Hurley's X's and O's | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Hurley's X's and O's

Sphinx said:
On the one hand, Hurley came to UConn as a successful mid-major coach, and after 13 games, has proven himself still a successful mid-major coach. In fact, he is an unbeaten 8-0. It is early to make an assessment beyond that.

The case that it is early is provided by the experience of Jim Calhoun.

Calhoun came to UConn as a successful mid-major coach, and after three seasons was 47-46, one third of the wins against mid-majors. In other words, still a successful mid-major coach. While he started his 4th season 10-3, it was largely against mid-majors and included an 0-2 start in the Big East with a blow-out 93-62 loss at St. John's. The 4th season turned out to be the "Dream Season."

Based on Calhoun's start, would you have successfully predicted his career as a high-level D1 coach?
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Coaches learn too. Hurley will grow--he has at every school he's been to.
 
Sphinx said:
On the one hand, Hurley came to UConn as a successful mid-major coach, and after 13 games, has proven himself still a successful mid-major coach. In fact, he is an unbeaten 8-0. It is early to make an assessment beyond that.

The case that it is early is provided by the experience of Jim Calhoun.

Calhoun came to UConn as a successful mid-major coach, and after three seasons was 47-46, one third of the wins against mid-majors. In other words, still a successful mid-major coach. While he started his 4th season 10-3, it was largely against mid-majors and included an 0-2 start in the Big East with a blow-out 93-62 loss at St. John's. The 4th season turned out to be the "Dream Season."

Based on Calhoun's start, would you have successfully predicted his career as a high-level D1 coach?
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We would all be much happier if people hadn’t started shouting out Calhoun comparisons the moment Hurley was hired. That’s an unfair standard that no new hire should be held to.
 
What about a lineup change?

I think we have consistently seen Jalen play better when he runs the point. Maybe that partially explains why he is playing so poorly. He needs the ball in his hands more?

Jalen
CV
Sid
Polley
Cobb/Carlton

Or

Jalen
AG
CV
Polley
Cobb/Carlton

Less times with Jalen off the ball. If Jalen is in the game he should run the show. Less minutes to TS and BA.
 
Jay-Bone said:
If you really think Bouknight and Gaffney are much more talented than Jalen and Gilbert, then where do I find some of that delusion of grandeur?
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Lol, every recruit is Jordan, or Abdul-Jabar before they get on campus. You've been on the BY since 2014, surely you know this by now.

That said it will be nice to have a solid core of big guards next year to complement Al.
 
Jay-Bone said:
No. What I'm saying is:

If you really think Bouknight and Gaffney are much more talented than Jalen and Gilbert, then where do I find some of that delusion of grandeur?

Sorry if that was unclear the first time.

Jalen was a ridiculous winner in high school and Gilbert was a McD, yet posters are already convinced that late top 100 recruits will be much better as soon as stepping on court. As if UConn has ever been led by freshmen before.

PS, I think its adorable when you guys think RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson are walking through the door next year. I just want some of those drugs, thats all.
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That isn't really the point. I think most expect Gilbert to be a huge part of the future. Same with Sid. The point is we need to, and have begun to upgrade the overall talent level
 
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kemba said:
That isn't really the point. I think most expect Gilbert to be a huge part of the future. Same with Sid. The point is we need to, and have begun to upgrade the overall talent level
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Sure. Mostly in the front court. All this Jalen Sucks talk is nonsense. He has been very good in most games and very efficient. But he wasn't that play in 2 of the last 3. Nobody coming in next year is going to be an immediate upgrade on Adams. Not even close.

I honestly never much loved Calhoun's offenses, especially late in his career. But basketball was different in the 90's on 00's than it is now. Ollie ran an offense straight out of 1991. Hurley's is better than that, but it's lacking something. If you are relying on your guy to beat his man one on one, in order for the offense to work....in 2018, then you aren't running a modern offense.

I think he's a great coach and a perfect fit. I am not really worried. I think it's mostly going to take some time before these guys "get it" and run the offense properly. So many horrible habits, bad rushed or guarded shots, not passing the ball, not moving off the ball, ball screeners rolling long before the guard gets to the screen. I'll add that in many cases these turnovers come because the guys think "I need to pass" and throw it away. Sometimes they pass up easy shots and throw the ball away, then the next time they should pass and force it. At moments they look good and it works. Then the defense adjusts and they go back to bad habits.

What this team could really use is a coach on the floor level player. Hoped Gilbert would be that but not so far. We obviously also need a front court that can catch and score. Somebody like Shonn Miller would make this team so much better.
 
To me this is not complicated. We don't have a consistent inside presence. Some good teams don't have this. But what they have is 3 or 4 really good consistent outside shooters.

We have neither. So what Villanova did yesterday (and Hurley said this after the game) was either switch every screen or play zone and sag off the big inside. If you don't have the personnel to beat this, you could be John Wooden as a coach. You won't succeed.

Hurley is recruiting to his style. Bouknight and Gaffney are plus athletes who can shoot. They will need to get stronger. But I think they will be solid 3-4 years players who will win a lot of games.

Akok needs to get stronger, but once he does, he is going to be a nightmare matchup. A 6-10 guy who can block shots, get out and run and shoot is tough to defend.

Getting Kofi is the key. You have a guy like that down low, and it changes everything. Teams can't suddenly go zone or switch on ball screens.

This will take time. I don't know what to expect in conference. I think it will be up and down. Again, I will say that Iowa, Florida State and Nova are better than any team in our league.
 
HuskyHawk said:
I thought his offense at URI sucked. It was isolation heavy. A marginal upgrade over what Ollie ran. His defense is better, once these guys learn how to play it.

That said, he clearly called for us to feed the post early, and we did. Those were bad passes to Carlton and our first turnovers of the game. Other passes inside also lead to turnovers. Cobb could have helped. Nova could extend their man as far as necessary because there were no players running backdoor or cutting. Watched them against KU and the Jayhawks killed them with those kinds of plays.

I think Dan is a very smart guy. I think he knows basketball and will, over time, run an offense that can adapt and score against any defense. He will need the right players to do that. Our guards can’t get free because there is no inside threat, and nobody like Polley moving enough to create openings. Polley needs to be running around like Rip out there. Instead he’s an absolute statue, acting like he’s Shaq or something.
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Exactly, Nova played our guards fairly tight and they were unable to move the ball, get off clean shots, or find open lanes to pass. Our lack of an inside game allows teams to overload the perimeter. Hurley wanted to go down low early, our guards couldn’t/didn’t get the ball down low and our centers are not able to create space. We need some bigs. Cobb not playing hurt us.

Also, they didn’t utilize Polley, he was open in the corner often and our guards either where head down to drive or chose to pass it back around the other way.
 
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ball movement has been bad and offensive setS?? Have not seen many. Not going to call for Hurley's head, but hope he is on a short leash.
 
Sportsfan71 said:
Same team as last year.. bound to expose itself sooner or later... help is on the way next year! This year is house money!
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I too think things will be better next year, but that’s no excuse for doing less than should be done with this year’s team. Several of these guys will be on the team next year. They may also need to be leaders.
 
kemba said:
That isn't really the point. I think most expect Gilbert to be a huge part of the future. Same with Sid. The point is we need to, and have begun to upgrade the overall talent level
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I can think of a number of teams with highly rated recruits that underperform. It takes coaching too. I’m not saying that with better x&o we don’t need better talent. I’m saying let’s not just rely on talent. You can’t be a championship team on talent alone.

 
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Jaker said:
ball movement has been bad and offensive setS?? Have not seen many. Not going to call for Hurley's head, but hope he is on a short leash.
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He is. If he doesn't make the second weekend of the NCAAT this year, pretty sure he gone.
 
Jaker said:
ball movement has been bad and offensive setS?? Have not seen many. Not going to call for Hurley's head, but hope he is on a short leash.
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short leash? Lmao, firing Hurley would be the death of UConn basketball
 
Complaining about Hurley is absurd. In game adjustments are effective when you have talent and depth. Hurley does not have that luxury. Do yourselves a favor and make a copy of this roster. Four years from now maybe three guys from this current team would even be part of that rotation. Seriously, we have no front court and no depth behind our back court. Try making adjustments with that. That's right, you can't.
 
Doctor Hoop said:
I can think of a number of teams with highly rated recruits that underperform. It takes coaching too. I’m not saying that with better x&o we don’t need better talent. I’m saying let’s not just rely on talent. You can’t be a championship team on talent alone.

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Yea in that movie he also said "I'm not looking for the best players, I'm looking for the right ones." Lets give him a chance to get his guys in here, because right now there's a lot of flaws with this roster
 
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Doctor Hoop said:
I too think things will be better next year, but that’s no excuse for doing less than should be done with this year’s team. Several of these guys will be on the team next year. They may also need to be leaders.
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Me thinks those who will be on the team will be pushed further down the bench.. no worries, be happy
 
Bringing this post back after the games against SMU & Cincy. I think we are seeing, in addition to the grittier, more determined play, a little better structure on offense. Guys seem to know their roles better, and I’m seeing space created for drives. Particularly early in the game the kickouts for 3’s were excellent. And they are letting Carlton, at least, do a little work inside.

I’m still not a fan of the 3 point line weave. Still need to work inside out a bit more, and particularly against zone move the D side to side. We still drive into traffic at times. More work on screening away from the ball in addition to PnR, and hit that roll guy occasionally. But it’s early January and if this can progress steadily by February we’ll have something.
 
Xs and Os have looked great the past few games. Some nice play designs, lots of movement without the ball, less dribbling, etc. Problem is that we foul too much, we turn the ball over largely on sloppy/lazy passes and we don’t have the proper personnel.
 
I don't think Hurley has implemented much that's new; the players are finally starting to execute it. Like, for one of the first times all year, Gilbert came around a pick, cut to the basketball, and caught the pass moving towards the hoop with his man behind him.

This stuff, when it's done right, looks easy, but it takes a load of practice to get guys to run it fluidly.
 
kansashusky said:
That’s just not true. Look at Ohio state, look at Louisville, look at Florida, look at LSU.
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I've been impressed with the job Coach Mack is doing at Louisville. I really wanted to see their program sink. Maybe because misery loves company. Probably more because of Pitino and a bit of jealousy after they got the ACC invite, but they seem to be in good hands early into Mack's tenure. Perhaps bad karma will still catch up to them someday soon though....
 
Gwynning said:
I've been impressed with the job Coach Mack is doing at Louisville. I really wanted to see their program sink. Maybe because misery loves company. Probably more because of Pitino and a bit of jealousy after they got the ACC invite, but they seem to be in good hands early into Mack's tenure. Perhaps bad karma will still catch up to them someday soon though....
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After all the stuff that's gone on there the last few years it's unbelievable that Mack's been able to recruit the quality of class he has coming in. Not sure what you tell kids to get them to sign when there's been all the negative press on the Adidas money.
If there's anything to the "buying players" issue they SHOULD get the death penalty according to some articles I've read about how serious it's SUPPOSED to be if you have a new major violation while under the serious type of probation they're still under. I'm with you though on the desire to see some major hammer come down on them.
 
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