I'm fine with this to get Donovan back to game shape and get him some reps post injury. He looked better scoring in the post, had some baby hooks and other shots that we hadn't seen much. But as a warmup for real games with real centers I don't like it. We aren't going to get 29 points from DC against real teams.
In a perfect universe Donovan doesn't miss a month before the season begins that necessitates the type of tune up we observed in the UNH game particularly with the next three out of four OOC games being so difficult. We have to trust that the other major moving parts of the team were minimally impacted. I believe they have shown enough in the first five games to warrant the decision.
Donovan is still quite young and he gets down on himself when not playing well. I feel it's one of the factors impacting his free throw shooting. He is just getting into game shape and needed an opportunity to observe his value. The bonus was the refs not calling all the fouls on Donovan that should have been called. There is a tendency for little people to pick on big people and some refs are the littlest people of all. This will happen in any game in which an opponent does not have a five that matches his size.
If Donovan gets hurt because of this failure it definitely impacts the season. So I agree with
@mauconnfan that Hurley needs to back up his players although we disagree about the timing. A coach needs to set the tone immediately. Too much is riding on Donovan.
The consolation is many teams we will be playing have centers big enough that Donovan will get more calls. At least at Kansas he won't be just playing against Munchkins.