Hurley brought a lot of the ref bad blood on himself with his histrionics. You can’t act the way he did, and then play the poor innocent victim when the refs back each other up, and send a message.
He finally figured it out and toned it down because he realized that he was hurting the team. His (unfortunate) instincts made him initiate that dig above, but he at least, kind of, but not really stopped himself.
But regardless of the Hurley vs the Big East refs drama, I don’t see any wider “borderline insinuation” that he believes the
conference itself is responsible.
edit: Also my sense is that the combo of Hurley toning it down, and his new status as a National Champion, will have both side ready to move on and start anew.