Hurley got murked by Turgeon

[HooperScooper]

Not to pile on here, but this statement had me perplexed.

“We knew going in this was not a great matchup for the way we play defense,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “[Our defense] is a bad fit for a position-less five-out type of matchup.”

While the offense was more of the problem, Maryland did shoot over 50% from the field and 50% from three so there was an issue on defense. The Huskies played a team earlier in the season who used that type of system. Did you learn anything from that game? You had almost a week to strategize for this game. Are there adjustments to counteract that type of system? Or are you saying the team just didn't have the personnel?

 

[rollskies]

Yes, we ought to. I’m waiting for the big game to do so. If you can’t see a troubling pattern of no shows and no finish, then I don’t know what to say.

If you can’t recognize that we have made huge strides since last year, then I don’t know what to say.

Hurley has work to do, but we were never gonna win it all in year 3. I don’t disagree with you about the tough finishes, but i’m choosing to look at it glass half full.

All i’m saying is I think that if you are going to criticize Hurleys every move then you have to give him credit where credit is due. But everyone seems to be talking about everything he did wrong and conveniently leaving out the fact that we have improved every year under Hurley. That’s not to say that there’s not more work to be done. There is. Hurley is far from perfect. But calling for him to get fired every time we lose a game is not a good look.

 

[Vuce]

Just based on Kenpom and what I remember seeing in the past...

Davidson
Drake
Belmont
Loyola
Richmond
San diego state
St. Bonnies
South Dakota State
Toledo
Houston (who plays a lot like us actually)

Will def. check some of those out but I have seen Davidson, St. Bonnie’s and Richmond a lot over the years. My dad is a Umass grad and has season tickets so I see a ton of those teams play. Mckillop, Schmidt and Mooney are definitely not worse coaches. They are all awesome coaches who have chosen to stay in their programs. I think each one of them has been at those schools for 15+ years. They have implemented their systems with their players and run it their way. None of them have had overwhelming success either. And I just watched SD State look like an 8th grade team in this tournament that had no offensive plan despite knowing exactly the defense that would be thrown at them. If you are just looking at KenPom, isn’t UConn top 25 in that as far as offensive efficiency? I’d also take Loyola off that list. They are a legit really good team with a lot of juniors and seniors riding that wave over the last couple years. That’s the cool part about being a mid major. You have a team that develops together over a few years and also why you see more mid majors winning games now. The have less talent than the UKs of the world but make up for it with experience. Will be interesting to see if Loyola can maintain that offensive efficiency next year when they lose a ton of kids. I’ll definitely follow them closer next season to see if it works out.

 

[navery12]

Not to pile on here, but this statement had me perplexed.

“We knew going in this was not a great matchup for the way we play defense,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “[Our defense] is a bad fit for a position-less five-out type of matchup.”

While the offense was more of the problem, Maryland did shoot over 50% from the field and 50% from three so there was an issue on defense. The Huskies played a team earlier in the season who used that type of system. Did you learn anything from that game? You had almost a week to strategize for this game. Are there adjustments to counteract that type of system? Or are you saying the team just didn't have the personnel?

The full quote pretty much answers those questions. His full answer was they play 2 traditional bigs to try and capitalize on the boards and if they had been able to convert on a few of the offensive rebounds we're having a different conversation today

 

[freshler40]

I'm no coach, but I would think they should have found a way to iso Bouk, even if you move the whole team to the other side of the floor. Same with Sanogo, iso him and we are a different offensive team. Tell our players to feed them both continually. The other strategy I was yearning for was for them to attack the basket, and not rely on jumpers especially 3 pointers which weren't falling. We would at least had generate fouls on their players.

Maryland negated both of our future NBA players effectively.

No adjustments were made which confounded me the whole night.

Yes, it was challenging to watch with no adjustments, even seemed to slow down our play more in the second half and we embraced it, ran our clock down repeatedly with no change. Our players are taught to take plays from the bench, this slows down the on court response. Apparently the coaches don't trust the guards enough to run some plays on their own.

In our efforts to control the pace our offense becomes stagnate and the defense picks up as the clock runs down, we had no bigs to pass into with Sanogo on the bench for 24 minutes. Are we too guard orientated with small guards?

 

[rollskies]

Yes, it was challenging to watch with no adjustments, even seemed to slow down our play more in the second half and we embraced it, ran our clock down repeatedly with no change. Our players are taught to take plays from the bench, this slows down the on court response. Apparently the coaches don't trust the guards enough to run some plays on their own.

In our efforts to control the pace our offense becomes stagnate and the defense picks up as the clock runs down, we had no bigs to pass into with Sanogo on the bench for 24 minutes. Are we too guard orientated with small guards?

Sanogo was in foul trouble the entire game, unfortunately. Something to clean up for next year, but all season long we were better when he was on the court. To think he should have been a senior in high school this year is incredible. All of the tools are there, but I digress.

 

[freshler40]

The full quote pretty much answers those questions. His full answer was they play 2 traditional bigs to try and capitalize on the boards and if they had been able to convert on a few of the offensive rebounds we're having a different conversation today

Well, we had over a week to prepare our defense for the outside five offense, not a one day turn around.
Perhaps if we stuck with the traditional bigs to dominate down low it might have worked even though initially it didn't with all the inside misses. At least we kept getting changes that we didn't get in the second half of this game. Sanogo sat for 24 minutes in this game. He also provides some offense and pass possibilities for the guards.

 

[freshler40]

Sanogo was in foul trouble the entire game, unfortunately. Something to clean up for next year, but all season long we were better when he was on the court. To think he should have been a senior in high school this year is incredible. All of the tools are there, but I digress.

The line score said Sanogo had two (2) fouls. He does have a lot of up-side but the defense program that requires our bigs to double team outside creates some problems inside. I'd like to see the metrics that say we steal the ball more or create havoc that makes this a good defensive move.

 

[rollskies]

The line score said Sanogo had two (2) fouls. He does have a lot of up-side but the defense program that requires our bigs to double team outside creates some problems inside. I'd like to see the metrics that say we steal the ball more or create havoc that makes this a good defensive move.

Wow. I didn’t realize he only had 2. I thought it was more than that. My bad.

I can see where you are coming from. Whenever we have our bigs hedging on the perimeter it makes me nervous. With the exception of Isaiah Whaley who seems to do that better than anyone i’ve seen for some reason - hahah

 

[HooperScooper]

The full quote pretty much answers those questions. His full answer was they play 2 traditional bigs to try and capitalize on the boards and if they had been able to convert on a few of the offensive rebounds we're having a different conversation today

O.K. that makes more sense. The full quote wasn't in the Courant, just what I provided above. I can deal with a strategy to dictate the game rather than counteract. They rebounded but just didn't make the bunnies they should have. It was an issue we saw most of the season. Remember @Thirty Three's statistic from some analytics web site? The team was terrible converting from close distance. Came back to bite us in the back side big time.

 

[auror]

The full quote pretty much answers those questions. His full answer was they play 2 traditional bigs to try and capitalize on the boards and if they had been able to convert on a few of the offensive rebounds we're having a different conversation today

Sure. And when Sanogo and Carlton each got 2 fouls and we were only playing 1 big at the end of the 1st half, then why did we play the same way without any of the advantages of playing 2 bigs?

 

[navery12]

O.K. that makes more sense. The full quote wasn't in the Courant, just what I provided above. I can deal with a strategy to dictate the game rather than counteract. They rebounded but just didn't make the bunnies they should have. It was an issue we saw most of the season. Remember @Thirty Three's statistic from some analytics web site? The team was terrible converting from close distance. Came back to bite us in the back side big time.

Finished the year 272nd in FG% at the rim (56.2%). Everyone other than Sanogo and Bouknight was pretty bad

 

[freescooter]

I am not fully on board with Hurley being the right guy. Last night was not a surprise, because many on this board had been pointing out the same issues since last year. Hurley had a good season at Wagner, two good seasons at URI (after 4 seasons of mediocrity), and then "meh" at UConn.

This isn't the A10. UConn is a big time program, and the Big East has some of the best players and best coaches in college basketball. A coach can't be this weak on gameday and expect to be successful against this level of competition. He has to figure out a way to be smarter on gameday or he is not going to be successful.

Year 4 is the big year for most coaches, because it will be all his players and he will have had 3+ years to implement his system. The team that Hurley puts on the court next season is the program UConn can expect to have going forward.

I am sort of with you on this. Hurley to me at this point looks like one of those guys who goes to the tournament most years but as a 7-10 type seed and packs light because he will be home after the opening weekend. This isn’t the first time he has been out coached in an important game either.

 

[navery12]

Sure. And when Sanogo and Carlton each got 2 fouls and we were only playing 1 big at the end of the 1st half, then why did we play the same way without any of the advantages of playing 2 bigs?

On offense or defense? I thought we made plenty of good adjustments on the defensive end, but the lack of any offensive system is frustrating

 

[Rocktheworld]

I love how Hurley has brought the old KO players and incorporated his new players as things shift to fully his regime. The kids clearly have pride again. They know how to not lose some games now. Intensity and rebounding are unrecognizable from the prior regime, which we all expected from Hurley.

But MAN, has he been exposed on the offensive side in a real league with better coaching. Our guys did not look comfortable or know what they were doing on offense at any point last night. Every shot looked like it was not part of the offense; nobody was getting good looks. Sanogo being inexplicably absent cut out about 15 PNR points and that surely contributes; but, his absence and the decision behind it in itself was thread-worthy.

 

[Stinger92860]

Our best player can’t handle the basketball well enough to take over the game. That’s a huge issue because we don’t have anyone else with near the skills needed to go get a hoop when needed. Against good teams, we just aren’t talented enough yet.

they tripled and quadrupled anyone with the ball in the paint. I thought our ball rotation was horrible. We never adjusted and thats on the staff. We could also use a few knock down shooters. They don’t have to be athletic, they need to hit shots to open the floor. I’m very concerned about Sanogo and Jackson being able to hit jump shots. They each have excellent free throw strokes so with a summer of work, they should get better.

 

[Vuce]

Year 4 is the big year for most coaches, because it will be all his players and he will have had 3+ years to implement his system. The team that Hurley puts on the court next season is the program UConn can expect to have going forward.

Is that true? Like the team that is on the court next year is the program we can expect going forward? Not sure I believe that either for the good or the bad. Personally I think his recruiting will get better and it’s been pretty darn good so far.

 

[DMIL]

We dominated the boards in the 1st half and had a ton of looks, nothing was falling. I give a ton of credit to our guys crashing the boards it was like nothing I’ve seen before. we make a few of those around the rim and hit our FTs we win the game. Not to mention we barely got to the line in the 1st half. It was a fight under the boards but for some reason Maryland only got the calls on the other end.

the fact we were in this and almost had it to a one possession game speaks to the fight this team had. After the flagrant and Gaffney hitting both FTs I thought we had a comeback in us. The inbounds play was awful but Gaffney made up for it and we got the ball back. We just could not capitalize.

I agree there was a lot bad decision making but they played behind the whole game and I think they were trying to rush things. Maryland was just mentally and physically tougher.

between the missed attempts around the rim, the missed FTs, the turnovers late in the 2nd half, Cole stepping in the lane, Whaley fouling on the three it just showed that nothing was working for us. I can’t blame coaching for that - this easily could have been a blow out and it wasn’t.

The team wasn’t ready for the moment period. They weren’t ready in the BET or the NCAA. This is where experience in big games matter and coaching. This is where your bad tendencies get exposed. When you lose against a team you should beat the criticism is fair game full stop. If UCONN plays their C game they win. No one could have expected them to bring their D /D plus game and a historically bad offensive performance.

The coach is part of the team and this was another team fail for a number of reasons. At the end of the day when all of your best players are young and inexperienced in these situations you then have to lean on the coaching to get them focused and in better positions to succeed.

They weren’t ready for the moment. This was an easily winnable game with some different tactical adjustments and basic execution. The entire team including the coaching staff will learn from this. Hurley admitted that he wasn’t sure what kind of team he had after the last Creighton loss. Now he knows.

 

[uchusky32]

He didn't change his offense. Sanago does his ticky tock fouls. Josh comes in does Josh.

On top of that we out rebound them for naught.

When you back rim everything. Three best offensive players do nothing. No inside game. The only one left wide open is Whaley at the arc. You don't have a chance.

Hurley needed his players to make shots. They looked liked they didnt practice. Made no adjustments with arc or strength. Book missing FTs. Scorers miss shots but score at the line. Second game his missed at all levels of scoring.

Jackson has a long way. He looks like a 4 year player. Yea, has handle but isn't a threat. D great or very poor.

Was Hurley supposed to go to Akok and Adams?

Team was incredibly fla

Gaff stepped up. That's all folks!

 

[djct1999]

I'm sorry I have to respectfully disagree. They shot 28% from the field. They couldn't make a shot. They dominated the glass. The knock on Hurley here is that he couldn't figure out how to defend Ayala

Not much Hurley can do when our guards are too small and our bigs either can't play perimeter d or get ticky tacky fouls early. In a game that was so poorly played, criticism is warranted to everyone, starting with Hurley and going down the entire line. This game though was all about execution. Our players simply did not execute at all for 40mins. Fact is, our backcourt is undersized and average at best. Cole and Gaffney struggled mightily until late in the game. They couldn't get us into our offense or any rhythm and they were both manhandled on the defensive end.

 

[djct1999]

.....
This isn't the A10. UConn is a big time program, and the Big East has some of the best players and best coaches in college basketball. A coach can't be this weak on gameday and expect to be successful against this level of competition. He has to figure out a way to be smarter on gameday or he is not going to be successful.

........

This is a really bad take. This is a really weird year in college basketball. To criticize anyone, especially Hurley, who in year 3 of the rebuild essentially met or exceeded any team expectation is self-serving. This year was so weird that many great coaches, some who I would guess you think are a better fit at UConn, are all home with their respective seasons ending. I can easily argue that Hurley had this team over achieve. This idea that UConn has some great roster is simply untrue. We have 1 legit pro. The rest of it is a blend is guys he inherited, guys he was familiar with and brought to UConn as a quick fix, and some guys he recruited. Not surprising the guys with the most upside and ability are in the latter group. That will only continue. Fact is, from where we were to where are now in year 3, is encouraging. Was last night a stinker? It sure was, from top to bottom. Its pretty hard to blame a coach and a game plan when your team outshoots the opponent by 22,outrebounds an opponent by 11 and has 22 offensive boards and only scored 54 points. UConn had open looks, they simply missed. Thats all execution. Thats on the players. This game, even if Maryland did exactly what they did, should have been a breeze if the team played as we expect them to. Statistically, it was really hard to do what UConn did last night. Are you suggesting the Hurley is at fault because we didnt get enough shots or rebounds? I suppose you will say we needed to stop Ayala. Big deal. He scored 23. Maryland as a team scored 63. If our team executed, if Whaley and Martin showed up offensively, if Bouk made free throws, and if Cole and Gaffney did anything, we should have won. Thats not on Hurley. To suggest otherwise is self-serving and inaccurate.

 

[Thirty Three]

O.K. that makes more sense. The full quote wasn't in the Courant, just what I provided above. I can deal with a strategy to dictate the game rather than counteract. They rebounded but just didn't make the bunnies they should have. It was an issue we saw most of the season. Remember @Thirty Three's statistic from some analytics web site? The team was terrible converting from close distance. Came back to bite us in the back side big time.

UConn was ranked 334th or 337th in scoring, point blank, at the basket (That was few weeks ago).

 

[djct1999]

Not sure I've ever seen a team miss more layups but that wasn't the game, neither were missed free throws. Going into it I told my buddies I was watching the game with that we should win but the only thing that worries me is we'll let Maryland dictate play and we won't run. I forget what early part in the first half it was but I said to them we aren't playing our game and this isn't good. UConn is the team with the star player, UConn is the team with more athletes, UConn is the team with more depth and yet we played at a snails pace.

I'm one of Hurley's biggest fans. He's the right guy at the right moment to rebuild this thing. Making the tournament was a nice goal in the second true chance to go dancing but it feels a bit hollow because of that performance. We play halfway decent and we win that game pretty comfortably. Maryland is about as weak as it gets as a tournament team and we showed them nothing. Let them dictate the terms of play from the start and we never adjusted. Love the way Hurley runs the program but it seems like a bad early trait in his coaching. You should never let the inferior talent dictate how your team plays and I've seen it several times this season.

I am not so sure we were more athletic. We certainly were bigger and with good guard play we should have fed the inside. Problem was, our bigs were to slow to play perimter d and our guards were too small to do anything. It was a bad matchup. It still was a game the should have been won. Our box score is crazy. I am still not sure how we can take so many shots and grab so many offensive boards and only score 53 points. Our players didn't show up. Its that simple.

 

[superjohn]

UConn men fall to Maryland in first-round NCAA tournament game

The shots simply didn’t fall, and UConn’s first trip to the NCAA tournament in five...

www.nhregister.com

Sounds like Ayala is the lottery pick by Hurley's description, not Bouk.

I mean, I realize that Bouk is a lottery pick talent, but it sounds strange to make excuses that he's playing against juniors and seniors when he is going to be playing against pros next year; and his own college coach says he can't win iso matchups, which is the essence of the NBA.

Those quotes are so depressing.

 

[Stinger92860]

Our players are taught to take plays from the bench, this slows down the on court response.

definitely true with Gaffney. He is always looking over.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

The offense is bad. Period. I don’t know how that Kenpom adjusted offense stat works, maybe it significantly weighs offensive rebounds, but our half court offense is really bad, and has been for some time. Just watching Loyola and Baylor for instance. I know these teams are better than us, but they are in part because of their offensive gameplan. There is always someone open, someone cutting, someone setting a screen and rolling, just fluid movement. We have/had NO fluid movement on offense. It was Bouk/Cole/Gaff dribbling up top for 18 seconds then realizing we have to go. That’s on the staff, if you can’t run set plays you can’t win in March. And this has been going on for years. Is it illegal to run a play on offense in Storrs? It’s ridiculous.

 

[Vuce]

The offense is bad. Period. I don’t know how that Kenpom adjusted offense stat works, maybe it significantly weighs offensive rebounds, but our half court offense is really bad, and has been for some time. Just watching Loyola and Baylor for instance. I know these teams are better than us, but they are in part because of their offensive gameplan. There is always someone open, someone cutting, someone setting a screen and rolling, just fluid movement. We have/had NO fluid movement on offense. It was Bouk/Cole/Gaff dribbling up top for 18 seconds then realizing we have to go. That’s on the staff, if you can’t run set plays you can’t win in March. And this has been going on for years. Is it illegal to run a play on offense in Storrs? It’s ridiculous.

We averaged more points per game than Loyola did this year. And according to KenPom stats we were 29th in offensive efficiency and Loyola was 35th. And Loyola had the 112th rated schedule versus 53rd. Opponents defensive rating was 29th for UConn vs 123rd for Loyola so they were playing against significantly worse defense over the whole season. Loyola’s guys made shots today and last game with a roster full of juniors and seniors. Our guys have literally never been here before and Bouknight just pressed and tried to do way too much and didn’t produce in our biggest postseason games the way a first round lottery pick should. Bouk is being drafted for his offensive ability. He has a normal game in both Maryland and Creighton and we win both. None of the others really stepped up to make open shots and especially shots inside the paint

 

[Kathy]

Sanogo was in foul trouble the entire game, unfortunately. Something to clean up for next year, but all season long we were better when he was on the court. To think he should have been a senior in high school this year is incredible. All of the tools are there, but I digress.

Wrong - he had 2 fouls in the first half and ended the game with 2 fouls because of how few minutes he played in the 2nd half. Not sure what you were watching, but he was not in foul trouble the whole game.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

We averaged more points per game than Loyola did this year. And according to KenPom stats we were 29th in offensive efficiency and Loyola was 35th. And Loyola had the 112th rated schedule versus 53rd. Opponents defensive rating was 29th for UConn vs 123rd for Loyola so they were playing against significantly worse defense over the whole season. Loyola’s guys made shots today and last game with a roster full of juniors and seniors. Our guys have literally never been here before and Bouknight just pressed and tried to do way too much and didn’t produce in our biggest postseason games the way a first round lottery pick should. Bouk is being drafted for his offensive ability. He has a normal game in both Maryland and Creighton and we win both. None of the others really stepped up to make open shots and especially shots inside the paint

Our efficiency was boosted up by second chance points and offensive rebounds. I’d love to see what our half court offense efficiency was, don’t know if they have a stat. But the eye test suggests Loyola, for instance, running circles around the #2 team in the nation on the offensive end, while I can count on one hand the number of shots we got that we wanted.

 

[Vuce]

Our efficiency was boosted up by second chance points and offensive rebounds. I’d love to see what our half court offense efficiency was, don’t know if they have a stat. But the eye test suggests Loyola, for instance, running circles around the #2 team in the nation on the offensive end, while I can count on one hand the number of shots we got that we wanted.

How many Loyola games did you watch this year?