Admit it, Hurley coached well

[Frank06830]

40 pts, 22 rebounds, and 3 blocks from the 5 spot. That’s great coaching. ;^)

BINGO. can any team match in the rest of the tournament? Can’t think of any. Maybe, MAYBE Duke with Filipowski/Young/Lively at the 5? Doubtful…

If our #5 averages 25-27 pts and 13-15 rebounds We will be hard to beat IMHO.
it may be the key factor. Enjoy the moment folks. Drink it all in

 

[gtcam]

For all the "Hurley is a poor game-time coach," and I myself have had my doubts, but I thought he coached well today.

• Called timeouts in the first half to keep Iona from going on any extended runs
• Fouled late in the 1st half to keep Iona from getting an open look at 3 (ish)
• Played a defensive-oriented team to keep their guards in check when offense wasn't producing
• Ran a great set play for Hawkins that led to the 4-point play which changed the entire game
• Whatever he said at halftime, it certainly worked

He's not Calhoun yet, but I thought he coached well today and deserved to win.

All these things, especially the last two, are basic expectations of any coach.
He set one play to get Hawk free- that should have been happening all season. He should also have set plays for AS to help him from having to battle for every shot down low.
UConn has a tendency to come out uninspired most games to start the second half especially when ahead. What does he say all these other games? Yes they came out loaded for bears yesterday. Congrats and let’s hope it continues.
I am afraid that a lot of you have set a very low bar for this staff.
Dan Hurley is not going anywhere and I am by no means calling for a change. My opinion is let’s keep what we know vs the unknown.
Dan Hurley and UConn won a game that they should have won rather easily from the start. To me, as I have said before, unless UConn plays the second weekend, that is an immense disappointment and folks should be looking closely at Dan Hurley.
Folks at Purdue are throwing darts at MP because he has lost 3 years in a row to lower seeded opponents at the NCAAs. Look at MP’s recent conference record and conference tournament record - UConn fans would love to experience that level.
Let’s gauge the coach based on their experience and where they should be at this point in their career. Dan Hurley is a very good recruiter and it doesn’t hurt to have the Hurley name and the NBE. IMO, based on his experience, he should be a much stronger game coach. I think he has learned some valuable lessons concerning his sideline mannerisms and I think that has helped him shift his concentration to more important events during the game.
Tomorrow’s game is huge for the program and Dan Hurley going forward. I hope for a solid victory and play next weekend. There’s been some eye opening upsets and maybe the road will be easier going forward.

 

[HuskyHoosier]

Imagine if we were spoiled and arrogant what we'd be like.

Unfortunately this is the way!

At this point you should just change your handle to Mando

 

[ctchamps]

At this point you should just change your handle to Mando

Like Mando befriended Grocu I have befriended mojo that is strong with the force. Never mess with the force.

This is the way! I have spoken!

 

[UCan3]

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.

Iona played quite well first half… It wasn‘t just about us not playing well.
You have to be able to absorb other teams best shot in the tourney and that’s what we did last night, while keeping the score close.

Iona didn’t look like a 13 seed to me.

We just played UConn basketball when we are “on” there are few teams that can hang with us. And yes, kudos Dan, he deserves some praise.

 

[87Xfer]

All these things, especially the last two, are basic expectations of any coach.
He set one play to get Hawk free- that should have been happening all season. He should also have set plays for AS to help him from having to battle for every shot down low.
UConn has a tendency to come out uninspired most games to start the second half especially when ahead. What does he say all these other games? Yes they came out loaded for bears yesterday. Congrats and let’s hope it continues.
I am afraid that a lot of you have set a very low bar for this staff.
Dan Hurley is not going anywhere and I am by no means calling for a change. My opinion is let’s keep what we know vs the unknown.
Dan Hurley and UConn won a game that they should have won rather easily from the start. To me, as I have said before, unless UConn plays the second weekend, that is an immense disappointment and folks should be looking closely at Dan Hurley.
Folks at Purdue are throwing darts at MP because he has lost 3 years in a row to lower seeded opponents at the NCAAs. Look at MP’s recent conference record and conference tournament record - UConn fans would love to experience that level.
Let’s gauge the coach based on their experience and where they should be at this point in their career. Dan Hurley is a very good recruiter and it doesn’t hurt to have the Hurley name and the NBE. IMO, based on his experience, he should be a much stronger game coach. I think he has learned some valuable lessons concerning his sideline mannerisms and I think that has helped him shift his concentration to more important events during the game.
Tomorrow’s game is huge for the program and Dan Hurley going forward. I hope for a solid victory and play next weekend. There’s been some eye opening upsets and maybe the road will be easier going forward.

really too bad they toook away the dislike button

 

[FreeKlaiber]

Danny is a great recruiter, in fact with talent coming in, we will have cupboard stocked better than in a longggg time

guys seem to like playing for him

my biggest grievance has been his inability to utilize Clingan better.....couldve/shouldve figured out way to use both bigs for at least 5-10 minutes a game during the year.......if he sits on bench for 30 minutes in a game, and we lose, than I put that squarely on Danny.....Im confident this post will age well, as Clingan isnt far from Zach Edy right now IMO, and we will see that when he consistently gets 20 + minutes (posting on block instead of setting screens at 3 pt circle preferably)

happy to have Danny over Ollie thats for sure...not a great x and o coach, but shines in other areas

 

[Waquoit]

my biggest grievance has been his inability to utilize Clingan better

Not quite "he should have used Alleyne 5 minutes more" but close.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Actually for some reason Pitino decided to test us and go toe to toe
Not the way I would have played a more physical deeper team . I believe I posted is was the recipe for a 20 pt loss. I’m no seer but that’s a very predictable result
Apparently that’s their game so they danced with he brought him but it had little chance of success
It does make for fun game but Iona playing up tempo was always going to end badly for them. As well as they shot they only had a narrow lead at the half . I’m sure Rick knew they were beaten at the half barring a miracle .
St Mary’s on the other hand likes to play slow , if Hurley can get us to dictate pace we will win easily.
and that will be excellent coaching . If they dictate pace snd it’s a rock fight then Hurley got out coached even if we pull it out.

 

[zls44]

If they dictate pace snd it’s a rock fight then Hurley got out coached even if we pull it out.

This is so catastrophically dumb.

Randy Bennett is a HOF-level coach.

 

[zls44]

my biggest grievance has been his inability to utilize Clingan better.....couldve/shouldve figured out way to use both bigs for at least 5-10 minutes a game during the year.......if he sits on bench for 30 minutes in a game, and we lose, than I put that squarely on Danny.....Im confident this post will age well, as Clingan isnt far from Zach Edy right now IMO, and we will see that when he consistently gets 20 + minutes (posting on block instead of setting screens at 3 pt circle preferably)

Every single DC suggestion there makes him a worse player. Every one. 100% of them. Its amazing.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

If they dictate pace snd it’s a rock fight then Hurley got out coached even if we pull it out.

This actually make me do a legitimate spit take. I’m sure every fan base has awful fans but man stuff like this is something else.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

Every single DC suggestion there makes him a worse player. Every one. 100% of them. Its amazing.

wtf are you talking about? explain how putting Clingan on the block, posting up, makes him a worse player? i coached high school basketball for 20 years, and you can draw a 100 sets to utilize him better than the 5 man out/2-3 princeton set hes usually in for, with the center entry to him at 3 pt line...or using him with sanogo for 5 minutes a game in a matchup zone? that cant possibly work lol... im actually curious how you can even say this? clueless

 

[ElGreco]

He’s not a genius when we win, and he’s not a moron when we lose. We were prepared for the press, and the offense got good looks all game.

The trolling in the first half was amusing — as if the deficit was due to anything other than a couple of defensive breakdowns and Iona shooting an unsustainable %. It’s even more amusing that it has continued even after the game. They’re nothing if not persistent.

“In Hurley we trust” !

 

[zls44]

wtf are you talking about? explain how putting Clingan on the block, posting up, makes him a worse player? i coached high school basketball for 20 years, and you can draw a 100 sets to utilize him better than the 5 man out/2-3 princeton set hes usually in for, with the center entry to him at 3 pt line...or using him with sanogo for 5 minutes a game in a matchup zone? that cant possibly work lol... im actually curious how you can even say this? clueless

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!

 

[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 Dan Hurley 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.

 

[Sole]

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 Dan Hurley 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

 

[Sole]

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