Hurley's X's and O's

[CL82]

Don't think the dribbling was the problem, the lazy passes were

Pointless dribbling on the perimeter just burns clock and allows the defense to set up. Swing the ball and it creates gaps. Driving and kicking creates open looks. Catching the ball, taking two stationary dribbles before passing does nothing.

 

[Kenny11]

He’s a good coach but he doesn’t run anything very complex. Most college coaches don’t.

He was outcoached today though. We still would’ve lost though since Adams simply is not showing up for big games.

 

[uconnbill]

Adams looks out if it it thinking about something else. Just not there today, which UConn needs if they are going to make the NCAA tournament

 

[Marat]

Hurley never adjusted to Villanova's defense in the second half and that is on him.

Dan will learn from this.

 

[Scrutineer]

That’s just not true. Look at Ohio state, look at Louisville, look at Florida, look at LSU.

You mean Mike White who's been at Florida for four years?

 

[zls44]

That’s just not true. Look at Ohio state, look at Louisville, look at Florida, look at LSU.

Suggesting this roster is at the level of any of those is hilariously ignorant

 

[tentoes4rings]

Kimani is actually running the offense. Give them time. They don't have their ideal personnel yet. When u dont hit 3s consistently and have no reliable inside scoring you are easy to defend. You can only run so many plays.

That’s exactly the issue, no reliable inside presence to open up things for shooters. Especially with Cobb buried deep in the doghouse.

 

[RayRay34]

This team has improved but it still has so far to go. When you have a lot of ground to make up even drastic improvements seem small as we see with this team. Plus The last coach, if he were with this team would be 7-6 at Best, with several close and/or overtimes wins.

 

[husky429]

Xs and Os: what would you all have done differently to beat the zone + when nova had bigs bringing the ball down the floor?

 

[Tex-Lager93]

While that's true, he should be showing more actual coaching with the players he's got this year. If we see some of that as the season progresses, fine. Though they're not his players, they are players, and some have some tools - a McDAA point guard, a 1st team all-conf. guard, a 6'8" 3 point threat, a 6'10 center with length, a junior sniper with a shooter's conscience, a highly recruited athletic freshman swingman, a couple of 5th year players who were quite productive on their prior Div. 1 teams. Etc.

There’s no question that we should show better than today. But the McD AA and the great swingman are essentially both Freshman - two years and a year removed respectively from competitive basketball trying to play at the highest level. It takes time. A lot of the other guys have improved but need more seasoning in big games against big teams. And we need leadership from JA, which we’re not getting. I’m not sure there’s offense sets that overcome that...but it shouldn’t have gotten that bad.

 

[Sportsfan71]

I know I'm in for a boatload of grief posting this, to the point that I almost titled the post "Sacrilege!". I like Hurley's fire, his passion, but I've yet to be impressed this year with the offense or defense in terms of creativity and/or tailoring it to the opponent. When we have more talent, we win, when we don't we lose. And regardless of the opponent our offense looks the same to me, and not much different from last year. On defense we still seem to make iffy plays that open the floor for the opponent.

I'm not seeing creativity, offensive patterns that play to players strengths, etc. We have three guys that can make a 3 more or less reliably - Vital, Polley, and Gilbert - and both Adams occasionally. And none of the plays are designed to get them a 3. We have two starters, Adams and Gilbert, who can drive and finish at the hoop reliably, and Smith and Vital occasionally can do it. But none of the plays open up the floor for them to take advantage of that They get to the hoop, or near it, surrounded and outmanned. There's way too much standing around, with guys watching one-on-one play.

Maybe this is just the players - bad habits, not enough time to work on it, not enough talent, etc. But particularly when your players aren't as talented as you'd like them to be, you've got to create more structure to put them in positions that work for them. Nova ran an NBA-style offense in the second half today, and it worked for them because they could seemingly all drive, and also shoot from 3. We ain't got that.

Same team as last year.. bound to expose itself sooner or later... help is on the way next year! This year is house money!

 

[QDOG5]

Jalen has digressed

I could go on and on about this quote but I won't.

 

[QDOG5]

Adams and Gilbert, who can drive and finish at the hoop reliably,

Adams can finish but Gilbert has been a turnover machine when he gets into the lane. He's a lousy finisher right now. He needs to drive and dish or work on a floater.

 

[GemParty]

Playing with guys you personally scouted and recruited is an excuse to a degree. When you take over an NBA team are you expected to win with the same guys, that the previous guy failed with? I thought we’d do better than, 1-4 vs OOC p5, but what do I know. I’m a fan.

 

[AdamaNation]

I'll be more specific - Hurley is going to need the time I mentioned. The talent we presently have is not good enough to compete with teams like Nova or Duke or others. Jalen is supposedly our best player. That should tell you all you need to know about talent level.

This team has way more talent than any team Hurley has ever had and the competition overall is similar at this point. Hurley has never been an offensive coach. Do remember the board talking about this past year? Guard oriented system. Looks familiar. Without a stud big it’s all irrelevant.

 

[Deepster]

URI wasn’t an isolation offense. It was guard oriented. And he needs his guards in there. Adams just isn’t an alpha as an offensive talent or as a leader on the court. His decisions. His demeanor. He makes no one else better.

 

[Chief00]

I know I'm in for a boatload of grief posting this, to the point that I almost titled the post "Sacrilege!". I like Hurley's fire, his passion, but I've yet to be impressed this year with the offense or defense in terms of creativity and/or tailoring it to the opponent. When we have more talent, we win, when we don't we lose. And regardless of the opponent our offense looks the same to me, and not much different from last year. On defense we still seem to make iffy plays that open the floor for the opponent.

I'm not seeing creativity, offensive patterns that play to players strengths, etc. We have three guys that can make a 3 more or less reliably - Vital, Polley, and Gilbert - and both Adams occasionally. And none of the plays are designed to get them a 3. We have two starters, Adams and Gilbert, who can drive and finish at the hoop reliably, and Smith and Vital occasionally can do it. But none of the plays open up the floor for them to take advantage of that They get to the hoop, or near it, surrounded and outmanned. There's way too much standing around, with guys watching one-on-one play.

Maybe this is just the players - bad habits, not enough time to work on it, not enough talent, etc. But particularly when your players aren't as talented as you'd like them to be, you've got to create more structure to put them in positions that work for them. Nova ran an NBA-style offense in the second half today, and it worked for them because they could seemingly all drive, and also shoot from 3. We ain't got that.

Fair criticisms.

 

[kemba]

When u dont hit 3s consistently and have no reliable inside scoring you are easy to defend. You can only run so many plays.

It's amazing how many people just gloss over those 2 points.

 

[gtcam]

That’s just not true. Look at Ohio state, look at Louisville, look at Florida, look at LSU.

Yes, its an easy excuse

 

[Towney007]

I don't mean to be a jerk, I really don't - but i'm gobsmacked with people's observations on this board in general when it comes to the talent levels on this team. There was some WILD stuff flying around Twitter today, people trying to find people to 'blame', etc - as if there was some actual expectation around this team and what they should be doing against 'better' competition, etc.

I hate to break it to people, but this team isn't good. They haven't been good, they're not good now and they're not gonna get better. The talent isn't there. They keep showing you that on a week to week basis and have basically done that for 2-3 years, now. Like at what point is that not impossible to accept?

Look at the other teams. Look at them side by side. Those teams have size. They have length. They have wingspan. Everyone on that VIllanova team could shoot a 3 and drive to the hole. All of them. Like it was a minimum expectation to put a warm up suit on today. They're bigger, stronger, they do literally everything better. It doesn't take effort or even that much casual observation to just SEE the difference standing on the floor next to our guys. And they're in a DOWN year!

They physically have a gear they can shift to where our guys - no matter what they do - they can't do what those guys do. They can't cover space as well, can't run as fast, jump as high, etc.

My point is - effort isn't enough. And getting on these kids for not caring or not having 'urgency'... is just so out of touch with the reality of what's happening in front of you. They're trying REALLY hard. But it's hard to look like you're trying hard when the other team just has the ability to barely break a sweat and manhandle you. Your best effort doesn't even look like effort. And there's the difference.

These kids are great guys. They work hard. We should support them and cheer them on. But guys - they can't compete at that level.

And I really don't want to hear about Gilbert being a MDAA or Jalen or any of that. For the actual talent on the team - Adams is a guy who is effort on his own agenda - which is symptomatic of just a lack of personal drive and probably bad guidance. You're not un-doing that after a year. If you're Hurley, it's not even worth un-doing because he's not going to be here. Gilbert and Wilson are and should be really good. But they're basically both first year players. The whole rest of the roster are guys who are mid-majorish guys, one tool types, bench fodder or juco orts. They can stay competitive in this conference with that - they can't get into the NCAA tournament with it, never mind beat teams like Villanova (even on a down year). I LIKE these kids a lot, but outside of Gilbert, Wilson and MAYBE Polley - there just isn't anyone on this roster i'd be like 'man I hope to god we don't lose them'.

Jim Calhoun wouldn't get 25 wins out of this group, never mind Hurley. So until there' actual talent on this roster again - discussions about his ability to game manage are probably best left on hold. He was subbing guys a ton today, but it didn't matter. Players aren't good enough to run the offense, players aren't good enough to keep up with the other team - I mean it's just whatever bullet sponge you feel like putting out on the floor.

I'm HOPING we can squeeze every bit of basketball out of these guys, but i'm skeptical. I'm gonna route for them knowing what they are, and being okay with that. The biggest difference will be made when we start getting guys in like Akok, Bouknight, etc. - and then over half to 2/3's of your roster are top 100 guys. Then you'll see the strides. Until then - woof. This is what you'll get.

Win 20 games, play some post season basketball in SOME tournament, get a good recruiting class in here. Do that - it's a really successful year-1.

 

[Travelman6]

It wasn't outrageous of ppl on Twitter, here, fbook or elsewhere to at least expect a competitive forty minutes today against a team that, as you said, is in a down year and just lost to Penn.

 

[Blaneylover]

Not sure what Hurley can do with this group. Perhaps Adams is fragile and Hurley knows it. The announcers talked about Hurley not happy with selfish, look at me play but then the players still were trying to put up highlights. These are Ollie's boys and all that comes with that. Remember Ollie rarely pulled his players when they were mistake proned or playing selfishly. If Hurley pushes the wrong buttons with this group he'll lose them 'forever'. I bet its delicate. He a new boss with a job to do, with old employees who didn't like to work and aren't used to working together.

Already thought, he's done a job on Vital who is nowhere near the player he was last year. Cobb 'was' looking better too. AG is new and still playing like he hasn't left high school, so to that end he's a freshman adjusting to D1 play. Hurley had to assign Jalen to the leadership role but Jalen is not that kind of leader. Carlton looks better this year when playing mid majors.

Just saying there is improvement, and maybe that should be enough this year. Forget NCAA Tourney and focus on the direction of the team. I'm more enthused and engaged this year, even looking forward to watching each game. Last year I would have my laptop out multi-tasking and sometimes even have the game on as background noise. Perhaps I will lower my expectations and just enjoy the transformation and hopefully the beginning of something special.

If we are better this year than last year and considering the past couple of years, then I will label this squad a success in spite of all of our pimples. In two years I expect all of us to be in a happy place. Our incoming freshman class will be exciting but they too will take a year or so to adjust.

Its a new chapter folks, the book isn't finished but its becoming an enjoyable read.

I agree that Coach Hurley is walking a fine line with Ollie's players. The thing is that he will be uncompromising in his level of expectation. I completely disagree with your take on Vital. He has been a better player this year. He was our best player today.

 

[Tenspro2002]

There are a lot of valid points of view here. I see it as follows:

A coach's performance and responsibility falls into a few different areas that basically form a pyramid.

1) At the bottom is effort and toughness. 2) Above that is general basketball IQ. 3) At the top is specific X's and O's sets and execution. You need #1 before you can coach #2, and you need both of those before you can instill #3. Ollie was an abject failure at all of them.

Hurley has clearly been emphasizing #1, and succeeding. He has the guys playing hard when they were used to rolling over at the sign of adversity.

Now he needs to shift gears and coach up the team in terms of basketball IQ. Unfortunately, some of this is innate -- and KO didn't necessarily recruit for this, so a lot of the holdovers are lacking. And some of it can be eroded by bad habits that have accumulated over the last few years.

But while Hurley has generally been positive so far as long as guys have been showing effort, he needs to start cracking down on the low-IQ play, dumb turnovers, carelessness with the ball, getting lost on defense, over-helping/switching, etc.

Bringing in new players next year will help, but he needs to start showing something in the basketball IQ area this year as well. Coaching intensity isn't enough.

 

[Kitaman]

I agree that Coach Hurley is walking a fine line with Ollie's players. The thing is that he will be uncompromising in his level of expectation. I completely disagree with your take on Vital. He has been a better player this year. He was our best player today.

I agree, I say that but could have made it clearer.

 

[Jay-Bone]

The talent isn't there. The biggest difference will be made when we start getting guys in like Akok, Bouknight, etc.

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?

 

[polycom]

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?

So you’re saying Hurley will develop talent at the same clip as Ollie? Because after talent you need to be able to develop it into something. Sure jalen has more talent but look how he plays...

 

[Jay-Bone]

So you’re saying Hurley will develop talent at the same clip as Ollie? Because after talent you need to be able to develop it into something. Sure jalen has more talent but look how he plays...

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.

 

[Ts5034]

I dont like to get to caught up on the X’s and O’s when it comes to offense. People rave about Phil Jackson being a genius with “The Triangle”. Thats non sense because what it came down to was...give the ball to Jordan, then get the ball to Kobe or throw it down low to Shaq. If and when Hurley can get good offensive players in here who can execute and make shots, he will look like a great X’s and O’s coach.

 

[AdamaNation]

I agree that Coach Hurley is walking a fine line with Ollie's players. The thing is that he will be uncompromising in his level of expectation. I completely disagree with your take on Vital. He has been a better player this year. He was our best player today.

He’s been at least our second best player for 3 games

 

[Sphinx]

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?