Good Dan Patrick interview with hurley
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Funny, he's saying the same things a lot of us were about the decision for Mullins whether to jump to the NBA or stay, that its not necessarily a foregone conclusion or the best thing to do despite many people here insisting it is. Go figure.
Edward Sargent
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Great interview thanks for sharing
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I’m not sure why Hurley would say that they are at a crossroads for building rosters…they have been to 3 finals in 4 years, developing Freshman into either 1 year or up to 4 year contributors and supplementing holes with guys from the portal is working ….I definitely don’t see the need to do what Michigan did as that was necessary since Dusty had just arrived a year earlier with an empty cupboard….UConn has a program that attracts certain types of of players that are tough enough to withstand Hurley practices and unselfish enough to to blend as as a team and become brothers over time…that is what creates the grit and resilience we saw this year. Even in defeat we were still in the final game of the season with a shot to win and we created the most memorable moment of the 2026 tournament when we took out the number 1 overall seed…it ain’t broke , nothing to fix or change . If everyone who can stays all we need is another big preferably Hines , Landrew and County are studs , Furphy can be a great connector and Stewart can play the 4 , and if Mullins stays all the better
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I disagree. I think it's absolutely a crossroads. If you read between the lines, he's saying they have to decide if it's worth trying to retain guys and hope they develop. Because the simple truth is, a veteran portal guy is going to be most likely better than the kid you're trying to develop.
Last year, Florida basically played 8 guys, and 5 were transfers (4 transfer starters)
Michigan basically played 9 guys, and 6 were transfers (5 transfer starters)
UConn played 9 guys, and 3 were transfers (2 transfer starters)
That's the crossroads. Is it worth investing in a guy for 2-4 years? Or buy a new one every year.
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Another program that we're familiar with on the same path/trend- St Johns. Not everyone has a guy like Repole- But Rick seems committed to new personnel every year.
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If UConn does choose to cross the road, they are going to find that the grass is not always greener. It is still early days but players seem to perform much better in year 2 of being in the program than they did in year 1. Having a number of established players helps with continuity and teaching the new players how to conduct themselves and run the offense.
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If I had it my way, we'd be like 80% home grown every year. And yes, guys do perform better in year two in the program. Or, you can grab guys who have already performed elsewhere and plug and play. A guy who's already scored almost 1000 points elsewhere is most likely going to be better than your retained/developed soph recruit. That's the move. The last two national champions started 90% transfers. Do you think Michigan would've been better off with Justin Pippen at the point instead of Cadeau? Pippen was a top 70 recruit and was a 14-5 guy at Cal. So clearly there's some talent.
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But Florida retained most of those guys for a second and possibly third year and continued to recruit Freshmen…Florida had the same iss this year that we did last year loss of guard play, in our case Newton Spencer, transfers and Steph a one and done stud who was a huge contributor much like I think Landrew and County can be next year….Michigan had no choice but to bring in transfers because Dusty had to start from scratch….none of those programs have had UConn sustained success over 4 years and remains to be seen if they will, UConn has built a true culture when you see guys l8ke Ross and Stewart stay despite no guarantee of starter minutes when they could command more money and PT elsewhere, that speaks to the culture that you lose with changing guys every year.
I think you are already seeing Dusty pivot from that with McKinney and now a stud Freshman in McCoy likely home grown starters.
My point is UConn and our methods are the model for College Basketball not Michigan which was a necessity not a long term plan ….
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I really like Stew and Ross. They have talent, seem like great kids, want to be here, and everything else. But we're going into their senior years, still waiting for consistency. Four years in it still looks like they don't completely understand their roles, the offense, and how to be productive players for 15mpg. You get these great moments and then...
I honestly don't think you will see big-time programs (including us) having guys like them anymore. Those top 50-75 recruits with talent that a school develops for four years, trying to get them to put it all together.
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And how does St John’s do in the big tournament? The culture resilience and toughness came from Zuby, 3 year guy and without that front line they have a lot of shopping to do and have to pray they can find another leader culture guy like Zuby…at UConn we have Silas, Ball, Ross, Stewart and maybe Mullins that will be backbone and lead the teams culture that’s the difference between buying new guys every year and retaining developing players and supplementing selectively in the portal
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I honestly think it's just a matter of time. The same narrative was that you couldn't just bring in an OAD team and win it all. They were still freshmen. Well, you had two OAD teams with titles in 2012 and 2015. If Calipari actually coached, they should've won in 2014 and maybe 17. The portal era began in 2018, with all of these guys all of a sudden seeking graduate degrees.
I think we have a wonderful culture and a vibe that is unique. I honestly hope that we continue with our "way." But clearly Dan Hurley is already wondering if we have to use the portal more moving forward.
Just commenting to @boog204 post and recognizing similarities to programs he mentioned. Dan's culture and organizational success speaks for itself. He has stated this week that he believes UConn is at a "crossroads" as to how to roster build in the future with NIL/portal. I trust him to adapt and stay true to his vision at the same time.
I hope the UConn way is doing what's best and being flexible and adaptable and not rigid or stubbornly sticking to certain concepts on roster building.
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Who are the other two guys? Maybe they will play some horse.
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Stew and Ross (and Ball) were already recruited to a different program than where UConn is now. No titles, different style of play. So of course they stick out.
UConn is recruiting from a higher-level of organizational player now. Or will be when the coaches figure out exactly what type of longer-term players best fit the team. Hopefully Reibe and Furphy followed by Landrew and County works better for their needs.
Personally, when it comes to transfers it is the guys like Wilkins and Hines would be perfect as they would have longer in the program. Freeman with two years left.
Then you can add in high-quality one-year types. A mix. Not all of one or the other.
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FfldCntyFan
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One thing that needs to be added to this equation is how unlikely it will be that we ever see another four year starter on a team that accomplishes as much as this one did over the past four years.
As we likely will have a nine player rotation during most of our better seasons, the best we'll likely be able to hope for in terms of continuity is three would be in their third year with the program, three in their second and three in their first. I imagine that mix will not happen very often so we'll need to accept whatever type of team we can fielld from season to season.
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Cal on the record saying it's going to be very difficult for any top flight program to have depth. All kids want to play, and to get paid. Agents call it's time & $$.
The Ross & Stew's won't be around anymore because no kid will ride out 3/4 years coming off the bench. We're actually quite lucky to have them.
Going forward, I tend to think the benches of top flight programs will be freshmen that are willing to come off the bench in their first year, or last year seniors who want to be there for the experience (Reibe, Millender). No one is going to want to sit their sophomore or junior years anymore.
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And Reibe's decision today magnifies your post. I would not want to be a college basketball coach in this environment. I'm guessing that's why relatively young and successful coaches like Jay Wright and Tony Bennett, to name 2, said screw it we're out of here.
Yeah and Roy Williams saw the writing on the wall, too. According to many Nova fans on Villanova SB Nation, Wright was burned out after doing his stint as an assistant coach on the USA Basketball team in the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He made up his mind before the 2022 season started that it was going to be his last season and kept it to himself and his inner circle. There is no way he was going to go through this transfer portal hell. Also, his strategy was to give minimal minutes to freshmen or redshirt them so they spend a year in the strength and conditioning program so they can overpower the opposition in their sophomore, junior, and senior years. Wright was very successful with this, now there ain't no freshmen willing to sit out a year.
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I'm honestly not sure if there is a way around it anymore - for a bit, I think we thought you could develop a core to play a system that could beat other more paper talented rosters. Now, because so much of the talent is consolidating at the very top, you simply have to keep up with the talent levels. Therefore you need to have very similar levels of NIL. You may be slightly better at evaluating or motivating, or running a system, but if you only have kids for 1-2 years, you're not going to be able to run it so efficiently it makes up for the talent gap.
It feels like recruiting at the very top of CBB is finding ripened multi year transfers you can keep for send to draft & high end, instantly contributing freshmen that can start or come off the bench and provide minutes.
I think Painter & Smart's models are officially obsolete - they will have ceilings that are not NC's.
I don't think there is a magic formula that will always work. I think you need to pull together the best team you can, regardless of where they come from. If there is a phenomenal high school kid that is OAD and has the right attitude, you grab him. If there is a portal guy that is better than what you currently have on your roster and has the right attitude, you grab him. Some years that might be more portal and some years it might be more high school kids. Every year has to be only about that year. Win now. The future is not guaranteed and it is so chaotic that you can't plan for it. Build a team that can win this year. There is no more building for 4 years.
If there is one thing a coach should plan for, it is getting fouled a lot with no calls. Get guys that can still score when that happens.
If there is one thing a coach should plan for, it is getting fouled a lot with no calls. Get guys that can still score when that happens.
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