Miscalculations by Dan Hurley

[Marat]

What country?

It doesn't matter now. He won 2 NCs, and decided to return . I highly doubt he wants to go thru another possible season like this year again. He'll give it a shot, get paid , and perhaps in the future get a coaching position. If that doesn't work out for him, he is smart enought with his CS/Math degree that he could do that in worst case.

 

[knicksin7]

Wow, you missed the point. One of the major issues on this team is a lack of foot speed and athleticism. Dan Hurley was quoted before the year that they value offensive players that they can turn into defensive players. That didn't work, and that philosophy needs to be addressed.

We have four excellent recruits coming in. But it is a viable concern that none of them are considered great athletes and two have well-established question marks about how thin (Adams) they are and their current conditioning level (Furphy). If our defensive issues are linked, in part, to being outclassed athletically and our lack of foot speed/quickness, then Dan Hurley needs to rethink how we play defense. Putting guys who lack foot speed/defensive fundamentals on an ISO defensive island with no rim protection is not effective and this year's layup drill/help defense debacle is proof of it. Forcing poor defensive players to rotate and get manhandled by mismatches because our 5 is hedging in the parking lot is not ideal.

We need to bring in some players from the portal to up our overall athleticism and as Husky429 stated, have some "violence" in their game. Who knows who returns but our entire team, minus Reed (most of the time), a healthy Hass, and Liam are very finesse in either physicality or nature.

"sneaky athletic"
"great bball IQ"
"gym rat"
"great family - good role models"

 

[Deleted at users request]

This is literally what happened. He thought Mahaney would compliment the returners and be that Newton/Spencer hybrid we were missing.

He probably thought all 3 of the sophomore wings would’ve benefited more from practicing against the 2024 team for a full season, but only Solo improved. Nobody blamed him before the season for handing the keys over to those guys.

Now that we’ll be a year removed from any likely post season success, we don’t have to worry about guys cashing in on loyalty to remain in the rotation. 2-3 impact transfers that hopefully will be scouted better than Mahaney will be tremendous next to our returning core and recruiting class.

How did we hand the keys to a squad of 3 where only 1 of them starts? And up until McNeeley got hurt he was a catch and shoot option?

That does not make sense.

Hurley bet the season on Aiden and Karaban being All-Americans and McNeeley living up to the billing. Only one of those things happened.

 

[RuffRuff]

It doesn't matter now. He won 2 NCs, and decided to return . I highly doubt he wants to go thru another possible season like this year again. He'll give it a shot, get paid , and perhaps in the future get a coaching position. If that doesn't work out for him, he is smart enought with his CS/Math degree that he could do that in worst case.

I agree with this. I don’t think he’ll want to come back. The UConn-AK relationship feels expired after this year. He looks tired as it is. I commend him for trying to run it back for a 3peat, but for a guy who’s won 2 it feels like coming back would be a difficult engagement for Alex. Is he really going to be charged up? And I honestly don’t feel his style would complement what we are bringing in.

 

[djct1999]

I agree with this. I don’t think he’ll want to come back. The UConn-AK relationship feels expired after this year. He looks tired as it is. I commend him for trying to run it back for a 3peat, but for a guy who’s won 2 it feels like coming back would be a difficult engagement for Alex. Is he really going to be charged up? And I honestly don’t feel his style would complement what we are bringing in.

Isn’t he also graduating this spring in 3 years?

 

[gtcam]

Some on here criticize with way more enthusiasm than they praise. It's obvious who those people are. Same ones every time. I'm just going to leave that there. It's their right to do as they please or dislike who they dislike. To each their own.
Being the highest paid state employee shouldn't get thrown in your face every time you have a down year. Think he earned that. Calhoun got that thrown in his face also. Not a dime back. Outside of John Wooden from a bygone era, what coach/program legit challenges for a title every single year? Outside of maybe Duke, who gets whatever player they want, the nature of the sport makes it very difficult. Especially when going up against SEC programs with deep NIL pockets in the future..
As far as this year goes, I think it's more bad team construction(also on the staff) than bad coaching. Our best player is a freshman who missed 5 weeks and is at a physicality and athleticism disadvantage against almost every opponent. We have no ball handling, athleticism, we have bad individual defenders, no shot creators, and no bench depth. Karaban has been in a season long slump. Reed is enigmatic but promising.. Solo has improved. Not much beyond that. Diarra's knee made an already awful PG situation completely untenable. You could argue making the tourney is a pretty decent coaching job considering everything. If one more person mentions "all the talent" on this team. This team is not that talented at all and certainly the pieces don't fit together well. It's not even in the same stratosphere of the last 2 years in terms of talent. We lost Spencer, Newton, Clingan and Castle from last year and replaced them with nothing remotely close to equaling that. Blame the staff for a bad offseason assembling the team. All the armchair coaches that solely blame the game coaching is just lashing out in frustration. You could always point out things here and there that you disagree with like Reed playing more, but this team wasn't going to be that good regardless. You can't win in CBall with one decent guard(Solo), nobody that can dribble, and bad defense. We have a team of shooters that aren't shooting all that great. Losing is usually a collective effort.

Houston and K Sampson

 

[uconngb]

Inconsistency and fouling too much is also Johnson's hallmark. And Johnson is much less productive on offense or st rebounding. Johnson still has more career fouls than career rebounds.

If that’s true that is an embarrassing stat

 

[UCfor3]

Houston and K Sampson

Good one. Missed them. Now at 2 teams. Still not many though....

 

[RuffRuff]

Good to see he’s already thinking properly.

 

[HooperScooper]

Good to see he’s already thinking properly.

Wasn't it a priority last offseason? They work out with weights all offseason. So what are they going to do this offseason that they didn't do last offseason?

 

[RuffRuff]

Wasn't it a priority last offseason? What are they going to do this offseason that they didn't do last offseason?

My guess is get bigger and stronger in the portal. For those that stick, hit the weights. Jayden has at least appeared to get physically bigger this year, added muscle. Jaylen not so much, looks similar.

He must have know physicality was going to be an issue with the returning roster. I mean look at Samson, Alex, Solo. That much more confusing as to why they got a little guard like AM.

 

[Greathusky]

I will give Pitino credit for attacking the portal hard and getting a team that is ready for Big East play. Not so much for Danny!

 

[willie99]

Show your emotion, go crazy, be yourself, yell at refs, get a technical.... it's all good

The calmer Dan is not working. Don't try to appease anyone. LOSE IT

Your can only succeed being yourself. You're not good at being something you're not. Nobody is

Be you

I'm with you brother

 

[willie99]

These threads crack me up. I can only shake my head and laugh.

Shame on management for allowing armchair basketball experts to criticize our kids. You don't want us to speculate about transfers, but you enable thread after thread about player bashing.

Ed Cooley was wrong, we're not arrogant, our Debbie Downers are petulant kids, not even grown-ups yet

Winning is hard, every team wants to beat us, and we're going to lose sometimes. And all of that is OK

I know I'm wasting words around here, so many are hopeless, but learn to appreciate what we have, and enjoy the ride. If you can’t absorb the bumps in the road, well that's your problem

 

[El Obrero]

Good to see he’s already thinking properly.

I don’t know, I’m kind of done at this point with Hurley being all inside his own head with these pointless musings about how these boys just can’t measure up to his high standards and tough love like those superheroes of the past two years.
Shut the hell up, you sound like John Calipari after his roster full of one-and-dones gets blown out in the sweet sixteen. Your coaching this season has been ass, and you know it. So why is it necessary to throw your players under the bus before saying so? You lost this locker room because your head got too big to fit inside it.
Worry about your book release in April for gods sake. Sheesh

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Yep.
I'm also confused about the "Hurley got out coached" comment. This would assume that each team had the same exact factors entering the game: the same roster, neutral court, same whistle etc.
Did Dan Hurley outcoach everyone, including pitino, last year? Is that the only reason we won? Cuz it seems to be the only reason we lose

Same whistle???? Lol

 

[RuffRuff]

great assessment. I’m a Stewart fan and want him to make that next leap.
Your description of him always chasing his guy from behind is perfect.

I think Nowell has some upside. He just needs some more time in real game speed. He showed an improvement in his composure and confidence just the past couple games. kid is built like a brick s-house. KEA was listed at 5-10. This kid is listed at 6-0. So I don’t think height will be a limiting factor as some point out. Hope to enjoy his progress.

It's impossible to evaluate any freshman that hasn't been given a chance to find a flow and identity in the team framework. He's built like a barrel, which looks a little funky out there as a PG, but maybe he can use that in ways we haven't fully had a chance to see play out.

Stew a tough call because he feels like a kid destined to get stronger and play the 4, where his skills could be an advantage and better suited defensively. With AK playing so many minutes, we've been using him primarily in a guard role, which is not aligned with his skillset.

 

[jibsey]

l

At the most basic level, the foundation of good recruiting is that you want fast, tall, physical and athletic. You can identify this stuff quickly, as can everyone else. That is your full house and best chance of winning the hand. There is then the element of evaluating smarts, skill, instincts and system fit, which is much harder to evaluate, especially if the foundation is lacking - would be a pair of 2s that might turn into a winning hand.

You can win with both but have a much better odds with the former. Hurley took a chance with a pair of twos on a kid like Mahaney.

“At the most basic level, the foundation of good recruiting is that you want fast, tall, physical and athletic. You can identify this stuff quickly, as can everyone else”. Yes. We need at least 1 new face that meets that requirement next year. I don’t believe Nowell and Mahaney do but Nowell can still be a good support contributing guard off the bench for us.
Mahaney might want to consider going where he can play a lot of minutes and be a starter, where I don’t know.

 

[gtcam]

“At the most basic level, the foundation of good recruiting is that you want fast, tall, physical and athletic. You can identify this stuff quickly, as can everyone else”. Yes. We need at least 1 new face that meets that requirement next year. I don’t believe Nowell and Mahaney do but Nowell can still be a good support contributing guard off the bench for us.
Mahaney might want to consider going where he can play a lot of minutes and be a starter, where I don’t know.

1. Nowell isn't going to stay to be a back-up
2. Mahaney will find a team closer to home. most likely a lower level D1 team.


RuffRuff says:

He's built like a barrel, which looks a little funky out there as a PG

Guess nobody told KEA that he looked funky!!!!

 

[SwingDog]

It's impossible to evaluate any freshman that hasn't been given a chance to find a flow and identity in the team framework. He's built like a barrel, which looks a little funky out there as a PG, but maybe he can use that in ways we haven't fully had a chance to see play out.

Stew a tough call because he feels like a kid destined to get stronger and play the 4, where his skills could be an advantage and better suited defensively. With AK playing so many minutes, we've been using him primarily in a guard role, which is not aligned with his skillset.

Deivon Smith for St. John's is listed at 6'-0" and he seems to be doing okay. (I only mention him because of the comparable height.) I don't think he's built like a barrel; he just looks he has strength to me, which is something we're looking for. I would like to see Nowell get some legitimate game reps but it seems like Hurley is either waiting until next season or doesn't have the confidence him as the future PG. I don't think we've seen nearly enough to give an honest evaluation.

 

[Boost'ED]

1. Nowell isn't going to stay to be a back-up
2. Mahaney will find a team closer to home. most likely a lower level D1 team.


RuffRuff says:

He's built like a barrel, which looks a little funky out there as a PG

Guess nobody told KEA that he looked funky!!!!

Jameer Nelson was another stout PG.

Going back further, John Bagley was another.

Ultimately, players come in all sorts of physiques.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

my fave incoming recruit, but his lateral foot speed remains to be seen. I think he could have highest upside

So a shorter AK, huh? Maybe he turns out great, but right now it seems like it's a Mullins duplicate, or vice versa. Maybe a 6-10 athletic, scorer/rebounder.

 

[jibsey]

Good to see he’s already thinking properly.

There is no growing physical specimens over a summer. Stop.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

So a shorter AK, huh? Maybe he turns out great, but right now it seems like it's a Mullins duplicate, or vice versa. Maybe a 6-10 athletic, scorer/rebounder.

Hoping for something like AK or a low rent-Luka lol. Mullins is more athletic probably a better shooter, but from what I've seen from Furphy, is he has heady Cam-like intangibles and can create his own shot. I think of our recruits, because of the competition he's faced, his performance is biggest question mark. I'm taking the over because of his BBIQ, but there is also a chance his athleticism might be an issue. We will see.

 

[Chin Diesel]

1. Nowell isn't going to stay to be a back-up
2. Mahaney will find a team closer to home. most likely a lower level D1 team.


RuffRuff says:

He's built like a barrel, which looks a little funky out there as a PG

Guess nobody told KEA that he looked funky!!!!

I won't speculate on any player transferring but Nowell would have to be all sorts of naive to think Hurley is handing him the keys to next year's team uncontested. A high level proven PG with size and length is definitely a transfer portal priority for UConn's staff.