Earth to Jalen. Come in Jalen. You out there?

[dennismenace]

Did Jalen or Coach specifically say what happened with him today, or is everyone taking the word of the analyst who recently learned the phrase "teachable moment"?

A good coach is constantly teaching. Life (seeing things as they really are) is constantly teaching us. Some people are not teachable; they just aren't. Probably none of us will know for sure why he is not teachable.
Part of the process of growing up is being teachable. If we want to remain in the adolescent stage where "nothing is fair" (but my own ego) we can build up walls of bullxxxx. If we want to really get into it we can build entire halls of bullxxxx and live in it. The fact is the coach has the authority to run the show. Hurley is bringing home that point with startling clarity to that entire team. He has a track record of building good programs and developing talent. In the present world where "truth is whatever you think it is" (postmodernism) that can really come crashing down on you when you run into reality. I think Hurley has shown remarkable restraint for the "star" player. We shall see if he becomes teachable.

 

[Stinger92860]

Assuming we are invited to a post season tournament Jalen has about 6-8 weeks remaining in his college basketball career. What are the chances he can or will turn it around in that short timeframe?

 

[NJHoops]

Honestly, I would have liked to see Hurley put Jalen back in with the walkons with a minute left. That would have been a message.

No, that’s just antagonizing and showing up a guy for no reason. That’s insulting, not teaching. Hurley likes Jalen. He cares about him and nothing makes him more frustrated as a coach than a guy not maximizing his ability. I’d bet on Jalen coming out strong against Temple. It’s such an understatement, but man are some people here hard on Jalen. Did he kick your dog or something?

 

[UconnFanDC]

Jalen acts like an entitled, spoiled punk at times. I don’t care if he plays another minute of Husky basketball. I do however hope he learns lessons Hurley is trying to teach so he does not crash and burn post UCONN.

Smgdh

 

[Deepster]

The only thing more frustrating than watching Adams' career is reading the posts of the apologists who continue to make excuses for him and tout him as a great player.

After 3.5 years, it's abundantly clear he doesn't have the desire to maximize his talents as a player and especially as a leader. I can't wait until he plays out the remainder of the string and I don't have to watch him, ever again.

 

[pj]

After 3.5 years, it's abundantly clear he doesn't have the desire to maximize his talents as a player and especially as a leader. I can't wait until he plays out the remainder of the string and I don't have to watch him, ever again.

The great thing is that next year's backcourt of Alterique, CV, BAdams, Bouknight, and Gaffney looks to be 100% bought in.

I still hope for Jalen to step up, but time is running out. One month to March.

 

[Deepster]

I still hope for Jalen to step up, but time is running out. One month to March.

Step up? To what? Jesus. Cut the cord and let him loose.

 

[UConnDad]

The only thing more frustrating than watching Adams' career is reading the posts of the apologists who continue to make excuses for him and tout him as a great player.

After 3.5 years, it's abundantly clear he doesn't have the desire to maximize his talents as a player and especially as a leader. I can't wait until he plays out the remainder of the string and I don't have to watch him, ever again.

This is just way too harsh. Jalen has been disappointing and also very good. Sometimes in the same game. I'm hoping his next game is a career best. We shall see.

 

[pj]

Step up? To what? Jesus. Cut the cord and let him loose.

Step up to making basketball the #1 priority in his life, and fully implementing the coaches' advice.

 

[Marat]

Hurley does care about Jalen. I believe Hurley offered Jalen when he was at URI. Hurley had been saying since the beginning that Jalen needs to find that grit to become the leader.
"So Adams has been good, but does he have that inner drive to be great? With his career at a crossroads, grit is the road he must take. "
UConn men: Dan Hurley says Jalen Adams has all the tools, he just needs to find the 'grit' - Hartford Courant

Unfortunately many will associate Jalen with KO's tenure of losing - not Jalen's fault. If he had Hurley from the beginning ..... maybe by now he could have been what we envisioned. He's a very nice kid, and maybe that just cannot translate well into killer on court.

 

[mauconnfan]

Hurley does care about Jalen. I believe Hurley offered Jalen when he was at URI. Hurley had been saying since the beginning that Jalen needs to find that grit to become the leader.
"So Adams has been good, but does he have that inner drive to be great? With his career at a crossroads, grit is the road he must take. "
UConn men: Dan Hurley says Jalen Adams has all the tools, he just needs to find the 'grit' - Hartford Courant

Unfortunately many will associate Jalen with KO's tenure of losing - not Jalen's fault. If he had Hurley from the beginning ..... maybe by now he could have been what we envisioned. He's a very nice kid, and maybe that just cannot translate well into killer on court.

The ones who associate KO with Jalen are pretty much wrong. If he's a great kid and coachable what happened yesterday wouldn't have happened after being under the tutelage of Hurley for this long already. This is all on him and he is who he is. It's ashame because there is so much more there but we need to understand the kids who get better use their own time, away from the coach in the summer and off season at school to become who they want to be. He basically has the same body minus standard maturity, as he did when entering. If he wanted to be as good as he can be he's be twice as strong, cut to his max and could easily play 35 minutes without tugging on his shorts.

 

[imno1]

Jalen is an enigma but I don’t think he’s a bad kid or cancer to the team. I’ve seen him encourage and cheer on his teammates while he sat or fouled out. He’s Played great and horrible sometimes in the same game. I actually think Hurley’s decision to pull Jalen helped the growth of our team. With Gilbert out and Adams on the bench others had to step up. If we could get that play consistently out of Carlton, Polley, and Wilson when Riq comes back UConn could pull an upset or two. Sure Jalen is frustrating but there’s still time for redemption . And while it’s a long shot to make any post season noise I’m not giving up yet.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The only thing more frustrating than watching Adams' career is reading the posts of the apologists who continue to make excuses for him and tout him as a great player.

After 3.5 years, it's abundantly clear he doesn't have the desire to maximize his talents as a player and especially as a leader. I can't wait until he plays out the remainder of the string and I don't have to watch him, ever again.

I am not interested in giving up on him. He's been our best player in 2/3 of our games, and has been remarkably efficient in those games. He has gotten away with his occasional lapses until yesterday. Will it have an impact? I don't know really. But both Jalen and UConn are better off if it does.

Let's see how he responds in practice. I know Hurley will be looking at that. If he's starting against Temple, I think it would reflect that he practiced hard. I think he will probably have a great game. He's a joy to watch when he's playing hard.

 

[Excalibur]

The ones who associate KO with Jalen are pretty much wrong. If he's a great kid and coachable what happened yesterday wouldn't have happened after being under the tutelage of Hurley for this long already. This is all on him and he is who he is. It's ashame because there is so much more there but we need to understand the kids who get better use their own time, away from the coach in the summer and off season at school to become who they want to be. He basically has the same body minus standard maturity, as he did when entering. If he wanted to be as good as he can be he's be twice as strong, cut to his max and could easily play 35 minutes without tugging on his shorts.

It's possible that had Jalen had a coach willing to challenge him from the beginning that things could have been different. It's also possible that such a coach would have driven him out. Yesterday's incident makes me lean towards the latter.

Hurley is handling a difficult situation pretty well. He knows that reaching any kind of postseason tournament would be a huge benefit to the returning players, and he also knows that doing so will be nearly impossible without Adams. At the same time, he can't lose credibility by letting Adams get away with not doing the things Hurley wants him to do.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The ones who associate KO with Jalen are pretty much wrong. If he's a great kid and coachable what happened yesterday wouldn't have happened after being under the tutelage of Hurley for this long already. This is all on him and he is who he is. It's ashame because there is so much more there but we need to understand the kids who get better use their own time, away from the coach in the summer and off season at school to become who they want to be. He basically has the same body minus standard maturity, as he did when entering. If he wanted to be as good as he can be he's be twice as strong, cut to his max and could easily play 35 minutes without tugging on his shorts.

We will never know. But Scooters? Come on. Ollie was the strangest coach ever. He was a tireless, self-motivated player, out working everyone else to forge an NBA career. I think he expected players like himself, and aside from maybe Purvis, probably never found a single one. It's not how most people are wired. He pretty clearly did not push and demand of them the level of effort and commitment that they needed to succeed. He let them get away with too much on and off the court. Injuries meant that KO couldn't sub Adams and even hope to win a game.

You think 9 months of Hurley is going to change Jalen? When has his occasionally lazy approach hurt him before yesterday? Even under Hurley that was the first time it impacted his minutes. I think there is a chance that he will start to understand. It's not like he hasn't been very good much of the year.

 

[Fan4ever]

As a previous post put it, this is also about preventing a crash & burn for JA, post UCONN. There is a very high likelihood that JA plays professionally somewhere. That tenure can be very short-lived with out the right mindset. Of course, JA needs to be in the right mindset to accept and appreciate this teaching. Lessons in life can be very hard to digest, for if not the desired impact is lost.

In terms of outlook, I would say that JA will heed this lecture and in the future tell the tale of how he learned to be a professional BB player from Coach Hurley. This in turn will demonstrate the difference in the UCONN way for future prospects.

 

[mauconnfan]

"You think 9 months of Hurley is going to change Jalen?"

HuskyHawk as a player you take each coach as to their expectations and style as you grow. So yes he should've totally understood that Coach Hurley would help him be who we think he wants to be. I believe he even said that when he was announced and had his talk with him one-on-one. If he is that kid everyone says is a great kid off the court then it should be very easy for him to understand what he needs to accomplish and work on while trying to also get ready for the next level of life coming soon. Again, what happened yesterday tells you all you need to know about the "player" not necessarily the kid. 3.5 years of Hurley more than likely would've changed something for him but my guess would've been out the door after year 1 or 2.

 

[gwhuskyfan]

Jalen is an enigma but I don’t think he’s a bad kid or cancer to the team. I’ve seen him encourage and cheer on his teammates while he sat or fouled out. He’s Played great and horrible sometimes in the same game. I actually think Hurley’s decision to pull Jalen helped the growth of our team. With Gilbert out and Adams on the bench others had to step up. If we could get that play consistently out of Carlton, Polley, and Wilson when Riq comes back UConn could pull an upset or two. Sure Jalen is frustrating but there’s still time for redemption . And while it’s a long shot to make any post season noise I’m not giving up yet.

You could see him still pumping up his teammates and getting excited on the bench yesterday. So really think the cancer in the clubhouse type posts are accurate. Just disappointing to see the what he's shown us he can do - and not be able to repeat it on a consistent basis.

 

[CL82]

It’s such an understatement, but man are some people here hard on Jalen. Did he kick your dog or something?

Worse. He wasn't Kemba, or at least Bazz.

 

[HuskyHawk]

"You think 9 months of Hurley is going to change Jalen?"

HuskyHawk as a player you take each coach as to their expectations and style as you grow. So yes he should've totally understood that Coach Hurley would help him be who we think he wants to be. I believe he even said that when he was announced and had his talk with him one-on-one. If he is that kid everyone says is a great kid off the court then it should be very easy for him to understand what he needs to accomplish and work on while trying to also get ready for the next level of life coming soon. Again, what happened yesterday tells you all you need to know about the "player" not necessarily the kid. 3.5 years of Hurley more than likely would've changed something for him but my guess would've been out the door after year 1 or 2.

I guess we disagree. It's like parenting. Kids who don't naturally take to coaching or authority respond when there are consequences. Whatever Hurley made clear or didn't, yesterday was the first time Jalen faced any real consequences. Until there are consequences, those hard to reach kids will march to the beat of their own drummer. I know that pretty well, I was one of them. I was a lot like Jalen (not athletically, but academically) So let's see how he responds. If he sulks, then yeah, that's who he is. If he gets angry at himself, and changes, then the message may have finally gotten through.

 

[superjohn]

We will never know. But Scooters? Come on. Ollie was the strangest coach ever. He was a tireless, self-motivated player, out working everyone else to forge an NBA career. I think he expected players like himself, and aside from maybe Purvis, probably never found a single one. It's not how most people are wired. He pretty clearly did not push and demand of them the level of effort and commitment that they needed to succeed. He let them get away with too much on and off the court. Injuries meant that KO couldn't sub Adams and even hope to win a game.

You think 9 months of Hurley is going to change Jalen? When has his occasionally lazy approach hurt him before yesterday? Even under Hurley that was the first time it impacted his minutes. I think there is a chance that he will start to understand. It's not like he hasn't been very good much of the year.

When has this occasionally lazy approach hurt him before yesterday? His entire career. He was the 23rd ranked player in the country coming out of high school and was supposed to be playing in the NBA right now. Instead he's been a part of the worst stretch in UConn basketball since the early 80's.

 

[Ewekon]

First, away from basketball, Jalen is a likeable kid. Today was all about game prep. Doing what’s right with the body and mind to be able to focus and execute in a game.

Would he have been best buddies with uncle Cliffy?

 

[mauconnfan]

Crazy to see Joey Whelton share his thoughts on social media huh? He's right and he knows as well as anyone. Could use him last few games with his hair flopping around LOL

 

[Ewekon]

The only thing more frustrating than watching Adams' career is reading the posts of the apologists who continue to make excuses for him and tout him as a great player.

After 3.5 years, it's abundantly clear he doesn't have the desire to maximize his talents as a player and especially as a leader. I can't wait until he plays out the remainder of the string and I don't have to watch him, ever again.

My sources tell me that after graduation he will be getting an apartment in Hartford.

 

[UConnRock]

Watching Adams dribble into traffic, trip and fall, lose control for another turnover and then sit on the floor while ECU is in transition was absolutely infuriating to me. I can't imagine what it does to a high strung coach like Hurley.

Gilbert in the game keeps Jalen under control as he simply does not handle the ball as much. It is quite obvious that Gilbert's absence has brought out the Adams that we have seen in previous years. He feels like he has to carry the team and create on his own. That tells me that Adams really has not bought into Hurley's offense. The success of the team in the 2nd half without Adams was refreshing. 44 points in 2nd half vs 32 in first. Would love to know the shooting % and assists in 2nd half vs 1st