Hurley quote from The Athletic on Bouknight

[UConnKev]

 

[CTBasketball]

Usually you have to take me out to dinner before you can take my clothes off, sheeeesh.

 

[MDHuskFan]

Facts

 

[DaveHuskiesFan]

Imagine when they’re running sets for him. Sheesh.

 

[aburks41]

I know people are comparing him to JLamb, but they're wrong. Bouknight is better

 

[WestHartHusk]

Why aren’t they running anything for him?

 

[B1GEast]

Wow!!!! Hurley's not running plays for Bouk? Crazy. Imagine Bouk next year. This kid is special. Akok aa well.

 

[Dabutlerdidit]

May look more like J-lamb but has immediate freshman impact like Butler

 

[UConNation]

Why aren’t they running anything for him?

My guess is that with his suspension the focus was on running plays for the guys that were going to be playing in the first 3 games. He's also still playing (relatively) low minutes, so he hasn't been the focal point. With a week off from games, I think we'll start to see that change against Maine on Sunday.

 

[SubbaBub]

Surprised we are not hearing more Rip comparisons. His game is a lot more like Hamilton's than any of the others. It's been two games but you can see that he has that way of getting to his spots and you are surprised when the ball doesn't go in.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

3 games and is better than Lamb. Going Full Yard already.

 

[Kenny11]

Why aren’t they running anything for him?

They are setting ball screens for him at the top of the key to allow him to create but there hasn't been any plays for him as far as running off down screens for jumpshots or anything like that. We have only run plays like that for Polley. They did run an allyoop play specifically for him though.

 

[businesslawyer]

As they find out what Bouknight can do and use it, and as Akok grows in his offensive confidence, this can be a really good team. Better than I would have thought at the beginning of the year. We have a lot of pieces. The real art of coaching -- what made Calhoun the best -- is not recruiting, developing players or in game coaching. It's taking the pieces you have and figuring out how that becomes the best team it can be. Let's see how Hurley does here.

 

[Waquoit]

Why aren’t they running anything for him?

Because he doesn't want to lose the older guys. Soon.

 

[scuba lou]

Surprised we are not hearing more Rip comparisons. His game is a lot more like Hamilton's than any of the others. It's been two games but you can see that he has that way of getting to his spots and you are surprised when the ball doesn't go in.

I agree, this is what I was thinking.

 

[EROCK CONN]

Yea, it's 3 games into his Freshmen year but we know we have something special. Every part of his game reminds me, to a varying degree, of a part of the game of our great guards / wings -- Lamb - Shooting, length, and ability to finish in traffic: Kemba - defenders have to respect his shot and ability to drive: Gordon - ability to beat people off the dribble and HOPS: Khalid/ Napier - Confidence: Butler - knack for offensive rebouding: Hamilton - similar build, motor and basketball iq (I absolutely believe that if Bouknight had to play point, he could like Hamilton did against Kansas his freshman year) are examples. He appears to be able to shoot with all of he above and his jumper looks extremely smooth - kind of like Rays did.

Disclaimer: I'm absolutely not saying he's got all the strenghts of the above, again, just that I see a lot in his game that reminds of attributes of all of our great players.

Enjoy him while he's here....

 

[UConn2SF]

Bouk is gonna hit a lot of game winner shots in his career, both here at UConn and in the NBA.

 

[Palatine]

Hurley is still spoon feeding all the freshman. You can see it easier with Gaffney. He isn't asked to do too much right now. The frosh are still being evaluated as they settle in. With Akok, you can see he has been given more responsibility on the defensive end. Few plays, if any, are run for any of them.

Hurley is also still figuring out what the team needs. He knows how he wants to play. He needs to see how the frosh can help him implement his system.

It was once said that Dean Smith was the only man who could hold Michael Jordan under 20 points a game. There's a lot of truth in that. Smith won a national championship largely because his teams played as a team.

Building the cohesion that Hurley wants will be the focus of the pre-conference part of the schedule. Working the freshman in (rather than having them take over) is the way to build a program. It's a lesson other coaches could learn from.

 

[nomar]

Funny quote from that article:

You’d be hard-pressed to find another school where the gap between its football and basketball programs is this big.

Imagine this: He was talking about a team other than UConn (Penn State).

 

[superjohn]

Hurley is still spoon feeding all the freshman. You can see it easier with Gaffney. He isn't asked to do too much right now. The frosh are still being evaluated as they settle in. With Akok, you can see he has been given more responsibility on the defensive end. Few plays, if any, are run for any of them.

Hurley is also still figuring out what the team needs. He knows how he wants to play. He needs to see how the frosh can help him implement his system.

It was once said that Dean Smith was the only man who could hold Michael Jordan under 20 points a game. There's a lot of truth in that. Smith won a national championship largely because his teams played as a team.

Building the cohesion that Hurley wants will be the focus of the pre-conference part of the schedule. Working the freshman in (rather than having them take over) is the way to build a program. It's a lesson other coaches could learn from.

Dean Smith did less with more than probably any coach ever.

 

[Palatine]

Dean Smith did less with more than probably any coach ever.

Eight final fours. Won two. He wasn't the best coach ever but he was definitely respectable.

Calipari is still way worse with much more. Put Boeheim on that list as well.

 

[browndog319]

I know people are comparing him to JLamb, but they're wrong. Bouknight is better

He’s in a class with the guys DH mentions in that interview.

 

[intlzncster]

Eight final fours. Won two. He wasn't the best coach ever but he was definitely respectable.

Calipari is still way worse with much more. Put Boeheim on that list as well.

Referring to Dean Smith as "definitely respectable" is amusing.

 

[superjohn]

Eight final fours. Won two. He wasn't the best coach ever but he was definitely respectable.

Calipari is still way worse with much more. Put Boeheim on that list as well.

He's obviously a good coach but he probably had more talent than any coach in history and only won 2. Some people still talk about him like he's the greatest coach ever.

 

[Husky68]

Dean Smith did less with more than probably any coach ever.

I think I could have coached the 1982 team to a NCAA championship with Jordan, Perkins and Worthy! Not to even mention McDonald All-Americans on team like Matt Doherty, Jim Braddock and Buzz Peterson.
2 championships in 37 years coaching at UNC with their recruiting ability and "special courses for athletes" vs:

Jim Calhoun with 3 championships in 26 years at UConn (with where program was when he started) with what I consider "less" talent than Dean Smith had is "a coach who did more with less than probably any other coach ever".