On the coach

[nelsonmuntz]

Perhaps people are just polite and don’t want to tell you that your question is moronic.

Fortunately for you, I’m not, so you can finally get your answer.....if you think the various recruiting rankings our upperclassmen received in high school have any bearing on how they’re capable of playing, you’re much, much stupider than even I thought you were.

You can check that one off your list.

You must be a basketball genius if you can see past all Hurley's very specific gameday screwups to identify that it is Carlton's, Vital's and Gilbert's fault that UConn chokes at the end of every game against such powerhouses as Tulsa. It's interesting that UConn can beat a team like Florida, but otherwise has exactly the same outcome against any semi-respectable opponent, blowing a lead in the last 5 minutes of the game. Must be Carlton's fault, although Carlton is down to backup minutes for the most part over this recent stretch so it is kind of hard to blame the losses on him.

Hurley has obvious game coaching issues, loses control of himself on the sideline, and his substitutions do not make a lot of sense (probably should have been playing Wilson a little more earlier in the season, ya think?). He has a mixed record at best on player development, and his success at URI was in a large part driven by out-recruiting a mid-major conference that had a combination of dead-ender and going nowhere coaches for the most part. The training wheels are about to come off, and the Big East coaches can recruit, develop players, and are good gameday coaches. Even the bad ones.

Hurley has to pull UConn out of this spiral now. We don't have another year to flush and blame on Ollie's recruits, even if taking cheap shots at the upperclassmen is a the best way to build a poster's "like" count. If UConn finishes at the bottom of the league again, we are going to see the recruiting momentum soften, and next year UConn will be like the new fish in their first night at Shawshank. I don't care what Hurley has to do. Bring in PJ Carlesimo or even his dad in a George Blaney type role, but he has to fix this, and fix it now.


p.s. Did you know that Tulsa is the Golden Hurricane (singular)? I couldn't remember and had to look it up for this post. Does Tulsa get hurricanes? Do I care? (this question is rhetorical, I don't).

p.p.s. Crowd-pleasing rim shots at players seem like a lot of fun. Maybe I should try it.

 

[TheRealKBuks]

I keep asking the question, and no one can answer it. How many 4* and 5* recruits do we need to beat Tulsa?

This has already been answered time and time again but you seem bent on beating your head against the wall.

 

[CTBasketball]

CV and AG are at least middle of the pack in the AAC. In fact, I think UConn has one of the most talented teams in the league.

Seriously put the bottle down, it does more damage than you think.

 

[Waquoit]

Seriously put the bottle down, it does more damage than you think.

Giving liberals a bad name for starters.

 

[Fatroony5]

You must be a basketball genius if you can see past all Hurley's very specific gameday screwups to identify that it is Carlton's, Vital's and Gilbert's fault that UConn chokes at the end of every game against such powerhouses as Tulsa. It's interesting that UConn can beat a team like Florida, but otherwise has exactly the same outcome against any semi-respectable opponent, blowing a lead in the last 5 minutes of the game. Must be Carlton's fault, although Carlton is down to backup minutes for the most part over this recent stretch so it is kind of hard to blame the losses on him.

Hurley has obvious game coaching issues, loses control of himself on the sideline, and his substitutions do not make a lot of sense (probably should have been playing Wilson a little more earlier in the season, ya think?). He has a mixed record at best on player development, and his success at URI was in a large part driven by out-recruiting a mid-major conference that had a combination of dead-ender and going nowhere coaches for the most part. The training wheels are about to come off, and the Big East coaches can recruit, develop players, and are good gameday coaches. Even the bad ones.

Hurley has to pull UConn out of this spiral now. We don't have another year to flush and blame on Ollie's recruits, even if taking cheap shots at the upperclassmen is a the best way to build a poster's "like" count. If UConn finishes at the bottom of the league again, we are going to see the recruiting momentum soften, and next year UConn will be like the new fish in their first night at Shawshank. I don't care what Hurley has to do. Bring in PJ Carlesimo or even his dad in a George Blaney type role, but he has to fix this, and fix it now.


p.s. Did you know that Tulsa is the Golden Hurricane (singular)? I couldn't remember and had to look it up for this post. Does Tulsa get hurricanes? Do I care? (this question is rhetorical, I don't).

p.p.s. Crowd-pleasing rim shots at players seem like a lot of fun. Maybe I should try it.

I hear you and I think some of your criticisms are valid. Some coaches who have been hired have been able to do more with less and have good results a la Mike Young at Virginia Tech. I guess I just see it differently. The reason people are critiquing the older guys is because they deserve their share of the blame. I mean just look at the stats in those losses, it’s so hard to win that way when four of your older players take bad shots, turn the ball over, foul at the worst possible times, and just don’t have the poise needed to close these games out. I have a bunch of buddies that are Iowa fans and I watch a lot of their games closely. When we sit down and watch UConn play they can’t believe the guard play. Whether it was Wichita state, Nova, etc go down the line and it’s the same old story. Sure Iowa has some younger guys that are really coming on, but they have an upperclassman in Garza who balls out every game. That type of consistency helps steady the young guys. We need that, it’s so hard to win when you never know what you’re gonna get with our experienced players. I think it’s fair to criticize some of the in game decisions Hurley has made. But compared to last year, there’s definitely progress. More progress will obviously be needed next season to compete. And one other thing, everyone is praising Pikiell right now who is doing an awesome job. Take a look at his previous three seasons.

 

[Excalibur]

In fact, I think UConn has one of the most talented teams in the league.

If that's your starting point, it is no wonder you are so far off. What talents do we have? What do our players do well at this point? Shoot? Handle? Finish? Can anyone create their own shot? We've been beaten in close games by guys who created and made shots. Who do we have that we can rely on to do that?

 

[Towney007]

CV and AG are at least middle of the pack in the AAC. In fact, I think UConn has one of the most talented teams in the league.

lol based off of WHAT, exactly?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

lol based off of WHAT, exactly?

Based on this league sucks and Hurley apologists have to stop making excuses for losing to crappy teams. I can understand a rough ride next year in the Big East, but the AAC is mid-major league and UConn is tied for last in the win column. Ollie was canned two years ago. It is time for someone to sack up. If this league is too tough for Hurley, then he isn't the right coach for the job.

 

[AdamaNation]

My eyes tell me our d has improved but we are last in league play in scoring d and 10th in defensive fg%. So we are statistically one of the worst defensive teams in the AAC. Surprisingly we are middle of the pack in scoring offense. Coach Hurley has not done a great job yet building a roster. Having two players redshirt especially down one scholarship really hurts. Then when Polley went down we lost our most reliable shooter. But coach is building towards the future and next year should bear some fruit. I just hope we can go about .500 to end the season but it’s going to be a big challenge.

Heres a question. What 3 facets/stats would take us to the next level if improved. There are a lot. But just 3.
mine
Turnovers. I can’t say assist to turnover, as a good pass and possession does not guarantee a successful fg attempt especially with this group.

Free throws. Be better.

Help defense. Stop helping ......unless your covering a big at the arc. Which you shouldn’t be doing anyway.

 

[Towney007]

Based on this league sucks and Hurley apologists have to stop making excuses for losing to crappy teams. I can understand a rough ride next year in the Big East, but the AAC is mid-major league and UConn is tied for last in the win column. Ollie was canned two years ago. It is time for someone to sack up. If this league is too tough for Hurley, then he isn't the right coach for the job.

So what makes us more talented? Just because the guys have UConn jerseys on?

 

[Caronimo]

Hurley did a poor job coaching against Temple. I thought Matt Garry should have started over Bouknight.

 

[imno1]

Hurley did a poor job coaching against Temple. I thought Matt Garry should have started over Bouknight.

Got to keep our weapon secret until tourney time. Then it’s time to go to the Matt. Hurley is a genius