How exactly would you like Hurley to adjust? Who should have played? Would you like him to run something that he hasn't practiced? What would you like him to do? I'll hang up and listen.
I would like him to sit Carlton when he is soft (always) and run plays for CV in the 2nd half instead of trying to let Polley shoot out of a slump in a game that was important to win, we can't talk adjustments because he doesn't make any/extremely few, you and I cannot comment on practice because we aren't there.
The bottom line is that Hurley came in and talked about lighting a fire and his teams playing hard etc, we saw it vs Cuse and very little consistency doing so after that.
My friends and I attended two "meet the coaches" events last year and one of my buddies addressed UConn's past failures with facing a zone and how he was going to address that. He knew of the issue and basically said that any team can effectively attack and penetrate a zone - they just have to understand the correct spacing, off ball motion and one other fact that I have now forgotten. If I am running a 3 guard offense I know I am going to see zone - this current team looks like deer caught in a headlight when facing zones (not unlike past 20+ years)
Rebounding - this is the worst rebounding team I have ever seen, especially the frontline. If it weren't for JA and CV there would be no rebounds. Is this much different than last year? Carlton still doesn't know how to position and use his body.
The fact that these aren't his players is not the argument. The fact is that there is very little difference between the performance 2nd half Nova and 2nd half SFU and the last 2 years. The FSU coach took over a program and has lifted their performance.
I am not giving up on DH at all but when I look at the guys he brought in - Smith and Adams - what have they done recently and last night at all? Yawke has been a pleasant surprise and missing him last night was huge, but, every coach needs to be prepared for those issues - playing Carlton double minutes was not a good choice.
It is obvious you are a KO hater - your barb at Mau in the chat last night was evident. I am a friend of KO but if you read my postings I have said that I agree his performance over the last 2 years was bad and I agreed a firing was warranted due to wins and losses. But he didn't have AG or Sid and DH does - that was a big piece missing the last 2 years.
Some lamented that sometimes JC took too many early TOs, many screamed that KO didn't call enough TOs or at the wrong time - I question DH's time management as much as the former coaches.
I am happy to give him time and to let him bring in "his" players as many like to say. Yet, he needs to show improvement in these guys and there have been flashes of that but the last two second half performances are troubling.
I am concerned about his ability of bringing in "quality" bigs because 1. he has no track record of doing so at Wagner or URI, 2. Any "quality" big is going to look P5 first and 3. has Carlton improved under DH's tenure? has Whalley? Cobb had flashes but is just as bad on D as he was last year. Can DH coach a big? Ollie certainly couldn't and he had the luxury of being around the best bigs and coaches in the world.
Do I think DH can turn things around? - right now I am still leaning heavily that way and he deserves his time to do so.
I liked his hire, however, these past two performances as well as some actions of his and the team, even when beating on cupcakes, has me a bit nervous. I am glad it appears someone got into his ear and advised him to curb his sideline tactics dealing with the refs but I do like the fiery personality.
My greatest hope is that the Huskies get back to the upper stratosphere but this conference and the realignment has made that journey really difficult. Lots of work!!!
