UConn's Season a 'Huge Success' - Dan Hurley

[freescooter]

Ollie winning a National Championship = no big deal
Hurley making the tournament = greatest coach in basketball history

Said nobody ever

 

[Salty Dog]

The only reason someone should be concerned is if they think Hurley genuinely feels "this is an acceptable average long-term result for this program".

There's no way you can conclude that based on the rest of his comments.

This is a really great point. I guess we're all just really disappointed at the way the season ended. One thing we can all agree on is that this team didn't live up to its potential (basing off post-season results).

 

[Doctor Hoop]

I watched the whole Hurley video, and he did qualify his "huge success" comment, saying that he still has loftier goals for the program, and he should. And results are results, so no one can argue that making the tourney as a 7 seed and finishing 3rd in a better conference aren't steps up, they absolutely are. Recruiting is definitely solid now.

But other than blowing out some lesser conference foes (which felt good, by the way), something we hadn't done much in the AAC, there were no real signature wins. We won the games we should win, and lost the games we would like to have won. I judge more on what I see on the court. So, huge success? Not yet.

 

[AntG168]

I watched the whole Hurley video, and he did qualify his "huge success" comment, saying that he still has loftier goals for the program, and he should. And results are results, so no one can argue that making the tourney as a 7 seed and finishing 3rd in a better conference aren't steps up, they absolutely are. Recruiting is definitely solid now.

But other than blowing out some lesser conference foes (which felt good, by the way), something we hadn't done much in the AAC, there were no real signature wins. We won the games we should win, and lost the games we would like to have won. I judge more on what I see on the court. So, huge success? Not yet.

USC was a signature win. Destroying Georgetown at a time when no one else could beat them was impressive. Dominating Seton Hall on their senior night, first game with fans back, and fighting for their NCAA tourney lives was impressive. We had some VERY good wins and we made some teams look worse than they were. Before the season it was "there are no more easy wins". Just because we made them look pedestrian doesn't take away from the actual accomplishment. This season was definitely a big success.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Correct, and what happens in 1990 if Henefeld blows out his achilles and smith injures his elbow and has surgery. Many seem to not want to cut Hurley any slack for injuries to his two best recruits.

# Lunatic fanbase

Or Gilbert injuring his shoulder in a McD's AA game and Diarra having a degenerative knee condition that prevented him from ever contributing. Wait, those don't count, do they?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

This is classic bad-faith muntz. The fact is getting this program back to the dance in three years is not a mediocre coaching job, it's ahead of schedule. Calhoun took four years and he inherited better players.

Fun fact: Maryland was the final of 9 bids to a conference that only has 2 teams left playing and the first weekend is not over yet.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

USC was a signature win. Destroying Georgetown at a time when no one else could beat them was impressive. Dominating Seton Hall on their senior night, first game with fans back, and fighting for their NCAA tourney lives was impressive. We had some VERY good wins and we made some teams look worse than they were. Before the season it was "there are no more easy wins". Just because we made them look pedestrian doesn't take away from the actual accomplishment. This season was definitely a big success.

I'll give you Seton Hall, but Georgetown, as they showed in the tourney against Colorado, could be very meh at times, and they were in the first half against us in game 2. The second half they lit it up, but fortunately had dug themselves too big a hole. USC turned out to be a good win, but I remember a late game scoring drought for quite some time that put that game in danger, and we played them very early when they were still figuring things out.

 

[djct1999]

Fun fact: Maryland was the final of 9 bids to a conference that only has 2 teams left playing and the first weekend is not over yet.

Again, taking things totally out of context. No one on here who is categorizing this season as a success was happy with Saturday's result. If anything, this years tourney is showing how random a one game ellimination can be. We are simply keeping a big picture perspective. And to go back to one of your previous posts, if Hurley gives us anything like Ollie did the last few years, I am confident the pro-Hurley camp would want him out just as quick.

 

[AntG168]

I'll give you Seton Hall, but Georgetown, as they showed in the tourney against Colorado, could be very meh at times, and they were in the first half against us in game 2. The second half they lit it up, but fortunately had dug themselves too big a hole. USC turned out to be a good win, but I remember a late game scoring drought for quite some time that put that game in danger, and we played them very early when they were still figuring things out.

But they played us very early while we were still figuring things out, Polley didn't even play. And for all Georgetown's "meh", they beat everyone else they played in that stretch.

 

[tjc1888]

Fun fact: Maryland was the final of 9 bids to a conference that only has 2 teams left playing and the first weekend is not over yet.

Also just not a fact.... MSU and Rutgers were both behind them. Keep pushing some alternate reality.

 

[UCfor3]

Just stop responding. You are not going to convince him. The agenda and confirmation bias is just too much. He doesn't think the program was in shambles. Once you hear that it ceases being a reasonable discussion.

 

[krinklecut]

defeat stings, but with 3 covid shutdowns, no fans, and our star going out for 8 games, we still made a national mark, made ourselves relevant, and won a lot of games. no way to view this as anything other than a successful year.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Just stop responding. You are not going to convince him. The agenda and confirmation bias is just too much. He doesn't think the program was in shambles. Once you hear that it ceases being a reasonable discussion.

I wanted Ollie fired, but that doesn’t mean the program was in shambles. Adams, Vital, Polley, Carlton, Gilbert, and Whaley is not a program in shambles.

 

[djct1999]

I wanted Ollie fired, but that doesn’t mean the program was in shambles. Adams, Vital, Polley, Carlton, Gilbert, and Whaley is not a program in shambles.

shambles(noun): when a blue blood program with 4 national titles has a 14-18 record, 7-11 in the AAC and a kenpom ranking of 173.

pretty sure we fit that definition.

 

[rip7774]

So much overrating our current players, how many of them would play major minutes at Gonzaga or Michigan. I love our guys but Josh Carlton isn't someone to hang our hat on. The program was in shambles. We still need shooters and creators bad.

 

[Heritage]

There are many ways to evaluate a coach. In my opinion, these are the essentials:



Recruitment

Player relationship

Defensive development and implementation.

Offensive development and implementation.

Player development.

Game control, adjusting as required to minimize opponents strengths, proper utilization of players and establishing opportunities for your players.

Demeanor and self-control of the coach.



Having been around this game for more than seventy years, I can tell you there are not many, in fact, very few who grade out as an A across the board.



The evaluation of Hurley from my perspective is as follows:



Recruitment - Recruitment is a solid A, especially when you consider that Uconn reputation was not good in recent years, which makes it harder to recruit. His last two recruiting classes were very good, in spite of the fat that the team had poor records an no post season play.



Player relationship - Player relationship is harder to judge and can only be surmised by what you see (game interaction with players) and what you read. This appears to be a solid A as well.



Defensive development and implementation - Even the most casual observer can see that he has developed and implemented a very good defense, again a solid A.



Offensive development and implementation. It is obvious that this team has not done well on offense. The only aspect of the offense that grades well is the out of bound plays under their own basket. Their motion offense has way too much dribbling and way too slow to pass the ball. The fact that they get called for moving screens constantly is a symptom of lack of discipline and lack of crispness, i.e., very poor implementation. It is rare they run a double screen or are able to get someone wide open. Calhoun managed this extremely well getting Hamilton, Allen, etc. Open to aid them with the double teams. Bouknight has never enjoyed that luxury. Additionally, when someone is being doubled or in cases tripled there obviously other team members open. This is clearly something coaches point out and insist players pass to open man in such a case. If this ever happen I missed it. The inability to score layups is the direct result of not developing the player. I had high school players as bad as Whaley and Martin at scoring near the basket. There are drills that they ran for hours which resulted with them becoming very proficient. This is on the coach and the player. Grade C minus.



Player development - On defense you see a lot of improvement. Offense has been poor, as stated above, this team is terrible scoring near the basket. The inability to teach veteran players how to score underneath is blatant failure of coaching. To watch players like Whaley shoot so poorly from the foul line, particularly, their form is terrible and he isn’t the only one. To watch players leave their feet and then attempt to pass is mind boggling, at this level. Grade C +.



Game Control - This, realistically, is the one the least evident in coaches in general. Calhoun was excellent but there are not many that are. I believe, in the theory, you don’t take a “hot player “ off the court unless there is a good reason, e.g. foul trouble, tired, etc. The appearance is he has a plan and sticks to it, regardless of what is happening. But this is conjecture but his moves in many cases are baffling. On more than one occasion, he has pulled two players at the same time and they are the only ones scoring or pulling a player when he is making almost all his shots. Rarely uses timeouts to break the other teams momentum. Several times they have gone done double digits and he waits way too long or not ever to call for a TO. When his team is not scoring for several trips, the appearance is there are no set plays sent in from the bench or they can’t execute but I suspect the former. The appearance there is no correction of obvious player mistakes when they leave the floor. If there is, it is not obvious. Calhoun as do many coaches let their player no when they pull a dumb play. If a coach doesn’t have game control there is only one substitute and that is a leader on the floor, e.g., Napier, Walker, with neither the team will lose the majority of close games. Grade D



Demeanor and self-control of the coach. - The impression is he is way too emotional and in my experience this is reflected by players under such a coach. This would explain, why many times, the guards are out of control. Yes, Calhoun did blow up many times, by a bad call or a player doing something ridiculous and yes he was intense but wasn’t emotional without cause. Hurley makes too many excuses, e.g., we are a young team, however they are not, when you start a senior, a red shirt junior, a junior and a sophomore and your sixth man is a senior it is definitely not a young team. We lost are point guard and that is why we lost. This is self indictment in that he didn’t know how to adjust. When the coach makes excuses, guess what the players will do? Allowing Cole to take the blame for loss because he missed two foul shots, to me was horrible for a coach to do. Saying Cole was mature to take responsibility was good but should have been followed by we lost as a team. With 20 seconds to go in a game and a four point lead and to allow the game be tied is a coach’s failure. Bouknight was making everything that game, the out of bounds play should have been designed to get him the ball. Yes this goes back to game control, but you have to wonder if his emotions cloud his judgement. Grade - D

 

[Waquoit]

Fun fact: Maryland was the final of 9 bids to a conference that only has 2 teams left playing and the first weekend is not over yet.

So you are saying they would be better off not making the tournament? That way they wouldn't have lost.

 

[UCfor3]

So much overrating our current players, how many of them would play major minutes at Gonzaga or Michigan. I love our guys but Josh Carlton isn't someone to hang our hat on. The program was in shambles. We still need shooters and creators bad.

This. If you are watching these games it almost looks like an entirely different sport than we play at times. Some of these teams make getting a bucket look easy. Sometimes it's not even good offense. It's guys that can just rise up a drill a shot. And teams push the ball. For us it seems like every other time down the floor is a trip to the dentist.

 

[Kenny11]

Finishing 3rd in the Big East while our best player missed a lot of time is definitely a success. The last 2 games, which mattered the most, were just so disappointing though.

 

[SeattleHoop]

I wanted Ollie fired, but that doesn’t mean the program was in shambles. Adams, Vital, Polley, Carlton, Gilbert, and Whaley is not a program in shambles.

I think you just enjoy coming on here to play Devil’s advocate. I don’t think you truly believe in half your arguments

 

[atti2tude]

Dan Hurley: UConn’s season "a huge success"

The Huskies took a tumble in the NCAA Tournament, but overall Hurley was proud of the team in his third season as coach.

www.theuconnblog.com

I love Hurley. I love what he's done with the program, the players he's recruited, the energy he brings night in and night out. But anyone else get irked by statements like this? Any season that ends with a first round exit from the NCAA tournament is not a success. There will be posters here that say just making the tournament was enough to warrant calling the season a success, but since when have we ever done that?

I get its early in the rebuild, that he needs a bit more time, but sometimes I feel like Hurley still operates with that small time URI, Wagner mentality. I also understand he's looking for silver linings and at the larger picture, but to call this season a success just feels wrong, but maybe I'm crazy.

Anyways, love the guy and hope that next year goes a little better than this year did.

The Press conference concerned me Hurley spoke about the disaster he inherited and it felt like a deflection from a really bad performance. The rebuild is over starting next season these are all his recruits and one and done will not be able to be a half glass full spin . I believe in Hurley but URI isn't Connecticut and even without Bouknight we should be better with next seasons roster.

 

[SubbaBub]

I don't know how a thread about some loose comments from Hurley turned into a therapy session for the Ollie obsessed but you should seek professional help.

 

[BlueDogs]

Some people just want something to complain about. There was ZERO wrong with Hurley's comments

Right. They were marvelous in the BET and NCAAs. They were hugely successful. He should be embarrassed with the talent he has, not blowing smoke.

 

[tower1]

Happy we made the tourney but getting bounced in the first game by a lower seed= not a huge success. No way Calhoun would say that even though he considered postseason play to be an accomplishment.

I guess our expectations are way down, not what it used to be. We will not have higher expectations until changes are done and game time coaching improves.

 

[Deepster]

This whole thread is hot garbage. He's a fiery coach that uses emotion to motivate. They clearly didn't perform how he/they wanted and they're building upon it. Let him do his job.