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Message: [QUOTE="ToolzieFan, post: 3036792, member: 7018"] Hurley’s teams tend to have a reputation for playing pressure and forcing turnovers, but his team’s defensive identity varied from year-to-year. URI’s overall defensive ratings (all stats from kenpom.com) from 2012-2018 were 172, 67, 13, 65, 30, and 46. After his first year, his teams were always above average defensively, and in one or two years, elite. In 2015 (23-10, 60 in KenPom), URI had the 13th best defense in the country. They ranked 8th in effective FG%% allowed, 24th in TO%, 2nd in 3-pt FG% allowed, 9th in 3-pt FG attempt %, and 9th in block %. The only negative? They were 323rd in free throw rate allowed. That looks like a team that played pressure D, guarded the 3-pt line, defended the rim, and fouled a lot. 2017 was arguably his best URI team (25-10, 34 in KenPom), with the 30th best defense. That team did not turn over their opponents as often (19.4%, good for 121st), but they had the 5th best 3-pt FG% allowed, the 17th best 3-pt attempt %, and the 3rd best block %. All that added up to the 9th best effective FG% allowed. Their worst trait? 334th in free thrown rate allowed The 2018 URI was excellent overall (26-8, 52 in KenPom), but a step below 2017 defensively, and very different than the 2017 team. Their defense was a respectable 46th overall, but they dropped to 146th in effective FG% allowed. They were up to 6th in the country in forcing turnovers, but they fell to 147th in block %. Free throw rate allowed? 308th in the country. Do Hurley’s team’s have a defensive identity? Well, they foul a lot! Fortunately, that is normally accompanied by on-ball pressure, or rim protecting, or both. The ideal scenario is that Hurley is able to recruit higher quality athletes and defenders to UConn than he could recruit to URI. Akok Akok might be a great example of that. If his teams can maintain aggressiveness in defending threes and blocking shots while having the athleticism and discipline to foul less, we should really improve defensively over the next few years. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach