Hurley's first 3 seasons

[mauconnfan]

True, I forgot about him. But he only played one year and went undrafted. Phil and the 1st round pick were a pre-formed back court for 3 years. In the context of inherited players, hardly a comparison.

Again pre-formed in only the fact they were there. Dom didn't know what to do with either of them so JC had to form them into really good players. No doubt they were both talented so that was a plus for JC, but Dom did very little to affect Cliffs game his freshman year other than hold him back.

 

[Pudge]

the flowers around that UCONN sign had a few blossoms in 1987 ... I remember

Calhoun had Cliff Robinson, Phil Gamble, Tate George

Jeff King? Could Jeff play with Big East teams in 1987? Because he certainly would not match well with any of the front court play 2013-2018. Willie McCloud? James Spradling? Spider Ursery, Murray Williams, Pikiell (always injured). Vassilis Lanes - anyone remember him?

Ollie is exactly as Huskybass wrote. Brilliant for one little slice of 2014. But the level of recruiting of Perno was light years different to UCONN 2010 - 2021. You had 4-7 kids that we beat Siena for. Calhoun certainly developed raw into formidable. Tate George is a great example. But you were #8 or #9 for years ... because we only occasionally got a Cliff or a Earl Kelly. The bulk of the roster was just not top 100 Basketball school level. 2018? Seemed to me that OLLIE shot for big wins. Had some good assistants to recruit ... and when he scrambled to fill the roster was ... blah. But, Hurley got kids that have played ok. and developed

 

[freescooter]

Better players. Real time Cliff, Phil and Tate were light-years ahead of Vital, Gilbert and whoever you want to put 3rd. And Hurley finally got through to Vital, the best yet most difficult inherited player. I don't think Calhoun ever really got through to Cliff until after his draft snub. If he had, they would have made the dance.

And yeah I did see Cliff as a freshman, I went to all the games. At the time we were saying Perno was so stupid he didn't start his best player until late in the year. The idea that Cliff was a nobody who Calhoun miraculously turned into a star is a myth. Everyone knew he was good then.

Look, I agree that Hurley has to keep the progression going but to date the man has nothing on him.

Cliff was a (very) raw talent with a high upside. Not a soul thought he had a huge NBA career ahead of him. Plus Calhoun had a tougher schedule. 10 games against 5 Big East teams that made the tournament, including 2 that went to the Final Four. The Big East was legitimately the BEAST at that time. And UConn was the only team in the Big East never to have made the tournament since the league was formed. People forget just how good and deep the original league was. From its inception through Calhoun’s first season it had 2 different teams as national champs, five different teams get to the Final Four. Two other different teams get to the Elite 8 and the league was an overtime loss away from having all four Final Four teams one year. That is what Calhoun had to contend with taking over the only team never earned a bid. Indeed a program that some people said should downgrade the a weaker conference. You can argue all you want about how good the starters Calhoun inherited were vs what Hurley got. The circumstances aren’t even vaguely comparable