Hurley Threads (merged)

[djct1999]

I would make Kimani the coach tomorrow after that Hurley quote.

and thats why you aren't in power to make any decisions.

 

[John]

Benedict has done it twice now, and both times for zero reason. For good or bad we are stuck with hurley through at least 2024 because of this.

Agreed. Zero need to have locked this guy up, if he leaves he leaves. This athletic department hands out contract extensions like they're Subway buy-one-get-one coupons. It's gotta stop.

 

[freescooter]

I’m mad we lost that game but Hurley’s not wrong with that quote.

Yeah except
A.we likely go the the NCAAs from that worse league had they not been cancelled by COVID.
B we won a national championship from that worse league
C that worse league sent a team to last year’s final four, while the top league in the country didn’t get anyone past the sweet 16.

It isn’t like UConn moved from the NEC to the ACC. We moved up to one notch. Hurley should just shut up and quit badmouthing everything that came before. Win at Least a league championship, maybe get to the round of 32, then tell us how hard it was. He becomes less and less likable every time he opens his mouth. Florida anyone?

 

[freescooter]

He who does not remember history is condemned to repeat it. For those of you who were not born at the time or too young to remember, these same comments were made about a former coach after his 3-4th years. His name was Jim Calhoun.

You mean before or after he won an NIT in year 2 and a Big East title, and went to the Elite Eight in Year 4 in a league with 4 Hall of fame head coaches and 3 Top 10 ( not mid-t evens to lower 20s) ? I’d love to see where Calhoun said that, or anything like that, by the way. My recollection is he said “it’s doable.”

 

[UCSouth]

Yeah except
A.we likely go the the NCAAs from that worse league had they not been cancelled by COVID.
B we won a national championship from that worse league
C that worse league sent a team to last year’s final four, while the top league in the country didn’t get anyone past the sweet 16.

It isn’t like UConn moved from the NEC to the ACC. We moved up to one notch. Hurley should just shut up and quit badmouthing everything that came before. Win at Least a league championship, maybe get to the round of 32, then tell us how hard it was. He becomes less and less likable every time he opens his mouth. Florida anyone?

"He becomes less and less likable every time he opens his mouth." Gee, sorta like you?

 

[ninety-nine]

Here's the bottom line -- all things considered, Hurley has done a solid job. We are in a much, much better place than when he inherited the program, and yesterday notwithstanding his team has been improved every year he has been here.

That having been said, after yesterday is it reasonable to wonder if he will end up being good enough for what UConn wants to accomplish? A month ago I would have said that question is not reasonable. That while he isn't where we want to be yet, the progress was clear enough that folks shouldn't be doubting it. But with this season in the books, are there reasonable fears about whether some of his coaching skills will be sufficient for us to be a consistent second weekend team? I think that's fair. (Asking if he'll win championships is not, by the way, but second weekend most of the time is.)

He will enter the next season with reasonable eyes watching him much more carefully, no doubt. And if Cole and Martin both leave, as many here expect, he's got some work in the portal to do, unless a lot of the highly rated recruits who haven't yet helped us are ready for major roles.

I keep thinking about the look on Jans' face when his team's draw against UConn was announced. I had hoped it was dismay initially, but thinking back on it, now I'm in agreement with the people who read it as him thinking he'd just hit the jackpot in terms of opponent draws. I think he knew UConn was ripe to be upset, and some of that has to be confidence that Hurley wasn't going to spring anything on his team that he couldn't prepare them for. I'm worried that this will become a trend - UConn is a team other teams hope to face when selections are announced, because Hurley can't elevate them for the tournament and it's a great shot to knock off a big-name school.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Would Ollie have won an NCAA tournament game by now with a veteran team led by James Akinjo (3rd team All-American) and Josh Carlton (1st team All-AAC)??

I tend to believe that Ollie could've won an NCAA game by now with that.

Cole (1st team All-BE) and Sanogo (1st team All-BE) aren't bad but I don't think that Hurley's results to date are untouchable for what Ollie would/could have done.

You think Carlton would have developed into a 1st team all-AAC under KO? lmfao

 

[8893]

Calhoun threw Hurley out of his office when he first got here because Hurley was whining about the state of the program. Calhoun told him it was his job to fix it.

Four years later and Hurley still hasn't learned that lesson. No one wants to hear it.

 

[HuskyinWRNY]

Just stop....be real, JC was not out on the recruiting trail at that age. He did not just give Ollie the job. Ollie earned, by recruiting, by helping come up with strategies, etc, etc.

they came because of jc, not ollie

 

[HuskyinWRNY]

Please! He won with guys who hardly played any meaningful minutes for JC. Minus Shabazz they all had much more bench time than court time. And they came off an APR year as well. Add to that he was on the staff and helped make the players better so the Ollie win with JCs players is old and off target.

they came because of jc not ollie

 

[8893]

I would make Kimani the coach tomorrow after that Hurley quote.

Dollars to donuts Kimani is hired away within the next two weeks.

 

[Huskybass]

Don’t forget Ollie did this largely with Calhoun’s recruits.

Entirely, not largely. Once he had to pull in his own recruits it turned into a complete nightmare.

 

[Huskybass]

I always wonder where we would be with a consistent, steady Kevin Ollie. No knock on Dan just wonder. You can never tell what life will throw at you.

Kevin Ollie never had the skillset to run a program long term. Simple things like inbounding the ball were often an adventure. He won with Calhoun's guys. He was awful without them.

 

[Rico444]

I keep thinking about the look on Jans' face when his team's draw against UConn was announced. I had hoped it was dismay initially, but thinking back on it, now I'm in agreement with the people who read it as him thinking he'd just hit the jackpot in terms of opponent draws.

I'm as frustrated about the loss as anyone, but this board is really getting out of hand with insane comments like this.

 

[McLovin]

100%. This pushback on Hurley after where he has the program headed in 4 short years is astonishing. UConn was on the brink of irrelevance and he flipped that narrative almost immediately. Sure, the Big East helped but more than that, you see it in the the type of kid he is proving to constantly bring in. UConn, in its prime, was always about elite talent, whether highly regarded out of the gate or developed in Storrs. Calhoun's teams had multiple NBA players, most times multiple lottery picks. This team has none.
Is Hurley perfect? No. He does need to improve his in game coaching. But he was perfect for this job and still is. Where Hurley went wrong is he decided to focus on culture vs the transfer portal. It backfired. It backfired because Hawkins wasn't truly ready, Gaffney regressed, and Polley didn't bring as much as we would have liked. I truly hope he learned from this mistake. We need multiple experienced guards.
I have always praised our fanbase as extremely knowledgeable about basketball. The takes on here over the past day are as embarrassing as they are unbecoming. It reeks of entitlement and delusion. Entitled because of our past that feels like ancient history and delusional in terms of what this team really was. We should have won on Thursday regardless. It was unquestionably a bad loss. To put Hurley on the hot seat, to discredit what he has accomplished, to whine and complain like most have, is a total joke and lacks perspective that most on here usually have.

You are spot on.

I think a lot of the criticism though (at least my concerns) is that Hurley is very very stubborn.

Until he is willing to admit he is wrong, he made a mistake and he is changing his approach I think a lot of people are going to be frustrated when he underperforms.

Quotes do not help ease those concerns.

With that said, it’s kind of awesome we get to feel that a top 3 BE finish and NCAA 5 seed w/ first round loss is under performing given where we were 4 years ago…

 

[drayenob]

I keep thinking about the look on Jans' face when his team's draw against UConn was announced. I had hoped it was dismay initially, but thinking back on it, now I'm in agreement with the people who read it as him thinking he'd just hit the jackpot in terms of opponent draws. I think he knew UConn was ripe to be upset, and some of that has to be confidence that Hurley wasn't going to spring anything on his team that he couldn't prepare them for. I'm worried that this will become a trend - UConn is a team other teams hope to face when selections are announced, because Hurley can't elevate them for the tournament and it's a great shot to knock off a big-name school.

The look on his face was because he was expecting to be a 13 or 14 seed not because he was facing UConn.

 

[Rico444]

One thing I'll say about Hurley: I never want to see anyone post that ridiculous "Come get us now" video until he makes a deep tournament run. I promise you nobody's considering UConn a juggernaut of the league when they can't win a Big East regular season or tournament title or even an NCAA tournament game.

 

[auror]

The look on his face was because he was expecting to be a 13 or 14 seed not because he was facing UConn.

And because the announcement was so fast (and his party logistics so bad) that his players weren't even in the room yet.

 

[drayenob]

"This group will always be remembered for lifting this program from a really, really embarrassing, bad point....," Hurley said.

Tyler and Isiah's freshman year the huskies finished the year at kenpom 179. There were only 2 other teams in the American conference with lower ratings-----South Florida and East Carolina. Think about that. Tulane, Temple, Tulsa, UCF were all ranked higher. That is the bad point he is referring to. We were only better than USF and ECU in the American. How anyone has a problem with Hurley's characterization of where we were is beyond me.

 

[jibsey]

Think Hurley staying through 2024 is good, gives time and plenty of chance. He really does need to recruit a big time stud guard because tourney success is so guard dependent. I’ve Cole. AJ has shooting issues but we need a Richard Hamilton, Kemba, Lamb, or Bazz. Now I realize how tough that is to get but Hurley’s and our success depends on it.

 

[jibsey]

Those stats are accurate but how quickly people forget.
Ollie produced the bulk of those results in year 1-2.
The trajectory was down with players leaving. The program was in a free fall.

I give credit to Ollie for winning the NC. But he didn't build that team. under Ollie the caliber of player fell off and the construct of the team was horrible.

I wonder about this all the time. Why weren’t studs lined up to play for KO after the national title. We had mens and womens same year! No better press or publicity possible. What the hell happened?

 

[Huskymagic]

I think an important question to ponder: Is Dan Hurley's ceiling as a coach higher than his brother's at Arizona State?

Bobby Hurley has been under 500 for the past 2 years in the conference of champions PAC 12 not making the NCAA tournament in consecutive years after a decent 2-3 year stretch there.

 

[businesslawyer]

I wonder about this all the time. Why weren’t studs lined up to play for KO after the national title. We had mens and womens same year! No better press or publicity possible. What the hell happened?

To some extent they were. The class he brought in for 2017, on paper, was one of the strongest we ever had. Unfortunately, a combination of injury, some overrated by services and some having an entitled attitude set us back.

But KO's problem was not one of recruiting.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

I couldn't believe hearing that Iowa State went 2-22 in 2020/21 and are 21-12 after being LSU in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night. Now that's a turnaround. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard it.

Shows you what a young exceptional PG peaking at the right time can do for you at this level. They didn't lose one non con game and won at Creighton when they were at full strength.

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

Edsall should be paying Uconn

 

[kansashusky]

I think an important question to ponder: Is Dan Hurley's ceiling as a coach higher than his brother's at Arizona State?

Bobby Hurley has been under 500 for the past 2 years in the conference of champions PAC 12 not making the NCAA tournament in consecutive years after a decent 2-3 year stretch there.

I think about this a lot and have almost posted on it several times. They are on very similar troubling arcs.

Danny gets better players because of school and location, but gotta think they have similar ceilings which is terrifying to me.

 

[uconnyankee]

Would Ollie have won an NCAA tournament game by now with a veteran team led by James Akinjo (3rd team All-American) and Josh Carlton (1st team All-AAC)??

I tend to believe that Ollie could've won an NCAA game by now with that.

Cole (1st team All-BE) and Sanogo (1st team All-BE) aren't bad but I don't think that Hurley's results to date are untouchable for what Ollie would/could have done.

read your sentence. Could have.
ollie could have been a great coach but he wasn’t.
to argue what might have been when we know where he had the program is a very weak argument

 

[NJHusky]

He can and I really hope he does but there's worrying signs so far. We're really easy to scout and the moment has seemed too big for him so far. He has to get a couple of very good players before next season.

I’ve said it before. Hurley’s greatest asset is as a recruiter. He seems stubborn and unable to adjust in game. He’s going to need top 5 recruiting classes to make up for his coaching. And that’s ok if you are far superior athletically.

 

[Chief00]

Why does UConn do this with every coach?

Well we have $47 million of decisions we can’t afford. Think about that.

 

[gtcam]

Hurley should have very few excuses in year 5. The roster is finally all his guys with Whaley and Polley gone. Keys in the offseason:

Develop AJ's perimeter shot.
Samson, Hawkins, and Diggins must get stronger.
Everyone minus Sanogo and Springs should be shooting threes all day every day.

Sanogo has to develop a midrange game, outlet passing and learn that dunking is allowed in mens basketball
Hawkins has to get his handle confidence back because he will most likely be the SG - he will be so good
I would start Clingan at the 5 Sanogo at the 4 Karban at the 3, Hawkins at the 2 and the 1 is still open BUT it has to be someone whose #1 priority is getting the ball to the others so at this point, based on his AAU play, Sool gets the early nod