Ollie on title: ‘They gotta make us a blue blood now’

As the Uconn men’s basketball team celebrates its sixth national championship, former head coach Kevin Ollie is wrapping up the NBA season with the Brooklym Nets.

At this time 10 years ago, Ollie was atop the college basketball world as Uconn was celebrating its fourth title, and still the most improbable championship run in program history.

Ollie’s 2014 Uconn team embarked on a magical tournament run as a seven-seed, knocking out the likes of Villanova, Michigan State, Florida and Kentucky en route to a stirring national title. On Wednesday, Ollie praised the job Dan Hurley has done since taking over and entertained a thought experiment put to him on who would win a matchup between the ‘14 and ‘24 champs.

“We didn’t have the bigs like they have. We had two little guards that were ferocious, so that would’ve been a tough challenge for us,” Ollie told reporters in Brooklyn. “But Boatright and Shabazz playing up on their guards, it’d wreak some problems.”

“But that’s a hell of a team, this year and the past year, to win all those games by double figures and just run through the tournament. Coach Hurley’s done a marvelous job there at Uconn and our players and coaching staff, just wonderful. They gotta make us a blue blood now, they keep trying to keep us out. But like he said, we’ve been running this thing for 30 years and everybody knows it.”

Ollie is finishing up his time as interim head coach of the Nets as the NBA season comes to a close. He took over after the Nets fired Jacque Vaughn in February. Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks promised fans a full coaching search at the end of the season, though there is still a chance Ollie could be chosen for the full-time head coaching job.

As for his time with the Nets, Ollie told the New York Daily News he’s thankful for the opportunity.

“Oh, it’s been great,” he said. “Definitely helped me grow, big time. Just, you know, understanding you don’t know it all.

And just leaning on people that surround you, the great coaching staff that I’ve had this year. Them supporting me you know, as an assistant coach, and then as a head coach understanding to empower them and build great relationships with your staff and then also your players.

“So, looking forward to, if I’m coming back, to build those relationships even more and deeper, and then just create a healthy environment where everybody can be open, everybody can be vulnerable, everybody can play for one another. And I think that’s when passion is truly met when you open and you’re vulnerable first.”