This isn’t an anti-Hurley thing, SHU pretty consistently gets this whistle. Their whole gameplan is to dare the refs to call every foul. They’re also not really dependent on offensive skill, so it’s easy to go deep into their bench to manage foul trouble.
This was an extreme example, I’ll grant you but it was in many ways standard practice in the NBE. It has to be driven by the front office trying to encourage the branding of the league as hard nosed, tough and a little thuggish. It makes many games unwatchable as last nights basically became. UConn didn’t score from the field for the last 6 minutes mostly because every shooter got not just fouled but pounded. Just awful. Providence was similar just not quite as bad with worse players.
I've been thinking about why people are still down on a 17-1 team and it always comes back to one thing: anxiety.
They had a ton more offensive skill that year and didn’t have to/couldn’t afford to run the rock fight system. Kadary, Dre Davis, and Dawes. Rotation was much shorter than the other years.
Tarris had been doing so well at the line. His form and confidence has looked great. However, he did have a bad night last night, but he came through when the game was on the line.
I’ve stopped listening to the spaces. All it is now is that loser account NoEscalators crying about the metrics.
It’s not just last night with that ref.
My thinking was if Reibe was in he would not be a focal point on offense and he would not be touching the ball as much, which would mean that AK, Bray, Silas and Ball would be handling the ball at crunch time since they are all very good at the line. Not that Reibe is a better free throw shooter than Tarris.
Solo’s misses on 3’s were close though with a couple of exceptions- pure center of basket just a tad long, so they clanked off the back of the rim. If he is dealing with a lingering wrist injury, he will heal and his shooting touch will come back. UConn is so much tougher to beat when he is shooting well. Mullins had another block too, I think, that was big- a couple of minutes before. SH player took a shot in the lane and Mullins from behind got the block by reaching on top of the ball.
He's learned to game the system by the fact that the refs won't call fouls on his guys more than 40% of possessions. Every un-called foul they commit beyond that is a boon to his defense.
Katz questioned seemed to be like "why do you think you couldn't win here in the past" which kind of painted Dan Hurley as a loser who finally figured it out (which is a pretty dumb question to ask the winning coach whose team just won a tough road win). Not sure if Dan Hurley and Katz have had problems in the past. The fact that the question wasn't accurate to begin with (Won in 2020) makes you wonder what Katz motivation was and Danny just straightened him out quick. I don't think he was being defensive this time. Just slapped him in the face but did it professionally. Turned the tables to a very stupid question
The chat is insufferable every game.
I agree and we have a great staff to help him out and regain his confidence. Most nights Solo has the best athleticism of anyone on either side in the game. Some kids just need to grow and develop interiorly along with putting it together with the body. Trust the staff to get the best out him.
home arena or not, it takes some piss poor defense to give up 19 points in 5 minutes or whatever it was.
Didn’t he lead the Big East last year in 3 pt shooting %?
It’s a fair observation but that’s why you play through Jan and Feb and get challenged. Last year’s team wasn’t pretty but ended up playing near their ceiling in the Tourney and almost took out the Champion. They will be much better and dialed in by March.
It could be that he just doesn't like Katz. But I think the problem is that Danny really was bothered by the fact he hadn't won at SH in a while but he just didn't want to be reminded of it or admit it. He wanted to pretend it was never an issue. Hurley is right, it is not that big a deal. It is not legacy defining. But the way he said it made it seem like he was trying to convince himself. He was arguing against a phantom argument. Nobody is accusing him of having a tainted legacy because he couldn't win at SH. It is just a human interest question that everyone can relate to. When you finally do something you haven't been able to do, no matter how trivial, it feels good. We all like to share in that good feeling. That's what motivated the question. It was harmless. But hey, maybe I am just naive and these guys are all secretly jockeying to destroy each other.
