Thoughts on Hurley

[Hurleyman216]

I know we have a million threads on this, but wanted to offer some positive spin. I blame at least 50% of the loss yesterday on Hurley deciding he wanted to be a mail instead of a hammer. When you have the more talented team, you are ALWAYS the hammer, he needs to not forget that.

Here’s my take on it. He already knows he screwed up even if he hasn’t admitted it publicly. He also has too many good mentors to not learn from this (his father, JC, Geno among others). Just like players need to learn from their mistakes coaches do too. Luckily this mistake was learned during the regular season. Don’t let it happen come post season time! The team will learn and move forward. Also, make your damn free throws and your coach doesn’t look so bad.

 

[uconngb]

As bad as his in game reactions were, I’m more worried about what has happened since. First, the Sanogo admission that has been dissected ad nauseum. And now today calling out Gaffney and Polley and basically saying don’t blame me for the poor free throw shooting. He needs to man up and put it on himself, whether he believes it or not. This is how you lose a team.

 

[JohnFSilver]

I blame 100% loss on the players. LOL. They play the game. Hurley was fine. I would have tried Sanogo against their small lineup, but he isn't Shaq out there. Would have liked to have seen Hurley try. But if he has Sanogo out there, Whaley has to sit. We want to do that?

UConn is just offensively challenged. Without Bouknight, there is no breakdown scorer. Because of that, they have to execute to score. They ran some really nice offense on Monday and got good shots and didn't convert.

It's amazing how good a coach you look when you have a player who can create his own offense and how bad a coach you look like when you have players that can't. That's basketball at this level. Brutal loss though.

 

[BlueDogs]

100% agree. The key is learning and improving. He has more than enough pluses to be successful. To be great, though, requires excelling in all facets. He needs work with in-game management.

 

[superjohn]

I blame 100% loss on the players. LOL. They play the game. Hurley was fine. I would have tried Sanogo against their small lineup, but he isn't Shaq out there. Would have liked to have seen Hurley try. But if he has Sanogo out there, Whaley has to sit. We want to do that?

UConn is just offensively challenged. Without Bouknight, there is no breakdown scorer. Because of that, they have to execute to score. They ran some really nice offense on Monday and got good shots and didn't convert.

It's amazing how good a coach you look when you have a player who can create his own offense and how bad a coach you look like when you have players that can't. That's basketball at this level. Brutal loss though.

Your post contradicts itself. The offense wasn't offensively challenged. It was Sanogo in the second half, it was running though him and he was getting whatever he wanted. You don't ever take the best player off the floor and sit him for the remaining 13 minutes. That Hurley did it with an 8 point lead because he was scared of St. John's makes it all the more indefensible.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Your post contradicts itself. The offense wasn't offensively challenged. It was Sanogo in the second half, it was running though him and he was getting whatever he wanted. You don't ever take the best player off the floor and sit him for the remaining 13 minutes. That Hurley did it with an 8 point lead because he was scared of St. John's makes it all the more indefensible.

Sanogo had a couple of good shots. He also missed two easy baskets. Hardly a sure thing. I would have brought Sanogo back to see if St. John's reacted. But Hurley was going to rely on Whaley at the 5 as he has all year down the stretch. Post doesn't contradict itself. You are critiquing based on the result, not the decision-making. Too much arm-chair coaching here and way too much made of that sub. The bigger issue was the inability to contain or help off the dribble.

St. John's quickness annihilated the backcourt on offense and defense. Also, I like Cole off ball.

 

[Spaceman213J]

Hopefully, Hurley and staff learn from this. We have to remember that Hurley is still pretty young in his coaching career. Sanogo should have been put back in, but hopefully yesterday was a blip and not the start of a pattern for UConn's coach.

 

[superjohn]

Sanogo had a couple of good shots. He also missed two easy baskets. Hardly a sure thing. I would have brought Sanogo back to see if St. John's reacted. But Hurley was going to rely on Whaley at the 5 as he has all year down the stretch. Post doesn't contradict itself. You are critiquing based on the result, not the decision-making. Too much arm-chair coaching here and way too much made of that sub. The bigger issue was the inability to contain or help off the dribble.

St. John's quickness annihilated the backcourt on offense and defense. Also, I like Cole off ball.

You said they are offensively challenged and then say they ran some really nice stuff on Monday. The nice stuff they ran was when Sanogo was in the game, it was being run through him because he was the best player on the court and St. John's couldn't stop him with double teams. He was on his way to an easy 20 point night.

It's not based on the result, myself and the majority of the chat was going crazy when Hurley took him out and going crazy for the next 12 minutes when he didn't put him back in the game. Just a brutal performance by Hurley, Anderson punked him.

 

[3rdbass]

You said they are offensively challenged and then say they ran some really nice stuff on Monday. The nice stuff they ran was when Sanogo was in the game, it was being run through him because he was the best player on the court and St. John's couldn't stop him with double teams. He was on his way to an easy 20 point night.

It's not based on the result, myself and the majority of the chat was going crazy when Hurley took him out and going crazy for the next 12 minutes when he didn't put him back in the game. Just a brutal performance by Hurley, Anderson punked him.

I would have gone with the big lineup and play some zone to cover up our defensive deficiencies but Hurly is a stubborn Capricorn and he never changed.

 

[JohnFSilver]

You said they are offensively challenged and then say they ran some really nice stuff on Monday. The nice stuff they ran was when Sanogo was in the game, it was being run through him because he was the best player on the court and St. John's couldn't stop him with double teams. He was on his way to an easy 20 point night.

It's not based on the result, myself and the majority of the chat was going crazy when Hurley took him out and going crazy for the next 12 minutes when he didn't put him back in the game. Just a brutal performance by Hurley, Anderson punked him.

Sure. I thought St. John's was just relentless. And

I would have gone with the big lineup and play some zone to cover up our defensive deficiencies but Hurly is a stubborn Capricorn and he never changed.

I would have too. I think he was spooked by St. john's hitting 6 second-half 3s. that's what I saw from the transcript anyway. Guys gotta play better though. If they needed Sanogo to win that game for them, that's a problem. I am more concerned with the defense TBH. Wasn't good.

 

[GHSWolverines]

Dan Hurley knows how to recruit. +
Dan Hurley knows how to get the most out of his players. +
Dan Hurley craves to restore UCONN to its glory days. +
Dan Hurley at times demonstrates tunnel vision during games. -

Hopefully, with time, he executes more than one or two moves in a chess game.

 

[Kenny11]

Hurley is great for uconn. He’s capable of having bad games just like any player or coach. Let’s not deny when this happens.

 

[UConnDad]

Your post contradicts itself. The offense wasn't offensively challenged. It was Sanogo in the second half, it was running though him and he was getting whatever he wanted. You don't ever take the best player off the floor and sit him for the remaining 13 minutes. That Hurley did it with an 8 point lead because he was scared of St. John's makes it all the more indefensible.

Have to agree. Keep feeding the hot hand on O. Danny would have continued to get Sanogo the ball when he was playing.

 

[rip7774]

While he's recruited great, I can't fathom how they were comfortable going into season with Cole and Gaffney at PG and basically one guy on roster that can create a shot!!!!

We're on the right track but some cracks in the armor. Sanogo thing, just wow. I believe in him and hope he gets it rectified. He's never been at this level so he gets the benefit of the doubt at this point. So happy we are on the right track. Disappointed at our PG situation and inability to create on roster esp since he loves guards so much.

 

[Rico444]

While he's recruited great, I can't fathom how they were comfortable going into season with Cole and Gaffney at PG and basically one guy on roster that can create a shot!!!!

We're on the right track but some cracks in the armor. Sanogo thing, just wow. I believe in him and hope he gets it rectified. He's never been at this level so he gets the benefit of the doubt at this point. So happy we are on the right track. Disappointed at our PG situation and inability to create on roster esp since he loves guards so much.

I think if Jackson didn't get hurt, he would be contributing more by this point of the season, and Hurley expected Gaffney to be contributing more. Getting close to zero from the two of them combined in addition to Bouknight's injury is a huge loss.

 

[HuskyFich]

I think if Jackson didn't get hurt, he would be contributing more by this point of the season, and Hurley expected Gaffney to be contributing more. Getting close to zero from the two of them combined in addition to Bouknight's injury is a huge loss.

This is a good point. Even if Jackson's shooting is quite poor.. his passing vision, handle, athleticism and defense prob are something being missed as well. He would've had a lot of Polley's minutes in the second half.

 

[mauconnfan]

Sanogo had a couple of good shots. He also missed two easy baskets. Hardly a sure thing. I would have brought Sanogo back to see if St. John's reacted. But Hurley was going to rely on Whaley at the 5 as he has all year down the stretch. Post doesn't contradict itself. You are critiquing based on the result, not the decision-making. Too much arm-chair coaching here and way too much made of that sub. The bigger issue was the inability to contain or help off the dribble.

St. John's quickness annihilated the backcourt on offense and defense. Also, I like Cole off ball.

It does contradict itself. You said they are offensively challenged which I agree especially without Bouk. But the one way they most definitely weren't offensively challenged was throwing it in to Sanogo against that smaller St Johns team and it was more than evident. He did moss a couple but he also made 6, which was much more than Adams, polley and Gaffney were going to make so another 8-10 minutes of him would've given them fits. I have no issue with not blaming coach for all but 100% players is beyond ridiculous in this one.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Sure. I thought St. John's was just relentless. And

I would have too. I think he was spooked by St. john's hitting 6 second-half 3s. that's what I saw from the transcript anyway. Guys gotta play better though. If they needed Sanogo to win that game for them, that's a problem. I am more concerned with the defense TBH. Wasn't good.

Put the players in a position to win. That's what the coach does. If the Giants line up all cornerbacks on the DL and can't stop the run, is that on the players?

St. Johns isn't good. That should have been a double digit win if we put the players in a position to win. That means not having Polley guard guys who torched him over and over again. It means not asking the perimeter players to play tight D to cut down 3's and then give them no rim protection in the paint. Instead, that leads to easy layups. Whaley was our 5, but he was pulled outside, leaving a giant flashing OPEN sign on the rim.

It's pretty simple. Hurley acted like St. Johns was the GS Warriors of a few years back because they hit a few lucky 3s. They aren't actually that good. He responded by welcoming them to make layups at will. At the same time, he took away his one advantage on offense, size and inside presence. He managed to make the defense and offense worse at the same time. If you can't guard 5 out in Man, the answer is simple: don't play Man. The answer is never to give up uncontested layups. If you want to play tight on outside shooters, you must keep a rim protector near the basket. The Celtics knew this. Calhoun knew this. Hurley should damned well know this. Sanogo and Josh aren't Bill Russell or Emeka Okafor. But against that glorified HS team? If I recall, Sanogo had just had three straight blocks or steals on the defensive end when he came out. And Hurley took him out for defense?

He's a very good coach. He knows more basketball than I ever will. He also has a stubborn streak that can lead to mistakes. I hope he learns from it. Let people shoot 3s. Don't ever let them get easy layups at will.

 

[RayRay]

I think if Jackson didn't get hurt, he would be contributing more by this point of the season, and Hurley expected Gaffney to be contributing more. Getting close to zero from the two of them combined in addition to Bouknight's injury is a huge loss.

Agreed. Does anyone know when his 6 week timetable is up? I know he has an important appointment this week, if it hasn't happened already, so hopefully we start to see him for a few minutes vs Creighton.

 

[Rico444]

Agreed. Does anyone know when his 6 week timetable is up? I know he has an important appointment this week, if it hasn't happened already, so hopefully we start to see him for a few minutes vs Creighton.

Hurley talks to the Horde the day before games, so I'll bet we get an update on Friday.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

They went small so we took out the guy who would have blocked those little dudes at the rim.

 

[Hurleyman216]

They went small so we took out the guy who would have blocked those little dudes at the rim.

One thing not talked about much either is that Sanogo was guarding Champagnie for at least a few possessions before he went out. On one possession where Champagnie tried taking him one-on-one Adama stayed in front of him and then blocked the shot. I believe Sanogo has quicker feet on defense and can move laterally quicker than Polley can, so Hurley's excuse here doesn't hold up.

 

[BlueDogs]

He screwed up. He just needs to man up and take responsibility and admit he reds to improve. Part of this is on his staff too. They need to be aware when he goes into cheerleading tunnel vision.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

I still think he's the right guy for the job while I disagreed with his usage of Adama last game.

My hope is that he was completely open with AS (and others) while recruiting him and set expectations appropriately. Was reading an article the other day on transfers and in most cases, players who become disgruntled and transfer felt as though they were told one thing and then had a different experience once they got going. There are three sides to every story, the coach, the player and the truth somewhere in the middle but I just hope Dan Hurley has been open with Adama on why he's doing what he's doing because this last game was a bit of a head scratcher.

 

[navery12]

I still think he's the right guy for the job while I disagreed with his usage of Adama last game.

My hope is that he was completely open with AS (and others) while recruiting him and set expectations appropriately. Was reading an article the other day on transfers and in most cases, players who become disgruntled and transfer felt as though they were told one thing and then had a different experience once they got going. There are three sides to every story, the coach, the player and the truth somewhere in the middle but I just hope Dan Hurley has been open with Adama on why he's doing what he's doing because this last game was a bit of a head scratcher.

I think he has been open with Adama judging from the comments after the last game. Can (and many here do) disagree with the reasoning but Hurley and Adama were publicly on the same page that he wasn't in because St John's was playing 5 out

 

[UconnFanDC]

Not responding on the subject but I am still upset about the SJ game. Ok carry on

 

[Tenspro2002]

I think he has been open with Adama judging from the comments after the last game. Can (and many here do) disagree with the reasoning but Hurley and Adama were publicly on the same page that he wasn't in because St John's was playing 5 out

And, in the big picture, I'm sure what Hurley communicated to Sanogo throughout his recruitment was that he could come in right away, get some minutes, and learn behind senior bigs.

Remember, less than a year ago Sanogo was still a 2021 recruit. He committed and re-classified pretty late (not quite Drummond late, but still). It's not like we recruited him for years telling him he would be one and done. In a lot of ways, this year is like a bonus year.

So I'm not worried about Sanogo. If anything, I'd be more concerned about recruiting of future bigs, though on the other hand the development and usage of Whaley (and to a lesser extent Carlton) is a significant feather in Hurley's cap. Still, I think recruits would like to see Hurley give his young players, including bigs, a longer leash. That's how high-major college basketball operates in 2021.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Lost in all the discussion is Akok. I thought he looked, moved, and played better than the prior Marquette game.

if he can continue to improve he’ll be getting more minutes at the 4 and 3. Whaley was tired at the end everyone saw Polley at his worse.

A fully healthy Akok getting 20+ minutes could’ve been the difference between an L and W against STJ and possiblythe difference against Creighton. If he continues his upward climb

 

[RayRay]

Lost in all the discussion is Akok. I thought he looked, moved, and played better than the prior Marquette game.

if he can continue to improve he’ll be getting more minutes at the 4 and 3. Whaley was tired at the end everyone saw Polley at his worse.

A fully healthy Akok getting 20+ minutes could’ve been the difference between an L and W against STJ and possiblythe difference against Creighton. If he continues his upward climb

We would all love if this happened, but per Hurley post game, he’s not even close to being 100% and really shouldn’t even be out there yet according to Hurley. He made it sound like he won’t be at 100% until next season.

 

[mauconnfan]

I'm not as worried as to whether he is discussing with Sanogo as to why he didn't play, I'm more concerned about the fact that Sanogo's not (nor is anyone else) stupid and saw the guys he had on the floor getting torched on one end and unable to score on the other. In that case there is no doubt he's thinking "Heck I can guard at least as well as that and I know I can score on the other end to help the team." Really that simple, so all in all I hope he understands he needs to play him especially when he can. I mean much of the year has also been on Sanogo (and the refs) for 2 quick fouls and I agree, needs to sit at that point. But there have been times he's seen no time after his early fouls and that's just not good for a kid that talented. I mean won't get me to stop thinking about how awful it was not to have seen Adama for at least half the last 12 minutes, it's still painful.