Hurley runs 'hardest practices in country,' but don't blame that on Huskies' injuries

[HooperScooper]

I've heard people say the hard practices are leading to all these injuries. I don't subscribe to that theory and neither does Hurley. In 2023-2024 I think they were completely healthy starting some time in January.

Tone it down a bit in practice? Nonsense, says Dan Hurley.

"If you want to accuse me of practicing my team hard so that we're ready to play games the way we've been able to play them ... I haven't changed my practice plan," Hurley noted. "I've been head coach for a long time, just go look at my track record. My teams have been healthy."

https://www.nhregister.com/sports/uconn-mens-basketball/article/dan-hurley-injuries-practice-uconn-huskies-21270945.php

The RuffRuff Alternate Access™:

UConn's Dan Hurley runs 'hardest practices in country,' but don't blame that on Huskies' injuries​

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Geno pushes his teams hard also and you can’t really argue with the results. I love this video and am trying to gradually instill the “practice hard so the games are easy” mentality in both of my kids.

 

[Chief00]

Geno pushes his teams hard also and you can’t really argue with the results. I love this video and am trying to gradually instill the “practice hard so the games are easy” mentality in both of my kids.

If you practice as you play in a game, that also applies to fouling. What happens in the game is not unrelated to how we practice. We need to think about that.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Utter nonsense. Like i tell my son, you arent always going to win but never let someone work harder than you.

 

[gsmooth]

Geno pushes his teams hard also and you can’t really argue with the results. I love this video and am trying to gradually instill the “practice hard so the games are easy” mentality in both of my kids.

Well Geno is HOFamer and one of the best to ever do it.

He really is echoing the Navy SEALs motto, "under pressure, you don't rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training". I think this is so true. For example, typically when as a team and for individual players they shoot FTs 10% worse in the game then they do at practice. So if a player shoots FTs at 90% in practice he or she will most likely shoot FTs at 80% or less in games.

 

[Jaydumo20]

I wonder what other coaches do. I would like to see a side by side of another coaches practice next to Hurleys.
It always seems that when a transfer comes in they are more than a bit overwhelmed.

 

[noelle]

the pattern seems to be a lot of early season injuries. it could be the case that hurley has developed a reputation that players try to live up to but kind of tries too hard at the beginning. the ramp up process could use some work but hurley is right that hard practice by itself is not the problem.

 

[dennismenace]

Superior conditioning not only wins games but instills confidence in your team and instills fear and frustration in opponents. Recall when JC teams in the earlier years were pressing and running a lot of transition offense. Even if they fell behind early they kept on doing what they were doing knowing they would own the final 10 minutes due to conditioning. Our guys now do more of running opponents around all kinds of screens and motion to tire them out and get an open shot. Last game was more transition which was exciting. There also has to be a constant vigilance on stretching and other PT like isometrics. Ignore that stuff or water it down and there is going to be problems.
No one likes to do that stuff but it pays off and avoids those nagging injuries. It's good to constantly remind everyone what happens when there is slacking off. Remind them of who had injuries and perhaps why. I think with the staff we have they would know if they were pushing the envelope to much. That's their business.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

So it would seem that Dan reads the boneyard lol

 

[prankster]

Amatures practice until they get it right.

Professionals practice until they can't get it wrong.

 

[ctchamps]

Having a reputation of running hard practices will get players coming into the program who are motivated to work hard.

The harder players prepare in practice the higher the probability it translates to games.

But there are risks of injuries with intensity. In the practices for the women’s team between Monday and Wednesday KK suffered a fractured nose and Patterson suffered a concussion and were unable to play.

In the women’s forum during the 23 and 24 seasons when those teams were decimated by injuries there were fans questioning Geno’s practices and player conditioning. Both Geno and Hurley have been running their programs the same way over their careers. Injuries are not predictable. Given that many basketball programs without the reputation of intensity suffer similar injuries and numbers it’s very likely that people are making irrational correlations.

 

[Waquoit]

Tbh, Geno's teams are always wracked with injuries.

 

[RichZ]

I suspect that the author of the subject article meant "don't blame the injuries on hard practices", not the other way around.

 

[Lafayette]

Not every injury that happens evidences itself in practice or a game. Sometimes you wake up with a sore ankle or slight muscle pull…such is the life of a student athlete.

 

[dennismenace]

I wonder what other coaches do. I would like to see a side by side of another coaches practice next to Hurleys.
It always seems that when a transfer comes in they are more than a bit overwhelmed.

To me, Pitino's teams have been the best conditioned we have faced over the years. They were almost always in your face pressing and transitioning for 40 minutes. Shakka (Havoc) at one time had teams prepared this way. Since so few teams do this makes it additionally hard if you can't pass through it or over it. Pitino, JC, Gino are all in the HOF and Dan Hurley is on the way. Hard to argue.

 

[Doheny]

Superior conditioning not only wins games but instills confidence in your team and instills fear and frustration in opponents. Recall when JC teams in the earlier years were pressing and running a lot of transition offense. Even if they fell behind early they kept on doing what they were doing knowing they would own the final 10 minutes due to conditioning. Our guys now do more of running opponents around all kinds of screens and motion to tire them out and get an open shot. Last game was more transition which was exciting. There also has to be a constant vigilance on stretching and other PT like isometrics. Ignore that stuff or water it down and there is going to be problems.
No one likes to do that stuff but it pays off and avoids those nagging injuries. It's good to constantly remind everyone what happens when there is slacking off. Remind them of who had injuries and perhaps why. I think with the staff we have they would know if they were pushing the envelope to much. That's their business.

 

[Palatine]

Geno has been running a MASH unit for a few years now. But he has elite recruits all the way down the bench.

Danny's teams have been healthy but recent seasons have begun with starters hurt. He ran a real tough one before Marquette. It's hard to argue with the results.