Biggest difference to me so far

[Spaceman213J]

Bouk has been great so far. Carlton is having a nice bounce back year. Martin is a nice solid piece. We just had Polley's performance and ...etc.

What I love about this team vs Ollie's teams is the defense. Hurley and his staff have completely changed the way they play defense. There are no/almost no soft closeouts on shooters. Almost everything is challenged. As much as we have raked the two young point guards over the coals, they both have done pretty well at the defensive end. You are never going to keep the other teams' guards out of the lane all together. Even when they are beat, they don't give up though.

One of the things I like about Bouknight is when he does get beat, he lets his big step up, but recovers enough to cut off the pass to the other team's big. If Akok is 80% or better, it'll just get better.

After how he toughed it out for 4 years, and the way his UConn career ended abruptly, I just wish Vital was here part of this. I still think his buying into Hurley and his plan has left an imprint on his former teammates.

 

[bazzdog]

Bouk has been great so far. Carlton is having a nice bounce back year. Martin is a nice solid piece. We just had Polley's performance and ...etc.

What I love about this team vs Ollie's teams is the defense. Hurley and his staff have completely changed the way they play defense. There are no/almost no soft closeouts on shooters. Almost everything is challenged. As much as we have raked the two young point guards over the coals, they both have done pretty well at the defensive end. You are never going to keep the other teams' guards out of the lane all together. Even when they are beat, they don't give up though.

One of the things I like about Bouknight is when he does get beat, he lets his big step up, but recovers enough to cut off the pass to the other team's big. If Akok is 80% or better, it'll just get better.

After how he toughed it out for 4 years, and the way his UConn career ended abruptly, I just wish Vital was here part of this. I still think his buying into Hurley and his plan has left an imprint on his former teammates.

Absolutely
Their D won that game the other night

 

[Palatine]

The rotations have improved but to me the biggest difference is the individual man-to-man defense. We have cut down on the dumb ticky-tacky fouls. And we have done a tremendous job preventing blow byes from opposing guards.

It's a very subtle difference in how you guard your man. In the past, we would press so closely that we picked up fouls and made it easier for the offensive player to get by the defender. It was the worst of both worlds. Now, we guard just as intensely but put enough space between ourselves and the opponent to avoid both pitfalls. It's made a world of difference.

 

[ToolzieFan]

Their defense has certainly improved since Ollie‘s final season. And you can see the difference in this team’s ability to play defense the way Hurley wants compared to his first season. That is a combination of a talent upgrade, better strength and conditioning, roster continuity, and buy-in from the players. However, some of Ollie’s first few teams could really defend! The biggest difference I have noticed has been our improved rebounding, and boy do the numbers back that up.

 

[Conndog]

I like it when Brendan is in the line-up because he is such a strong defender. He can make shots too, and I hope he starts to gain confidence.

 

[businesslawyer]

Their defense has certainly improved since Ollie‘s final season. And you can see the difference in this team’s ability to play defense the way Hurley wants compared to his first season. That is a combination of a talent upgrade, better strength and conditioning, roster continuity, and buy-in from the players. However, some of Ollie’s first few teams could really defend! The biggest difference I have noticed has been our improved rebounding, and boy do the numbers back that up.

I know there's little desire to be fair to Ollie, but he won a national championship with the best man to man defense by every guard on the roster on the perimeter that we had seen in a while.

Obviously, subsequent to that he just lost the players.

 

[Spaceman213J]

During Ollie's first 2 years, they played great defense. A lot had to do with Napier who was a pest the second he stepped on the floor. I'm just talking about when he started to get "his" players into the program.

AG's injuries didn't help, but in general the closeouts seem crisper and the way the play the pick and roll is much better under Hurley. Some may disagree, but if you look at Vital the last few years and now Polley & Whaley, I'd say there is a big difference. Whaley has gotten pretty good at hedging hard and being able to recover.

I still think Ollie is a pretty good coach, but I just think Hurley & staff are much better at developing a player and team defensively.

 

[huskyinfl]

I'm really happy that we don't pass to a player that's out of bounds during the game. Purvis I'm looking at you.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Besides defense, rebounding has become a huge strength.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Ollie won a national championship with a team that had ONE future NBA player, and he has been a spot starter at best. That does not happen very often. Give Ollie a little credit.

 

[Jimdish255]

Everything added to the OP is accurate but the thing that was the biggest difference against Marquette was how happy the guys looked running off the court. Happy for Tyler, happy for the win and proud of coming back and overcoming adversity. It was all there. Corny but they had a real positive team spirit. Confidence can be fragile but if you build it right it's less likely to shatter. Really important for any team to have that knockdown shooter in any situation, but for this team it was a guy stepping up when needed. And a lot of guys who appreciated the work that went into Tyler's personal comeback. Like a weight lifted off his shoulders. Bouk was off the charts happy. And he showed some leadership just being out there. Positive signs.

 

[uconngb]

What I love about this team vs Ollie’s teams is no Ollie

 

[andy34]

I like it when Brendan is in the line-up because he is such a strong defender. He can make shots too, and I hope he starts to gain confidence.

You're totally right about confidence, the thing with Brendan is he needs to shoot in the rhythm of the offense. When he catches it and immediately goes into a proper shooting motion, he's $$$. If he hesitates even slightly or rushes his shot (and he has a tendency to do both), or tries to create something out of nothing, he's well off the mark. He's not a natural enough athlete to make that kind of split-second adjustment. But if he can shoot in the rhythm of the offense, he's a very valuable piece because of his defense as you mentioned.

 

[mauconnfan]

I like it when Brendan is in the line-up because he is such a strong defender. He can make shots too, and I hope he starts to gain confidence.

Brenda was underrated in the Marquette game on the defensive end. He was real good, played everyone very hard and physical during his minutes in the 2nd half.

 

[Drame]

The team is just tougher, they play harder, smarter and they're better in shape. Thats all.

 

[UCSouth]

Why do some of you continue to bash Ollie? He's one of our own, he brought home a National Championship, he had personal issues that seemingly got in the way of him succeeding at UConn. Or maybe he just wasn't meant to be a HC. Unless anyone can change the past, let it go and enjoy the ride that is underway.

 

[Spaceman213J]

I like Brendan on the floor when he's not trying to do too much on the offensive end. He's a good spot up shooter and the I like the offensive flow doesn't stop when the ball hits his hands. Cole is getting better, but the first few games, he'd dribble the ball around and kill 5-6 seconds for no point.