Best offensive Xs and Os coaches in college basketball | The Boneyard

Best offensive Xs and Os coaches in college basketball

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Remember even 2 years ago when Hurley was getting killed for his offensive coaching? 2 championships later and the narrative has done a 180. Luke Murray gets some credit in here.

IIRC complaints were mainly about end game execution, funky substitution patterns and time out utilization.

He fixed all 3 in my book with end game fix being the most successful. He fixed that by ruthlessly blowing out opponents and squashing any late game drama.
 
So what is most responsible for the better offense the last 2 years? Hurley getting better as a head coach? Luke Murray being added to the coaching staff? Just plain better players to execute the offense? Something else?

Probably all due to some combination of the 3 but I think just having better offensive players is most responsible.
 
It's a combination of Luke coming and Hurley growing as a coach. But a big factor was also not playing an outdated offensive system with a center playing the 4 spot
 
Remember even 2 years ago when Hurley was getting killed for his offensive coaching? 2 championships later and the narrative has done a 180. Luke Murray gets some credit in here.


Correct me if I'm wrong, but Dan Hurley basically said he gave in to Murray and allowed the offense to change. Spent significantly more time working on it and more or less gave up the reins. This coincides as well I honestly believe Hurley is not a great offensive coach on his own. His early offenses here were mirrors of what he did at URI which was based on allowing players to make plays more than "X's and O's." JC was the same way. When we had guys who could play we scored 75-85/gm. When we had groups of all freshmen who were still growing up and learning the system we struggled to get to 70 most games. Same coach. Different players.
 
included in the defensive outlook as well


Dan Hurley, UConn​

Top strength: Win the shot chart

We got a glimpse into Dan Hurley's philosophy defensively even in 2010-11 when he took his first collegiate head coaching gig at Wagner. The Seahawks weren't very good, finishing 13-17, but they closed with the best block percentage in NEC play and allowed just 27% of opponents' field goal attempts to come from 3-point range. That was also the best in the league and one of the top marks nationally.

Wipe out the rim and limit 3-point attempts? Seems like a sound strategy.

Hurley has risen to the top of the sport using a lot of those same ideas. UConn has won back-to-back National Championships with some of the best rim defense in college basketball and a refusal to give up many looks from 3-point range.

In the national championship game against Purdue, UConn yielded only seven 3-point attempts. Calling it a clinic feels like an understatement, but that had been the plan for long stretches all year. UConn had a two-month stretch from Dec. 15 against Gonzaga to Feb. 17 against Marquette where it allowed just 77 combined treys in 16 games. Opponents made just five or fewer 3-pointers in 10 of those 16 games.

UConn has recruited to keep those themes alive. UConn's roster-construction game plan of building a center platoon gives the defense a chance to have an elite rim protector on the floor for all 40 minutes.

UConn wins the shot-chart game, but it also has loads of positional size at every single level and plays with the grit and tenacity that all good defenses feature. Hurley's blend of new-school approaches with an old-school mentality is sharp.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Dan Hurley basically said he gave in to Murray and allowed the offense to change. Spent significantly more time working on it and more or less gave up the reins. This coincides as well I honestly believe Hurley is not a great offensive coach on his own. His early offenses here were mirrors of what he did at URI which was based on allowing players to make plays more than "X's and O's." JC was the same way. When we had guys who could play we scored 75-85/gm. When we had groups of all freshmen who were still growing up and learning the system we struggled to get to 70 most games. Same coach. Different players.

You’re mostly wrong. He liked his teams playing a certain way (be tougher, defense travels), but there’s a ceiling there, so he implemented different stuff. Listen to Danny when he talks offense (god knows my guy has been on every podcast, show, etc. imaginable). It’s not like he’s dumb and just unaware of a major component of the game of basketball. All of his assistants have a lot of freedom and responsibility, and Luke, in particular, geeks out over the offensive stuff, so it works out beautifully. Listening to the two of them go back and forth over this stuff is kind of awesome.
 
You’re mostly wrong. He liked his teams playing a certain way (be tougher, defense travels), but there’s a ceiling there, so he implemented different stuff. Listen to Danny when he talks offense (god knows my guy has been on every podcast, show, etc. imaginable). It’s not like he’s dumb and just unaware of a major component of the game of basketball. All of his assistants have a lot of freedom and responsibility, and Luke, in particular, geeks out over the offensive stuff, so it works out beautifully. Listening to the two of them go back and forth over this stuff is kind of awesome.


I love this interview because it gets into X's and O's it gives a little little bit bit of insight into the complexity of the offense and Hurleys depth of knowledge with it.

Keep in mind, too, that it's not enough to design a complex offense. You have to be able to communicate it to players and get enough buy-in from them so that they are willing to immerse themselves in learning the complexity of it. Recruiting the right guys is a big part of that.

Our offense is absolutely a joy to watch. I think it's the future of college basketball. Right now, Hurley and staff are leading the curve on this.
 
There's a little bit of Tom, Kimani and Luke all over this offense and defense. Obviously Luke has revolutionized our team, and I think one day books will be written about how he and Hurley changed the way CBB is played.

No coach is complete. Calhoun had plenty of gaps he filled with intelligent coaches. Hurley is doing the same. Doesn't matter to me if Hurley is the 1st or 100th best Xs and Os coach as long as he can hire the right guys.
 


I love this interview because it gets into X's and O's it gives a little little bit bit of insight into the complexity of the offense and Hurleys depth of knowledge with it.

Keep in mind, too, that it's not enough to design a complex offense. You have to be able to communicate it to players and get enough buy-in from them so that they are willing to immerse themselves in learning the complexity of it. Recruiting the right guys is a big part of that.

Our offense is absolutely a joy to watch. I think it's the future of college basketball. Right now, Hurley and staff are leading the curve on this.

Great stuff once they get into it. Love how honest he is about what wasn't working with Andre Jackson during our rough stretch. Also the reference to stealing an idea from a team in Turkey. Seems a reference to all the international scouting Luke does. Definitely complicated stuff for our team to digest and execute. It's really remarkable. Hard to install all that in a team that changes so much year to year.
 
Mark Pope next on list after Uconn? Thats surprising.

Pope was a very good offensive coach for the team he had. His teams ran some good stuff and played to perhaps the best of the capabilities on offense. They just happened to be relatively unathletic and relatively bad at defense. They also probably relied way too much on the three (in part due to that lack of athleticism). I want to say nearly half their shots were threes.
 

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