Hurley threads (merged)

[tentoes4rings]

Idiots can't even appreciate a tough road loss. They can only be angry

Damn Karens, they'll never grow up

We lose EVERY road game against good teams on the road Willie so enough of your slamming other posters crap. Maybe people like you have just developed low standards and are content with tough losses, they can’t continue to lose every single close road game.

 

[tentoes4rings]

I’m frustrated with Hurley too but the team was just firing up bricks tonight. Historically though we’re not a good team when we’re over reliant on three point shots. Tonight they got off SEVENTEEN more shots and still lost, that’s almost hard to comprehend. Went 7-27 from theee tonight, 4-20 as a team other than our center. When the team faces a tough defense, game after game they just settle for contested threes while Creighton and other teams get to the line a lot more by taking it to the rim. As a result we were outscored by 9 at the line, a troubling trend in almost every loss.

 

[mauconnfan]

Hurley can't shoot the ball or make passes. Not his fault players did not execute and Jackson was a human turn over machine. 26% shooting will loose every game. Players have to play better it's that simple.

Wait who decided to let Jackson play so many minutes? Please people here are hilarious.

 

[caw]

		UCONN	Creighton	Providence	Xavier	Seton Hall	Marquette
Q3/4 Games	ALL	11-1	9-1	13-0	8-1	9-1	12-0
OOC
	Q1/Q2 (N)	3-0	2-3	0-2	1-2	1-1	0-1
	Q1/Q2 (H)	1-0	0-0	0-0	1-1	0-1	1-1
	Q1/Q2 (A)	1-0	0-1	0-1	1-0	1-1	0-1
BE
	Q1/Q2 (H)	2-1	4-0	2-0	5-0	1-3	4-0
	Q1/Q2 (A)	1-5	2-3	4-3	4-1	2-3	3-3
BET
NCAAT

UConn can't win on the road against the other teams in the top 6 of the BE. Now of course you may be wondering, why are four of those teams undefeated at home against top competition in conference but have road wins against Q1/Q2 in conference.

PC's four road wins come against Butler, SHU, SJU and Nova
Creighton's two against Butler and SHU
Marquette's against SJU, SHU and Nova
X's against Butler, Nova and SJU (and yes UConn)
SHU's two against Butler and SJU

Basically the top four are undefeated at home against the other five in the top six. UConn has lost once to X and SHU has lost to all their tough home games except UConn (put back away from being 0-fer).

So people are correct that UConn has been really bad on the road this year in the BE, but pulling back so has every other top BE team except X. And the only big difference right now is UConn's one point loss to SHU from UConn having the same road record as the top four teams in the BE. Now maybe that's a bit of poor coaching on the coaches, or maybe it's a mix of a ton of factors including luck.

Who knows what will happen going forward from here but UConn hasn't been as bad as it appears. Winning at Creighton (or any of the top 6 not named SHU) would have been a true aberration not just for UConn but for the entire top of the BE.

It wouldn't shock me if X ends the BE season with the only road win against the group of UConn/X/PC/Creighton/Marquette.

I am not discussing the SJU loss as this is a discussion about road wins.

 

[willie99]

We lose EVERY road game against good teams on the road Willie so enough of your slamming other posters crap. Maybe people like you have just developed low standards and are content with tough losses, they can’t continue to lose every single close road game.

It was a tough road loss against one of the best teams in the country who happens to be playing great. That's not a bad thing in any world

There were people here complaining after we rolled Marquette, no joke

This board has become a microcosm of the modern day WWE for so many, always complaining, never happy about anything anywhere.

The vitriolic behavior towards Hurley and /or our kids is both nauseating and redicously stupid. Debbie Downers and Karens are people nobody wants to be around.

We're having a great year, the program is absolutely moving in the right direction, it's time to see the forest through the trees

Great game Huskies, thank you

 

[Hey Adrien!]

I'm not in the fire Hurley camp, but I think the trend here of rarely ever beating >.500 teams on the road is troubling. As well as losing games that are decided by less than 5 points.

A sweet 16 likely makes up for all of it.

Sums up my sentiment too.

I entered the year very open-minded about Hurley but if we struggle in the BET and the tourney no one would be more disappointed than Hurley himself .

In that scenario, firing him this off-season would be stupid but his seat, and Hurley would agree justifiably so, would definitely be warm.

IMO, he’s recruited too well to give up on him. I want to see the ‘22 and ‘23 classes together for at least one season.

 

[pj]

People hate this stat, but Calhoun was 38-21 in his first 5 seasons at UConn in games decided by 6 points of fewer (2 possession games). Hurley is 13-30.

Granted, this stat doesnt count for the games where its close with 5 mins left and we go on a run, but I don’t think that happens enough to excuse the 13-30 record when its close in the final seconds. It’s my #1 issue with Hurley right now. We seem to always find ways to lose rather than finding ways to win when its close at the very end

It does seem like the biggest difference between Calhoun and Hurley. Both could recruit, develop, and motivate players. But Calhoun was a winner through and through - whatever it took to win, he had it. Hurley is missing some key ingredient. I hope he can develop it but his trajectory seems slow. It's unfair to be compared to Calhoun of course, but that's the comparison that comes to hand when you coach at UConn.

 

[zls44]

Jim Calhoun: one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport, can be reasonably argued to be the best.

The Boneyard: why isn't Dan Hurley as good as Jim Calhoun. Its simple! Just be that guy!

I think the close games thing will end up like "why can't JC make a Final Four?" Eventually it'll happen and then it'll be fine. But until it does, everyone is gonna be big mad about it, even though its clearly just random noise.

 

[tennmike]

Hurley is stuck. His teams historically have played slow and regardless of the circumstance, he appears resistant to change. One advantage that the team should have had against Creighton is depth. They needed to push the pace and wear the Creighton starters out and I was anxious to see it play out.

Instead, Newton's walking the ball up the court from the very start of the game, Some say that he wasn't aggressive, but then Diarra did the same thing...even going so far as to look back at the coach during the walk to see what to run. Must have pleased McDermott that Hurley did not want to speed things up.

Okay, so we're not going to play fast. As been hammered here, playing slow mucks things up with Jackson being exposed in the half court.

And then there's Clingan. Even the announcers were taken back during one episode and said something to the extent..."whoa, this guy is going to be dangerous!" I get that Sanogo was playing great, so get them both in their for a time. Seven minutes for Clingan is nuts! He creates a mismatch.

Hurley has a great basketball lineage, a great recruiter, seems liked by the players, and is a good culture guy. He brings a ton to the table, but there are some obvious chinks in the armor that act as a governor limiting the upside and that is hard to ignore.

 

[aburks41]

Jim Calhoun: one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport, can be reasonably argued to be the best.

The Boneyard: why isn't Dan Hurley as good as Jim Calhoun. Its simple! Just be that guy!

I think the close games thing will end up like "why can't JC make a Final Four?" Eventually it'll happen and then it'll be fine. But until it does, everyone is gonna be big mad about it, even though its clearly just random noise.

I don’t expect Hurley to be as good as Calhoun, who in my opinion is the GOAT. But the people excusing the fact that our teams rarely win those close games just makes no sense to me. It’s an issue and Hurley needs to find ways to make the team execute better. We played a damn near perfect final 2 minutes against Georgetown last week and won. That was a rare thing considering we are 13-30 in 2 possession games. There is no excuse to be THAT bad. Being .500, okay. Having a 33% win rate? Terrible.

Look at any of the coaches in Hurleys peer group (McDermott, Cooley, Smart, Oats, Musselman, etc) and their records in close games. Hurley stands alone, and not in a good way. He can shut everyone up by getting to a S16 this season, but his seat will be flaming hot if we get bounced in the first round again. Going into year 6 with 0 tournament wins is not meeting the expectations for a coach at UConn.

And for the record, I still believe this team has the pieces to make a deep run. We suck on away courts, but we’re pretty damn good on neutrals.

 

[zls44]

That was a rare thing considering we are 13-30 in 2 possession games. There is no excuse to be THAT bad. Being .500, okay. Having a 33% win rate? Terrible.

That's why I'm not worried about it. Because its a statistical outlier that should not hold up.

 

[Rocktheworld]

I'm not in the fire Hurley camp, but I think the trend here of rarely ever beating >.500 teams on the road is troubling. As well as losing games that are decided by less than 5 points.

I think it can be boiled down further to:

We are far too frequently less than the sum our parts. And that is squarely on coaching.

 

[Brochacho]

I took a deeper look at the road record. Since Hurley took over, we are:

1-13 vs the Kenpom top 50 (@Florida is only win)
7-11 vs Kenpom 51-100
7-5 vs Kenpom 101-200
3-0 vs Kenpom 201+

So overall, Hurley is 18-29 on the road for us. Hurley was 6-3 in the 2021 season with no fans. If you exclude that, 12-26 with fans in the building. Pretty bad.

The good thing is, overall, Hurley seems to be improving vs top teams (whether H/N/A) year over year. He also hasn't lost to a triple digit Kenpom home team since joining the Big East. So maybe it will get better.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Jim Calhoun: one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport, can be reasonably argued to be the best.

The Boneyard: why isn't Dan Hurley as good as Jim Calhoun. Its simple! Just be that guy!

I think the close games thing will end up like "why can't JC make a Final Four?" Eventually it'll happen and then it'll be fine. But until it does, everyone is gonna be big mad about it, even though its clearly just random noise.

It's random noise so long as fan support - whether in the stands or on The Boneyard - has no impact.

If mental or emotional energy builds from the complex set of interactions between & among coaches and players and fans, AND such energy affects performance and game results, it's hard to make a winning case that the predominant focus of Boneyard activity is a positive force.

We argue internally about our fellow fans' competitive certitudes in zero-sum fashion; freely offer the most informed & harshest criticism to our detractors & opponents for them to amplify against our supposedly common interests; boost the passion in our language to crowd out careful consideration of minority or contrary points of view that might help strengthen us and the team; and routinely ignore or deride the notion of unity in our ranks while recognizing its necessity within the coaching staff, among the players, and between those two.

Your post and my post can both be swatted away with a single derisive sentence delivered with enough punch to build negative consensus that things are inarguably bad.

Who here truly wishes to win that argument?

Who here believes or has experienced that the negative view best potentiates positive outcomes?

I've read here that the team takes on the negative qualities of the head coach, without reading much that would essentially add up to recognition that we exhibit similar patterns.

Can WE be the change we wish to see?

These are reasonable questions to ask of anyone who speaks, writes, or thinks about UConn MBB in the first person plural.

 

[ElGreco]

Why bother having a coach? They don’t do anything to impact the game or player development.

We have not changed anything since the season started

 

[navery12]

We have not changed anything since the season started

Do you actually believe this?

 

[Rocktheworld]

Danny was a PG - but not a great one. Career assist to TO 3:2, 9 ppg. Fr/so good yrs for the team, but those were Terry Dehere yrs. The rest of his time there Seton Hall sucked.

My dad went to Seton Hall and told me that he coaches just like he played after our second or third loss and I mentioned Hurley’s coaching demeanor (dad doesn’t really watch much UConn)

 

[NJHusky]

I mean the way they stop and pick up their dribble instead of forcing the issue to either find someone in the post or draw contact. Our guards seem afraid or incapable of doing so. Our coach was a former guard.

Maybe Dan Hurley couldn’t do it so that’s his bias??

I don’t know what caliber of player he was but maybe he’s enamored with AJs athletic ability

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I’d love to see FT discrepancy in those games. -13 again yesterday

 

[Rocktheworld]

Maybe Dan Hurley couldn’t do it so that’s his bias??

I don’t know what caliber of player he was but maybe he’s enamored with AJs athletic ability

Funny, I just immediately before this post replied to someone about this. My dad went to SHU in the early 80s, obviously followed them through Hurley’s time there as they were actually decent late 80s-early 90s; and when I described Danny’s coaching demeanor he said “yeah that’s exactly how he was as a player”

 

[microfich]

I want to know what was drawn up for the last play. I'm guessing Sanogo was supposed to come to the ball and then pass to Karaban for the three. Sanogo was standing behind the Creighton player and didn't really come to the ball. I'm wondering if Clingan could have been a better option at mid-court to receive the pass.

This was the McDermott moment.
When the teams came out after Timeout 1 he was going deny on the inbound in the backcourt. When he saw Danny was planning to push it to Adama or Andre up high near mid-court to likely dish off to the open wing coming down either side, McDermott called Timeout 2 and switched from deny at inbound to surround at midcourt.

 

[NJHusky]

The good thing is, overall, Hurley seems to be improving vs top teams (whether H/N/A) year over year. He also hasn't lost to a triple digit Kenpom home team since joining the Big East. So maybe it will get better.

Is his coaching getting better or has his recruiting been the cause?

I said a while ago I hope his recruiting can overcome his coaching.

 

[Rocktheworld]

I took a deeper look at the road record. Since Hurley took over, we are:

1-13 vs the Kenpom top 50 (@Florida is only win)
7-11 vs Kenpom 51-100
7-5 vs Kenpom 101-200
3-0 vs Kenpom 201+

So overall, Hurley is 18-29 on the road for us. Hurley was 6-3 in the 2021 season with no fans. If you exclude that, 12-26 with fans in the building. Pretty bad.

The good thing is, overall, Hurley seems to be improving vs top teams (whether H/N/A) year over year. He also hasn't lost to a triple digit Kenpom home team since joining the Big East. So maybe it will get better.

Wait so Alabama, ISU, Oregon, and Creighton are all outside the top 50?

 

[caw]

Wait so Alabama, ISU, Oregon, and Creighton are all outside the top 50?

Neutral

 

[Brochacho]

Wait so Alabama, ISU, Oregon, and Creighton are all outside the top 50?

Road games only.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Neutral

Road games only.

Right right my bad

Still might be a little drunk from last night lol

 

[NJHusky]

Maybe to you bud but the issues have been the exact same every year.

He’s still a homeless man’s Calipari.

I was thinking thinking the same thing but didn’t want to post it. And he’ll never have the re$ources Cal has.

 

[Brochacho]

Right right my bad

Still might be a little drunk from last night lol

Since you asked, this is my spreadsheet on Hurley year by year. We've improved every year in the Top 25 Kenpom category, but overall still struggle vs the top 100 teams. Pretty solid vs top 100.

Year

1-25W

1-25L

26-50W

26-50L

51-100W

51-100L

101-200W

101-200L

201-300W

201-300L

301+W

301+L

Overall W

Overall L

2023​

4​

2​

3​

3​

1​

2​

5​

0​

3​

0​

3​

0​

19​

7​

2022​

2​

2​

0​

4​

9​

4​

6​

0​

3​

0​

3​

0​

23​

10​

2021​

1​

4​

0​

1​

7​

3​

6​

0​

0​

0​

1​

0​

15​

8​

2020​

1​

2​

2​

4​

2​

3​

8​

2​

5​

1​

1​

0​

19​

12​

2019​

0​

3​

1​

6​

3​

6​

1​

2​

9​

0​

2​

0​

16​

17​

8​

13​

6​

18​

22​

18​

26​

4​

20​

1​

10​

0​

92​

54​

T25:

38.1%​

T50:

25.0%​

T100:

55.0%​

T200:

86.7%​

T300:

95.2%​

301+:

100.0%​

Overall:

63.0%​

 

[NJHusky]

I think the close games thing will end up like "why can't JC make a Final Four?" Eventually it'll happen and then it'll be fine. But until it does, everyone is gonna be big mad about it, even though its clearly just random noise.

How can you compare being able to win a close game to going to the final four??? If we have to wait 10 years for Dan Hurley to win a close game how long are we expected to wait for him to win a tourney game…15 years? And 20 to make the second weekend ?

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I think Hurley has faults, but again what are expectations? We beat a Top 10 team at home and lose a close road game against a top 25 team with a very good home court.

So many of you haven't adjusted expectations after the 14-0 start. We're where most of us thought we'd be - around the top 25. Of course the Hall and St. John's losses sucked, but everyone has wtf losses.