Is Hurley Really The Answer?

[Walker11]

I don't believe you'll get an answer from @Captbluefin on this. The totality of his relatively small number of posts gives me cause to wonder about his motives here. I can and have suggested the same about some others.

What most strikes me is how currently I have a higher confidence in a number of posters who I've had on Ignore for quite some time. Clearly, there were intentional disrupters in the post-season last year. No reason to believe it won't be or already isn't the same this year.

Just so you know, I just took you off ignore

 

[intlzncster]

I just have this sinking feeling that Nate Oats is going to repeat his success next year, Boheim is going to retire and he's going to coach 'cuse and do wonders there. No rhyme or reason for it, just know it will be our luck that we had no choice but to hire a guy this year

Uggh. Oats will take care of his half. He's got a nice team coming back and some good guys coming in. He's going to be good.

That said, I don't think he'd jump this year. We were a year or two too early for his career path.

 

[intlzncster]

In a vacuum, I like Oat's style as much if not more than Hurley's, but there's a lot more to building and running than simply on the floor coaching. He might have it. Idk tho

 

[JMick]

In a vacuum, I like Oat's style as much if not more than Hurley's, but there's a lot more to building and running than simply on the floor coaching. He might have it. Idk tho

Oats offense is pretty. JC never ran a great offense but he (almost) always put the pieces in the right places. That, IMO, is more important than a scheme.

 

[Walker11]

OK so 2 minutes of research tells me that Hurley coached Tristan Thompson (before he kicked him off the team) and Lance Thomas in high school. Both NBA players. Samardo Samuels spent 3 years with the Cavs after Saint Benedicts and Louisville. Greg Echenique was a very good college player, who is in fact a tall person and played at St. Benedicts. Plus Hurley coached JR Smith, which is just fun.

What does this mean? Probably nothing. I just wanted to dispute this one guy's notion that Hurley has apparently never seen someone 6'9.5 before.

 

[JMick]

OK so 2 minutes of research tells me that Hurley coached Tristan Thompson (before he kicked him off the team) and Lance Thomas in high school. Both NBA players. Samardo Samuels spent 3 years with the Cavs after Saint Benedicts and Louisville. Greg Echenique was a very good college player, who is in fact a tall person and played at St. Benedicts. Plus Hurley coached JR Smith, which is just fun.

What does this mean? Probably nothing. I just wanted to dispute this one guy's notion that Hurley has apparently never seen someone 6'9.5 before.

 

[Scrutiner]

Getting clobbered by Duke with a RI roster doesn't mean he's a bad coach.

But isn't he responsible for the RI roster? And the fact he has very little coming back next year means he's failed to consistently recruit good players. Some people question if he'll leave but looking at next year's roster tells me he'd be foolish if he doesn't take a good offer, from wherever it comes.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Send it home, Jerome

FFS, JMick ... posting the Jerome Lane backboard breaker video including over 6'9" Bridgeport native big man, Charles Smith, ... which school are you supporting?

 

[Captbluefin]

I don't believe you'll get an answer from @Captbluefin on this. The totality of his relatively small number of posts gives me cause to wonder about his motives here. I can and have suggested the same about some others.

What most strikes me is how currently I have a higher confidence in a number of posters who I've had on Ignore for quite some time. Clearly, there were intentional disrupters in the post-season last year. No reason to believe it won't be or already isn't the same this year.

Yea OK so because I don’t post enough you are questioning my motives????

I want to be a championship contender every season if possible. That’s my motive.
Nothing more nothing less !!!!

After KO’s destruction of our basketball program I am not prepared to settle for just getting in and getting to a sweet 16 every now and then...

We had a powerhouse here and now we have a outhouse...

We are about to turn into a basketball punchline and I hate it.

I thought that the name and history had more pull than many say it does..

But HANSJOB DINGLEBURY don’t judge my motives like a teenage girl trying to look cool for your friends. Because I do not post enough.. Who the heck are you ??

 

[JMick]

FFS, JMick ... posting the Jerome Lane backboard breaker video including over 6'9" Bridgeport native big man, Charles Smith, ... which school are you supporting?

it's march! that's my only excuse

 

[JMick]

I want to be a championship contender every season if possible. That’s my motive.
Nothing more nothing less !!!!
Nothing more nothing less !!!!
Nothing more nothing less !!!!
Nothing more nothing less !!!!

uhhhhhh

 

[Scrutiner]

The guy isn't even our coach yet and people are complaining. It wasn't fair to complain about Ollie after six years but it's not even year one yet and the Ollie pollyanas already want Hurley gone. The cognitive dissonance is astounding.

Many people are spoiled, apprehensive and, after seeing the guy with the "the end is near" sign, panicked that Benedict won't get it right and thus will turn UConn into UMass or Rhody from the old Yankee Conference days. It's hard after two decades of glory in the real Big East, being able to lord it over Syracuse and BC, and even Kentucky and Duke, and now not being able to dominate a weaker league.

 

[Captbluefin]

I guess if one does not have the same opinion as the Boneyard’s regular posters you are not allowed to say anything without getting slammed.

I think Hurley is going to be disappointing. And we are settling for him. And it’s not a popular opnion.. But nobody had expressed why they think he can lead us back to dominance or even winning the conference the majority of the time.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Yea OK so because I don’t post enough you are questioning my motives????

I want to be a championship contender every season if possible. That’s my motive.
Nothing more nothing less !!!!

After KO’s destruction of our basketball program I am not prepared to settle for just getting in and getting to a sweet 16 every now and then...

We had a powerhouse here and now we have a outhouse...

We are about to turn into a basketball punchline and I hate it.

I thought that the name and history had more pull than many say it does..

But HANSJOB DINGLEBURY don’t judge my motives like a teenage girl trying to look cool for your friends. Because I do not post enough.. Who the heck are you ??

That was nice. You should post more

 

[JMick]

But nobody had expressed why they think he can lead us back to dominance or even winning the conference the majority of the time.

they have. you're ignoring them because it doesn't suit your opinion

 

[Stainmaster]

Yea OK so because I don’t post enough you are questioning my motives????

I want to be a championship contender every season if possible. That’s my motive.
Nothing more nothing less !!!!

After KO’s destruction of our basketball program I am not prepared to settle for just getting in and getting to a sweet 16 every now and then...

We had a powerhouse here and now we have a outhouse...

We are about to turn into a basketball punchline and I hate it.

I thought that the name and history had more pull than many say it does..

But HANSJOB DINGLEBURY don’t judge my motives like a teenage girl trying to look cool for your friends. Because I do not post enough.. Who the heck are you ??

Leave Hansjob Dinglebury alone. Almost all of us prefer his posts to yours by a lot.

 

[intlzncster]

I think Hurley is going to be disappointing. And we are settling for him. And it’s not a popular opnion.. But nobody had expressed why they think he can lead us back to dominance or even winning the conference the majority of the time.

People has stated all the reasons in the world why it could work. But nobody knows man! It's just a guess.

There's only 5-10 or so coaches in the country where people could categorically state that would happen.

 

[Huskyforlife]

I guess if one does not have the same opinion as the Boneyard’s regular posters you are not allowed to say anything without getting slammed.

I think Hurley is going to be disappointing. And we are settling for him. And it’s not a popular opnion.. But nobody had expressed why they think he can lead us back to dominance or even winning the conference the majority of the time.

This isn't your safe space, you post dumb stuff on a message board, and odds are a bunch of the thousands of posters here are going to roast you for it. Does that surprise you?

 

[champs99and04]

The fact is that the vast majority of people giving their opinion are casual college basketball fans, including myself this past year and don't really have an opinion that deserves to be valued. Bluedog and champs watch more college basketball than anyone on here and aren't elated. Not that that means anything in this particular instance but I value their opinion more than the guy who watched 3 URI games this year (me). A lot of people legitimately only watch Uconn. I like the guy. I'd say I'm a 7/10.

In fairness I've watched a lot less college basketball this year, but I would echo your 7/10. There's a lot to like about him, I just think people are in this mode where confirmation bias is running wild. Some of the commentary after the 25 point loss to Duke is the sort you'd hear from a mom group on Facebook. I was waiting for a yarder to rush down from the balcony and pass out orange slices during timeouts.

I'm still kind of sour about the KO thing. It was time for him to go, but a lot of the fan base was over-the-top obnoxious about it and I think that managed to run off some of our best posters. Would love to hear the opinions of gurleyman, aceboon, james, etc.

 

[Scrutiner]

As coach K said at halftime. Duke has been making shots and URI hasn't. The coach can't shoot it for them. Duke is much better team as they should be. Hurley would be a great addition to uconn. Let's face it he can't be any worse then KO. No offense, defense, recruits the past couple years.

One of the criticisms people have made about Hurley is his in game management. Maybe he can't shoot for them, and I didn't see the whole game, but did he call any times out to settle them down, get them to stop rushing shots, or in any other way manage his team? Or did he just watch as Ollie did?

 

[HuskyHawk]

I guess if one does not have the same opinion as the Boneyard’s regular posters you are not allowed to say anything without getting slammed.

I think Hurley is going to be disappointing. And we are settling for him. And it’s not a popular opnion.. But nobody had expressed why they think he can lead us back to dominance or even winning the conference the majority of the time.

Actually, we’ve expressed it over and over again. What you have not expressed, over multiple threads, is who you suggest we hire instead. You’ve been asked half a dozen times. If Hurley isn’t the guy, who is in your opinion? And “we should conduct a search”, isn’t an answer, it’s a cop out.

 

[HuskyHawk]

But isn't he responsible for the RI roster? And the fact he has very little coming back next year means he's failed to consistently recruit good players. Some people question if he'll leave but looking at next year's roster tells me he'd be foolish if he doesn't take a good offer, from wherever it comes.

He is an he has the #1 recruiting class coming in among all mid majors. Sadly, like Calhoun, he seems to have a large class that gives him too many seniors and then freshmen, at once. Calhoun did it often. Annoyed me then.

BasketballRecruiting.Rivals.com - Ranking the 10 best mid-major classes of the 2018 early period

 

[Javjudah]

Pay Ollie $10m? Hell no. Not a dime if possible.

He signed a contract... He didn't resigned. .. Should there be no proof Ollie commited any infractions he will be entitled to his full share.

 

[JMick]

He signed a contract... He didn't resigned. .. Should there be no proof Ollie commited any infractions he will be entitled to his full share.

there will be plenty of proof

 

[Scrutiner]

Hate to get in the way of this flameout, but not being sure about Hurley is 100% OK and something most of us agree on. You look at the body of work, the ability to put together a staff, regional connections, trajectory of teams you've coached and maximum upside with potentially better players. Factored in it seems obvious that Hurley has a good shot a putting us in a better place than we've been the past 2 years. Not just that, the likelihood that we would have a shot at consistently making the Tournament being the #1 goal.

That said, the Tournament is a pretty good place for less publicized Coaches to audition and be evaluated. I wouldn't close the door to bringing any of them in for consideration even if they don't meet some of the other metrics. Good coaching and winning has a way of selling itself. And if you consistently beat the teams just ahead of you, eventually you get to the top of the ladder. Different times for sure but we've been there before.

Very well said. Great summary of where lots of us are. We all want to get back to where UConn was from 1990 to 2014 and we're concerned we might not be getting the Hall of Fame coach we've come to expect. Maybe that's unrealistic with all that's changed in the past few years, but we're fans and it's our right to have outrageous expectations, isn't it? That's why the coaches and AD's get the big paychecks and why there's so much give an take on this site and this subject.