He's letting the other team dictate who we playIt makes zero sense, as you point out Whaley is nothing like a typical big defender. You can easily play him with Sanogo who was the best player on the court. Sanogo played 17 minutes and Josh only played 3 minutes. Adams played 30 minutes. Hurley is managing to play to our weaknesses and alienating our bigs.
We were spoiled having one of the best game day coaches on the planet...expecting to duplicate that is a recipe for disappointmentTimeouts and free throws.....all things Jim Calhoun should know a thing or two about.
Give him a ring for some advice.
Best take I have seen. Hurley point would make sense if we were down or it had been even. We were up damn near 10 points and running shot clock on every halfcourt possession. So why bench the guy who had a clear advantage in the halfcourt?I made the comment that Hurley coached this somewhere out of hubris, stubbornness and ego.
He coached like he wanted to prove he could put a better small ball team out there than SJU could put out there. And he lost. Bigly.
Instead of putting the best team out there to exploit the opponents' weaknesses, he tried to coach against their strengths.
We didn't play a small ball lineup. We played our normal post-Bouk closing lineup. It's the lineup that has played the most minutes together over the last 5 games. It's got 2 guards, 2 forwards, and a center. It was a 6'1" PG, a 6'4" SG, a 6'6" SF, a 6'8" PF, and a 6'9" center. That's about as prototypical a lineup as you'll see from a high major team. It had 2" in height and probably more in length over the Johnnies at basically every single position.I made the comment that Hurley coached this somewhere out of hubris, stubbornness and ego.
He coached like he wanted to prove he could put a better small ball team out there than SJU could put out there. And he lost. Bigly.
Instead of putting the best team out there to exploit the opponents' weaknesses, he tried to coach against their strengths.
You're doing some serious gymnastics for what was terrible coaching today. He killed by far our biggest advantage in this game and killed our momentum. His reasoning was the inferior team was dictating the terms of the game.We didn't play a small ball lineup. We played our normal post-Bouk closing lineup. It's the lineup that has played the most minutes together over the last 5 games. It's got 2 guards, 2 forwards, and a center. It was a 6'1" PG, a 6'4" SG, a 6'6" SF, a 6'8" PF, and a 6'9" center. That's about as prototypical a lineup as you'll see from a high major team. It had 2" in height and probably more in length over the Johnnies at basically every single position.
You can certainly make a case we should have played Sanogo over somebody, but the narrative that Hurley was trying to play a better small ball lineup or that Hurley was dictated into going small by St John's is just wrong and is getting repeated all over the place. He said that Sanogo couldn't guard anyone against a small ball lineup, not that he had to play a small ball lineup. And he didn't. Whaley is a big capable of guarding against a small ball lineup, so Hurley played him. We didn't play any smaller than usual, and it's our most experienced lineup in terms of age (aside from Carlton).
By playing what Hurley thinks is our best lineup, he attempted to play to our own strength. Whether you think he should've coached more to exploit St. John's weakness instead is certainly a valid question, and one of the hardest things a coach has to balance. It's entirely possible he got it wrong tonight. Did he get it wrong because he was stubborn? I probably would have at least tried Sanogo at some point between 10 and 4 minutes left, but I don't think it's ridiculous not to considering the game context and season history so far. We put Depaul away with the same lineup that lost it for us tonight.
Answer me how playing the lineup he thinks is our absolute best lineup is getting dictated to?You're doing some serious gymnastics for what was terrible coaching today. He killed by far our biggest advantage in this game and killed our momentum. His reasoning was the inferior team was dictating the terms of the game.
Answer me how he thought that was our best lineup when the player who was clearly the best player on the court wasn't in the game for the final 13 minutes?Answer me how playing the lineup he thinks is our absolute best lineup is getting dictated to?
While some of the comments are a little over the top....(extreme frustration from passionate fans including me) Hurley’s coaching was atrocious at best and coaching malpractice at worst....it is what it is.The reaction today from our fan base is insufferable and embarrassing. If Sanogo should transfer because he didn’t play in the last 10, should Hurley resign and take his stellar recruiting classes because UConn has better coaching options on a website?
So you didn't answer, great.Answer me how he thought that was our best lineup when the player who was clearly the best player on the court wasn't in the game for the final 13 minutes?
So you didn't answer, great.
I will answer you: Because opinions on lineups are formed over hundreds of hours of practice and previous games, not just minutes of game time from the current game. Because that lineup had shown it could lock down multiple similar opponents and win multiple games in crunch time.
Sanogo was the best player on the court? Slow down. Are you part of that crowd that felt Polley or even Whaley can play themselves into the NBA draft after the Marquette showing? Sanogo looked great. Especially the first half. He wasn't the best player on the floor and isn't the reason why we lost. But go on preaching what you preach. I forgot, that in between all this goodness from Hurley over the last few weeks, that you still know more than him.Answer me how he thought that was our best lineup when the player who was clearly the best player on the court wasn't in the game for the final 13 minutes?
Sanogo was the best player on the court? Slow down. Are you part of that crowd that felt Polley or even Whaley can play themselves into the NBA draft after the Marquette showing? Sanogo looked great. Especially the first half. He wasn't the best player on the floor and isn't the reason why we lost. But go on preaching what you preach. I forgot, that in between all this goodness from Hurley over the last few weeks, that you still more know than him.
Answer me how playing the lineup he thinks is our absolute best lineup is getting dictated to?
I agree that Sanogo should have seen the floor and with his play in the first half and their is no question he earned it. I do not think for one minute his absence is why we lost this game. Its a big difference. People are on here emphaticaly stating that we lost because Hurley chose not to play Sanogo. To me, that is ludicrous and not well thought out. Hurley felt that a shorter, more experienced lineup would combat St. John's speed and momentum. Is he that wrong? With a minute left in the game, we still should have won. To blast Hurley and say the reason we lost was because we didn't play a freshman who still is widly inconsistent as the reason is a headscratcher.It's really not at all about knowing more than him. DH has done a great job but if you watched that game and believe that Sanogo shouldn't have seen the floor in the last 11-12 minutes or think maybe he should have considered playing a zone as his guards and Polley were torched on the defensive end then you must have missed a lot. This is a board to discuss games would you prefer everyone to only be able to say "Hurley was great the team let him down"? He didn't have a good game and it started early when up 19-7 and coming out of the time out with a new lineup. Hopefully he's learning as well.