Is this a must win for Hurley?

[cohenzone]

I doubt it’s a “must win” except for some fans. Unless we are totally outclassed, he could coach a great game and the players could shoot for crap. Teams always look good when the ball goes through the hoop. They lost to Marquette by a bucket with 3 of 5 starters not playing all that well, even if one nitpicks or second guesses some coaching decisions.

 

[metsfan2323]

Calling it a must win implies we move in another direction with a loss, therefore it is not a must win, not even close. We have a great team coming back next year and starting over with a new coach would be beyond stupid.

I really hate this fanbase sometimes.

Remember when Virginia lost in the first round as a one seed? They kept their coach and won the whole thing the next year.

 

[Mr. Hand]

I feel safe with the assumption Hurley himself would agree this is a must win.

My hope is that he's done a good job of convincing Newton of that as well.

 

[Fishy]

100%. Hurley has 0 big wins. 0 conf tourney wins past first round and 0 NCAA tourney wins.

Were you born after the PK85 tournament last fall?

 

[Fishy]

Calling it a must win implies we move in another direction with a loss, therefore it is not a must win, not even close. We have a great team coming back next year and starting over with a new coach would be beyond stupid.

I really hate this fanbase sometimes.

Remember when Virginia lost in the first round as a one seed? They kept their coach and won the whole thing the next year.

Unless there’s a firing squad after the game, nothing is truly a must-win.

But a lot of bad crap will happen if we lose - mostly reputational - so in that sense, it is a must-win.

 

[Kolumbo]

It is a must win because any other outcome would be excruciatingly painful. And Dan Hurley is well aware of this. Preparation, focus, strategy, execution. I think there would be something very wrong if the coaches and players couldn't come out on a mission and put Iona away early. Definitely a must win game.

 

[metsfan2323]

Unless there’s a firing squad after the game, nothing is truly a must-win.

But a lot of bad crap will happen if we lose - mostly reputational - so in that sense, it is a must-win.

Nonsense, nothing will happen. The tournament has big upsets every year and that is exactly why people love it.

Even coach K lost as a 2 seed to 15 seed Lehigh for crying out loud. Did that make him a lousy coach?

Remember when 2 seed UCONN lost to 11 seed George Mason?

 

[Husky25]

Remember when Virginia lost in the first round as a one seed? They kept their coach and won the whole thing the next year.

Bennett had Tournament capital that Hurley does not. He shouldn't be fired necessarily, but why wouldn't his seat warm up a bit?

 

[Kathy]

You guys are delirious.

Go ride off into the off-season with three consecutive losses to double digit seeds, all upsets, and say you’re happy.

Took out the sentence I can't like

 

[Fishy]

Nonsense, nothing will happen. The tournament has big upsets every year and that is exactly why people love it.

Even coach K lost as a 2 seed to 15 seed Lehigh for crying out loud. Did that make him a lousy coach?

You just compared Coach K to Danny Hurley.

Stop. It’s stupid.

You’re trying to explain away a loss before it happens.

Also, stop. That’s stupid, too.

 

[Husky25]

Nonsense, nothing will happen. The tournament has big upsets every year and that is exactly why people love it.

Even coach K lost as a 2 seed to 15 seed Lehigh for crying out loud. Did that make him a lousy coach?

Coach K is mentioned above too. Do we really have to rehash his Tournament capital prior to that loss as well?

 

[nomar]

Nonsense, nothing will happen. The tournament has big upsets every year and that is exactly why people love it.

Even coach K lost as a 2 seed to 15 seed Lehigh for crying out loud. Did that make him a lousy coach?

Remember when 2 seed UCONN lost to 11 seed George Mason?

Had Coach K won any tournament games at Duke prior to the Lehigh game?

There is a large cohort on this board that does not believe Hurley is a championship coach and that cohort will grow in size if we don't beat Iona.

 

[metsfan2323]

You just compared Coach K to Danny Hurley.

Stop. It’s stupid.

You’re trying to explain away a loss before it happens.

Also, stop. That’s stupid, too.

No, you saying "a lot of bad crap will happen" is stupid. We're talking competitive sports here, Grow up!

 

[jdb50]

2 years ago Bouknight pulled stinkers in our BET semi and in the game against Maryland. Last year many of the veterans played poorly in the BET semis and against New Mexico St. We need our best players to have big games when it counts. But be that as it may the Iona game is a must win. Period.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

the cesspool will become the dominant forum if we lose to Iona

 

[CTBasketball]

Took out the sentence I can't like

My apologies. Sometimes I have a toilet mouth.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

My apologies. Sometimes I have a toilet mouth.

It's probably that ass you ate in the other thread.

 

[Husky25]

This is a college sports-centric message board, where by my guess about 85% of the posters are north of 30 years old. If any of us were to "grow up," this entire forum would seize to exist.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I don't know if it is a "must win". Plenty of coaches take a little time to get their sea legs. Look at Ollie in his first NCAA Tournament.

 

[Tenspro2002]

"Must win" for what?

A must-win for him to keep his job? Of course not.

A must-win for him to avoid a reputation as a choker, uncomfortable media narratives, and a loss of credibility among fans? Yeah, you could make that argument.

 

[huskyinfl]

if we lose the boneyard should go offline for 24 hours.

 

[Kathy]

My apologies. Sometimes I have a toilet mouth.

No apologies needed- heard worse from the students I used to have.

 

[Deleted at users request]

2 years ago Bouknight pulled stinkers in our BET semi and in the game against Maryland. Last year many of the veterans played poorly in the BET semis and against New Mexico St. We need our best players to have big games when it counts. But be that as it may the Iona game is a must win. Period.

Someone has to be to blame if your best players constantly don’t show up. And it’s not them if this always happens.

 

[metsfan2323]

Someone has to be to blame if your best players constantly don’t show up. And it’s not them if this always happens.

Yeah, it's the coaches fault Bouknight was recovering from elbow surgery (lost his shooting touch) and our point guard was concussed the week before playing Maryland.

That game was hardly an upset if you knew that going in.

 

[Leebo]

People use "must-win game" to mean "a game I really hope the team wins" so obviously people are going to agree.

 

[Deleted at users request]

Yeah, it's the coaches fault Bouknight was recovering from elbow surgery (lost his shooting touch) and our point guard was concussed the week before playing Maryland.

That game was hardly an upset if you knew that going in.

It was one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen in the NCAAs. You can make the excuses you want. How about the year after that? And then Hawkins and Andre’s no shows against Marquette?

We have to come to play this weekend. I hope Hurley has the guys prepared to do that.

 

[metsfan2323]

And then Hawkins and Andre’s no shows against Marquette?

We were one clutch shot away from winning that game even though those two players were no shows. Maybe Hurley coached a good game against Marquette.

I think UCONN fans forget sometimes that other teams have good players and are also trying to win. Which team had the conference POY playing for them? It wasn't UCONN.

 

[Candyman]

An early exit, i.e., before Elite Eight, and Hurley goes on the hot seat next year. UConn has shown an inability to win important games and the trend must stop.

This is just a bad statement. Its not easy to make it to the Elite 8 thats next level. Hurley has never been to the sweet 16. If we lose in round of 32 he won't be on the hot seat but the chatter from all the haters will be louder as we would lose to a lower seeded team 3 years in a row. Sweet 16 and he gets a contract extension.

 

[MexicoHusky]

I’m seeing so much talk in the national media (and among our fans) that this is a "must-win" for Hurley to get the "he can't coach in the tournament" off his back.

Frankly, I think that talk is ridiculous. Of course we want to advance as far as we can and take a step forward.

But I think this fanbase majorly loses sight of how difficult it is to win in the NCAA tournament because we've been so fortunate. And, more importantly, how a single game in the NCAA tournament is not indicative of the state of an entire college basketball program.

Let's look at what some other coaches around the country have attached to their names...

Coach K- Has lost to a 15-seed and a 14-seed.
Tony Bennett- The only coach to ever lose to a 16 seed. (Can you imagine this board if that happened????????)
Calipari- Hasn't won an NCAA tournament game since 2019. In that span, he's had a 9-16 team and has lost to a 15-seeded team from the MAAC.
Cooley- Took 11 seasons to get to his first Sweet 16 (yes, different expectations at PC, but he's still a revered coach in college, and has had the talent to get to multiple sweet 16s)
Self- (Who I think is clearly the best coach in the game right now) Has lost to multiple double digit seeds.

The list goes on and on. And for all of them, they're still revered coaches.

If we lose to Iona, yeah, it's going to suck. And sting. And the insufferable fans will come out and do their insufferable thing. And the narrative will still be that Hurley can't coach in the NCAA tournament, when in reality it's probably one player going off for 40 points and some players on our side getting tight in big moments.

But then the dust will settle. The months will go by. Some people will depart the program. We'll probably land a high end transfer or 2.
Then summer session rolls around before we know it. Our top 5 recruiting class will come onto campus, and the hype will potentially be at an all time high under Hurley.

So just enjoy the ride right now. We were probably one three pointer away from being in the Big East Championship game last week, and probably rolling a gassed Xavier. The narrative right now would've been totally different.

No matter what stupid takes you have if/when we lose in the next few weeks, the sun will still come up and we will still have a dynamite team next season with a dynamite coach whose seat remains quite cool.

Not really. I mean, it will extremely piss off the fanbase (especially me) if he were to lose to Iona. He'd be labelled a big-game underachiever by the press. But he's not going to get fired. The team/program is slowly getting better. And I don't think the University is in a great position to be firing coaches at the moment.

Worst case, I think a loss damages his prospects when it comes to resigning.... which I believe is years away.

So not really a must win as far as getting fired is concerned.

 

[Huskyforlife]

This is a must win. We know he won’t be fired regardless. But 5 years in with no tournament wins isn’t good enough. Especially since this years team has the talent to make the S16 minimum. At some point Kenpom and recruiting classes don’t cut it. Year 6 would be win, or best of luck.