Miscalculations by DH

[huskyharry]

Coach Hurley’s success the last two seasons was partly due to loyalty that he showed players.
He also has felt very confident in the natural talent and hard work of this year’s sophomore class in projecting how well they play this year.
Because of that loyalty, he avoided recruiting more experienced players the recruitment of which might have been perceived as being disloyal.
He likely felt a similar loyalty to Hass. He had to see that Solo didn’t and doesn’t have the dribbling and passing skills to play point.
I have been a strong supporter of Mahaney. But except for a couple of games, he has clearly struggled. Even when he has contributed well on the offensive end , he still lacks the strength to play defense in the Big East. His lack of strength also makes it problematic for him to be the prime ball handler when defenders are allowed to bump you without fouls being called.
Add in the misfortune of Hass’ chronic knee issue and this leaves us without a true point guard.
His recruiting strategy has also reflected loving the offense that was such a big part of success the last two years, more than the defense that has been the focus of more of his career. This may have been what was so attractive about recruiting Mahaney. Without the way defense is allowed to be played in the Big East, with cutters allowed to move freely, he could have been and maybe could still be a key piece towards some truly beautiful offense.
The recruiting class for next year, although very talented, seems to fit This same mold.
Hopefully, UConn can play better once we are out of the Big East (and perhaps Mahaney will as well)

 

[superjohn]

Coach Hurley’s success the last two seasons was partly due to loyalty that he showed players.
He also has felt very confident in the natural talent and hard work of this year’s sophomore class in projecting how well they play this year.
Because of that loyalty, he avoided recruiting more experienced players the recruitment of which might have been perceived as being disloyal.
He likely felt a similar loyalty to Hass. He had to see that Solo didn’t and doesn’t have the dribbling and passing skills to play point.
I have been a strong supporter of Mahaney. But except for a couple of games, he has clearly struggled. Even when he has contributed well on the offensive end , he still lacks the strength to play defense in the Big East. His lack of strength also makes it problematic for him to be the prime ball handler when defenders are allowed to bump you without fouls being called.
Add in the misfortune of Hass’ chronic knee issue and this leaves us without a true point guard.
His recruiting strategy has also reflected loving the offense that was such a big part of success the last two years, more than the defense that has been the focus of more of his career. This may have been what was so attractive about recruiting Mahaney. Without the way defense is allowed to be played in the Big East, with cutters allowed to move freely, he could have been and maybe could still be a key piece towards some truly beautiful offense.
The recruiting class for next year, although very talented, seems to fit This same mold.
Hopefully, UConn can play better once we are out of the Big East (and perhaps Mahaney will as well)

Hurley has gone finesse with the kids we have and the kids we have signed for next season. Tarris is the only big guy on the team who mixes it up. Liam will get himself dirty but he's more skill over physicality. Diarra is tough but he's a 5th year guy who does it all on heart. He desperately needs to hit the portal hard and reevaluate some things he looks for in his team.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Hurley has gone finesse with the kids we have and the kids we have signed for next season. Tarris is the only big guy on the team who mixes it up. Liam will get himself dirty but he's more skill over physicality. Diarra is tough but he's a 5th year guy who does it all on heart. He desperately needs to hit the portal hard and reevaluate some things he looks for in his team.

He needs ball handlers. The collective ball handling skills of this team are abysmal.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

We can’t blame losses on the guy that isn’t playing.

 

[REB1094]

Each of the last three years has come with major assumptions going into the year

Could Andre/Hawkins/Sanogo make star leaps in development, with the 4 transfers and 2 freshmen making immediate impacts? Took some time but we ended up hitting on those assumptions

Could Newton make the superstar leap, could those freshmen make a sophomore leap, could Diarra/Samson go from benchwarmer to key pieces, could Cam and Castle adjust immediately to the BE? Less unknowns here but obviously hits on them all

This year, could the sophomore class make a jump, could Karaban make the superstar leap, could Samson make a leap, could the transfers fix their issues under a Hurley system, will McNeeley be ready? Tarris, Solo, Liam hit. Karaban, Samson, Stewart, Ross, Mahaney missed

I’m sure those mistakes won’t be repeated again going into next year