The Connecticut Huskies women's basketball program won its 105th straight basketball game today, claiming a victory in their conference's playoffs. They'll be a No. 1 seed in the women's March Madness tournament that is to come later this month. On the men's side of things, Kevin Ollie certainly doesn't have his Huskies primed for an NCAA run. People could start asking what's going on, as UCONN men's basketball simply didn't have losing season's during the Jim Calhoun era, at least not after the first season.
Re-capping Jim Calhoun's UCONN career
Jim Calhoun retired from NCAA coaching at the end of the 2011/12 season. He had first assumed the position of head coach in 1986/87, a season that saw his team go just 9-19 overall. It would be the only losing season that the Connecticut Huskies would have under his leadership. A big part of that would have had to do with recruiting. When you take over as the head coach of a basketball program at the NCAA level, for better or worse, you inherit the players that the previous coach recruited. It takes a full four years before the previous coach's recruits disappear from your roster - again, for better or worse.
After the losing 86/87 season, Calhoun would go 20-14 to win the NIT Championship in 1988.
Two years later Connecticut had what was to become the Dream Season in Huskies' lore, a season where UCONN broke onto the national scene and captivated college basketball fans. It's best remembered for Tate George's turn-around buzzer beater in the Sweet 16 of the 1990 NCAA tournament. Known as "The Shot" to UCONN fans, the play still makes the list for a lot of NCAA basketball buzzer beaters despite the passage of 27 years.
Before he was done, Calhoun would have won three national championships from 1999, 2004, and 2011. His recruits were distinguished and included Ray Allen, Donyell Marshall, Richard Hamilton, Caron Butler, Emeka Okafor, Rudy Gay, Kemba Walker, and a host of other college players that would play in the NBA. Kevin Ollie was a standout guard at UCONN during the Ray Allen era, a time frame that was disappointing for Connecticut fans as the Huskies flirted with making the Final Four, but never did until the 1999 championship years later.
Kevin Ollie and the 2014 title
I think a lot of people would defend Ollie's record at UCONN with one simple achievement. Ollie took over as head coach at the start of the 2012/13 season, a year that UCONN was ineligible for post-season play, and won a national title the following year with a 32-8 club that included Shabazz Napier. However, just as Calhoun's first season at UCONN was one where he inherited players from the previous coach, how much of the 2014 title should be attributed to Ollie's coaching and how much should be attributed to Calhoun's recruiting? The key players on the UCONN team were Napier, Niels Giffey, DeAndre Daniels, and Ryan Boatright, players that started with Connecticut near the end of Calhoun's coaching era.
UCONN didn't exactly have a front-to-back season in 2013/14. They entered the tournament as a 7 seed, barely survived the first round, and then Napier's point-guard leadership proved huge. Destiny turns on a dime and Connecticut came really close to a first-round exit in that year. They needed a three-point play to save their tournament life in the last minute of regulation in the first round. Ollie's conference championship in 2016 was like that as well: a three-quarter court heave saved the day. If not for a couple of plays, Ollie's coaching career could be without significant highlights.
But I think that Calhoun's recruiting is all over the 2014 title still. UCONN are in danger of finishing their season with a losing record for the first time since Calhoun's first year.
It looks like Ollie isn't good in that department as UCONN need a miracle conference-tourney run to get into the March Madness event.
It's a good thing Shabazz carried them to a title. Or else Kevin Ollie would be in deeep trouble https://t.co/n0AdUiHriN
— Will O'Hara (@willohara22) December 28, 2016