Dan Hurley quote from 1962

[McLovin]

Kemba had nothing to do with it though.

I wasn’t implying that playing Samson + Diggins 10 MPG would lead to a National Championship.

Kemba could have lead a team of 8th graders to a National Championship that March.

I was implying that if Olander and Neils can find 10MPG on a championship team with 3 NBA players heavily in the rotation, Samson and Diggins can find 10MPG on this team that has Polley + Gaffney averaging 20 MPG.

 

[Greedo]

Kemba had nothing to do with it though.

Red herring. Kemba has nothing to do with this argument. But to say Kemba didn't receive help from his merry band of freshmen is disingenuous. He wasn't playing 1 v 5.

 

[BGesus4]

I love that the example people want to use of Calhoun aggressively playing freshmen is from the year he literally had no choice based on the roster

 

[navery12]

Not sure if my phone time is messed up, or if the Boneyard is becoming self aware

 

[BlueMAB]

Red herring. Kemba has nothing to do with this argument. But to say Kemba didn't receive help from his merry band of freshmen is disingenuous. He wasn't playing 1 v 5.

He does when you want to talk about "winning big" with freshmen.

Pretending as if Calhoun had options, but chose to play freshmen that many minutes is disingenuous.

 

[businesslawyer]

If he was getting "torched" in practice, firstly, who is torching him and secondly. if so, we would have heard about it by now

LMAO. Your theory is if they sucked, we would have heard about it, but people who disagree with you can't then legitimately say that "if they were playing as well as Gaffney and Polley we would have heard about it?" Seriously, you must be able to do better than that.

 

[businesslawyer]

Cole-mid major transfer
Martin- mid major transfer
Whaley- Ollie recruit
Polly- Ollie

While Cole,Whaley and Martin are nice players they are all at the end of there college career. And are not guys who will get you past the first weekend. It is what it is they are pieces. They are not big time players. They are nice players on a team with a stud or two. Maybe to Hurley they are better than pretty much anyone he has had but we are not at URI in the A10.

Polley is a whole other deal. He is more streaky than a 90yo mans underpants. If he doesn’t have it screw him to the bench. And he only has it once every 5 or 6 games. If he isn’t drilling 3’s he bring nothing to the table.

These are good guys and fight like hell but they are limited in skills. Not one of them would start on 2014. Not one.

In hindsight they should have all been let go and solidified the future by bringing in young guys and letting them learn on the way. These 4 guys are band aides. They will win enough games to make it interesting but in the big picture retarding the program as temporary fixes. Hurley is running with this plan because he fears a young inexperienced team will loose a bunch of games and he is too competitive to deal with that. Also he is worried the fan base will freak and be calling for his head.

These are my thoughts and I am sure most will hammer me for my opinion but this season feels like we are treading water not progressing to the future.

Also one last thing these next five games could go really sideways for us if everything does not go right. If that happens will Hurley have the balls to burn it down and let the young guys get the experience they will need for next year????

Lets see in 5 games. I pray we go 4-1 not 1-4

So much wrong here. First, IW would have started on the '14 team instead of Phil Nolan in the middle and is a much, much better player than Phil was. And don't tell me about Brimah, who until we got to the tournament wouldn't have been ready to play the majority of the game. Second, the theory that any team shouldn't be playing the guys who are the most likely to win games that season so that you're better in future years is absurd. You pitch your best today because you don't know if it will rain tomorrow. A guy like Diggins might get homesick for Philadelphia and enter the portal, or be in a car accident and have his career cut short, or just not develop into the player everyone thought. You don't sacrifice your current season because of how much better that might make us in two years.

It amazes me that people can't just say damn, Polley and Gaffney aren't playing well enough and leave it at that. Instead, we have to read through this level of overreaction where if people think that by telling you the world is flat they think it reflects poorly on the upperclassmen, they'll tell you the world is flat.

 

[BlueMAB]

I wasn’t implying that playing Samson + Diggins 10 MPG would lead to a National Championship.

Kemba could have lead a team of 8th graders to a National Championship that March.

I was implying that if Olander and Neils can find 10MPG on a championship team with 3 NBA players heavily in the rotation, Samson and Diggins can find 10MPG on this team that has Polley + Gaffney averaging 20 MPG.

As I said. I agree that I would like them to get more minutes.

It's still crazy to compare the rosters of a team with 3 upperclassmen on scholarship to one with 6 on scholarship. Then there's Jackson.

Freshman Olander might have to redshirt walk-on with this roster despite the fact he won a ring that year. Who is he playing over? Not Whaley, Sanogo, or Akok. In the little we've seen from Johnson I'd play him over Olander based on sheer potential. Maybe he beats out redshirt sophomore Springs?

Of the 3 NBA players in that rotation, TWO of them were also freshmen. Calhoun had to play freshmen that year. You guys have picked the year where he played most of the freshmen out of necessity.

 

[F101Voodoo]

Pretty prescient for a -11 year old.

I did not realize that our Dan Hurley was a time traveler since he was born in 1973. Well some day there will be a movie” Back To The Future In Connecticut”.

 

[Greedo]

He does when you want to talk about "winning big" with freshmen.

Pretending as if Calhoun had options, but chose to play freshmen that many minutes is disingenuous.

That's not my argument. My argument is that teams can have big wins and make runs with freshmen. The 2010/2011 team is evidence of that. Yes, because of the roster, Calhoun's hand was forced to play freshmen. I said that in another post. It doesn't change my argument. Based on Hurley's statements, I do think that Hurley would have potentially overplayed Beverley and other upper classmen on that team, at least early in the season, to the detriment of letting those freshmen go. I do think that team experienced growing pains throughout the season, but ultimately flourished because of Calhoun's willingness to let them grow through those freshmen mistakes. By the time they played Butler, that team wasn't just Kemba and a bunch of freshmen. Yes, without Kemba that team had no shot at a title, but those other pieces really grew by the end of the season. Would that team have won the title if Calhoun played Beverley over Shabazz through half of the season until Shabazz really really proved himself in practice? I doubt it - he wouldn't have the experience needed to help later in the season.

Look, I'm not advocating playing Diggins or Johnson, I haven't seen the two of them play enough to have a meaningful opinion on that. My only beef is with Hurley's perceived belief that you keep freshmen on the bench, or limit their time until they really really really show they're ready. I wish he would loosen that outlook a little bit, and his comments make him seem very stubborn with regards to playing freshmen.

If there is a freshman on the roster whose potential ceiling is higher than an upper classmen by the end of the season, then I say put them on the court. Do we have that in Diggins and Johnson? I don't know, my issue is with Hurley's overall outlook on the matter.

 

[BlueMAB]

My only beef is with Hurley's perceived belief that you keep freshmen on the bench, or limit their time until they really really really show they're ready. I wish he would loosen that outlook a little bit, and his comments make him seem very stubborn with regards to playing freshmen.

Instead of going back a decade ago to look at a roster from a different coach maybe there are other recent examples of Hurley playing freshmen that we could consider?

Like Akok or Bouknight? Sanogo or Jackson? We could look at Hawkins this year if you need real-time evidence.

 

[kemba]

I love that the example people want to use of Calhoun aggressively playing freshmen is from the year he literally had no choice based on the roster

And funny that they use that year as an example, and not say, 06-07, when he aggressively played freshmen and we didn't even come close to qualifying for the NIT.

Not all young players develop at the same rate. And when you are also playing the best player in the country it helps

 

[willie99]

And funny that they use that year as an example, and not say, 06-07, when he aggressively played freshmen and we didn't even come close to qualifying for the NIT.

Not all young players develop at the same rate. And when you are also playing the best player in the country it helps

Comparing a team that played all freshmen and inexperienced sophomores to this team is not exactly apples to apples

 

[NCNutmeg]

That is sending a message in public that Samson can't compete against physical teams. How does that help Samson? That sounds like shaming. How does Polley look against physical teams and he has been here forever?

I don't think it's shaming Samson. I think it's just the case of Samson needing to add bulk so that he doesn't get pushed around by bigger, stronger players. We had the same concerns with Akok when he came in but Akok was/is a more complete offensive player imo. Also, Polley is one of our only true 3 point threats so he needs to be in the game even if he is a liability or potential matchup problem on the other end of the floor.

I really like what I've seen from Samson and from what I've heard through the grapevine, he gives our bigs a true test during practices. This guy will be a stud and I think eventually finds himself on the court contributing during meaningful minutes.

 

[kemba]

Comparing a team that played all freshmen and inexperienced sophomores to this team is not exactly apples to apples

Right.

But neither is comparison to 2011

 

[tzznandrew]

And funny that they use that year as an example, and not say, 06-07, when he aggressively played freshmen and we didn't even come close to qualifying for the NIT.

Not all young players develop at the same rate. And when you are also playing the best player in the country it helps

Which juniors and seniors did you want him to play? Keep in mind, AJ Price had never played a game until this year either.

 

[kemba]

Which juniors and seniors did you want him to play? Keep in mind, AJ Price had never played a game until this year either.
View attachment 72038

? That wasn't the point. Never said I wanted him to play juniors or seniors on that team

 

[tzznandrew]

? That wasn't the point. Never said I wanted him to play juniors or seniors on that team

Sorry if I misread. The year he "agressively" played freshmen and sophomores suggests that he did so in spite of the ability to less-talented upperclassmen, so I read it as you suggesting JC had a choice, when in fact he didn't.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I think Hurley will win here, probably win big over time.

But this approach to young players is insane to me in the year of our lord 2021, especially given the track record of Hurley overplaying older guys(Yakwe, Cobb, Alterique, BAdams, etc) and the team sucking, over featuring much better young guys (Whaley, Bouknight), who make a major impact and change the entire trajectory/upside of the team the moment they get big run. Self awareness may be an issue here...


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Hurley was talking to the press in 1962? Did he go back to 1962 to recruit players who haven’t been born yet? Maybe he should’ve warned JFK too?

 

[jayteeman]

Calhoun should introduce Hurley to some 2010/2011 tape. And show him this:

2010-11 UConn Huskies Men's Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

Check out the detailed 2010-11 UConn Huskies Roster and Stats for College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

www.sports-reference.com

Good god, this link is hands down the finest bookmark in the history of NCAA Men's Basketball team statistics that every college coach should study as the gold star standard of a season that you will never have in your lifetime.....will never, ever be duplicated.....and by the way, it happened again 3 years later after being banned from the tourney.
The stars aligned, and a chosen coach was justifiably rewarded for a career that was well deserved.

 

[bmayuc]

Hurley was talking to the press in 1962? Did he go back to 1962 to recruit players who haven’t been born yet? Maybe he should’ve warned JFK too?

A poor attempt. do better.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

A poor attempt. do better.

Poor attempt my @ SS, it’s an honest question to a dumb stupid poster.