Hurley’s decision to not play Whaley his entire sophomore year.

[DayDayTFS]

Whaley was unreal to finish out the season, exactly what we’ve needed and have been missing for quite some time. The dirty work. The wrench.

 

[BlueMAB]

In retrospect, at face value, this decision looks terrible right? Is there something we don’t know? He was said to be healthy for the second half of the year. We needed toughness and rebounding desperately last year, he looked great during moments of his freshman year, we didn’t have a ton of kids available. Decision is mind boggling to me.

Hurley came in and had to change the culture. If you tell the guys that playing time is a result of effort, and see that Cobb had put in a ton of work, then you have to play him. You have to reward that effort with PT. Players won't trust you if you don't and the culture won't improve.

 

[ToolzieFan]

Cobb would have been a hell of a player if he’d had the right coach in his ear from day one.

Maybe. I always thought he had a good amount of offensive potential. But he was comically bad on defense. I don't know if that was coaching, effort, or just an inability to learn the system and make the correct reads.

 

[RichZ]

Cobb would have been a hell of a player if he’d had the right coach in his ear from day one.

You mean at South Carolina? Or Chipola? Or here under Ollie?
Kid never stuck because there was a big gap between how good he thought he was and how good he really was. The closest he came to being a serviceable big was in Junior College. Against Junior College talent.

 

[Chin Diesel]

IW's foot speed & ability to get off the floor are impressive for a guy his size, he hedges hard like few big's can and goes up to attempt a block then right back up for the board fast. Like CV, his effort & will are visible to all, as fans you have to admire the work he has done & effort he puts on display. If he can improve the consistency of his mid-range jumper he will be tough to take off the floor next year.

I would add it's not just the hard hedge, it's his ability to recover and get back I position after he hedges.

 

[Waquoit]

I would add it's not just the hard hedge, it's his ability to recover and get back I position after he hedges.

He keeps track of his own man when he does hedge, you can see it in his eyes.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Everyone has mentioned the vast improvement over the summer in response to Hurley's challenge.

Let's not also forget another big difference: Carlton was actually pretty good last year. He was by and large terrible this year. Hurley had no choice but to give Whaley minutes this year, which was not the case before.

 

[Palatine]

I would add it's not just the hard hedge, it's his ability to recover and get back I position after he hedges.

The main thing is he doesn't just hedge to hedge. It's purposeful, he goes hard after the ball. He is very disruptive and has forced a number of steals. The pressure is real. Whaley creates a strong double team that puts the offensive player in real trouble.

Watch Carlton. He hedges hard but never really goes after the ball. So the offenive players never really has to worry about the hedge. This is not to run down Carlton. Whaley is just way better at it.

 

[Caronimo]

He massively improved during the off season, it's all about Whaley accepting the challenge, he wasn't that player as a sophomore.

Great point. I think Whaley is an extremely motivated kid and worked his a.. off to get to where he is. He added strength and a little mid range jumper. Excited to see his next improvements.

 

[mauconnfan]

I agree. And it seemed like he was getting a good read on his guys, he wasn't one to go flying in the air on a pump fake.

For sure on the pump fake he's matured. He's always had great feet I pointed that out immediately as a freshman. Unfortunately he wasn't strong enough to keep rebounds to his possession and was pushed out of his position easily. Last year was a tremendous leap, one of our best as fans in all reality. I believe he has a chance to be a 10/8 guy especially if he gets to 50% on the 12-15 footers on the baseline and in the paint.

Also even when he began this past year playing better he still found foul trouble easily. But when he knew he needed to play more minutes as Polley then Akok went down he was smart enough to keep the hands out. He stayed out of major foul trouble the last 8-10 games by being smarter, thats a nice sign too.

 

[QuickDraw]

Also even when he began this past year playing better he still found foul trouble easily. But when he knew he needed to play more minutes as Polley then Akok went down he was smart enough to keep the hands out. He stayed out of major foul trouble the last 8-10 games by being smarter, thats a nice sign too.

I was just about to add something similar.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Cobb would have been a hell of a player if he’d had the right coach in his ear from day one.

I don't think so, or at least not likely. He had physical ability but showed little understanding of team play, and didn't work hard enough off the court (aerobic fitness) to show more on the court. Those characteristics are internal, and it's very hard for external efforts to make a dent in them.

 

[joober jones]

Altered shots that don't earn a player a block in the box score are frequently mentioned. Whaley gets about 4 of the steal equivalents to that per game.

 

[Waquoit]

Altered shots that don't earn a player a block in the box score are frequently mentioned. Whaley gets about 4 of the steal equivalents to that per game.

Is that a KenPom data point?

 

[Hoophound]

Cobb had a lot of talent—a lot. He decided to work hard too late in his career. We got a 20-something with bad habits, bad nutrition and he was in bad shape. He got himself in much better shape and made big strides in one offseason. If that kid was coached by JC or Dan Hurley from 18 years old, he would have been a terror on offense and I’m sure they could have made him serviceable on D. He had a good handle for his size, great hands and touch and strong offensive instincts. He could have been special if he was on the right path.

 

[Huskybass]

Whaley transformed himself between his sophomore and junior seasons. Looked and played like a different, much improved player. He was always agile and had good defensive instincts, but now he is so much stronger and confident offensively. He should have a great senior season and has a good future professionally somewhere.

I am probably in the minority, but I enjoyed watching Cobb play. He was skilled, but unrefined. He could have been a really good player if he had great coaching years earlier in my opinion.

 

[EBonz30]

I believe if you go back & watch the tapes in his freshman & sophomore I don’t think you’ll see the smooth touch around the basket. There is a good chance you would see him miss a number of easy to average shots around the basket....

I think that has been Whaley’s biggest improvement- he showed superb touch around the basket in the last 15 games or so this past year....

 

[jibsey]

Love what Whaley did and his potential next year but let’s not forget that Carlton was on the verge of breakout after 18/19. I figured him for best center in the AAC last year. Didn’t work that way did it?

 

[Huskybass]

Love what Whaley did and his potential next year but let’s not forget that Carlton was on the verge of breakout after 18/19. I figured him for best center in the AAC last year. Didn’t work that way did it?

Good point, but it feels like Whaley is still on the rise. I would guess that Whaley has a very good Senior season, while I am honestly not so sure about Josh.

 

[jibsey]

Good point, but it feels like Whaley is still on the rise. I would guess that Whaley has a very good Senior season, while I am honestly not so sure about Josh.

I was half kidding. Whaley will shine next season and who knows, maybe we get the good Josh back.

 

[mussels]

So the broad consensus seems to be that he needed to put on some muscle and put in the work to get on the court, and there is something to that. But in my opinion what makes Whaley the player he is, can't be easily taught. The guy is a basketball player. He has a great awareness of where everyone else is on the court, and where they are likely to go. He's six nine and makes great passes on a fast break, he make crazy good bang-bang passes out of the post.

So kudo's to Hurly for challenging him to improve, but I'm not sure he recognized what he had the first season.

 

[UconnU]

So the broad consensus seems to be that he needed to put on some muscle and put in the work to get on the court, and there is something to that. But in my opinion what makes Whaley the player he is, can't be easily taught. The guy is a basketball player. He has a great awareness of where everyone else is on the court, and where they are likely to go. He's six nine and makes great passes on a fast break, he make crazy good bang-bang passes out of the post.

So kudo's to Hurly for challenging him to improve, but I'm not sure he recognized what he had the first season.

The main argument is that he was too raw but there’s no way he was a worse option than Adams or Sid(both ended up playing significant minutes)in the post. He showed signs freshman year.

It had to be something that he was doing that put him in the dog house. Maybe nursing the injury too long and not practicing, or not practicing hard when he got back or something that rubbed Coach the wrong way initially.

At any rate we have an absolute beast of a forward returning next year now so whatever happened it worked.

 

[mussels]

The main argument is that he was too raw but there’s no way he was a worse option than Adams or Sid(both ended up playing significant minutes)in the post. He showed signs freshman year.

It had to be something that he was doing that put him in the dog house. Maybe nursing the injury too long and not practicing, or not practicing hard when he got back or something that rubbed Coach the wrong way initially.

Sometimes even the best of us make mistakes (I know this from direct experience). You don't think there's any chance that Hurley made a first initial assessment of Whaley, and never really reevaluated (when he should have) ?

 

[navery12]

The main argument is that he was too raw but there’s no way he was a worse option than Adams or Sid(both ended up playing significant minutes)in the post. He showed signs freshman year.

It had to be something that he was doing that put him in the dog house. Maybe nursing the injury too long and not practicing, or not practicing hard when he got back or something that rubbed Coach the wrong way initially.

At any rate we have an absolute beast of a forward returning next year now so whatever happened it worked.

I generally like your insight but I can't quite figure out why you hate on Hurley so often

 

[UconnU]

I generally like your insight but I can't quite figure out why you hate on Hurley so often

I love Hurley lol. He can be questioned at times, it’s healthy.