Admit it, Hurley coached well

[businesslawyer]

It is perfectly legitimate to ask if Hurley can do more so that we win at least our share of close games. On the other hand, to criticize the overall way we play in a year where we were viewed as a fringe top 25 team coming into the season but on performance metrics have been one of the best 7 or 8 teams in the country all year seems monumentally stupid. And I say that as someone who did wish we found a way to play the two bigs together for a few minutes a game. The problem is that our metrics overall are so damn good that to just assume that they didn’t think about this and decide that it was easier to see our metrics falling than rising by that fundamental a change seems unrealistic.

Said another way, we played too well overall to be critical about not fundamentally changing the way we play. And that’s coming from someone who would have liked to have seen what you wanted.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

So you wanna change the entire offense for one guy for the 10 minutes he’s in? UConn, in the current setup, running what they do, has the fourth-best offense in the entire country!

valid point

I dont want to change the entire offense, but rather i am looking at it from hyper-critical viewpoint of how Danny couldve taken this talent either farther-

whether it be 1)under utilizing DC 2) forgetting to sub in Joey C at seton 3)samson johnson witness protection program 4)never switching defenses, if only for a change of pace.....bla bla criticism bla... but the perfect is the enemy of the good.... Danny has program at a great place, both this yr and in the future....But my original comment was, if we lose, and Clingan gets only ~10 minutes, then that would be poor coaching...and i stand by that...

 

[mauconnfan]

Our help defense was donkey balls, Hawkins and Sanogo were walking in wet sand, and Alleyne needed to be in the game 5 minutes more than he was. I can't call that pretty good. It was fine, just nothing to write home about.

Exactly 429. Spot on I was calling for Alleyne big time because it was easy to see Hawk wasn’t good on either end. He was torched on D as was Sanogo first half while Clingan changed the game on D first half. His substitution pattern first half was not good.

Everything changed 2nd half for DH as well as AS and Hawk. It needed to.

 

[businesslawyer]

valid point

I dont want to change the entire offense, but rather i am looking at it from hyper-critical viewpoint of how Danny couldve taken this talent either farther-

whether it be 1)under utilizing DC 2) forgetting to sub in Joey C at seton 3)samson johnson witness protection program 4)never switching defenses, if only for a change of pace.....bla bla criticism bla... but the perfect is the enemy of the good.... Danny has program at a great place, both this yr and in the future....But my original comment was, if we lose, and Clingan gets only ~10 minutes, then that would be poor coaching...and i stand by that...

Yeah, but there are only two ways to get DC more minutes. One way is to make the fundamental change as to how we play, and the other is to sit Sanogo more. Given the way DC played once the conference schedule started, no sane coach was going to be giving Sanogo’s minutes to DC.

Are there better in game coaches than Hurley? Absolutely. Plenty of them. But Jim Calhoun’s best strength was neither in game coaching nor recruiting. It was coming into the first practice, looking at the pieces you have, make the decision on how you’re going to play based on those pieces and then sell your vision to the program so everyone has buy in. The “art” of turning players into a team. Hurley has done fine with that while he’s been here, which is why we have improved each year.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

Yeah, but there are only two ways to get DC more minutes. One way is to make the fundamental change as to how we play, and the other is to sit Sanogo more. Given the way DC played once the conference schedule started, no sane coach was going to be giving Sanogo’s minutes to DC.

you can play 5 minutes in a 2-3 or 1-3-1 or matchup zone without fundamentally changing things- in fact most coaches do tend to throw a variety of defensive looks in a game (though many are like Danny and go man exclusively, like Matt Painter who died on his man all game sword with the 1 seed for Purdue against an undersized fdu ranked 16- it was clear they shouldve gone zone, but pride goes before the fall)

Are there better in game coaches than Hurley? Absolutely. Plenty of them. But Jim Calhoun’s best strength was neither in game coaching nor recruiting. It was coming into the first practice, looking at the pieces you have, make the decision on how you’re going to play based on those pieces

You are implying Danny adapts to his talent....Hurley publicly announced we would go 4 man out on offense pre-season, when we didnt have 4 guards in the program lol...what we did have was Sanogo and incoming 7footer....im coming across as bashing, but I generally agree with your sentiment

 

[JustbrewitMan]

you can play 5 minutes in a 2-3 or 1-3-1 or matchup zone without fundamentally changing things- in fact most coaches do tend to throw a variety of defensive looks in a game (though many are like Danny and go man exclusively, like Matt Painter who died on his man all game sword with the 1 seed for Purdue against an undersized fdu ranked 16- it was clear they shouldve gone zone, but pride goes before the fall)

You are implying Danny adapts to his talent....Hurley publicly announced we would go 4 man out on offense pre-season, when we didnt have 4 guards in the program lol...what we did have was Sanogo and incoming 7footer....im coming across as bashing, but I generally agree with your sentiment

Lol really? What a horrible take…

Hurley went to the portal and got 4 guards, had a returning Hawkins who he knew would be a major 3pt threat, and had Karaban in practice for about a year, who he figured could shoot at a good clip from 3 with good volume (which he did).

Stop clowning.

 

[zls44]

The close game thing is annoying. I get that. I get why it makes people upset and frustrated. Makes me frustrated!

Buuuut...I don't really think there's a fix for that. Eventually they'll win one. It'll happen. Then it'll be FIXED! And Dan will get 15 pages on here of credit for some "fix" people will claim happened. Truth is, it'll be the same thing with a different outcome that makes people think something changed.

 

[businesslawyer]

you can play 5 minutes in a 2-3 or 1-3-1 or matchup zone without fundamentally changing things- in fact most coaches do tend to throw a variety of defensive looks in a game (though many are like Danny and go man exclusively, like Matt Painter who died on his man all game sword with the 1 seed for Purdue against an undersized fdu ranked 16- it was clear they shouldve gone zone, but pride goes before the fall)

You are implying Danny adapts to his talent....Hurley publicly announced we would go 4 man out on offense pre-season, when we didnt have 4 guards in the program lol...what we did have was Sanogo and incoming 7footer....im coming across as bashing, but I generally agree with your sentiment

You lost me the moment you start talking about what Hurley publicly says before the season starts. As I have consistently says, what a coach says is entirely irrelevant to anything, as they have motivations other than the truth for their statements.

Anyway, you are entitled to your opinions. I just view this one as spitting into the wind, not just in terms of who agrees with you but based on how well we played and the risks that would have to be taken to do what you want.

 

[businesslawyer]

The close game thing is annoying. I get that. I get why it makes people upset and frustrated. Makes me frustrated!

Buuuut...I don't really think there's a fix for that. Eventually they'll win one. It'll happen. Then it'll be FIXED! And Dan will get 15 pages on here of credit for some "fix" people will claim happened. Truth is, it'll be the same thing with a different outcome that makes people think something changed.

Coaches contribute to the ability to pull out close games. Mostly, however, it's based on what players do.

 

[Luna]

In the big east semi we lost because players missed shots… that happens…it’s usually the case in close games

 

[husky429]

You are implying Danny adapts to his talent....Hurley publicly announced we would go 4 man out on offense pre-season, when we didnt have 4 guards in the program lol...what we did have was Sanogo and incoming 7footer....im coming across as bashing, but I generally agree with your sentiment

I tried to type a response to this, but just kept laughing at how terrible a take this is. I hope you're trolling.

 

[Umami Zen]

Exactly 429. Spot on I was calling for Alleyne big time because it was easy to see Hawk wasn’t good on either end. He was torched on D as was Sanogo first half while Clingan changed the game on D first half. His substitution pattern first half was not good.

Everything changed 2nd half for DH as well as AS and Hawk. It needed to.

Alleyne is comfortable with the bright lights on.. Will continue to be a major contributor off the bench when we need a boost in momentum/energy.. Seems like he's playing more relaxed.. His teammates are trusting him more now than earlier in the season.. Also very disruptive on defense.

 

[UCSouth]

you can play 5 minutes in a 2-3 or 1-3-1 or matchup zone without fundamentally changing things- in fact most coaches do tend to throw a variety of defensive looks in a game (though many are like Danny and go man exclusively, like Matt Painter who died on his man all game sword with the 1 seed for Purdue against an undersized fdu ranked 16- it was clear they shouldve gone zone, but pride goes before the fall)

You are implying Danny adapts to his talent....Hurley publicly announced we would go 4 man out on offense pre-season, when we didnt have 4 guards in the program lol...what we did have was Sanogo and incoming 7footer....im coming across as bashing, but I generally agree with your sentiment

20+ years coaching and now you're doing it from your recliner on the BY....not working for the majority

 

[kemba]

The close game thing is annoying. I get that. I get why it makes people upset and frustrated. Makes me frustrated!

Buuuut...I don't really think there's a fix for that. Eventually they'll win one. It'll happen. Then it'll be FIXED! And Dan will get 15 pages on here of credit for some "fix" people will claim happened. Truth is, it'll be the same thing with a different outcome that makes people think something changed.

Also, I know after some of our big wins this year by double digits people do those sarcastic “HURLEY CANT WIN CLOSE GAMES!!!!” Posts, but it’s also a true point that when you win a lot of games easily you aren’t gonna have a lot of chances to win close games. When it’s a bad or underachieving team that loses a lot of close games it’s a fair criticism. I think it’s more bad coincidence when we have a bunch of impressive convincing wins.

As for clingan while you can quibble with a few games that maybe he should have played a few more minutes here and there, I think overall he’s been managed well. Besides the fit aspect he’s also a 7 footer who was playing high school last year and now is playing in the big east. He did appear to be wearing down a bit during big east play so keeping him fresh and allowing him to go all out for his 12-15 minutes or so is the right play imo.

As for some other complaints in this thread…Samson at no point has showed he’s ready to contribute and we’re already a very deep team. He has mixed in zones and presses a decent amount this year. He’s certainly adjusted the offense over the course of this year and from year to year. You can always find stuff to nitpick and there’s been times that a I think he should make a change a bit quicker but at the same time every 2 minute stretch that isn’t perfection doesn’t necessarily require the freak outs that go on here sometimes you need to weather the storm

 

[Luna]

When Clingan committed to uconn everyone thought he would be backing up Adama..including Clingan..I was hoping he would get 5 to 10 minutes a game… he’s played so well he’s getting 10 to 15 minutes a game..for the people who think we should play the double bigs…Hurley is a smart guy ..he sees them every day in practice.. he would know how to play them better then someone watching the games on tv

 

[ctchamps]

Also, I know after some of our big wins this year by double digits people do those sarcastic “HURLEY CANT WIN CLOSE GAMES!!!!” Posts, but it’s also a true point that when you win a lot of games easily you aren’t gonna have a lot of chances to win close games. When it’s a bad or underachieving team that loses a lot of close games it’s a fair criticism. I think it’s more bad coincidence when we have a bunch of impressive convincing wins.

As for clingan while you can quibble with a few games that maybe he should have played a few more minutes here and there, I think overall he’s been managed well. Besides the fit aspect he’s also a 7 footer who was playing high school last year and now is playing in the big east. He did appear to be wearing down a bit during big east play so keeping him fresh and allowing him to go all out for his 12-15 minutes or so is the right play imo.

As for some other complaints in this thread…Samson at no point has showed he’s ready to contribute and we’re already a very deep team. He has mixed in zones and presses a decent amount this year. He’s certainly adjusted the offense over the course of this year and from year to year. You can always find stuff to nitpick and there’s been times that a I think he should make a change a bit quicker but at the same time every 2 minute stretch that isn’t perfection doesn’t necessarily require the freak outs that go on here sometimes you need to weather the storm

Sometimes Boneyarders are more on and sometimes we are morons!

This is unfortunately our way!

 

[businesslawyer]

Sometimes Boneyarders are more on and sometimes we are morons!

This is unfortunately our way!

I must say, others have taken to this role well, but not nearly as cleverly as you are doing. May the Mojo be with you (us).

 

[David 76]

Against Iona. Relax. Yeah i know it was against the fossil formally known as Rick Pitino but the talent level disparity is not a fair fight. Even when the game was tight im sure im not hte only one that knew we were going to throttle them in the 2nd half. How about we hold off on the lollipopping until we see what he can do if he gets in against Bill Self, Mark Few or Mick Cronin and the game comes down to the final 5 minutes.

Sounds like you are praying for A UConn loss. I hope you are so disappointed.

 

[UCSouth]

Sounds like you are praying for A UConn loss. I hope you are so disappointed.

He/she is part of the more on vs moron crowd that @fleudslipcon I believe referred to.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Sounds like you are praying for A UConn loss. I hope you are so disappointed.

Yes. Thats what i want. You got me. Makes total sense i want my team to lose. smdh

 

[huskiesNhoos]

This is all a sham...hurley out here tricking us but we all know soon as he comes up against a non-gaels team we're doooooomed

 

[Buffett10]

FiRe HuRlEy he's reached his peak...quite a few have said it in here quite a few will keep saying it.. Hurley and the boys. Better get Hurley that lifetime contract soon.