Hurley threads (merged)

[huskysupporter]

But he is a great recruiter!!!! And he gets the team in great shape in KenPom rankings!!!!!!!

 

[gwhuskyfan]

No. There is a distinction between Neutral site and Away games.

This year, Dan Hurley has 3 significant first-time achievements as UConn head coach:

Won an early season neutral court tournament.
Won a true road game against a P5 opponent.
Won a game over Creighton.

He has yet to win a true road game against a ranked opponent.
He has yet to win an NCAA Tournament game.
He has yet to defeat Sean Miller or Shaheen Holloway.

Many posters are sad, angry, frustrated, impatient, pessimistic, upset, unhappy, and/or otherwise dissatisfied with the 'not yet' items being in 'not yet' status.

This results in many past- or future-oriented posts, because doing so is a common way of dealing with uncomfortable emotions.

Most do not express their emotions in personally responsible language in The Boneyard. I speculate that it is too threatening for most posters to expose themselves with such vulnerability, whether they are consciously aware of this or not.

Can't really count the Holloway stat against him when he was out with COVID.

 

[superjohn]

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.

7-24 in Hurley's tenure in games decided by 5 points or less.

I could understand chalking it up as some random noise or or lucky/unlucky if the record was something like 15-16 or 14-17 in close games but it's obviously something much more when the numbers are that out of whack. When it seemed destined for yesterday's game to come down to the wire I didn't think there was any way we were winning it because we simply don't win those games.

 

[husky429]

But he is a great recruiter!!!! And he gets the team in great shape in KenPom rankings!!!!!!!

This is a silly argument. Talent wins most of the time, and Kenpom (and other computer metrics like NET) are what get us seeding in the tournament.

It's pretty obvious that we have some issues winning on the road. Saying "the objective metrics that rank teams don't matter" is just plain old foolishness.

 

[aburks41]

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.

My frustration comes from the fact that our losses all look the same way. Close games in the final couple minutes and we just find ways to lose instead of finding a way to win. It’s painful lol. If we are in a one or two possession game with less than 3 minutes left, we are likely going to lose.

 

[superjohn]

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

Again, that would make sense if it was over a season, maybe a couple seasons where it was a bad mix of players. This is now 5 seasons of it with a bunch of different players who simply don't win close games.

 

[BarkingDog]

The Andre dilemma has been discussed quite thoroughly, but aside from giving him fewer minutes there really has been no constructive solution offered.

Most posters are saying Hurley should give some combination of Allyene, Diarra or Clingan more minutes at the expense of Jackson.

This approach, of course, comes with pros and cons and many variables.

But even if his minutes were reduced, Jackson will play significant minutes going forward. Rebounding, defense, energy against his lack of offense is the dilemma.

My question is, what should be done when Ajax has the ball at the three point line and his defender is sagging way off and disrupting the offense?

Seriously, what can be done? Jackson can shoot, and probably needs to take the shot at least a few times a game, but that has most often not helped the team.

Instead, what sort of play or action can free sanogo or Hawkins? What is newton’s role in that situation? is there a way for Hurley to counter that defensive strategy? What are the Xs and Os here to result in a quality shot?

We haven’t seen a consistent answer yet in the games or on this board so I’m throwing it out there.

 

[superjohn]

This is a silly argument. Talent wins most of the time, and Kenpom (and other computer metrics like NET) are what get us seeding in the tournament.

It's pretty obvious that we have some issues winning on the road. Saying "the objective metrics that rank teams don't matter" is just plain old foolishness.

Why aren't we winning when we have more talent?

It can be argued Creighton is at the same level as UConn in terms of talent but I don't see any way one can argue with a straight face that any other Big East teams have as much talent as UConn.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

My frustration comes from the fact that our losses all look the same way. Close games in the final couple minutes and we just find ways to lose instead of finding a way to win. It’s painful lol. If we are in a one or two possession game with less than 3 minutes left, we are likely going to lose.

Release yourself from the "lol," lean into the pain, and be part of the process that shifts from concentrating on what we dislike and do not want.

 

[Vancat]

I'm always puzzled as to how someone like AJ gets to this level without being able to put the ball in the hoop. Don't get me wrong, I love Andre, it just makes no sense.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

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)

Just the kind of "expert opinion" we should be putting stock in.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

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.

Were you in the huddle for these timeouts? LOL

 

[Hunt for 7]

Basically, next year should be his last chance. We don’t win close games. For me it is clear that we have as much talent if not more than any other big east team. This is not an x and o conversation. I don’t want to get into a discussion about game strategy etc. All this comes down too is; can you make your team mentally strong enough to win more close games then it loses. We don’t win close games since he became coach. UConn is a brand and now that they are in the big east they will recruit. If we don’t make a run and get at least to the second weekend, his job has to be on the line next year. This is not personal he has gotten us back to respectable on the national stage, but did he really have more to do with it than uconn joining the big east. It is getting close for the clock to start ticking. Consistently middle of the pack is not going to satisfy this fan base.

 

[Marat]

Adama developed a 3 point shot over the summer, and is effective when he is wide open with his feet set. I thought Andre also worked on it over the summer? If Adama could do it, Andre can do it too. If he is open he needs to shoot in rhythm, but not overthink it. Seems mental at least with the wide open 3.

 

[Huskydog45]

I think from the corner he should try to drive the baseline and try to score or attempt to draw contact and draw a foul. Or drive from corner and kick out to opposite wing for a shot…occasional take a 3 if he can relax first before the shot….as for top of the key, he needs to step in to foul line, relax, set his feet and take the shot, like a foul shot where he is 68%.

Other times just keep the ball moving as with this said, you want to limit his outside shot attempts to around 5.

Would be interested to hear other solutions.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

When you fire up 27 threes you’re not going to get to the line too much. Good teams take it to the rim against us and get calls, while we settle for threes.

And from listening to Hurley’s post game interview, firing up threes is by design.

 

[my2cents]

Play Clingan way more and Diarra and Jackson way less. Simple.

 

[Fishy]

Andre will never be a shooter….his form is absolutely horrific. Even his free throws are a mess.

He just needs to find ways to make the defense pay for leaving him wide open. My idea….move towards the rim. If they are 12’ off of you, take those 12’ - make them do something.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

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.

I think it’s fair to think we’d compete for the Big East championship with the talent we have. It was the goal coming into the season.

 

[kemba]

I would bring him off the bench, not necessarily cut his minutes, but stagger them so he’s playing more with the 2nd unit, and try to play faster and get out and run when he’s out there. And offensively he needs to be active, setting screens, cutting, etc. He can’t just be standing in the corner.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Everything Andre does need to be near the rim. Have him be the roll man on pick and rolls to get him going towards the basket so his man has to respect him… if he doesn’t and the defense helps he can still be a great passer finding the open guy.

At this point teams do not have to respect him on ball or at the 3 point line. With Sanogo’s ability to shoot we can really play 5 out with Andre as a roller seamlessly. Even when DC in the game we can do it because he’s a lob threat.

Hurley has to find a way to make him effective offensively. Shooting more threes is not the answer.

 

[scotty0330]

Think the only thing he is capable of is the one thing he is afraid to do and that’s drive at the basket and try to draw fouls. I’m not sure he can do anything else. He can’t hit floaters or any jump shot so just use your athletic ability to force the defense to foul you or draw enough attention to dump it off to big…

 

[aburks41]

Andre will never be a shooter….his form is absolutely horrific. Even his free throws are a mess.

He just needs to find ways to make the defense pay for leaving him wide open. My idea….move towards the rim. If they are 12’ off of you, take those 12’ - make them do something.

Well he tried that yesterday with his god awful floaters from 12 ft out. I hate that shot so much. It comes out of his hand extremely flat and he leaves it short 80% of the time.

I'm always puzzled as to how someone like AJ gets to this level without being able to put the ball in the hoop. Don't get me wrong, I love Andre, it just makes no sense.

Kids who are athletic as Andre can dominate in high school because they are just simply that much faster, stronger, and more athletic than everyone else. Look up his high school highlight reels, he was able to carve up defenses like a stud, but that didn’t translate to college.

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

 

[Rico444]

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 think 23 games is enough of a sample to say there's something to it. That doesn't mean he can't improve; part of what makes teams tough down the stretch is having a PG on the floor that can take over the game. Not necessarily dominate, but make good decisions and get a bucket when nothing else is available. Hurley hasn't had that yet here (which is on him). I'd be willing to bet things improve next year when we have a legitimate stud point guard.