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- Oct 18, 2018
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I made the drive over from Nashville, and ended up sitting 1 row behind the UConn bench. Let me tell you, even in a 40pt blowout loss, I enjoyed every minute of watching how Coach Hurley operates. Some of these notes may be old news for the people who frequent the games, but for the fans who don't, I think you may find some of these observations interesting.
-Akok Akok is the tallest player on the team.
-EVERY SINGLE offensive play is orchestrated by Coach Hurley. Furthermore, he's hyper aware of each player's responsibilities during each one of his offensive outings. And If a player was just a little bit off their mark on the court, they'd hear it from him. (I will also note, that at least in the first half, just about all of his X's and O's were generating great shots. The ball just wasn't falling in)
-A little bit into Whaley's first rotation, Coach Hurley calmly speaking towards his assistants: "He forgot the ****ing play. Sid, take him out".
-Whaley's next rotation out, he found himself out of position again on offense. Coach Hurley yelling this time: "Whaley doesn't know the duck**ing plays!". Subbed him out again. Maybe this is the reason for his lack of minutes this season. Maybe not. Sid Wilson was another culprit of not being in the right spots on a couple offensive plays.
-Kimani Young was brilliant. He seemed to be one step ahead of the game at all times. "Sid, put your hand up." Sid doesn't hear him as he's guarding a Houston player on the 3pt line. "SID, PUT YOUR duck****ING HAND UP!". Sid still has his hands down. The Houston player pops the long 3 and makes it. Kimani proceeds to lose a coronary artery. Kimani could also tell which plays Houston was gonna draw up on in-bound plays. And lastly, he was constantly prepping Carlton on defense to anticipate certain actions.
-I've always thought that Jalen Adams had conditioning troubles. Today, in person, it was more apparent than ever. He's literally sucking wind, his lips turning a blue'ish hue, after just a few up and downs. Hurts him and our team on defense more than anything.
-Coach Hurley directly after a timeout as the bench sits back down: "HEY BENCH, IF I SEE YOU DEAD I'M SENDING YOU %$@!# HOME!". We were down 30pts in this moment.
-Having said that, Coach Hurley's exchanges with ALL of his players in person are positive. Constantly high-fiving them, giving them words of encouragement, and building them up. You can tell they genuinely love the guy.
-T. Smith is bad and Coach Hurley knows it.
-During the technical foul review sequence, down 30 pts, J. Adams stood quiet in the back of the huddle and got very emotional. Had tears running down his face. This is the moment he realized it was all ending (I believe there was still 6-8 minutes left). I felt for the kid, he loves UConn more than we can all imagine.
-Coach Hurley wanted to take out J. Adams with 4 minutes left. Jalen politely asked him to stay in as long as possible. From there on, Coach Hurley was fixed on getting Jalen a shot up every possession. Hurley lost his marbles when T. Smith drove hard towards the basket instead of kicking it to him.
-The staff is very careful with B. Adams. They treat him softer than everyone else on the team.
-The Culture change that people talk about is abundantly clear. Coach Hurley has his hands on every little minor detail. An example is his obsessiveness with the 5 players on the court huddling after every foul or dead ball.
-I had to put a Houston fan in his place (who kept taunting our team) by reminding him we have 4 national championships. Felt good. Scratch that, felt great.
Look, a disappointing loss indeed. But in my opinion, there wasn't much more to look into other than the fact that Houston was hitting EVERYTHING, and our shots were simply building a 4 story brick-house. Also, Armani Brooks and Corey Davis are the REAL freaking deal.
Had a blast watching this season, and after watching today's game in person, I've never been so confident in a Coaching Staff. These guys are gonna do it. They have it. I'm telling you, it's happening.
-Akok Akok is the tallest player on the team.
-EVERY SINGLE offensive play is orchestrated by Coach Hurley. Furthermore, he's hyper aware of each player's responsibilities during each one of his offensive outings. And If a player was just a little bit off their mark on the court, they'd hear it from him. (I will also note, that at least in the first half, just about all of his X's and O's were generating great shots. The ball just wasn't falling in)
-A little bit into Whaley's first rotation, Coach Hurley calmly speaking towards his assistants: "He forgot the ****ing play. Sid, take him out".
-Whaley's next rotation out, he found himself out of position again on offense. Coach Hurley yelling this time: "Whaley doesn't know the duck**ing plays!". Subbed him out again. Maybe this is the reason for his lack of minutes this season. Maybe not. Sid Wilson was another culprit of not being in the right spots on a couple offensive plays.
-Kimani Young was brilliant. He seemed to be one step ahead of the game at all times. "Sid, put your hand up." Sid doesn't hear him as he's guarding a Houston player on the 3pt line. "SID, PUT YOUR duck****ING HAND UP!". Sid still has his hands down. The Houston player pops the long 3 and makes it. Kimani proceeds to lose a coronary artery. Kimani could also tell which plays Houston was gonna draw up on in-bound plays. And lastly, he was constantly prepping Carlton on defense to anticipate certain actions.
-I've always thought that Jalen Adams had conditioning troubles. Today, in person, it was more apparent than ever. He's literally sucking wind, his lips turning a blue'ish hue, after just a few up and downs. Hurts him and our team on defense more than anything.
-Coach Hurley directly after a timeout as the bench sits back down: "HEY BENCH, IF I SEE YOU DEAD I'M SENDING YOU %$@!# HOME!". We were down 30pts in this moment.
-Having said that, Coach Hurley's exchanges with ALL of his players in person are positive. Constantly high-fiving them, giving them words of encouragement, and building them up. You can tell they genuinely love the guy.
-T. Smith is bad and Coach Hurley knows it.
-During the technical foul review sequence, down 30 pts, J. Adams stood quiet in the back of the huddle and got very emotional. Had tears running down his face. This is the moment he realized it was all ending (I believe there was still 6-8 minutes left). I felt for the kid, he loves UConn more than we can all imagine.
-Coach Hurley wanted to take out J. Adams with 4 minutes left. Jalen politely asked him to stay in as long as possible. From there on, Coach Hurley was fixed on getting Jalen a shot up every possession. Hurley lost his marbles when T. Smith drove hard towards the basket instead of kicking it to him.
-The staff is very careful with B. Adams. They treat him softer than everyone else on the team.
-The Culture change that people talk about is abundantly clear. Coach Hurley has his hands on every little minor detail. An example is his obsessiveness with the 5 players on the court huddling after every foul or dead ball.
-I had to put a Houston fan in his place (who kept taunting our team) by reminding him we have 4 national championships. Felt good. Scratch that, felt great.
Look, a disappointing loss indeed. But in my opinion, there wasn't much more to look into other than the fact that Houston was hitting EVERYTHING, and our shots were simply building a 4 story brick-house. Also, Armani Brooks and Corey Davis are the REAL freaking deal.
Had a blast watching this season, and after watching today's game in person, I've never been so confident in a Coaching Staff. These guys are gonna do it. They have it. I'm telling you, it's happening.
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