Our Ceiling

[bendm]

They just lost to Rutgers who didn't even have Geo Baker. Rutgers is horrible.

Or Purdue didn’t do against Rutgers who is worse than both?

yes and UVA lost to baltimore but that doesnt mean UVA wasnt an elite team and wouldnt beat baltimore 9/10 times. of course anything can happen in a single elimination tourney, just like it did in 2014, but that doesnt mean it's relatively probable

 

[Jre2000]

Average expectations should be 4/5 seed assuming we keep playing how we are currently. I think if we get any degree of consistency with our shooting and no more injuries to key players (and acknowledging Hurley teams always get better as the year goes on), a reasonable high-end/ceiling potential for the team is a 3 seed in the tournament, make the Sweet 16, and push for an elite 8. If every single player hits their ceiling somehow we could win it all but that obviously isn't a realistic expectation.

 

[RichZ]

Loyola Chicago was no ones preseason Final Four pick when they went.

Actually, I know a guy who predicted it pre season. Of course he's an alum season ticket holder married to an alum, whose entire fairly is alums. But that was the only year he predicted it, so it was based on more than him being Loyola's version of Scrappy.

 

[ZenConn]

Five Golden Rings

Four Calling Birds

 

[superjohn]

yes and UVA lost to baltimore but that doesnt mean UVA wasnt an elite team and wouldnt beat baltimore 9/10 times. of course anything can happen in a single elimination tourney, just like it did in 2014, but that doesnt mean it's relatively probable

I guess I'm just not seeing what makes Purdue Elite. Nova led them all game and fell apart in the last few minutes because they have no bench, they lost to a horrible Ruttie team who was down one of their best players.

 

[bendm]

I guess I'm just not seeing what makes Purdue Elite. Nova led them all game and fell apart in the last few minutes because they have no bench, they lost to a horrible Ruttie team who was down one of their best players.

i still think they're the best of the big10. we'll see how it plays out. but if you don't think purdue is elite when they have an all american in ivey and a big that can throw up a triple double coming off the bench then we can't be considered as such

 

[BigTenFan]

i still think they're the best of the big10. we'll see how it plays out. but if you don't think purdue is elite when they have an all american in ivey and a big that can throw up a triple double coming off the bench then we can't be considered as such

1 game doesn't dictate if a team is or isn't elite. Way too early to start throwing around those titles. B1G and Big East play will show who are top teams. Boiler Up

 

[Huskyforlife]

I guess I'm just not seeing what makes Purdue Elite. Nova led them all game and fell apart in the last few minutes because they have no bench, they lost to a horrible Ruttie team who was down one of their best players.

Best big man duo in college basketball. Lottery pick guard, great shooting wing. Depth might be an issue, but most great teams play 7 guys at most.

 

[jibsey]

From what I’ve seen Cole is great because he can put it on the floor to the hoop and also make a 3. Who else do we have to drive to the rim late in game? Gaffney. Hence our weakness and limitations. If Hawkins can be assertive, control the ball and become that guy then our ceiling goes way up but right now no.

 

[bendm]

but most great teams play 7 guys at most.

that's what i said and got crushed for it

 

[UConnSwag11]

Bump

 

[husky429]

I am becoming increasingly concerned we are seeing Hurley's ceiling as a coach. Great recruiter and manager of talent. Simply awful on game day.

In the A10 you can be a winner by working harder than everyone and recruiting well. It'll even get you a bunch of wins in the Big East. Especially if we continue to elevate our recruiting.

What it won't do is have years of conference dominance or deep runs in the tournament. You HAVE to be able to coach a half court offense, make adjustments, and call timeouts as a high major coach. You have to have something more to your defense than high hedge and work hard. Izzo, Cooley, Huggins have outcoached him badly. Bruce Pearl gave him a run for his money and he's terrible.

I worry it's good enough to not get him fired in a few years without tourney success, but never good enough to see the elite 8s ans finals 4s we want as a fan base.

 

[superjohn]

I am becoming increasingly concerned we are seeing Hurley's ceiling as a coach. Great recruiter and manager of talent. Simply awful on game day.

In the A10 you can be a winner by working harder than everyone and recruiting well. It'll even get you a bunch of wins in the Big East. Especially if we continue to elevate our recruiting.

What it won't do is have years of conference dominance or deep runs in the tournament. You HAVE to be able to coach a half court offense, make adjustments, and call timeouts as a high major coach. You have to have something more to your defense than high hedge and work hard. Izzo, Cooley, Huggins have outcoached him badly. Bruce Pearl gave him a run for his money and he's terrible.

I worry it's good enough to not get him fired in a few years without tourney success, but never good enough to see the elite 8s ans finals 4s we want as a fan base.

I have the same worries, he has far too much experience to be this lost at this point. The culture and recruiting is great but you have to be able to coach. I'm worried the poor coaching could start to impact those other things.

 

[OkaForPrez]

If...

• RJ can continue to perform at this level against high major talent trying to take him away
• AJ does more rebounding and pushing tempo and less forcing passes that aren’t there and takes the shots the defense gives him.
• Adama learns to read a double team early and find the open man
• Akok becomes more aggressive with his offense while on the floor.
• Gaffney plays tougher with the ball in his hands and stops turning the ball over.
• Polley can be more 37% nightly and less 10%, 50%, 10%, 50%.
• Hawk starts playing like an almost sophomore and with confidence.
• Martin can eliminate his yips around the rim.
• Zay can stay out of foul trouble while staying aggressive and making the open 3.

Then...this can be a final four team. Watching the IFs is what makes it fun.

Vs Providence on the ifs:
RJ - fail
AJ - pass
Adama - INC
Akok - fail
Gaff - fail
Polley-fail
Hawk-fail
Martin -inc?
Zay-pass

 

[navery12]

I wouldn't say I'm concerned he's not the answer but I think it's time to accept Hurley can't coach offense. Doesn't mean he can't succeed as coach, but he needs to change something to make up for it. Maybe it's playing the freshman, maybe it's bringing in more scorers before next season, but something has to change

 

[tzznandrew]

I wouldn't say I'm concerned he's not the answer but I think it's time to accept Hurley can't coach offense. Doesn't mean he can't succeed as coach, but he needs to change something to make up for it. Maybe it's playing the freshman, maybe it's bringing in more scorers before next season, but something has to change

I don't think his offense is great, but when 3pt shooters who have shot 40% like Polley shoot 1-7 (and 31% for the year), you're offense is going to look like crap.

 

[SeattleHoop]

The truth is I think Hurley thought he still had enough firepower offensively after the loss of Bouknight. He had a chance to go to the transfer portal and he didn’t. He may have made a miscalculation that is costing us now.

He’s going to have to figure out how to find scoring and giving it to Sanogo down low every time isn’t a sustainable answer

 

[UConnSwag11]

I have the same worries, he has far too much experience to be this lost at this point. The culture and recruiting is great but you have to be able to coach. I'm worried the poor coaching could start to impact those other things.

It seems that he comes to the game with a set plan, almost written down, and is too committed to that to adjust it. I think he’s smart enough and experienced to be a good offense coach

 

[polycom]

So many bad takes in this thread. Our ceiling is that our coach is stubborn we should be running transition offense almost exclusively since our shooters can’t hit a shot

 

[superjohn]

So many bad takes in this thread. Our ceiling is that our coach is stubborn we should be running transition offense almost exclusively since our shooters can’t hit a shot

It's just talk, he says we're going to run like crazy this year and use our depth. We should always run but he wants half court battles and to win defensively, it's even crazier that he has us playing a half court game now that we don't even have the guy we run the halfcourt offense through.

 

[navery12]

It's just talk, he says we're going to run like crazy this year and use our depth. We should always run but he wants half court battles and to win defensively, it's even crazier that he has us playing a half court game now that we don't even have the guy we run the halfcourt offense through.

The second half is true but we've been running significantly more this year than last. We were 309th in pace last year and right now we're at 192nd. For whatever reason we've played slower since Sanogo went down, we were in the 120s before that

 

[Hungryhusky99]

The second half is true but we've been running significantly more this year than last. We were 309th in pace last year and right now we're at 192nd. For whatever reason we've played slower since Sanogo went down, we were in the 120s before that

That is still pretty slow for a team this athletic that supposedly spent the offseason trying to figure out how to play faster.

 

[OkaForPrez]

The second half is true but we've been running significantly more this year than last. We were 309th in pace last year and right now we're at 192nd. For whatever reason we've played slower since Sanogo went down, we were in the 120s before that

Correlation is not causation. We’re playing better teams and not turning them over as much or getting as wide a rebound margin. Both create the run out opportunities.

 

[UConnSwag11]

The second half is true but we've been running significantly more this year than last. We were 309th in pace last year and right now we're at 192nd. For whatever reason we've played slower since Sanogo went down, we were in the 120s before that

We can thank Jackson for the increase in pace. He's the only one who pushes the ball up the court immediately after a rebound

 

[mauconnfan]

Vs Providence on the ifs:
RJ - fail
AJ - pass
Adama - INC
Akok - fail
Gaff - fail
Polley-fail
Hawk-fail
Martin -inc?
Zay-pass

I don’t think RJ failed he played a solid game but if he’s not shooting it well we’re in trouble. Hawkins isn’t a fail either not enough minutes to be fair. The rest minus the incompletes yep. Absolutely Fs next to Polley and Gaff.

Still waiting for that “depth” versus good teams. For now we’ve run short of players who can impact and help close.