Rahsool Diggins transferring (merged threads)

[Kathy]

That's what happens when you don't play kids you recruited - not surprising at all.

 

[AntG168]

Except the one that was Big East first team all conference? Or was the fact that Cole was a star in the MEAC all you needed to know hed succeed here.

He did not hit on Cole out of HS. Recruiting transfer guards is much different than identifying hs guard talent. This isn’t hard

 

[uconngb]

Don't blame him one bit. Great job Hurley, good thing you gave Gaff all that run.

 

[Fatroony5]

We’ve seen it done all over CBB. No excuses. We are UConn, recruiting transfers shouldn’t be that hard

I don’t disagree, it’s just not easy plugging in tons of transfers and being a top team again. Yes we’ve seen it, but plenty of teams went heavy in transfers and it didn’t work out. I’m hopeful tho, they’ll get some guys in and add to the talent level.

 

[Tenspro2002]

That's what happens when you don't play kids you recruited - not surprising at all.

What evidence do you have that he deserved playing time in the first place?

 

[AntG168]

Hurley has not hit on a HS pg since Fatts. Idc what y’all saying. Show the lie. Back to the portal

 

[Tenspro2002]

Is he going to elaborate?

 

[Kemba15]

Hurley better bring in some star guards this offseason.

He needs to. Diggins is a whiff on his part but the positive spin is that it opens an opportunity to immediately improve. No matter how much we were going to convince ourselves, Diggins wasn't going to be our starting PG next year

 

[The Viking]

Part of the problem was that Hurley didn't even give Diggins a chance to develop in those November/December games.

But also if Diggins ends up at Villanova this would be a big black eye on the staff. That was his 2nd choice school.

Is it really true that Wright was still after him hard when we landed him?
I thought Wright had cooled toward him and focused on others.

 

[Palatine]

Diggins did look lost in the minutes he got this years.

But perhaps he just needed more seasoning which he didn't get here.

We'll know in a couple of years.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

One way or another this is a miss for Hurley and staff. Either a recruiting miss or a developmental miss.

It's not yet a trend, this is really the first time he whiffed on a highly-touted recruit in a spot where we had positional need.

 

[imno1]

Coach Hurley's fault may have been that he believed this years team could compete for a championship so it may have stunted the progression of the younger players. However those complaining that Diggins looked bad because he was only in at garbage time doesn't make sense since he was facing opposing players who also only saw garbage time minutes. He should have excelled against them

 

[scotty0330]

I can’t remember many freshman playing less that went on to becoming contributors. Not everyone is happy with the Tooles/Springs role.

 

[superjohn]

Im also of the mind this is a factor. I think Floyd was inline for a big role even if RJ came back/Diggins stayed. He’s going to be a player

Floyd being a player doesn't solve the massive hole we have at point guard. We now need two studs who can handle the ball and score for next season.

 

[Hi-Low]

I would assume DH and Diggins are on the same page on this....Guessing DH made Diggins aware he was going to add though the portal once it was clear Cole was gone. If DH was ready to hand the reigns to Diggins he stays. We don't know what we don't know...

 

[pierogiscri]

We will find out whether or not this was a good or bad thing for our program in due time, it would be ignorant to draw any conclusions at this point.

 

[uconngb]

Yea let's call a spade a spade, Hurley's loyalty to playing Gaff likely costed us a future with Diggins. If Diggins gets 10mpg I doubt he's leaving. Maybe it was the right call for this season but probably hurts long term.

Bingo. Every arm chair coach on this board was saying the same thing but ole stubborn Dan just put his head in the sand. Well now it's gonna come back to bite him. There is not a positive to put on this.

 

[NotADime89]

So funny that everyone is blaming Hurley for "not playing him". Multiple sources (inside and outside the program) had said Diggins wasn't ready. Hurley and Staff came to the conclusion that he's not not a fit for the program or Big East basketball. There's a reason why Jay Wright passed on him....

 

[Rico444]

So funny that everyone is blaming Hurley for "not playing him". Multiple sources (inside and outside the program) had said Diggins wasn't ready. Hurley and Staff came to the conclusion that he's not not a fit for the program or Big East basketball. There's a reason why Jay Wright passed on him....

You can either blame Hurley for not playing him or for misevaluating him. Take your pick.

 

[Palatine]

So funny that everyone is blaming Hurley for "not playing him". Multiple sources (inside and outside the program) had said Diggins wasn't ready. Hurley and Staff came to the conclusion that he's not not a fit for the program or Big East basketball. There's a reason why Jay Wright passed on him....

It's the old dilemna. You need experience to get a job. You need a job to get experience.

 

[AntG168]

It’s a miss for Hurley either way. It doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. But either way it’s on Hurley.

 

[Justin M]

It’s a miss for Hurley either way. It doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. But either way it’s on Hurley.

Is Richie springs not a miss because he’s still with the program? Or is it because he wasn’t a 5 star recruit? Not sure how you gauge something as a “miss” without a sample size to understand what you hypothetically could have missed out on

 

[NJHusky]

Hurley hit big on Cole, and while thats not a HS PG prospect, it really doesn't matter the distinction in the end. Hurley has, and will continue to have, a high level PG at UConn. It doesn't matter what ranks they come from.

Did Dan hit on Cole or did dad?

 

[Slick]

Best of luck to Diggins. We hardly knew him.

Sool should have gotten minutes early, and especially after Gaffney stuggled. Yes, Sool struggled when he saw the floor too, but that was with the B team around him and after the midway point of the year... he was never was put in a position early to learn, develop, and get comfortable.

Another lesson for Hurley. He's learned from some of his coaching mistakes to-date, but hasn't learned from others. Let's see if he learns from this one. I have no doubt Diggins will be a contributor at a P5 school elsewhere.

If he showed any ability in practice he would have gotten time in games. Good luck to rashool and hopefully he drops down to a low division 1 or even a division 2 program.

 

[auror]

Hurley reducing Gaffney's minutes and not having Sool ready to play is essentially proving my point.

Hurley made the error of sticking with Gaffney early in the year. We know what kind of player Gaffney is, and it was evident early in the year... his ceiling is maxed.

What kind of player will Diggins be or what kind of player could he have been by the end of the year? We'll never know, because Hurley never allowed the opportunity for him to develop early on. He didn't get any run in semi-meaningful minutes.

Hurley reducing Gaffney's minutes and not playing Diggins is proof that he effed up the whole situation.

You're still the one not seeing my point. Hurley decided seemingly pretty early that Diggins wasn't going or didn't have the ability to be ready by the end of the year. It's not like he literally never played or practiced. He played 7-10 minutes in the first 3 games and was practicing with the team the full season. You can develop guys in practice, too. You can't necessarily judge a guy's performance in games in small samples of minutes in garbage time, but you sure can judge their play in practice.

You give someone a chance to develop if they are worth developing, and coaches have to judge that all the time. You can tell by his consistent comments to the media that Hurley thinks that Samson is clearly worth developing.

This is what Hurley said when he was asked about Diggins' minutes: