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

[Kenny11]

The first time he had the ball he tripped over the 3-point line for crying out loud. He wasn't in to it. Hurley did the right thing.

He falls while dribbling the ball more than anyone I’ve ever seen. I don’t think it’s about his concentration. Maybe he leans forward too much? I have no idea. It’s inexplicable like the Rodney stepping out of bounds thing

 

[Chief00]

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.

 

[CL82]

I hope today made an impression on him. I hope he gets his mind right and leaves every bit of his considerable ability on the floor every night for the remainder of his college career. These days are short Jalen and you will never get them back. Play your heart out and you won't look back with regret.

 

[huskymedic]

Ouch...

 

[UconnFanDC]

I get no joy from what Jalen did. He is a terrific basketball player. Today, he turned his back to the coach during a game. He has to know better. Hurley had to sit him.

He has brought much of the criticism on himself. He started last season running away from his scooter accident. He has a self-destructive streak that has to be brought under control. And it's darn late, halfway through your senior season, to have to figure this out.

My point to you is this. If he's who he is, there is nothing we can do! I think it's everyone's problem that wants him to be who he is not! No Shabazz, Kemba, Ben, etc.. he is the best we have. but unfortunately not what wed hope

 

[superjohn]

Ouch...

That's quite an indictment.

 

[UconnFanDC]

It was never about his talent, which is immense. It was always about his head and motor, which are maddeningly inconsistent. I’ve got teens so I get it, but he’s getting old for it to still be this way.

He is who he is. Unfortunately he's not what we had hope he or Uconn would be at this point. But he is still our best player on this team

 

[UconnFanDC]

You can’t be serious wit this post.

You can't be serious asking me that question

 

[UconnFanDC]

My question is, would he have benched him against UCF? How many games has he started out slow, then turns it on the second half. It just so happens he did this against, oh well, *yawn* ECU. And it just so happens he basically empties the bench a good part of the second half. Hurley used this a tool to observe his lacking minutes player. This team is not bad at all. Don't rule out a good AAC tournament run. I don't think we will be seeing any more antics by JA and with Hurley. Maybe they both need to grow up. Next game is Temple. Let us see if he sits then. Hurley's comments of "i would of lost by 18 and not put him back in" Something like that.
Oh really? Who would get the credit for that loss. I think those words made public might piss off a player rather being constructed.

Well said. (Claps hands)

 

[UconnFanDC]

they love to bash
if JA did as some beatwriter said, he deserved to sit. I sit 10 rows behind the bench and didn't hear the exchange- and Dan Hurley is loud but can't say it didn't take place
JA isn't Bazz or Kemba and doesn't have anywhere near the supporting cast to take some of the pressure off him- today he had 2 guys on him everytime he touched the ball,
But that doesn't excuse an attitude with the coach- if true its inexcusable
Dan Hurley needs to learn to make adjustments much sooner

You are wise!!!!

 

[Excalibur]

My question is, would he have benched him against UCF? How many games has he started out slow, then turns it on the second half. It just so happens he did this against, oh well, *yawn* ECU. And it just so happens he basically empties the bench a good part of the second half. Hurley used this a tool to observe his lacking minutes player. This team is not bad at all. Don't rule out a good AAC tournament run. I don't think we will be seeing any more antics by JA and with Hurley. Maybe they both need to grow up. Next game is Temple. Let us see if he sits then. Hurley's comments of "i would of lost by 18 and not put him back in" Something like that.
Oh really? Who would get the credit for that loss. I think those words made public might piss off a player rather being constructed.

So what? What better time to do this than in a conference game that you know you’re winning either way?

 

[jleves]

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.

 

[TheChamps990411]

I love it! Hurley sending Jalen a message. The question is...will he get it? He is probably thinking about the super bowl.

Its funny because im gauging that many here even if they dont say it are pretty fed up with Jalen and seem to finally be coming to the realization that hes never going to be what we thought he was. Ive made a couple of comments recently about him basically saying hes overrated and not an NBA player and in the past id have gotten some criticism but it was total crickets. Ive been very disappointed in JAs career here and im apparantly not the only one. That being said im also not going to put all the blame on JA.

 

[Chief00]

I hope today made an impression on him. I hope he gets his mind right and leaves every bit of his considerable ability on the floor every night for the remainder of his college career. These days are short Jalen and you will never get them back. Play your heart out and you won't look back with regret.

Good advice. In particular, he needs to do some soul searching about his day game execution vs. how he prepares starting 24 hours out.

 

[huskyrob1]

Urban Dictionary: The Ewing Theory

Ewing Theory doesn't hold here. He is no longer the best player on the team. Vital and Carlton have both improved to the point where the both of them are more important to the team than Jalen is. Actually it's "Earl Kelley Theory", UConn players with the most promise who just pssed it all away.

A lesson Kelley never learned

 

[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.