Hurley on Ross

[Deleted at users request]

He doesn’t do one thing well on offense, he is erratic and nervous on defense, and he doesn’t rebound particularly well.

You can tell all that after 3-5 minutes?

 

[uconnbill]

It's almost like Hurley is throwing crap against the wall and hoping something clicks

 

[3rdbass]

What a quote, guess Ross is gonna see more time moving forward.

But why? He brings next to nothing on the court on both sides of the ball. He needs to go down a level in basketball. He has energy but not much skill.

 

[3rdbass]

You can tell all that after 3-5 minutes?

He is a horrible shooter, not a good passer, and isn't a great dribbler. What does he do well? Energy?

 

[3rdbass]

It's almost like Hurley is throwing crap against the wall and hoping something clicks

Pretty much this. He has no idea how to solve the issues.

 

[Deleted at users request]

He is a horrible shooter, not a good passer, and isn't a great dribbler. What does he do well? Energy?

Where are yall getting that he’s not a good passer or great dribbler from?

 

[Scottobot]

It doesn't seem that weird for me that Hurley would be looking for more minutes for a high effort low usage guy, which is what Ross is at this point.

Look at the Marquette game. Ross 100% contributed to us winning it, and no box score is going to tell me differently. Stewart had a better box score in that one but turned the ball over 6 times and made himself unplayable. Meanwhile Ross was bringing the ball up the court for parts of the game and only turned it over once, and was defending Kam Jones.

I'm disappointed he hasn't shown a little more offensively too, but there are some crazy and disrespectful takes in this thread in my opinion.

The Marquette game was the one time he played well all season. He was great on defense that game. He was the only guy who could defend Cam Jones. I think his defense has improved. It’s just his offense that is the problem.

 

[homunculus]

Reading between the lines, the quote is partly about Ross and partly about other guys who he wants to follow Ross’ lead if they want their playing time to increase.

Yup, Ross is essentially last in the depth chart of the guys who actually see the court. It seems to me that he’s just trying whatever he can to push some buttons, and actually speaking to the players ahead of Ross. Possibly even everyone (with an exception or two) but more likely the guys just ahead of him. We need something out of Stewart, Nowell and Mahaney.

 

[freshler40]

Is this Hurley reversing his emphasis on offense and moving back to defense and athleticism?

Maybe he's looking at all the offensive players he's recruited for next year and realizing he needs a defensive athlete to return. He might be concerned he'll lose Ross to the portal.

No doubt. We give up an easy 80+ to many teams. A Hurley hallmark was always defense. Whose time does Ross get?

 

[djct1999]

Can someone actually describe the mistakes Ross has made in his last few games?

Especially since Marquetye?

Here is an idea, why don’t you try and watch the replay of games. If you want to single out a player, rewind any sequence and watch it again in slow motion. For most of the guys you covet, the tape is not good.
Let’s start with the basics. A high major player is a special type of player, blessed with a combo of elite athleticism, size, lateral speed, and/or high basketball iq. Use the simple eye test, of the guys outside our top 6, who passes that test. Who looks comfortable enough on the floor that atleast, despite some limitations, feels like high major basketball is the right level for him. I will start. Stewie is the one guy that is a high major player.

 

[ucp990411]

I just can’t see Ross being a big part of a top 5 team. Maybe a role player off the bench

 

[Kowalski]

The Marquette game was the one time he played well all season. He was great on defense that game. He was the only guy who could defend Cam Jones. I think his defense has improved. It’s just his offense that is the problem.

He played a big part in the Xavier OT win with his D too. They put him on Maddox late & he shut down his threes near the end. That’s after no one else could stop him most of the second half.
When he subs in the back court, he helps the defense with his size.

 

[CL82]

What a quote, guess Ross is gonna see more time moving forward.

The use of the word "solely" seems to indicate that at least one other person is complaining about playing time. Is there a clubhouse problem this year?

 

[BPT2Storrs]

As I mentioned earlier on, I think this is more about Mahaney than Ross. Let’s see the minutes Mahaney gets tonight v. Ross. I could be wrong but I believe Hurley is done with Mahaney at this point.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

The use of the word "solely" seems to indicate that at least one other person is complaining about playing time. Is there a clubhouse problem this year?

if you watch the presser, there was real emphasis on the word solely both times. I interpreted it as Ross SOLELY has a legitimate gripe about pT based on how he has practiced and responded. Dan Hurley seems to be indicating he sees the bench as being checked out, not earning the right to more PT through their practice effort and/or attitude. Im thinking we are gonna see very little JStew next game.

 

[Mr. French]

if you watch the presser, there was real emphasis on the word solely both times. I interpreted it as Ross SOLELY has a legitimate gripe about pT based on how he has practiced and responded. Dan Hurley seems to be indicating he sees the bench as being checked out, not earning the right to more PT through their practice effort and/or attitude. Im thinking we are gonna see very little JStew next game.

That’s what I see too - I feel like this is a clear message about still being bought in and being great in practice.

That’s what a coach sees daily, so that probably tells posters why Stewart hasn’t played as much. Could be AM too. Who knows.

But he’s sending a Message about practice and work ethic, intangible things, not necessarily on court production.

 

[TheRealKBuks]

These comments from Hurley are strange. Ross isn't going to turn into a physical specimen even if he's eating trenbologna sandwiches 24/7.

As funny as I found this comment, don't forget the physical transformation Hurley inspired and we all witnessed with the wrench Isaiah Whaley from sophomore to junior seasons

 

[Mr. French]

JStew sitting in the doghouse on the back end of his Soph year would be an eerie prelude going into the offseason. His minutes are down of late and he’s done little in that time.

Sulkers at this point in the year have to be brutal to manage, because they can fully check out with the portal there. And if they are, how in the world do you play them?

It’s easy enough to tell a guy to just shut up and work hard even if he’s not playing, but these are humans, barely out of childhood.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Rebounds, points...things that help win games.

The metrics say otherwise, we're better with Johnson on the floor. The reality, as I've said all year is that in some games we are better with Johnson and in others we are better with Reed. Hurley knows this and they each get "starter minutes" when it is appropriate.

 

[05Alum]

I agree that it seems this is geared towards Stewart. All the talk end of last year and beginning of offseason was he could be a lottery pick. That all subsided once practices began and Ross was the one garnering all the positive talk. Maybe Stewart felt early on he was going to be the focal point of the team this season. Didn't pan out, hence the inconsistent play, inconsistent minutes, shadow second half performances. Kinda all checks out.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Where did the whole freak athlete thing with Ross come from? That's right up there with the defensive stopper thing. I'm not calling you out, I've seen it repeated over and over.

I watched basically all his big event AAU games before he came here and he never came across as a freak athlete. He looked like a development player with a nice stroke on corner threes. I watched Abdou Toure after his freshman high school season coming off the bench as the 6th man for New England Expressions and I immediately noticed he was different than everyone else. Could tell right away that kid was a freak athlete. Same when I watched Andre Jackson in AAU and high school and I immediately saw it in games when he put on a UConn jersey.

Ross had a very nice quick first step baseline reverse layup against UNH and a jelly fam layup that would've been blocked into the 10th row by any legit team. That's about all we've seen from him other than a dunk on the break on someone against East Texas Agriculture and Mechanical Commerce.

I think it probably comes from him being slightly above average on a team where everyone else other than Johnson seems like guys from an over 40 rec league. What a bunch of plodders this season.

 

[AdamaNation]

Hurley needs to sing the song from the Frozen soundtrack.

Do you want to build a snowman? How does that fit?

 

[AdamaNation]

He doesn’t do one thing well on offense, he is erratic and nervous on defense, and he doesn’t rebound particularly well.

He does try to block every pump fake and foul.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Where are yall getting that he’s not a good passer or great dribbler from?

Watching the games. Do you HAVE to play Devil’s advocate, or is this just fun for you?

 

[jostar1]

Do you want to build a snowman? How does that fit?

Hurley needs to let them go.