Hurley Presser | The Boneyard

Hurley Presser

I think this is, besides Hassan and Liam, a soft team. I think we overrated AK as an alpha type player and totally misread Aidan's potential impact. After that, we have lots of talented guys but they all have a tendency to be passive and wildly inconsistent.

In short, it's just not a very well constructed team in the big scheme of things. Lots of talent, some guys who can really shoot it, but really only one strong ball handler, one guy who can be a triple threat with the ball, and really nobody who defends consistently. Even Hassan has had trouble keeping guys in front of him at times.

We'll still win 20+ games and be a threat. But I feel like his frustration are things that were noticeable from game 3 or 4.
 
We lost 4 starters to the NBA.

While I love AK, being a vocal leader is not his thing. Great shooter when he’s on, but is atrocious when he’s off.

Liam is phenomenal but a frosh.

Diarra, Samson, all of the sophs were all role players last year now stepping into major roles.

The transfers didn’t previously play against competition that you get in the Big East.

Anyone who thought this was going to be smooth sailing to a three peat is simply delusional. This season was always going to be a grind with good wins and head scratching losses.
 
I'm fine admitting that this team isn't championship caliber. It would have been other-worldly to be a contender again given the amount of talent that has left over the past two seasons. The margin for error on the roster adds was very thin, and we missed on one of them. People seem to have forgotten that winning championships is really hard (which can happen when you basically average a championship every four years over a quarter century).

There are pieces on the roster, and what looks to be a very good freshman class coming in. No reason we can't be back in it next year and the year after if we can supplement well in the portal.
 
We were never going to have a total reload after 2 chips, we just weren't. Florida went 8-8 in conference and only made the NIT semis after their two championships.

What are our issues?
  • Total misrecruit of Mahaney
  • Too little shot creation on the roster
  • low basketball IQ defenders we figured we could coach up... and didn't.
We're not a bad team. Still top-25 with McNeeley. We're just comparing ourselves to one of the most perfectly constructed rosters of all time last year.
 
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Excalibur said:
I'm fine admitting that this team isn't championship caliber. It would have been other-worldly to be a contender again given the amount of talent that has left over the past two seasons. The margin for error on the roster adds was very thin, and we missed on one of them. People seem to have forgotten that winning championships is really hard (which can happen when you basically average a championship every four years over a quarter century).

There are pieces on the roster, and what looks to be a very good freshman class coming in. No reason we can't be back in it next year and the year after if we can supplement well in the portal.
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Well said and spot on. Every year in the portal world is a learning experience. I’m still holding out a little hope for the team taking flight and getting hot with Liam back but ok if it doesn’t land. Will be very curious to see how the staff goes to the portal. Dan Hurley put a lot of stock in continuity and the soph class, and cultural fit and shooting with Mahaney, meanwhile left a big gap in other important areas we’ve all beat down.
 
husky429 said:
We were never going to have a total reload after 2 chips, we just weren't. Florida went 8-8 in conference and only made the NIT semis after their two championships.

What are our issues?
  • Total misrecruit of Mahaney
  • Too little shot creation on the roster
  • low basketball IQ defenders we figured we could coach up... and didn't.
We're not a bad team. Still top-25 with McNeeley. We're just comparing ourselves to one of the most perfectly constructed rosters of all time last year.
Expand ...
If McNeeley didn't get hurt we would be 15-3, we would be talking about how we haven't lost on the mainland, we would be talking about how great Hass has been, and we would be talking about going 18-3 before our huge top 10 matchup against Marquette.
 
husky429 said:
  • low basketball IQ defenders we figured we could coach up... and didn't.
Expand ...
This hurts most, combining with the fact that Danny wanted so much for Samson who stayed over due to loyalty.
You can hear in the press that he still tries to deny what it is about Samson's rebounding issue and the team should help him out. Danny would have come to that realization earlier if we are not so lucky to have Sanogo/Clingan in 2 years whose dominance drowned out the glaring defense deficiency or inability or total lack of it to develop.

But Liam is the difference maker, we lose so much on both ends in his absence.

I liked Danny's trust on Solo that he has the makeups to become a better defender and he and coaches are addressing it.

I understood more now about Danny's philosophy about developing new players now. He is in a pickle between winning the games and developing young players just like we suspected.
 
It's never a good thing when your freshman is your best player, especially having a veteran Championship roster.

Sure Liam is that good but the principal remains.

Our vets need to step it up or we're not going to 3 peat.
 
Sounds like a coach who is running out of levers to pull. Lack of dribble penetration and rim pressure this year is jarring. Need McNeeley back ASAP. A lot of lessons learned this season for future portal offseason planning. I think the bar realistically is second weekend for tourney if we’re being honest.
 
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Kitaman said:
It's never a good thing when your freshman is your best player, especially having a veteran Championship roster.

Sure Liam is that good but the principal remains.

Our vets need to step it up or we're not going to 3 peat.
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Idk, there are a few of those on very good teams. Duke obviously, Illinois is off an Elite 8 with a frosh leading them this year. It just takes the right kid and ecosystem. Our vets are better with him out there.

Hurley did sound drained in this one, like he’s looking at himself to understand what he could have done differently.
 
superjohn said:
Did he say anything about why the team is no longer getting Tarris Reed the ball or why plays are being designed to make AK a penetrator?
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Spoke to Tarris for a bit, in that they need to get the ball into him, etc. Not much on the latter.
 
I feel like it’s okay to not win the championship every year and Hurley has been having unrealistic expectations of this roster since the summer.

He can’t continue to hold the expectations of the 23’ and 24’ team over every roster he has from here on out. That’s not healthy and fair to his guys.
 
If Karaban makes free throws, and Diara gets a shooting foul, we are talking about how this team has championship moxy and finds ways to win. Yes they are flawed, but so is every other team in the nation. They get McNeeley back, they can go on a run.
 
husky429 said:
We were never going to have a total reload after 2 chips, we just weren't. Florida went 8-8 in conference and only made the NIT semis after their two championships.

What are our issues?
  • Total misrecruit of Mahaney
  • Too little shot creation on the roster
  • low basketball IQ defenders we figured we could coach up... and didn't.
We're not a bad team. Still top-25 with McNeeley. We're just comparing ourselves to one of the most perfectly constructed rosters of all time last year.
Expand ...

Yea, using the portal is proving to not be as "can't miss" as people would think.

Every season has had some "sure fire hits" turn into absolute busts and wastes of NIL money.

Let's be honest, Hunter Dickinson has been a huge disappointment for Kansas x 2 seasons now (for what he should have brought to that team).

Timberlake was a big bust.

Coleman Hawkins has been one of the biggest wastes of NIL money in the history of NIL so far.

Oumar Ballo has put up some good stats but has brought apathy and poor attitude to Indiana.
 
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Its just so not fair to say these defensive problems are will, hunger, and softness issues that other teams didn’t have when the other team had the best rim protector this decade.

Guys from last year’s team did not look like great defenders when Clingan was out. Cam Spencer especially got abused on drives (and it wasn’t a “want to thing” because the effort was there)
 
superjohn said:
If McNeeley didn't get hurt we would be 15-3, we would be talking about how we haven't lost on the mainland, we would be talking about how great Hass has been, and we would be talking about going 18-3 before our huge top 10 matchup against Marquette.
Expand ...

Yep, in the preseason, Hurley was already mentioning this team would have a much smaller margin of error for winning vs. 23-24 squad. He knew what he had and what would need to break right for us to legitimately contend.

We've had injuries cause lost time for Alex, Samson, and Liam, and have only lost 2 games in that stretch (so far).

I like where we can go with Liam back in the lineup (fingers crossed for sustained recovery)
 
Karaban concussion and Liam ankle are what has us where we are. No margin for either of those guys to not be available or not be producing. Imagine if Hassan was out for 3 weeks!! Like most teams, everything has to break just right for them to perform at their max potential.

Right now alot of "Coulda, shoulda, woulda" is going on.

Can we be 100% healthy in 2 weeks? Can we avoid any more injuries? Can the refs be 50/50 in their calls? Can Tarris wakeup? Can we lessen the reliance on hi hedge? Can Stewart "consistacize"(new word) himself? Who on the roster can be an X factor if the light bulb went on?(Ross, Nowell, Mahaney??) These and another bushel of questions will be answered shortly. As fans, we have to be in our seats and yellin like hell!!
 
superjohn said:
If McNeeley didn't get hurt we would be 15-3, we would be talking about how we haven't lost on the mainland, we would be talking about how great Hass has been, and we would be talking about going 18-3 before our huge top 10 matchup against Marquette.
Expand ...
Great point. Other than the Dayton game, our losses have been all one to two possession games.

With McNeeley, this team is very good, though the eye test shows some flaws. Just seems the margin of error without Liam shrinks dramatically. The mix of 5 player combinations without Liam Hurley has at his disposal is problematic where a lack of effort and execution is the difference between winning and losing.

If they can get healthy and get back to winning and improving, this team can beat just about any team. But to do so they must improve their team D, make most of their high percentage shots, hit their FTs, knock down their 3s at a clip that they're capable of, get a few more transitions baskets, rebound the way they are capable of and execute their half court offense more precisely. That's a lot, but they have the talent where they can still win if they struggle in one or two of those areas.

Like the Creighton game, Alex playing and shooting poorly, team missing high percentage shots, too many defensive lapses, lack of effort and getting out rebounded makes this team volnerable. Lots of games left to improve.
 
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HuskyWarrior611 said:
Its just so not fair to say these defensive problems are will, hunger, and softness issues that other teams didn’t have when the other team had the best rim protector this decade.

Guys from last year’s team did not look like great defenders when Clingan was out. Cam Spencer especially got abused on drives (and it wasn’t a “want to thing” because the effort was there)
Expand ...
I agree it's not fair to say the defensive problems are all attributed to being soft, lack of will, etc. , but it is causing a lot of the issues on defense. The other is lack of BBall IQ and/or the coaching staff trying to implement schemes these players are not capable of executing and/or the players not digesting the information from scouting reports. The defensive positioning has improved since Maui, but it is still not good. The Providence game at Gampel is one example. Providence was basically playing 1-on-1 against UConn's defenders in the paint because the other 4 UConn defenders had their backs to everyone else and were for the most part face guarding the PC players behind the arc. That was not necessary. Look at Marquette against PC at the AMP. It's possible to play help defense without giving up the 3s. They held PC to 50 pts while the UConn had defensive rating of 114.7 against PC at Gampel.

As far as last year's team, of course they were much better defenisively with Clingan. They held it together defensively while Clingan was out, so they were solid defenders, Cam not so much early on but he improved greatly. This partially includes the Creighton game at Gampel where Clingan did not start, but was effective off the bench. They held Creighton to their lowest points scored in a game last year at 48 pts.
 
JustbrewitMan said:
Yea, using the portal is proving to not be as "can't miss" as people would think.

Every season has had some "sure fire hits" turn into absolute busts and wastes of NIL money.

Let's be honest, Hunter Dickinson has been a huge disappointment for Kansas x 2 seasons now (for what he should have brought to that team).

Timberlake was a big bust.

Coleman Hawkins has been one of the biggest wastes of NIL money in the history of NIL so far.

Oumar Ballo has put up some good stats but has brought apathy and poor attitude to Indiana.
Expand ...
Inexact science in short window with NIL complications trying to figure out who is motivated, who will fit the system. The one guy getting it right is Barnes, and the common theme has been plucking a mid major on the rise. Those kids probably see it as an opportunity. Hurley's selection this year with two rising juniors was also interesting, where he could have went out and gotten guys that were already men with maturity in that last Covid/redshirt year, guys like Sion James. When you look at this team now, that feels exactly what it needs. Brawn, maturity, doggedness.
 
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gsmooth said:
I agree it's not fair to say the defensive problems are all attributed to being soft, lack of will, etc. , but it is causing a lot of the issues on defense. The other is lack of BBall IQ and/or the coaching staff trying to implement schemes these players are not capable of executing and/or the players not digesting the information from scouting reports. The defensive positioning has improved since Maui, but it is still not good. The Providence game at Gampel is one example. Providence was basically playing 1-on-1 against UConn's defenders in the paint because the other 4 UConn defenders had their backs to everyone else and were for the most part face guarding the PC players behind the arc. That was not necessary. Look at Marquette against PC at the AMP. It's possible to play help defense without giving up the 3s. They held PC to 50 pts while the UConn had defensive rating of 114.7 against PC at Gampel.

As far as last year's team, of course they were much better defenisively with Clingan. They held it together defensively while Clingan was out, so they were solid defenders, Cam not so much early on but he improved greatly. This partially includes the Creighton game at Gampel where Clingan did not start, but was effective off the bench. They held Creighton to their lowest points scored in a game last year at 48 pts.
Expand ...
That Providence gameplan sounds like a reaction to our defensive three point shooting woes. I agree there’s probably a better way to do it, but that way is a way that if you wanted to sell out on stopping just 3 point shooting should work.

Last year in games without Clingan they gave up 68.8 points per game and that’s not including the Seton Hall game he got hurt in and they put up 75. This year’s team is giving up 68.1 points per game.

They didn’t so much as hold it together defensively as much as they just put up points averaging 80.4 PPG (they dropped at least 80 on everyone but St John’s)

Newton’s and Cam’s defense was largely covered up by Clingan’s paint presence. It’s very easy to play defense when you can sell out to stop the 3 and funnel guys towards an elite shot blocker. At that point it’s really just an effort thing.

This year it’s taking a lot more coaching and scheming of how to get guys to become legit good, disciplined defenders.
 
RuffRuff said:
Inexact science in short window with NIL complications trying to figure out who is motivated, who will fit the system. The one guy getting it right is Barnes, and the common theme has been plucking a mid major on the rise. Those kids probably see it as an opportunity. Hurley's selection this year with two rising juniors was also interesting, where he could have went out and gotten guys that were already men with maturity in that last Covid/redshirt year, guys like Sion James. When you look at this team now, that feels exactly what it needs. Brawn, maturity, doggedness.
Expand ...
Did you go to Duke? You make an inordinate amount of Duke posts.
 
Watching this now the only thing I take "issue" with is him legit saying we are a bad defensive team and that he's considered changes to the schemes but that previous years were very successful with it so we'll stay the course. It's a stubborn viewpoint imo and not really playing to the team's strengths/weaknesses, etc. I remember thinking JC was maddening at times because he ran the same stuff offensively pretty much regardless of personnel. Dan Hurley is following the same blueprint defensively. We have bad individual defenders, our help defense is non-existent (how many straight line layups/dunks do we give up?), our hedging is ridiculously aggressive and forces bad defenders to rotate. It's been the same thing since the Memphis game (with some improvement obviously) and the rationale is, "well, we've been successful with this scheme before so we'll stick with it."

I think we are very soft and flawed and even if we had McNeeley throughout and were now 15-3 the same issues are still there. I feel like, for the first time in years, we've becoming fairly easily to gameplan/prepare for.
 
Let’s see what February brings. I thought that all along. The injuries are making it harder to find a flow but I still think this team has a run in them. Bad news is I think our best comp will be an Illinois or an Alabama. Look dangerous until we get a really balanced defensive/offensive team.
 
I love Dan Hurley but he should have been pumping the brakes on the threepeat chatter this off season rather than leaning into it. Not sure if he genuinely mis-evaluated the talent of this team or he decided that was the correct motivational tact but not great.

This is a top 15 or so team with McNeeley and borderline top 25 team without. Offensively, they're running the same sets but no one is a scoring option at all so it's all just empty motions. Last year you had every single kid on the floor who could get a bucket. This year Karaban can't handle being the alpha on offense, Ball is just exploring how to do anything other than shoot 3's really well and everyone else is up and down. Defensively, they're just not good and I'm not sure it's something fixable during the season. The sophomores are terrible (Ross is the best of the bunch and for a supposed defensive stopper hasn't shown much) and even the vets like Karaban or Diarra are getting a bit exposed (Karaban isolated one on one with no center behind him is ugly and Hass made his bones gambling for steals etc. and can't now).

Dan Hurley infamously decided after New Mexico that he needed offense and could teach good offensive players to player defense, but I think even he underestimated how much work this group needed.
 
HuskyWarrior611 said:
Its just so not fair to say these defensive problems are will, hunger, and softness issues that other teams didn’t have when the other team had the best rim protector this decade.

Guys from last year’s team did not look like great defenders when Clingan was out. Cam Spencer especially got abused on drives (and it wasn’t a “want to thing” because the effort was there)
Expand ...
This is a very good point. And while Clingan corrected a lot of perimeter failures both Tristan and Cam were great rebounders (a Uconn tradition for some reason).

That said. With AK either slowed or out it gives Dan Hurley the opportunity to bring in IA for some help on the boards and see what he can do overall. Could be a golden opportunity for him if he gets run time. We need a 6-6 or 6-7 who could give us energy on D. We greatly miss Steph and Andre before him. I just want to see him really get a chance to be on the floor and get some minutes. I've been like a broken record (sorry) on this and I know Danny has reasons for who he plays so I'm not complaining.
 
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