I hope Hurley reconsiders his stance on preseason tournaments

[Scottobot]

This year’s Maui might have been a disaster, but UConn has had a lot of success in these tournaments in the past. Winning the Phil Knight Nike tournament In 22-23 was a key part in propelling that team to championship. Same thing for 2011 championship season when Kemba and crew won the Maui tournament to start season.
It is also nice to get to watch a bunch of games over Thanksgiving.

 

[temery]

I can see the cost of traveling to Maui being cost prohibitive, but they shouldn't say no to all future invites. You never know with the future holds.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

We prep better/play a team or two with a pulse before this tournament and we win 2/3 games. It was all smiles until we lost. I don’t mind the 1 game big showcases either, though.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

If we can ink some deals for 3-4 OOC home-and-homes (or games at MSG) each season from a roster of teams like:

Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas, Gonzaga, Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, Michigan, Mich State, Oregon, Baylor, UCLA

I wouldn't care if we ever played in an MTE ever again

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Those type of tournaments serve as rewards for the players too. Having a trip to Maui, Atlantis, etc. is a great team bonding trip and pay off for their hard work. Places that they may have never been before and get to experience as a group.

 

[HailUConn]

Hurley is very articulate and expounded on why. There is no between time to practice where they can focus on fixing the problems/flaws exposed during the last game & prepare the team for next opponents which could be crucial for the young developing teams. Basically the team is not beneficial from these MTEs.

Not knock on you, but Hurley and Co. see and juggle a whole lot more on his plate than meets the eyes of us casual fans.

 

[Chonky]

They are high risk/high reward. What that means to each individual team will vary. And when schedules are made it’s impossible to know where you lie.

Two time defending champ with a target on its back and a team that clearly was overrated going in. It skewed way towards risk for us and that’s the way it played out.

We essentially got an extra loss. We were dead in the water for the Dayton game after losing the first two. Demoralized and tired and playing an opponent who is stoked to beat you. We didn’t stand a chance.

I think three game tournaments are too much risk. Two is probably fine. That’s in addition to the cost of travel, etc.

 

[HuskyHawk]

If we can ink some deals for 3-4 OOC home-and-homes (or games at MSG) each season from a roster of teams like:

Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas, Gonzaga, Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, Michigan, Mich State, Oregon, Baylor, UCLA

I wouldn't care if we ever played in an MTE ever again

That seems to be the plan. Will still play local neutral site games in NY, like coaches for cancer.

I won't miss these events if we replace them with suitable games. Would be much better for the home fans who get some really appealing games at home.

 

[SixRings]

This article helps explain a little more about Maui. Doesn’t sound like all MTE’s are this expensive but that’s a lot clams.

With the Maui Invitational returning to its scenic Lahaina home, questions emerge about tournament's future

In a time of big economic changes in college athletics, the Maui tournament may be forced to change later this decade if it wants to keep getting the biggest schools

www.cbssports.com

 

[temery]

Hurley is very articulate and expounded on why.

define "articulate." Hurley is well educated, and from what I gather he's an intelligent man. But there's not much of a filter between his brain and his mouth. I like that about him, but I'd hardly call this articulate.

With that said, I see one of his strengths as his ability to communicate with his players.

 

[ctchamps]

If we can ink some deals for 3-4 OOC home-and-homes (or games at MSG) each season from a roster of teams like:

Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas, Gonzaga, Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, Michigan, Mich State, Oregon, Baylor, UCLA

I wouldn't care if we ever played in an MTE ever again

Much more financially lucrative and a better opportunity for fans to get to see better games live.

How many fans can get to Maui compared to watch them play at MSG.

 

[Dooooooomed]

If we can ink some deals for 3-4 OOC home-and-homes (or games at MSG) each season from a roster of teams like:

Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas, Gonzaga, Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, Michigan, Mich State, Oregon, Baylor, UCLA

I wouldn't care if we ever played in an MTE ever again

Yup. Throw in a game at Mohegan too.

 

[ctchamps]

define "articulate." Hurley is well educated, and from what I gather he's an intelligent man. But there's not much of a filter between his brain and his mouth. I like that about him, but I'd hardly call this articulate.

With that said, I see one of his strengths as his ability to communicate with his players.

I agree. He didn’t need to express this in a press conference especially after being in the emotional state he was in.

But that’s who he is. Someone that’s unfiltered. Most of the time it’s refreshing to listen to someone who is honest about their thoughts and feelings. Nothing phony about these individuals. Most of us can’t be like that unless we’re anonymous like on a sports blog.

But it sometimes is better not to show your hand.

Now JC was quite a different person. He never expressed his opinion.

 

[kobebeanbryant]

We’re taking our ball and going home

 

[temery]

Now JC was quite a different person. He never expressed his opinion.

JC expressed just about every opinion imaginable, butnobodycouldunderstandwhathewassaying.

 

[temery]

We’re taking our ball and going home

No, I think he's going to Texas with the rest of the team.

 

[hardcorehusky]

Benedict had talked about lost revenue for the brand and program a few days before Maui in an article. He might have started this and Hurley followed after what went down.

 

[auror]

You have to read/hear anything from the AD this year about the future in the context of revenue sharing incoming and Hurley/Auriemma contracts. All of the budget fluff is going to be gone. It is now a competitive advantage to have money as opposed to facilities/experiences, which means all of that stuff is going to be scaled back.

We'll do stuff like the Legends Classic from last year still. But 3-day traveling events are gone unless they pay out to players.

 

[mauconnfan]

I’m not a fan of even saying it in the media right after you lost 3 think the timing looked awful.

 

[Scoe]

It’s time to move on y’all.

 

[king conn]

The new NIL tournaments will be the rage

I hope his comments won't deter an invitation. That hurts the players.

 

[TheRick]

Personally, I hope they keep going to these tournaments. Skipped Maui since it's so far but I have gone to several of these preseason tounamenst and always had a blast. PK80, Battle for Atlantis, Charleston Classic, just to name a few. I go not just to see Uconn but other teams as well. Just because Hurley got butthurt this year is no reason to swear off all future tournaments. Just my opinion.

 

[upstater]

This year’s Maui might have been a disaster, but UConn has had a lot of success in these tournaments in the past. Winning the Phil Knight Nike tournament In 22-23 was a key part in propelling that team to championship. Same thing for 2011 championship season when Kemba and crew won the Maui tournament to start season.
It is also nice to get to watch a bunch of games over Thanksgiving.

You really have to put this into the context of what Benedict said BEFORE the Maui tournament

 

[StllH8L8ner]

I hope he reconsiders also and maybe something closer to home would be more attractive, but the buy games need to be better. You could’ve swung a dead cat and found better competition than Le Moyne and East Texas A&M. They simply weren’t prepared for Maui.

 

[7774]

I wonder if we'll still do some 4 team MTEs, otherwise if I'm not mistaken we'll be playing less games.