I'm not going to go through all of Hurley's interviews but I've heard him say several times AK is one of the greatest players ever at UConn, one of the best players in college basketball, and he's responsible for UConn basketball becoming what it is right now. He credits everything changing with UConn basketball once Karaban started playing at UConn.
Is that not the truth? Fans were on the verge of wanting him gone before AK got here lmao
I'm sure it's not his intention but it's an incredible slight to Clingan and all the other players who played with AK and were significantly better than AK.
But the coach is crediting the culture change to AK. Maybe he knows something you don’t? Maybe AKs teammates who also heap this praise on him know something you don’t? Clingan gets his just do as do the rest of those guys. Tristen is on the wall. Dan still talks about Adama. Clingan gets credited for both titles by outside observers. He called AJAx the greatest leader he’s ever coached. Hurley makes these comments about all those guys. Why draw the line at AK?
This is what I mean when I say the Hurley/AK relationship should be studied. I love a good bromance and was a fan of Brokeback mountain, but this is also part of Hurley’s blind spot.
If he was that good he should have let him go into the 24 draft….
He didn’t not “let him go”. LmaO
Because the hype is over the top and doesn't come close to matching his performance on the court.
Kind of quote is disrespectful to guys like Rip Hamilton, Emeka, Kemba, Shabazz.
Well he pushed Clingan to go when Clingan wanted to come back. He pushed Jackson to go. Not sure why he convinced AK to come back.
Ok. Well Hurley doesn’t agree with you. His teammates don’t agree with you. But SuperJohn on the boneyard knows the cultural impact AK had on the program. 116-25 was on circumstantial. He was just Niels Giffey. Right?
It’s not disrespectful in the slightest.
Clingan was a lottery pick. Ajax could’ve came back if he wanted. The same why AK did.
The cultural impact, lolz
It’s not debateable. AK was the door handle on a car, those guys were the engine and transmission.
Senior year Giffey is actually not a bad comparison. Giffey might’ve been a better defender and shooter on the 2014 championship team than Karaban was on the back to back teams tbh.
Yes the so called painful introvert single handedly changed UConn culture. Clearly our guy King is buying everything Hurley is putting down. If we believed all Hurley said Jayden Ross would be defending SGA in the NBA finals this year. Sorry to tell you our guy Dan lathers on the hyperbole to the point of being FOS at times
Oh that's why?
Nope. They aren’t here this year. 24-3.
The 23 and 24 teams would have pounded that 2014 team. Giffey was actually a fairly important player on a generally thin roster.
I don’t think people hate Karaban. Just the people that overhype him by saying he’s the best anything in our very legendary and decorated program history.
