Finger pointing

[tuvent08]

I'm not crazy enough to say Hurley is a bad coach. He's a very solid coach. He just hasn't shown any signs he can get to the next level. We're going to need some extremely amazing recruits to progress further so games don't come down to Hurley's ability to make in game adjustments.

Really well said. Dan was the right hire for us, and it remains to be seen whether he is able to evolve tactically and develop the ability to project calmness and not get all spun up in high pressure situations. Regardless of whether he’s going to be chairing the next local Mensa meeting, I’m grateful that he came when he did.

 

[ctchamps]

This is fair. Hurley has showed a lot this year, fixing offensive and defensive issues that other coaches exposed. He played zone a long time last night, when has he ever done that? He’s improved at adapting his fairly rigid system.

That said, he admitted one weakness that he still has in the press conference when he mentioned lack of prep time. Game planning for an opponent. I suppose he’s not wrong in thinking that when his team is clicking it isn’t needed. We win if Hawkins is even mediocre. But Shaka sure as hell game planned for us and they had wrinkles that gave us problems on both ends. It’s tournament time and he better be prepared for more rapid adjustments.

When he grabbed Adama and Jordan after the TO did he say “Sorry guys. I put you in a difficult position because we didn’t game plan for Marquette.”

OR

“WTF are you guys doing out there. We practiced to stop those plays and this is the way you play!?!”

If someone wants to blame Hurley for the loss than they will use that statement in the press conference as evidence he’s a bad coach instead of realizing he’s fabricating an excuse for bad play. He’s putting the blame on himself which is admirable. There are a lot of over reactive fans I would expect this from. I’m surprised you’re interpreting it through that narrative.

 

[UCfor3]

Plain and simple- Shaka had a very specific plan on D, especially on Hawk. He also had a plan on offense to spread the court to allow an alley for Kolek. Not sure what the UConn staff’s plans were. They did run that zone in the second half but I question why stick with it so long when it was obvious that the UConn players were not at all comfortable and left too man shooters open. The staff has to develop plays/plans/schemes against every opponent rather than rolling out the ball and play.
Players are going to have off games and Hawk had one yesterday but Shaka sacrificed length under the hoop by sticking long defenders on Hawk. It worked. For the geniuses on the chat that were saying Hawk is overrated and won’t be a NBA player- keep drinking the booze.
UConn has better players and barely loss. Marquette is the 1 seed and deservingly so. UConn lost to a more prepared and composed team who is led by a dynamic coach.
Anyone who had said they would take Dan Hurley over Shaka as far as Xs and Os maybe should reassess. Shaka bested UConn last night.

You are not a fan of our coach. Fine. You are allowed your opinion like the rest of us . With that said, you can't possibly believe he just "rolls the ball out and plays."

 

[Gburyhusky]

How about you all wait until the g.d. season is over before you judge the coach? Geez.

 

[ctchamps]

You are not a fan of our coach. Fine. You are allowed your opinion like the rest of us . With that said, you can't possibly believe he just "rolls the ball out and plays."

Some context might be required here. I believe the poster you are responding to knows KO personally. This forum was brutal to KO when the program went downhill.

Some of the bitterness/negative commentary that he directs at Hurley has some connection to that situation and is meant to make people in this forum uncomfortable.

I’m hoping he can move past it, but it’s understandable why he does this. I give him credit for not taking it to the level that KO received.

 

[geordi]

All this crap about Hurley can't get us to the next level is BS pure and simple. What level do you expect? He's already gotten us to basically the top 10 in the country by all the metrics. The next level is the NBA and - oh, by the way - there are at least 3, maybe 4 or 5 players that will be playing there.

It's ok to admit that another team was better than we are - at least on a given night. Teams have good nights and bad nights. Good match-ups and bad match- ups. Look at the play-by-play. With 9 minutes left, we had just tied the score at 60. Over that nine minutes, We missed 7 3s - five of them wide open and missed every one. Hurley didn't miss the shots, BUT he set up plays that created those shots. Hurley didn't shoot 60% from the foul line from a team that's averaging nearly 76% - 81% if you don't count Clingan and Diarra. We had at least a half dozen opportunities to take the lead - couldn't get that done.

Sometimes we just play another team that would like to win the game too. It's not all the coaches fault. The other team, the referees, the players sometimes have something to do with the outcome of the game.

 

[UCfor3]

Some context might be required here. I believe the poster you are responding to knows KO personally. This forum was brutal to KO when the program went downhill.

Some of the bitterness/negative commentary that he directs at Hurley has some connection to that situation and is meant to make people in this forum uncomfortable.

I’m hoping he can move past it, but it’s understandable why he does this. I give him credit for not taking it to the level that KO received.

Thanks. I could understand that to a degree. Not the way I would handle it but hey we are all human and different so I won't judge. I have nothing personal against KO. Liked him as a player and 2014 was magic. I appreciate him for that. I remember my wife and I painting an Olliewood wooden sign to hang in our gameroom basement. I thought he needed to be replaced at the time. Sometimes things just don't work out. Unfortunate for all involved.

 

[UCan3]

Remember when Napier pushed Boatright into the spot in the champ game? Sometimes a healthy amount of competitive juices is a good thing.


McDermott lost in the same round by 20 and has underachieved with his team's talent this season.

Actuallly funny you should mention those 2. Last night UConn reminded me of the teams we used to beat (w/Napier/BR) that were more talented and better athletes etc.
We had guys that at end of the game rose to the occasion to get open, to make that extra pass, set that screen. We didn’t run from the limelight rather right to it.
You can say what you want but if we can‘t make plays at the end of the game, we won’t make it past sweet 16.

And yes we might have superior talent and athletes than the team that ends our tourney run.

 

[Hunt for 7]

All this crap about Hurley can't get us to the next level is BS pure and simple. What level do you expect? He's already gotten us to basically the top 10 in the country by all the metrics. The next level is the NBA and - oh, by the way - there are at least 3, maybe 4 or 5 players that will be playing there.

It's ok to admit that another team was better than we are - at least on a given night. Teams have good nights and bad nights. Good match-ups and bad match- ups. Look at the play-by-play. With 9 minutes left, we had just tied the score at 60. Over that nine minutes, We missed 7 3s - five of them wide open and missed every one. Hurley didn't miss the shots, BUT he set up plays that created those shots. Hurley didn't shoot 60% from the foul line from a team that's averaging nearly 76% - 81% if you don't count Clingan and Diarra. We had at least a half dozen opportunities to take the lead - couldn't get that done.

Sometimes we just play another team that would like to win the game too. It's not all the coaches fault. The other team, the referees, the players sometimes have something to do with the outcome of the game.

Name one game this year that was close and we won by being clutch. I am not saying Hurley is a bad coach and you can read that in my posts. The frustration is we don’t win close games. So if we don’t win close games and the tournament we are playing in is pretty much about winning close games, how does that square up to what you are saying. You only gain the confidence of how to win close games by winning close games. Based on what you have seen due you really expect a magic switch to be turned on and all of a sudden, Joey c is not short arming wide open threes or AJ is not committing y league fouls and we are making the front end of one and ones. I think our fans have reason to be concerned. We gave gone from expecting to win close games to hoping to win close games and now we are wishing we can win close games. Be a fan but do not sugar coat the fact that yes we lost to a very good team but if we made one of four great looks at threes we would have one. So when a team repeatedly loses close games what usually happens…..

 

[NJHusky]

I'm not crazy enough to say Hurley is a bad coach. He's a very solid coach. He just hasn't shown any signs he can get to the next level. We're going to need some extremely amazing recruits to progress further so games don't come down to Hurley's ability to make in game adjustments.

Dan Hurley needs to out recruit his in game coaching

 

[connVA]

We have 3 X-factors, although I think Hawkins shooting it well could be a 4th. 1.AJax-Sometimes Batman, sometimes Bruce Wayne. 2. Newton-some games he's amazing, others he struugles a bit, especially with ball pressure and quickness. Those deep 3's when they falling are nice. Will say refs bone him often. Haven't seen a player on floor so much since Brimah. 3. BENCH. i always feel like we need at least 2 of those 3 to really play relatively well. Last night we went 1 for 3 on that scorecard and if you include Hawkins shooting, it's 1 for 4.

Everyone keeps talking about Hawkins and Sanogo (and rightfully so) but, throughout the season, the performance of AJ and Newton always seems to be the deciding factor. If they're both on (i.e., the Marquette home game), we absolutely roll and if they're both off (i.e., Friday), we're in a rock fight at best.

At this point, we now know AJ's MO- if he's doing well, he's like an unstoppable locomotive. But if he's struggling (i.e., Friday) or things start going South (i.e., second half Thursday), he begins pressing and making mental mistakes with unforced turnovers or stupid fouls.

Newton is more of an enigma for me. He transfers from ECU to a Blue Blood, is playing in the Big East Tournament in MSG with a ridiculous crowd and a chance to get his team a title and a #2 seed in the Big Dance (the reason you come to UConn), and he chooses now to start dogging it in practice (allegedly), getting benched from the starting lineup vs Providence and becoming a defensive liability vs Marquette because he keeps losing his man on the perimeter. Baffling.

 

[UCfor3]

Actuallly funny you should mention those 2. Last night UConn reminded me of the teams we used to beat (w/Napier/BR) that were more talented and better athletes etc.
We had guys that at end of the game rose to the occasion to get open, to make that extra pass, set that screen. We didn’t run from the limelight rather right to it.
You can say what you want but if we can‘t make plays at the end of the game, we won’t make it past sweet 16.

And yes we might have superior talent and athletes than the team that ends our tourney run.

Nice post. I will slightly disagree with one thing. Outside of Andre and Hawk, this is not the most athletic UConn team. More skilled than athletic. I don't think we have an overwhelming athletic advantage over most power 6 teams.

 

[ddent68]

All this crap about Hurley can't get us to the next level is BS pure and simple. What level do you expect? He's already gotten us to basically the top 10 in the country by all the metrics. The next level is the NBA and - oh, by the way - there are at least 3, maybe 4 or 5 players that will be playing there.

It's ok to admit that another team was better than we are - at least on a given night. Teams have good nights and bad nights. Good match-ups and bad match- ups. Look at the play-by-play. With 9 minutes left, we had just tied the score at 60. Over that nine minutes, We missed 7 3s - five of them wide open and missed every one. Hurley didn't miss the shots, BUT he set up plays that created those shots. Hurley didn't shoot 60% from the foul line from a team that's averaging nearly 76% - 81% if you don't count Clingan and Diarra. We had at least a half dozen opportunities to take the lead - couldn't get that done.

Sometimes we just play another team that would like to win the game too. It's not all the coaches fault. The other team, the referees, the players sometimes have something to do with the outcome of the game.

This is it. Simple. We missed a lot of shots including free throws. The outcome was hardly an indictment of our coach or players. They were open and they missed. Happens

 

[jpeakin]

Marquette played great D

Give them credit, they played physical. But when you go 60% FT and miss more than a couple wide open looks at 3, it just feels like we beat ourselves. Trust me, I'd rather say we got beat by the better team, but this L just doesn't feel like that. Everyone is entitled to an off-night shooting but damn, what a time for that to happen to us.

 

[Dutch Boyd]

Please don’t take this the wrong way. I love Dan Hurley, he has turned the program around, plus he recruits well. However, he may not be a strong Xs and Os coach when compared to the larger coaching community. Someone has to be in the lower 50%.

I think a top notch tactician (e.g. McDermott, etc.) figures out a way to win that game last night. We needed one stop and one basket, and not necessarily in the last minute or two. The switch to pressure and zone was a good move, but 5-10 minutes late, and in the zone would you rather have DC or AS guarding the basket? Why no screeners for Newton bringing up the ball?

Do we not have someone on staff that can help? Does Dan Hurley not listen?

What in the absolute F are you talking about lol? I haven’t been on here much after the game because I knew I would see several of these uneducated takes. We lost by 2 to a top 6 team and had a couple open looks that didn’t fall to win. Our fan base is as embarrassing as Syracuse. Please stop

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

What in the absolute F are you talking about lol? I haven’t been on here much after the game because I knew I would see several of these uneducated takes. We lost by 2 to a top 6 team and had a couple open looks that didn’t fall to win. Our fan base is as embarrassing as Syracuse. Please stop

Not to mention the fact that the “top notch tactician” who definitely would have won that game had his squad get dumptrucked by Xavier by 22 last night.

This place is a tire fire after a loss. Always will be.

 

[6NCsMORE2Go]

Tough loss to watch. I like to look at it like this. Poor game from Newton. Nothing from Jordan and Andre. Some questionable shots. Some bad turnovers. Lost by 2 vs the 6th rank team in the country and number 1 seed in our league. We lost by 2. Seems to me that it's not the end of our run. I hope that this refocuses the guys who were probably reading the clippings and getting ahead of themselves and this includes the coach. I didn't mind Joey taking wide open shots. If he makes them, the narrative is different. Big East allows a lot of physicality. I don't know how the NCAA's will ref that going forward. Should be able to get our shooters much more freedom against teams that can only scout them right before the game.

 

[gsmooth]

Hurley was screaming at Sanogo and Newton at one point after their Harden-esque effort on defense. Sanogo ignored him and walked away so Hurley had to grab him. You could tell something was off mentally with some of the players

I am speculating, but I think the reason Sanogo was walking away from Hurley in that situation was because Newton f- - d up, he completely fell asleep and lost sight his man (Sanogo's man before the switch) while Sanogo defended his ass off on Kolek for 7 seconds and had Kolek in no man's land behind the basket. Sanogo's attitude might have been, "talk to Newton he is the one that messed up there".

 

[gsmooth]

Please don’t take this the wrong way. I love Dan Hurley, he has turned the program around, plus he recruits well. However, he may not be a strong Xs and Os coach when compared to the larger coaching community. Someone has to be in the lower 50%.

I think a top notch tactician (e.g. McDermott, etc.) figures out a way to win that game last night. We needed one stop and one basket, and not necessarily in the last minute or two. The switch to pressure and zone was a good move, but 5-10 minutes late, and in the zone would you rather have DC or AS guarding the basket? Why no screeners for Newton bringing up the ball?

Do we not have someone on staff that can help? Does Dan Hurley not listen?

I don't think bringing up McDermott is good idea after Xavier dominated Creighton yesterday. Remember, this is without Freemantle. Creighton was never in that game after the 10 min mark of the first half.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I am speculating, but I think the reason Sanogo was walking away from Hurley in that situation was because Newton f- - d up, he completely fell asleep and lost sight his man (Sanogo's man before the switch) while Sanogo defended his ass off on Kolek for 7 seconds and had Kolek in no man's land behind the basket. Sanogo's attitude might have been, "talk to Newton he is the one that messed up there".

I hope this wasn't Sanogo's attitude (and have no reason to believe it was) but the last thing you want in a team sport is a player take the attitude "I did my job, it was someone else's fault".

 

[gsmooth]

The frustration from 2nd half of Providence game carried over to this game. Even at the start, the body language wasn't good and definitely saw the finger pointing behavior coming out for first time this season as game progressed. Somehow we still had a chance to win despite everything.

I wish this wasn't true, and I hope it isn't although I can't prove this, but I was thinking the same thing. In particular with Andre Jackson I felt it carried over.

 

[Dutch Boyd]

Not to mention the fact that the “top notch tactician” who definitely would have won that game had his squad get dumptrucked by Xavier by 22 last night.

This place is a tire fire after a loss. Always will be.

Absolutely. I’d like your post, but looks like I’m banned from doing that. Lol

 

[gsmooth]

I hope this wasn't Sanogo's attitude (and have no reason to believe it was) but the last thing you want in a team sport is a player take the attitude "I did my job, it was someone else's fault".

very true. I found that entire exchange unsettling.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Please don’t take this the wrong way. I love Dan Hurley, he has turned the program around, plus he recruits well. However, he may not be a strong Xs and Os coach when compared to the larger coaching community. Someone has to be in the lower 50%.

I think a top notch tactician (e.g. McDermott, etc.) figures out a way to win that game last night. We needed one stop and one basket, and not necessarily in the last minute or two. The switch to pressure and zone was a good move, but 5-10 minutes late, and in the zone would you rather have DC or AS guarding the basket? Why no screeners for Newton bringing up the ball?

Do we not have someone on staff that can help? Does Dan Hurley not listen?

Didn't that top notch tactician lose at home to the same Marquette team by an almost identical score less than a month ago?

 

[HuskyHawk]

When he grabbed Adama and Jordan after the TO did he say “Sorry guys. I put you in a difficult position because we didn’t game plan for Marquette.”

OR

“WTF are you guys doing out there. We practiced to stop those plays and this is the way you play!?!”

If someone wants to blame Hurley for the loss than they will use that statement in the press conference as evidence he’s a bad coach instead of realizing he’s fabricating an excuse for bad play. He’s putting the blame on himself which is admirable. There are a lot of over reactive fans I would expect this from. I’m surprised you’re interpreting it through that narrative.

When he did that Adama had just guarded Kolek beautifully for 15-20 seconds only to have someone else come in unguarded get the pass and score. I’m sure he didn’t want to listen to that crap from Hurley.

I don’t think Hurley is a bad coach. I don’t think he had them prepared for what Marquette threw at them. Early in the huddle he said they couldn’t sustain that defensive intensity, and he was wrong about that. Marquette learned from the blowout loss against us and changed. That was not the usual game from Marquette. We seemed to expect them to be the same as last time and they caught us off guard. All that aside, if Hawk is just ordinary we win anyway.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I don’t think he had them prepared for what Marquette threw at them.

Yeah, our three most important players give us a subpar performance and two no shows and that was due to how the coach prepped the team.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Yeah, our three most important players give us a subpar performance and two no shows and that was due to how the coach prepped the team.

take them one by one.
Adama: not subpar except on D, and that mostly came because Marquette went 5 out and isolated Sanogo on guards and our guys didn’t prevent the P&R. It was a systematic defensive issue, not an individual issue, just as it was during our losing streak.
Jackson: played him on Kolek, which he wisely did not do in our prior win. Shutting down the assists matters more than Points with Kolek. Result was AJax had early foul trouble and never got into the game. Couldn‘t be aggressive.
Hawkins: Marquette guarded him with a much bigger but athletic player (never had before), so even with his quick release couldn’t get clean looks. Yes, he wasn’t good, but we’ve seen all year if he’s frustrated early he starts missing. Shaka made sure of it.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

In Providence game 2nd half, I saw joey look at newton when he threw him that pass that went out of bounds because joey wasn't looking. Next play Newton tries to take the charge but gets called for blocking. Joey goes over to offer hand to help newton up and he just refuses. Just awkward watching.

 

[willie99]

It was just a frustrating night for a ton of guys. When you're underperforming in a big game like that, there's gonna be plenty of signs of frustration.

-Hawkins' shots weren't falling,
-Joey didn't have a great shooting night and had to play more minutes (20) than Andre (15) because of foul trouble.
-Newton had a tough night finishing and was getting absolutely no calls when he was attacking the rim. I'm always surprised at some of the stuff refs let defenders get away with versus him


I also think it's very frustrating when you have a dude like Joplin go off for double his season average because he just isn't missing. Playing a zone let him get a lot of high quality looks from 3, and he made us pay for it. It's always tough to play a zone if a team is going to make 3's at a high rate

One possession right in front of us, he was absolutely clobbered and no call

Same thing when they called the ball out of bounds on Karaban, he was hit with a block that would be illegal in the NFL. Again, right in front of us. But the "IDIOT" gave us a makeup call seconds later

 

[Scoe]

Hawk was not off. He was way, way off. Not playing D, not hitting the boards like he does and moping around. The second team dug us out of a hole and Hurley didn’t ride the horse to the finish that got him back in the race. Frankly, how you dont have your 7 footer in around the rim in the final 5 seconds is just stupidity or surrendering to the moment.

Hawk wasn’t just way off he was on the opposing team.