I think it has a lot to do with game plan, and obviously personnel.
In many ways Hurley and Wright had similar game plans against each other. Nova smothered Sanogo and RJ to make us try to beat them with the rest of our guys. That is the book on us because we are not good shooters and we have exceedingly limited back court depth. Tyrese's ceiling is higher than I appreciated; I credit Hurley for believing in him and I credit Tyrese for playing at max effort and really getting more out of his potential than I thought was there, but it still wasn't enough.
Conversely, we smothered Gillespie and Moore to make Nova beat us with Samuels and Slater. And they did, because they can shoot.
Five minutes into the game the announcers said Hurley was committed to making Nova beat us with Samuels and Slater and would have no problem getting back on the bus to Storrs last night after losing if they did. That just kind of struck me as an odd thing to say before the game, as if there was no plan B. And there wasn't. So Hurley got exactly what he signed up for.
It wasn't a bad game plan, it just didn't work. Seems to be that the better coaches like McDermott and Wright do a better job of making adjustments when that happens. Like Tyson said, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."
We are a good team, but a flawed team. Hurley's sacrifice of offense for defense has worked most nights, but it gets tougher against better teams and better coaches. If we want to get back to the next level both the personnel and game plans need to improve imo. He can't do anything about the personnel at this point, and losing Hawk obviously doesn't help.
I think Hurley has done a good job this season, but suggesting that these results have zero to do with coaching when we lose is a bit silly imo. I'm sure Wright and McDermott hope we all keep thinking that way.
