Happy Hour with Coach Hurley on May 30!

[Waquoit]

I know some people want shorter posts from you (I don't), but what does this mean?

I'm going with an aversion to competence.

 

[mauconnfan]

Hurley on the roster (in the order he named them):

Jalen- off the charts skill level, if he gets in the best shape of his life, gets body right, lives in gym this summer, works on his perimeter shot, they feel he can be AAC Player of the Year and be drafted. But he needs to be razor sharp and make a big commitment. Getting fresh start has a way of reenergizing people, has a chance to change the narrative of his career.

Gilbert- we have been lacking a leader the last couple years, has every intangible quality, toughness, leadership, has a huge heart, starts shooting next week, can start doing stuff on court during the summer, keep him out until September, wrap bubble wrap around him, difference maker.

Vital- great work ethic, competitive, emotional, staff can connect with him, get him guided in right direction. Good defender and shooter.

Polley- has length and size, shoots good, body is underdeveloped, strength program will be intense, will help him, if he can put 10-12 pounds he could be a big factor and stretch the floor. Can play big wing or stretch 4.

Carlton- great frame and potential. Skill level is high. Can do some things that we probably can't think he can do but we need to develop his motor, intensity, and physicality. Strength program big for him. Big future with us.

Mamadou- We need him to be a butt kicker. Needs to become a beast out there. Hasn't seen that on film. Been giving him a hard time about that. Needs to be an enforcer type. Like KFree. Better shooter than we think. Can step out as an undersized 4 and hit shots.

Whaley- athletic guy, a lot of upside, hard tryer. Has a lot of work do on his skill work and fundementals.

Cobb- can help us if he gets his weight down to about 240. Played at around 270 last year. Very skilled. Needs to restart senior year and be all in.

Someone from audience or assistant coach mentions Sid to Hurley....

Wilson- El Sid he called him. He's a freshman. He's an exciting guy to work with because of his skill set, multi positional, very athletic, needs a quality intense strength program. He's developing and has talent, needs to live in gym, a lot of work to do.

Hurley than asks is that everyone? Told no and someone mentions Kwintin.

Kwintin- calls him JUMP. Athletic guy, trying to figure out where he might play, intense guy, wants to be good.

Than mentions the newcomers.

Yawkwe- we didnt have a lot of rim protection last year or athleticism up front, we will pressure the dribbler so we needed to find some size than can block shots, brings value there. Big time athlete and we play an athletic game. We will get beat off the dribble because we pressure the ball.

Tarin- A10 6 man of year, had great year, he really upgrades our perimeter, tenacious D, tremendous passer, very athletic, he's a winner.

Both transfers will help our culture, they are smart, hard workers, good students, about winning, both will help us in changing culture and helping our Win Loss record.

Brendan- 6'4 combo guard, can shoot, good offensive player, good size, comes from great pedigree. Short term and long term solution. Beat Georgia and Georgia Tech for him at URI.

Style of play- We want to dictate the terms of the game, be the aggressor on both ends of court, how we compete, first thing you will see that will exciteus is the how hard we will compete, no team in the country will play as hard as we do, defend at a high level, see pressure man defense, not alot of gimmicks, full court pressure, we thrive on deflections, try to block shots, intimidate opponent. Fast way to turn around a program is play really good defense and play really hard, offensively get ball down court as quickly as possible, score in transition. Team at URI was primary guard oriented because they can't get quality bigs in the A10. You won't see a hint of selfishness. You will see a true team that represents UConn across its chest. That's what we will see Year 1.

Great summary thanks for the time and feedback. great stuff

 

[intlzncster]

Hurley on the roster (in the order he named them):

Jalen- off the charts skill level, if he gets in the best shape of his life, gets body right, lives in gym this summer, works on his perimeter shot, they feel he can be AAC Player of the Year and be drafted. But he needs to be razor sharp and make a big commitment. Getting fresh start has a way of reenergizing people, has a chance to change the narrative of his career.

Gilbert- we have been lacking a leader the last couple years, has every intangible quality, toughness, leadership, has a huge heart, starts shooting next week, can start doing stuff on court during the summer, keep him out until September, wrap bubble wrap around him, difference maker.

Vital- great work ethic, competitive, emotional, staff can connect with him, get him guided in right direction. Good defender and shooter.

Polley- has length and size, shoots good, body is underdeveloped, strength program will be intense, will help him, if he can put 10-12 pounds he could be a big factor and stretch the floor. Can play big wing or stretch 4.

Carlton- great frame and potential. Skill level is high. Can do some things that we probably can't think he can do but we need to develop his motor, intensity, and physicality. Strength program big for him. Big future with us.

Mamadou- We need him to be a butt kicker. Needs to become a beast out there. Hasn't seen that on film. Been giving him a hard time about that. Needs to be an enforcer type. Like KFree. Better shooter than we think. Can step out as an undersized 4 and hit shots.

Whaley- athletic guy, a lot of upside, hard tryer. Has a lot of work do on his skill work and fundementals.

Cobb- can help us if he gets his weight down to about 240. Played at around 270 last year. Very skilled. Needs to restart senior year and be all in.

Someone from audience or assistant coach mentions Sid to Hurley....

Wilson- El Sid he called him. He's a freshman. He's an exciting guy to work with because of his skill set, multi positional, very athletic, needs a quality intense strength program. He's developing and has talent, needs to live in gym, a lot of work to do.

Hurley than asks is that everyone? Told no and someone mentions Kwintin.

Kwintin- calls him JUMP. Athletic guy, trying to figure out where he might play, intense guy, wants to be good.

Than mentions the newcomers.

Yawkwe- we didnt have a lot of rim protection last year or athleticism up front, we will pressure the dribbler so we needed to find some size than can block shots, brings value there. Big time athlete and we play an athletic game. We will get beat off the dribble because we pressure the ball.

Tarin- A10 6 man of year, had great year, he really upgrades our perimeter, tenacious D, tremendous passer, very athletic, he's a winner.

Both transfers will help our culture, they are smart, hard workers, good students, about winning, both will help us in changing culture and helping our Win Loss record.

Brendan- 6'4 combo guard, can shoot, good offensive player, good size, comes from great pedigree. Short term and long term solution. Beat Georgia and Georgia Tech for him at URI.

Style of play- We want to dictate the terms of the game, be the aggressor on both ends of court, how we compete, first thing you will see that will exciteus is the how hard we will compete, no team in the country will play as hard as we do, defend at a high level, see pressure man defense, not alot of gimmicks, full court pressure, we thrive on deflections, try to block shots, intimidate opponent. Fast way to turn around a program is play really good defense and play really hard, offensively get ball down court as quickly as possible, score in transition. Team at URI was primary guard oriented because they can't get quality bigs in the A10. You won't see a hint of selfishness. You will see a true team that represents UConn across its chest. That's what we will see Year 1.

Good stuff. Thank you.

 

[champs99and04]

I know some people want shorter posts from you (I don't), but what does this mean?

It's a post half-made in jest, since it's obviously not reasonable to hold a guy who has done everything the right way responsible for a fan base that is (understandably) overstimulated by the thought of getting back to winning basketball. I also think the reform he preaches is necessary and real. It doesn't surprise me one bit to learn that Adams could be in better shape and I think every essential to the health of a program - from diet, to discipline, to time management, to game prep - has lagged behind the appropriate pace over the last couple years. Ollie was fired for a reason and the process of unlearning bad habits will be a painful one.

But Hurley is too good to have his grade scaled, and while his track record has been fairly impeccable when it comes to instilling those things in his players, it's still only the first step, and it's the step I've expressed the least amount of concern over. Every coach worth anything would have started by doing the same thing. We know Hurley is a good coach. The things we don't know - whether he can recruit enough elite level talent here and get the most out of them - is far more significant in the grand scheme and I don't want people to let the coach speak distort the scorecard.

This job is still about sales first and foremost. Retaining every player from the Ollie era has been his most important accomplishment to date and snagging another big fish in the process would have meant even more. As of now, our scholarships are staggered in such a way that the immediate future warrants more urgency than people think and the years after that more patience. If that causes me to sound anti-Hurley off the bat, so be it, but the honeymoon ended for me the second he took the job because I don't think we have time for one.

 

[Captbluefin]

It's a post half-made in jest, since it's obviously not reasonable to hold a guy who has done everything the right way responsible for a fan base that is (understandably) overstimulated by the thought of getting back to winning basketball. I also think the reform he preaches is necessary and real. It doesn't surprise me one bit to learn that Adams could be in better shape and I think every essential to the health of a program - from diet, to discipline, to time management, to game prep - has lagged behind the appropriate pace over the last couple years. Ollie was fired for a reason and the process of unlearning bad habits will be a painful one.

But Hurley is too good to have his grade scaled, and while his track record has been fairly impeccable when it comes to instilling those things in his players, it's still only the first step, and it's the step I've expressed the least amount of concern over. Every coach worth anything would have started by doing the same thing. We know Hurley is a good coach. The things we don't know - whether he can recruit enough elite level talent here and get the most out of them - is far more significant in the grand scheme and I don't want people to let the coach speak distort the scorecard.

This job is still about sales first and foremost. Retaining every player from the Ollie era has been his most important accomplishment to date and snagging another big fish in the process would have meant even more. As of now, our scholarships are staggered in such a way that the immediate future warrants more urgency than people think and the years after that more patience. If that causes me to sound anti-Hurley off the bat, so be it, but the honeymoon ended for me the second he took the job because I don't think we have time for one.

His ability to recruit big time 5* and high 4* players will tell the biggest tale. The man can coach and turn a program around. He has proven that.. But now he needs to show he can get the personal on the team to play with the big boys.

That is the only question I have... I truly believe he is up to the task ..

 

[BlueMAB]

It's a post half-made in jest, since it's obviously not reasonable to hold a guy who has done everything the right way responsible for a fan base that is (understandably) overstimulated by the thought of getting back to winning basketball. I also think the reform he preaches is necessary and real. It doesn't surprise me one bit to learn that Adams could be in better shape and I think every essential to the health of a program - from diet, to discipline, to time management, to game prep - has lagged behind the appropriate pace over the last couple years. Ollie was fired for a reason and the process of unlearning bad habits will be a painful one.

But Hurley is too good to have his grade scaled, and while his track record has been fairly impeccable when it comes to instilling those things in his players, it's still only the first step, and it's the step I've expressed the least amount of concern over. Every coach worth anything would have started by doing the same thing. We know Hurley is a good coach. The things we don't know - whether he can recruit enough elite level talent here and get the most out of them - is far more significant in the grand scheme and I don't want people to let the coach speak distort the scorecard.

This job is still about sales first and foremost. Retaining every player from the Ollie era has been his most important accomplishment to date and snagging another big fish in the process would have meant even more. As of now, our scholarships are staggered in such a way that the immediate future warrants more urgency than people think and the years after that more patience. If that causes me to sound anti-Hurley off the bat, so be it, but the honeymoon ended for me the second he took the job because I don't think we have time for one.

I'm amazed that people are concerned about his ability to recruit. The guy recruited well enough to get URI into back to back tournaments, making a sweet 16 in the process. U.R.I.

He then went out and got an NY guy, and a DMV guy, along with Moore for New England.

Nothing is guaranteed, but I'm more worried about what kind of offense he'll run and whether or not he can get this crop of guys to improve defensively and on the glass.

 

[Waquoit]

But Hurley is too good to have his grade scaled,

That is some good passive-aggressive BS right there.

 

[Husky68]

It's a post half-made in jest, since it's obviously not reasonable to hold a guy who has done everything the right way responsible for a fan base that is (understandably) overstimulated by the thought of getting back to winning basketball. I also think the reform he preaches is necessary and real. It doesn't surprise me one bit to learn that Adams could be in better shape and I think every essential to the health of a program - from diet, to discipline, to time management, to game prep - has lagged behind the appropriate pace over the last couple years. Ollie was fired for a reason and the process of unlearning bad habits will be a painful one.

But Hurley is too good to have his grade scaled, and while his track record has been fairly impeccable when it comes to instilling those things in his players, it's still only the first step, and it's the step I've expressed the least amount of concern over. Every coach worth anything would have started by doing the same thing. We know Hurley is a good coach. The things we don't know - whether he can recruit enough elite level talent here and get the most out of them - is far more significant in the grand scheme and I don't want people to let the coach speak distort the scorecard.

This job is still about sales first and foremost. Retaining every player from the Ollie era has been his most important accomplishment to date and snagging another big fish in the process would have meant even more. As of now, our scholarships are staggered in such a way that the immediate future warrants more urgency than people think and the years after that more patience. If that causes me to sound anti-Hurley off the bat, so be it, but the honeymoon ended for me the second he took the job because I don't think we have time for one.

Ok, I'll ask the questions. Recruiting to close out 2018, how do you rate it and what should have been done to make it ok in the grand scheme? Since you noted the need for an immediate big fish and suggest we didn't get one, how close are any of the 3 new guys to being a big fish and which big fishes (so know what big fish looks like) did he miss on.
What are the *'s required for each recruit for 2019 to make it ok in the grand scheme (is it four new guys or expecting more)?
What is record required to make it ok in grand scheme 2018-19 and 2019-20 and NCAA minimal accomplishments to make it ok in grand scheme those years?
You have noted the urgency in the immediate future, since I worry a lot, would like to know what accomplishments should make me worry less.
Not saying shouldn't strive to get back to UConn of last 20 years but is pretty high standard measured by NCAA championships. Since 1999 winners are:
Uconn 4
Duke 3
North Car 3
Florida 2
Villanova 2
MSU 1
Maryland 1
Fruit 1
Kanasas 1
Kentucky 1
Louisville 1
I'd settle for being just a Duke or North Carolina.

 

[Wordbomar]

Did anyone else notice he called Kwint a senior? Could this mean he might leave after this year and have yet more flexibility scholly wise?

 

[WrenchFan69]

Did anyone else notice he called Kwint a senior? Could this mean he might leave after this year and have yet more flexibility scholly wise?

He's already 24 no? Or will be soon? While he has 2 years of eligibility I definitely wouldn't doubt this could be his last year at UConn

 

[whaler11]

I'm amazed that people are concerned about his ability to recruit. The guy recruited well enough to get URI into back to back tournaments, making a sweet 16 in the process. U.R.I.

He then went out and got an NY guy, and a DMV guy, along with Moore for New England.

Nothing is guaranteed, but I'm more worried about what kind of offense he'll run and whether or not he can get this crop of guys to improve defensively and on the glass.

They won 2 games but they came in 2 different tournaments so no sweet sixteen.

 

[BlueMAB]

They won 2 games but they came in 2 different tournaments so no sweet sixteen.

My bad, thanks for the correction. Point still stands IMO.

 

[whaler11]

My bad, thanks for the correction. Point still stands IMO.

I’m not shy to make predictions. Danny Hurley was a great hire.

I’ve got 10k words on the subject at some point.

This got complicated.

 

[selles]

I’m not shy to make predictions. Danny Hurley was a great hire.

I’ve got 10k words on the subject at some point.

This got complicated.

It's killing me - who is that? Garth Iorg? Gruber? Tyler Olander?

 

[whaler11]

It's killing me - who is that? Garth Iorg? Gruber? Tyler Olander?

Kelly Gruber.

 

[champs99and04]

Ok, I'll ask the questions. Recruiting to close out 2018, how do you rate it and what should have been done to make it ok in the grand scheme? Since you noted the need for an immediate big fish and suggest we didn't get one, how close are any of the 3 new guys to being a big fish and which big fishes (so know what big fish looks like) did he miss on.
What are the *'s required for each recruit for 2019 to make it ok in the grand scheme (is it four new guys or expecting more)?
What is record required to make it ok in grand scheme 2018-19 and 2019-20 and NCAA minimal accomplishments to make it ok in grand scheme those years?
You have noted the urgency in the immediate future, since I worry a lot, would like to know what accomplishments should make me worry less.
Not saying shouldn't strive to get back to UConn of last 20 years but is pretty high standard measured by NCAA championships. Since 1999 winners are:
Uconn 4
Duke 3
North Car 3
Florida 2
Villanova 2
MSU 1
Maryland 1
Fruit 1
Kanasas 1
Kentucky 1
Louisville 1
I'd settle for being just a Duke or North Carolina.

These are all good inquiries. I was going to broach some of those same topics as part of a longer essay and then open it up to the board for discussion, but framing them in a way that makes me an effective mediator rather than someone people just want to disagree with is tricky and takes some time.

For the sake of clarity, I'm largely impressed with what Hurley has done already since taking the job. His most important task was recruiting Jalen Adams back for his senior year and he did that. The fact that we did not add a big fish - and I'll try to expand on that term in a moment - for 2018 is mildly disappointing but at the same time not something I could have reasonably expected. To use an analogy, I liken running a college basketball program to playing a college basketball game - you are going to miss shots and make mistakes simply because there are so many things happening every single day, even when you don't know they're happening, that perfection is impossible. I don't want to confuse the absence of perfection for being dissatisfied with what he's accomplished so far.

That being said, I continue to believe that this team was - and I use the past tense since all of our scholarships have been filled - at most two players away from competing for banners this season. If you caught Hurley or Calhoun in an honest moment, I think they'd tell you the same thing.

Now, I want to be careful that I don't understate the difference between saying that and actually making it happen. There are a lot of teams that can say they are two players away from competing for banners. A large portion of the top eight or nine conferences in the country can say that and most of them were much better last season than we were. To think that Hurley was going to come in and have immediate impact guys lining up to play for him is not realistic. The optics are what they are, and if the perception is that this is a rebuild, it's going to be something of a rebuild.

But there is a very big difference between a good recruiter and a gangster. And well before Danny Hurley was even in the running for the UConn job, I wondered that about him, because if you can get Stanford Robinson to commit to Rhode Island, if you can get Kuran Iverson to commit to Rhode Island, if you can get Jared Terrell to commit to Rhode Island, then there is reason to believe that he is the latter.

The grad transfer has changed recruiting. Now, you can go from off the grid to contention in a minute. Pitino pulled it off a few years ago when he added Trey Lewis and Damien Lee. Louisville would have set their sights on the final four if they hadn't been banned. If Kevin Ollie had done a better job that same season, Sterling Gibbs and Shonn Miller could have taken us on a deep run. Iowa State lived off grad transfers under Hoiberg. DeAndre Kane was one of the best players in America after transferring from Marshall.

My point is, these are the big fish I'm talking about. The fact that Ollie was casting Oz as his lead recruiter last off-season contributed to his demise. It's the quickest way to riches in college basketball and it has the added benefit of not working against new coaches who haven't had time to establish relationships with high school kids.

Of course, that doesn't mean other players - regular transfers that might win a waiver appeal, high school players that might re-classify, decommits, etc. - are off limits, and in the interest of finally answering your question, I'll give you three names (with an additional wild card as a bonus) that could have theoretically wound up on this roster with the right sales pitch:

- Tariq Owens
- Mustapha Heron
- Jalen Lecque

All kids from the northeast that were on the open market and settled for lesser options. Add two of the three to this team and we're thinking about Minneapolis. People will disagree but to me it's obvious. Then you have another kid, also from the northeast, who actually committed to play for Hurley in Jermaine Harris. Is he an immediate impact guy like those other three? Maybe, maybe not. Certainly he has a better shot at being one than Brendan Adams, one would think.

And before people list all the reasons this wasn't going to happen...yeah, that's the point. If it was supposed to happen we wouldn't call them gangsters. There's no way Jermaine Harris isn't following John Calipari to UConn. None. And if he's not John Calipari, fine. We shouldn't expect him to be. But people should ask themselves what that's going to look like in this conference.

 

[Chief00]

Andy Katz talks too much. Would’ve liked a Q&A from the audience but it was the Andy Katz show

Again, by design - gag order due to KO circumstance - no public loose canon questions. Hopefully, that nightmare will end soon.

 

[Chief00]

These are all good inquiries. I was going to broach some of those same topics as part of a longer essay and then open it up to the board for discussion, but framing them in a way that makes me an effective mediator rather than someone people just want to disagree with is tricky and takes some time.

For the sake of clarity, I'm largely impressed with what Hurley has done already since taking the job. His most important task was recruiting Jalen Adams back for his senior year and he did that. The fact that we did not add a big fish - and I'll try to expand on that term in a moment - for 2018 is mildly disappointing but at the same time not something I could have reasonably expected. To use an analogy, I liken running a college basketball program to playing a college basketball game - you are going to miss shots and make mistakes simply because there are so many things happening every single day, even when you don't know they're happening, that perfection is impossible. I don't want to confuse the absence of perfection for being dissatisfied with what he's accomplished so far.

That being said, I continue to believe that this team was - and I use the past tense since all of our scholarships have been filled - at most two players away from competing for banners this season. If you caught Hurley or Calhoun in an honest moment, I think they'd tell you the same thing.

Now, I want to be careful that I don't understate the difference between saying that and actually making it happen. There are a lot of teams that can say they are two players away from competing for banners. A large portion of the top eight or nine conferences in the country can say that and most of them were much better last season than we were. To think that Hurley was going to come in and have immediate impact guys lining up to play for him is not realistic. The optics are what they are, and if the perception is that this is a rebuild, it's going to be something of a rebuild.

But there is a very big difference between a good recruiter and a gangster. And well before Danny Hurley was even in the running for the UConn job, I wondered that about him, because if you can get Stanford Robinson to commit to Rhode Island, if you can get Kuran Iverson to commit to Rhode Island, if you can get Jared Terrell to commit to Rhode Island, then there is reason to believe that he is the latter.

The grad transfer has changed recruiting. Now, you can go from off the grid to contention in a minute. Pitino pulled it off a few years ago when he added Trey Lewis and Damien Lee. Louisville would have set their sights on the final four if they hadn't been banned. If Kevin Ollie had done a better job that same season, Sterling Gibbs and Shonn Miller could have taken us on a deep run. Iowa State lived off grad transfers under Hoiberg. DeAndre Kane was one of the best players in America after transferring from Marshall.

My point is, these are the big fish I'm talking about. The fact that Ollie was casting Oz as his lead recruiter last off-season contributed to his demise. It's the quickest way to riches in college basketball and it has the added benefit of not working against new coaches who haven't had time to establish relationships with high school kids.

Of course, that doesn't mean other players - regular transfers that might win a waiver appeal, high school players that might re-classify, decommits, etc. - are off limits, and in the interest of finally answering your question, I'll give you three names (with an additional wild card as a bonus) that could have theoretically wound up on this roster with the right sales pitch:

- Tariq Owens
- Mustapha Heron
- Jalen Lecque

All kids from the northeast that were on the open market and settled for lesser options. Add two of the three to this team and we're thinking about Minneapolis. People will disagree but to me it's obvious. Then you have another kid, also from the northeast, who actually committed to play for Hurley in Jermaine Harris. Is he an immediate impact guy like those other three? Maybe, maybe not. Certainly he has a better shot at being one than Brendan Adams, one would think.

And before people list all the reasons this wasn't going to happen...yeah, that's the point. If it was supposed to happen we wouldn't call them gangsters. There's no way Jermaine Harris isn't following John Calipari to UConn. None. And if he's not John Calipari, fine. We shouldn't expect him to be. But people should ask themselves what that's going to look like in this conference.

Danny was more committed to the guys already here than Calhoun would have been. He takes pride in not having guys transfer. Calhoun did not care or even encouraged it , if it meant an opening to upgrade. So while these guys are very similar in many ways - that’s a difference.

 

[Waquoit]

Again, by design - gag order due to KO circumstance - no public loose canon questions. Hopefully, that nightmare will end soon.

I'm not sure about that. They had folks in the crowd with microphones that they never ended up going to. Are you saying those people were just for show?

 

[Chief00]

I'm not sure about that. They had folks in the crowd with microphones that they never ended up going to. Are you saying those people were just for show?

Wasn’t there but I do know gag order still very much in effect about KO related content.

 

[August_West]

Wasn’t there but I do know gag order still very much in effect about KO related content.

Im sorry you've been shut out of the current administration.

 

[Waquoit]

Wasn’t there but I do know gag order still very much in effect about KO related content.

Peak chief. Wasn't there.