Another terrible first half+ for Hurley.

[Grab 1]

I recall watching some pretty ugly wins when we had Calhoun (Hall of Fame Coach) on the sidelines. We will see some great looking wins and some ugly wins. A win is a win.

 

[6NCsMORE2Go]

I watched this game like a lot of you with that same feeling of exasperation. I couldn't have been happier with the start but absolutely distraught at the first half finish. I have been Coaching Varsity Basketball and high level AAU for over 15 years. Here's what I can tell you...coaches can't make shots or defend for the players. For all the attacks that Hurley receives on bad team efforts, you really need to look at what's happening on the floor. There is nothing wrong with his offense. The hands off at the top are meant to create driving lanes by bringing the defense up. The high pick and rolls are a standard and sometimes you see a beautiful result when Josh gets deep in the lane or Whaley dunks. Yesterday's first half was about shot making and defense. How many layups did the good guys miss on offensive rebounds? How many times did their guards blow by ours? In fact, I thought Georgetown's defense was pretty solid after their rough start. Hurley did a great job with time outs and plays out of them. He may not be a Brad Stevens who has a play for every scenario in the world, but his offense works. His substitution pattern is ok. You give the most minutes to your stars but sprinkle in some bench players and hope you get a net positive out of them. Bouk was pretty bad in my opinion in the first half. Hesitant, uncomfortable with the ball, forcing shots...but because of the attention he draws, Hurley keeps him in and lets that play out. His coaching has worked to the tune of 11 Wins with 6 losses. 4 Losses without Bouk. Players make better coaches. Cole and Bouk made Hurley a better coach in the second half. It's not always on the coaches.

 

[UofCT]

We scored 5 points in 8 minutes in the first half which goes with the title of the thread. Check the game flow from last night.

We got smoked by PC in the first game... Again, the first half of these games are terrible as the tweets above stated. Your pictures you use don't state how the game was played.

DUDE RELAX.

We are 11-6 and have a chance to finish 3rd in the Big East. Given all the nonsense (shutdowns, injuries, etc) this has been a good season so far from Danny and the team. Winning record on the road, winning record in conference...

 

[JohnFSilver]

I am completely in favor of letting them play through it, if you have players who hold each other accountable. KEA, Kemba, Okafor, Shabazz, Caron, we've had dozens of guys like that. We are lacking leadership, a guy who is the coach on the floor and can make those adjustments for the team in the flow of the game. It's just not there. It's not Bouknight's personality, and he's only a sophomore. Martin and Cole are transfers and may feel they lack the green light to lead. Whaley just isn't good enough to be that guy. Someday I think Sanogo can be.

Martin looks like he wants to be that guy but he defers. Nobody last night was in the right place at the right time, doing the small things right more than Martin. No gaudy stats, but he bailed out teammates frequently. We need him or somebody to be the guy that stares daggers at guys who aren't giving 100% and who motivates them after two rough possessions. Cole had a nice game, but I didn't see him taking the reigns.

People love timeouts. Always easy to call a timeout and overcoach, because then you can say players didn't execute. Much harder to trust your players and let them work through it. Don't have a problem with no timeouts.

 

[Husky25]

I don't remember Hurley committing any turnovers in the first half.

 

[Waquoit]

I don't remember Hurley committing any turnovers in the first half.

Didn't miss any bunnies either.

 

[6NCsMORE2Go]

People love timeouts. Always easy to call a timeout and overcoach, because then you can say players didn't execute. Much harder to trust your players and let them work through it. Don't have a problem with no timeouts.

I can tell you that some of the most frustrating aspects of coaching is calling a time out, gathering the troops, giving them instruction and encouragement, and then we do the opposite of what was told or worse results in a turnover. I'm not saying that Hurley has my problem, but I can see where he may want to have them figure it out at some point. Save the timeouts for crucial moments like drawing up a game tying or winning play.

 

[Icehawk]

. Georgetown has beaten Creighton, SJU, & Hall. We haven't. does that make us then? Don't answer please, because your answers will be just as doofus-ish as these previous posts.

Most wouldn't have predicted the BY would get exponentially worse with the departure of a certain somebody, but yet, it has.

Indeed, maybe folks didn't watch them play the Hall? I think GT is on an upswing and better than their W/L looks, I was a bit concerned about how the game was going to go after seeing the Hall game.

Don't get me wrong there was a pretty good stretch there from 5m in that was not pretty but the guys and Dan Hurley turned it around. This is such a hard season with injuries and Covid (pauses, no fans) I'm just happy to see UCONN still seems to be inching back towards greatness.

 

[Get a Job]

Wasting our talent by almost losing to Georgetown’s crew of flunkies was a-ok because of Nelson’s man crush on Josh Carlton. Got it.

Normally I hate the template of a pithy, sometimes disingenuous rephrasing of someone's words followed by a "Got it", but when used against the most annoying purveyor of such responses, I love it!

 

[Husky25]

I can tell you that some of the most frustrating aspects of coaching is calling a time out, gathering the troops, giving them instruction and encouragement, and then we do the opposite of what was told or worse results in a turnover. I'm not saying that Hurley has my problem, but I can see where he may want to have them figure it out at some point. Save the timeouts for crucial moments like drawing up a game tying or winning play.

When there are fans, the timeout also quells the wave of enthusiasm that builds upon itself between the running team and the crowd.

I think it is a faulty strategy, especially in the first half to hoard time outs. They don't carry over and by the time an after 4:00 comes up, a team may have dug themselves a sizable hole.

 

[Waquoit]

When there are fans, the timeout also quells the wave of enthusiasm that builds upon itself between the running team and the crowd.

Good point, no need to waste a TO on crowd-quelling without a crowd.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I don't remember Hurley committing any turnovers in the first half.

That is a very Edsallian "they didn't execute" defense of Hurley. Bravo.

 

[Husky25]

That is a very Edsallian "they didn't execute" defense of Hurley. Bravo.

Thank you, but it's not exactly the same thing. I am willing to call out Hurley over things he has control over, like the initial half court offensive set. Hurley can't help Whaley hold on to a ball that hits him in the hands.

 

[uconngb]

Yes, the philosophy of "letting them play through it" has merit.

But the outcome is supposed to be between the in game flow and post game film watching, players learn, grow and get better.

When the coach keeps "letting them play through it" and the players have shown that haven't learned from previous games, just doing the same thing as a coach and not substituting or calling TO's is poor coaching. Something, something, something doing same thing and expecting different results. It's a slap in the face to the players who built up the lead to have to sit there on the bench and watch another group piss away the results the first group attained.

THIS!! Thank you for summarizing very succinctly. Not sure why people don't see this.

 

[AntG168]

Playing ugly and playing dumb are too different things. Calhoun's teams were rarely dumb. We just have to play smarter, and the rugged ugliness we can live with

 

[uconngb]

Some coaches call time, some coaches want the players to figure it out. Play through the struggles. We won the game in the end.

How did it work against Providence game 1? Seton Hall? St John's?

You're like the guy who hits on 17 and gets a 3 and says "see, it worked".

 

[uconngb]

Didn't miss any bunnies either.

You guys are right. Why do we even have a coach? It's not his fault, it's all on the players. Hell, let's just get Bozo the Clown and put him on the sidelines. I'm sure he'd be cheaper and we all know the financial situation in the State of CT.

 

[Waquoit]

You guys are right. Why do we even have a coach? It's not his fault, it's all on the players. Hell, let's just get Bozo the Clown and put him on the sidelines. I'm sure he'd be cheaper and we all know the financial situation in the State of CT.

We are fortunate to have one of the best coaches in the country and yet we read post after post of this nonsense after a double-digit road win. I'm not going to keep alive the fantasy they have credibility anymore.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

I can tell you that some of the most frustrating aspects of coaching is calling a time out, gathering the troops, giving them instruction and encouragement, and then we do the opposite of what was told or worse results in a turnover. I'm not saying that Hurley has my problem, but I can see where he may want to have them figure it out at some point. Save the timeouts for crucial moments like drawing up a game tying or winning play.

prolly, as usual here, missed by many. in a 2nd half time out, james is strolling over to dan's huddle. someone, not a player, gives him a gentle tug - 'get in there!' james does. coach talks to the crew, not looking at james mostly the whole time. times up! huddle begins to break. now coach puts his head near james' chest, looks up into his mug, and with a hilarious expression, eyes staring above the specs, gives young james an 'owl faced' stare, ie 'u understand?'
cracked us up laughing, and we replayed it over and over. priceless.

 

[tzznandrew]

We are fortunate to have one of the best coaches in the country and yet we read post after post of this nonsense after a double-digit road win. I'm not going to keep alive the fantasy they have credibility anymore.

He had strange minutes managing in the first half. That's a fact. And he only has one player who can create—and make—a shot consistently.

The idea that they don't run an offense is crazy. It's obvious when watching. And the idea that running high picks with a 4-out where the big comes up and sets a high screen somehow "smothers" Bouknight is crazy. It's be better is Sanogo could pop, or with a healthy Akok, but it's a perfectly reasonable offensive play that opens up some options for Bouknight and Cole, and each took advantage of that yesterday.

Georgetown looked like butt yesterday, but they've won some real Big East games and the team got a double digit road win. I felt in-game frustration at times, but that happens every game. You just can't let those moments overwhelm the actual result.

 

[Husky25]

Good point, no need to waste a TO on crowd-quelling without a crowd.

I'm not sure what you think I'm saying, but the post I replied to seemed to advocate letting them play through.

I am for TOs to disrupt the momentum of a team on a run. I thought the context of the unquoted portion of my post made that clear (i.e. hoarding TOs is a faulty strategy.

 

[AntG168]

We are fortunate to have one of the best coaches in the country and yet we read post after post of this nonsense after a double-digit road win. I'm not going to keep alive the fantasy they have credibility anymore.

I think some of the criticism is coming because we know what its going to take to win in march. And a bad lineup change, or a mismanaging of timeouts, or a long offensive drought can send us home. In march there is no next game

 

[freescooter]

People love timeouts. Always easy to call a timeout and overcoach, because then you can say players didn't execute. Much harder to trust your players and let them work through it. Don't have a problem with no timeouts.

My favorites were when Calhoun would call time out then turn his back on the team as if to say, you got yourselves into this now figure out how to get out.

 

[Waquoit]

I'm not sure what you think I'm saying, but the post I replied to seemed to advocate letting them play through.

I am for TOs to disrupt the momentum of a team on a run. I thought the context of the unquoted portion of my post made that clear (i.e. hoarding TOs is a faulty strategy.

Not all posts have hidden meanings. I was agreeing and advancing the point, I thought.

 

[UConnSwag11]

I think some of the criticism is coming because we know what its going to take to win in march. And a bad lineup change, or a mismanaging of timeouts, or a long offensive drought can send us home. In march there is no next game