Hurley: UConn between going young or still competing

[superjohn]

The boneyard can call it a season one game into conference play with a key injury. Never the coach. At least Ollie would say we gonna keep grindin. Work hard and be strong for one another. Cuz we’re UConn 10 toes in. Stair takers. Planting seeds in the garden. We don’t jump ship with the rats. Practice is Greta. Got a new Lamborghini in the garage. And a Ferrari. Not throw in the towel.

Good lord, I don't miss that. You just gave me chest pains repeating all the cliched cutesy hollow nonsense.

 

[MDHuskFan]

Cv is a guy “culturally” DH seems to want the team to be like, comments in the past have shown this. Keep CV’s minutes, let him rub off on some the others. Other players who can casually go they the motions & produce results may look good on an end game box score but may sabotage long term plans.

 

[upstater]

it's hard to pickup sarcasm here sometimes, so just in case we missed each others attempts at it see below:

I don't think the young guys we want to develop are actually even on this current team.

 

[MDHuskFan]

A suspension for a scooter is one thing, a “I’ll take your minutes away during your pro try out year if you don’t get it together” is something totally different. Should show a lot about JA If he actually follows thru.

 

[Huskyforlife]

“Hey Jalen, Vital, Cobb, and Gilbert, get your ishh together.”

 

[JMick]

I’m not mad I’ll judge him by what he actually does - but it’s a weird thing to even say. They don’t lack for available minutes and no one all that interesting to give more to.

Eh I don't know. Maybe by this he just means playing Sid and B Adams more minutes than they've gotten

 

[MDHuskFan]

I don't think the young guys we want to develop are actually even on this current team.

Agree & disagree. While our current roster construction has us playing guys like Sid & BA @ the 4 & 3 respectively. The future of the team prob has Sid more 3 w/ some PT @ the 4 & BA @ 2-3.

 

[Kenny11]

I dont understand the sentiment at all.

We don't gain anything from going young. We will just get embarrassed this year. Hurley needs to win games to show progress from Ollie.

We do need to play Sid and BA more, but outside of that, what is the advantage?

Whaley and Carlton will not benefit from more minutes IMO.

It could be something to say to challenge Jalen and the other older players.

 

[the Q]

The boneyard can call it a season one game into conference play with a key injury. Never the coach. At least Ollie would say we gonna keep grindin. Work hard and be strong for one another. Cuz we’re UConn 10 toes in. Stair takers. Planting seeds in the garden. We don’t jump ship with the rats. Practice is Greta. Got a new Lamborghini in the garage. And a Ferrari. Not throw in the towel.

You forgot a rolling stone gathers no moss....

 

[the Q]

I would definitely not call him a disaster. Definitely a regression from last season but he is still the best player on the floor who can create his own offense. He is the difference to losing by 10 instead of 30 like last year. The difference between this year and last year is we have 2 extra guards to help out and mitigate some of the damage. Unfortunately our front line is just as bad as last year if not worst with Carlton's regression.

Carlton has gotten even better defensively.

But yes he still gets in too much foul trouble to be a difference maker.

 

[LIuconn]

Hopefully its a motivational tactic for JA and co. I mean, there aren't enough 'young guys' to give minutes to.

 

[QDOG5]

Carlton has gotten even better defensively.

Last game, 8 feet from the hoop, he was pump faked into a foul by a 5'9" guy and he was the secondary defender. He might be better at running at guards 25 feet from the hoop but his post defense is no better.

 

[Hurleyman216]

Sid could be better than Polley by the end of the year if he adjusts. Right now, the speed on the game is definitely a bit much for him, and he’s clearly nervous judging by the missed layups/dunks. It makes sense to keep playing Wilson.

I don’t think much can be done about the center situation. Carlton already plays more than Cobb, and we lost Yakwe. We really are stuck at that spot. Whaley has a low floor and ceiling. He’s a foul trouble big only IMO.

I think the biggest potential change could be BA’s minutes. If he could prove himself more, we could use his size (relative to the other guards) at the 3 this year. Wouldn’t mind him playing more at Smith’s expense if the game flow permits. It would really make sense if he could shoot 36%+ from 3 in conference play.

I actually agree with most of your post, except the game being too fast for Sid is 100% wrong. If anything, the game is still a bit too fast for Polley and you could make the same case for B. Adams. To me, when you see guys going up and blocking what everyone thinks is a wide open dunk (which Sid has now done at least a handful of times where he's flown out of nowhere for a block), that isn't someone who isn't adjusting to the speed of the game. Sid right now lacks basketball IQ and doesn't understand where he needs to be on the court. I think he's probably had a bit of a struggle adjusting to Hurley's system when last year he was in the KO "stand around and watch 1 guy dribble" offensive scheme during practices...just my 2 cents.

 

[upstater]

The ceiling of Sid and BA is much higher than Whaley and Carlton, and they can grow from valuable minutes. Whaley and Carlton don't have a high ceiling, and playing them more will just result in us losing, and not gaining anything.

Polley, if he is hitting shots, has a decent ceiling, but he is so limited physically, both defending and rebounding, that more playing time wont't equal his entire development.

But Whaley hasn't been playing at all.

And Sid can't replace Carlton where our biggest weakness is, C.

 

[Hurleyman216]

I'd also like to see B. Adams out there taking some of Smith's minutes. Smith definitely has his moments where he can score at will, but then he disappears for very long stretches. I'd rather start to develop Adams and he seems to be a better 3 point shooter. All that being said, I don't think Polley is going to have many more games where he gets 7 wide open 3 pointers and misses them all. He was definitely not himself the other night. I know the BY wants to kill this team for lack of effort, but the effort was there. You can't miss 5-10 open layups and 10 or more wide open 3 pointers and expect to win on the road. We got the shots we wanted they just didn't fall. This was not anything like the Nova game where we just got completely manhandled.

 

[QDOG5]

As to Hurley's quote I think we'll see an uptick in some guys minutes and vice versa but not wholesale changes. Take Whaley, he's stuck to the bench while Hurley is trying to win and now he's going to play 20 minutes a game? Not happening. BAdams and Sid will see increased minutes. Carlton will stay in games even when he's stinking it up. Whaley I guess will play a little more. I hope AG becomes the full time PG from here on out and have JA off the ball. As for Diarra he's 50/50 to play a game this year. I'm not counting on him.

 

[upstater]

Agree & disagree. While our current roster construction has us playing guys like Sid & BA @ the 4 & 3 respectively. The future of the team prob has Sid more 3 w/ some PT @ the 4 & BA @ 2-3.

These kids are very young but... Sid needs a lot of development. As for BA, I just haven't seen anything from him yet.

 

[AdamaNation]

I would definitely not call him a disaster. Definitely a regression from last season but he is still the best player on the floor who can create his own offense. He is the difference to losing by 10 instead of 30 like last year. The difference between this year and last year is we have 2 extra guards to help out and mitigate some of the damage. Unfortunately our front line is just as bad as last year if not worst with Carlton's regression.

His spin move to the two hand dunk was the greatest false advertisement since ajou. I thought Hurley was the big whisperer.

 

[AdamaNation]

Is it kwintin time??

 

[kansashusky]

But Whaley hasn't been playing at all.

And Sid can't replace Carlton where our biggest weakness is, C.

Exactly, that's why the comment of going young doesn't make sense to me.

 

[AdamaNation]

As to Hurley's quote I think we'll see an uptick in some guys minutes and vice versa but not wholesale changes. Take Whaley, he's stuck to the bench while Hurley is trying to win and now he's going to play 20 minutes a game? Not happening. BAdams and Sid will see increased minutes. Carlton will stay in games even when he's stinking it up. Whaley I guess will play a little more. I hope AG becomes the full time PG from here on out and have JA off the ball. As for Diarra he's 50/50 to play a game this year. I'm not counting on him.

I hope ag never plays more than he should because that familiar black cloud seems to be headed this way. Hope not. Has Hurley finalized his contract??? To add to gloom and doom. NC State getting involved with kofi is not good. They are ranked with a charismatic newer coach and a lot of tradition here in Raleigh. As of right now. We are trending into the NC state zone if you think about it. They have poached quite a few targets of ours as well, over the years,which surprises me that this board isn’t too concerned about their interest.

 

[Jluc]

He’s clearly just sending a message.

 

[3rdbass]

Carlton has gotten even better defensively.

But yes he still gets in too much foul trouble to be a difference maker.

I think he is worst offensively and how can you say he has gotten better defensively when he can’t stay on the floor without fouling.

 

[3rdbass]

I haven't seen him be the best player on the floor in any of our games against the non cupcakes.

Houston last year he surely was and pretty good against Syracuse this year. Problem with Jalen is he hasn’t gotten better with his left hand, outside shooting and body. Makes you wonder what he was actually working on in the offseason. He is still our best player in breaking down opponents.

 

[lange10]

“Hey Jalen, Vital, Cobb, and Gilbert, get your ishh together.”

I wouldn’t lump CV in there. Only player who positively impacts every game in some way regardless of his box score stat line.