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

[metsfan2323]

He's Calipari lite. He can bring in some solid talent for us, but he'll have a hard time getting then to play like a team and win. If we luck out one year we might get a player that doesn't need good coaching to dominate and make us a contender. That's what I see in our future with Hurley.

He has nothing in common with slime-ball Calipari. Nothing.

 

[husky429]

If there is some stupid "45:07" off-season mantra I might pop a gasket. You can see our result in close games year in and year out and blame the kids again.

 

[Kenny11]

 

[TeasenDonut]

The in game adjustments are clearly not there.

There should be no roster construction issues next year after how glaring they were this year. At least I would hope so.

 

[uconngb]

If you know your team is offensively deficient and prone to slow starts, shouldn't that be a priority to fix?

I know defense is his trademark, but damn if the defense ain't stopping the opponent and you have no offense on the floor, what the hell does Coach expect the outcome to look like. Its funny how announcers kept glowing over our offensive rebounding prowess, but the truth is we miss a lot of shots and/or players are anticipating a miss.

Also stop Cole and Sanogo in the first half opponents can easily build a lead. Martin ain't shooting till 2nd half, AJ is pass first and well Whaley is on offense only because he's needed for defense. He's paid big money to rectify this, not carry this into a one and done Tourney.

Just saying, our slow starts were never fixed, and it costs us this game and our Tourney chances.

This times 10 million

He’s too damn stubborn and that’s what scares the hell out of me

 

[jibsey]

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.

And the national focus.

 

[uconn_jack]

Blaming the kids is ridiculous. They were energized as hell for this game. Dreaming about it since they were toddlers. Teams lose energy naturally in the flow of the game. When you're losing to an inferior team, of course you're deflated. Good coaches use timeouts, play calls, and personnel management to keep their guys energy up and keep them focused.

BS. Not saying Hurley doesn't deserve blame, but the kids (who aren't kids, they are young adults) need to be responsible for their own effort and focus too, and they didn't bring it in the first half.

 

[Drfla]

Everyone knew they had one guy who could beat us. He did.

Should have adjusted against Allen but this wasn’t Hurley’s fault. He shouldn’t have to motivate players for a NCAAtournament game. They stunk up the joint in the first half. We’re outhustled and outplayed. How can experienced players like IW, RJ and Martin come out like zombies.

sanogo..just another poor game when it counts.

 

[3rdbass]

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.

Whaley not developing a consistent outside shot in the offseason should of been a sign to no play them together. The biggest issues with this team is not enough shooters and no real go to person for a tough hoop. I love Cole but he needs help. With no outside shooters defense just collapse on Sanogo and take him out of the game. No Hawkins hurt but still probably would of lost this game with our full roster.

 

[Stinger92860]

If you know your team is offensively deficient and prone to slow starts, shouldn't that be a priority to fix?

I know defense is his trademark, but damn if the defense ain't stopping the opponent and you have no offense on the floor, what the hell does Coach expect the outcome to look like. Its funny how announcers kept glowing over our offensive rebounding prowess, but the truth is we miss a lot of shots and/or players are anticipating a miss.

Also stop Cole and Sanogo in the first half opponents can easily build a lead. Martin ain't shooting till 2nd half, AJ is pass first and well Whaley is on offense only because he's needed for defense. He's paid big money to rectify this, not carry this into a one and done Tourney.

Just saying, our slow starts were never fixed, and it costs us this game and our Tourney chances.

When you start Sanogo, Whaley, and Jackson the defense can drop and let Whaley and AJ shoot. And try play RJ and Martin tight. This is why we start slow. I would have started Polley and brought in AJ or Whaley off the bench. It seems DH refused to make any changes. I was not a believer when we beat Nova, but not having DH on the sideline may have been a benefit.

 

[auror]

The in game adjustments are clearly not there.

Until FTs at the end, we outscored them by 11 in the 2nd half. We were scoring at will down the stretch.

 

[uconngb]

Give this squad to any number of other coaches in the BE let alone the country and we have a far better result this season.

I get the feeling that Hurley thinks this was a 4-5 year rebuild or that is what he and the administration settled on? He has constantly spoken about how much the team stunk and the state of the program when he got here. He is content with the progress, focusing on identity of our play, restoring our identity, etc. all of which is important but I don’t sense the urgency from him which conflicts with what our fanbase wants. He is saying just wait until
I get a fuller roster with all the tools (how often has he spoken about missing a scoring wing this season?) and then see what I can do?

What bothers me most about DH are (1) you can’t take the long view on the program, you must adjust and squeeze every ounce out of your roster you can for the now and you can live with the results, and (2) in big games/moments he gets tight and his team plays tight almost all the time, and (3) he is stubborn and seems to refuse to make adjustments.

So you are now the 8th or 9th person to state this, just in this thread. Which means it’s glaringly obvious. So why the hell doesn’t he see it?? Or the other coaches?? Or someone with a brain within the program????

Are they all insane??

 

[3rdbass]

Give this squad to any number of other coaches in the BE let alone the country and we have a far better result this season.

I get the feeling that Hurley thinks this was a 4-5 year rebuild or that is what he and the administration settled on? He has constantly spoken about how much the team stunk and the state of the program when he got here. He is content with the progress, focusing on identity of our play, restoring our identity, etc. all of which is important but I don’t sense the urgency from him which conflicts with what our fanbase wants. He is saying just wait until
I get a fuller roster with all the tools (how often has he spoken about missing a scoring wing this season?) and then see what I can do?

What bothers me most about DH are (1) you can’t take the long view on the program, you must adjust and squeeze every ounce out of your roster you can for the now and you can live with the results, and (2) in big games/moments he gets tight and his team plays tight almost all the time, and (3) he is stubborn and seems to refuse to make adjustments.

Yeah take Whaley out at the end of the game when we need a shooter like Polley to help the offense get open shots.

 

[AntG168]

When you start Sanogo, Whaley, and Jackson the defense can drop and let Whaley and AJ shoot. And try play RJ and Martin tight. This is why we start slow. I would have started Polley and brought in AJ or Whaley off the bench. It seems DH refused to make any changes. I was not a believer when we beat Nova, but not having DH on the sideline may have been a benefit.

Disagree on your last point. Kimani did nothing different than what Hurley always does. But on your first point, most of us have been saying that all year

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

BS. Not saying Hurley doesn't deserve blame, but the kids (who aren't kids, they are young adults) need to be responsible for their own effort and focus too.

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.

 

[giddyup]

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

You could count 3 major mistakes in the last 60 seconds including inbounding with nobody flashing to mid court wasting 6 seconds with Ce fighting his way up the court, failing to take a TO on a key possession resulting in a huge turnover, and failing to double Allen on inbounds and forcing the foul on others. A terrible offensive game plan with players standing around the 3 point line deleveraging our rebounding. Failing to push the floor. Failing to deny Allen’s dominant hand all game. The guy sucks. Big mouth. No results. If he had the 5 best players in the country, he would screw them up and couldn’t get it done.

 

[uconnever]

Blaming the kids is ridiculous. They were energized as hell for this game. Dreaming about it since they were toddlers. Teams lose energy naturally in the flow of the game. When you're losing to an inferior team, of course you're deflated. Good coaches use timeouts, play calls, and personnel management to keep their guys energy up and keep them focused.

Energized?, what game were you watching? The energy came when we were down and fought back. There was absolutely no energy that first half, none.

 

[Go_Huskies]

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

Exactly. He has made the adjustment. He is recruiting more basketball players like Clingnan, Karaban and Diggins than Athletes who play basketball like Whaley. When I look at the upcoming recruiting I am very pleased with Hurley. Getting a great playmaker like Castle this early is huge

 

[Valleyfan]

He has nothing in common with slime-ball Calipari. Nothing.

Only because we don’t have the alumni money to pay the one and dones like Kentucky does.

 

[Mooch82]

I have preached this all year and it ultimately ended our season. When you start a game with 2+ players that are so offensively deficient you are putting yourself behind the 8 ball EVERY game. We have a very stubborn, and unproven, coach.

Not a good mix

Agree with this. Offense was stagnant to start but the construction of our lineup lends itself to these slow starts. I love all our starters individually but we really were playing with a 1, two 3’s, and two 5’s in today’s college game.

That being said, they hit some ridiculous shots and the last foul on that crappy Allen shot when we were down 1 really hurt us. But we can’t let it get to that point.

 

[TeasenDonut]

Until FTs at the end, we outscored them by 11 in the 2nd half. We were scoring at will down the stretch.

Right, we made adjustments. It just can’t take until halftime. We never should have been down 14. Thats the difference between a mediocre coach and a good coach.

 

[kobebeanbryant]

Hopefully he has learned his lesson and hits the portal hard this offseason for a pg/playmaker.

 

[tuvent08]

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!

 

[Avon]

When you start Sanogo, Whaley, and Jackson the defense can drop and let Whaley and AJ shoot. And try play RJ and Martin tight. This is why we start slow. I would have started Polley and brought in AJ or Whaley off the bench. It seems DH refused to make any changes. I was not a believer when we beat Nova, but not having DH on the sideline may have been a benefit.

It definitely was

 

[AntG168]

Hopefully he has learned his lesson and hits the portal hard this offseason for a pg/playmaker.

*Pg/playmakers
Plural