Team goals for next season: What Hurley and Huskies are chasing in 2023-24

[HooperScooper]

Slow time of the year for news on the team but Borges wrote an article about goals for next season.

Last season, Hurley stated that the team had four goals: win the Phil Knight Invitational, win the Big East regular-season championship, win the Big East Tournament title and win the NCAA Tournament title. The Huskies "only" accomplished two of those goals. Next season, they will be gearing for more.

Here's what to look for:

UConn men's basketball team goals for next season: What Dan Hurley and Huskies are chasing in 2023-24

UConn is the reigning national champion, but the Huskies have plenty of other goals, milestones they haven't reached in a while to shoot for next season.

www.nhregister.com

By the way, The New Haven Register has blocked access to 12ft ladder, Printer Friendly & pdf and Webpage archive. Are there other websites to try to get around a paywall?

 

[husky429]

Obviously a big part of this season is just going to be watching the underclassmen grow as players. I expect up and downs.

What I would really like to see is a dominant conference season. As good as we were to start and finish the season in '23, we didn't put together a particularly excellent conference resume. We only had maybe 1-2 head scratchers, but still... we need to start winning the conference at some point. I'll take the championship every season (duh), but this is just the next step in greatness.

 

[HailUConn]

Obviously a big part of this season is just going to be watching the underclassmen grow as players. I expect up and downs.

What I would really like to see is a dominant conference season. As good as we were to start and finish the season in '23, we didn't put together a particularly excellent conference resume. We only had maybe 1-2 head scratchers, but still... we need to start winning the conference at some point. I'll take the championship every season (duh), but this is just the next step in greatness.

Just remember though that we are in worse shape compared to last season because of CR rumor mills. The treatment we get from BE refs this season will make that of last season seems acceptable to even fair. So curb your enthusiasm on winning anything in the league plays. However, I do like the idea of going thru the meat grinder of BE conference schedule and come out to beat the sh@t out of NCAA fields.

So my goal is to come out of BE unscathed and uninjured, and run it back in NCAAT.

 

[husky429]

Just remember though that we are in worse shape compared to last season because of CR rumor mills. The treatment we get from BE refs this season will make that of last season seems acceptable to even fair. So curb your enthusiasm on winning anything in the league plays. However, I do like the idea of going thru the meat grinder of BE conference schedule and come out to beat the sh@t out of NCAA fields.

So my goal is to come out of BE unscathed and uninjured, and run it back in NCAAT.

Sitting and complaining about the refs is silly. We lost games because we weren't the better team and took way too long to adjust to a defensive adjustment by conference teams.

Great teams win their conference. No way around it.

 

[uconngb]

Just remember though that we are in worse shape compared to last season because of CR rumor mills. The treatment we get from BE refs this season will make that of last season seems acceptable to even fair. So curb your enthusiasm on winning anything in the league plays. However, I do like the idea of going thru the meat grinder of BE conference schedule and come out to beat the sh@t out of NCAA fields.

So my goal is to come out of BE unscathed and uninjured, and run it back in NCAAT.

You really think rumors about conference realignment are going to affect refereeing in our men's basketball games? Enough is enough, there is not a conspiracy against all things UConn..........

 

[Umami Zen]

Could not read article.. Fast tracking our skill development on our youth and bench depth will be key for 2023 and beyond... Challenging early OOC schedule and European Tour will be helpful in assessing where we're at. With two graduating fifth year starters and 3 other NBA potential draftees (as starters) after 2023 season.. Recruiting and closing on our 24/25 targets ..as we have done in recent years.. Continues to be critical.. Confident we'll get it done.

 

[HooperScooper]

Obviously a big part of this season is just going to be watching the underclassmen grow as players. I expect up and downs.

What I would really like to see is a dominant conference season. As good as we were to start and finish the season in '23, we didn't put together a particularly excellent conference resume. We only had maybe 1-2 head scratchers, but still... we need to start winning the conference at some point. I'll take the championship every season (duh), but this is just the next step in greatness.

Big East regular season title​

It's crazy that UConn has won three national titles and been to four Final Fours since it last won a Big East (or any conference) regular-season crown. The 2006 Huskies were regular-season co-champions with Villanova before being shocked by George Mason in the Elite Eight. UConn will certainly be in the hunt for a regular season title this season. But it won't be easy.

UConn may be the defending national champions, but Marquette is the defending Big East regular season and tournament champions. The Golden Eagles went 17-3 in the Big East last season, winning the league by a full two games. They beat UConn twice in three meetings last season. They bring every key player back except for Olivier-Maxence Prosper, a first-round draft pick by the Mavericks who is a big loss. But with Big East Player of the Year Tyler Kolek back, and Sixth Man Award winner David Joplin set to fill in O-Max's shoes, Marquette may not skip a beat.

And don't sleep on Creighton, which brings back 7-foot center Ryan Kalkbrenner and all-around stud Baylor Scheierman to a team that lost on a last-second shot in the Elite Eight to San Diego State ... the team UConn wound up beating in the national championship game.

UConn finished 13-7 and in fourth place last year in the Big East. The Huskies lost their top two scorers (Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins) and perhaps their most indispensable player (Andre Jackson Jr.) to the NBA. But they've still got Donovan Clingan, Alex Karaban, Tristen Newton and the "Fab Five" coming in.

Is it fair to say that Marquette or Creighton might be picked ahead of them in the preseason coaches' poll? Sure. Can the Huskies win their first Big East regular-season crown in 18 years? Absolutely.

 

[Fatroony5]

Slow time of the year for news on the team but Borges wrote an article about goals for next season.

Last season, Hurley stated that the team had four goals: win the Phil Knight Invitational, win the Big East regular-season championship, win the Big East Tournament title and win the NCAA Tournament title. The Huskies "only" accomplished two of those goals. Next season, they will be gearing for more.

Here's what to look for:

UConn men's basketball team goals for next season: What Dan Hurley and Huskies are chasing in 2023-24

UConn is the reigning national champion, but the Huskies have plenty of other goals, milestones they haven't reached in a while to shoot for next season.

www.nhregister.com

By the way, The New Haven Register has blocked access to 12ft ladder, Printer Friendly & pdf and Webpage archive. Are there other websites to try to get around a paywall?

Dave is great, I really respect him and the work he does. NH Register and that whole network is awful, the website looks like something out of 2000. I subscribed previously just to read his articles and decided to try and cancel. Trying to cancel your subscription to them is nearly impossible. Ended up having my credit card block their charges, literally couldn’t cancel it any other way. That really turned me off.

 

[Jbirdp5]

Just remember though that we are in worse shape compared to last season because of CR rumor mills. The treatment we get from BE refs this season will make that of last season seems acceptable to even fair. So curb your enthusiasm on winning anything in the league plays. However, I do like the idea of going thru the meat grinder of BE conference schedule and come out to beat the sh@t out of NCAA fields.

So my goal is to come out of BE unscathed and uninjured, and run it back in NCAAT.

I think winning a national championship gives you a lot more leeway with referees. Hurley will garner more respect, combine that with his somewhat calmer demeanor and I think officiating should be less of a topic of conversation this season.

 

[The Yakk]

Sitting and complaining about the refs is silly. We lost games because we weren't the better team and took way too long to adjust to a defensive adjustment by conference teams.

Great teams win their conference. No way around it.

Big East refs are shameless, incompetent showboats who live to suckle the juices out of PCU's tiny dickhole. They will definitely cost us 1 or 2 conference games next year.

But I agree we should not lean on that as an excuse. We should win the league, regardless. And Big12 rumors are not going to change anything. There's a limit to how much bias those jabronis can inject--at least I hope.

 

[MDHuskFan]

You really think rumors about conference realignment are going to affect refereeing in our men's basketball games? Enough is enough, there is not a conspiracy against all things UConn..........

I don’t think CR would impact that. There is a bit of a strained relationship between DH and the BE refs though. Not blaming them for losses, just calling out the obvious.

CR wouldn’t be the impact, but all the press we’ve gotten + the DH comments about games reffed outside the BE & some subliminal shots prob haven’t helped that relationship though.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Wire to wire strong regular season would be an important step in cementing our return to the top of the sport.

Winning the conference regular season title can be somewhat arbitrary (we didn't in 2009, but would anyone say that team wasn't a year-long contender?), but being around the top 10 for the whole year is a good benchmark.

 

[UCan3]

Just remember though that we are in worse shape compared to last season because of CR rumor mills. The treatment we get from BE refs this season will make that of last season seems acceptable to even fair. So curb your enthusiasm on winning anything in the league plays. However, I do like the idea of going thru the meat grinder of BE conference schedule and come out to beat the sh@t out of NCAA fields.

So my goal is to come out of BE unscathed and uninjured, and run it back in NCAAT.

I know the popular response is to say don’t talk about the refereeing but…..

Was it me or did something change when we got in the tourney?

We played the same game but the calls were mostly even, unlike in BE regular season. And hard to argue some games (like in Providence) were on the ridiculous side in terms of calls.

But I have no worries as Hail UConn, play hard, good things will come regardless if we win conference or not.

 

[Umami Zen]

Contending for regular season title and being in the championship game at BE Tournament prior to a deep March run. Once we're in a title game.. We usually take care of business. Our potential this year is only exceeded by our youth.. Challenging but not impossible to run it back. It's our trophy until someone takes it from us..

 

[aburks41]

Big East regular season title​

It's crazy that UConn has won three national titles and been to four Final Fours since it last won a Big East (or any conference) regular-season crown. The 2006 Huskies were regular-season co-champions with Villanova before being shocked by George Mason in the Elite Eight. UConn will certainly be in the hunt for a regular season title this season. But it won't be easy.

Up until last season, Duke had only won the ACC regular season one time since 2006. Regular season conference titles are borderline meaningless as long as you keep finishing top 3/4ish and having good conference tournament/NCAAT success.

 

[HailUConn]

Sitting and complaining about the refs is silly. We lost games because we weren't the better team and took way too long to adjust to a defensive adjustment by conference teams.

Great teams win their conference. No way around it

I have no further response but to say let’s wait and see.

WRT your last point, I would take it any day of the week as long as we are a great team at the finish line and take NCAAT crown. So winning the conference out right is not the only indicator of great teams. Of course, winning them are icing on the cake, but the only crown jewel should be NC champ. Our last 3 titles are examples.

 

[UConn Dan]

By the way, The New Haven Register has blocked access to 12ft ladder, Printer Friendly & pdf and Webpage archive. Are there other websites to try to get around a paywall?

Clicking the "reader" button on my iphone (or mac/ipad) as the page is loading usually works for me

 

[Jaydumo20]

Sitting and complaining about the refs is silly. We lost games because we weren't the better team and took way too long to adjust to a defensive adjustment by conference teams.

Great teams win their conference. No way around it.

100%
There may have been a few DH payback calls during some games, but not enough to explain how sub-par the team played in most of those losses. We all watched the games. There was some bad play.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Hurley got MUCH better at handling refs at the end of the year. I remember him joking with one of the refs mid game either during the BET or NCAAT. It was right up there with Van Gundy calling Jackson one of the best cutters in basketball as far as an example of growth everyone had throughout the year.

He comes into conference play with that attitude of working the refs and it shouldn’t be as big of a problem this year.

 

[HooperScooper]

Could not read article.

There is a way to read New Haven Register articles without a subscription but I'm not posting it since they'll just end up plugging that hole also. They already plugged the hole of using the 3 websites that let you bypass a paywall. You can PM me if you want to know.

 

[Captbluefin]

Survive the Non-Conference with the young team

 

[ucp990411]

Big East refs are shameless, incompetent showboats who live to suckle the juices out of PCU's tiny dickhole. They will definitely cost us 1 or 2 conference games next year.

But I agree we should not lean on that as an excuse. We should win the league, regardless. And Big12 rumors are not going to change anything. There's a limit to how much bias those jabronis can inject--at least I hope.

Start early today?

 

[superjohn]

Hurley got MUCH better at handling refs at the end of the year. I remember him joking with one of the refs mid game either during the BET or NCAAT. It was right up there with Van Gundy calling Jackson one of the best cutters in basketball as far as an example of growth everyone had throughout the year.

He comes into conference play with that attitude of working the refs and it shouldn’t be as big of a problem this year.

He grew more than any players did...

 

[Ratso]

stan van gundy ppl, i believe is still employed

 

[UConnTrumbull]

I know the popular response is to say don’t talk about the refereeing but…..

Was it me or did something change when we got in the tourney?

We played the same game but the calls were mostly even, unlike in BE regular season. And hard to argue some games (like in Providence) were on the ridiculous side in terms of calls.

But I have no worries as Hail UConn, play hard, good things will come regardless if we win conference or not.

DH mentioned this on the PMT podcast. He basically said once the NCAA tournament started the team felt they couldn't lose being free of Big East refs. I may be exaggerating a bit but that was the gist of his comment.