Dan Hurley's Offense Year 4 | The Boneyard

Dan Hurley's Offense Year 4

McLovin

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Known as a defensive minded coach coming in, the question on here seemed to be could he put together a competent offense. The team really struggled his first 2 years with mostly KO guys and then took a small step forward in a bizarre season last year. Only to fall flat on their faces in two big post season games.

It's early and it's mostly cupcakes that look like a bunch of 8th graders going against NBA all stars, but wow has the offense seemingly taken a huge step forward this year. No running the weave for 25 seconds and jacking up a last second 3. No brining Sanogo out for screens at the top of the key for no apparent reason. They all know where they need to be on the floor. They move the ball quickly. They are aggressive but smart getting their shots.

3 point shooting is going to be critical to our success. I like that Hurley has been running offensive sets to get us quality looks from deep. Lots of open 3s. Now we just need to start knocking them down.

Defense & athleticism will always be the staple of a Dan Hurley coached team, by good lord, if he can figure out the offensive piece as well... LOOK OUT!
 
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I said it in the other thread, but I wonder if Murray is having a big effect on the offense. Our team is more talented of course, but our half-court sets are just better right now. More variety. I don't know how effective it will be against better comp... but I like the philosophy.

I'm in wait-and-see mode with how fast we play, but I'm excited about what I've heard from the staff and players. It seems to be a common theme. Coach is gonna have to let go of the reigns a bit more than he has been comfortable with for basically his entire coaching career if this team is going to hit its peak. The greatest coaches aren't one-trick ponies... they adapt. I think he has it in him.
 
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Slow teams rely on good half-court offense while fast teams rely on transition offense.

We've begged for more pace and we're getting it so far. If our defensive pressure results in similar rates of transition offense we've seen against these cupcakes, our half-court offense won't be needed as much.

However, in halfcourt situations, it seems that we're playing inside/out w/ Sanogo while guys like Cole and Martin are showing noticable leaps in time with the ball.

Personally, I hate hero-ball offense and I am looking forward to us not relying on one guy, as we did w/ Bouk last season. I'm thinking back to last year in our win against Xavier...that was pretty basketball and the offense started to click w/o Bouk.
 
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This is one area where it's tough to make any assessments having only played low-majors. Half of our roster can penetrate at will against these teams. It opens up everything. Plus we can dictate pace. We'll see how it looks against the big boys.
 
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Known as a defensive minded coach coming in, the question on here seemed to be could he put together a competent offense. The team really struggled his first 2 years with mostly KO guys and then took a small step forward in a bizarre season last year. Only to fall flat on their faces in two big post season games.

It's early and it's mostly cupcakes that look like a bunch of 8th graders going against NBA all stars, but wow has the offense seemingly taken a huge step forward this year. No running the weave for 25 seconds and jacking up a last second 3. No brining Sanogo out for screens at the top of the key for no apparent reason. They all know where they need to be on the floor. They move the ball quickly. They are aggressive but smart getting their shots.

3 point shooting is going to be critical to our success. I like that Hurley has been running offensive sets to get us quality looks from deep. Lots of open 3s. Now we just need to start knocking them down.

Defense & athleticism will always be the staple of a Dan Hurley coached team, by good lord, if he can figure out the offensive piece as well... LOOK OUT!
I think we are seeing what bringing in better talent, athleticism and smarts will do.
Having a handful of guys in the system for a few years also helps the cause.
 
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IF (and it's a big if) this team can become really good with ball movement, this team will be a real tough out come Tourney time. So many weapons, just need to have them blend well together in the half court set. Not that they haven't, but the games against Top 50 teams will tell us more than these 50 point blowouts.
 
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Still not drawing any meaningful observations at this point. But the fast break seems improved.
Completely valid until we play real competition, but the one thing I noticed is this team rarely takes bad shots. Sure, last night in the first 10 min they looked terrible, but it was shots just not going in more than anything. I think that's the real takeway so far -- nothing seems forced, there is a flow to every offensive possession. If RJ and Polley are going to continue to shoot at that volume from 3, they need to start making shots though. Sanogo makes everything easier, especially if teams swarm him with a double team. Shooters need to be ready to go if he can pass out of these double teams for open looks.
 

cohenzone

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I think this team is a nightmare to prepare for defensively. Yes, they beat up on far less talented teams, but the skills are evident. It legitimately goes to around 9 even 10 deep and there really isn’t much repetition in the talent. Bench players who change the offensive look and not for the worse. Even a couple of the new kids seem Ok but will have a hard time getting minutes. A team often takes on the mental character of the guy with the ball and Cole is a toughie.
 
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There’s a predictable evolution to his teams. Things are very much on-track for them at UConn. I can’t wait for next week- a mini family reunion and a trio of what should be very good, competitive games.
 
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Plenty of veteran leadership on this team with Martin, Cole, Whaley and Gaffney. Cole, Gaffney and Jackson can all pass it well. Makes for lots of good options and very tough to defend...and I haven't even mentioned Sanogo, Hawkins or Polley yet.
 
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Great defense keeps you in games, even on offensive-off nights. The offense looks much improved, likely because of Sanogo's ability to score inside. We no longer rely on the high ball screens, which was ineffective with the rosters of years past. This roster much more offensively balanced, skilled, and dynamic than any Hurley team so far at UConn. The defense, which was always the strongest asset of any Hurley team, continues to get even better. A lot to like and be excited about.
 
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I agree it's hard to draw too many conclusions. Our defense is going to key our offense all season, but not to this degree. We've been lighting the basket on fire mostly because we're getting dunks, layups, and transition 3s off forcing turnovers and running after blocks/misses. I think we'll continue doing those things, but right now we're top 10 in both steal and block rate (West Virginia the only other team in top 10 in both).

Looking at the past, Hurley has had 2 teams with top 10 turnover rates (his last years at Rhode Island and Wagner respectively), so this could be more sustainable than I thought. We've been good not great forcing turnovers so far in his previous 3 years here, but between Martin, Jackson, Whaley and Hawkins being absolute thieves and Cole drawing constant charges the recipe is there.

Against someone like Villanova we're going to have to play in the half court. They don't turn it over, shoot well, and tend to pass it too well and stretch the court too much to help weakside with blocks. UCLA beat them because they had half court shot makers. Sanogo can count for that and the 5 is where Nova's defense is weak. They switch almost everything so we'll try to get mismatches with Sanogo on their guards/wings too, but they are pretty strong guys.

Gaffney, Hawkins, Cole, and Polley are going to have to hit shots in the half court. Martin needs to finish. Anything we get from Jackson on offense is bonus (but could be difference between good and great offensive team).
 
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Completely valid until we play real competition, but the one thing I noticed is this team rarely takes bad shots. Sure, last night in the first 10 min they looked terrible, but it was shots just not going in more than anything. I think that's the real takeway so far -- nothing seems forced, there is a flow to every offensive possession. If RJ and Polley are going to continue to shoot at that volume from 3, they need to start making shots though. Sanogo makes everything easier, especially if teams swarm him with a double team. Shooters need to be ready to go if he can pass out of these double teams for open looks.
RJ is shooting 40% from 3.
 

gtcam

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If the other team is missing 75% of their shots its really easy to run a fast break
Does the fast break look better this year? so far yes
I'm still concerned about opposing teams daring RJ to drive to the hoop and then collapsing on him quickly and forcing him to make a decision - for the most part he doesn't react well
IF the outside shots are falling, this team will be very hard to beat
This could be a very fun team to watch but we will be frustrated more than a few times
Hawk will be a huge addition to the positive
 
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I said it in the other thread, but I wonder if Murray is having a big effect on the offense. Our team is more talented of course, but our half-court sets are just better right now. More variety. I don't know how effective it will be against better comp... but I like the philosophy.

I'm in wait-and-see mode with how fast we play, but I'm excited about what I've heard from the staff and players. It seems to be a common theme. Coach is gonna have to let go of the reigns a bit more than he has been comfortable with for basically his entire coaching career if this team is going to hit its peak. The greatest coaches aren't one-trick ponies... they adapt. I think he has it in him.
Think you nailed it w/Murray observation/influence. Without an improvisational-creative scorer like Bouk on the team (so far). Offensive scheme and knowing your role on the floor is critical. Ball is moving much better and with more precision and intention.

Positive trend that will be challenged in Atlantis by better defenses. Will be a valuable test for these guys
 
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Sanogo was double teamed early and we were sort of stuck on how to respond. But we did.

We’re likely going to get punched in the mouth by Auburn early - how we respond is huge for this team.
Why are we likely to get punched in the mouth by Auburn? Jesus it's like some of you guys have forgotten what a good UConn team is like. No one on this board has any confidence anymore it's honestly kind of annoying.
 
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Why are we likely to get punched in the mouth by Auburn? Jesus it's like some of you guys have forgotten what a good UConn team is like. No one on this board has any confidence anymore it's honestly kind of annoying.
And it's like other people have forgotten that we looked just like this at the of last year against Georgetown and Depaul, and then scored in the 50's days later against decent teams.

No one is saying we won't be good or even great, there are just people that realize the competition this year has been so bad it's dumb to assume what we are doing will translate against good teams. Especially when we have evidence from last year that it didn't translate.
 
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And it's like other people have forgotten that we looked just like this at the of last year against Georgetown and Depaul, and then scored in the 50's days later against decent teams.

No one is saying we won't be good or even great, there are just people that realize the competition this year has been so bad it's dumb to assume what we are doing will translate against good teams. Especially when we have evidence from last year that it didn't translate.
The first mistake you are making is that this is last years team
 
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Why are we likely to get punched in the mouth by Auburn? Jesus it's like some of you guys have forgotten what a good UConn team is like. No one on this board has any confidence anymore it's honestly kind of annoying.
I have a lot of confidence in this team. Nobody we play is going to be more athletic or deeper than us and we are a veteran squad. I think the later Ollie years did a number on a lot of fans and they forgot what great UConn squads look like, I think the national pollsters did too and it's why we're barely in the top 25. We've only played weak teams so far so they're still in wait and see mode and they still have the thoughts of the bad seasons in the back of their minds.

With what we have on the team this year I put no ceiling on what they can accomplish. Doesn't mean they'll do it but they have the things you look for in a team who can play late into March and early April. As for next week it will be a dramatic step up in competition for us but it will be for the teams we play too. I like our chances.
 

CTBasketball

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Or maybe we'll punch them in the mouth
Why are we likely to get punched in the mouth by Auburn? Jesus it's like some of you guys have forgotten what a good UConn team is like. No one on this board has any confidence anymore it's honestly kind of annoying.
Because we’ve been playing EO Smith High School, and we’re going to see actual defensive pressure. All I’m saying is don’t expect a walk in the park.

And plus, we should embrace a challenge.
 

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