NY Post St. John’s Hurley What If Article

[CL82]

I couldn’t agree more. People blasted me for defending Hurley getting a T with three minutes to go and said things like “Calhoun was smarter than to do it in that spot”. Comments like that clearly show they didn’t watch early Calhoun and only remember 99 and on because he was as loose of a cannon as Bobby Knight early on and I see a lot of similarities with Hurley, so if that means Hurley brings us four more national titles I think I’d take that…

When Calhoun got a technical he was furious. The way he glared at the offending ref left no doubt that he would like to beat the crap out of him right on the spot. When Dan gets a technical sometimes he’s mad and sometimes he’s pouty. It’s different.

As he aged, Calhoun was much more strategic about picking up a T.

 

[NJHusky]

Because it's an unrealistic goal, Jim Calhoun is a top 5 college basketball coach of all time. Setting the bar for failure at top 5 coach of all time means that 99% of all coaches aren't going to meet the expectations. There's tons of things Dan Hurley needs to improve on, especially in game stuff like you mentioned. But even if he improves every single one it's very likely he still doesn't come close to Jim Calhoun

I agree with you on Calhoun....I didn't intend to imply that he had to be a top 5-10 all time coach. The expectation (for me) is that we should be a consistent BE contender and NCAA title contender when we have "that" team. Winning at least 1-2 tourney games most years, while missing the tourney should be an exception.

I don't agree with excusing losses because this player was out, it's only year 4,. Does the win yesterday by a slim margin count less because Posh was out?

I do expect Hurley to be a better in game coach and win more of these close games than he has....and to be less frenetic...sorry but that's my expectation. I may be disappointed. If others' only expectation is be above .500, they won't be disappointed.

 

[Platt81]

When Calhoun got a technical he was furious. The way he glared at the offending ref left no doubt that he would like to beat the crap out of him right on the spot. When Dan gets a technical sometimes he’s mad and sometimes he’s pouty. It’s different.

As he aged, Calhoun was much more strategic about picking up a T.

I 100% agree with you, and that’s my point all these people saying “Calhoun was calculated” when he would get T’s clearly never saw 40 year old Jim Calhoun. My overall point to it was people like to complain about things Hurley does to “cost the team” without having any insight to the past. They’re the same people that after a 5 game win streak were declaring we’re probably a top ten team..those are two vastly different arguments to have from the same talking head.

 

[Hoophound]

Does St Johns have fans? Legitimate question - who is their fanbase and where is it geographically?

Yes. They have fans all over the New York metro, particularly on Long Island. They have a good following of older guys that went to Catholic school and played in the CYO leagues, city kids from Queens and others. A good St John's team is great for the Big East. It really amps up the feel in the Big East when SJU is good. It would also put more pressure on Cuse.

 

[Blue Idiaco]

Here's the thing... For many years, JC got criticism here for being a guy who could recruit but could not win the "big one." He was attacked for his total lack of a half-court offense, an inability to get/use his bigs, rotation issues (Brian Fair would score 20 every time JC was out/ejected) and for his teams being soft.

I actually see a lot of similarities between Hurley and early (86-98) JC. Neither blew you away from a pure Xs and Os standpoint. But they could recruit and they were able to get their teams to play hard. I think Hurley was the perfect hire here and once he gets a better "balanced" team here, I think we will be a consistent power. Our issue now is that we just do not have enough competent guards to play his "offense" which is predicated on guys making plays as opposed to an offense that sets up guys, if that makes sense. The same was true under JC. We relied heavily on star players, notably guards (and Donyell) to just make plays and be the best player(s) on the court.

Calhoun went 16-7 in the NCAAs between 1986 and 1998. Dan Hurley has gone 2-3 in his career in the NCAA tournament

 

[aburks41]

I agree with you on Calhoun....I didn't intend to imply that he had to be a top 5-10 all time coach. The expectation (for me) is that we should be a consistent BE contender and NCAA title contender when we have "that" team. Winning at least 1-2 tourney games most years, while missing the tourney should be an exception.

I don't agree with excusing losses because this player was out, it's only year 4,. Does the win yesterday by a slim margin count less because Posh was out?

I do expect Hurley to be a better in game coach and win more of these close games than he has....and to be less frenetic...sorry but that's my expectation. I may be disappointed. If others' only expectation is be above .500, they won't be disappointed.

People here get mad if you have too high of expectations, it's weird. We are a 4 time national championship program. Our expectations should be to consistently compete at that level. Settling for anything less is what loser programs do. And for the people who say "but you're setting yourself up for disappointment" - Good. I would rather be disappointed we didn't win a championship than be happy that we made a sweet 16.

 

[slepers]

I agree with you on Calhoun....I didn't intend to imply that he had to be a top 5-10 all time coach. The expectation (for me) is that we should be a consistent BE contender and NCAA title contender when we have "that" team. Winning at least 1-2 tourney games most years, while missing the tourney should be an exception.

I don't agree with excusing losses because this player was out, it's only year 4,. Does the win yesterday by a slim margin count less because Posh was out?

I do expect Hurley to be a better in game coach and win more of these close games than he has....and to be less frenetic...sorry but that's my expectation. I may be disappointed. If others' only expectation is be above .500, they won't be disappointed.

It seems to a lot of people on here they don,t want to enjoy the process. UConn will get there and there will be some ups and downs without ultra criticism. I think we have the right guy in charge to bring everything everybody wants in the future. Calhoun was the right hire in the mid 80’s, Hurley is the right hire now. Grow with the program’s reemergence.

 

[CL82]

People here get mad if you have too high of expectations, it's weird. We are a 4 time national championship program. Our expectations should be to consistently compete at that level. Settling for anything less is what loser programs do. And for the people who say "but you're setting yourself up for disappointment" - Good. I would rather be disappointed we didn't win a championship than be happy that we made a sweet 16.

Agree, although I’d be happy if we made it to the Sweet 16 this year

 

[aburks41]

Agree, although I’d be happy if we made it to the Sweet 16 this year

This year is the one year I would be fine with it because it's an improvement over last years' embarrassment against UMD. Going forward, Sweet 16 needs to be the floor, not the ceiling though.

 

[Yorkeez4]

I consider Calhoun the greatest college coach of all time because of what he did at UConn. At one time he was known as the best coach to never get to a final four. But things have changed that make it more difficult to recruit today. Those things include the Power 5, NIL, and the transfer rules. Players also have different attitudes Fans are fickle. One thing I remember from the Calhoun days was a Boneyard member putting out a primer on how to attack a zone defense because they felt Calhoun had no clue when playing Syracuse.

I also remember knocking Villanova out early in my March Madness bracket because Wright was the coach - those days are long gone. Coaches learn and adjust and I believe Hurley will learn and adjust.

 

[Jbirdp5]

Here's the thing... For many years, JC got criticism here for being a guy who could recruit but could not win the "big one." He was attacked for his total lack of a half-court offense, an inability to get/use his bigs, rotation issues (Brian Fair would score 20 every time JC was out/ejected) and for his teams being soft.

I actually see a lot of similarities between Hurley and early (86-98) JC. Neither blew you away from a pure Xs and Os standpoint. But they could recruit and they were able to get their teams to play hard. I think Hurley was the perfect hire here and once he gets a better "balanced" team here, I think we will be a consistent power. Our issue now is that we just do not have enough competent guards to play his "offense" which is predicated on guys making plays as opposed to an offense that sets up guys, if that makes sense. The same was true under JC. We relied heavily on star players, notably guards (and Donyell) to just make plays and be the best player(s) on the court.

It’s funny how people seem to forget all those criticisms Calhoun had for years. Gotta let Hurley grow and improve just like Calhoun did. I think he’s got the right makeup to do so.

 

[the Q]

I consider Calhoun the greatest college coach of all time because of what he did at UConn. At one time he was known as the best coach to never get to a final four. But things have changed that make it more difficult to recruit today. Those things include the Power 5, NIL, and the transfer rules. Players also have different attitudes Fans are fickle. One thing I remember from the Calhoun days was a Boneyard member putting out a primer on how to attack a zone defense because they felt Calhoun had no clue when playing Syracuse.

I also remember knocking Villanova out early in my March Madness bracket because Wright was the coach - those days are long gone. Coaches learn and adjust and I believe Hurley will learn and adjust.

Hopefully hurley will learn to never run a hs jv offense.

The weave is a warm up drill. Not an offensive set at any level

 

[UCfor3]

Calhoun went 16-7 in the NCAAs between 1986 and 1998. Dan Hurley has gone 2-3 in his career in the NCAA tournament

Apples and Oranges. A little harder winning NCAA tourney games with Rhode Island level talent vs UConn level talent in the 90's. Danny didn't have the luxury of coaching Chris Smith, Donyell Marshall, Ray Allen and Rip Hamilton.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Does St Johns have fans? Legitimate question - who is their fanbase and where is it geographically?

Lots of Jets fans in there - scary bunch

 

[UCfor3]

People here get mad if you have too high of expectations, it's weird. We are a 4 time national championship program. Our expectations should be to consistently compete at that level. Settling for anything less is what loser programs do. And for the people who say "but you're setting yourself up for disappointment" - Good. I would rather be disappointed we didn't win a championship than be happy that we made a sweet 16.

The program has been through a lot since the days of 4 titles. We are different and the college landscape is different. We have been back in the Big East for less than 2 years. We all have high expectations as to the eventual destination. Most of us are just realistic that it may take a little longer to get back to the previously achieved mountaintop. To expect everything to fall into place perfectly and for there to be a seemless and swift ascent without any hiccups was probably a pretty low percentage aspiration. In the meantime we are happy we are a competitive top 25 team again, but not satisfied or accepting that this is our permanent ceiling. We are choosing to enjoy the journey instead of being perpetually disappointed.

 

[LIuconn]

Gotta roster sure fire pros to be a top 10 team. If Castle is all he’s cracked up to be that will help raise the floor

 

[boog204]

From 1994-1996 we went 17-1, 17-1 and 16-2 in The Big East. I think we did ok. 94 we lost to Florida and yes we laid an egg. 95 we lost to UCLA in a great game. We were the second best team in the tournament. In 96 we were a physically beaten up team. Ricky got hurt, Doron could barely play vs Miss St and Ray was gassed. We had some great teams.

Definitely didn't say we had "bad" years. Those were easily three of our best teams and we got beaten by two vastly inferior teams because they slowed us down and played physical. That was legit the "key" to beating us. Obviously not many teams could do it given we only lost 13 games over those three years.

 

[NEforceUConn]

Does St Johns have fans? Legitimate question - who is their fanbase and where is it geographically?

Fans: PS 40 and PS 42