SMH ! ...Thankfully KO saved those 2 schollies this year and made sure he had 1 for the walk-on Mike Noyes !
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- Thread starter the Blades
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I have never seen a season like this with injuries and I have been following UConn since the late 1970s. It's a big part of what the problem is with this team.
I hate to bring this up, but I wouldn't be surprised if one or more of Diarra/Gilbert/Larrier/Durham are among the perennially injured. The Gilbert and Larrier injuries required surgery, and that's never a sure thing. I still don't know how Durham feels about his knees, and to have had both of them blow out at such a young age is tough. Diarra's knew are a total mystery, and I find it hard to believe that the first time this issue appeared was shortly after he arrived on campus. It sounds to me like something that is always going to be problematic.
It's amazing that they bring in 6 new players and 4 are either out for the season or damaged by injuries, one is now in concussion protocol and the other one coming off a hospitalization for illness. 3 of these guys had known injury histories and Ollie rolled the dice on them. That dice roll remains in play and the roll is not over. Sometimes in recruiting you do roll the dice.
But some of the fans want to win now as we have seen from some of the posts. The UConn fans are like Yankees baseball fans they are used to playoffs and winning and they want that every year. Like UConn the Yankees have brought in a wave of new players who will be making their mark in the majors in the next few years, Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird starting this year. You have to be excited to watch young players grow. And be patient.
But some of the fans want to win now as we have seen from some of the posts. The UConn fans are like Yankees baseball fans they are used to playoffs and winning and they want that every year. Like UConn the Yankees have brought in a wave of new players who will be making their mark in the majors in the next few years, Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird starting this year. You have to be excited to watch young players grow. And be patient.
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Not the same as every knows, you don't get core guys in CBB like in MLB where you have em' for 7 years or on long term FA contracts (unless you trade em'). Any elite CBB program who's worth their weight knows that you never rebuild, you have to reload. ( see any of the Blue bloods). Especially when a decent player can be gone in a couple of years and become first round picks( at least that they way it used to be around here- see D-Ham gone to the D-league with no contract). Regarding the injury history of the 3, that's on KO. He risked it on them which was kind of foolish especially when two of em' had 2 separate surgeries b4 they got here and one was talked about as a redshirt. Can't go into a season with 8 healthy bodies. But because of the injuries KO'll get a free pass on all the other warts this team had right from the start..... though maybe he should because it certainly had an effect...... but you can't look at the injuries alone in a vacuum, with all the other glaring flaws for guys who should play smarter and tougher.
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Blades you are correct that the Yankees will get to control most of their young talent for around 7 years which makes MLB different but my comparison was mainly as a fan you to see young talent and watch it develop into something. Yankees have a legion of young talent which will ripen in the next 1-4 years and it's that process that forms the basis of my comparison. UConn has a shorter period of time to get players developed and then they have to reload.
One of the players with known injuries referred to hasn't reinjured the knee this year but rather had a minor injury. He is a very talented 6'11'' young player who has the potential to develop into a star. The way I count only one had a history of injury who didn't play this year, Gilbert who injured his shoulder similar to Ricky Moore in his freshman year and I believe had one surgery between high school and UCONN. He has the potential to be the franchise type point guard that has carried UCONN to three national championships. You don't want UCONN to take this kids! Larrier and Diarra do not have an injury history that I am aware of. Diarra in particular is a victim of the AAU age when one sport is non stop for young kids still growing and the body does not have a chance to rest and recuperate. Being very familiar with shoulder injuries I expect Gilbert back and 100% by June. Larrier will be back but may take him into the winter to be 100%. Diarra is the one I worry the most about.
You misread what I posted.... the point is KO banked 2 schollies this year for no reason and gave one to a useless walk-on that he can't use..... of course I wanted Gilbert for all the reasons above and I still expect him to be a great player..but there were red flags ( Durham was a red shirt question mark too until right before the season started and doesn't look at full strength)...if there was any season you need to use your 13 it was this year... they aren't on any type of sanction limits last I checked.... depth was going to be an issue and has been. And remember he nearly didn't get Vital who was committed to UNLV then was down to Ville and Uconn.... how would that have been ? ..... what was KO saving them for ? Hoping Diallo would save him mid-season ? how did that work out ? Not bringing in 13 scholly players..... grad, Juco or other wise turned out to be a massive fail with alot of question marks... The moral of the story is if you have em' ...use em' .
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On paper it looked like one of the deepest UConn teams in recent memory before the injuries struck...I am sure the coaching staff never envisioned this happening.
Why not it was well documented ? ..... 2 guys coming off surgeries before the season even started, puts you down to 9 with any setbacks and no room for anything else to go wrong?.... ...PS actually Durham hadn't played since his junior year in HS but because of others injuries KO was forced to use him, when a redshirt would have served him well.
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With regard to holding scholarships I suspect that one of them was held for Diallo as it seems the kid mislead UCONN. He eventually decided to not finish the year in high school, and probably was communicating that uncertainty to Ollie all along. If he decided to flip to 2017 in Aug and UCONN had no scholarships open what would you be saying then? The other most likely held for 18 if the conclusion is that the remaining kids available could not play at UCONN's level. Hindsight is a great advantage you can never be wrong.
Well nice comeback TRU but we'll have to agree to disagree. I gave you the injury facts and you're throwing out some of your own guess work, not facts regarding 2018 players ( but Noyes on scholly can?) and your own guess work on Diallo who by the way is also not playing in 2017. But this is not a new conversation, I could dig it up from threads last spring about Uconn being shorthanded especially in the back court( Cassell transferred out, Purvis was a ?) for this season unless everything fell right. KO neither recruited for it or was prepared for it. Then we add in the new 7 day concussion protocol that you have to be prepared for in this day and age with the pussifacation and legal nonsense going on in sports and we have what we have......a depleted bench and the perfect excuse for a coach who isn't living up to his $3 mil a year contract.
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Well in hindsight, it of course looks dumb not to have used the full allotment of schollies, but the real question is who could they have been used on? Maybe there was only dogshit out there, not much better than Noyes. Then everyone would be screaming, "WTF! Why was the scholly wasted on that stiff!" The team did look pretty deep on paper but this season, which has unfolded unlike any other that I have seen, has totally tested the roster depth and taught lessons about using all available scholies, lessons that never had to be learned previously. And I agree that there has been a sissification of rules in football and baseball as well as basketball. So in the future Ollie and other coaches will need to learn from these painful lessons. I honestly believe that if the schollies had been used, they would have been used on guys marginally more talented than Noyes and then if there had been no injuries there would be a chorus of "WTF! Why was that scholly not saved for someone better!!!!!"
I hear ya KSTW, lot of if's, but I think you might have been part of the conversation in the spring, if UNLV doesn't fire their coach then Vital (committed to them) is not here or if he chooses Louisville to play behind Mitchell and Purvis doesn't come back, KO had no plan whatsoever.... with Adams and Gilbert (surgery in April) as his only completely committed guards in the spring....So the question remains is why wasn't he prepared for that situation ?....because it clear as day that he wasn't . And in this present day and age of guys transferring out or leaving for what ever reason if the best you can excuse him with is a hypothetical " "WTF! Why was the scholly wasted on that stiff!" " then I think that's one more thing on KO for being caught with his pants down in the spring. And for not having at least some decent targets in place...... who could transfer out after a year or two if they didn't meet the" WTF" strawman's expectations..... like they have.....see Cassell, Samuels...
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