Lay Off Hurley

[NJHusky]

If 2011 lost Kemba we were dead in the water.
If 2014 lost Shabazz we were dead in the water.

You can’t lose your best player and expect to still win every game. Sure we should have looked better, but we’re depending on one-dimensional players.

I’m not talking about winning a NC. I’m talking about not being lost and regressing. U think coach is doing a great job of in game coaching? We can disagree. Numerous posters more knowledgeable than me pointed how how bad we attacked the press so I won’t rehash that

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Is that how Lamont plans to balance the budget?

 

[CTBasketball]

I’m not talking about winning a NC. I’m talking about not being lost and regressing. U think coach is doing a great job of in game coaching? We can disagree. Numerous posters more knowledgeable than me pointed how how bad we attacked the press so I won’t rehash that

No we haven’t been coached great. Losing Bouknight is not like losing Akok or a role player - this is his team and was built for him. They won’t succeed without him, because it’s not a well balanced team. They’re in over their heads.

When he comes back, albeit for the Xavier or Georgetown or Providence game whoever knows when, he better be ready to go.

 

[NJHusky]

i disagree. whaley is a great defender at the PF spot but his O has been a liability.

heading into this season everyone expected akok to be back by now and making gains off his great frosh year

I doubt the coaches were. U don’t have that drastic an injury and come back in 10 months good as new

 

[tzznandrew]

it's not even just bouk it's akok too. what team would survive losing it's 2 best players?

He also didn't have Jackson for most of this season. Who is clearly a stud.

 

[NJHusky]

No we haven’t been coached great. Losing Bouknight is not like losing Akok or a role player - this is his team and was built for him. They won’t succeed without him, because it’s not a well balanced team. They’re in over their heads.

When he comes back, albeit for the Xavier or Georgetown or Providence game whoever knows when, he better be ready to go.

I agree it was built for Bouk. But your only offense can’t be “everyone give the ball to James”....that’s what they do in kids rec league.
I think Hurley has been holding his breadth waiting for Bouk.
Reminds me of when Jerry Manuel was coaching the Mets. It was always when x comes back from injury we’ll be good. But that was always his mantra. Well be good next month and they never were. Collins came in and said we can’t wait for x to get better someone has to step up and they did make a deep run.

 

[TRest]

Let James face the media then. More fake news than CNN going on!

Oh shut up.

 

[ucawn]

Year 1: Yakwe injured, most notably Mr. 4hunnid injured as well. We had good performances like Cuse, Zona, FSU. Some bad like that Nova game lol.
However, we land Akok, James, and Jalen later we get Cole and future looks bright.

Year 2: James suspended but we still knock off Florida. James plays in Charleston and puts on a show, we lose in 2OT to Xavier bc of Naji Marshall. Tough showing in the Garden, start conference play very bad, Polley plays well then... tears his acl. Things start to trend up and... Akok gets hurt. We play very well down the stretch and have a real shot to win the conference tourney.

Year 3: Start of the year very strong and are a point away from an undefeated first 2 months. We recover and get ranked finally. The price? Most talented player on the team gets injured, season now in jeopardy after realistic sweet 16 hopes.

Moral of the story? Dan Hurley is a carpenter who gets struck by lightning every time he goes to work because where does he work? On top of the mountain.

 

[tzznandrew]

I agree it was built for Bouk. But your only offense can’t be “everyone give the ball to James”....that’s what they do in kids rec league.
I think Hurley has been holding his breadth waiting for Bouk.
Reminds me of when Jerry Manuel was coaching the Mets. It was always when x comes back from injury we’ll be good. But that was always his mantra. Well be good next month and they never were. Collins came in and said we can’t wait for x to get better someone has to step up and they did make a deep run.

There really was little choice if Gaffney isn't ready. Nobody but Martin and Gaffney can consistently get by his man, and the former can't make a layup or FT and the latter doesn't seem to have consistent confidence. Semi-normal, actually, for a 4-star sophomore PG. Sanogo is great but a freshman who fouls too much. Cole has moxie but not the athleticism. Akok is injured.

Everyone else is A10 talent. A10 talent with a healthy Bouknight can win games. A10 talent without a healthy Bouknight is going to lose most nights to Big East teams.

 

[UConnStats]

I don’t have a problem with what he’s saying about Bouknight. I do have a problem with him blaming the crappy offense on the PG play and lack of confidence from the players. Anyone with two eyes can see that the offensive sets are abysmal and that starts with the coaching staff.

That’s true, but if Polley just hits a few shots today we probably win too. So it’s a litany of small things that roll up into Ls. There’s no depth at SG behind Bouk so that has hurt too. This roster wasn’t constructed to endure losing its best player.

 

[Ts5034]

Hurley will get a pass for this season. We’ve had it rough with multiple Covid shut downs. Even programs that have not been shut down and are run by some of the best to ever do it (Duke and Coah K) are having historically bad seasons. The Bouknight situation is very bizarre. That doesn’t help things. We still have plenty of games to play. The season is not over yet by any means. Im not giving up.

 

[navery12]

That’s true, but if Polley just hits a few shots today we probably win too. So it’s a litany of small things that roll up into Ls. There’s no depth at SG behind Bouk so that has hurt too. This roster wasn’t constructed to endure losing its best player.

If he hits 1 shot (the 3 to tie the game with around 3 minutes left), we win the game

 

[tzznandrew]

There’s no depth at SG behind Bouk so that has hurt too. This roster wasn’t constructed to endure losing its best player.

And given what Hurley came into, the only way to really do that was to run off a bunch of players. And I'm glad he didn't. But there are short-term consequences to that.

 

[gtcam]

This team is built around James.

That's an issue in itself. A coach recruits kids to make them better, prepare them for games, to perform at the highest level themselves; not to fill-in around one person. What if that one person, God forbid, should not be able to play anymore? You throw up your hands and say, Oh well I can't win without my star? That's what it looked like today.
Any coach worth his weight recruits the best for every position, finding the best players to do different things needed to be successful AND recruits to avoid having any one player carrying the team. Most importantly the coach gives the players confidence that they can do the job without "the star". I don't hear that coming from DH now, I hear excuses.
That's Coaching 101

 

[Tenspro2002]

Seriously. He’s in a very difficult position. James is getting information from his own personal surgeon and advisors - not connected to the university at all. They don’t talk to Hurley. They communicate through James and his people.

Hurley cannot publicly say “James went against University advice, got his own surgeon and advisors, and is now paying for that with either:
A) a faulty unsuccessful surgery
B) a successful surgery, but he is not playing because he or his party doesn’t want to hurt his draft stock

Option B, which is more than likely at least partially true, would be a team killer. Bouknight is toying with the coaching staff, and Hurley can’t throw his player under the bus. He’s giving the information just as he gets it.

If James and his people truly wanted to be out there he would be. The initial 2-4 week timeline was estimated by team doctors because they know how minor of an injury this really is.

Hurley is clearly frustrated that the situation is out of his hands, and not in a medical sense.

Bouknight's handlers (yes, at this point it's fair to use that term) went outside the team to find their own surgeon and are using that guy as a shield for their decision-making.

Hurley's tired of dealing with it, he's tired of not knowing if or when Bouknight is going to be available, and he's tired of fielding questions about something that he's not in control of.

And as I said in another thread, this uncertainty seems to be affecting his teammates too -- very little "rally" in those guys right now.

 

[uconngb]

This team is built around James.

That's an issue in itself. A coach recruits kids to make them better, prepare them for games, to perform at the highest level themselves; not to fill-in around one person. What if that one person, God forbid, should not be able to play anymore? You throw up your hands and say, Oh well I can't win without my star? That's what it looked like today.
Any coach worth his weight recruits the best for every position, finding the best players to do different things needed to be successful AND recruits to avoid having any one player carrying the team. Most importantly the coach gives the players confidence that they can do the job without "the star". I don't hear that coming from DH now, I hear excuses.
That's Coaching 101

100%

I hate excuses. You play the hand you’re dealt. And you make adjustments. You don’t throw kids under the bus and you don’t whine about missing your best player.

 

[gtcam]

Didn't realize 2003=2021. I missed when they played covid seasons during 2003. I missed the culture change of securing the bag in 2003?

I don't think his analogy has anything to do with Covid
It's about if a player opts out of playing to save himself for the draft

 

[tzznandrew]

His team was built around Jackson-Akok-Gaffney-Bouknight. There was a time last year we imagined all of them would be healthy at the same time playing together this year.

Forget, for a moment, that this team has lost all sorts of practice time during Bouknight's injury. All four of those dudes had injuries that kept them out, and three of them for significant time.

If the injuries keep up, that's on our staff. But right now it just strikes me as fate continuing to punish us for 2011 and 2014.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

If he hits 1 shot (the 3 to tie the game with around 3 minutes left), we win the game

I get what you’re saying but in all likelihood if he makes that 3 to tie the game PeeC comes back down and a career 18% shooter hits a step back 25 footer.

 

[willie99]

He took a big boy job, he gets paid big boy money

We go with it

 

[uconnever]

Yeah he gets a lot of money to have plan a,b,c etc. if he isn’t he isn’t the guy for the job. The offense of itself isn’t good and it’s definitely not just the players. He’s gotta get creative. We don’t look good at all. We could in all honesty lose all of our games left without Bouk. Ever since our big transfered, it seems like a dark cloud has been around the program, like just bad energy. Hope it goes away

 

[bendm]

I don't feel bad for a coach making 3 mill and you have one scorer on a roster in three years.

two years. his first year with BA doesnt count. i also consider sanogo a scorer.

 

[aceboon]

i disagree. whaley is a great defender at the PF spot but his O has been a liability.

heading into this season everyone expected akok to be back by now and making gains off his great frosh year

Coming off of achilles tear in less than a calendar year? That type of injury needs time to recover from.

 

[superjohn]

Wait the bone spurs didn’t come from the impact on the play?

From what I heard I don't believe so but like everything with what's going on we've had very little clarity.

I have no personal info but I remember hearing that, not sure if it was Goodman or someone else in the media.

 

[tzznandrew]

Coming off of achilles tear in less than a calendar year? That type of injury needs time to recover from.

Anyone who knows what that means and wasn't listening the hype knew that if Akok is going to be who we all hope he is, it would start to happen next year.