Hurley's Achilles heel

[UChusky916]

Hurley is a great coach, and I firmly believe he's THE RIGHT GUY for our program long-term. Having said that, it's fair to discuss areas for improvement.
For me, Hurley's biggest weakness, his "Achilles heel", is when the other team goes to a small line-up, as he ALWAYS feels compelled to match an opponent small-for-small.

Hurley appears to prioritize the team's defense, assuming he needs to match a small lineup defensively with our own small line-up to avoid mismatches against our bigs. However, by matching small-for-small, he ignores any offensive advantage we'd have with a big (like Sanogo) dominating the opponent's smaller lineup down low.

Our team's strength is the front court depth and offensive rebounding. Going small negates these strengths and hurts the team... it eliminates any rebounding advantage, puts our forwards out of position, and puts more pressure on our guards to break down defenders (which is a weakness for the team, outside of Cole). Hurley is essentially playing RIGHT into the opponents hands by matching-up small and letting them dictate OUR lineup and offense.

When opponents go small, Hurley should be punishing opponents by playing Sanogo... have him post up EVERY OFFENSIVE possession and feed him. Sanogo's shooting percentages are good enough to make them pay over time. He should force our opponent to adjust to us instead of the other way around.

Instead, Hurley continues to match small-for-small line-ups, and the team struggles. This is nothing new. Last night was yet another example in a long series of Hurley matching small-for-small lineups. Sanogo didn't shoot well last night (3-10) and didn't assert himself to get better position closer to the hoop, but he was missing for large stretches late in the second half last night with Creighton not playing a true center (injured). It's a simple fact that this team is better when Sanogo is playing.

Let's look back at some of the other recent instances last year where this occurred...

• L vs St. Johns (1/18/21): St. Johns did not have a true center, Hurley only played Sanogo 18 mins, absent most of the second half, despite dominating when in the game (12pts, 4 reb, 6-11 shooting). This resulted in a home LOSS in Gampel.
• 3x L vs Creighton ('21): Creighton rotated Mahaney (6'5"), and Ballock (6'5"), and Jefferson (6'5") at the 4 spot with Bishop (6'7") at center a lot. Kalkbrenner did come in for some minutes at center, but they played small most of the year in games against us. In 3 games vs Creighton, a freshman Sanogo only played 12 mins (5 pts, 4 reb, 2-4 shooting), 20 mins (13 pts, 5 reb, 5-9 shooting), and 21 mins (13 pts, 5 reb, 6-9 shooting). That's an average of <18 mins per game despite shooting ~60% from the field and grabbing ~5 rebounds. Obviously we got swept by Creighton last year, 3 LOSSES including the BET.
• L vs Villanova (2/20/21): Nova did not have anyone taller than 6'9" in their lineup this game. Sanogo only saw 20 mins (8 pts, 2 reb, 4-6 shooting). Loss vs Nova.
• L vs Maryland (3/20/21): Early first round exit from NCAA due to a bad match-up because Maryland EXCLUSIVELY played SMALL. Their tallest guys were 6'7" (Donta Scott) and 6'8" (Jarius Hamilton). Sanogo only played 16 minutes (!?!) despite the fact he had 2-3 inches on Maryland's tallest player. Granted, he didn't shoot great (2-7, 4 pts, 4 reb), but he needed more than 16 mins. He sat on the bench for long stretches in the second half as our season ended.

Despite this evidence of poor play and losing when going small, Hurley is as stubborn as they come and continually sitting Sanogo in those scenarios.

Opposing teams will start to scout this and take advantage, regardless of their depth at center. It's already hurt us repeatedly with no adjustment. Will that change moving forward, or will we blame another early NCAA exit on a bad match-up?

 

[UConnSwag11]

Great post

 

[UChusky916]

I'm really curious to see how Hurley will manage our lineup vs Nova on Sat.

Nova plays small with no true center. They have 3 forwards that play the 5, the tallest being 6'8".
On paper, Sanogo should have his way down low on the offensive end vs their "bigs".

Will Hurley continue to match small-for-small lineups, play into the opponent's hands, and sit Sanogo more than usual?

 

[NJHusky]

Wonder if some zone D might minimize the need to play small?? Nah.

 

[mauconnfan]

I'm really curious to see how Hurley will manage our lineup vs Nova on Sat.

Nova plays small with no true center. They have 3 forwards that play the 5, the tallest being 6'8".
On paper, Sanogo should have his way down low on the offensive end vs their "bigs".

Will Hurley continue to match small-for-small lineups, play into the opponent's hands, and sit Sanogo more than usual?

Dixon is an on paper 6’8 likely 6’6-1/2 actually but is a wide body who moves his feet very well. A huge ball fake guy and tough with knee and forearms on D. But Sanogo can work the rim over him just needs to get in deeper to the hoop. He needs to stay out of foul trouble and play 30-35 and use this strength against them. We will see

 

[auror]

This premise is not factually accurate for the game against Creighton.

We played 38 possessions with Whaley + Sanogo, which was the 2nd most of the whole season (and the first most game went to OT). We didn't play small for them.

 

[nycscooby]

To me Hurley seems to have two major flaws - - (1) his teams play tight. I really hope he hasn’t crushed Hawkins’ confidence. If I am not mistaken this kid was the Maryland high school player of the year. That’s right, the number one kid in an incredibly fertile basketball area, one of the best in the country. And now how does he look? Sure, the competition level is far different but plenty of similar credentialed frosh are contributing. Just think back to how he played in the Auburn game (and the whole team in fact played in the Bahamas and they were under duress there including playing without Whaley against MSU), just seems like this version of Hawk is pretty far from that one. I am focusing on Jordan in my example but the whole team seems tight to me especially when things start to go bad. Not enough joy!

(2) the half court offense is a mess, it just is. Thankfully we are an outrageously good rebounding team but man, our sets! Very hard to watch. Also, Hurley is set on the same substitution pattern. I like the Polley starting suggestion just to flip the script a bit but I really worry about scoring points. We aren’t running enough and we don’t get enough easy buckets.

Taking out the CCSU / LIU type games (6), we are averaging 74 pts/game with 4 of the 14 going to OT and one of those 2OT. We have only broken 80 points 4 times so far, 3 of which required OT and one being the Auburn 2 OT game.

We need to score more and more easily in the half court. Are we breaking 60 tomorrow?

 

[Ricker]

I think the basic point is correct. When we weren't playing Whaley & Sanogo together we did not play Akok, ie went small to match up, (even though Polley is 6'9 his game is not on the blocks). I'd view minutes of the 3 of them and adjust for foul trouble in individual games.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Only dilemma is Sanogo scoring 2 points down low but giving up 3's on the other end due to him not being a perimeter defender or UConn getting off track with its defensive rotations by helping out.

I don't mind the 4 small, 1 big for UConn for periods of time. I do want it to be Whaley who is the one big in that scenario.

 

[Chin Diesel]

We need to score more and more easily in the half court. Are we breaking 60 tomorrow?

I'd go a big no on that one.

 

[Icehawk]

This premise is not factually accurate for the game against Creighton.

We played 38 possessions with Whaley + Sanogo, which was the 2nd most of the whole season (and the first most game went to OT). We didn't play small for them.

Except once Kalk went out Sanogo's time went way down too and he sat on the pine.

We saw this last year as mentioned and maybe it's the right move... but it doesn't seem like it.

 

[Palatine]

We tend to forget Hurley has never coached at this level. He is facing coaches who have coached in major conferences for decades. He's still growing and learning. Isn't this why we have JC hanging around the program?

I believe that Dan Hurley would benefit from having an older X & O guy, his version of Blaney, on the bench.

 

[NJHusky]

We tend to forget Hurley has never coached at this level. He is facing coaches who have coached in major conferences for decades. He's still growing and learning. Isn't this why we have JC hanging around the program?

I believe that Dan Hurley would benefit from having an older X & O guy, his version of Blaney, on the bench.

I think Dan Hurley's older XnO guy is the HS coach sitting behind the bench

 

[navery12]

I think the basic point is correct. When we weren't playing Whaley & Sanogo together we did not play Akok, ie went small to match up, (even though Polley is 6'9 his game is not on the blocks). I'd view minutes of the 3 of them and adjust for foul trouble in individual games.

We've played 20 games and 5 OT periods, so that's 1650 minutes at the 4/5 position. The combination of Sanogo/Whaley/Akok/Johnson/Springs have played 1351 minutes or 81.8% of available minutes. And it's 77% for the main 3 bigs

 

[80shusky]

McDermott gave everyone the playbook and going small does help with it. Limit touches by Sanogo and try to make Cole shoot poorly. Make the rest of the team beat you.

 

[wheelerdog]

I'm really curious to see how Hurley will manage our lineup vs Nova on Sat.

Nova plays small with no true center. They have 3 forwards that play the 5, the tallest being 6'8".
On paper, Sanogo should have his way down low on the offensive end vs their "bigs".

Will Hurley continue to match small-for-small lineups, play into the opponent's hands, and sit Sanogo more than usual?

If Sanogo doesn't play 30 minutes tomorrow I don't like our chances.

 

[nycscooby]

We tend to forget Hurley has never coached at this level. He is facing coaches who have coached in major conferences for decades. He's still growing and learning. Isn't this why we have JC hanging around the program?

I believe that Dan Hurley would benefit from having an older X & O guy, his version of Blaney, on the bench.

I would agree with your take Pal - - don’t we have a recently retired D3 coach with strong ties to the program available? Kidding….sort of

 

[Umami Zen]

Jay has been playing 4 and 1 offense for the last 10 yrs quite effectively. Unless the opponent makes him pay -- He'll keep doing it. And if you don't think he won't be leaning on the refs about Sanogo's physicality on his guy Dixon.. You're wrong. Jay wants Sanogo watching the game from the bench.

Lets get off to a fast start and try to dictate pace..Take the home crowd out of the game

 

[Palatine]

I think Dan Hurley's older XnO guy is the HS coach sitting behind the bench

That is a high school coach who never coached at this level. And he is NOT on the bench. I'm not down on our bench coaches. I just see a void that that could be filled with a valuable piece. A little gray hair.

 

[navery12]

That is a high school coach who never coached at this level. And he is NOT on the bench. I'm not down on our bench coaches. I just see a void that that could be filled with a valuable piece. A little gray hair.

You only get so many coaches on the bench though, so to add the X's and O's guy someone has to leave and I can't say I want any of our assistants to go

 

[auror]

Except once Kalk went out Sanogo's time went way down too and he sat on the pine.

We saw this last year as mentioned and maybe it's the right move... but it doesn't seem like it.

Are you sure? Or did he follow his normal sub pattern and you just noticed he was out because Kalk was out also. Kalk went out after 5 minutes of which Sanogo played them all and was due for a sub soon. I don't have his sub split by half and the HuskyGames replay isn't up yet, but Sanogo played his normal minutes for a non-OT game, and Whaley played one of his most minutes for a non-OT game.

Either way, we outscored them both in the 2nd half and specifically after Kalkbrenner went out, so I don't see the issue.

 

[Huskybass]

You only get so many coaches on the bench though, so to add the X's and O's guy someone has to leave and I can't say I want any of our assistants to go

This isn't calculus. You would think someone among Hurley, Young, Moore and Murray would have the capability to design simple, effective plays that suit our skillset. A few picks for Jackson to run back door cuts for example, a double pick for Polley, etc. Pretty basic stuff.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Hurley is a great coach, and I firmly believe he's THE RIGHT GUY for our program long-term. Having said that, it's fair to discuss areas for improvement.
For me, Hurley's biggest weakness, his "Achilles heel", is when the other team goes to a small line-up, as he ALWAYS feels compelled to match an opponent small-for-small.

Hurley appears to prioritize the team's defense, assuming he needs to match a small lineup defensively with our own small line-up to avoid mismatches against our bigs. However, by matching small-for-small, he ignores any offensive advantage we'd have with a big (like Sanogo) dominating the opponent's smaller lineup down low.

Our team's strength is the front court depth and offensive rebounding. Going small negates these strengths and hurts the team... it eliminates any rebounding advantage, puts our forwards out of position, and puts more pressure on our guards to break down defenders (which is a weakness for the team, outside of Cole). Hurley is essentially playing RIGHT into the opponents hands by matching-up small and letting them dictate OUR lineup and offense.

When opponents go small, Hurley should be punishing opponents by playing Sanogo... have him post up EVERY OFFENSIVE possession and feed him. Sanogo's shooting percentages are good enough to make them pay over time. He should force our opponent to adjust to us instead of the other way around.

Instead, Hurley continues to match small-for-small line-ups, and the team struggles. This is nothing new. Last night was yet another example in a long series of Hurley matching small-for-small lineups. Sanogo didn't shoot well last night (3-10) and didn't assert himself to get better position closer to the hoop, but he was missing for large stretches late in the second half last night with Creighton not playing a true center (injured). It's a simple fact that this team is better when Sanogo is playing.

Let's look back at some of the other recent instances last year where this occurred...

• L vs St. Johns (1/18/21): St. Johns did not have a true center, Hurley only played Sanogo 18 mins, absent most of the second half, despite dominating when in the game (12pts, 4 reb, 6-11 shooting). This resulted in a home LOSS in Gampel.
• 3x L vs Creighton ('21): Creighton rotated Mahaney (6'5"), and Ballock (6'5"), and Jefferson (6'5") at the 4 spot with Bishop (6'7") at center a lot. Kalkbrenner did come in for some minutes at center, but they played small most of the year in games against us. In 3 games vs Creighton, a freshman Sanogo only played 12 mins (5 pts, 4 reb, 2-4 shooting), 20 mins (13 pts, 5 reb, 5-9 shooting), and 21 mins (13 pts, 5 reb, 6-9 shooting). That's an average of <18 mins per game despite shooting ~60% from the field and grabbing ~5 rebounds. Obviously we got swept by Creighton last year, 3 LOSSES including the BET.
• L vs Villanova (2/20/21): Nova did not have anyone taller than 6'9" in their lineup this game. Sanogo only saw 20 mins (8 pts, 2 reb, 4-6 shooting). Loss vs Nova.
• L vs Maryland (3/20/21): Early first round exit from NCAA due to a bad match-up because Maryland EXCLUSIVELY played SMALL. Their tallest guys were 6'7" (Donta Scott) and 6'8" (Jarius Hamilton). Sanogo only played 16 minutes (!?!) despite the fact he had 2-3 inches on Maryland's tallest player. Granted, he didn't shoot great (2-7, 4 pts, 4 reb), but he needed more than 16 mins. He sat on the bench for long stretches in the second half as our season ended.

Despite this evidence of poor play and losing when going small, Hurley is as stubborn as they come and continually sitting Sanogo in those scenarios.

Opposing teams will start to scout this and take advantage, regardless of their depth at center. It's already hurt us repeatedly with no adjustment. Will that change moving forward, or will we blame another early NCAA exit on a bad match-up?

Nailed it. Against small teams, I want two guys in the post. Screw "spacing". It's wildly valuable for teams with 4 knock-down 3 point shooters. It isn't all that useful for this team. You need a secondary post target to reduce the ability to double and triple Sanogo. Now that he's passing that will work even better.

I've been saying since that St. Johns catastrophe, dominate small teams with size inside. Force them to pull their better small players out and put in weaker bigs. Don't pull out our good bigs and put in weaker small players.

 

[NJHusky]

That is a high school coach who never coached at this level. And he is NOT on the bench. I'm not down on our bench coaches. I just see a void that that could be filled with a valuable piece. A little gray hair.

I’m not disagreeing with you. I think you are correct. I just think the person who is actually giving Dan Hurley advice pre/post game is dad.

 

[HuskyHawk]

This premise is not factually accurate for the game against Creighton.

We played 38 possessions with Whaley + Sanogo, which was the 2nd most of the whole season (and the first most game went to OT). We didn't play small for them.

Sure, but we played mostly 4 out. That was the mistake. Especially once Kalk went out. That was the time to make sure we overloaded the post. They couldn't have stopped it. It would take at least 3 guys to defend both Sanogo and Whaley down low. If we don't want two in the post then we have to constantly cycle Whaley, Martin, Jackson as cutters to the rim when the ball goes in to Sanogo.

 

[dennismenace]

I think Dan Hurley's older XnO guy is the HS coach sitting behind the bench

I'm glad someone had the courage to post this. Coaches (and many other successful people) seem to have a hard time letting go. JC for all intents and purposes maneuvered KO into position so it became difficult to go with someone else.

There are enough basketball minds around and in our program to come up with a solution as long as there is enough humility to say "we (I) need help here." Let's hope the powers that be reach a consensus on problems and support options that can help Dan and the team. I don't think there is much of a problem with the talent on that team. And any shortage of talent (ball handling) can be overcome with the depth and coaching they have. And when this team was flat (and "embarrassing') it should not take a whole half and half time to light a fire.

 

[auror]

Sure, but we played mostly 4 out. That was the mistake. Especially once Kalk went out. That was the time to make sure we overloaded the post. They couldn't have stopped it. It would take at least 3 guys to defend both Sanogo and Whaley down low. If we don't want two in the post then we have to constantly cycle Whaley, Martin, Jackson as cutters to the rim when the ball goes in to Sanogo.

They had 4 defenders in the paint. It was difficult to get passes in there as is with 4 out. With 2 bigs downlow it would have been extra clogged. We rebounded well offensively in 2nd half anyways, but didn't finish on said boards.

 

[imno1]

To me Hurley seems to have two major flaws - - (1) his teams play tight. I really hope he hasn’t crushed Hawkins’ confidence. If I am not mistaken this kid was the Maryland high school player of the year. That’s right, the number one kid in an incredibly fertile basketball area, one of the best in the country. And now how does he look? Sure, the competition level is far different but plenty of similar credentialed frosh are contributing. Just think back to how he played in the Auburn game (and the whole team in fact played in the Bahamas and they were under duress there including playing without Whaley against MSU), just seems like this version of Hawk is pretty far from that one. I am focusing on Jordan in my example but the whole team seems tight to me especially when things start to go bad. Not enough joy!

(2) the half court offense is a mess, it just is. Thankfully we are an outrageously good rebounding team but man, our sets! Very hard to watch. Also, Hurley is set on the same substitution pattern. I like the Polley starting suggestion just to flip the script a bit but I really worry about scoring points. We aren’t running enough and we don’t get enough easy buckets.

Taking out the CCSU / LIU type games (6), we are averaging 74 pts/game with 4 of the 14 going to OT and one of those 2OT. We have only broken 80 points 4 times so far, 3 of which required OT and one being the Auburn 2 OT game.

We need to score more and more easily in the half court. Are we breaking 60 tomorrow?

Crushed Hawkins confidence? He plays regularly and has more minutes than our other freshmen. Then we rub his head and pat his back when he comes out. Not that it matters but I’m tired of this narrative.
The team has not preformed well on offense the last couple of games but we are second in the BE in scoring. Even in BE only games we are 3rd. Our issue in close games is other than an undersized Cole we have no one who can go one on one with their defender Except maybe Tyrese. They should clear out for Martin more and let him try although he’s not a great at the rim finisher. In hindsight and I know he’s young but maybe CFjr should have played this year.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

McDermott gave everyone the playbook and going small does help with it. Limit touches by Sanogo and try to make Cole shoot poorly. Make the rest of the team beat you.

I txted to my sister, "He's challenging Whaley to score 30."

Earlier, I've written, "Cole can do anything. Just don't ask him to or make do everything."

I think Dan Hurley's older XnO guy is the HS coach sitting behind the bench

After the game, I txted to my sister, "I'm picturing a split-screen of Bob Sr. & Greg during their next phone call laughing, and McDermott saying, 'Yeah, he still doesn't get it, but when he does, he'll beat me every time. Hope it isn't anytime soon'."

I save my hottest takes for family.

 

[Huskybass]

Crushed Hawkins confidence? He plays regularly and has more minutes than our other freshmen. Then we rub his head and pat his back when he comes out. Not that it matters but I’m tired of this narrative.
The team has not preformed well on offense the last couple of games but we are second in the BE in scoring. Even in BE only games we are 3rd. Our issue in close games is other than an undersized Cole we have no one who can go one on one with their defender Except maybe Tyrese. They should clear out for Martin more and let him try although he’s not a great at the rim finisher. In hindsight and I know he’s young but maybe CFjr should have played this year.

You raise lots of good points. This is Cole's team. He needs to pick his spots to drive, and know when to drive and dish. A few of those resulting in a Hawkins 3 and a Polley 3 changes the whole feel of the game and potentially helps open up things down low. FWIW, I am also eager to see what CF Jr can do. Karaban too.