Hurley talks about the transfer portal shuffle

[dennismenace]

I perceive it as him admitting he misjudged things and now he has to adapt and fix it. He was just saying that he wasn’t enamored with the portal several months back. Now he needs to make a living off of it. He misread his roster in many ways and he now realizes it. Big wake-up call

Bingo. Now he will also have to repackage his recruiting brochure, which is spelled out in the article but wait..... is that what he has been telling recruits?

 

[dennismenace]

I think what fans need to adjust to is that quality depth will be near impossible to maintain due to the ease of transferring.

This means quality is much more important than quantity.

We won't have 6 good guards that are all fighting for playing time because most guys that didn't play the previous year will transfer out and once 2-3 good guards are on the roster, then it will be difficult to lure other good guards to commit from the transfer portal. This is reality whether or not fans want to accept it.

Hmmmm......almost sounds like parity.

 

[dennismenace]

He's talking about adapting to the portal and change in player movement. The elephant in the room is that he won't adapt his system to take best advantage of the skills and abilities of the players he actually has. It's his greatest weakness, and it causes a lot of these problems. Instead of saying "I need exactly these kinds of guys to run my offense and defense" he should say "what kind of offense and defense can I run to get the most out of these guys".

Agree. Some might suggest with this year's roster and talent he could have pressured and run the majority of opponents into the ground. Wearing out your opponent is a good way to make your own offense better. But if you are only comfortable with the 7-8 man rotation then you cannot take advantage of your bench against your opponents who are not that deep or talented. Especially when you lack any real half court offense.

 

[Sportsman5]

Hmmmm......almost sounds like parity.

yes. However, the very top programs have even more of an advantage because they still get the 1 and done lottery picks, but can supplement with the top transfers as well.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Bingo. Now he will also have to repackage his recruiting brochure, which is spelled out in the article but wait..... is that what he has been telling recruits?

'recruiting brochure.'
brochure?
does it say 'after the bs i've just peddled u, just come here and get completely screwed on playing time.' cf, brown, jalen, sool, corey, cook. prolley richie, too.
brochure? moar like 'will i get a chance at burn?' 'sure, bro, we have a system and u will have a legit chance to play a role in it....'

 

[slepers]

What’s weird is that you would think Hurley’s strength would be guard development. Not sure why we haven’t seen that yet. But as a program in general, Sanogo’s development was through the roof and AJax’s was substantial. You have to believe we will see another jump from Ajax this summer and I expect Hawkins to be a totally different player next season.

Did Cole get better?

 

[MDHuskFan]

Did Cole get better?

Short answer -yes.
Long answer - yes he did

 

[nomar]

i was just looking closer at corpus dannus, and a curious and repetitive fact hit me in the head - so far, for his entire coaching career, he's a 60% winner. matters not where he coached -wagner, rhody, here. 60%, 60%, 60%.
that's his career record. 12 years. odd, no?

Dan Hurley Coaching Record | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

Dan Hurley Coaching Record

www.sports-reference.com

we need more.
we want more.
one year. put up or shut up. (not you, him)

It's a fair point BUT he's moved from Wagner (which stunk when he got there) to URI (which stunk when he got there) to UConn (which stunk when he got here). And I think that's an equally fair point.

What happens to his winning % when you take out his first year at each program?

 

[nomar]

I see what your saying, but I’d prefer we were keeping our highly touted and ranked recruits because they are actually as good as advertised, and only filling holes via the portal. Yes, I know, Sanogo, Jackson, Karaban and Hawkins stayed. Even with those that’s only hitting at 50%. Of those, Hawkins didn’t shine quie as expected though the potential is there Jackson has a hole in his game (shooting), and we don’t know much about Karaban yet.

I think everyone would prefer that. The problem is that with the new rules, you have very little protection against 19-year-old kids making life-changing decisions on a whim. The grass is always greener.

 

[navery12]

It's a fair point BUT he's moved from Wagner (which stunk when he got there) to URI (which stunk when he got there) to UConn (which stunk when he got here). And I think that's an equally fair point.

What happens to his winning % when you take out his first year at each program?

Including all years

Overall: .596
Wagner: .623
Rhode Island: .579
UConn: .608

If you take out year 1 from each

Overall: .658
Wagner: .806 (Was only there 2 years)
Rhode Island: .633
UConn: .655

 

[my2cents]

Give me a break. He’s a politician. He sounds like he’s selling something with every comment in this story. Losing more respect for him because he’s pathologically incapable of admitting his own mistakes.

I still hope he’s the right guy. I appreciate that the program wins again. But he’s got to cut this BS at some point. I sure don’t want him to fail. But this is a sales job and I’m not down for the Kool Aid either

I agree 100%. His self-serving praise of his own performance is ridiculous.
Do you also notice how many "dislikes" you get for pointing out Hurley's incompetence? I believe he has had a "troll" army on here to defend his reputation.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Do you also notice how many "dislikes" you get for pointing out Hurley's incompetence? I believe he has had a "troll" army on here to defend his reputation.

Yeah, there are definitely trolls on here. His "incompetence." What a fanbase.

 

[Chasm64]

The incessant whining in here is ridiculous.

 

[B1GEast]

I'm not worried about who starts, I want to see guys coming off the bench and sticking with the program beyond a year

 

[Improviser]

I agree 100%. His self-serving praise of his own performance is ridiculous.
Do you also notice how many "dislikes" you get for pointing out Hurley's incompetence? I believe he has had a "troll" army on here to defend his reputation.

As the old saying goes, "If I don't praise myself, who else will?"

 

[aburks41]

Including all years

Overall: .596
Wagner: .623
Rhode Island: .579
UConn: .608

If you take out year 1 from each

Overall: .658
Wagner: .806 (Was only there 2 years)
Rhode Island: .633
UConn: .655

I hadn't really thought of it that way before but the 2nd scenario tells an entirely different (and probably more accurate) story. Elite coaching territory is what, above .700? .710? We finished this year at .696, and we all expect that number to be better going forward. The first year will drag down his overall number until he has a few more .700+ seasons under his belt though. Hopefully we mix in some of those .800 seasons in there too...maybe with some hardware to boot

 

[uconngb]

Like he was rattled when Kofi chose Illinois (outrecruted Seton Hall for reclassifying Sanogo), when Precious transferred to IMG (welcomed Alex Karaban midyear after he'd transferred to IMG), and when Kenya bolted for Indiana (replaced him with Luke Murray). All three of thes represent good responses to unexpected shifts.

Streeeeeetch linking Karaban to Precious. They were a couple years apart and not at all related to each other

 

[JeffConn]

Those quotes sound like a rattled guy? Really? Sounds like someone who is observant and adapting to survive and thrive in a new CBB landscape.

If you want examples of guys who are rattled, look no further than 95% of the posts by all the chicken littles in these transfer threads the past few days!

There is definitely a new CBB landscape that is threatening roster stability for most programs. With the transfer rules now allowing a free one-time eject option to transfer and play somewhere else immediately, schools and coaches are captive to young teen-age players who are impulsive, sometimes don't exercise good judgement as they're growing up and they want and expect to play immediately. Keep in mind, college players are the creme-de-la-creme of the players who played in high school; they're accustomed to playing most of the time, not sitting and watching during games. As he's coaching at this elite level, DH is learning, but like all of us on the Boneyard, he was most likely blind-sided by the Floyd transfer portal entry. But because he seeks to achieve elite college coaching status, DH now realizes he must adjust his coaching ways and he is doing so. We all should give him credit for taking stock of the situation and making changes. But he doesn't yet have an established winning post-season track record at a major college power, so he is being second-guessed by some of his players (for their lack of playing time) and by some writers on this forum who better remember the successes of the good old days.

Thanks to Coach Hurley and his staff, the UConn MBB team played hard all year long. They were in pretty much in every game. As many have pointed out, the losses this past season were due to shortcomings in the roster construction. Probably because he really wants to win, and probably out of experience and loyalty to older players who have developed in his system, DH relied on his veterans to the detriment of the incoming players. A lot of coaches relied on their experienced players due to the extra year of eligibility granted after the Covid shutdown. This was a new and different experience. It's natural to expect experienced players to play well more consistently and be more reliable. But our veteran players did not step up as much as the coaches and we had hoped for! Tyler Polley appears to be a terrific young man, but he has stayed pretty much a one-dimensional player (shooter) throughout his career. Jalen Gaffney showed promise and started as a freshman, but since Cole transferred in, he has not provided a consistent level of play that is needed from a back-up point guard. Unfortunately, despite Gaffney's inconsistent play, Diggins was not able to get needed playing time to develop. I suspect after mentioning the challenge from DH during his recruiting process, Diggins probably felt he was coming to UConn with a good relationship with the head coach who would foster his development. I recall that he was helpful in UConn's recruiting of one or more players after his commitment. Seeing how Gaffney was not getting it done consistently, he had to be real disappointed for not getting the chance to get any significant playing time (whether merited or not) against opposing teams. As a top 100 recruit, his departure is disappointing. Akok did not get back to his playing level before the injury. None of us should be surprised that any of these players are planning to transfer. This is a sign of the time.

All high level coaches have disappointing stories with incoming touted players. Coach Calhoun had his misses. Scott Hazelton was a McDonalds All-American and I don't recall that he ever got any significant playing time before he departed. Doug Wrenn was an amazing athletic player, but he had issues and transferred back home to Washington. I recall a guy (Was it Nate something?) who also had issues and never played in a game for UCONN before leaving the program.

I suspect that many are concerned because Floyd's departure is somewhat of a mystery. We don't know yet what level of player he will become in college. He appears to be around 6'3" and weighs in around 210 - good size for a high school guard. One website has him listed at 6'2". I watched some of his high school play on Youtube. While some 3-point shots were displayed, much of his scoring was around the basket. He may not be as effective against larger and more talented college players. He did exhibit good ability to finish drives, including on fastbreaks. With his body type, he reminds me of Rashamel Jones. Rash was a big time scorer in high school, but he ended up becoming a back-up player in his final UConn year(s). Floyd may have been expecting to start next year and after seeing how new experienced players are being recruited from the portal and seeing the limited game time that Diggins got in his first year, he is leaving. His departure is also disappointing.

MBB is back to consistently getting more wins than losses. To achieve their goals, the coaches know they need to now get post-season tournament wins. Getting a commitment from the 6'5" guard Tristen Newton is a good start in the transfer portal. We must continue to strongly support Coach Hurley. He and his staff are making the effort to get UConn back to being an elite program.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Streeeeeetch linking Karaban to Precious. They were a couple years apart and not at all related to each other

Both were identified interests who were initially recruited within the regional footprint.

Both departed the region for the more distant and nationally-exposed IMG Academy in Florida.

Both raised concerns that other schools might outrecruited UConn. In the case of Achiuwa, that is what happened. In the case of Karaban, care was taken to ensure that he remained a UConn commit.

I was discussing Hurley's responsiveness to losses, not linking the players, except by certain circumstantial similarities. If my point had been focused linking the players, one could argue that Cockburn and Sanogo are even further apart.

You would seem to have distorted more than the pronunciation of the word "stretch."

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I’m with you. The thing that troubles me most is Hurley recruited, then raved about the futures of a number of highly rated players who he now implies weren’t good enough to play in the coming year. That’s craven ash-covering, evidence that identifying potential on the recruiting trail isn’t his forte, or an admission that he couldn’t develop them.

We may well be fine. Maybe even better. There isn’t a lot of experience in what remains, but there should be talent. Adding a couple solid shooters via the portal would help. But I’d prefer a model that didnt see highly touted players shuffled away without the opportunity to prove their chops. If Diggins, Floyd, Gaffney and Akok play really well at their new homes what will we all attribute that to?

He will have to wipe all the eggs off before he comments on it. I’d love to know what Moore and Young are thinking.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

He will have to wipe all the eggs off before he comments on it. I’d love to know what Moore and Young are thinking.

Im the case of Diggins, who seems likely to end up at UMass or URI, if he plays (and plays well), it simply indicates that he turned out to be A-10 level talent. It will be a decision that was best for the player and for UConn.

This stuff happens all the time for 75-125 ranked talent. Some overachieve, some underachieve, some fall somewhere in the middle. What happens is a complex function of player effort, coaching, “fit” with the team/conference, etc. etc.

It’s complex and every coach will have hits/misses.

Gaff was an early AAC-era recruit when Hurley really had no choice to try and find diamonds in the rough. Anyone with an objective eye would admit that he’s shown flashes of having the potential to be a diamond but just couldn’t get to the next level.

Same with Akok, but unfortunately devastating injury has altered his improvement arc and ceiling. Love the kid but transferring makes sense when all is considered.

CFJ there’s just not enough info to make an educated comment.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

There’s a bit of a … not really a myth, but a firm belief, that the A-10 is so dramatically inferior to the Big East. It might be closer than many here believe. St. Bonaventure was very tough against us and went a long way in the NIT. We all recall the struggle with VCU. Richmond won a tourney game as an underdog 12 over B1G champ Iowa, the opposite of our performance. Davidson nearly beat Michigan St. Dayton and Davidson were moderately highly rated in kenpom, 45 and 40, higher than Creighton. This isn’t the Big East, but it’s not the MAAC or Horizon either.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Im the case of Diggins, who seems likely to end up at UMass or URI, if he plays (and plays well), it simply indicates that he turned out to be A-10 level talent. It will be a decision that was best for the player and for UConn.

This stuff happens all the time for 75-125 ranked talent. Some overachieve, some underachieve, some fall somewhere in the middle. What happens is a complex function of player effort, coaching, “fit” with the team/conference, etc. etc.

It’s complex and every coach will have hits/misses.

Gaff was an early AAC-era recruit when Hurley really had no choice to try and find diamonds in the rough. Anyone with an objective eye would admit that he’s shown flashes of having the potential to be a diamond but just couldn’t get to the next level.

Same with Akok, but unfortunately devastating injury has altered his improvement arc and ceiling. Love the kid but transferring makes sense when all is considered.

CFJ there’s just not enough info to make an educated comment.

My opinion on Gaffney is not popular on the Boneyard. I understand that opposing opinions are based, and rightly so, on Gaffney coming off the bench, panicking when he’s double teamed in the back court or making a bad pass. However I think he is just one those kids who gets better and better and better the more he plays, meaning if he lands with a coach who will give the PT he needs his talents will emerge. At UConn, he needed a coach who could give him a lot of confidence AND the PT to attain that, Hurley was not the kind of coach who was willing to do that. In high school Gaffney played all the time, and what he did in those games was the reason for all the D1 offers. I’m not saying Hurley is a bad coach but I am saying he is the kind of coach who sometimes is not willing to give a kid what he needs to shine.

 

[aburks41]

There’s a bit of a … not really a myth, but a firm belief, that the A-10 is so dramatically inferior to the Big East. It might be closer than many here believe. St. Bonaventure was very tough against us and went a long way in the NIT. We all recall the struggle with VCU. Richmond won a tourney game as an underdog 12 over B1G champ Iowa, the opposite of our performance. Davidson nearly beat Michigan St. Dayton and Davidson were moderately highly rated in kenpom, 45 and 40, higher than Creighton. This isn’t the Big East, but it’s not the MAAC or Horizon either.

The A10 and AAC are the best mid major conferences and are way better than any of those 1 bid MAAC or Horizon leagues. But the A10 still isn't close to the BE level at all. The top 3 teams from the A10 any given year would probably compete in the top half of the BE, but the rest of the A10 would get wrecked. Look at the kenpom from the conferences:

BE:
10 Nova
22 UConn
32 PC
50 Creighton
52 SHU
53 Xavier
55 St Johns
56 Marquette
103 Depaul
175 Georgetown (yikes)

A10:
40 Davidson
45 Dayton
63 VCU
68 St Louis
78 Bonnies
86 Richmond
113 George Mason
132 URI
163 St Joes
173 Fordham
185 UMass
226 GW
229 LaSalle
280 Duquense

The 8th best team in the BE (Marquette) would be 3rd in the A10

 

[PAHusky]

Both were identified interests who were initially recruited within the regional footprint.

Both departed the region for the more distant and nationally-exposed IMG Academy in Florida.

Both raised concerns that other schools might outrecruited UConn. In the case of Achiuwa, that is what happened. In the case of Karaban, care was taken to ensure that he remained a UConn commit.

I was discussing Hurley's responsiveness to losses, not linking the players, except by certain circumstantial similarities. If my point had been focused linking the players, one could argue that Cockburn and Sanogo are even further apart.

You would seem to have distorted more than the pronunciation of the word "stretch."

I see where you’re coming from Hans, but Precious was a five star burger boy with all of the major programs after him. Besides being kids from the north who played some high school bball in Florida there’s not much of a comparison to be made between their recruitments.