Are you content with just being good?

[Scoe]

What mid major teams are making the sweet 16 with first year head coaches? There weren’t any last year…

I was speaking in hyperboles, just saying that coaches have gotten their program to the sweet 16 fairly quickly, don’t know why a sweet 16 appearance or just a tournament win by year 4-5 is looked at like some miracle for this program.

 

[Fatroony5]

Oral Roberts last year but the head coach Mills was in his 2nd or 3rd year not first IIR

He was in his fourth year. I’m with everyone, I want more success, but it’s also really difficult to make that next jump. It can take awhile. I would personally take one win in the tournament and continued growth with the program. We’ll see how it plays out.

 

[Scoe]

lol

Well, I could give a rat‘s pitute about “over reactive“ posts like yours, so I guess I care more about UConn winning.

Well you just responded why get all defensive do you have a guilty conscience.

 

[Fatroony5]

I was speaking in hyperboles, just saying that coaches have gotten their program to the sweet 16 fairly quickly, don’t know why a sweet 16 appearance or just a tournament win by year 4-5 is looked at like some miracle for this program.

I get what you’re saying but it is tough to do. I don’t think it’s a crazy expectation but it wasn’t mine coming into the season. I was in the camp of: compete towards upper half of league and win a tourney game. Certainly still a possible outcome, but yeah, didn’t love what happened this week.

 

[navery12]

If we don’t win round one this year, you rethink that?

I'd have to at least consider it if it played out that way. Gut instinct is I'd still lean towards this year's team though

 

[Scoe]

Patience is a dirty word to some people. We’re better now than 2years ago. We got spoiled by JC and forget how hard it is getting to the next level. With Donavan and co. coming in we’re only gonna make us better.
Hurley scares me with his antics sometimes, but the program is trending up and that’s what matters.

I agree with your overall post, I have learned to not like the word patience because I have heard that word a lot with the Knicks, Giants, and UConn Football. Patience entails having acceptance for losing, I like to say realistic expectations.

 

[shizzle787]

How did Shaka take a dysfunctional Marquette team and turn them into a legit top 10 team in less than a year, and here we are in year 4 of Hurley getting embarrassed on national TV. Hurley did a great job digging us out of the abyss, beyond that, nothing.

He actually scheduled a difficult OOC so that his team would be tested and ready for Big East play even if it meant more losses than usual earlier on.

 

[Hi-Low]

I’m gonna be honest I think some of you are. I won’t mention any names but it does feel that there are posters who care more about overreactive posts then they do about UConn winning.

Do you want UConn to be great again or are you just like ehh UConn is good their in the tournament and I’m content with that.

They aren't ready to be great. Long leash for Dan Hurley.

I believe in 2 years greatness will be in our grasp so today I'll take not bad.

Dan Hurley does need to play Hawk 20 mins good or bad though & add Johnson to rotation...done with Polley ahead of them.

 

[EBonz30]

At the point in where if you put another shooter around Sanogo I believe the offense would be much better- Jackson has killed us over the last 3 games- they need Polley or Hawkins to start.

 

[uconndogs]

Well you just responded why get all defensive do you have a guilty conscience.

what the heck are talking about????

 

[willie99]

I'd be content being good. I no longer think we're good. Watching the Creighton game exposed this team in my eyes

They're not mentally tough right now. We're going backwards

Marquette is jelling, that's where I thought we'd be

 

[August_West]

He actually scheduled a difficult OOC so that his team would be tested and ready for Big East play even if it meant more losses than usual earlier on.

Meh . I can’t get on board with that considering Atlantis.

 

[shizzle787]

Meh . I can’t get on board with that considering Atlantis.

Marquette had their own version of Atlantis plus four additional P5 games. We had Atlantis and West Virginia.

 

[August_West]

Marquette had their own version of Atlantis plus four additional P5 games. We had Atlantis and West Virginia.

And st Bonnie’s. Who was top 25 and Atlantis had Baylor and Auburn both top 10. Marquette didn’t have that.

 

[shizzle787]

And st Bonnie’s. Who was top 25 and Atlantis had Baylor and Auburn both too 10. Marquette didn’t have that.

St. Bonnies' is an average A-10 team. The A-10 is a 1-bid league this year. We both played WVU and St. Bonnies. We played Auburn, Michigan State, VCU, and six bottom 100 D-1 programs. Marquette played UCLA, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ole Miss, Kansas State, and four cupcakes. It's not even comparable. They played a much tougher schedule.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I’m gonna be honest I think some of you are. I won’t mention any names but it does feel that there are posters who care more about overreactive posts then they do about UConn winning.

Do you want UConn to be great again or are you just like ehh UConn is good their in the tournament and I’m content with that.

Those are the only two choices, and they are mutually exclusive?
I think I'll pass.

 

[TRest]

St. Bonnies' is an average A-10 team. The A-10 is a 1-bid league this year. We both played WVU and St. Bonnies. We played Auburn, Michigan State, VCU, and six bottom 100 D-1 programs. Marquette played UCLA, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ole Miss, Kansas State, and four cupcakes. It's not even comparable. They played a much tougher schedule.

We also didn’t get a BE-Big 10 challenge game this year which may have helped.

 

[Valleyfan]

I got blasted last week by suggesting the program and Dan Hurley are mediocre. I’m a boomer and lived through the championship caliber teams and consistently challenging for league titles and Natties.

IMO 15-5 (now 6) and barely hanging onto a top-25 ranking is mediocre. Some see it otherwise, that’s fine. It sure was fun though being up there with the blue bloods and having a legit argument that we were better.

Here’s to hoping we get there again some day.

Agree 100%

 

[connVA]

We were in the dance last year. We’ll be back again this year. We’re a top 5 BE team. We need some parts obviously, but some of you act like we’re going nowhere. I don’t agree.

We haven’t beaten Providence, Villanova, Seton Hall, or Creighton and, based on Tues and this afternoon, I can’t see us beating Marquette at home or Xavier anywhere. If we are a Top 5 team in the BE at the end of the regular season, it’s by the skin of our teeth.

 

[bendm]

Nope 20 wins “right now” is far different then saying you wanna win 20 games overall.

you said 20 wins before the BE tourney which would be a good not great team....only 1 team in the country has 20 wins "right now" and auburn got it today

 

[gtcam]

I couldn’t disagree more. There is certainly no guarantees and Hurley may never get us to the championship but I think the team is trending in a positive enough direction to think there is a chance. Would you have only given Calhoun 4 years? Or did you know it would take him 13 years so you were ok with it?

Comparing Hurley and Calhoun is a joke at the highest levels
You could see JC had control of the team and had a plan- a leader
I see nothing of this from Hurley so far except promises, rah rah, and an ability to get into kids homes using his name and the NBE

You seem to forget that Calhoun came into a mega league with a program that had little or no history of tangling with the big boys so expectations of short term success was not there. You think the fans of Kentucky, Duke et al would give a new coach 4 years to produce?
Dan Hurley is getting paid to get UConn to championships

I want this team to succeed badly but I just don't see the degree of success that came with the initial hiring of Dan Hurley. It's not just these 2 games, it's how he has used his players, the lack of any improvement in the 1/2 court game which you knew was going to be a must heading into the NBE schedule. It's easy to have a running game vs the cupcakes who miss a majority of their shots.

If you are satisfied with the success of the program I am happy for you but I am not sure that is the prevailing feeling among all UConn fans - at this present time. Things can change but in my opinion the change has to start with how Dan Hurley approaches coaching the players and the game. I am not saying he can't but he has to change certain things- can he?

 

[uc1990]

Calhoun took a program that was much worse off, I certainly wouldn't have run him off in 4 years. Hurley took over a program that had struggled the previous few years but was still considered one of the better college basketball programs around and wasn't going to have to worry about recruiting good players.

So what is your “you get fired in 4 years if you don’t”…. So we can tell the next coach when we hire them. See who we get to come coach.
To me I want our coach and our players to feel like their fan base has their back and wants them to succeed. I hear Dan Hurley saying this isn’t good enough. I know the players are not happy losing. I believe they are all working hard and trying to get better. I know I’m not happy with the losing but I support them all and can’t wait to see every minute of the rest of the season. We are missing some pieces and the coaching needs to improve but I like our chances of getting better this year and in the future.

 

[Deepster]

The problem here is......Jim Calhoun has 3 titles, only less than Rupp, Coach K and Wooden.

We are good. We can be great. But Hurley is never, ever, ever getting 3 national championships. And that's no slight to him. There ain't a long list of those who have.

 

[UncleSpliff]

The problem here is......Jim Calhoun has 3 titles, only less than Rupp, Coach K and Wooden.

We are good. We can be great. But Hurley is never, ever, ever getting 3 national championships. And that's no slight to him. There ain't a long list of those who have.

I would take the second weekend at this point… but I think realistically that’s a super long-shot.

 

[giddyup]

The problem here is......Jim Calhoun has 3 titles, only less than Rupp, Coach K and Wooden.

We are good. We can be great. But Hurley is never, ever, ever getting 3 national championships. And that's no slight to him. There ain't a long list of those who have.

It’s clear Dan Hurley isn’t going to be the miracle man we had hoped for. He dug us out of a hole by getting some talent in the door, and we are a credible team. He deserves due credit for that. , However, we are beginning to see the limits of what Yay, Ra, Ra coaching is about when there isn’t much else behind it. The only hope I see is he AD Dave sits down with him and demands he brings in a high IQ assistant HC that can fill the game management and strategy gap Hurley can’t handle. Otherwise, the Wrights of the world will eat his lunch every time.

 

[SouthBayHusky]

Do people not realize right before Dan Hurley took over we were literally ranked 170 range (Kenpom) 2 years in a row. That’s called the dumpster fire! Just 2 years later he’s got us back in the tournament and ranked in the top 25. This year we’ve been ranked almost the entire season in the top 25 reaching as high as 15 knocking off the #1 team in the country and barely losing MSU to a bad call in final seconds. We are competing in the Big East with 5 TOP 25 teams and another 2 more that are tournament teams. Yes, we likely drop out of the top 25 for another week or so, but likely return again to Top 25 and another NCAA tournament bid. Our biggest problem is we’re in the second best conference and we’re going to take L‘s and roster construction work in progress. The trajectory is only going up.

 

[CL82]

If we don’t win round one this year, you rethink that?

That would be a disappointment. I just like to get out of the first week it this year. Baby steps right?

 

[uc1990]

I’m going to guess your weren’t around at the time, because, and no disrespect, but this is the dumbest post of all time. He took a team that was worse than anything Hurley had, won the NIT in year 2 and went to the Elite 8 in year 4. Won the Big East in Year 4. Hurley has a long way to go to get into Calhoun’s shadow, never mind out of it.

I was around and I am trying to make sense of a fan that says Hurley isn’t the right guy already. The comparison is that giving a coach support and time could pay off big time. The alternative is crappy fans hating their team and particularly the coach if we lose a couple in a row or to Villanova or the team never gels and has a bad season. We didn’t do this to Calhoun thank goodness. Our program became a great one.

 

[Huskybass]

I'm done thinking this team will have any post season success under Hurley. What you see is what you get. A good program coach who NEVER outcoaches any decent coach on game day.

Once Gillespie went out yesterday, Hurley should have had the D press Villanova non stop. Every possession. They would have cracked. Anyone watching could see that.

It's nice to be relevant again, but I think having a team in the Top 15-25 is Hurley's ceiling, at least with this group. Marquette at home is now a huge game for this team. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Marquette comes in and steals a victory. We look great against the Georgetowns of the world, and like crap against real good teams, especially in the final 3 minutes or so.

 

[UConnSwag11]

the problems have been noticeable and voiced for quite awhile but have been brushed off. Specifically in game play play and coaching. I don’t think recruiting is or will be a problem. This year I think Hurley didn’t want to bring in a guard transfer because he thought Gaffney would take the next step and it go backward. I like our front court. Our offense looks like we’re always lost unless we run or dump it into Sanogo.