Last year's roster was not better nor more experienced than 2016-17, and to the extent that it may have been better it was because of player development under Hurley (i.e. Carlton's emergence).
Hurley did try to change the defensive scheme last year -- several times, in fact. He went away from the hard hedge about 12-15 games in when he realized we couldn't pull it off, and modified it again at the end of the season.
On paper that 2016-2017 team should have given us high expectations.
On paper the front court of Brimah, Enoch, Durham, Facey, Larrier would have destroyed last seasons group. Not playing Steve and Durham is a head scratcher. Brimah certainly missed Hamilton on offense and his savant blocking ability suffered from the coaches attempt to improve his ability to rebound and reduce his fouling. Larrier was out for most of the season. That leaves Kentan whose jump from junior to senior year is downplayed. Playing him (and Vance) makes me believe Steve was dogging it in practice. I’m upset with what happened in the last two KO seasons but not enough to overlook Kentan’s development.
It’s the guard and wing situation, based on circumstances in the 16-17 season, that I maintain last years team was far and away superior. Five guards where Jalen is a senior and CV a junior as compared to a sophomore and freshman. The inverse amount of playing time Hurley got from Al versus KO. The relatively injury free season for Jalen and CV relative to the lost time to CV from concussions and Jalen in the last third of the 16-17 season with the ankle injury. Even Rodney was out a week with an ankle injury and suffered the dislocated ring finger on his shooting hand in the AAC playoffs after a hot start. Dan had a fifth year guard which afforded him the luxury of having a more aggressive defensive team just with the additional fouls Smith provided. Five guards with relatively more experience that had a relatively normal injury free season versus three guards with only one being experienced and an extraordinarily injury riddled season goes a long way imo to support my statement because I weigh guard play more than front court play.
Imo KO got more out of freshmen CV both in development and contributions than Hurley got out of freshman Adams even allocating for the increased need for playing time. IMO KO got more out of Vance than Hurley got of Sid, a higher rated recruit.
The benefit of doubt I have for Hurley is predicated on his taking over a team with little time to observe his players. Nonetheless I feel he should have abandoned his schemes earlier than 12-15 games into the season. With that said he lost Whaley early to an ankle injury and Whaley seemed to be integral to Dan’s plans before that injury. Same with Yakwe. Obviously he didn’t expect much from Kwintin and most likely was not counting on Diarra.
