UConn men's basketball coach Dan Hurley looking for freshmen to add depth, but 'got to earn it here'

[auror]

Hey does anyone have a good explanation on why JC started freshman Dehnam Brown over senior Tony Robertson?

Tony started all games from the year before on a team that was 1st place in the Big East and went to the elite 8.

Because Taliek Brown was 6'1", Ben Gordon was 6'2", and Tony Robertson was 6'2".

Calhoun started sophomore Ben Gordon over Tony, not Denham. Ben was better. It's just that he couldn't start 3 6'2" and under guys so Denham got the start on the wing.

Tony still got more minutes than Denham.

 

[Hunt for 7]

This couldn't be more wrong. Both Stewart and Ross have gotten plenty of playing time when we haven't played Indiana, Texas, Kansas and UNC.

They'll also play today: I just don't get the point of expanding your rotations against quality opponents unless you have to.

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Well if it is so wrong why is Hurley already lamenting about players being contacted. Is it because all the experts who may be tampering think there is not any talent that they would love to have. And that talent may not be happy with their pt. Frame it any way my post was in response to DH bringing up the the concern about the “me season” becoming an issue. Post all the data you want does not change the narrative on the human element that DH is probably trying to nip in the bud by making a public statement. And I don’t see any 7-9 minute runs against any competition.

 

[CL82]

No doubt he always had that fire. Compare Brian Fair's stats and PT in the games where Howie filled in. He's always been intimidating. But latter day JC's hard game day coaching, like latter day Knight's, wasn't received as well by some of his players. Not bashing JC, just my observation. Clearly players in general got softer to coaching over the years. But the inflexibility of that coaching style with todays culture would be beyond a challenge. DH has fire as well, but you dont see that quick hook, or belittling benchings or histrionics towards players. Probably goes at them a bit more in practice i'd assume though lol

Maybe, but Shabazz Napier refers to Jim Calhoun as a father figure and remains very close to him.

 

[runner11]

Hilton had to beat out Mike Hayes for his starting spot as a freshman. No offense to Mike Hayes but Calhoun played freshmen like Hilton because he had to. And Hilton’s spot minutes stayed pretty much the same until his senior year. This idea that Calhoun had a long leash with freshmen is truly the craziest bit of revisionist history that’s been in this board in a long time but the guy is so committed to it it’s almost impressive.

Well he is completely ignorant of the early/mid 90s to mid 2000s when we were a 1 or 2 seed like 11 of 13 years and is only aware of late Calhoun to present when quite frankly we had rosters full of dudes who were not always “UConn level.” He is admittedly new to the game and doesn’t follow any non UConn CBB. Have some awareness of your ignorance @HuskyWarrior611 for the love of God

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Well he is completely ignorant of the early/mid 90s to mid 2000s when we were a 1 or 2 seed like 11 of 13 years and is only aware of late Calhoun to present when quite frankly we had rosters full of dudes who were not always “UConn level.” He is admittedly new to the game and doesn’t follow any non UConn CBB. Have some awareness of your ignorance @HuskyWarrior611 for the love of God

FWIW I started watching every UConn game during the 2004 season. So I’m pretty aware of everything on. I’ve been honest about that because I have no reason not to be and we’ve won 4 of our 5 national championships during that time as well as 5 of our 6 Final Fours.

I feel like I have a pretty good idea of how those teams were made up and how Calhoun coached them. For the ones I don’t I research.

From what I’ve seen, there’s only 3 guys in a 20+ year span that didn’t have a consistent role their first year. And when I ask people don’t really have any answers on these freshmen that Calhoun was so unecessarily hard on. I’m open to hearing who these guys are because yeah, maybe I missed something.

Btw the quick hook was not exclusive to freshmen. It was a team wide thing.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Hey does anyone have a good explanation on why JC started freshman Dehnam Brown over senior Tony Robertson?

Tony started all games from the year before on a team that was 1st place in the Big East and went to the elite 8.

I believe JC was actually starting Ben Gordon over Tony Robertson.

 

[uconngb]

Heck some schools you don’t even have to go to class and others will take your tests for you

Where in the world (cough, cough, UNC, cough) does that happen????

 

[FfldCntyFan]

FWIW I started watching every UConn game during the 2004 season. So I’m pretty aware of everything on. I’ve been honest about that because I have no reason not to be and we’ve won 4 of our 5 national championships during that time as well as 5 of our 6 Final Fours.

I feel like I have a pretty good idea of how those teams were made up and how Calhoun coached them. For the ones I don’t I research.

From what I’ve seen, there’s only 3 guys in a 20+ year span that didn’t have a consistent role their first year. And when I ask people don’t really have any answers on these freshmen that Calhoun was so unecessarily hard on. I’m open to hearing who these guys are because yeah, maybe I missed something.

Btw the quick hook was not exclusive to freshmen. It was a team wide thing.

What I don't get is that you are basically willing to get into a steel cage match when we are nine games into the season. At this point in their careers quite a few freshman who you are using as examples of JC's open mindedness played materially similar amount of time as Stewart and Ross. This is an argument that should happen after all games are played.

Additionally, there are basically four games in question at this point: MSG - Indiana and Texas, AFH - Kansas, MSG - UNC. It can easily be inferred that Hurley placed great importance in each of these games and felt the approach that he used was the best for to perform as well as possible in these games. Relax a little. If some of these kids don't play against St John's, Seton Hall, PC, Butler, Xavier, etc, then it may be time to complain.

 

[navery12]

Well if it is so wrong why is Hurley already lamenting about players being contacted. Is it because all the experts who may be tampering think there is not any talent that they would love to have. And that talent may not be happy with their pt. Frame it any way my post was in response to DH bringing up the the concern about the “me season” becoming an issue. Post all the data you want does not change the narrative on the human element that DH is probably trying to nip in the bud by making a public statement. And I don’t see any 7-9 minute runs against any competition.

Because we are a national championship contender and we're not just going to throw guys out on the court if they're not ready. There is no reason to run a 9 or 10 man rotation just to hope guys don't transfer. If you want minutes handed to you go play somewhere else, these guys committed to UConn and were well aware of the playing time they were looking at

 

[HooperScooper]

Where's Ross today? Figured he would play some today like Stewart has. Remember in the preseason when Hurley said Ross had worked his way into the rotation? He played some the first few games and then nothing.

 

[navery12]

Where's Ross today? Figured he would play some today like Stewart has. Remember in the preseason when Hurley said Ross had worked his way into the rotation? He played some the first few games and then nothing.

Guessing he was going to play more until we were barely winning the whole 1st half

 

[UofCT]

Where's Ross today? Figured he would play some today like Stewart has. Remember in the preseason when Hurley said Ross had worked his way into the rotation? He played some the first few games and then nothing.

Who is Ross taking minutes from?

 

[HooperScooper]

Who is Ross taking minutes from?

Not sure. Who did he come in for the first few games? I don't remember. He played 9, 13 and 17 minutes the first 3 games. Hasn't played since the UNH game.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

He got some run today. Physically he isn't ready to be a stretch four, his handle isn't there yet to be a wing in this offense.

He'll get PT and develop. Down the road we will be thrilled with Ross and Stewart as our forwards.

 

[superjohn]

Not sure. Who did he come in for the first few games? I don't remember. He played 9, 13 and 17 minutes the first 3 games. Hasn't played since the UNH game.

We have 9 players who are better than him right now. We're the best team in the country, even a talented freshman can get squeezed.

 

[HooperScooper]

We have 9 players who are better than him right now. We're the best team in the country, even a talented freshman can get squeezed.

True. I just figured he'd play some today earlier than garbage time.

So the 9 are the 5 starters (including Castle as a starter), Johnson, Ball, Diarra....... and then Stewart? Stewart's body is more ready.

 

[UofCT]

Stewart looked good today. Gotta clean up the shooting and FTs but could spell Alex for short stretches.

 

[SeattleHoop]

Let’s not overthink this guys. Stewart has been deserving a little more time and he got it today. He extended the lead from around 2 or 3 points to about 8 or so points in just a few minutes in the first half.

He gave us valuable minutes and gave Karaban a nice long breather allowing Karaban to be more efficient as well.

That’s literally the only point I’ve really been trying to make and I think he can service the same role against Gonzaga as well.

We will see what Hurley decides to do against tougher competition. I’m happy overall regardless it’s just something I noticed and have been a little nitpicky about I can admit that but I’ve always liked to advocate hard for talented freshman probably due to experiences I had with coaches dating back to when I used to play

 

[auror]

Let’s not overthink this guys. Stewart has been deserving a little more time and he got it today. He extended the lead from around 2 or 3 points to about 8 or so points in just a few minutes in the first half.

He gave us valuable minutes and gave Karaban a nice long breather allowing Karaban to be more efficient as well.

That’s literally the only point I’ve really been trying to make and I think he can service the same role against Gonzaga as well.

We will see what Hurley decided to do against tougher competition. I’m happy overall regardless it’s just something I noticed and have been a little nitpicky about I can admit that but I’ve always liked to advocate hard for talented freshman probably due to experiences I had with coaches dating back to when I used to play

I'm guessing Hurley gives Stewie a little extra burn in Seattle.

 

[SeattleHoop]

@navery12 what is so amusing or ridiculous about what I just said? Is it really that off base?

Also, regardless if you agree or disagree would appreciate a bit more respect as opposed to a laughing emoji every time I post

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I think a couple people are making a bit too much out of this. There is a very strong chance that Hurley felt Kansas and UNC had too much height at the four for Stewart. I imagine his PT will slowly increase from where it was today throughout the remainder of the season.

 

[navery12]

@navery12 what is so amusing or ridiculous about what I just said? Is it really that off base?

Also, regardless if you agree or disagree would appreciate a bit more respect as opposed to a laughing emoji every time I post

Yes, I find it very amusing that you think Stewart playing against Arkansas Pine Bluff and Stewart playing against Kansas/UNC/Gonzaga are comparable. I do think that's pretty far off base. As much as you or I might want it to happen it's approaching insanity to keep harping on it

 

[SeattleHoop]

Yes, I find it very amusing that you think Stewart playing against Arkansas Pine Bluff and Stewart playing against Kansas/UNC/Gonzaga are comparable. I do think that's pretty far off base. As much as you or I might want it to happen it's approaching insanity to keep harping on it

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Stewart is no stranger to elite competition. He will absolutely have a positive impact in bigger games as well. Just because he hasn’t had that opportunity yet doesn’t mean it’s impossible or even unlikely. Have a great weekend

 

[runner11]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Stewart is no stranger to elite competition. He will absolutely have a positive impact in bigger games as well. Just because he hasn’t had that opportunity yet doesn’t mean it’s impossible or even unlikely. Have a great weekend

Nobody denies that Stewart is extremely talented. More likely than not, Hurley doesn’t fully trust him to avoid missing defensive assignments, esp. against high level teams. We can see he is a little amped on O as his misses are back rim and they will be buckets once he is allowed to get comfortable out there. I am sure enrolling a little later didn’t help and if I remember correctly, he was banged up on the overseas trip. People forget AK spent an entire year practicing with the team before he was ready to launch.

I’m kinda at the point where I implicitly trust the stuff to do the right thing. Every kid who has stayed has gotten developed into a much better player, we are coming of a ‘ship and we are running the best offense in the P6. How could you not at this point.

 

[OceanDoggie]

From Hurley's mouth:

UConn's freshmen scored 25 points, led by Ball's nine points and seven each from Stephon Castle and Jaylin Stewart, who made 3 of 4 shots.

“That earned some trust in the staff...and trust of his teammates," Hurley said of Stewart. “He becomes a guy who can now get into the rotation coming out of today.”

UConn 101-63 Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Dec 9, 2023) Game Recap - ESPN

Expert recap and game analysis of the UConn Huskies vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions NCAAM game from December 9, 2023 on ESPN.

www.espn.com