Lay Off Hurley

[freescooter]

Akok was never going to be more than a bit player this year. That was a devastating injury. Many people never recover 100% from it.

 

[ucawn]

I think the fact that Akok was cleared for 5on5 practice in early December and still hasn’t gotten up to game speed is concerning a tad. Then again he had the bruised shin so idk how long that setback is on top of pauses.

Also we probably don’t have enough guys to go 5on5

 

[AdamaNation]

Akoks been out for a year. He’s had plenty of time to plan around that. It’s not that we’re loosing. It’s how bad we look doing it. The offense is a shinty show. And Akoks absence impacts the D more than the O

Is Akok mamadou 2.0?

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

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

The Coaching 101 syllabus doesn't typically include "year 3 of a total rebuild," a significant jump in competition in a new conference, a worldwide pandemic, an injured lottery pick, and significant injuries to the next two most highly regarded recruits.

Hurley's overall offense, rotation management, and in-game adjustments have been less than sparkling. BUT his three fall signings meet identified needs, and both Sanogo & Jackson showed growth in skills and attitude in an othrtwise very disappointing game today. The Bouknight situation is no less than unsettled and unsettling.

Last year's team didn't get over its hump and start closing out games that were "excruciating losses" until about this point in the season, and by then they had quite a few more games played. This team may or may not get sufficiently coached and collect itself to win without its star. And it may or may not get its star back. We'll see.

I'll be watching.

 

[Chief00]

This team is built around James. When you remove him things get difficult and you need to adapt. It’s easier said than done.

Agreed. I am tired of all the screaming headlines too. Hurley isn’t the one to go outside of the regular process, he’s working at pulling things back into normal processes. As I have said, I believe he is making progress at doing that but undoing something that’s off the tracks is always harder than if it’s done the right way in the first place. James is a victim in all this too, so people shouldn’t pick on him either. He’s a 20 year old kid trying to navigate all this.

 

[Kenny11]

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.

but what about the lying? A couple of days ago Hurley mentioned Bouknight putting pressure on the medical staff to let him play. Now Hurley says the medical staff have no say in the matter. When akok was made inactive, he said it was a “shin bruise” when it clearly wasn’t.
I would respect Hurley more if he just said “these are unpaid college students and I’m not going to disclose anything about their injuries to the public”. But instead he lies.

 

[Chief00]

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.

Yeah, that’s what I said a month ago about the advisers then.

 

[Caronimo]

Oh shut up.

Oh wah wah

 

[Chin Diesel]

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.

Well said. There seems to definitely be a sense of the players playing like they are just holding on until Bouk comes back and takes over the reigns. Not the first time this has happened in team sports.

At a certain point, it's better for Hurley to make the call and shut down Bouk and let the players know they are sinking or swimming as the group that remains. The program and the team need to be bigger than any player.

 

[NJHusky]

At a certain point, it's better for Hurley to make the call and shut down Bouk and let the players know they are sinking or swimming as the group that remains. The program and the team need to be bigger than any player.

Good point...waiting for Godot is not good for the rest of team. is it time for Hurley to take the decision out of the hands of Bouk's handlers?

 

[crazyUCfan23]

I think one of, if not the biggest issue, has just been a lack of consistency with the rotations. Yes, a lot of this has to with injuries and covid pauses, but at some point Hurley has to just pick his 8-9 guys that are going to play and roll with them for better or worse. I would roll with Gaff, Cole, Martin, Jackson, Polley, Whaley, Sanogo for now until bouk gets back. If polley continues to miss open threes, let adams get a chance or just play jackson instead of polley. Carlton should really only play due to foul trouble or matchup issues. I feel like once the injuries happened last year, hurley was forced to only play 8-9 guys and that's when we started playing better.