It’s hard to be that unprepared for a game.

[NYC_HUSKY22]

Everyone has a right to be critical of Hurley right now. Two years as a favorite - two goose eggs. No pure shooters to speak of (sans bouknight). He took this job understanding the expectations, and that does not include losing to a team that has not won an NCAA tournament game since 1993.

What is the answer? I do not know. It's not having one JUST ONE competent point guard, (who is about to go bye bye). We can make all the (but uhhh JC was like his age sort of like in uhhh 199x).. these 'meh' tournament exists are becoming a pattern.

Which makes me even more concerned. We all want this program back where it was, and I'm not sure what the answer is.

 

[ARIDE]

Can we attempt to keep the Hurley debate in one thread? It may be an impossibility on this board, but I figured it's worth a shot.

My thoughts are all over the place, and feel free to critique...

1.) Hurley probably deserves to be in the hot seat next year. He does a lot of things well, but we are a team that expects to win in the tournament. 0 wins in 4 years is unacceptable. Period. Rebuild or not.

2.) He also is probably NOT on the hot seat, because we don't have the money for it.

3.) Either he doesn't know how, or his emotions get in the way, of Hurley making adjustments and coaching well in close games. Yes, the players missed shots. Yes, we didn't defend all that well. But when the team consistent lays eggs in close games and tournament games, it's on the COACH.

4.) The refusal to play a zone early this season when we could practice it with lower stakes cost us big time. The inflexibility on defense kills us. Our strategy is not much more nuanced than "play harder than the other team"... that works A LOT of the time. That doesn't work against teams like Creighton, Nova, and certainly not in big tournament games. Everyone is prepared. Everyone knows your playbook

5.) We recruited well, but made some mistakes. We expected Gaffney to contribute more than he did. I'm not sure we can blame the staff for that. Same with the Whaley/Sanogo thing... they don't play well together, but ultimately they're two of our best players and they do need to see the floor. Even if they don't mesh well.

You can't play with one guard

 

[Drfla]

Coaching is relatively straight forward you have strengths and weaknesses. You try to highlight your strengths and avoid the weaknesses. Their strength 1 player our strength.. defense. 1 player score an inefficient 37 and we lost imagine….

Inefficient 37! I’ll take somebody every time that can score 37 points on 24 shots. That’s not inefficient.

 

[Avon]

Two more hot takes since this is going to inevitably be a hot take thread given that we're all frustrated right now. As I've noted I really do like Hurley and believe he is the long term answer. That throat-clearing aside:

1) He has to stop talking about how he "rebuilds" programs and has this storied formula that he has implemented everywhere he's gone. He won games at Wagner and URI. He talks like he's Antonio Conte who turns a club completely around, wins actual trophies, and then leaves because he fights with upper management. That analogy won't land unless you're a soccer fan.

2) For having a last name that is such a "brand" when it comes to coaching, he has incredible deficiencies in strategy and tactics. I knew that Calhoun was not going to get outsmarted in a big game. I do not, shall we say, share the same confidence in Hurley.

But I do like the guy a lot!

What's to like alot? .
He's an average at best coach
At best
Good recruiter.
Good overall defensive coach
Poor offensive coach [ shooting/ scoring is a constant issue. Every year.
Abysmal in game coach.
Completely predictable
Stubborn beyond reason.
No in game adjustments no matter what.
Loses games down the stretch OFTEN to other opposing coaches cleaning his clock coaching wise
[ tonight prime example let one player go off for 37 and singlehandedly beat you when the other 4 players on opposing team are benchwarmers at UCONN].
Did I say Stubborn ...
Average coaches shouldn't be good enough at a program with 4 National Championship s .
Hurley is a perfect fit at URI but URI is not UCONN and Hurley isn't cutting it at UCONN

 

[UconnFanDC]

Yeah. I think Hurley teaches AS to foul their best player 30 feet from the basket with 1 second on the shot clock.

This loss is on the players, not the coaches.

I agree. My response to whoever was blaming Hurley

 

[AntG168]

Not utilizing the transfer market for “culture” is like a outdated company saying they do t need “social media” to successfully advertise. It rings as outdated and naive. We need like 3 transfers this off season

 

[nycscooby]

We didn’t take a step back this season but maybe a baby step forward. But as a fanbase, we may have to adjust our expectations. Hurley is taking the long “rebuild” route until he has a roster full of 4 and 5 stars. He has bought into the “incomplete” roster and the more important need to do what is best for the future. Another coach may have taken a different approach and looked to develop this team for this season rather then coach the same way all season and leave our weaknesses mostly unattended to.

 

[Kathy]

I don’t think it’s coaching as much as it is roster construction.

But isn't that on the coach?

 

[uconn_jack]

Yeah I mean it seems fair to blame Sanogo for fouling a dude shooting a 27 footer with one second on the shot clock in a one point game, although given how things went tonight he probably would have made it anyway.

Really, Allen had no business making about a third of the shots he did, all his bad (and really bad) shots went in too, even when he was guarded well. He should have had 25 pts, 30 max, and we would have won despite our issues. Not much you can do about that.

 

[AntG168]

But isn't that on the coach?

Yes. But not coaching. A college coach has many other jobs outside of coaching.

 

[3rdbass]

Excuses? How is saying he constructed the roster poorly an excuse? It’s a knock on him. He should have known having one shot creator/pg was a recipe for failure. He should’ve know you can’t play Whaley, Sanogo, and Jackson together and expect a high level offense.

And with no 3 Pt shooters on the floor most of the time a recipe for disaster. With Sanogo you just need to supply 4 shooters around him and you are golden.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Bum Phillips:
”How do you win? By getting average players to play good and good players to play great. That’s how you win.”

Thats how a lot of these ‘lesser teams’ won today. That’s also how we lost.

 

[amory]

Still a big believer in Hurley. Tonight sucks, I really thought we’d breeze by this team and was more worried we’d screw things up next round before Gonzaga but, this is UConn basketball.

Team just never had that definitive #1 guy that the winning UConn teams have always had.

But they also got really lucky. So many circus shots went in. They’re gonna get blown out next game.

 

[bendm]

Shaheen Holloway and the St. Peter's Peacocks just knocked off Kentucky and I called it. That one was for my dad and brought some tears.

Takes some of the sting out of the Husky loss.

if willard leaves for maryland he could be Hall's replacement

 

[polycom]

Inefficient 37! I’ll take somebody every time that can score 37 points on 24 shots. That’s not inefficient.

so 42% is efficient? Not to mention he actually only scored 24 points from the field since he had 13 free throws and made all of them. We fouled someone is gunner and it killed us.

 

[uconn13]

It’s painfully obvious to anyway that watches that he’s just not a good coach. He’s a pretty good recruiter but really a trash coach. When have you ever watched a game against a team with comparable talent where you thought that he outcoached the opposing coach???

I think that Hurley takes his socks too seriously and coaches as such

 

[Kolumbo]

Shaheen Holloway and the St. Peter's Peacocks just knocked off Kentucky and I called it. That one was for my dad and brought some tears.

Takes some of the sting out of the Husky loss.

No, it does not. Stupid take.

 

[Hankster]

Can we attempt to keep the Hurley debate in one thread? It may be an impossibility on this board, but I figured it's worth a shot.

My thoughts are all over the place, and feel free to critique...

1.) Hurley probably deserves to be in the hot seat next year. He does a lot of things well, but we are a team that expects to win in the tournament. 0 wins in 4 years is unacceptable. Period. Rebuild or not.

2.) He also is probably NOT on the hot seat, because we don't have the money for it.

3.) Either he doesn't know how, or his emotions get in the way, of Hurley making adjustments and coaching well in close games. Yes, the players missed shots. Yes, we didn't defend all that well. But when the team consistent lays eggs in close games and tournament games, it's on the COACH.

4.) The refusal to play a zone early this season when we could practice it with lower stakes cost us big time. The inflexibility on defense kills us. Our strategy is not much more nuanced than "play harder than the other team"... that works A LOT of the time. That doesn't work against teams like Creighton, Nova, and certainly not in big tournament games. Everyone is prepared. Everyone knows your playbook

5.) We recruited well, but made some mistakes. We expected Gaffney to contribute more than he did. I'm not sure we can blame the staff for that. Same with the Whaley/Sanogo thing... they don't play well together, but ultimately they're two of our best players and they do need to see the floor. Even if they don't mesh well.

I have read other posts about Whaley. He found his shot. More three's this year than other years. Started shooting 15 footers. and his defense was good. So you are talking about Sonogo. Well he had a few 20 point games and so did Whaley. Whaley's mind is into the game, Sonogo's mind is way off. Well second part of the season. Then there is talk about Gaffney. Well, PLAY HIM!!. He goes in for 5 minutes, comes out and that is the end. DH didn't have a trust factor with some players. That's why you see the line up in forever. Some one else said in another thread. Polley comes in hits 2 threes and gets taken out. In another if not this one, the freshman didn't pan out. I didn't know we had that many freshman. Didn't see them.

 

[AntG168]

No, it does not. Stupid take.

He said it was for his dad. You have zero idea what that could mean. What an inconsiderate take. My dad passed away a year ago. Some stuff is bigger than basketball.

 

[Drfla]

I disagree.

Yes they shot well. But we should be able to overcome that if we had maximized this roster. We didn’t.

He wanted to play our best 5 individual players the most minutes. That was the biggest problem of the season.

Rather he should have played the players that complimented each other the best the most

We had 6 players. He put Polley in 6 minutes into the game. Players that compliment each other the best? Very limited options.

 

[giddyup]

Yeah. I think Hurley teaches AS to foul their best player 30 feet from the basket with 1 second on the shot clock.

This loss is on the players, not the coaches.

Yeah, they play. But we can save $3 Million if coaches don’t matter. The job is more than being a big cheerleader, running your mouth and recruiting. It’s game prep, mental prep, in-game adjustments, and player development within a system.

 

[80shusky]

Hurley got McDermotted by Ted Cruz.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I don’t think it’s coaching as much as it is roster construction.

Almost have it here. What I think it is, is Hurley forcing square pegs in round holes. You’re never going to have your perfect roster. Never. That means you need to be flexible. But he won’t. He makes guys play out of position, he assigns them roles they can’t fill because he simply won’t change his style.

There we’re comments about Carlton. Hell of a player. Better than Whaley or Polley. But he could not do what Dan wanted, so off he goes to Houston. It’s an example of the problem. He needs a flexible approach that maximizes the players he has.

 

[UncleSpliff]

So, this fan base firing Calipari now too?

Calipari has managed to win at least 1 tournament game…..

 

[superjohn]

We had 6 players. He put Polley in 6 minutes into the game. Players that compliment each other the best? Very limited options.

We played 8 players.