Rahsool Diggins transferring (merged threads)

[LIuconn]

That's what happens when the coach plays his son almost equal time as a top 100 recruit

 

[kobebeanbryant]

no good way to spin this.

either this was a mutual decision and the staff realized he wasn’t cut out for this level, which would be a big recruiting miss.

or this was not mutual and diggins decided to trasnfer due to the lack of opportunity given to him this year, which would be a big failure of the coaching staff to get him developmental minutes this year (there were obvious opportunities to do so).

 

[awfuldan]

This is really dissapointing, no way around it.

Gotta get used to this stuff happening more I guess. Hurley has not had very many players transfer our of his programs in the past.

 

[Mooch82]

Lol at people blaming Hurley. He watches these kids in practice every day. If Diggins deserved to play over Gaffney, he would’ve played. In the limited minutes he did get, he struggled. Sucks that it didn’t work out and I certainly hope this doesn’t start a trend (no reason to think it will) but blaming Hurley here is irresponsible.

That all being said - we need to bring in two guards now, whether it’s two transfers or a transfer and a de-commit who is able to play right away. I’m OK with “projects” with big men, but don’t love it with guards.

 

[tuvent08]

I always appreciated his enthusiasm (and recruiting skills) and hope he does really well wherever he ends up.

 

[Apollo]

Liked this kids swagger - bummed it didn't work out, think he would've turned out to be a decent guard for us. Wish him the best wherever he ends up

 

[lange10]

Yea let's call a spade a spade, Hurley's loyalty to playing Gaff likely costed us a future with Diggins. If Diggins gets 10mpg I doubt he's leaving. Maybe it was the right call for this season but probably hurts long term.

Not sure why people are down voting this. Hurley was too loyal and too stubborn to bench Gaffney. Diggins deserved a real chance. This sucks.

 

[Hoophound]

Diggins was a great ambassador and recruiter. That alone is big loss.

 

[UChusky916]

LOL while no one wants Sool leaving, did you see how bad he was when he stepped on the court? That's not on Hurley. Sool looked timid and was a turnover machine in limited minutes. Stop this nonsense.

He was put on the floor with the B team in garbage time. That's not being put in a position to succeed.

Gaffney played just as poorly, if not worse, and continued to see the floor. No reason Sool could not have earned minutes over Gaff... but he was never put in a position early on to be able to get comfortable.

So of course he didn't look good when Hurley threw him to the wolves in garbage time with the B team later in the year.

Mismanaged by Hurley because of his blind loyalty to Gaffney. Plain and simple.

 

[polycom]

Hurley is going to have to show he knows how to recruit the portal now....

 

[auror]

Yup. That's the frustrating part. Loyalty to a guy who didn't deserve any minutes at all cost us a guy who could potentially be a big contributor going forward

Yea let's call a spade a spade, Hurley's loyalty to playing Gaff likely costed us a future with Diggins. If Diggins gets 10mpg I doubt he's leaving. Maybe it was the right call for this season but probably hurts long term.

You're not looking at this the right way.

Hurley started reducing Gaff's minutes because he wasn't playing well and STILL didn't increase Diggins' minutes. Diggins' minutes were what they were because of how he was practicing and performing, clearly. Because there was no relationship between Gaff's minutes and Diggins'. And now that Cole is gone and there are a ton of minutes available, Diggins isn't sticking around. Maybe the relationship is fractured, but Hurley isn't a fool. Hurley is a PG himself. He's not fracturing a relationship with his PG of the future to play a guy that he himself was benching quickly.

Gaffney played just as poorly, if not worse, and continued to see the floor. No reason Sool could not have earned minutes over Gaff... but he was never put in a position early on to be able to do that.

Barely. Gaffney was down to 4-8 minutes a game by the end of the year. If Diggins could do anything he would have been playing. There's no doubt of that.

 

[OUTATIME]

Too bad. Good luck Diggins!

 

[DaveHuskiesFan]

Diggins was just as bad in practice as he was when he stepped on the court.

This was a miss by the staff. Not cut out for this level. Maybe he contributes as a junior. Very similar situation to a Makai Ashton Langford or Jalen Carey.

 

[McLovin]

How can people come up with Hurley being the issue? Did y’all watch when diggins actually got in the game? He wasn’t gonna be a starting big east pg this season coming up either

I think Hurley could have gotten him more playing time early to get him used to playing at the college level. Maybe it would have given him more confidence to develop and contribute off the bench last year.

Injuries in the preseason no doubt set him back.

With that said, I completely agree. It's not Hurley's fault, per se.

At best it's a "what if" scenario. Maybe more early run would have given him the confidence he needed to see the court later in the year. But in the limited run he got in cupcake games, he wasn't very impressive (as to be expected with some frosh).

Hopefully a fresh start will work out better for him!

 

[aburks41]

You're not looking at this the right way.

Hurley started reducing Gaff's minutes because he wasn't playing well and STILL didn't increase Diggins' minutes. Diggins' minutes were what they were because of how he was practicing and performing, clearly. Because there was no relationship between Gaff's minutes and Diggins'. And now that Cole is gone and there are a ton of minutes available, Diggins isn't sticking around. Maybe the relationship is fractured, but Hurley isn't a fool. Hurley is a PG himself. He's not fracturing a relationship with his PG of the future to play a game that he himself was benching quickly.

Barely. Gaffney was down to 4-8 minutes a game by the end of the year. If Diggins could do anything he would have been playing. There's no doubt of that.

Part of the problem was that Hurley didn't even give Diggins a chance to develop in those November/December games.

But also if Diggins ends up at Villanova this would be a big black eye on the staff. That was his 2nd choice school.

 

[Husky Alien]

Disappointed but not a shocker here. Wonder if this changes how Hurley plays highly touted freshman? Wishing the best for Sool.

 

[imno1]

I hope Rashool finds a home where he can excel but believe there was a reason Villanova passed on him. I guess some on here think Diggins ability is better than Hurley's ability to evaluate his talent.

 

[Pgh2Storrs]

maybe Floyd jr is better than expected

Im also of the mind this is a factor. I think Floyd was inline for a big role even if RJ came back/Diggins stayed. He’s going to be a player

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Another lesson for Hurley. He's learned from some of his coaching mistakes to-date, but hasn't learned from others. Let's see if he learns from this one. I have no doubt Diggins will be a contributor at a P5 school elsewhere.

Statements like this are laugh out loud funny. People genuinely believe they're more plugged in than the coaching staff.

 

[ThabeetDown]

no good way to spin this.

either this was a mutual decision and the staff realized he wasn’t cut out for this level, which would be a big recruiting miss.

or this was not mutual and diggins decided to trasnfer due to the lack of opportunity given to him this year, which would be a big failure of the coaching staff to get him developmental minutes this year (there were obvious opportunities to do so).

Selfishly I hope it's the former but can't really blame the staff for the latter...look at when he was in vs Gtown in DC. 2 turnovers in 1 minute. I was high on him going into next year but all the blame of this not working out shouldn't 100% be on Hurley/staff...

 

[Hey Adrien!]

For those of you blaming Hurley for this, RJ Cole played 33.5 mpg and didn't miss a single game. If Diggins got the remaining 6.5 mpg at PG, I doubt that would make a difference on his decision.

No matter the reason, I wish Rahsool the best of luck at his next school and personally, I'm hoping for him to return back to UConn after testing the waters.

 

[Connecticut13]

This is upsetting. I see some of you blaming this on Hurley not playing him enough and attributing that to Hurley's loyality to Gaffney. I thought the same thing for awhile - but I came to believe that Rahsool might just not be good enough to play for a top-tier Big East team.

Either way, though, this is still on Hurley. It was a big swing and a miss by him --- it was incredibly important to bring in a talented point guard to back-up/play alongside Cole - and then eventually replace Cole next year. This had implications this season and will likely have implications for the next couple of seasons as well. We literally have no point guard for next season right now -- neither Gaffney nor Floyd are true point guards.

I will wait to see what Hurley pulls off here. But it'll be his fifth season as the coach - and I would expect that we'd be in a better position than trying to find a point guard (and likely a back-up) through the portal.

 

[AntG168]

This is happening and has been happening all over CBB. We’ve just been exempt until now. Nothing to see here. We can find better talent imo.

Also, there is no way Diggins transfers with a starting job looking him in the face next season. This screams “mutual” to me. Hurley may have just decided to hurt some feelings. I hope more dominoes fall and we actually get UConn level guard talent in here.

 

[Rico444]

I'm not going to kill Hurley too much, but it's concerning to me that he's recruited two PGs in his time here and whiffed on both. Really hope he hits a home run in the portal because he's going to need to.

 

[Banta55]

Diggins was just as bad in practice as he was when he stepped on the court.

This was a miss by the staff. Not cut out for this level. Maybe he contributes as a junior. Very similar situation to a Makai Ashton Langford or Jalen Carey.

That"s the reality really bad miss