Should be a 3 seed, hopefully in the East.
There's a tremendous amount of pressure on Hurley now to perform in this tournament. He's got the program in a great place where we're better each season, recruiting is humming, and a top 10-15 team nationally...
The elephant in the room is no Big East regular season titles, no Big East tournament titles, and no NCAA tournament wins. He's getting a rep/already has a rep as not being a big game coach. He can change all that the next week+. Things are going to get kind of ugly if we don't make it out of the first weekend, so let's make sure we do.
My serious curiosity as to your opinions is based on you using the pronoun "we," just as I usually do in referring to UConn. I trust you as a knowledgeable fan and supporter, and I have acknowledged the quality of your comments as the season has matured.
"There's a tremendous amount of pressure on Hurley..." is voiced by use of the passive verb "to be."
Who do you believe is putting the pressure on Hurley?
It could be several sources: himself, his family, the UConn Athletic Department, major boosters, University administration, CT-based media, national media, the casual fan base, fans who are active within social media, the latter of which includes The Boneyard.
I'm interested in your take, and that of anyone else who wants to weigh in.
Related to The Boneyard, what would you assess as the split between those who could be identified predominantly as pressure sources versus those who could be identified predominantly as support sources.
I consider myself strongly as a support source, and I've argued that emphasis placed on pressure over support works to the team's detriment. Even with Hurley's detractors casually criticizing his mental & emotional stability & maturity, there seems to be little that will dissuade those who are skeptical or unhappy with his performance from adding to the pressure by concentrating on negative outlook, pessimistic predictions, and sarcastic doubt. Do you or anyone else have anything to offer that would support making the 'inner game' easier for the team?
Thanks in advance to anyone courageous enough to address such hard-to-measure considerations.
