Dan Hurley on UConn's Jayden Ross: "A Switch Has Been Flipped."

[RuffRuff]

Not really comparing their roles, but I could see him put up some Andre Jackson numbers in more than a few games with 8-10 points, 5-6 rebounds, 5-6 assists and a few steals here and there.

Very different players - Ross doesn’t have near the twitchiness Ajax had. That guy looked like he was running on a different type of fuel.

The scoring spread is going to be really interesting this year. Right now I feel like it could land 15 different ways with the only confident assumption is AK leads in points scored.

 

[Kitaman]

He's hyping Ross up before tipoff.

 

[navery12]

Hurley seems to always mention McNeeley anytime he’s asked about this years team. Even as recently as today with McAfee. He’s building him up. As it comes to leaps, it’s always Ball and Ross. The guy we aren’t hearing much about is Stew, for whatever reason.

Guess of an average time:

Ball, Ross and McNeeley at the 2 - 25/10/5

McNeeley, Ross and Stew at the 3 - 20/10/10

Karaban and Stew at the 4 30-10

Ball - 25
Ross - 20
McNeeley - 25
Stew - 20
AK - 30

He's hyping up all 3 sophomores

 

[navery12]

I assume Ross starts at the 3 tomorrow night, and he may be awfully hard to dislodge

Based on the comments from Hurley today McNeeley is playing tomorrow and Ross is out

 

[HooperScooper]

He's hyping up all 3 sophomores

Isn't "a couple" 2 and not 3?

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Really....so EVERYONE is going to EXCELLENT at EVERYTHING....that's basically the logical conclusion of your mindset. It's ridiculous. It doesn't work that way...no matter how much time staff put in, Ajax was NEVER going to be the best 3 pt shooter on the team. But according to your logic they failed him because they didn't turn him into a good 3 pt shooter.

No that’s not what I said at all. They failed him because they pushed all their chips into him becoming a 3 pt shooter and nothing else until it was too late.

Which makes my skin crawl when I see him dismissing a need for Ross to develop other offensive skills outside of just shooting. There’s more to offense than just telling guys to become better 3 point shooters but it’s all we seem to teach.

 

[navery12]

No that’s not what I said at all. They failed him because they pushed all their chips into him becoming a 3 pt shooter and nothing else until it was too late.

Which makes my skin crawl when I see him dismissing a need for Ross to develop other offensive skills outside of just shooting. There’s more to offense than just telling guys to become better 3 point shooters but it’s all we seem to teach.

It's amazing Dan Hurley has won back to back national championships and has a reputation as one of the best developers of talent when all he does is try and teach guys to shoot 3's. You must think he's running the biggest grift in college basketball history

 

[NJHusky]

No that’s not what I said at all. They failed him because they pushed all their chips into him becoming a 3 pt shooter and nothing else until it was too late.

Which makes my skin crawl when I see him dismissing a need for Ross to develop other offensive skills outside of just shooting. There’s more to offense than just telling guys to become better 3 point shooters but it’s all we seem to teach.

Too late???? They won then chip with him in the dunker spot. Sounds like they utilized him perfectly

 

[Son of Robert]

I remember reading once a couple of years ago when Ross first came into the program, an early recruiting story if you will, that Ross was playing the point as a fifteen-year-old, a sophomore in high school, before he suddenly shot up in height from like 5'11 to 6'4 or so, and his coaches moved him into the frontcourt. Just sayin.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Too late???? They won then chip with him in the dunker spot. Sounds like they utilized him perfectly

Different conversations we’re having.

 

[HuskyInfinity]

The thing with Andre was that Hurley told him to focus on 3 point shooting throughout his time here. He adjusted when it was accepted that wouldn’t be a thing and it hurt the team and then asked him to attack more and play closer to the rim. He should’ve asked him to do that from day 1 but didn’t for similar reasons we’re hearing about Ross dribble penetration, it wasn’t needed at the time. It was a very reactive instead of proactive way of developing him.

I don’t think focusing on overall player development and winning have to be mutually exclusive.

And you don’t think there’s correlation between this moment and the macrocosm of Hurley figuring “it” out ? I agree I think Hurley gave Andre every opportunity to prove his shooting development, but also Hurley then is not Hurley now. He has far more resources, carte Blanche and leeway to construct the team while having confidence in this approach. I think everything before this moment is predictive of Hurley learning from a philosophy that is not optimal for winning or positioning his players to be the best they can be.

Totally agree there was some reactive decision making there but how could he not bc he wasn’t getting the results he did after the fact. It is in this way why he is not asking Ross to be a dribble drive creator/scorer. His bag is 3-D wing and that’s what will get him to the league and another championship, the rest is gravy.

 

[Citrusdog]

He's hyping Ross up before tipoff.

True but, he looks terrific when he is on the floor. There’s no need to compare him to anyone - just watch how he integrates in our system. To me although just a fan - with some polishing he looks he could play at the next level. There is always work to do but, he ain’t no bench warmer. Props to the one who spotted him and got us to re riot him. I’m already a big fan of JR.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

The above "debate" reminds me of a quote from the head coach of the Chinese ping pong national team when asked about an upcoming player that had an excellent forehand but a weak backhand... He said we're going to make his forehand so world class dominant that the status of his backhand will become a moot point. Now, ping pong and basketball are certainly different games, but the point was to play to a player's strengths. That player, by the way, went on to dominate the world ping pong scene.

 

[freshler40]

huh? It's not like Ross is sitting out dribble penetration drills in practice. It's not a strength of his, ok, but he's a 3 and D guy generally. I don't think Hurley is overly concerned that Ross isn't great yet at a skill that UConn isn't going to need him for this year. It's like Clingan and 3's. Got great form, but Hurley didn't want to hear about it, because it wasn't what DC's job was. I don't see any abdication of developmental coaching.

Thanks guys, for the above coaches incites about players and what they bring to the team.

 

[freshler40]

He's hyping up all 3 sophomores

So much for the one and dones and the transfer market. That may work some, but the mix and fan loyalty go a long way toward making a great team. This is what Hurley, and his staff bring every year.

 

[RuffRuff]

He's hyping up all 3 sophomores

On multiple occasions he’s specifically pointed to Solo and Ross making big leaps, leaving out Stew. And in at least one he mentioned Stew having to catch up. I’m sure it’s motivational, but he’s omitting Stew from the leap convo for a reason. Will be curious to see how that looks on the floor.

 

[pj]

I hope you’re right about this development plan for Ross. I’m of the opinion that it’s best to add to player skills to help them be more well rounded rather than maximizing skills they already have.

In the summer is when you focus on building new skills. In the season is when you focus on what helps the team win.

As Hurley said, there's a "me time" and there's a "we time".

 

[FreeKlaiber]

No that’s not what I said at all. They failed him because they pushed all their chips into him becoming a 3 pt shooter and nothing else until it was too late.

Which makes my skin crawl when I see him dismissing a need for Ross to develop other offensive skills outside of just shooting. There’s more to offense than just telling guys to become better 3 point shooters but it’s all we seem to teach.

"pushed all their chips into him (AJax) becoming a 3 pt shooter"

Really? They only had AJ shooting 3's because teams were sagging off him to the point of embarrassment. They were trying to make someone who couldn't shoot at all (I said it) into someone the opponents at least had to COVER. If there is no shot option from a player, its hard to play 4 on 5. It was same thing with watching the Wrench toss up threes senior year. They were both learning on the court (IMO) so that we could space floor and not have Scheierman standing under the hoop playing one man zone. Hard to run effective backdoor cuts when there is an opponent standing under the hoop.

We were (mistakenly) doing what you seem to be advocating for: force players into using weak parts of their game IN the game. It didn't work, and then we bailed on making believe we could fix that form, and went to his individual STRENGTH. I prefer going to your strengths, and not have Nowell posting up or Singare shooting 3's.

Or Ross doing alot of dribble penetration at this point

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

In the summer is when you focus on building new skills. In the season is when you focus on what helps the team win.

As Hurley said, there's a "me time" and there's a "we time".

Did that comment not take place during summer practices? If not my apologies.

 

[navery12]

On multiple occasions he’s specifically pointed to Solo and Ross making big leaps, leaving out Stew. And in at least one he mentioned Stew having to catch up. I’m sure it’s motivational, but he’s omitting Stew from the leap convo for a reason. Will be curious to see how that looks on the floor.

Sure, but there is literally a quote, from yesterday,where he's talking about Stewart breaking out this year. What he said weeks or months ago doesn't matter, despite your vested interest in having Stewart underperform

 

[gtcam]

My God, I didn't know the Hurley family had so many BYers.
HW611 has an opinion of a certain subject - player development in some players - and EVERY coach has a different way of approaching it. I always felt that DH and staff didn't work with Hawk enough on his driving to the hoop and ball handling. That doesn't mean they are lacking in coaching skills; it just means that they look at development a bit differently than some of us. They have won back to back NCs and have several recent players now in the NBA so it is quite obvious that what the staff has been doing OVER ALL has been brilliant.
However, there is still room for continued improvement in some areas and I strongly feel that DH and staff would agree.
Opinions are opinions

 

[August_West]

There are always going to be guys with that ability. If Hurley doesn’t want to take that time for him to invest in Ross doing that now what will change next year?

That mindset is what kept Andre from being developed offensively until his last year when it effected winning. I’d appreciate if Hurley could be more proactive about developing some of the really great talent we have here without waiting for it to affect winning first.

This is a championship college basketball program, not the G league. He will develop, but not at the expense of team goals.

 

[Hunt for 7]

Ross tweaked an ankle in practice. Sounds like there is more of a chance that McNeeley plays than Ross playing.

Practices must be getting brutal with everyone vying for playing time.

I think it’s remarkable that Hurley gets them from being crazy competitive in practice against each other and then once there is another opponent they are connected.

 

[ddent68]

This is not a great thing as a development coach to me and makes me sigh. Like if a player has a deficiency why is the mindset to coach around it instead of developing it?

Ross will need to learn that eventually at the next level. Punting on doing that for a year is not good development.

So he should have parked Donovan at the three point line because he needed that skill in the NBA? Donovan worked on it himself outside of games. Ross can do the same thing.

 

[Mr. French]

My God, I didn't know the Hurley family had so many BYers.
HW611 has an opinion of a certain subject - player development in some players - and EVERY coach has a different way of approaching it. I always felt that DH and staff didn't work with Hawk enough on his driving to the hoop and ball handling. That doesn't mean they are lacking in coaching skills; it just means that they look at development a bit differently than some of us. They have won back to back NCs and have several recent players now in the NBA so it is quite obvious that what the staff has been doing OVER ALL has been brilliant.
However, there is still room for continued improvement in some areas and I strongly feel that DH and staff would agree.
Opinions are opinions

Everyone here is stating opinions, they overwhelmingly disagree with the premise presented.

Now, that normal and civil disagreement, with facts, is met by you claiming everyone must be a Hurley family member.

Think about who’s making it an issue beyond opinions. You might be surprised.