Do you think Hurley knew? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Do you think Hurley knew?

jibsey said:
I’m betting that Hurley is surprised that his record is not better at this point. After all UCONN is not in the ACC or the B1G. After the Syracuse game most of us thought it was going to be better than it has turned out. Admit it.
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There is absolutely no basis for assuming that teams in weaker conferences automatically have a better shot at having good records. You can't make that determination without actually looking at who is on a team, and how they stack up to the other teams in their conference.

Also, just because lots of people thought the team would be better does not mean that they were thinking clearly in doing so.
 
Stainmaster said:
There is absolutely no basis for assuming that teams in weaker conferences automatically have a better shot at having good records. You can't make that determination without actually looking at who is on a team, and how they stack up to the other teams in their conference.

Also, just because lots of people thought the team would be better does not mean that they were thinking clearly in doing so.
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We weren’t thinking clearly after the SU game. It’s natural to hope for more but our recruiting weaknesses have not been addressed and reared their ugly head. We beat a ranked team at the time and “at large” thoughts briefly became rampant. No blame on Hurley though.
 
uconngb said:
Serious question. Do you think Hurley really know how talent-deficient this team was before he accepted the job? I understand he didn't come for a one-year tenure, but even he has to be disappointed in what this roster offers him. I think 21 games into their sophomore season it is fair to say that Josh and Polley do not deserve to be starting for this or any other major D-1 college program. There are basic fundamental things they just don't do well, and particularly in Polley's case, have minimal impact on most games. That's 40% of our starting lineup, and 100% of our frontcourt starting lineup. And that's the best we have. He's gotta be beating his head against the wall when he sees the disparity of our guys vs every non-cupcake team we've played this year. The physical difference is obvious to see, but coupled with the extremely low BBIQ we still seam to have, that's a deadly combo. I realize Rome wasn't built in a day, and I still have full confidence that Hurley is our guy, but he's gotta be extremely frustrated that he can't even get through to these guys to play hard for 40 minutes every game. When you are outmanned and outsmarted, that's your only chance at making up for the deficiencies. My guess is Danny is not getting a lot of sleep these days.
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Kinda shocked you didn't attach a poll to this, the kind where you can't see the results unless you vote.
 
this thread started being absurd and some of the postings take it to another level
If you have to ask if Dan Hurley is beating his head against a wall then I think that it is you who had unrealistic visions of instant success.
Athletically and physically this team is vastly inferior to many teams and that is what Dan Hurley has to change, it starts with getting a quality big but swings and misses at the elite isn't going to do it. He needs kids with size and an attitude that comes with an edge. He is not getting the 5*s and maybe not even an elite 4* on any consistent basis. He needs to build the team like JC and Geno did at the start - kids who can shoot, rebound, have a big motor and want to play hard. Once those kids start winning, the better players will follow. Kids the P5s have looked at but only consider them as last ditch plans
I believe Dan Hurley can coach these types of kids to be successful
 
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GHSWolverines said:
Hurley is not a fool. He researched. Given Uconn"s long tradition Hurley feels he can get it back to what it was and I believe him.
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Hurley figured he could recruit here, and he's proven himself correct by getting Bouknight, Gaffney, and Akok, not to mention almost getting Cockburn.
 
gtcam said:
this thread started being absurd and some of the postings take it to another level
If you have to ask if Dan Hurley is beating his head against a wall then I think that it is you who had unrealistic visions of instant success.
Athletically and physically this team is vastly inferior to many teams and that is what Dan Hurley has to change, it starts with getting a quality big but swings and misses at the elite isn't going to do it. He needs kids with size and an attitude that comes with an edge. He is not getting the 5*s and maybe not even an elite 4* on any consistent basis. He needs to build the team like JC and Geno did at the start - kids who can shoot, rebound, have a big motor and want to play hard. Once those kids start winning, the better players will follow. Kids the P5s have looked at but only consider them as last ditch plans
I believe Dan Hurley can coach these types of kids to be successful
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You do realize Hurley has already gotten two 4 stars and another 4 star who is a borderline 5 star, right?
 
Hurley said he thought we could surprise people if we got production from our big men. He said he was most concerned about the 4 spot. I imagine he is slightly disappointed with the production from the bigs but I'm sure he isn't shocked.
 
Do I think the guy who coached URI into a Top 25 team and made Wagner good understood coming in that this is not a roster full of NBA players?

Nah, man, you can't expect him to have the same nuanced understanding of the game as you, someone who can successfully make a post on an Internet message board.

Peak Boneyard.
 
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I guess it's hard to have your expectations low enough on the boneyard. My point was that I think Hurley thought he had a team he could compete with this year when he took the job. NOT a final 4 team, but a team that with some coaching and an infusion of some energy could compete. He HAS to be disappointed in what has happened. As I said I still think he is the right man for the job. But go ahead and take your cheap shots......you didn't take time to actually read the post.
 
Trust me, Hurley knew what he was walking into. So did the assistant coaches.
 
uconngb said:
I guess it's hard to have your expectations low enough on the boneyard. My point was that I think Hurley thought he had a team he could compete with this year when he took the job. NOT a final 4 team, but a team that with some coaching and an infusion of some energy could compete. He HAS to be disappointed in what has happened. As I said I still think he is the right man for the job. But go ahead and take your cheap shots.you didn't take time to actually read the post.
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I reread your post and don't think it says what you are claiming. Even dialing back the response of some people rubbed the wrong way doesn't put it in a great light. You labeled your question "serious" and got enough serious answers to wave off this second-bite-of-the-apple protest.
 
Not only did Hurley know what he was getting into, he publicly stated he loves the challenge of taking on a rebuilding project and turning things around. Facing facts, he was fully aware that there is a ceiling on what can be accomplished by an A-10 team, and he knew he was bumping up against it at URI. UCONN offered him a new challenge and opportunity to take things beyond that A-10 ceiling. We've done it before and he believes he can get us there again, despite the shortcomings of our current roster of players. He's looking at the long term future.
 
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The experts on the Boneyard as usual are spot on with their analysis. Tyler Polly clearly does not have the talent to compete in D1 basketball possibly not even D3 guys. It's too bad UConn doesn't offer scholarships to more capable real D1 caliber players like Tennessee. Maybe then we would finally be able to compete with uber talented power houses like USF.

Well done guys.
 
hmmm....if all is good, we wouldn't be looking for him.
From a coach ego perspective, you would want to start from scratch, and build the beast.
KO had the complete opposite, following a HOF'er, which is a no win situation.
 
The over-the-top in game persona is because he has a roster of self-starters? Have we seen Hurley sit down during a game yet? Recall, it wasn't so far ago that our coach barely was up during a game...complete reversal. He knows that winning with this team will require him to extract effort and motivate 110% of the time to have a chance. Coaching generically is a load of work. Coaching kids of differing talent levels, needs, knowledge, etc. is extremely hard work. Unfortunately, it seems that this roster wasn't on a heavy learning and development curve since they got on campus. Hurley seems to be changing that as well. As was previously written, need to change the culture first and pivot from what got us into this mess.
 
UConnNick said:
Not only did Hurley know what he was getting into, he publicly stated he loves the challenge of taking on a rebuilding project and turning things around. Facing facts, he was fully aware that there is a ceiling on what can be accomplished by an A-10 team, and he knew he was bumping up against it at URI. UCONN offered him a new challenge and opportunity to take things beyond that A-10 ceiling. We've done it before and he believes he can get us there again, despite the shortcomings of our current roster of players. He's looking at the long term future.
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This. In situations like the one Hurley took over, coaches are playing the long game. I'm not saying Hurley isn't trying to win; you can tell the way he reacts to every bad call by the refs that he wants to win now, but listen to his quotes in the postgame. He talks about building a culture, and that's not a short-term goal.

When Hurley said that guys like Sid and Carlton are part of the reason he took the job, do you think he meant because of their current level of play? Of course not, he sees them as juniors and seniors after he molds their game and knows that they will be quality contributors then. Remember the 06-07 season after half of our roster went to the NBA? It was the first season for Price, Thabeet, Sticks and Dyson, and Adrien's 2nd year after not playing a bunch his first year. That team went nowhere fast. Thabeet ended up on his ass every other play. We almost lost to Quinnipiac at home. Do you think Jim Calhoun had doubts about the talent of that core? No, because he's a great coach. He knew they had talent and just had to grow as a group, take their lumps, and get some experience. Two years later that same group went to a Final Four and was in the top 5 pretty much the entire season. Now, this group doesn't have the same level of talent as that group -- not even close, in fact. My point is, Hurley sees what this program can become again, and I guarantee you he's not sweating what he sees on the court this year.
 
jibsey said:
I’m betting that Hurley is surprised that his record is not better at this point. After all UCONN is not in the ACC or the B1G. After the Syracuse game most of us thought it was going to be better than it has turned out. Admit it.
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But that only lasted until the next game. Then back to reality.
 
uconngb said:
Serious question. Do you think Hurley really know how talent-deficient this team was before he accepted the job? I understand he didn't come for a one-year tenure, but even he has to be disappointed in what this roster offers him. I think 21 games into their sophomore season it is fair to say that Josh and Polley do not deserve to be starting for this or any other major D-1 college program. There are basic fundamental things they just don't do well, and particularly in Polley's case, have minimal impact on most games. That's 40% of our starting lineup, and 100% of our frontcourt starting lineup. And that's the best we have. He's gotta be beating his head against the wall when he sees the disparity of our guys vs every non-cupcake team we've played this year. The physical difference is obvious to see, but coupled with the extremely low BBIQ we still seam to have, that's a deadly combo. I realize Rome wasn't built in a day, and I still have full confidence that Hurley is our guy, but he's gotta be extremely frustrated that he can't even get through to these guys to play hard for 40 minutes every game. When you are outmanned and outsmarted, that's your only chance at making up for the deficiencies. My guess is Danny is not getting a lot of sleep these days.
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Your point on talent is somewhat accurate. I've said before, Olllie's biggest deficiency was putting together a balanced team. Once Calhoun's players were gone, Ollies team had huge holes. Throw in a couple injuries and the team was sunk.
I think you're also minimizing the loss of their 2nd best player in Gilbert.
 
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Forte said:
Tyler Polly clearly does not have the talent to compete in D1 basketball possibly not even D3 guys.
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Are you serious right now?
 
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