Hurley Presser 9.23
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Alex with the media , if you follow to the end Malachi Smith comes up too. Malachi very light on his feet with the press, very well spoken, very engaging. Hurley has him out here already, showing a lot of confidence in his player.
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You are good to go. Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks. 😀
First official practice of the 2025-2026 season is in the books.
"The coaches are phenomenal, the players are phenomenal," Smith said of the Huskies. "They're doing a good job of keeping me focused. Dan Hurley's a great coach, helping me grow as a man on the court, off the court. He's a point guard, I'm a point guard. I just want to win championships. That's all I'm worried about."
The RuffRuff Alternate Access™:
First official practice of the 2025-2026 season is in the books.
"The coaches are phenomenal, the players are phenomenal," Smith said of the Huskies. "They're doing a good job of keeping me focused. Dan Hurley's a great coach, helping me grow as a man on the court, off the court. He's a point guard, I'm a point guard. I just want to win championships. That's all I'm worried about."
The RuffRuff Alternate Access™:
Why Malachi Smith will have a 'huge role' with UConn men's basketball team: 'Fans will love him'
Hunt for 7
Built Hurley Strong
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I think this team is going to play defense like five hungry dogs fighting for a bone. And if you decide you don’t want to eat another dog will quickly be given your place to go get a piece of that bone.
The competition in practice is going to help these players do much better on the defensive end.
He is so much different than other coaches. How many would say we will have to see if 15 human beings may be too much for me to deal with day in and day out.
12 players that really feel like they have a legitimate chance to play. Just puts it out there…..brutal honesty. He is the perfect coach for our fan base and program.
He just fits this job so well. Hope he decides this is where he wants to stay until he retires.
The competition in practice is going to help these players do much better on the defensive end.
He is so much different than other coaches. How many would say we will have to see if 15 human beings may be too much for me to deal with day in and day out.
12 players that really feel like they have a legitimate chance to play. Just puts it out there…..brutal honesty. He is the perfect coach for our fan base and program.
He just fits this job so well. Hope he decides this is where he wants to stay until he retires.
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Solo with the media, then Tarris comes up. Tarris all about the rebounding.
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The team has insane offensive talent. There’s so much scoring in the starting 5 and even some solid scoring options off the bench
How successful we he should be determined by: how willing is every single player to go on defense and try to eat other teams alive every single possession?
i think this kid is going to light it up. Saw him play this summer and i was shocked by how good he looks - it was against top American HS players and he looked like best player on the floor. Time will tell.
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A lot of interchangeable parts this year. It is really hard to know how this all shapes up until we get to see what it looks like a couple times.
The video on Furphy was actually pretty interesting - did not know he was from a town of 1500-2000 people on an island off the coast of Australia, playing there through age 15 before he got to the Aussie academy. You listen to his video and it sounds like year 1 is really more about proving he belongs at this level. While he does some nice things out there, I'm going to temper my expectations a bit on what he'll be as a frosh. I know there's been a lot of arguments around Ross vs Furphy around here, Ross has had the chance to operate against the relevant peer group for a long time now. I think he'll have a decided edge in PT potential.
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I'm just not sure where the minutes for either one really come from. Mullins is gonna be getting at least 20 minutes at the 3, Karaban is pretty locked into 30+ minutes at the 4, Stewart's gonna be getting ~25 between the 3/4, which only leaves 5 minutes at those 2 spots at best
Ross is absolutely more ready to play this year. But I'm sure the staff will invest in Furphy a bit for the future. I'm expecting him to probably fall out of the rotation as we get into Big East play, though, unless he really plays well in his minutes.
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Not a lot to go around, but if Ross can pull it together defensively as has been talked about, could see him finding time in certain matchups. You'd have to think Solo is pegged for about 28-30 too.
I hate playing the minutes game. The 1, 4 & 5 look fairly iron clad, then you'd think it would look something like this:
Demary/Smith - Get all 40
Solo - Gets 28-30
Mullins - gets 20-25
AK - Gets 30
Reed/Reibe - Get all 40
Stew is taking 20-25 minutes at the 3/4 - that's most of what those two positions have to offer, with maybe a few to spare. The 10 at the 2G likely get split up a bit between Demary & X. There could be 8-10 minutes out there between the 2 & 3 a kid like Ross can find. All of it is really contingent on so many factors.
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Yeah if Ross can play the 2 that opens up more potential avenues to minutes, but not sure we see much of that. A non shooter at the 2 is a real tough sell
I think it's valuable to think of 2 different depth charts. One to start the season including cupcake minutes, and one in the heart of conference play as the rotation gets tighter.
Start of season:
Demary 20 / Smith 15 / Furphy 5
Solo - 25 / Demary 5 / Mullins 5 / Furphy 5
Mullins 15 / Stewart 15 / Ross 10
AK 30 / Stewart 10
Reed 25 / Reibe 15
End of season
Demary 25 / Smith 15
Solo 30 / Demary 5 / Mullins 5
Mullins 20 / Stewart 15 / Ross 5 (+/- 5 based on foul trouble, etc.)
AK 35 / Stewart 5
Reed 28 / Reibe 12
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“It's going to take absolutely everything for us, the sacrifices we've been making since the summer, to have a chance to win a championship,” Hurley said. “It's going to take absolutely everything that everyone's got the next six months. Our pursuit has got to be honorable. It's got to be worthy. The way we pursue the preparation, everything. The pursuit has got to be honorable for us to have a chance. And you've got to earn. Because this is not last year's team. No one is getting a lifetime achievement award. If you were a starter last year, if you're not a better defender, if you're not a championship-level player, you're going to come off the bench.”
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Dan Hurley and UConn have the motto for a title pursuit that require 'everything'
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Dan Hurley and UConn have the motto for a title pursuit that require 'everything'
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Is this basically admitting committing to Samson is not something he'll fall prey to again?
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No, he's basically saying that if you're still on the team this year but were a starter last year, there's no guarantees you'll get starter minutes this year unless you earn them by being exceptional on both sides of the ball. More of a rallying cry/pseudo-warning for Solo (and I guess, Alex too). Also would apply to others who got significant minutes last year (Stew).