Dan Hurley Postgame Media Availability - Villanova (2-18-25)

[TroyHall98]

Yeah I don't really get the people who think Reed is "the" answer. The talent is there but the results are really hit or miss

The results are hit or miss because his minutes are all over the place. With a a guy who plays with physicality, he needs a consistent set of minutes (20 or so a game) to make his presence felt.

 

[RuffRuff]

The results are hit or miss because his minutes are all over the place. With a a guy who plays with physicality, he needs a consistent set of minutes (20 or so a game) to make his presence felt.

Here here!! Commit, provide consistency, shake it up. Tell him we are going to ride you, show us what you got and pull out the kodiak. Pull some levers and see what you can squeeze out of him for the next month. This isn't a long ask, it's 5 regular season games and then the tournament. He provides our biggest upside by a long shot. Some here may not realize how effen big this dude is - he's a 6'10", 265lb rock.

Rolling with the status quo feels flat, tired and boring, the honor system feels weak. You think we can go into playing a one seed in the second round with Samson Johnson as our 5? Yeah, let's roll him out at the tap against Maluach or Broome and see how that goes. Go set the tone with your beast.

 

[uh-no]

It’s not my point. The point is if you want consistency out of your far more talented player option, use him in the most consistent way possible, starting. Why not try it? Is Hurley afraid to hurt feelings? It’s not like we are burning up the court with Samson starting. This teams best look all year has been when Tarris is on.

At this point I’d ride or die with Tarris. For a highly flawed team, he at least gives us a chance to push a button for upside down the stretch run.

I can see both sides. OTOH, if he's not earning that starting spot via consistent play in the minutes he's getting....should we be rewarding inconsistency with more PT?

So there's a bit of chicken and egg...and i get the feeling Dan Hurley has been trying to eke just a bit more consistency out of him to use him even more...and it's just not happened....so then what damage you do for rewarding that inconsistency?

He also has 5.4 fouls/40...(which is somehow still below Samson Johnson's...)...so it could be the case Dan Hurley is doing what he needs to to keep Reed on the floor down the stretch.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

Tarris is a different kind of guy from your normal bball player. Has his own clothing line and website, plays the sax, has talked about the philosophical implications of his favorite movie kung panda

Dan Hurley is trying to turn him into that Grizzly, wants him to play "violent and forceful", "life ur death". Its good coaching trying to bring most out of your squad, more than the player knew he had to give. It's not Reed's personality, but Dan Hurley is trying to level him up. I'm sorry though, he shouldve been in there vs Seton hall more than 10 minutes posting up as well. I dont think him playing well on the low post last night is an indictment on his on court low post game or "forcefulness" thoughout the season , as much as Dan Hurley and staff not trusting him on D and as a result limiting his minutes. Just like JStew. When they get prolonged run, they produce on offense (not d so much ;-) There is a reason some of us have been on the "why dont we post up Tarris more" since December.

 

[marti3td]

Reed brings offense and Samson does not unless it is a dunk...how is this even a discussion on his playing time? Hopefully this is a turning point in playing time.

 

[superjohn]

All this talk about Tarris needs to earn it. How has Samson earned starting every single game? He's our center and he averages 3 rebounds per game and doesn't have single post move.

 

[RuffRuff]

I can see both sides. OTOH, if he's not earning that starting spot via consistent play in the minutes he's getting....should we be rewarding inconsistency with more PT?

So there's a bit of chicken and egg...and i get the feeling Dan Hurley has been trying to eke just a bit more consistency out of him to use him even more...and it's just not happened....so then what damage you do for rewarding that inconsistency?

He also has 5.4 fouls/40...(which is somehow still below Samson Johnson's...)...so it could be the case Dan Hurley is doing what he needs to to keep Reed on the floor down the stretch.

Try this argument out for size? Is what we are currently doing working, and do you see it having any potential to make a run? We looked pretty bad last night for 3/4 of the game, offense stagnant, energy flat.

We had 2 points yesterday where the offense sparked:
1) Decided to push the pace in the first half, versus sitting in that glacial half court. Nova countered with full court pressure.
2) Running offense through Tarris last second half.

Tarris had ten points over the final 10 minutes of the game, could have had a couple more buckets if not for a crazy blocked dunk from behind and a missed bunny.

Do we rather reward consistent mediocrity out of an honor code? We're at that time of year where we need to pull some levers.

 

[inWV]

We've seen what all the guys can do, and we've seen them beat some very good teams when a sufficient number of them are hitting on 3 or four cylinders. The team needs to gel. I'm not going to be a board sleuth, but I wonder what the talk was like in late January, 2023 when the boys had dropped 6 of 8 in league play. That team had a better upside, but they blew a lot of teams out once they got their together.

 

[RuffRuff]

We've seen what all the guys can do, and we've seen them beat some very good teams when a sufficient number of them are hitting on 3 or four cylinders. The team needs to gel. I'm not going to be a board sleuth, but I wonder what the talk was like in late January, 2023 when the boys had dropped 6 of 8 in league play. That team had a better upside, but they blew a lot of teams out once they got their together.

Gelling on February 23rd is an interesting concept.

 

[tuvent08]

Recruiting personalities for both culture and productivity is just extremely difficult.

1. "Are you good at basketball?"
2. "Are you from a solid family who holds you accountable, keeps your ego in check, etc.?"
3. "Can you also be a psychopath upon request?"

The Cams, Josh Harts, etc. don't grow on trees, much less the Liams who have the all-world ability.

 

[TroyHall98]

Try this argument out for size? Is what we are currently doing working, and do you see it having any potential to make a run? We looked pretty bad last night for 3/4 of the game, offense stagnant, energy flat.

We had 2 points yesterday where the offense sparked:
1) Decided to push the pace in the first half, versus sitting in that glacial half court. Nova countered with full court pressure.
2) Running offense through Tarris last second half.

Tarris had ten points over the final 10 minutes of the game, could have had a couple more buckets if not for a crazy blocked dunk from behind and a missed bunny.

Do we rather reward consistent mediocrity out of an honor code? We're at that time of year where we need to pull some levers.

Additionally, the team fed off of Reed’s energy. The body language during the second half run was the best I’ve seen in a while.

 

[superjohn]

Recruiting personalities for both culture and productivity is just extremely difficult.

1. "Are you good at basketball?"
2. "Are you from a solid family who holds you accountable, keeps your ego in check, etc.?"
3. "Can you also be a psychopath upon request?"

The Cams, Josh Harts, etc. don't grow on trees, much less the Liams who have the all-world ability.

I love Josh Hart but now whenever I see his name I'm reminded A'ja Wilson thinks she would beat him in 1 on 1.

 

[inWV]

Recruiting personalities for both culture and productivity is just extremely difficult.

1. "Are you good at basketball?"
2. "Are you from a solid family who holds you accountable, keeps your ego in check, etc.?"
3. "Can you also be a psychopath upon request?"

The Cams, Josh Harts, etc. don't grow on trees, much less the Liams who have the all-world ability.

Number 3 is the hardest to judge. Lots of kids that have face no fear don't know what playing with absolutely no fear means.

 

[Gutter King]

Your job as a coach is to help bring that energy out. Maybe part of his inconsistency is that it's almost like he was being punished to be a handoff/high screener for games on end. Seems like when we make a concerted effort get him involved, he is enormously productive. I mean this is probably the 3rd of 4th game where we could legit say he won us the game with his play. It's idiotic to me to essentially admit we are not playing a superior player because the other guy is more "active" (and unproductive.)

Yeah he isn't the passer that Adama, DC, and even Samson Johnson can be. He isn't completely horrid, but it's definitely not his strength. I want him starting, and I want him to get the ball the first two or three posessions. And don't telegraph it like this team has a habit of doing. Run the motions early in the posessions to disguise our willingness to pound it. Then you can bring him out high, clear one side of the court and let Liam do his thing...which was very effective last night. Then kickout to the three point line from those two scenarios.

This business of running offense on the perimeter doesn't work in middle school and it obviously doesn't work here. Why did we have so much success the last two years? We had posts in the paint, we had cutters in the paint, TNew got to the paint at the end of shot clocks, we had Cam manipulating physics of defenders like the BBall PHD he is, etc.

The theme??? Attack the freaking paint.

 

[RuffRuff]

Additionally, the team fed off of Reed’s energy. The body language during the second half run was the best I’ve seen in a while.

It's like any contact sport, when you can impose yourself with power, it energizes the entire team. When a football team sacks a qb with some violence, it fires up the team. Tarris consumes paint and inhales rebounds, which takes pressure off our wings having to do it nonstop. Putbacks are so valuable, they're like free points.

Someone said Samson energizes the team? Oh yeah, when? He certainly doesn't energize me as a fan when balls bounce off his hands and he gets manhandled by any big with a reasonable frame. Even in his good moments, it feels like they happen out on an exceptional level. With Tarris, I expect it. The team feels frail with Samson in there, and I'm sure the opposing teams feast off that.

This is not beach volleyball.

 

[uh-no]

Try this argument out for size? Is what we are currently doing working, and do you see it having any potential to make a run? We looked pretty bad last night for 3/4 of the game, offense stagnant, energy flat.

We had 2 points yesterday where the offense sparked:
1) Decided to push the pace in the first half, versus sitting in that glacial half court. Nova countered with full court pressure.
2) Running offense through Tarris last second half.

Tarris had ten points over the final 10 minutes of the game, could have had a couple more buckets if not for a crazy blocked dunk from behind and a missed bunny.

Do we rather reward consistent mediocrity out of an honor code? We're at that time of year where we need to pull some levers.

That's fair. I think it can be a more fine grained incentive though. He did this for us...give him the start, with the caveat that that's the way he needs to play to continue to get the starts.

I'm happy to reward him, and I think the team is better when he is playing like he can/should....but have to have some carrot to keep him motivated, based on what we've seen that he sometimes just tunes out.

 

[RuffRuff]

That's fair. I think it can be a more fine grained incentive though. He did this for us...give him the start, with the caveat that that's the way he needs to play to continue to get the starts.

I'm happy to reward him, and I think the team is better when he is playing like he can/should....but have to have some carrot to keep him motivated, based on what we've seen that he sometimes just tunes out.

You're generally missing the point of the theory on why starting him could be a benefit. Furthermore, we need to change something up and this seems the most obvious place to start. I don't know what the downside is. Offending Sampson?

It has to have a much more masculinating when you enter the cylinder for the tap, look to set tone and you have a physical tour de force in there, versus a spindly 5. People want to say it's nothing, I disagree. There is a psych aspect to being big and strong. StJ game would be the perfect place to start.

 

[husky429]

Yeah he isn't the passer that Adama, DC, and even Samson Johnson can be.

Per 40 numbers: AST:TO (usage %)

Johnson - 2.4 : 2.1 (16%)
Reed - 2.2 : 2.6 (22%)

Sanogo: 1.9 : 2.9 (29%)
Clingan: 2.7 : 1.4 (25%)

Your memory or analysis is way off. Reed, Sanogo and Johnson are comparable passers. Sanogo is actually the worst of the bunch. The exception is that DC was a brilliant passer who didn't turn the ball over... a rare breed.

 

[Gutter King]

Per 40 numbers: AST:TO (usage %)

Johnson - 2.4 : 2.1 (16%)
Reed - 2.2 : 2.6 (22%)

Sanogo: 1.9 : 2.9 (29%)
Clingan: 2.7 : 1.4 (25%)

Your memory or analysis is way off. Reed, Sanogo and Johnson are comparable passers. Sanogo is actually the worst of the bunch. The exception is that DC was a brilliant passer who didn't turn the ball over... a rare breed.

You might be right on both.

I recall a game where Sanogo looked like Magic Johnson for the first half: scoring, rebounding, and passing. Hurley sat him for all but two minutes in the second half because he wanted to match up with them, rather than imposing our will on them. But I generally recall him being a more dynamic passer than Reed.

My point is ast/TO is obviously a great metric that is very useful for this type of analysis. But that doesn't necessarily tell if the player has advanced vision and the anticipation that our offense requires. Our team in general has proven it does not this year, though we have decent assist numbers.

Take Solo's game from last night. It was by far his best passing game because he hit cutters and passed our guys open on multiple occassion. We have't seen that from him this year.

You get an assist for handing the ball off for a Solo three. Is that what he's doing? Samson Johnson has passed to cutters within the flow of our offense multiple times. It pops out more to me. Maybe i'm missing it. I am willing to be corrected, but I'd be curious on how the board would rank them based on the eye test.

 

[husky429]

You might be right on both.

I recall a game where Sanogo looked like Magic Johnson for the first half: scoring, rebounding, and passing. Hurley sat him for all but two minutes in the second half because he wanted to match up with them, rather than imposing our will on them. But I generally recall him being a more dynamic passer than Reed.

My point is ast/TO is obviously a great metric that is very useful for this type of analysis. But that doesn't necessarily tell if the player has advanced vision and the anticipation that our offense requires. Our team in general has proven it does not this year, though we have decent assist numbers.

Take Solo's game from last night. It was by far his best passing game because he hit cutters and passed our guys open on multiple occassion. We have't seen that from him this year.

You get an assist for handing the ball off for a Solo three. Is that what he's doing? Samson Johnson has passed to cutters within the flow of our offense multiple times. It pops out more to me. Maybe i'm missing it. I am willing to be corrected, but I'd be curious on how the board would rank them based on the eye test.

The eye test is about the most useless measurement imaginable. C'mon now.

The appropriate answer here was "I stand corrected"

 

[Huskyforlife]

Yeah I’m sorta tired of the “Reed needs to try harder” nonsense when our starting center isn’t held to that standard.

Walk ons would give you 120% effort if you let them play. Samson could be puking in a bucket every time he hits the sideline, it doesn’t mean he’s more productive than Reed.

Play your best players, Reed is one of our best players. Bench him if he’s genuinely not trying, but I don’t believe he’s not working hard.

 

[freescooter]

Hurley is the best coach in college. For any who question why this team has not been on the same level as past he spelled it out. We simply do not have the depth to practice and play as before. We used to bring in a second 4-5 off the bench and lose nothing, in fact we pushed leads better than with the starters at times. So now he is trying to back off and finesse this thing.
He is trying to instill a toughness, junkyard dog attitude that Calhoun often did but I don’t know if these players are capable of that. Just feed Tarris raw meat for 3 days prior to our next game because Pitino and his players will have that at The Garden.

So you need 5 guys to practice against to design an in bounds play? As I’ve said he’s a very good coach but we’ve watched him get out coached by Pitino, by McDermott, by the guy from Seton Hall. I also wonder if people are figuring out his system. It happens in sports.

 

[husky429]

Yeah I’m sorta tired of the “Reed needs to try harder” nonsense when our starting center isn’t held to that standard.

Walk ons would give you 120% effort if you let them play. Samson could be puking in a bucket every time he hits the sideline, it doesn’t mean he’s more productive than Reed.

Play your best players, Reed is one of our best players. Bench him if he’s genuinely not trying, but I don’t believe he’s not working hard.

"They don't play hard enough" is an excuse for coaches who don't want to take ownership that they aren't leading and teaching kids. Hurley has done the same thing, and every time I hear it I get frustrated.

 

[Kemba15]

"They don't play hard enough" is an excuse for coaches who don't want to take ownership that they aren't leading and teaching kids. Hurley has done the same thing, and every time I hear it I get frustrated.

You can’t seriously think that Hurley isn’t teaching and leading his guys after the last two seasons. What are we doing here?

 

[djct1999]

You can’t seriously think that Hurley isn’t teaching and leading his guys after the last two seasons. What are we doing here?

The takes on here are dumbfounding. It’s equally entitled and embarrassing. Somehow the yard knows more than the staff w back to back titles.