Hurley Presser

[PAHusky]

Honestly, why? Would the season be playing out differently if he'd been all "geez, I just hope we can sneak in with an at-large bid" all summer?
Talking about a threepeat was great. It kept us in the spotlight. How often do you get a chance for something like that? Basically never.
People want us to be both the biggest name in the sport and fly under the radar. It doesn't work that way.

I think there's a solid middle ground there that you're ignoring. You can address the elephant in the room without causing additional pressure. I'm cool with him acknowledging the threepeat etc. but I think he went too far in talking up the NBA potential of some of the players and it's a tactic that may not have worked with this group.

Again, I'm a keyboard warrior and not a back to back championship winning coach so I'm not saying I know what the best course is here. Don't disagree with you that having UConn in the news for chasing a threepeat is a big net positive.

 

[AllHusky]

This year probably Duke and Auburn. Auburn is snatching opponents' souls with their margin of victories like UConn did the past 2 years in the NCAAT.

So Auburn hanging in there without Broome, and Duke clicking on all cylinders since loss to Kansas. Be nice to mess Duke up this year.

 

[storrsroars]

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.

All of this is obvious now. The question I have (and I think many others) is that Dan has repeatedly said what he looks for in a recruit or xfer, and he's put together incredible rosters of pieces that fit almost perfectly. And to miss this badly is just... strange. So what is the difference with how he evaluated this squad when he was assembling it?

 

[RuffRuff]

So Auburn hanging in there without Broome, and Duke clicking on all cylinders since loss to Kansas. Be nice to mess Duke up this year.

Any team with a KP in both offense & defense in the top 20 is generally considered well balanced.

Rk	Team	Conf	W-L	NetRtg	ORtg	DRtg
1	Duke	ACC	16-2	+36.77	124.9	3	88.2	2
2	Auburn	SEC	17-1	+36.15	131.0	1	94.9	18
3	Houston	B12	14-3	+33.69	121.6	12	87.9	1
4	Iowa St.	B12	15-2	+30.56	121.9	10	91.3	6
5	Florida	SEC	16-2	+30.37	124.5	5	94.1	15
6	Tennessee	SEC	16-2	+29.18	118.9	22	89.8	3
7	Kansas	B12	13-4	+27.28	117.0	34	89.8	4
8	Alabama	SEC	15-3	+27.11	124.9	4	97.8	42
9	Illinois	B10	13-5	+26.91	119.5	19	92.6	10
10	Purdue	B10	15-4	+26.59	122.4	8	95.9	22
11	Michigan	B10	14-4	+24.84	121.2	14	96.3	25
12	Texas Tech	B12	13-4	+24.76	122.0	9	97.3	37
13	Michigan St.	B10	16-2	+24.42	119.2	21	94.8	17
14	Gonzaga	WCC	14-6	+24.15	124.2	6	100.1	59
15	Marquette	BE	15-3	+24.08	118.6	24	94.5	16
16	Arizona	B12	11-6	+23.73	119.2	20	95.5	20
17	Mississippi	SEC	15-3	+23.70	117.7	27	94.0	13

 

[ec33]

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.

Add in a couple of bad over-the-back calls.

 

[UConnJim]

Unfortunately, this is a flawed team, but it doesn't mean the team can't improve. This is a good shooting team, but it is a mediocre defensive team and rebounding is not good. Look at the starters' rebounds per 40 minutes and compare it to last year:

2023/2024: Clingan, Newton, Castle, Karaban, Spencer = 40.2 rebounds per 40 minutes

2024/2025: Johnson, McNeeley, Karaban, Diarra, Ball = 26.8 rebounds per 40 minutes

With McNeeley out: Johnson, Karaban, Diarra, Ball, Stewart = 25.0 rebounds per 40 minutes.

UConn could almost match last year's rebounding per 40 minutes with this lineup:

Reed, McNeeley, Nowell, Karaban, Diarra = 39.1 rebounds per 40 minutes.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Everybody looking for answers. Are we as good as the last two years, even with McNeeley. No. Are we still pretty damned good, top 25, going to the tournament. Yes. if this is the down year, we need to realize the down years under Calhoun were worse. Get in the dance, see who is hot, see what you can do. That's it.

As for the "Duke" model, the 5th year crap is almost done. If we are honest, it had a huge impact on our ability to construct that team last year. The change means the level of play is going to drop overall. That means good freshmen are now a bit more valuable. Seniors like Hass are still really valuable. We shouldn't be too surprised Duke is good, because everybody else is a bit worse. Hurley knows the portal can help, but not quite like before. Next year's class is our best ever.

Auburn looks great, who's the leading scorer? A 5h year senior. #2 scorer: senior. Then #3 a talented freshman. #4 senior. #5 senior. #6 senior.

Iowa State: Senior, Senior, Junior, Soph, Junior, Senior.

The model is the same as always, blend talent with experience. Talent with experience (Newton, Cam, Shabazz) is absolute rock solid gold. Nothing beats that.

 

[mihusky]

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.

and we were so close to getting Timberlake instead of Cam...fortunate break

 

[FreeKlaiber]

All of this is obvious now. The question I have (and I think many others) is that Dan has repeatedly said what he looks for in a recruit or xfer, and he's put together incredible rosters of pieces that fit almost perfectly. And to miss this badly is just... strange. So what is the difference with how he evaluated this squad when he was assembling it?

He missed on Mahaney's ability to run the point or deal with physicality of Big East, and he overestimated his staffs ability to defensively coach up more offensive minded players to "the standard".

note-many of us thought he missed on Newton too, and were wrong, so story isnt written yet...

 

[uh-no]

I talk hoops, what's interesting, relevant and worth discussion. I don't bury my head myopically in only things Uconn as I'm a fan of the whole sport, and I'm am not a candidate for the lead singer from the Blue Glasses Band. I could see you on the fiddle.

I'm by no means a Duke fan, I just find their current model and transition from this past year really interesting given the circumstances.

you win some, you lose some in this portal world.

We nailed it last year. Duke seems to have done well this year.

 

[Captbluefin]

We lack the mature senior who can get a bucket.

AK is a battle tested veteran but he’s not a “ go get some buckets and stop the bleeding “ ISO guy

We had 2 last year Newton and Cam

 

[PAHusky]

We lack the mature senior who can get a bucket.

AK is a battle tested veteran but he’s not a “ go get some buckets and stop the bleeding “ ISO guy

We had 2 last year Newton and Cam

And Castle honestly. We’re missing anyone - regardless of age - who is really primarily a shot creator. McNeeley is great but he’s more of a maxed out Karaban in that even in HS he was more of an amazing secondary option than go to scorer. Ball can’t drive/finish as the rim well enough and Karaban is too slow foot speed wise to effectively take his man off the dribble as well.

Hoping for an offseason jump for Solo/another sophomore and/or the incoming freshmen get buckets for next year. For this year have to hope we can scrounge up enough points from somewhere each game

 

[UCTitleTown]

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.

I think it's apparent at this point that Flagg is REALLY good and is a difference maker for the team that got him. Imagine if we had him now. Need bucket, he gets a bucket.

 

[JMick]

He missed on Mahaney's ability to run the point or deal with physicality of Big East, and he overestimated his staffs ability to defensively coach up more offensive minded players to "the standard".

note-many of us thought he missed on Newton too, and were wrong, so story isnt written yet...

Besides Newton he's had a bit of blind spot filling the PG position. Hass doing better than I thought he would but he doesn't have a complete game and too much is on his shoulders.

 

[Excalibur]

I'll take the model that won consecutive natties, personally. Maybe I'm just a fool.

Consecutive championships with significant roster turnover as well. People acting like Hurley just got lucky with a couple of really good players . . .

 

[JMick]

I just got a chance to listen to tonight's post game and I'm glad he brought up the integrity of the sport related to officiating biases going into games. I brought this up earlier this year and some people thought I was crazy. It is a huge deal and is something that should be talked about.