Hurley post game SHU

[pj]

Yeah, there’s stuff Hurley isn’t good at coaching. He also has a top 10 team by every statistical ranking, so while we can split hairs all we want, the big picture is still very rosy this year. The scorching start was great, but it really turned our fans into spoiled brats from November on.

Is the cup 95% full or 5% empty?

Jim Calhoun set a high bar of getting to 100% full with high frequency. Fans may not realize how challenging that can be.

 

[Deleted at users request]

Yeah, there’s stuff Hurley isn’t good at coaching. He also has a top 10 team by every statistical ranking, so while we can split hairs all we want, the big picture is still very rosy this year. The scorching start was great, but it really turned our fans into spoiled brats from November on.

Is it fair to expect us to compete for the conference championship?

We aren’t asking for Calhoun as much as we’re asking to just not underperform.

 

[NJHusky]

I never watched Dan Hurley at URI. Only really saw them in the last tourney game he coached. But did he have the same "in game adjustment style" that people complain about there? He must have. But... the yard was salivating in our race to secure him as HC. Did nobody watch him at URI? Who thought he was a bad hire from the get go. Must have been quite a few of you

You do realize there's a difference between seeing a coach every game for 5 years v. 1 or 2 games during the NCAA tournament?

 

[yungdowork]

Is it fair to expect us to compete for the conference championship?

We aren’t asking for Calhoun as much as we’re asking to just not underperform.

My man, we literally haven't finished worse than 3rd in the conference since we came back. That is competing.

It seems so disingenuous to me to expect us to outperform our preseason expectations every year, and then say we underperform when we don't.

 

[Deleted at users request]

My man, we literally haven't finished worse than 3rd in the conference since we came back. That is competing.

It seems so disingenuous to me to expect us to outperform our preseason expectations every year, and then say we underperform when we don't.

That’s fair. We have been top 3 usually with this year being the exception.

But I don’t know. It just feels strange when Hurley made a show of last year talking about how he didn’t have his players, then have this big roster transformation to get “his” players, and now we’re finishing worse in conference.

Season isn’t over so maybe we can still conjure up that magic from the beginning of the year, but it’s disappointing that we’re underperforming in conference play with his handpicked roster.

 

[Ports21]

Yeah, there’s stuff Hurley isn’t good at coaching. He also has a top 10 team by every statistical ranking, so while we can split hairs all we want, the big picture is still very rosy this year. The scorching start was great, but it really turned our fans into spoiled brats from November on.

I thought we were a 6-8 seed coming into the season.

I'm just simply saying that the faults at this point are on him. It doesn't mean he isn't doing a good job as there as lots of things he does very well.

But I hope whatever magic wand he has he can wave now through the end of the year!

 

[yungdowork]

Season isn’t over so maybe we can still conjure up that magic from the beginning of the year, but it’s disappointing that we’re underperforming in conference play with his handpicked roster.

I honestly just think it's important to try to keep perspective.

Think about 2011, the year of Kemba, one of the seasons everybody loves, a championship year, one of the years that epitomizes UConn basketball; we finished 9th in the conference that year during the regular season.

Think about 2014, the year of Shabazz, our last great post-season success, an incredible season; we finished in a 3-way tie for 3rd in the American.

Jim Calhoun is one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time and he didn't have us competing for a conference championship every single year. I think it's totally fair to say we need to see more from Hurley in important games, or especially win-or-go-home games, and still appreciate what he seems to have done for the program as a whole.

 

[Deleted at users request]

I honestly just think it's important to try to keep perspective.

Think about 2011, the year of Kemba, one of the seasons everybody loves, a championship year, one of the years that epitomizes UConn basketball; we finished 9th in the conference that year during the regular season.

Think about 2014, the year of Shabazz, our last great post-season success, an incredible season; we finished in a 3-way tie for 3rd in the American.

Jim Calhoun is one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time and he didn't have us competing for a conference championship every single year. I think it's totally fair to say we need to see more from Hurley in important games, or especially win-or-go-home games, and still appreciate what he seems to have done for the program as a whole.

I get the comparisons, but both years we knew we had one of the best players in the country all year. Both guys showed an ability to close out games and hit clutch shots. Both teams had somewhat an excuse outside of the stars to not think we should compete too.

2011 was basically all young guys outside of Kemba. He was the only junior player I believe outside of Chuck. Reasonable to think Kemba couldn’t carry them through conference play in the best, deepest, and most physical conference.

2014 we had NO bigs. Phil Nolan was a starting center. Lol. We were lucky to have the best backcourt in America and a wizarding coaching job to mask our complete hole we had at center.

It made those years SO much fun to watch because we were not suppose to or expected to win anything. This year the talent on our roster says we should be competing in conference much better than we are. From a strictly talent standpoint we are loaded with no weakness with the experience to match.

But like we talk about, maybe things will come together for the tournament.

 

[Husky25]

From being the favorite team for a 32-year fan to second guessing Hurley's competencies as a coach. My, how UConn has fallen in the span of less than a couple months. Wait...what? They're ranked? Hmm. From the responses, I could have sworn they'd be below .500 and mired in a multi-game losing streak.

Both UConn and Purdue were unranked to begin the season. How did they get to #2 and #1, respectively? Everyone else lost prior to their conference schedule. UConn is currently ranked 18 and while it is certainly not #2, I recall the discussion at the beginning of the season where UConn should probably end up being ranked in the teens by season's end. The #2 ranking adjusted the expectations of many, but should it have? Unless I am reading it incorrectly, only Creighton and Nova were solidly in the Top 25 in November. Holloway has Seton Hall playing well, and the entire conference is up for the most part. There are 5 top 25 Big East programs currently, and none from greater Philly.

By virtue of being college kids, not a game goes by where there isn't something that can be improved upon, but be that as it may, I didn't think Saturday's game was in doubt after about the 10 minute mark.

 

[yungdowork]

It made those years SO much fun to watch because we were not suppose to or expected to win anything. This year the talent on our roster says we should be competing in conference much better than we are. From a strictly talent standpoint we are loaded with no weakness with the experience to match.

But like we talk about, maybe things will come together for the tournament.

I guess this is where I'm confused. In 2014, we were ranked preseason and this year we weren't, wouldn't that mean that year had even higher expectations, especially if we had one of the best players in the country?

Frankly, it seems to me like the Boneyard just undervalued Rj, Rese and Whaley and that has led to a lot of talk about our "talent" that doesn't seem based in reality to me. We lost leadership, toughness, heart, and shot-making that we absolutely did not replace in the portal. We lost our 3 best shooters (Polley, Rese, Rj) and replaced them mostly with dudes with worse all-around games who aren't making shots right now. I actually like Newton a lot even though he's inconsistent, but I would swap him in a second for the PG play we had last year.

I think regardless of how it ends, a season where we had to replace EIGHT guys, started unranked, and then maintained top 25 for 15 straight weeks after that doesn't really seem like an abject failure.

 

[JohnnyJr]

A lot of this discussion depends on what your expectations are now, I’m still hopeful for a deep run because of the way this team started. I’m not feeling confident though with the way they’ve played but we saw their potential early on. Yes we won the last game but if they play like they have been they aren’t making a sweet 16.

 

[Husky25]

I guess this is where I'm confused. In 2014, we were ranked preseason and this year we weren't, wouldn't that mean that year had even higher expectations, especially if we had one of the best players in the country?

Frankly, it seems to me like the Boneyard just undervalued Rj, Rese and Whaley and that has led to a lot of talk about our "talent" that doesn't seem based in reality to me. We lost leadership, toughness, heart, and shot-making that we absolutely did not replace in the portal. We lost our 3 best shooters (Polley, Rese, Rj) and replaced them mostly with dudes with worse all-around games who aren't making shots right now. I actually like Newton a lot even though he's inconsistent, but I would swap him in a second for the PG play we had last year.

I think regardless of how it ends, a season where we had to replace EIGHT guys, started unranked, and then maintained top 25 for 15 straight weeks after that doesn't really seem like an abject failure.

All good except that as much as I really liked Martin, Karaban is already a better shooter and is probably going to be a better all around player by the time he takes off.

 

[Jaydumo20]

You do realize there's a difference between seeing a coach every game for 5 years v. 1 or 2 games during the NCAA tournament?

For sure. I was admitting that I had no prior knowledge of Hurleys style before we got him, with the exception of those two games. So I, personally was not a good judge of his resume. But there are a bunch of us who claim to have deep knowledge of many coaches, including Hurley, and I don’t remember hearing the “bad in game coach” during his recruitment.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

If you expected to go 26-2 based on the undefeated start I’m sorry that’s on you.

They have a few more conference losses than I’d ideally like, but season-over-season yes I think they’ve improved each year from both a talent and performance perspective—both of which the coach is responsible for.

I disagree with you Kemba. You go 14-0 and take on impressive teams doing it, you have every right to expect big things. Particularly so with the Big East not being that highly rated to start the year. You DO NOT expect that a 14-0 team would struggle so much closing out games. I am sorry, but that is a true statement. SH on the road, St. John's, Creighton on the road are all great examples. That said, Dan Hurley has brought us back from being irrelevant. I am rooting for him because he strikes me as a guy who learns and wants to get better as a coach. I can be a fan of that.

 

[Deleted at users request]

I guess this is where I'm confused. In 2014, we were ranked preseason and this year we weren't, wouldn't that mean that year had even higher expectations, especially if we had one of the best players in the country?

Frankly, it seems to me like the Boneyard just undervalued Rj, Rese and Whaley and that has led to a lot of talk about our "talent" that doesn't seem based in reality to me. We lost leadership, toughness, heart, and shot-making that we absolutely did not replace in the portal. We lost our 3 best shooters (Polley, Rese, Rj) and replaced them mostly with dudes with worse all-around games who aren't making shots right now. I actually like Newton a lot even though he's inconsistent, but I would swap him in a second for the PG play we had last year.

I think regardless of how it ends, a season where we had to replace EIGHT guys, started unranked, and then maintained top 25 for 15 straight weeks after that doesn't really seem like an abject failure.

That’s another fair point. I forgot that team was ranked. I think the national pundits just stayed away from this team because they weren’t sure what’s what with all the new parts preseason. We were still picked to finish 3rd in the BE this year.

You probably know I’m the opposite opinion with RJ and Rese. When we play well a big reason for that is ball movement. Something those guys wouldn’t have contributed in. Whaley just wasn’t a good fit at the 4. Loved him as a Center.

Hot take: this team would be better with him at center than Sanogo ducks

The talk of the season was suppose to be how Hurley found guys that were upgrades and got his system. That’s why we had all those players leave. Which is why we can’t really have a disappointing March again to a lot of the more critical crowd.

 

[Sole]

All good except that as much as I really liked Martin, Karaban is already a better shooter and is probably going to be a better all around player by the time he takes off.

Different type player…but Martin was a really good player for us..possibly the best player on the team… and is in the nba now or Very close to being in it

 

[yungdowork]

All good except that as much as I really liked Martin, Karaban is already a better shooter and is probably going to be a better all around player by the time he takes off.

I love Karaban to death, and I probably agree that he's a more pure shooter, but to put some respect on Martin, he shot 43% from 3 last year in addition to averaging 13.5/7.5. Guy was a dog.

The talk of the season was suppose to be how Hurley found guys that were upgrades and got his system. That’s why we had all those players leave. Which is why we can’t really have a disappointing March again to a lot of the more critical crowd.

To be fair to Hurley, I think there's a couple counterpoints to this. Firstly, we have a top 5 recruiting class coming in. I think it's hard to say this roster is full of "his guys" when the plan has been to build around Castle since his commitment. Secondly, I think everybody thought we'd get a lot more consistency out of Newton and Alleyne especially. Luckily, both those guys generally seem to be trending upwards over the last few weeks so all we can do is wait and see

 

[Matt1010]

I love Karaban to death, and I probably agree that he's a more pure shooter, but to put some respect on Martin, he shot 43% from 3 last year in addition to averaging 13.5/7.5. Guy was a dog.


To be fair to Hurley, I think there's a couple counterpoints to this. Firstly, we have a top 5 recruiting class coming in. I think it's hard to say this roster is full of "his guys" when the plan has been to build around Castle since his commitment. Secondly, I think everybody thought we'd get a lot more consistency out of Newton and Alleyne especially. Luckily, both those guys generally seem to be trending upwards over the last few weeks so all we can do is wait and see

Alleyne specifically is a very confusing one. He has a major 3 year sample size of play against quality ACC opposition in which he shot 39% from the field and from deep. The regression to 32/28% so far this year is hard to explain.