a point guard and have been underwhelming so far, but they still have wins against Michigan, @Texas, Ohio State, and have Georgetown coming up this weekend.
By the way, if UConn had all its scholarships 4 years ago, they would have given one to a local player who used to attend a lot of UConn games. He was a Connecticut kid, best friends with Andre Drummond. Same prep school in Connecticut. Drummong got the last scholarship.
Kris Dunn went to Providence. He is now odds on favorite for National Player of the Year.
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UConn BBall starts off 2017 Class with a bang
