{"id":68551,"date":"2012-11-08T08:24:46","date_gmt":"2012-11-08T13:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=68551"},"modified":"2012-11-13T14:47:57","modified_gmt":"2012-11-13T19:47:57","slug":"ollie-expects-the-huskies-to-play-as-he-did-total-effort-all-of-the-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2012\/11\/ollie-expects-the-huskies-to-play-as-he-did-total-effort-all-of-the-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Ollie Expects the Huskies to Play As He Did: Total Effort All of the Time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Men's<\/a>
Men’s head basketball coach Kevin Ollie ’95 (CLAS) coaches from the sidelines. He\u00a0is looking for total effort from his team in practice as well as in games. (Bob Stowell ’70 (CLAS) for UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The question was put after a practice to Kevin Ollie \u201995 (CLAS), who enters his first season as head men\u2019s basketball coach and the successor to Hall of Fame Coach Jim Calhoun. Would he, the reporter inquired, be as quick to take a player out of the game for making an errant pass or taking a poor shot, as his predecessor?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I don\u2019t see a guy with effort, I\u2019ll have a real quick hook,\u201d Ollie replied. \u201cBut if I see a guy with effort and he makes a mistake honestly, I\u2019m going to let that go. If he continues to do the same mistake, then that\u2019s a problem. I\u2019ll go by feel. Trust me \u2013 if the guy is not playing with effort, I\u2019ll have a quick hook.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giving total effort in practice and in a game is how Ollie defied expectations as a student-athlete for Calhoun and then spent 13 nomadic years in the NBA playing for 11 different teams. His primary message to the 2012-2013 Huskies: \u201cYou can always play hard. That should not wane or waver.\u201d<\/p>\n

The season begins Friday at Ramstein Air Base in Germany against No. 14 Michigan State in the Armed Forces Classic (5:30 p.m. ESPN2 and UConn IMG Sports Network on 1080 WTIC).<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Huskies know their coach always gives 100 percent. (Bob Stowell ’70 (CLAS) for UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During practices, Ollie is on the court constantly talking to his team, urging them on with his positive messages. The team itself is vocal, communicating with each other, applauding good effort and shots made.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is the one always giving 100 percent. I feel every time I step on the court, I\u2019ve got to match his intensity,\u201d says junior forward Neils Giffey \u201914 (CLAS). \u201cHe\u2019s really showing us how to work hard. I know he worked hard during his whole career. I think that\u2019s what the whole team is buying into. Everybody respects him so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adds guard Shabazz Napier \u201915 (CLAS): \u201cCoach Ollie is the Energizer Bunny. He never stops. Coach Ollie is the guy who\u2019s going to work and work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ollie comes into his rookie coaching year with some advantages. He knows most of the players from having served as an assistant coach, had a hand in recruiting the newer student-athletes and they know him as well. He also has one of the most experienced coaching staffs in the nation, with assistants George Blaney, Glen Miller \u201986 (CLAS), and Karl Hobbs \u201984 (CLAS), who have been with the men\u2019s basketball program for many years \u2013 all have championship rings from UConn\u2019s NCAA titles, after serving as head coaches themselves.<\/p>\n

A major challenge for Ollie is the youth of the Huskies this season, a team consisting of three freshmen, four sophomores, three juniors, and a graduate student.\u00a0 Of the returning players, the most experienced are Napier, Giffey, and Ryan Boatright \u201915 (CLAS).<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The youth of this year’s Huskies is one of the challenges Ollie faces. Sophomore Ryan Boatright is among the most experienced of the returning players. (Bob Stowell ’70 (CLAS) for UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have some ups and downs like every team in America,\u201d Ollie said earlier this month. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be about how we take care of business when we\u2019re in those valleys. If you stick together and you play hard through those valleys, you\u2019ll overcome it. I\u2019m not going to say it\u2019s going to be perfect out there, because nothing\u2019s perfect. We\u2019ve still got a lot of work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Ollie\u2019s optimistic outlook seems to have already addressed the season\u2019s other major challenge: Motivating a team that cannot play in the postseason due to penalties imposed by the NCAA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got a lot of negative things that people have said about them,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think they\u2019re turning it into a positive. I think these guys are going to stay together, because that\u2019s who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to play 30 games like every other team in America,\u201d says Tyler Olander \u201914 (CLAS). \u201cWe have a lot to play for. We\u2019ve got a big game in Germany, the tournament in the Virgin Islands, and the [Big East] regular season championship that we can win. We\u2019re going to play every game like it\u2019s a championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

R.J. Evans, who transferred to UConn as a graduate student with a year of eligibility after playing at Holy Cross, says he is trying to provide the upperclassman leadership that the young Huskies need this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to be the guy who is always in the right spot at the right time so they have somebody to look up to,\u201d Evans says. \u201cI\u2019ve got to be the steady guy out there on the court, even through the mistakes. I\u2019ve got to pick up my team, be the leader, be vocal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ollie says Evans has demonstrated his commitment to help lead the Huskies from his first moments on the court in practice. \u201cHe\u2019s been wonderful. He\u2019s given us that rock when we needed it, that person in the locker room they can talk to,\u201d Ollie says. \u201cYou need the guy who will be the rock \u2013 those grind it out guys that you can hang your hat on every night. I know what I\u2019m going to get from R.J.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ollie<\/a>
Ollie says he wants his players to get better every day. (Bob Stowell ’70 (CLAS) for UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Huskies will not look all that much different than in the past when they play, Ollie says. They will play UConn basketball. They will run. They will rebound. What they may lack this season in size in the front court, they hope to make up by playing strong defense. Most of all, they will give effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I played, I wanted to have effort because I wasn\u2019t the most talented guy,\u201d Ollie says. \u201cBut with effort I knew I was going to get seen on the videotape [by the coaches]. That\u2019s what I want every day. I want us to get better every day, and then I want the players to show up and get their teammates better.\u201d<\/p>\n

After one of the last practices before the team headed to Germany for the 2012 opening game, Ollie was asked how he thought things were going. He smiled broadly, looking at the gaggle of media surrounding him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a rookie. I\u2019m learning as I go,\u201d he said. \u201cCoach Blaney says I\u2019m doing a good job. So I guess I\u2019m doing good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Head coach Kevin Ollie ’95 (CLAS) and the men’s basketball team open the season today in Germany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":68330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[55],"class_list":["post-68551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 07:50:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68551"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68776,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68551\/revisions\/68776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/68330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68551"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=68551"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=68551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}