Miscalculations by DH

[freescooter]

Has to be Stewart

Yeah, ok. As I said we don’t have a guy

 

[Huskyforlife]

I don't care about a season that doesn't look anything like the season Hurley and the national media envisioned for the Huskies. We've had plenty of disappointing seasons after high expectations were thrust upon us in the preseason, it happens.

I think we're in our current situation because coach badly misjudged in the portal on the biggest position of need, I think he either thought too highly of a couple of our sophomores and or was blinded by loyalty, and I think he started the wrong center all season.

My read on it is he was feeling himself too much after the dominant back to back and kind of thought he could turn anyone into serious national championship contenders. This season humbled him and he now must make the necessary changes for the roster we'll have next season....Hurley and the team/program will be better for it next season.

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.

 

[RuffRuff]

Mostly worried about the fact that when it comes to ballhandliWas ng, Mahaney seems to be the second best handler on the team!

Was at the game Sunday, seats low mid court. While the outcome wasn't great, great environment and good to catch up with this team again. Hurley has a lot of work to do. There are clear deficiencies in the potential returning core & it's nothing freshman can make up. To say they were physically outmatched would be an understatement. It was men versus boys out there (with the exception of Tarris).

A couple recognitions, in thinking ahead to next year:

Solo is a thin kid. He's ripped, but not strong enough to either defend properly or finish at the rim, and doesn't have the quickness (or savvy) to make up for it. It really showed in a game like this. He has to get meaningfully stronger for me to lock him in at the 2 next year, would prefer having an insurance policy combo he can compete with. I'd want flexibility and options there and not put all eggs in, if we really want to compete. There are light bulbs that don't go off as often as you would like.

Stew - I don't know how he overcomes his spacial awareness issues. He gets lost at a level that is hard to fathom, showcased by 4 fouls in 13 minutes. This has become a consistent issue that hasn't developed an ounce since start of season. He can flash some offense at times, but then produces little elsewhere and is an extreme defensive liability. He is chasing his man from behind regularly.

Ahmad - had a couple really nice looks inside, and has an eye for the pass. His handle and general presence on the court as a short PG feels kinda unorthodox as it looks like a running back playing PG. I'm going to hold on any real eval as a seldom played freshman.

AM & Ross - not enough meaningful minutes to assess much, but verdict seems to be out there.

Where my curiosities continue to loom is how significant a talent shift Hurley makes, in recapturing toughness and physicality, especially now that Pitino is back and stealing the BE shine. Pitino's statements around passing on HS recruiting will be an interesting variable, because now that StJ is a legitimate foe, it should be top of Hurley's mind to be able to compete with a Pitino roster. StJ is likely going to have Ruis, Zubi & Wilcher back to start, and he'll be looking to grab his type of players in the open spots.

Furthermore, I have to think Hurley has to be burning being slapped into humility. There is a lot of chatter going on right now about how Pitino is the best ever, blah blah. We have a real rivalry on our hands, which is fun.

Our staff is awesome and will adjust. I personally don't think Hurley is going to be patient trying to get back to the top, especially after having misdialed so badly on this team. It was a heckuva misdial. If anything this had to be a reality check that it's not about the system as much as talent, and sliding scale of shooters/processors has to move back to toughness/physicality/size/athletecism.

This team is a hard watch at times given how physically outmatched they've been, which tends to have a hopeless feel as your only option is outshoot.

 

[djct1999]

After the 2nd round of the NCAAs, so the Monday 8 days after Selection Sunday.

But guys are already "in the portal". Trilly Donovan has a list of 70 guys already.

Street agents work year round. They are sharks. Trust me on this, they are already talking to parents and inner circles and most kids already have a sense of what schools want them and how much they will pay.

Of note, I believe the ncaa is voting in April on giving current seniors a 5th year. This can open up a whole bunch of new options.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Hurley had a multi-year sample size even before the last 2 years that made him fairly confident he could coach up just about any players of decent 3*+ talent to play KenPom 50 or better team D over the course of a season.

I’m sure he felt we could get enough out of all of the current sophomores & vets plus the transfers that we’d have a similar or better “serviceable” D thst would suffice with an anticipated Top 5-10 offense.

While some of our offensive issues have already been covered in this thread, it’s the poor defense (still stuck at 97 and visually horrible most games) that has killed us in at least half of our losses.

 

[djct1999]

For sure... We had Joey C, Naheim, AND DC coming off the bench to give us 5-7 a game each. Last year Hass was good for 6 and Samson would get two dunks a game.

Aside from Tarris (and sometimes even him), our bench generally gives us absolutely nothing offensively or defensively. Crazy how we went from being 10-11 deep in the preseason to really having six players who you could somewhat depend on.

And people continuously want to point out AM. But the staff swung and missed on far more than just him. Players aside, the most shocking thing to me starts with the team defense. It was an absolute mess from the start and derailed the entire season. We are to slow on the perimeter, we are to late to offer help side defense, and we are either out of position or just lack the interior presence we had the last two years. We used to score a ton in transition and moved the ball quickly. We saw none of that this year. We had no true pg, no true center, no depth, and when things mattered most, we turned to a freshman. I do agree ego played a part and this staff believed they created the perfect system. They learned quickly personnel matters and the system only works w the right kids. Our lack of depth and propensity to foul limited the staffs rotations. Tarris and Samson both probably would have better playing alongside each other but we rarely could do that because of foul trouble and no one behind them.We just didn’t have the right kids. The staff will adjust and my guess is this team will look completely different next year, including a surprise or two.

 

[RuffRuff]

And people continuously want to point out AM. But the staff swung and missed on far more than just him. Players aside, the most shocking thing to me starts with the team defense. It was an absolute mess from the start and derailed the entire season. We are to slow on the perimeter, we are to late to offer help side defense, and we are either out of position or just lack the interior presence we had the last two years. We used to score a ton in transition and moved the ball quickly. We saw none of that this year. We had no true pg, no true center, no depth, and when things mattered most, we turned to a freshman. I do agree ego played a part and this staff believed they created the perfect system. They learned quickly personnel matters and the system only works w the right kids. Our lack of depth and propensity to foul limited the staffs rotations. Tarris and Samson both probably would have better playing alongside each other but we rarely could do that because of foul trouble and no one behind them.We just didn’t have the right kids. The staff will adjust and my guess is this team will look completely different next year, including a surprise or two.

Feels like there was a covergence of multiple colliding variables:

1) Emphasis on development & continuity as part of culture (Hurley was outspoken on this) - sophomore class
2) Indexing heavily on shooters/culture fits/good processing (also outspoken) - Mahaney
3) Loyalty to program guys - AK/Samson

Samson isn't a starting 5 on any NC caliber team, and it's not debatable. I remain convinced this was a shortened and distracted roster build, which I cannot totally blame the coaches on and it's unlikely to happen again. It's also pretty clear there was some overconfidence in the system being the driver, not the amazingly high level of talent.

I'm simply curious how they'll adjust, confident they will. I do think it's going to take a lot of work and will test recently stated philosophies.

Key in today's world is being Kenny Roger's and knowing when to hold em and when to fold em.