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Message: [QUOTE="JustbrewitMan, post: 4310223, member: 7806"] I am so fricken sick of this narrative! Hurley came here to rebuild the program & I’m sure an implied goal is to have improvements each year with no significant steps back. With that being said, the last 2 years have presented unique situations, primarily driven by COVID (significantly altered recruiting, super seniors, etc) This past season, I’m sure the retention of Whaley & Polley had a huge impact on the ability to provide “in-game” growth arcs for all but the most talented of the new recruits. Samson & Sool clearly weren’t ready for the rigors of the BE, and playing them this year for the sake of playing them (vs Whaley & Polley) would have undoubtedly resulted in at least couple more BE losses. Many on the BY would have gone apoplectic about that! Too many variables to list with the early season games, but ultimately it meant that there weren’t going to be many opportunities for them to play lots of minutes in those either. Samson needed at least 1.5 seasons of college S&C and a season of practice to really be a legit starter/sub. It was pretty obvious to anyone paying attention. I expect him to make a big leap this season & am excited to see it. Sool ended up at an A-10 school. Even if he progresses and portals up to a P5 school in 1-2 years, that means nothing. Hurley had all year to eval him and the programs improvement arc can’t afford to possibly regress this year with him learning the ropes of being a BE point guard. People can whisper whatever they want into potential recruits ears about Hurley not playing his bench, but this staff will tell the recruits that are worth us getting how you get PT and UConn and how the process works. There’s been nothing factual ever presented in public that the philosophy of “you earn PT based on how you practice” isn’t true. Hawkins got more and more PT as the season went on because he’s got inherently more talent than those that sat the bench for his position & I’m sure he earned it with his practice performance. His defense and ball handling both got notably better in-game until he got his concussion. [/QUOTE]

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