Hurley Post Game Quotes

[jayteeman]

There is alot of blame to spread across the the whole floor. Seems to be no leader on this team since Bazz. No model on this team the players could all gravitate to. You can have a dominating coach that becomes numb over time. The leader gets it, and is the mediator between the coach and team.
Calhoun and Parcells were masters of hate/love relationships and took average players to higher places. Hurley wants to be there, but you have to do your time like anything else.
A couple of quotes from Parcells HOF speech keep ringing:
"Losers assemble in little groups, and complain about the coaches and the players in other little groups. Winners assemble as a team."
"The players deserve a chance to win, and you as an organization, a university and a head coach have an obligatory responsibility to give it to them."

 

[UConnDad]

This isn't hard to understand. The team will begin winning more consistently when the remaining pieces from the KO era are gone. I said long ago that Hurley was facing a 2 to 3 year rebuild. The hole he inherited was a big one to dig out of.

I bet things look much better next season when it will basically be Josh and a bunch of guys brought in by Hurley.

Jeez, we're in wait til next year mode already. This is getting old.

 

[Kenny11]

st. Joseph’s was ridiculously hot in the first half and some of their players made some shots throughout the game that they may never make again in their life. That happens with underdogs sometimes.

But the amount of stupid plays we made is just unacceptable. We had Gilbert, Vital, Polley taking contested long two’s without any ball movement. Josh airballed his first shot and the airballed a free throw later. He didn’t come ready to play.. Then we come back Vital and Gilbert decide to just dribble into the other team and give them the ball.

However, we should ban the “ollie’s Guys” argument. These kids have been Hurley guys for 2 years now and have all bought in to his program. A good coach can get the best out of players even if he didn’t sit on the mother’s couch when the kid was 17.

 

[UC4L]

I missed the game, can’t find the recap video on YouTube. Is it posted yet?

 

[uchusky32]

Yep, veterans don't know or have the will to do what's neccessary to win. One little jab in the nose and their back to their wild bad habits.

Hurley mistake was to not recruit over those players. Might not be a nice decision for this who were brought in by the previous staff but they are out of their league.

Not sure whyanyine expected anything more from All. And not sure if freshman Gaffney would be the answer if he was healthy. We need a transfer pg who could play this year. And CV can't be your shot creator, ever.

 

[Kenny11]

Vital is the only player who lost a lot of games under the prior coaching staff. Gilbert was injured and the other guys only had 1 year with Ollie and have spent more time with Hurley.

The “used to losing” thing has only a small amount of truth to it. There’s 50 more real reasons why we lost.

 

[MattMang23]

Like Hurley, I don’t put stock in the near-comeback. No more moral victories. The second half was how the whole game should have gone if they’d decided they needed to play from minute one. The same thing has happened in the exhibition, against SHU and last night: They play like garbage in the first half then play with their hair on fire in the second because they got their butts lit up at halftime. They rely on their talent to dig them out of the early hole they’ve dug. They’ve been more talented than each team we’ve played so far, but this attitude has now already bitten us once. They won’t always be more talented than the opponent. And they certainly don’t have the talent to make up 30 point deficits against the vast majority of our opponents. They simply aren’t good enough to do that. They need to pretend that to win it’s going to take scrapping and clawing and playing suffocating defense from the jump, even if the opponent is St. Michael’s, SHU, or Joe’s because they have Florida next and it really will take that level of effort even to keep the game close and give themselves a chance to win.

Maybe Hurley needs to give the halftime speech pregame? I don’t know.

 

[Milo65]

We are down by 3 and they hit a three. ST. Joes is in foul trouble and they can’t stop our dribble penetration. Vital comes back down court and jacks up a quick three. Hilarity ensues and we spend the last four minutes of the game turning the ball over, and throwing up quick jump shots.

 

[August_West]

Pretty much.

Excuses

 

[RF79]

Not by any means am I condoning how this team plays but Dan Hurley did tell us that it was going to take a few years to make a complete change. Without saying it so blatantly he meant that these guys have to go. These guys do have to go and out freshmen need to grow.

 

[Onions]

We had Gilbert, Vital, Polley taking contested long two’s without any ball movement.

Polley was 4 of 5 from the field, 4 of 4 from 3. Including him with the other two culprits is inaccurate.

 

[Huskybass]

Jeez, we're in wait til next year mode already. This is getting old.

Just because you don't like what I said doesn't mean it's not true. The overall level of talent will be much better next season. We are adding Cole, Springs, Andre Jackson, Javonte Brown Ferguson and Bouknight (who hasn't played yet) to go along with Josh, Akok, Polley, Gaffney and Adams. Next season will be the one where we see a big jump in the quality of the team, and the record will reflect that.

A rebuild is a process. We are in the middle of it now. A nucleus of Cole, Bouknight, Jackson, Akok and Carlton looks pretty good to me.

 

[BFieldHusky]

Just because you don't like what I said doesn't mean it's not true. The overall level of talent will be much better next season. We are adding Cole, Springs, Andre Jackson, Javonte Brown Ferguson and Bouknight (who hasn't played yet) to go along with Josh, Akok, Gaffney and Adams. Next season will be the one where we see a big jump in the quality of the team, and the record will reflect that.

A rebuild is a process. We are in the middle of it now.

They will also have a scholarship in the spring for a potential 2020 recruit or grad transfer.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Not by any means am I condoning how this team plays but Dan Hurley did tell us that it was going to take a few years to make a complete change. Without saying it so blatantly he meant that these guys have to go. These guys do have to go and out freshmen need to grow.

Coaching at the collegiate level is about getting through to kids and molding them. Its seeming that Dan Hurley might not be able to do that with these guys. Hard for me to put this all on the old regime. Dan Hurley has to take accountability. But two games into his second season I'm still reserving judgement.

 

[tennmike]

I'm a big Hurley fan, but some of this debacle is on him. Pregame, coach was talking about the match up nightmare that they faced with St. Joe's. Instead of playing to our comparative advantage, speed and depth, we tried to play their game. They did not have a bunch of great ball handlers...the press should have been employed right from the start.

Vital is all about tenacity, and grit, but he doesn't have the basketball mind to be leader on this team. How many of his shots does he jack up when there is not one teammate is anywhere near the basket? Statistically most will be misses. His shots are ill-timed (s/b labeled turnovers) momentum killers. It's like he does not comprehend the team aspect of the game. Granted, he gives you effort, rebounds, and points - albeit in a losing effort. You would think the definition of insanity would occur to him. Hear he is a bright kid...just has a terrible blind spot.

And speaking of being near the basket for rebounds, as been pointed out here before, Polley drifts away from the hoop when a shot goes up. It's not that he is out muscled, he's not even in the mix.
Not going to get many boards 25' from the basket.

And then there is the one guy with the ball, four guys watching. Coaches have a lot of work to do!

 

[dennismenace]

I thought he nailed it. He was obviously outcoached tonight but the last couple of minutes of his presser tell you all you need to know about how disappointed he is in the veterans. He knows he needs to be better but the scary thing is I think he feels like he's running out of ways to reach them. It really sucks that Gaffney basically missed preseason, Bouknight got himself suspended, and Richie can't play this season.

The reality is we need to play Gaffney, Bouk, and Akok a ton this year and cycle out the veterans. The rebuild is going to most likely take a little longer than we would like. Hurley needs to be better though.

I like this. When upperclassmen embarrass themselves and the team sit their a__ down and keep doing to embarrass them. He has to send the message that HE WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS. PERIOD. I think it is time that HE look in the mirror and ask himself if HE is being "a nice guy" by not yanking them out of the game and keeping a short leash on non hustlers. Also agree with the commentary above on the lack of timeouts and other adjustments which he waited far too long to make in the first half.

 

[UConnDad]

Just because you don't like what I said doesn't mean it's not true. The overall level of talent will be much better next season. We are adding Cole, Springs, Andre Jackson, Javonte Brown Ferguson and Bouknight (who hasn't played yet) to go along with Josh, Akok, Polley, Gaffney and Adams. Next season will be the one where we see a big jump in the quality of the team, and the record will reflect that.

A rebuild is a process. We are in the middle of it now. A nucleus of Cole, Bouknight, Jackson, Akok and Carlton looks pretty good to me.

Oh it's not that I don't like what you said. The problem is it is true. My comment expresses my dismay after 2 games. And all these ads are not helping.

 

[Ts5034]

Like Hurley, I don’t put stock in the near-comeback. No more moral victories. The second half was how the whole game should have gone if they’d decided they needed to play from minute one. The same thing has happened in the exhibition, against SHU and last night: They play like garbage in the first half then play with their hair on fire in the second because they got their butts lit up at halftime. They rely on their talent to dig them out of the early hole they’ve dug. They’ve been more talented than each team we’ve played so far, but this attitude has now already bitten us once. They won’t always be more talented than the opponent. And they certainly don’t have the talent to make up 30 point deficits against the vast majority of our opponents. They simply aren’t good enough to do that. They need to pretend that to win it’s going to take scrapping and clawing and playing suffocating defense from the jump, even if the opponent is St. Michael’s, SHU, or Joe’s because they have Florida next and it really will take that level of effort even to keep the game close and give themselves a chance to win.

Maybe Hurley needs to give the halftime speech pregame? I don’t know.

I agree. I mentioned in another thread how I hope this isn’t a second half team for the entire season. Its really frustrating watching those games play out where we fall behind by 10-15 points or more early on, only to fight back late in the game but still lose. I forgot the first half in the exhibition vs St Michaels they came out flat too, so now this is already becoming a trend. We averaged 88 PPG in the two games we played so far, which is actually very good. Its just the rebounding and defensive effort has to be better for the full 40 minutes.

 

[intlzncster]

Akok sure seemed ready to play

So was Vital. Unfortunately, he's just an inherently hot and cold player, for a variety of reasons of which we are all aware.

 

[2Infinity]

st. Joseph’s was ridiculously hot in the first half and some of their players made some shots throughout the game that they may never make again in their life. That happens with underdogs sometimes.

But the amount of stupid plays we made is just unacceptable. We had Gilbert, Vital, Polley taking contested long two’s without any ball movement. Josh airballed his first shot and the airballed a free throw later. He didn’t come ready to play.. Then we come back Vital and Gilbert decide to just dribble into the other team and give them the ball.

However, we should ban the “ollie’s Guys” argument. These kids have been Hurley guys for 2 years now and have all bought in to his program. A good coach can get the best out of players even if he didn’t sit on the mother’s couch when the kid was 17.

This is the best takeaway I've seen on the yard so far.

St. Joe's shot incredibly well...yes some not contested enough, but others were and they were making almost all of them tonight! They deserve some credit for that. They were also well coached and IMO, will be much better than the predictions made pre-season.

That said, the shot selection from our guards was horrible tonight. Vital felt he had to jack up threes, when what we really needed was to find the open man with passing or a drive and dish. Moving the ball around was what got us back in the game, so why do the rewind of the quick long-range jacks with no one near the boards?? Seemed like an ego-driven, reactionary move to me.

AG played his worst game that I can remember in a Husky jersey. I don't know when he's going to learn that you don't drive into the lane one-on-four and expect to make a layup. His best drives are when he uses his floater...but don't recall any last night. He did hit some threes late, but it was his decision making earlier that was really awful and hurt us tonight. I'm not sure where he was at mentally tonight, but it wasn't here. That said, it was one game and I'm confident he'll bounce back and play smarter.

Dan Hurley didn't seem to manage the game well. Hope he learns from it, because with a chance to pull this game out, you don't take your foot off the gas when our press is working so well. If the reason was guys were getting tired, then you go to the next guy or two on the bench...take your chances with them...allow them to grow a little, but you keep it going!

I'd like to think this game showed the worst of what we can offer this season. I think we will learn some from it, hopefully a lot! Hurley doesn't give up and that's huge! He's not going to wait for next year's recruits to arrive. As a result, I think many of the ultra negative comments here from last night and today, will look ridiculous several weeks from now.

 

[Captbluefin]

Vital taking early shot clock shots trying to be a hero has killed so much momentum the last 2 years it’s insane.

CV and AG think leading the team is taking shots and stupid drives. I am pretty sure that’s not Dan Hurley’s plan.. severl times Polly was WIDE open late and they drive into the trees or CV takes a contested NBA 3.

Akok, Polly and Carlton need touches. THEN maybe AG can get some room inside with the floor a little more open

 

[intlzncster]

Obviously Hurley could have made some better adjustments throughout the game but I don't know what people expected from him with the start. Tell players to play defense? Don't let a 6 foot guy get a rebound in the middle of 3 UConn players? At a certain point players have to perform

What Hurley screwed up was 1. sticking his preferred lineup on the bench too early to let SJU dictate how the game was going to be played and 2. going away from what fueled the comeback towards the end.

But timeouts and 'ready to play' are so far down the list to be almost worthless.

 

[intlzncster]

st. Joseph’s was ridiculously hot in the first half and some of their players made some shots throughout the game that they may never make again in their life. That happens with underdogs sometimes.

While not wrong, we really do 'allow' guys to get hot. We don't defend the three for crap. Gave up so many wide open threes last night to be embarrassing.

And once guys get hot, they start hitting those circus shots too.

 

[intlzncster]

I'm a big Hurley fan, but some of this debacle is on him. Pregame, coach was talking about the match up nightmare that they faced with St. Joe's. Instead of playing to our comparative advantage, speed and depth, we tried to play their game. They did not have a bunch of great ball handlers...the press should have been employed right from the start

We have better players. But we don't have a speed advantage. Our team is cement block slow. But we absolutely did let them dictate. That was a poor in-game decision by Hurley.

 

[Excalibur]

The “used to losing” thing has only a small amount of truth to it. There’s 50 more real reasons why we lost.

Almost all of those reasons have to do with the inherent shortcomings of players that the coach did not recruit

 

[8893]

st. Joseph’s was ridiculously hot in the first half and some of their players made some shots throughout the game that they may never make again in their life. That happens with underdogs sometimes.

But the amount of stupid plays we made is just unacceptable. We had Gilbert, Vital, Polley taking contested long two’s without any ball movement. Josh airballed his first shot and the airballed a free throw later. He didn’t come ready to play.. Then we come back Vital and Gilbert decide to just dribble into the other team and give them the ball.

However, we should ban the “ollie’s Guys” argument. These kids have been Hurley guys for 2 years now and have all bought in to his program. A good coach can get the best out of players even if he didn’t sit on the mother’s couch when the kid was 17.

This^

 

[8893]

Almost all of those reasons have to do with the inherent shortcomings of players that the coach did not recruit

Are lack of intensity, lack of game plan and lack of defense inherent shortcomings of players?

I think the guy who built this program would disagree strongly with that notion.

 

[Towney007]

However, we should ban the “ollie’s Guys” argument. These kids have been Hurley guys for 2 years now and have all bought in to his program. A good coach can get the best out of players even if he didn’t sit on the mother’s couch when the kid was 17.

Just because they've bought into his program doesn't mean they can execute what he asks of them.

And this is their best. I really do believe that. Why? Because this is exactly what these guys have gives us over two different coaching staffs for 3-4 years. I mean how many times do you have to see the same script acted out over and over with the same guys before you just realize that this is what they are?

You really think if Coach K or Jim Calhoun walked in the door that things would miraculously change for Christian Vital? Or that Tyler Polley would all of a sudden become an athlete or something? Or that Alterique Gilbert could create, finish around the rim and kick the ball out? Or that Josh Carlton wouldn't be totally afraid of his own shadow?

 

[intlzncster]

Are lack of intensity, lack of game plan and lack of defense inherent shortcomings of players?

I think the guy who built this program would disagree strongly with that notion.

Lack of intensity is inherent with a lot of these guys. Borges tweeted about how Hurley was concerned about Alterique's lack of fire/urgency in general.

Lack of defense is largely a result of our players being slow . But Hurley needs to accommodate to change that this year -- he probably won't tho.

 

[Towney007]

I think the guy who built this program would disagree strongly with that notion.

I don't.

At Northeastern, it took him six years before they started to win.

At UConn, he was 9-19 in year-1 and then we won the NIT in year two, but we were 20-14. Then 18-13 the following year before the dream season. Right about where we'll end up this year.

So no, Hurley being big mad and slamming chairs isn't going to turn Tyler Polley into a college athlete.