Seems like the Hurley culture has set in

[tcf15]

 

[BNich]

I was proud to see them battle back. I couldn't believe how quickly they fell behind in the second half. We've seen it happen all season, but the kids didn't quit and they fought back. I left in the last minute. I was happy to see them get back into single digits.

 

[HHusky]

Both mental and physical toughness are required to be a ranked team. We are developing along the non-linear path.
Maybe we are farther along mentally than physically. I like the progress compared to last years team. I remember seeing us live in our loss to SMU at the Orlando Magic's Arena in the AAC tourney last March. It was a horrible game to watch. We are much better now. THERE IS SOME FIGHT IN THE DOG NOW ! ONWARD & UPWARD.

 

[Kenny11]

Our effort has been great all season besides one game early in the conference season. The problem we have is not being able to win close games..but definitely not going to blame hurley for any loss with Gilbert and Adams out.

 

[3rdbass]

Our effort has been great all season besides one game early in the conference season. The problem we have is not being able to win close games..but definitely not going to blame hurley for any loss with Gilbert and Adams out.

Temple game wasn't early on and that was embarrassing to watch but ofcourse losing Jalen in the first few minutes made it hard to adjust on the fly. Still not great fight in that game.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

They say there are no moral victories, but there sure is a middle ground between losing by 30 and hanging in there against a team as good as Houston without Jalen and Gilbert.

I've been somewhat critical of Hurley this season on some things but I'm still all in on his ability to lead the rebuild.

Baby steps...

 

[tcf15]

Temple game wasn't early on and that was embarrassing to watch but ofcourse losing Jalen in the first few minutes made it hard to adjust on the fly. Still not great fight in that game.

We beat Temple in the second half though. First half was bad because it took a while for the team to figure out what to do without Jalen.

 

[UCDaveD]

"We don't do that any more here."

Sheeeeeesh

 

[Palatine]

Temple game wasn't early on and that was embarrassing to watch but ofcourse losing Jalen in the first few minutes made it hard to adjust on the fly. Still not great fight in that game.

Temple just shot the ball out therir minds. They hit 9 of the first 10. Covered or not. That had little to do with us. They just had one of those great nights. Let's see them do it again.

 

[tentoes4rings]

"We don't do that any more here."

Sheeeeeesh

Surprised none of the snowflakes have taken issue with him saying they play like men now.

 

[Marbles90]

This is the first step in creating a winning culture. Playing hard and giving 110% keeps you in the game. But that’s not enough. Playing hard and keeping games close starts to build confidence. Confidence in yourself and confidence in your teammates. All those “dumb” plays we see now like missing wide open layups or missing foul shouts or wide open shots or rushing a bad pass or dumb fouls start to go away when you have confidence you can win. Think back to all the great teams. Even as fans we were confident the team can win. And I bet the teams were confident too. That’s a winning culture. This is the start of that. We still have a long way to go but playing hard and never giving up is a big first step.

 

[Bonk]

I see some toughness growing here, but have not seen the culture transformed yet. Not saying it won’t happen but long way to go. When we start consistently hitting free throws, not being physically out matched by 90% of teams, and when we eliminate fundamental mistakes (such as traveling 5+ times per game) I’ll say the culture has changed. Those are all things a good culture should fix

 

[superjohn]

I see some toughness growing here, but have not seen the culture transformed yet. Not saying it won’t happen but long way to go. When we start consistently hitting free throws, not being physically out matched by 90% of teams, and when we eliminate fundamental mistakes (such as traveling 5+ times per game) I’ll say the culture has changed. Those are all things a good culture should fix

The physically outmatched part isn't really going to change until we get new players. They can fight and compete but Josh and Polley aren't all of a sudden going to be able to push people around and jump over them. There can be incremental strength and positioning improvements but they just aren't physically strong.

 

[ucawn]

I wasn’t expecting much given our 2 best players sitting out and lack of depth and experience against the #9 team. A lot of people thought this would be a massacre and I was worried we would get creamed on ESPN, but they stuck in it till the end when they could’ve called it quits.

 

[Bonk]

The physically outmatched part isn't really going to change until we get new players. They can fight and compete but Josh and Polley aren't all of a sudden going to be able to push people around and jump over them. There can be incremental strength and positioning improvements but they just aren't physically strong.

True, but Josh (and everyone else) has to live in the gym this offseason. There will be no excuses for not coming into next season noticeably stronger

 

[Kenny11]

Temple game wasn't early on and that was embarrassing to watch but ofcourse losing Jalen in the first few minutes made it hard to adjust on the fly. Still not great fight in that game.

Yeah I forgot about that one because I shut it off after Jalen got hurt

 

[Jay-Bone]

The physically outmatched part isn't really going to change until we get new players. They can fight and compete but Josh and Polley aren't all of a sudden going to be able to push people around and jump over them. There can be incremental strength and positioning improvements but they just aren't physically strong.

Its not even that they are just not physically strong, they just don't have that killer instinct. Its almost like you wish you could inject rabies into them. The fight in the dog mantra. You might get by with 1 front court player like this, its tough to have both of them like this.

 

[AdamaNation]

Hurley has us playing hard and playing with pride. It's a damning indictment of the previous regime that he's had to exert so much coaching effort just to get to that point.

Next thing he has to do is get us playing smart. Too much lack of focus and low-IQ play. Some of that will come with roster turnover, but if the existing guys don't improve you're going to keep seeing a lot of open 3's and dunks against us. I think he knows what kind of player he needs.

There’s a kid named Ja in South Carolina no one is onto maybe we should give him a look.

 

[Ts5034]

The Hurley culture has absolutely set in. Lets face it, the guy has won everywhere hes been. He walked into a tough situation, and things were probably a lot worse than some fans even thought they were at the end of last season. I cannot wait to see this guy coach when he brings in better talent.

 

[Scrutineer]

Surprised none of the snowflakes have taken issue with him saying they play like men now.

He said "we show up and play like UConn men" so some probably took that to mean we win less than 99% of our games.

 

[Hi-Low]

This is the first step in creating a winning culture. Playing hard and giving 110% keeps you in the game.......Think back to all the great teams. Even as fans we were confident the team can win. And I bet the teams were confident too. That’s a winning culture. This is the start of that. We still have a long way to go but playing hard and never giving up is a big first step.

In the good old days I absolutely knew when we were going to win games we trailed in. JC within 5 points with a minute left and he and the players absolutely believed they would win and usually did.

Hurley has that JC fire and we are starting to see it on the floor, he just needs some more hungry Huskies.

 

[Scrutineer]

It was good to see JAdams, Yakwe and Diarra looking excited for the team during times out, but Akok seemed to be hanging back and was not as engaged.

Hopefully it's because he's only been there a few weeks or is thinking of all he can add next year and not because he's saying to himself "what have I gotten myself into?"

 

[Bonk]

The Hurley culture has absolutely set in. Lets face it, the guy has won everywhere hes been. He walked into a tough situation, and things were probably a lot worse than some fans even thought they were at the end of last season. I cannot wait to see this guy coach when he brings in better talent.

Disagree about the culture already setting in. Too early to say that, and I haven’t seen enough.

 

[husky429]

It was good to see JAdams, Yakwe and Diarra looking excited for the team during times out, but Akok seemed to be hanging back and was not as engaged.

Hopefully it's because he's only been there a few weeks or is thinking of all he can add next year and not because he's saying to himself "what have I gotten myself into?"

He's new to the culture. The enerfy can be learned. Naturally a pretty reserved kid from what I gather. I wouldn't have concerns--he knows Hurley and hard work are his ticket to the pros.

 

[Stainmaster]

It was good to see JAdams, Yakwe and Diarra looking excited for the team during times out, but Akok seemed to be hanging back and was not as engaged.

Hopefully it's because he's only been there a few weeks or is thinking of all he can add next year and not because he's saying to himself "what have I gotten myself into?"

Maybe give the bench psychology a rest.