Deeper than Coaching or Talent

[dilznick]

I have been a Uconn fan since the mid 80’s and graduated Uconn in 1998. I have lived and died with this team for years. I have seen plenty of bad teams but was always confident on the turnaround because of the foundation that was built. And when Calhoun left I felt ok because of that foundation.

We all know Hurley can coach and we all know there is enough talent on the team to be competitive. This is not the ACC folks. Losing to South Florida is unacceptable. There is a deeper problem within the program. Something happened where Ollie messed things up so bad internally that it broke the foundation. You can bring Rick Pitino in here and all the talent in the world, but it won’t change anything unless the foundation of the program is repaired and the culture is changed. And by culture, I just don’t mean new players and coaches vision. It’s everything built behind the scenes by Calhoun and the administration and the moxie and brazenness of the Uconn brand on the shirts. We use to have teams on their heels from the opening tip because of the name on our shirts...no matter what arena we went to. Now we lose at South Florida, Tulsa, SMU, Houston , UCF? Seriously? We have lost our stripes.

I knew something was amiss when we opened with those 2 home losses to Wagner and Notheastern in Ollie’s 5th year. That was something I had never seen. No passion, no fight, no preparation. What happened? That was the domino for me. We have not recovered from the opening 2 games of 2016.

Everyone can’t wait for the new recruits next year, or the pipeline that could be open when we join the Big East. Unless Hurley and the athletic department fixes what has been broken behind the scenes, we’ll keep going 16-18.

 

[Excalibur]

Hurley clearly hasn’t figured out what works, and that has to be on him.

That said, for four years we’ve folded whenever confronted with adversity. This group just lacks mental toughness.

 

[Huskybass]

I have been a Uconn fan since the mid 80’s and graduated Uconn in 1998. I have lived and died with this team for years. I have seen plenty of bad teams but was always confident on the turnaround because of the foundation that was built. And when Calhoun left I felt ok because of that foundation.

We all know Hurley can coach and we all know there is enough talent on the team to be competitive. This is not the ACC folks. Losing to South Florida is unacceptable. There is a deeper problem within the program. Something happened where Ollie messed things up so bad internally that it broke the foundation. You can bring Rick Pitino in here and all the talent in the world, but it won’t change anything unless the foundation of the program is repaired and the culture is changed. And by culture, I just don’t mean new players and coaches vision. It’s everything built behind the scenes by Calhoun and the administration and the moxie and brazenness of the Uconn brand on the shirts. We use to have teams on their heels from the opening tip because of the name on our shirts...no matter what arena we went to. Now we lose at South Florida, Tulsa, SMU, Houston , UCF? Seriously? We have lost our stripes.

I knew something was amiss when we opened with those 2 home losses to Wagner and Notheastern in Ollie’s 5th year. That was something I had never seen. No passion, no fight, no preparation. What happened? That was the domino for me. We have not recovered from the opening 2 games of 2016.

Everyone can’t wait for the new recruits next year, or the pipeline that could be open when we join the Big East. Unless Hurley and the athletic department fixes what has been broken behind the scenes, we’ll keep going 16-18.

Please further explain "what has been broken behind the scenes". I have been a UConn fan since 1980 and I have never been at such a loss to understand why the team is struggling like I am right now. With the infusion of Hurley and players like Akok and Bouk, the team should be better than it is. I am legitimately confused and disillusioned.

 

[Ts5034]

Ive been saying in some of the threads that Im starting to think Its all mental at this point. We have had so many head scratching losses and bad performances vs teams in the AAC that its like they almost expect to lose. It just does not make any sense how we play our worst basketball once AAC play starts.

 

[WlfdHusky]

The program was in worse shape than most thought (including myself). It appears that KO ran it into the ground completely. Additionally, while DH is a very good coach at this time, this is a much bigger rebuilding project than he has had in the past. The move the the NBE will help recruiting but the step up in competition will result in a lot more losses until the upper class personnel are replaced and upgraded upon. That will take a few more years. I have faith in DH to get us there again.

 

[UConnDad]

I fear recruiting will be a problem if were the Big East doormat. Really need to turn it around this year.

 

[uconnfan68]

The program was in worse shape than most thought (including myself). It appears that KO ran it into the ground completely. Additionally, while DH is a very good coach at this time, this is a much bigger rebuilding project than he has had in the past. The move the the NBE will help recruiting but the step up in competition will result in a lot more losses until the upper class personnel are replaced and upgraded upon. That will take a few more years. I have faith in DH to get us there again.

I’m already tired of being a doormat... hope you’re right.

 

[RF79]

Hurley clearly hasn’t figured out what works, and that has to be on him.

That said, for four years we’ve folded whenever confronted with adversity. This group just lacks mental toughness.

I disagree. DH hasn’t been given much to work with. Some can put the blame on him, but only to a degree. We are soft. No argument there. There’s no on court leadership at all because we have no one to lead us with a winning mentality. Until we achieve a winning mentality we will keep getting spanked.

 

[UCfor3]

Hurley clearly hasn’t figured out what works, and that has to be on him.

That said, for four years we’ve folded whenever confronted with adversity. This group just lacks mental toughness.

Yes. This team needs an alpha personality(with some game) so bad. We need a leader and a winner that instills belief both on and off the floor.

 

[dilznick]

Please further explain "what has been broken behind the scenes". I have been a UConn fan since 1980 and I have never been at such a loss to understand why the team is struggling like I am right now. With the infusion of Hurley and players like Akok and Bouk, the team should be better than it is. I am legitimately confused and disillusioned.

What I mean is possibly recruiting relationships, alumni relations, destruction of the “Uconn way” of going things...which could entail work ethic, player development, practice schedules. It could be a complete loss and sense of what it is to be a Uconn basketball player. That intangible thing that makes Uconn player is gone. Those banners are up there but that feeling is gone. And a lot of people think that will automatically come back next year. I think they are fooling themselves.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

I'm not sure if there is really something deeper behind the scenes. I think the "UConn brand" isnt as hot of a ticket as it used to be, and we arent getting the talent or brand recognition we used to have. We have a mish mosh of talent that doesnt really work well with each other. I think we are setting too high of expectations for our freshman to do everything because our upper classman are just not cutting it.

 

[RIP77]

Talent level is low (especially juniors and seniors); no mental or physical toughness; no winning mentality; and no confidence. Not a recipe for success. And something that’s underrated is that Calhoun was a GREAT in game coach. He made adjustments and created mismatches game in, game out. I still like Hurley as a coach but it remains to be seen if he can manage a game like Calhoun.

 

[Excalibur]

I disagree. DH hasn’t been given much to work with. Some can put the blame on him, but only to a degree. We are soft. No argument there. There’s no on court leadership at all because we have no one to lead us with a winning mentality. Until we achieve a winning mentality we will keep getting spanked.

He’s been given enough to work with to figure out a way to have the team not fold completely when middling teams string together a few baskets. But most of this is on the guys on the floor.

 

[SprtzJnkee]

A hall of fame coach comes once in a lifetime and when you replace him with the wrong guy it sets you back even farther. Has happened to many teams. But we need some junk yard dogs. Players with something to prove, an edge, maybe a rough past. We’ve had them before. DH needs to build a real team with some leaders. No reason why we can’t be competitive. Don’t believe our foundation is broken yet.

 

[Fishy]

Hurley clearly hasn’t figured out what works, and that has to be on him.

That said, for four years we’ve folded whenever confronted with adversity. This group just lacks mental toughness.

At some point, we have to acknowledge the possibility that the answer to what works with this crew is nothing.

Some of these players have spent three or four years being knocked flat by even the lightest breeze.

Keep replacing the old with new. That’s the only thing that will work.

 

[gtcam]

I have been a Uconn fan since the mid 80’s and graduated Uconn in 1998. I have lived and died with this team for years. I have seen plenty of bad teams but was always confident on the turnaround because of the foundation that was built. And when Calhoun left I felt ok because of that foundation.

We all know Hurley can coach and we all know there is enough talent on the team to be competitive. This is not the ACC folks. Losing to South Florida is unacceptable. There is a deeper problem within the program. Something happened where Ollie messed things up so bad internally that it broke the foundation. You can bring Rick Pitino in here and all the talent in the world, but it won’t change anything unless the foundation of the program is repaired and the culture is changed. And by culture, I just don’t mean new players and coaches vision. It’s everything built behind the scenes by Calhoun and the administration and the moxie and brazenness of the Uconn brand on the shirts. We use to have teams on their heels from the opening tip because of the name on our shirts...no matter what arena we went to. Now we lose at South Florida, Tulsa, SMU, Houston , UCF? Seriously? We have lost our stripes.

I knew something was amiss when we opened with those 2 home losses to Wagner and Notheastern in Ollie’s 5th year. That was something I had never seen. No passion, no fight, no preparation. What happened? That was the domino for me. We have not recovered from the opening 2 games of 2016.

Everyone can’t wait for the new recruits next year, or the pipeline that could be open when we join the Big East. Unless Hurley and the athletic department fixes what has been broken behind the scenes, we’ll keep going 16-18.

Calhoun was one of the 5 best coaches in NCAA history - no doubt but he also had the OBE - the best conference ever. Conference realignment played a huge part yet you don't even mention it.
Losing to SFU is is unacceptable but many of this team weren't playing in 2016
The lack of moxie, preparation has zero to do with 2016
The culture belongs to those who play and lead now, today not 3-4 years ago
KO is gone he paid for his shortcomings
If this years team marches onto the court with no offensive scheme and no passion that is on them and the staff not a former coach or team.
It is also very hard to play a mans game with boys - you can have great talent but if you are getting beaten up and pushed around in a contact sport you aren't going to go far
You say that Hurley can coach, I hope you are correct, but what has he done on the bench these past 2 years, especially in conference play, that you can point to as an example? I would agree with you if you said the advance of Josh last year but Josh's regression so far this year is most puzzling and erases most any credit due.
A lot of things have attributed to UConn basketball's slippage, within the program, within the administration and outside the school. There's a lot of blame to go around and should not focus on just one person or team.
I have full faith it will come back, under DH and if not, another leader.

 

[Chief00]

I also think a KO legacy was the NCAA and school investigations that raised the Compliance bar so high, it has been very difficult to compete at recruiting like we need to. Some stuff Calhoun would do without a blink of an eye are off limits now.

 

[gampelcrazies]

I have been a Uconn fan since the mid 80’s and graduated Uconn in 1998. I have lived and died with this team for years. I have seen plenty of bad teams but was always confident on the turnaround because of the foundation that was built. And when Calhoun left I felt ok because of that foundation.

We all know Hurley can coach and we all know there is enough talent on the team to be competitive. This is not the ACC folks. Losing to South Florida is unacceptable. There is a deeper problem within the program. Something happened where Ollie messed things up so bad internally that it broke the foundation. You can bring Rick Pitino in here and all the talent in the world, but it won’t change anything unless the foundation of the program is repaired and the culture is changed. And by culture, I just don’t mean new players and coaches vision. It’s everything built behind the scenes by Calhoun and the administration and the moxie and brazenness of the Uconn brand on the shirts. We use to have teams on their heels from the opening tip because of the name on our shirts...no matter what arena we went to. Now we lose at South Florida, Tulsa, SMU, Houston , UCF? Seriously? We have lost our stripes.

I knew something was amiss when we opened with those 2 home losses to Wagner and Notheastern in Ollie’s 5th year. That was something I had never seen. No passion, no fight, no preparation. What happened? That was the domino for me. We have not recovered from the opening 2 games of 2016.

Everyone can’t wait for the new recruits next year, or the pipeline that could be open when we join the Big East. Unless Hurley and the athletic department fixes what has been broken behind the scenes, we’ll keep going 16-18.

I feel you on this. Something changed. It doesn't feel like the same program anymore.

It's not just about the wins/losses. The vibe is different. It's really hard to explain.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Any post that starts “I’ve been a fan since the campus was just a few cows and the Storrs brothers” I just instantly tune out

 

[ASweet3781]

The problem with replacing the old with the new is that the new are around the old and learning from them. I agree it’s the only way to change things but I am worried it’s gonna take a special special group to break this cycle.

 

[gampelcrazies]

Any post that starts “I’ve been a fan since the campus was just a few cows and the Storrs brothers” I just instantly tune out

The OP makes good points.

 

[gtcam]

Hurley clearly hasn’t figured out what works, and that has to be on him.

That said, for four years we’ve folded whenever confronted with adversity. This group just lacks mental toughness.

I agree that we have folded but I can't help think that a lot of people down play the talent and physicality of the AAC and UConn has not recruited to be competitive in that style. Unfortunately, most all of college basketball in the P5 and better leagues have turned to bigger, stronger kids while UConn loves those finesse players that sway in the wind - it's not just KO, DH has been bringing in the same. 6'7" kid weighing 180 lbs is going to be at a huge disadvantage guarding a 6'7" 220 lb and that will tire him out on the offensive game and may have fouling ramifications.
The AAC has some strong physical teams and has for the past 4 years.
I wonder if they will even miss UConn starting next year except as a possible W on the schedule

 

[superjohn]

I'm not sure if there is really something deeper behind the scenes. I think the "UConn brand" isnt as hot of a ticket as it used to be, and we arent getting the talent or brand recognition we used to have. We have a mish mosh of talent that doesnt really work well with each other. I think we are setting too high of expectations for our freshman to do everything because our upper classman are just not cutting it.

The UConn brand isn't a hot ticket because we've absolutely sucked for 4 years, it really isn't that hard to figure out. The veterans are the worst group we've had in 35-40 years. It sounds harsh but we all know it's true and they're now somehow regressing. Just a complete mess from the coach on down. Outside of the freshmen, we need a new group badly. Big East is a major step up and we can't win a single game on the road in our current conference.

 

[HooperScooper]

I also think a KO legacy was the NCAA and school investigations that raised the Compliance bar so high, it has been very difficult to compete at recruiting like we need to. Some stuff Calhoun would do without a blink of an eye are off limits now.

That's crap. Aren't you the same guy who has been lauding Hurley's recruiting? There's talent on the roster. Just need to get the old guys off the roster and keep filling it with talent like the last 2 years. And maybe get some tougher players.