Kevin O'Neill needs to go. I am sick of this guy leading the Wildcats, and he was only in Tucson for one year. He lacked in some of the key areas that are essential to success in college basketball. For starters, he didn't talk to his assistant coaches. They were left for nothing. He didn't play the bench at all. And those of you who argue that the bench wasn't very talented, you're dead wrong. There were plenty of decent role players on that bench. O'Neill just wasn't a good leader for this team. I am very scared for my Wildcats, if O'Neill does take over in 2012 then there will be many long years ahead. O'Neill didn't do a horrible job, but it was just so frustrating to see this talented group of 'Cats get beat every week. This has been a very disappointing year.
You're right about the bench. Obviously there were no ultra-talented players there, but there were some solid role players. Fendi Onobun was more than capable of contributing (UCLA), yet we hardly ever saw him. Why not at least have Kirk Walters stand in the paint and try to get in the way of Kevin Love or the Lopez twins? Why the F did he pull Zane Johnson's redshirt only to have him ride the bench the entire season? You'd think that if you pull the kid's redshirt at least give him some PT to start his development a little bit? By not using the bench at all and by publicly calling them out as no good, KO did a lot of harm to the team.
Bottom line is KO was put in a tough situation and a lot of the Cats' struggles this year were put in place long before he took over the head coaching job, but he also proved that he is incapable of handling a program like Arizona and making the kind of sound decisions to keep the program at a top level. Thanks for the effort KO, but its time to find a nice assistant coaching job in the NBA.
Kevin O'Neil was placed into a situation which was completely unfair to him. The fact that he even made the tourney this year to keep the streak alive is commendable. O'Neil was brought in to do something that Lute Olson cant: teach defense! It was a brilliant move to bring a defensive minded coach to coincide with Olson's offensive style. Putting these two together actually works-the problem was that Olson wasnt around. In regards to the bench- Arizona had to have had by far one of the worst benches in College basketball this year. The first guard off the bench was Dillon, and the first big man was Walters...Need I say more?
I know Im going to get blasted for this but I have to admit that I think Lute Olson over the past few years has really lost his stuff. Being an alum of UofA (class of 2002), I watched first hand the efforst of Lute Olson. Im not sure anyone can say they do a better job in recruiting talent, but when it comes to "Xs and Os" of basketball I find myself constantly shaking my head when I watch the Cats. Case in point: the dreaded Illinois game in the tourney when the Cats blew the 15 point lead in 5 mins. Down by 1 Lute called a timeout and designed perhaps one of the worst plays. The cats barely got the inbounds in time and our best shooter, Salim Stoudamire didnt even get a look.
The offense this year was at times, painful to watch- their motion was pitiful and ineffective. - this is a product of Lute.
Conclusion: Lute is an outstanding recruiter who needs a guy like Kevin O'Neil to actually teach the game.
I couldn't agree more with you alkieob, it is nice to read someone that seems to have a grasp on the game of basketball. It is too bad that Doyle chose to write an article that had a bunch of heresay and little facts, and blast KO. Typical of him however and that is why sportsline keeps him around. Arizona will be fine when KO takes over that is for sure, but kids recruited to play soft will have a hard time playing for KO, not his fault. When he gets his people in there a final four will be soon to follow
What about Jamal Horn? That dude would have been even more effective than walters against stanford and ucla. Yeah Olson was never an X's and O's coach, he is a player's coach. He knows how to attract and foster talent. You guys complain about Oneill but do you want to go back to the 1-3-1 on defense (against teams like WSU)? Our guys are kind of prima donnas when it comes to defense so why not run the triangle and two, that can atleast cause some sort of problem for teams because our man to man and 1-3-1 packages don't give ANYONE any problem with scoring, and most of all we cannot rebound AT ALL in man to man.
Frankly, I'm glad that O'Neill wouldn't or didn't talk to the assistant coaches. They have never been impressive, certainly not even as players. O'Neill was right to take control of a group of hapless and over paid assistants.
ok azhutch if you say so. miles simon was a terrible college basketball player...and josh pastner knows nothing about coaching. who would you hire as your assistant? smurfette?
it's going to be good to have lute back to open up the offense again and good to have K.O. as an assistant to help on defense. hopefully they'll move back to some zone.
az can't run a set offense with jennings (if they want to use his potential). and jennings will get run over if he has to play man to man.
Jennings is the perfect fit for a motion offense. If you want to run a motion you have to have good guard play. I like the kid but lets just hope hes not another Mustafa Shakur.
