Confidence in Danny Going Forward

[metsfan2323]

Let's not forget that Calhoun's 3rd season was a bitter disappointment. They had a decent win at Virginia early and made it into the Top 20. Pretty much all downhill from there. It was supposed to be back to dance for the first time in a decade, instead it was back to the NIT. Imagine if there was a Boneyard back then. He'd be getting killed the same way Hurley is getting killed now, for the same things. Things will be better next year, just like they were for JC.

Spot on. That season (88-89) was a let down no doubt about it and that team had a senior player who ended up having a long and productive NBA career something the current team does not have.

 

[Waquoit]

NCAA would have been nice but after the last 4-5 Perno years any post season was refreshing.

I'm thinking that was a minority sentiment at the time. We had some brutal losses (ie @ PC). The NIT was a letdown after the year before.

 

[metsfan2323]

I'm thinking that was a minority sentiment at the time. We had some brutal losses (ie @ PC). The NIT was a letdown after the year before.

We lost a home game vs PC that year too. I think Cliff had a shot bounce off the rim at the buzzer, I was seated behind the rim and remember it well. I still dislike PC's Marty Conlon.

 

[Vuce]

It

I wouldn't call it a bitter disappointment - NCAA would have been nice but after the last 4-5 Perno years any post season was refreshing.

it definitely was a bitter disappointment. We won the NIT and had most of the team back led by Cliff Robinson and Phil Gamble. NCAA Tourney was totally anticipated for 1988-89 season. Brought in Chris Smith, Rod Sellers, etc. It was back to the NIT and sorta ho hum. And yeah JC would have been savaged that season if The Boneyard was around.

 

[superjohn]

I literally just posted one of the largest recruiting bureaus recruiting rankings for those respective years. I'm not ranking anyone - they are. They have their players *ranked* ahead of ours. On average as classes - their recruits are rated better than ours. We have *some guys* rated higher than theirs - but on the whole - the last four years it's not even close. I'm not sure how you could make the argument that it is considering that in two years we basically didn't have classes. I'm surprised we're even arguing about this.

I had time to look up the rankings of our respective players...
UConn...

Jalen Gaffney-105
Christian Vital- 166
James Bouknight- 66
Alterique Gilbert- 32
Isaiah Whaley- not ranked
Brendan Adams- 178
Tyler Polley- 168
Sidney Wilson- 89
Akok Akok- 30
Josh Carlton- 178

Average of UConn players is #112 with 1 player being unranked.

Cincinnati...

Chris McNeal- 412
Jeremiah Davenport- not ranked
Keith Williams- 128
Nika Adams-Woods- 244
Tre Scott- 268
Mamadou Diarra- 196
Jaevin Cumberland- not ranked
Zach Harvey- 49
Chris Vogt-349
Jarron Cumberland- 56
Jaume Sorolla- not ranked
Trevor Moore- 340

Average of Cincinnati players is #227 with 3 players not ranked

 

[metsfan2323]

This! Also, from like 1991 to 1998 there were PLENTY of fans calling for Calhoun's head saying he can't win the big one, can't coach offense, could not develop a competent big man (constant calls of UConn being a "donut" team with no center). Hurley is 1 1/2 seasons in rebuilding a roster that was devoid of the talent needed to consistently compete. I want to see Akok, Bouk, Gaffney, Cole, Springs, Jackson, Javonte Brown Ferguson, et al with experience. I know some don't have any patience for it but I think Dan Hurley is going to get it done and maintain it.

Yup, "donut team" you are correct sir.

 

[Chief00]

Yeah this one is weird to me. I don't get what Sid did to get so buried. I mean it's gotta be SOMETHING.

Indeed.

 

[Husky68]

The fact that you allow one game to put a damper on an entire season is in fact an overreaction

This isn't one game, this is the 13th game in a 30 game season and the 1st league game. All the previous 12 games was a prep for this. You call it damper, I say it just is what it is. If this is the worse UConn can play this year now we know what that is (calling this game worse than St. Joe's). If this isn't by far the worse then not going to do too well in the AAC.
Why is it so hard to call a stinker a stinker and describe why it stunk? If that was the best offensive scheme Hurley could come up with to start the game he misdiagnosed his team's offensive abilities (saying it nicely to not offend) both individually and as a team.

 

[KingAG]

This isn't one game, this is the 13th game in a 30 game season and the 1st league game. All the previous 12 games was a prep for this. You call it damper, I say it just is what it is. If this is the worse UConn can play this year now we know what that is (calling this game worse than St. Joe's). If this isn't by far the worse then not going to do too well in the AAC.
Why is it so hard to call a stinker a stinker and describe why it stunk? If that was the best offensive scheme Hurley could come up with to start the game he misdiagnosed his team's offensive abilities (saying it nicely to not offend) both individually and as a team.

Where 9-4 with 1 bad loss. And 3 good to decent wins. Things are not as bleak as they are being painted. Period. When win the next 2 and beat Nova yourself and others will be screaming sweet 16 again. Stop overreacting. One game doesn’t give you enough information to make difinitive statements. If your taking the whole season into account you’d come to the conclusion that we’re a good young team that has a lot to learn I terms of performing consistently. This year is a set up to next season. Is the performance in Charleston now moot? Last night sucked. The players sucked and Hurley sucked. But it was one game. If we’re gonna throw up a clunker every 7 games that’s massive improvement from the last half decade. We’re making progress

 

[superjohn]

Where 9-4 with 1 bad loss. And 3 good to decent wins. Things are not as bleak as they are being painted. Period. When win the next 2 and beat Nova yourself and others will be screaming sweet 16 again. Stop overreacting. One game doesn’t give you enough information to make difinitive statements. If your taking the whole season into account you’d come to the conclusion that we’re a good young team that has a lot to learn I terms of performing consistently. This year is a set up to next season. Is the performance in Charleston now moot? Last night sucked. The players sucked and Hurley sucked. But it was one game. If we’re gonna throw up a clunker every 7 games that’s massive improvement from the last half decade. We’re making progress

We were 9-3 last year with a win over #15 Syracuse and close losses to Arizona and Florida State. If you aren't recognizing that things are trending down significantly since Charleston and it needs to be fixed I don't know what to tell you. What makes you think we have any chance at Nova after watching last night?

Away at USF next, Tulane at home, Wichita at home, away at Nova, and then away at Houston. Things could get out of control quickly if changes aren't made by Hurley and the players.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Hurley just got skunked by a coach who, a whole day later, I still haven't bothered to look up his name.

 

[Get a Job]

Where 9-4 with 1 bad loss. And 3 good to decent wins. Things are not as bleak as they are being painted. Period. When win the next 2 and beat Nova yourself and others will be screaming sweet 16 again. Stop overreacting. One game doesn’t give you enough information to make difinitive statements. If your taking the whole season into account you’d come to the conclusion that we’re a good young team that has a lot to learn I terms of performing consistently. This year is a set up to next season. Is the performance in Charleston now moot? Last night sucked. The players sucked and Hurley sucked. But it was one game. If we’re gonna throw up a clunker every 7 games that’s massive improvement from the last half decade. We’re making progress

If you think we're going to win the next 4 you're out of your mind. Not saying it can't happen, but to expect it defies rationality. I agree that many are overreacting to the last game, but we're not beating Villanofun.

 

[KingAG]

We were 9-3 last year with a win over #15 Syracuse and close losses to Arizona and Florida State. If you aren't recognizing that things are trending down significantly since Charleston and it needs to be fixed I don't know what to tell you. What makes you think we have any chance at Nova after watching last night?

Away at USF next, Tulane at home, Wichita at home, away at Nova, and then away at Houston. Things could get out of control quickly if changes aren't made by Hurley and the players.

I didn’t say I think we beat Nova, I was pointing out how quickly narratives change. You yourself lamented yesterday about how much better we are than last year. One game really discouraged you that much? We can’t stress over something that hasn’t happened yet. Last season injuries were a major reason for our implosion. We were definitely headed towards a winning season last season. I think we’ll be fine if we remain healthy

 

[KingAG]

If you think we're going to win the next 4 you're out of your mind. Not saying it can't happen, but to expect defies rationality. I agree that many are overreacting to the last game, but we're not beating Villanofun.

I don’t “expect” is to beat nova. I believe we can but idk if we will. Yesterday was our worst performance all year sans St Joes. I’m not gonna paint this team with that brush because of 2 games. This season we haven’t normally looked THAT bad. I chalk it up as a learning curve in a roller coaster season. It was their first road game and they looked overwhelmed in the moment. They’ll be better for it

 

[superjohn]

I didn’t say I think we beat Nova, I was pointing out how quickly narratives change. You yourself lamented yesterday about how much better we are than last year. One game really discouraged you that much? We can’t stress over something that hasn’t happened yet. Last season injuries were a major reason for our implosion. We were definitely headed towards a winning season last season. I think we’ll be fine.

I think we can be good but we haven't really had any focus since Charleston and didn't use those cupcakes to ready us for conference play. I hoped the lightbulb would go on again once conference play started up but last nights performance was beyond distressing. Yes, last night discouraged me that much.

 

[Watchdog]

By repeatedly posting the same thing you're showing you don't have a clue on this topic, I get it. For the fifth time UConn has higher ranked recruits than Cinci.

Towney007 may be right, by a hair.
I'm not going to take the time to look at each class individually in order to weight the averages by how many recruits are in each class, but if you do a simple average for the four years for each school it comes out that Cincinnati's classes average 56.5 and UConn's average 57, so Cincy does have the higher rated recruits by that measure.
And, since three of the class of 2016 are no longer with the team you'd have to lower UConn's average somewhat and that might drop them into the 60's.
Cincy has the #37 class for 2020 (4 commits) while UConn's class is currently #47 (2 commits) and if we do add 1 or 2 in the spring that could put UConn on top overall, especially is they're highly ranked.

 

[KingAG]

I think we can be good but we haven't really had any focus since Charleston and didn't use those cupcakes to ready us for conference play. I hoped the lightbulb would go on again once conference play started up but last nights performance was beyond distressing. Yes, last night discouraged me that much.

It was their first road game. That was the mistake. I think they’ll be better for last night. As I said before the game yesterday what else did we really expect from our upperclassmen? Bouknight started to get it going in he second half. Akok seemed to settle in late. Gaffney didn’t look as jittery in the second half. That was a road game they needed imo. Last night was an aberration I believe. Let’s win the games we’re supposed to(there are many in this conference) and we’ll be fine. You’ll never see me defending yesterday’s performance, but allowing one game to completely change your outlook is a mistake imo

 

[Okafour rings]

I'm with 4xChamps. I give Hurley a 10 for recruiting, a 7 for player development, and a 5 for in-game coaching.

Recruiting: the 3-player class this year and 2-player class next year provides the talent base for a Top 25 team.

Player development: I've seen enough individual physical/skill improvement in players from last year to this year (Adams, Carlton, Polley) to feel like Dan Hurley has been able hone in on areas to improve individual skills. However, BBIQ has not really improved.

In-game coaching: there were a couple of times on offense last night when not one UConn player was inside the 3-point line...shades of the Ollie era. There were a couple of turnovers plus 2 possessions where the shot was missed without one UConn jersey anywhere near the rebound. Early in the first half, Carlton was overplaying Vogt past the 3-pt arc, and Vogt cut to the basket for an easy dunk. I said this last year: Carlton should NEVER go out past 15 feet on defense, but especially against this type of player. This is a coaching failure.

There have been lots of opinions here about the quality of players Coach has, but I think some of the frustration is that even the limited players should be playing smarter basketball.

 

[Huskybass]

The problem is that we are not Wagner or URI. Most reasonable UConn fans can wait 2-3 years for results, but 5 years is way too long to get back to NCAAs.

Year 3 with mostly his guys is when it should happen. He inherited a big hole to dig out of, and some of those issues are still present. We have guys with such glaring holes in their games that it's hard to believe that they practice every day. Guys that can't rebound, can't dribble, make the same mistake over and over, exercise poor shot selection, can't jump, etc. The freshmen are far more complete and the overall talent and bball IQ will rise over time.

I am confident that UConn makes the tournament next season with a roster we can be excited about. I think many here don't realize just how good Cole is, and Jackson looks like a winner to me. Springs is built well and rebounds strong from what I've heard. Javonte Brown Ferguson looks like more of a project. The pieces are falling into place, but there will be some pain along the way. Anyone who was expecting an immediate, meteoric rise wasn't being realistic.

I would give Coach Hurley a 7 or 8 so far. He sometimes pulls Bouk right after he scores 6 points in 2 minutes and I am left to wonder why. Also, he sticks with the veteran guards far too long sometimes. I sincerely hope that is what he is addressing by using the term "shorter leash".

This team has lots of guys who can be a star on a given day/night. Josh, Akok, CV, AG, Bouk, Polley and BA have all been stars at one time or another, and Gaffney certainly has that potential. Can you imagine if all 8 of them played real well on the same night? That is Coach Hurley's challenge, to get them all there consistently.

 

[Waquoit]

Yes, last night discouraged me that much.

Hurley must be doing something right that there is so much discouragement after losing the conference opener as a road dog. I remember when a 10th ranked UConn got blown out at BCU in the conference opener.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

It's not that the loss to Cincinnati was so unexpected. That's a tough place to play, and they seem to have our number ever since Adams hit the 3/4 court prayer in the AAC tourney.

It's that the team seemed to have no real concept on offense, and made few adjustments to improve the half-court offense. On defense there were too many episodes of "how'd that guy get so open?" That's what's discouraging. Need to see improvement in those areas.

 

[UConn3432]

8, just based on not showing up in big games so far. I feel good about the future with Dan Hurley. I love the family atmosphere and culture he is building that will only get better with some subtraction. One thing i don't like is his initial reaction to adversity. He's usually a little late to call the timeout that stops the run or make the substitution when the guy needs to be calmed down. Body language is very important when things are going wrong because the players look to the coach for that calm confidence that things are ok. if they see panic, they start to think things might not turn around. there's nothing i love watching more than coach k, self, squid in tight games when they just don't know what to do and you see that confused look in their face. it infects the players. Dan Hurley doesn't get like that, but he could do better to control his nervous energy when things are going bad and continue to unleash it when players make good plays and he pumps them up.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Coaches can improve as game coaches, but it is hard. Some of the same characteristics that make an athlete a great player, confidence in one's own ability, drive, super-competitiveness, are generally not conducive to enabling a coach, who are all former players, to learn from his own mistakes. Most coaches just try to do the same thing harder.

I think this is part of why great players are usually lousy coaches. Clyde Drexler and Chris Mullin sucked, and Patrick Ewing is struggling. Bill Russell was pretty bad when he didn't have Bill Russell playing for him. Larry Bird was effective, but he completely delegated every aspect of coaching to his assistants. Magic ended his coaching career after 16 games. Isiah Thomas was terrible.

Whether Hurley will be the next promising coach to flame out, or whether he will develop into a good or great top tier coach, will depend on how he adapts and learns from his mistakes.

 

[superjohn]

Coaches can improve as game coaches, but it is hard. Some of the same characteristics that make an athlete a great player, confidence in one's own ability, drive, super-competitiveness, are generally not conducive to enabling a coach, who are all former players, to learn from his own mistakes. Most coaches just try to do the same thing harder.

I think this is part of why great players are usually lousy coaches. Clyde Drexler and Chris Mullin sucked, and Patrick Ewing is struggling. Bill Russell was pretty bad when he didn't have Bill Russell playing for him. Larry Bird was effective, but he completely delegated every aspect of coaching to his assistants. Magic ended his coaching career after 16 games. Isiah Thomas was terrible.

Whether Hurley will be the next promising coach to flame out, or whether he will develop into a good or great top tier coach, will depend on how he adapts and learns from his mistakes.

Yep...Larry Brown, Pat Riley, Don Nelson, Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloane, Rick Carlisle, Jim Boeheim, Billy Donovan, Fred Hoiberg, Coach K, Doc Rivers, Steve Kerr etc. all suck.

 

[John]

Yep...Larry Brown, Pat Riley, Don Nelson, Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloane, Rick Carlisle, Jim Boeheim, Billy Donovan, Fred Hoiberg, Coach K, Doc Rivers, Steve Kerr etc. all suck.

sorry, not a lot of "great" players on that list.

 

[Kolumbo]

I seem to remember JC once calling a timeout 30 seconds into a game. I remember him calling a timeout and walking onto the court pointing at players meaning "You! You! and You! Get your Arses on the bench." Found this little clip. No one did it quite like JC, that MoFo.

 

[superjohn]

sorry, not a lot of "great" players on that list.

Nelson's post was about Dan Hurley being a former player and what it has to do with him being a good/great coach or a failure.

You think Dan Hurley was a better player than Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, George Karl, Fred Hoiberg, Doc Rivers, Billy Donovan, Don Nelson, Jerry Sloan etc.?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Nelson's post was about Dan Hurley being a former player and what it has to do with him being a good/great coach or a failure.

You think Dan Hurley was a better player than Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, George Karl, Fred Hoiberg, Doc Rivers, Billy Donovan, Don Nelson, Jerry Sloan etc.?

Keep working on it and you can turn it into an attack on me. Let me know when you got something.

 

[Kolumbo]

Nelson's post was about Dan Hurley being a former player and what it has to do with him being a good/great coach or a failure.

You think Dan Hurley was a better player than Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, George Karl, Fred Hoiberg, Doc Rivers, Billy Donovan, Don Nelson, Jerry Sloan etc.?

Let's not forget this guy. Heck he's got a .500 record at freaking ruttie!

 

[superjohn]

Keep working on it and you can turn it into an attack on me. Let me know when you got something.

You're advocating to bring back Kevin Ollie in all sorts of threads and yet you make a post that because Dan Hurley is a former player he might not cut it as a head coach and now you're whining about getting called out for making a silly post.

Can't make this stuff up.