We’re ignoring all of your coaching candidate questions while we sort through resumes. In the meantime, here’s a supersized dose of mailbag.
Remember: If your question wasn’t answered or you’ve been living under a rock and are just hearing about this, you can submit your questions here or on Twitter (@ADimeBack).
Kory asks: At the end of the season, realistically, how long do you think ADDB takes on the Ollie decision?
Whatever Benedict’s decision is, it needs to happen fast. In fact at this point, when 1-2 extra wins down the stretch isn’t going to make a difference anyway, he should make that decision right now. He doesn’t have to announce it publicly, but he should know. And if it involves letting Ollie go and negotiating an agreement to lower his buyout (like Jeff Goodman suggested might happen), Benedict needs to get those wheels in motion. There’s a reason why the coaching carousel is mostly active during the earliest part of the offseason: colleges want to have their staffs in place before the summer recruiting season heats up. The first live period is typically within two weeks of the Final Four. Ideally, UConn has a head coach by that point, whether it’s Ollie or not.
GW asks: % chance that KO, Akinjo, Jalen and Larrier are all Huskies next season.
2.4 percent. My thoughts on Adams and Larrier are on the record at this point. I think both are gone because there’s not a whole lot of upside for either in coming back (odds Larrier leaves are higher than Jalen). There’s also a fairly high chance that Ollie gets fired (I’ll say 44%) in which case I don’t think Akinjo comes across the country. Put another way, it’s far more likely that you see none of those guys at UConn next year than all three.
Bill says: if your coach leaves you should be able to leave as well. I’ll never forget the “Maryland thing”
This was in reply to a tweet we sent pointing out some Randy Edsall hypocrisy. Not only should players absolutely be able to go wherever the hell they want if their coach leaves, they should be able to go wherever the hell they want regardless because they’re unpaid college students. I threw this in the mailbag because I wanted to say in “print” that if players are forced to sit out a year when switching schools, coaches should be too. If Randy Edsall wants to slip off in the middle of the night to go to Maryland, he should have to sit in the stands and watch some assistant coach the team for a full season until he becomes eligible to stand on the sidelines again. If we’re all going to pretend like the system isn’t arbitrary and absolutely idiotic, let’s at least be consistent.
— Tyler
Kelly asks: Let’s be optimistic and look ahead. What are the expectations if this is UConn’s roster next year? Adams, Vital, Whaley, Carlton, Gilbert, Akinjo, Wilson, Diarra, Polley, Matthews, Kisunas, Kwintin, grad transfer (preferably a shooter).
Not sure if it’s intentional or an oversight but I’m amused that your optimistic roster doesn’t have Larrier on it. The group above has a decent chance to win 20 games! Of course that’s assuming [inhales for 100 straight minutes] Adams improves his three-point shooting, Carlton and Whaley/Diarra improve enough to become starter-caliber players in the conference, Gilbert’s shoulder doesn’t explode, someone (anyone???) other than Vital can shoot threes, Wilson can play high-caliber defense right away, the group of guards quickly settles into roles and can coexist together, the coaching staff can somehow invent a DI offensive scheme, the coaching staff can get the defense back to the level it was a few seasons ago, the coaching staff doesn’t sabotage the roster by employing crazy rotations that give inferior players far too many minutes and they get some old fashioned good luck. Optimism!
— Tyler
Danny asks: I’m beginning to think that UConn men’s basketball may not win this years national championship. Am I being irrational?
Yes and you’re harming the program. What if recruits are reading your mind?
— Tyler
Puneet asks: What tourney do we have a better chance of winning, AAC men’s basketball or Hockey East?
In hockey, the goal is to make the flat ball go into the tiny soccer goal. Now that I’ve proved I’m an expert, I will say men’s basketball because I’m not a lame ass pessimist. Remember how UConn was truly terrible last year and essentially beat Cincinnati at basketball in the AAC tourney (unfortunately they did not beat Cincy in “having the refs determine the outcome of the game.”)? The league is terrible and it wouldn’t surprise me if a UConn team that doesn’t live up to our standards still beats the 1.5 good teams necessary to grab a tournament title in the next few years. Hockey is played on ice.
[Update: hockey literally just won on a dope OT goal, so maybe hockey.]
— Tyler
