It's a fair criticism of our teams over the last few years that we've failed to get over the hump in close games (though, on the flip side, we've also not gotten enough credit for turning small leads into big leads late in games, but that's another topic). Some people point their finger at Hurley, claim that he gets tight in close games and it rubs off on the players.
I would pose the question of whether it's the players themselves -- do any of them possess the clutch "gene"?
Yes, sometimes it's overblown to the point of cliche, but there really is something to be said for guys who have an instinct for making plays that need to be made in crunch time, knowing when to step on the gas or the brake, have a feel for momentum swings, etc. That sort of thing is more or less innate, some guys just have it, and some don't. It's not exactly coachable. If you played or coached competitive sports, you've seen this, you understand this, both the clutch side and the opposite.
We've seen it at UConn. Someone like Shabazz Napier, even in a reserve role as a freshman, you could tell that he had this instinct. And he made good on it when asked to be a leader.
At this point, I think we can reasonably conclude that the go-to guys on this team right now do not fall into that category. Andre Jackson, as an example, makes the highlight-reel plays but has a horrible sense of what's needed at crucial moments in the game. It's not obvious what a coach is supposed to do about that beyond benching him, which isn't practical.
"But it's been the same way for 3 years," you argue, "that's not just one group of guys." OK, well, we didn't get to see how things would have ended in 2020. The two years after that were pretty continuous in terms of leadership with Cole/Martin/Whaley/Polley. Bouknight, well, you can see in his post-UConn career that he's not this sort of performer. Sanogo and Jackson were parts of all 3, Hawkins the last 2 (albeit limited down the stretch last year). The transfers are new, but how are you going to attribute their clutchness, or not, to coaching?
If you're going to fault Hurley for anything, I would say it's in his recruiting. Not on the talent side, where he's actually been quite good (most high profile HS or transfer recruits -- Bouknight, Cole, Martin, Sanogo, Hawkins, Jackson, Clingan, Karaban, Newton -- have overperformed if anything), but in these intangibles.
I think we're seeing glimpses of newcomers like Karaban having potential here, and hopefully Castle and others in his class are part of a positive trend in this area.
tl;dr: Hurley bears some responsibility, but it's more to do with not bringing in clutch performers than it is his coaching personality or X's and O's
