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Message: [QUOTE="Dogdeacon, post: 5197280, member: 1026"] A few things can be true at the same time. 1. Dan Hurley is the reigning best coach in the game, two titles is a compelling argument 2. For 24-25 Hurley isn't winning coach of the year and as you & others point out the roster construction (and all that entails including talent eval), style of play and player development have all been well below prior year's A+. a. This probably means Hurley isn't the greatest coach of all time maybe b/c he's not capable of developing a top-10 team with varying styles of team play + talent. b. But heck neither was Calhoun (who always had a step back year after a national championship contending year) and the vast majority of coaches do best with certain styles of teams and players. c, When NBA teams with the best coaches don't win its deemed to be because of talent b/c its viewed as a players league, just cuz the college game is more of a coach's sport, it doesn't mean the best coach is a ticket to annual 30 win seasons. d. Yet UConn gets to be the defending national champions until someone beats us in the NCAAs and Hurley can be still be the best coach in the game or one of the best without being the best of the best every year. e. It is possible that the Kevin Ollie experience has made UConn fans particularly vulnerable to worries about coaching slips after national championships, I don't think that's the case even one little bit here, but I can see that the fanbase may be more susceptible to panic about that. 3. Last year's team was insanely talented. Just watching Steph Castle last night reinforces what emerged in various games esp. towards the end of last year when other teams couldn't stop him on O as he shut down their best players on D - and yet he was our 5th leading scorer! And the team had Clingan, and Newton and Spencer - any of those 4 would easily average 20+PPG (Steph 30+) on this year's team and elevate the team to top-10. Hurley did a great job of developing the players and coaching them AND that was one of the most talented college basketball teams of all-time. A long winded (sorry rainy cold Sunday in NE) way of saying I'd obviously take Hurley over anyone else from the date UConn hired him. We can be critical of the decisions made this season without it being a referendum on Hurley overall and definitely not causing anyone to re-think what he's accomplished thus far at UConn or capable of doing with future teams. [/QUOTE]

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