Post game news conference Hurley and Whaley

[TRest]

I don’t like crapping on Hurley. But I’m not going to laud the guy for serving up prime rib when it’s a crap sandwich. The results in big games speak for themselves. Please don’t tell me the team was successfully prepped and ready to play tonight. I have a lot more confidence in the kids’ abilities than you and I believe a coach’s job it to get the best out them. Shooting 45% from the free-throw line ought to be a clue the team wasn’t mentally prepared for the moment.

you have been screaming about how he can't win a big game for two years now. Failing at the free throw line can only be in the players, cmon.

 

[Tenspro2002]

They got dominated by a team that dictated tempo and style of play. The advantages that UConn had going into this game were not even marginally exploited. Acting like it’s some sort of fluke that they lost because they missed a bunch of layups is wild.

Our advantage was that we could outrebound the ____ out of them.

We did that. We had a ton more possessions and shots, we couldn't make them.

The one time we forced it to Sanogo he traveled. He was also embarrassed on D. Sanogo wasn't the answer.

 

[DMIL]

I thought it was interesting in Calhoun's recent interview he made a point in saying Hurley does not have a young team. He seemed to not like that being used as an excuse because UConn was not young and they had the best player on the court usually (BOuknight).

10 seconds in and Hurley credit's Maryland's experience lol.

It not a young team but the best players on the team are young. Also our team lacks experience in big games and we had not shown that we could beat high quality teams despite our talent and potential. We were not ready for the moment in the BE tournament or here. This is where you learn how to be good, well coached teams. This Maryland team has done that.

UCONN’s buzz was off of potential and finding a way to be beat not just compete against top teams. These are the games that you rely on your stars and experience.

 

[BigFanCT]

Hurley can’t make the bunnies and free throws go in during the game but he dang sure is responsible for preparing them while practicing to make them and fixing those issues. Practicing hard isn’t necessarily practicing smart. I am not in practices, so I don’t know what they do, but missing bunnies has been our nightmare all year.

 

[AdamaNation]

Dan nosweetsixteen Hurley

This board is odd. Is it split 50/50 ollie/ Hurley still? Who was the other northeast recruiting head coach option for us? I’m not being a jerk. I was into musselman and Oates and no too into Hurley but realized the Tristate recruiting he could bring. Add in Kimani and the staff. Who was your choice if not Dan nosweetsixteen Hurley? FYI- he has until this contract to get there.

 

[uconnfan68]

This board is odd. Is it split 50/50 ollie/ Hurley still? Who was the other northeast recruiting head coach option for us? I’m not being a jerk. I was into musselman and Oates and no too into Hurley but realized the Tristate recruiting he could bring. Add in Kimani and the staff. Who was your choice if not Dan nosweetsixteen Hurley? FYI- he has until this contract to get there.

KO had to leave, physically, because he checked out mentally in mid 2015 or so.

I like a lot of Danny, but man is he stubborn. Sometimes you need to properly use who you have on your team, not force them to play your way. Next year they’ll be all his (I really don’t see any seniors returning), and we’ll see if he can recruit the right guys to play his way. Hope they can shoot.

 

[uconngb]

I thought it was interesting in Calhoun's recent interview he made a point in saying Hurley does not have a young team. He seemed to not like that being used as an excuse because UConn was not young and they had the best player on the court usually (BOuknight).

10 seconds in and Hurley credit's Maryland's experience lol.

We did not have the best player on the court tonight. Not close.

 

[uconngb]

you have been screaming about how he can't win a big game for two years now. Failing at the free throw line can only be in the players, cmon.

Yeah, that’s the reason we lost tonight

 

[Magruber]

Damn. Love that young man. Not sure if the NCAA required a player to take questions or not, but kudos for him for being the man to step up.

He’s the guy, with CV, who helped accelerate the culture Hurley was trying to build by a year or 2.

He’s going to have a great professional career (basketball or otherwise). So much skill on the court, maturity and a true leader.

But if he wanted to put his professional life on hold for a year and come back for one more journey.... him and Cole as our Captains, we may just sail to a 5th ‘ship.

More Pork Chops, please.

I love the enthusiasm but right now I'd gladly settle for winning a game or two in the Big Dance.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Our advantage was that we could outrebound the ____ out of them.

We did that. We had a ton more possessions and shots, we couldn't make them.

The one time we forced it to Sanogo he traveled. He was also embarrassed on D. Sanogo wasn't the answer.

I can’t even tell if this is intentionally addressed to me. We got whooped by a mediocre team. That’s about the long and short of it as far as I can tell.

 

[Magruber]

He needs to get SHOOTERS!
Why is this so hard?
There are people out there who are particularly adept at shooting. We need a couple of them at least.

 

[Kmba2Rmemba]

Love Zay.

That’s all. That’s the post.

 

[Vuce]

I can’t even tell if this is intentionally addressed to me. We got whooped by a mediocre team. That’s about the long and short of it as far as I can tell.

We are a mediocre team too. No different from the likes of Maryland. We were a very good team when Bouknight played like a lottery pick. Better teams have already lost in this tournament like Virginia, Texas and Ohio State to much lesser opponents than Maryland

 

[metsfan2323]

Calhoun lost in the first round in 2012 with a team far more talented than our current team.

Fans quickly forget that the reason Championships are so very enjoyable is because they are so freaking difficult to achieve. We are on the right track with Hurley and we will be better next year.

Onward and upward and we'll even take the spoiled cry baby fans with us.

 

[That Guy]

This board is odd. Is it split 50/50 ollie/ Hurley still? Who was the other northeast recruiting head coach option for us? I’m not being a jerk. I was into musselman and Oates and no too into Hurley but realized the Tristate recruiting he could bring. Add in Kimani and the staff. Who was your choice if not Dan nosweetsixteen Hurley? FYI- he has until this contract to get there.

I mean in hindsight it does look like Oats would've been the better option. We saw how great he was at Buffalo and now the guy is in his second year at Bama of all places and has them as a #2 seed positioned for a legitimate shot at winning it all this year. He can recruit with the best of them as well, has the #17 recruiting class coming in next season including the #1 PG. Still have full faith in Hurley though, and hope we can keep building towards getting back to the promised land.

 

[auror]

I can't believe he said the quiet part out loud.

He knew our defensive system didn't match up with them and he did... nothing. He just rolled the ball out. I'm just kinda speechless.

You had over a week and 6 days since the pairings. How about a zone? How about any changes at all outside of personnel?

 

[UCfor3]

We are a mediocre team too. No different from the likes of Maryland. We were a very good team when Bouknight played like a lottery pick. Better teams have already lost in this tournament like Virginia, Texas and Ohio State to much lesser opponents than Maryland

This.

 

[formerlurker]

Calhoun lost in the first round in 2012 with a team far more talented than our current team.

Fans quickly forget that the reason Championships are so very enjoyable is because they are so freaking difficult to achieve. We are on the right track with Hurley and we will be better next year.

Onward and upward and we'll even take the spoiled cry baby fans with us.

 

[storrsroars]

Make layups at even a remotely reasonable rate and they win.

Hurley can do a lot, but he cannot make a layup for them.

Hurley can't make the layups for them, but all season long we've known that Whaley and especially Martin don't have soft hands at the rim. Could Hurley have coached them on how to get more bunnies to drop by using more finesse? I don't think that's a ridiculous assumption.

 

[CL82]

Make layups at even a remotely reasonable rate and they win.

Hurley can do a lot, but he cannot make a layup for them.

Make lay ups and free throws at a remotely reasonable rate and we win comfortably.

 

[UCfor3]

Hurley can't make the layups for them, but all season long we've known that Whaley and especially Martin don't have soft hands at the rim. Could Hurley have coached them on how to get more bunnies to drop by using more finesse? I don't think that's a ridiculous assumption.

Hard to coach guys to have a soft touch. Especially when getting challenged by other defenders. Some guys have great hands and a feather touch in traffic. Its what seperates good players from ham and eggers.

 

[UConniki]

They got dominated by a team that dictated tempo and style of play. The advantages that UConn had going into this game were not even marginally exploited. Acting like it’s some sort of fluke that they lost because they missed a bunch of layups is wild.

It wasn't a fluke as to why they lost. They lost because they made less than 50% of their free throws, missed around 30 layups and put backs , Martin shot 1/10 and ( martin and cole were 4 for 24). Its really not all that complicated and it's not Hurleys fault some of them choked in a meaningful game against a quality game team. It happens, they're kids who haven't played on this kind of stage at Uconn recently unfortunately. They were down 5 when Bouknight missed the front end of a 1 and 1 to make it a 3 point game. After how bad they played to still be in the game at that point speaks to how hard Hurley gets them to play ( remember the Arkansas game under KO, 40 point loss). As disappointing as this game was I'll take it over what we were forced to see game after game. Give Hurley a chance. Some of you guys are embarrassing to listen to. Texas with Shaka Smart won the Big 12 tournament and the lost to Abilene Christian tonight ( Abilene shot 28 % and still won) 53-52. I'm done. Stay warm and be safe.

 

[Brandon86]

Our top 3 offensive threats came out these last two games and funded it up. Ain’t no other way to put it. If Bouknight, Cole, and Martin all have and off game it was gonna be hard for us to win any game.

 

[SeattleHoop]

I don’t understand what people here expect. He took a dumpster fire of a program that was recruiting kids off YouTube and put that program back into the national spotlight to be respected again. We had a successful season. It’s going to get better

 

[DMIL]

I don’t understand what people here expect. He took a dumpster fire of a program that was recruiting kids off YouTube and put that program back into the national spotlight to be respected again. We had a successful season. It’s going to get better

People expect the team to not have a historically bad offensive game against a solid 10 seed or any seed in the NCAA tournament. UCONN’s C game wins this. Unfortunately they brought their D game.

 

[DaveHuskiesFan]

I can't believe he said the quiet part out loud.

He knew our defensive system didn't match up with them and he did... nothing. He just rolled the ball out. I'm just kinda speechless.

You had over a week and 6 days since the pairings. How about a zone? How about any changes at all outside of personnel?

You want to play a zone against a team that plays 5 out and is shooting the lights out of the ball? Is this serious?

 

[Hi-Low]

Let this press conference be the last time Dan Hurley mentions what a disaster, shambles, catastrophe, etc the program was when he started in 2018. Love you Dan but any remnant of that is now gone as you enter your 4th season....it's all you now so let's get going. Glad we have you but let's move on to better things.

 

[BigEastCT]

This board is odd. Is it split 50/50 ollie/ Hurley still? Who was the other northeast recruiting head coach option for us? I’m not being a jerk. I was into musselman and Oates and no too into Hurley but realized the Tristate recruiting he could bring. Add in Kimani and the staff. Who was your choice if not Dan nosweetsixteen Hurley? FYI- he has until this contract to get there.

I am still with Hurley, he needs to bring his A game, offense game sets stink. This team had talent and did not play even close to its potential. Needs to step it up or we are NIT bound next year

 

[storrsroars]

You want to play a zone against a team that plays 5 out and is shooting the lights out of the ball? Is this serious?

I wouldn't vote for zone either, but at least a zone might've prevented those three massive dunks from MD with no one in the lane. So there's that.

 

[JakeTheDog]

Let this press conference be the last time Dan Hurley mentions what a disaster, shambles, catastrophe, etc the program when he started in 2018. Love you Dan but any remnant of that is now gone as you enter your 4th season....it's all you now so let's get going. Glad we have you but let's move on to better things.

Yes this. I do think Dan is the right guy here at UConn but I really don't like how he points out how low we were when he took over the program. Every. Single. Presser. Stop passing the buck and take some ownership.

"The buck stops here."
-Harry Truman's desk