Hurley on WFAN

[Chuck]

Danny has some weaknesses and blind spots (don’t we all). What he doesn’t seem to have is an arrogance where he believes he has everything figured out. Will he take us to a Final Four? No idea. Most coaches don’t get to a Final Four. But I think he has the opportunity to grow and learn unlike some coaches that hit a ceiling because they won’t listen to anyone else. I hope he learns how to calm down a bit on the sideline and I think he will. I already think he runs a better offense than he did when he started here. I’m happy he’s our guy.

 

[Icehawk]

I really loved the quote

• "I didn't come here to be good. I came here to be one of the elite coaches in the country."

 

[Edward Sargent]

My notes, nothing groundbreaking:

• On season so far:
  • Hard to celebrate season so far when you didn't win a BE chip given the expectations being at UConn
  • A couple of finishes in the paint on Friday from playing Saturday
  • Losing Bouk was tough but a better team going into the NCAAT than last year
• On draw/NCCAT
  • "Everyone's vulnerable" -- "anything can happen"
• UConn 1 of 3 teams in the country that didn't take a transfer (w/ Nova and Purdue) according to Hurley
  • "Culture over portal"
  • Could have used a little more firepower on the perimeter
  • Hard to do scheduling in April/May when you have no idea who's going to be on the other teams' rosters come season
• On scouting:
  • Teddy Allen tremendous player, 20 ppg -- "big time player" -- turns 24 next month
  • Talks to a lot of former coaches to get as much information and data as possible to break down
• On growing up w/ Bobby
  • "Tough kids played in the park, soft kids in the driveway. We played in the park"
  • Bobby would kick his ass all the time, but Bobby would fist fight on Danny's behalf when he would mouth off to older kids
  • Bobby's will is nothing he's ever seen before. "He's a dog."
  • Hard growing up in Bobby's shadow; thankful it wasn't during in social media era
• On urgency to get UConn back to National Champion stage
  • Loved coaching URI, loved being the hunted in A-10, class of the conference. Only would leave to go to a Final Four contender
  • "I didn't come here to be good. I came here to be one of the elite coaches in the country."
  • "When you come to a top place, you have to be able to make deep runs in March, in the tournament."
  • Had no idea BE was on the table when he took the job in 2018 (but knew AAC was "sucking the life out of basketball")
  • Villanova game felt like S16/E8 game
  • "UConn is right back where it belongs"
  • UConn being back in the BE is as good for UConn as it is for the BE
• On relationship w/ Calhoun:
  • "He's the GOAT" -- on Mt. Rushmore of best coaches after Wooden
  • "I'm smart enough to use my resources" which includes talking to Geno and Calhoun
  • He'll have both of them talk to individual players, the team as needed
  • Calhoun will rip him if he whines/complains -- happened first week after an early practice and lit him up, threw him out of his office. "A moment of weakness, I needed that."
• Heading out to Buffalo tomorrow night
  • "UConn takes over when we hit the road"

Thanks for the synopsis - I really do miss the Fan

 

[storrsroars]

I heard Bobby's ASU team scrimmaged vs New Mexico st in preseason so Danny may get some good info .

How sure are you? ASU also beat Creighton, but it appears no tips were given from Bobby to Danny.

 

[NJHusky]

How sure are you? ASU also beat Creighton, but it appears no tips were given from Bobby to Danny.

Maybe Bobby doesn’t hard hedge?

 

[Marat]

How sure are you? ASU also beat Creighton, but it appears no tips were given from Bobby to Danny.

UConn men to face New Mexico State in NCAA tourney opener in Buffalo

Storrs — UConn drained most of the suspense out of Selection Sunday by building a worthy NCAA tournament resume. Still, it was exciting for the Huskies to see their name pop up Sunday in the West Regi...

www.theday.com

"Hurley plans to get a scouting report from his brother, Bobby, who's the head coach at Arizona State, which faced New Mexico State in a closed scrimmage during the preseason.
"We talked on the way in, so he'll be one of my first calls on the way out," Hurley said of his brother."

 

[storrsroars]

I really loved the quote

• "I didn't come here to be good. I came here to be one of the elite coaches in the country."

Just for s&g...

Calhoun after 12 seasons: 200-123 ,619
Calhoun at age 49: 346-200 .634
Hurley after 12 seasons (age 49): 224-151 .597

Calhoun, D1 Career (retired age 70): 877-382 .697

To match Calhoun, Hurley will need to go 653-231 .739, which would be impossible to do by the time he reached 70, but if he coached another 28 years to match Calhoun's 40, he'd need to go a little better than 23-8 each season before he retires at 77.

 

[storrsroars]

UConn men to face New Mexico State in NCAA tourney opener in Buffalo

Storrs — UConn drained most of the suspense out of Selection Sunday by building a worthy NCAA tournament resume. Still, it was exciting for the Huskies to see their name pop up Sunday in the West Regi...

www.theday.com

"Hurley plans to get a scouting report from his brother, Bobby, who's the head coach at Arizona State, which faced New Mexico State in a closed scrimmage during the preseason.
"We talked on the way in, so he'll be one of my first calls on the way out," Hurley said of his brother."

Some people are simply too literal to understand a joke when they see one.

 

[Icehawk]

I mean when you compare to JC you aren't just talking an elite coach or even a HoF coach - you are talking one of the VERY best ever.

 

[Jbirdp5]

Lifelong WFAN guy - Tierney blows!!!!! I simply can't come around to him.

Agree the guy is always trying to oversell everything.

 

[Zissou]

I mean when you compare to JC you aren't just talking an elite coach or even a HoF coach - you are talking one of the VERY best ever.

JC is severely underrated outside of UConn circles.

 

[storrsroars]

JC is severely underrated outside of UConn circles.

Thank you ESPN.

 

[August_West]

JC is severely underrated outside of UConn circles.

Your coach would be the first screaming that which is part of the reason I can’t hate nova except for wanting to beat you badly.

 

[gsmooth]

JC is severely underrated outside of UConn circles.

I haven't gone to the Villanova SB Nation site, but maybe you can answer this question:

Are you Nova fans pissed that you are not in the East where the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 are in Philadelphia?

 

[Get a Job]

Did anyone else read this thread title as "Hurley on Wean?"

 

[Zissou]

I haven't gone to the Villanova SB Nation site, but maybe you can answer this question:

Are you Nova fans pissed that you are not in the East where the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 are in Philadelphia?

I’d say “not pissed”.

I think there is a good case that Nova, higher ranked, should have the East over Kentucky.

A few points. The committee gave Kentucky preference over Nova. Ok, you can make a case for that (polls disagree). It is an anomaly that the East venue is closer to Kentucky than the South venue. (South to me means something like an Atlanta venue, not Texas).

Also, I like our 7/10 over the East’s, and projecting forward I’d rather have Tennessee than Purdue. (Not taking early rounds for granted!)

The Kentucky favoring by the committee is annoying, but I’m not pissed. It’s all about match-ups, and there is no easy road, but I prefer the South match-up’s over the East.

 

[Northbound]

Lifelong WFAN guy - Tierney blows!!!!! I simply can't come around to him.

I’ll take him over Carton every time.

 

[Zissou]

On JC, I think there is a narrative that UConn doesn’t have the history, and is new money vs Duke as an old school blue blood. In fact Duke’s title success only pre-dates UConn’s for a few years.

UConn has a few compliance blemishes. Duke (and UNC) have gone relatively unscathed by the NCAA, but most see that the prosecution is not even handed. JC is underrated and K is revered, at least by ESPN.

 

[frenchofva]

ASU pre-season scrimmage was against St Mary’s … NMSU pre-season scrimmage was against Texas Tech …

 

[jibsey]

On JC, I think there is a narrative that UConn doesn’t have the history, and is new money vs Duke as an old school blue blood. In fact Duke’s title success only pre-dates UConn’s for a few years.

UConn has a few compliance blemishes. Duke (and UNC) have gone relatively unscathed by the NCAA, but most see that the prosecution is not even handed. JC is underrated and K is revered, at least by ESPN.

Reasonable.

 

[Guapo]

I’d love to know more about what Geno has to say to the individual players Hurley has him speak to

 

[Seamus84]

On JC, I think there is a narrative that UConn doesn’t have the history, and is new money vs Duke as an old school blue blood. In fact Duke’s title success only pre-dates UConn’s for a few years.

UConn has a few compliance blemishes. Duke (and UNC) have gone relatively unscathed by the NCAA, but most see that the prosecution is not even handed. JC is underrated and K is revered, at least by ESPN.

“UNC relatively unscathed”….ya think?! We would’ve received the death penalty had we committed their violations.

 

[Squeeze]

I’ll take him over Carton every time.

I surprise myself by liking Carton. I had a decent commute in 2021 and found myself routinely listening to him and Evan. The guy's ridiculous but pretty funny. There's a good ying and yang between him and evan

 

[NotADime89]

ASU pre-season scrimmage was against St Mary’s … NMSU pre-season scrimmage was against Texas Tech …

Wrong! ASU also had a closed door scrimmage against NMSU

you must know: Dan Hurley may have some insider information about the Aggies—his brother Bob, Arizona State’s head coach, played New Mexico State to a precision, closed-door scrimmage. via CT Post and Massachusetts News

 

[frenchofva]

Wrong! ASU also had a closed door scrimmage against NMSU

you must know: Dan Hurley may have some insider information about the Aggies—his brother Bob, Arizona State’s head coach, played New Mexico State to a precision, closed-door scrimmage. via CT Post and Massachusetts News

Yep … my apologies : over-looked the ASU game …
New Mexico State – 10/23 at Arizona State; 10/30 vs. Texas Tech in Hobbs, NM