I'm not sure how you could misinterpret my post any more than you have here.
When our starting 5 that began the season is healthy, we haven't lost a game. This isn't difficult.
Dan Hurley quote from 1962
- Thread starter bmayuc
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When our starting 5 that began the season is healthy, we haven't lost a game. This isn't difficult.
McLovin
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Why not?
The top 5 on that team were set but Calhoun found 10 minutes per game in EVERY GAME for Olander and Neils, despite having more experienced guys like Beverly (9MPG), Jamal Coombs-McDaniel (16MPG) and Chuck (15MPG) in the rotation.
Compare that to 21 MPG for Polley and 19 MPG for Gaffney. Gaffney and Polley are not playing at a significantly better level per minute than Beverly/Jamal Coombs-McDaniel/Chuck right now, and by all accounts Samson and Diggins are way more talented freshmen than Olander and Neils.
Hurley can find them minutes. He just refuses.
gtcam
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If Dan Hurley was coaching that team Tyler and Giffs would have never seen the floor
It isn't stupid at all to make the comparative - JC giving Tyler and Giffs the opportunity helped them and helped the program win another NC a few years later
Not playing highly rated incoming kids is head scratching and dangerous for recruiting. Danny knows his last name can open doors but kids want to play - sure they have to earn/fight for minutes but not to play at all is not a good look.
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Using the roster from that team for comparison shows that teams can still win big while allocating playing time to developing freshmen. Yes, Calhoun's hand was forced because of the make up of that team, but that doesn't invalidate the point.
gtcam
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yeah those games vs CCSU, LIU, Coppin St and Binghamton required that starting 5 to overcome those powerhouses - C'mon
Let's see how those 5 do against the NBE and then we can all sing their praise. I hope they run the table but Cole is going to get tired, Sanogo has back issues and there may be more injuries - Dan Hurley brags about depth but what good is unproven depth?
Kemba had nothing to do with it though.
We had a couple games in the Bahamas and another last night. Watch more.
You literally have no idea what you're talking about.
He has and does play freshman.
He simply isn't playing the freshmen you want him to.
He's also killing it on the recruiting trail.
Be wrong more.
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This team is in a weird spot where its not good enough to allow all the freshman to get a lot of reps without costing games. Yet its not bad enough to say, screw it, turn it over to the freshman. Giving the freshmen a lot of time is risky in that you sacrifice the more experienced players for something that might not pan out.
That being said, Hawkeye who appears to be the best of the bunch is getting decent minutes, but I do wish Samson and Diglilah could get more time. But I am also aware that giving them the keys most likely won't solve our problems.
Also keep in mind, with the transfers, its not like our upperclassmen have been playing together for years. They still need that extra time vs UMES and Grambling St to play together and really gel. I remember people saying after those games they wanted the roster trimmed, not extended.
That being said, Hawkeye who appears to be the best of the bunch is getting decent minutes, but I do wish Samson and Diglilah could get more time. But I am also aware that giving them the keys most likely won't solve our problems.
Also keep in mind, with the transfers, its not like our upperclassmen have been playing together for years. They still need that extra time vs UMES and Grambling St to play together and really gel. I remember people saying after those games they wanted the roster trimmed, not extended.
McLovin
Gangstas, what's up?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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
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.
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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”.
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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.
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.
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
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Comparing a team that played all freshmen and inexperienced sophomores to this team is not exactly apples to apples
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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.