UConn's Season a 'Huge Success' - Dan Hurley | Page 3 | The Boneyard

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

Tenspro2002 said:
Seriously.

The Vance Jackson class in 2016-17 was our 4th year in the AAC and was extremely highly rated. It turns out every single one of those guys was a bust, except Vital, because Ollie was a lazy recruiter and couldn't develop players.
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Wrong.

Juwan Durham was productive at Notre Dame.
Gilbert got hurt, but he didn't suck.
Vital was very good.
Diarra - degenerative knee condition
Vance Jackson - a backup, but on Arkansas.

That would have been a great class if they could have stayed healthy, and players didn't want to play in a major conference.

The next class had Polley, Whaley and Carlton. That is a really good class for a mid-major, which is what UConn was by that point.
 
Kemba'sYogurt said:
View attachment 66152
This is such a weird hill to die on. This was the year we brought that top 5 class in. 16-17 and 9-9 in the American conference lol.

Oh, and I'll mention that Brimah, Adams, Facey and Purvis were still on that team. Imagine having a losing record with that.
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He should have been fired right then and there. I was one of the earliest to call for it.
 
List all the schools that stepped down in conference affiliation and were successful immediately afterward. I will hang up and listen.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
Wrong.

Juwan Durham was productive at Notre Dame.
Gilbert got hurt, but he didn't suck.
Vital was very good.
Diarra - degenerative knee condition
Vance Jackson - a backup, but on Arkansas.

That would have been a great class if they could have stayed healthy, and players didn't want to play for a major conference.

The next class had Polley, Whaley and Carlton. That is a really good class for a mid-major, which is what UConn was by that point.
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Or, hear me out, the players left because they wanted to play for a coach who gave a damn, which Ollie didn't.

And he couldn't get recruits because he didn't care to, and anyone with any kind of talent (or at least who KO thought was talented, which he had a terrible eye for, see MAL) knew he was a fraud.

If Durham, Jackson, and Enoch wanted to play in a major conference, why did they commit to UConn 2-3 years into their AAC tenure?
 
Tenspro2002 said:
Or, hear me out, the players left because they wanted to play for a coach who gave a damn, which Ollie didn't.

And he couldn't get recruits because he didn't care to, and anyone with any kind of talent (or at least who KO thought was talented, which he had a terrible eye for, see MAL) knew he was a fraud.

If Durham, Jackson, and Enoch wanted to play in a major conference, why did they commit to UConn 2-3 years into their AAC tenure?
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List all the teams outside the P6 that are consistently nationally competitive.

I got:

Gonzaga
BYU
Houston
San Diego State

That is all I got. But you knew Ollie was a terrible coach because he was taking longer than we wanted to add UConn to that list. Conference affiliation really matters in college basketball.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
List all the teams outside the P6 that are consistently nationally competitive.

I got:

Gonzaga
BYU
Houston
San Diego State

That is all I got. But you knew Ollie was a terrible coach because he was taking longer than we wanted to add UConn to that list. Conference affiliation really matters in college basketball.
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If you include BYU then I would include VCU and Cincy. Butler and Xavier were also before they joined the Big East.
 
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nelsonmuntz said:
List all the teams outside the P6 that are consistently nationally competitive.

I got:

Gonzaga
BYU
Houston
San Diego State

That is all I got. But you knew Ollie was a terrible coach because he was taking longer than we wanted to add UConn to that list. Conference affiliation really matters in college basketball.
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Your missing it all here. Compared to the other AAC teams at that pint KO had far superior talent. He consistently under achieved. So your solution would be to put KO in a tougher conference? He wasn’t a good program builder
 
nelsonmuntz said:
List all the teams outside the P6 that are consistently nationally competitive.

I got:

Gonzaga
BYU
Houston
San Diego State

That is all I got. But you knew Ollie was a terrible coach because he was taking longer than we wanted to add UConn to that list. Conference affiliation really matters in college basketball.
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UConn was poised to be the Gonzaga of the AAC until KO started phoning it in (or knew he was in over his head and was getting exposed, as I expected from the outset).

KO didn't have to build anything.
 
Don't know what the argument here is. Hurley is the coach, he makes 3+ million a year and that's that but even though the program has been on the way back under him, if he makes the tourney next year and gets bounced in the first round will he keep saying huge success? Don't think so. Challenging season, Covid, injuries, made the tourney. Success. But quite sure he is unsatisfied with this "huge success".
 
Guys it’s really hard to win a championship. This season was a success. We made the tourney for the first time in half a decade, we stepped into a tougher league and finished top 3. We produced an NBA lottery pick. Better teams than us lost to worst teams than Maryland. We had an off night, it happens. I know it sounds good, but just because it’s March it doesn’t mean things are going to automatically go our way. Even after the last 5 years our fan base is still spoiled. Enjoy the ride. We’re relevant again, and if the trajectory continues on its current path next year will be very fun. There are going to be a ****load of transfers to choose from, we will improve. Jackson will be a sophomore with a true offseason to get better, we will improve. Sanogo will be better and more consistent, we will improve. We have a top 15 recruiting class, we will improve. Gaffney, Martin, Cole all now know what to expect, they can now say they’ve been there, we will improve. Sit back relax, and let’s bring in some reinforcements. Let Go Huskies!
 
Salty Dog said:
www.theuconnblog.com

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 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.
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Hey Salty Dog, your name isn't Jeff Jacobs is it? Nice job taking the quote out of context.

No doubt someone asked Hurley if he considered the season a success and here was his FULL response:

“We’ve got a lot more to do as a program in terms of recruiting and developing and continuing to increase the talent here and just continuing to grow as a program,” Hurley said on the season overall. “But, yeah, this was a huge success.”

BURN THE THREAD
 
Tenspro2002 said:
UConn was poised to be the Gonzaga of the AAC until KO started phoning it in (or knew he was in over his head and was getting exposed, as I expected from the outset).

KO didn't have to build anything.
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There is one Gonzaga. Not one in each league, just one. UConn was never going to be the "Gonzaga of the AAC".

You are blaming Ollie for a terrible decision the University made about conference alignment. This decision probably had 70% support among a fanbase which was holding out fantasies of a Big 10 invite, that was actually made less likely by being in the AAC.

The only point I am making here is that we need to stop trashing Ollie because he did win a National Championship, and more importantly, we have to stop using him as an excuse for Hurley's "meh" performance so far.
 
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nelsonmuntz said:
List all the schools that stepped down in conference affiliation and were successful immediately afterward. I will hang up and listen.
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Cincinnati stayed in the conference with us and their fortunes actually increased. They had a good coach who dominated the AAC. They lost some difficult tournament games and the fan base ran their good coach out of town. No he wasn't fired but he was definitely tuned into the criticism and grew tired of it. Not a smart move by the fan base. Maybe our fan base should take note.

I wish Mick Cronin continued success.
 
Progress was made but there's still more work to do on talent upgrades and roster construction. Let's get busy on transfer market and possible reclass candidates.

Going forward.. The "huge successes' we had this year should be the minimal criteria for a Program aspiring to regain it's Blue Blood status.

Onto Year 4 of the rebuild.
 
metsfan2323 said:
Cincinnati stayed in the conference with us and their fortunes actually increased. They had a good coach who dominated the AAC. They lost some difficult tournament games and the fan base ran their good coach out of town. No he wasn't fired but he was definitely tuned into the criticism and grew tired of it. Not a smart move by the fan base. Maybe our fan base should take note.

I wish Mick Cronin continued success.
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This is arguable at best, and Cincinnati is one school in the history of college basketball.
 
Umami Zen said:
Progress was made but there's still more work to do on talent upgrades and roster construction. Let's get busy on transfer market and possible reclass candidates.

Going forward.. The "huge successes' we had this year should be the minimal criteria for a Program aspiring to regain it's Blue Blood status.

Onto Year 4 of the rebuild.
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Progress was made on and off the court. Perhaps, most importantly, UConn became part of the national dialogue again. Two years ago we were irrelevant. We regained that status of being feared by other teams coaches and fanbases. We are landing top recruiting classes. We are regaining our place where top 100 kids would love to play for a coach they would love to play for. We are constantly on national tv and not ESPN+. Nothing is perfect and this season was far from that. But progress? Absolutely there was progress from any angle you look. I get how we love to microanalyze. But this year and what we accomplished is far more important than not calling a time out in the middle of January. For UConn to regain blue blood status, we need a guy like Hurley. Atleast for now.
 
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Phoenixhusky said:
The season was a huge success based on the last five years and how far we had fallen.
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Uh, not exactly. We were at least a bubble team last year when it all caved in, so this was a continuation and had we missed the tournament would have been a pretty large setback.

one thing that has concerned me about Hurley from the beginning, and I think it is the same thing theOP was getting at, is that he has the Seton Hall-Providence mind set where getting to the NCAA Tournament is the goal. That’s fine for Seton Hall, Providence, lots of schools really. But the great coaches, the Roy Williams, K, Boeheim, Wright, Pitino, Calhoun those guys go into every season with a higher goal. Hell, even though he is a scummy person, I heard a Pitino interview talking about telling his Iona team to pack for a long stay.
 
For the time being, yes, successful as far as serving as a building block for the future. But it is just that, a good start and nice growth. As long as UConn continues to grow from this and not be in the 6-10 seed range for the foreseeable future. S16 (at least) next year or bust. Build off of this year.
 
freescooter said:
Uh, not exactly. We were at least a bubble team last year when it all caved in, so this was a continuation and had we missed the tournament would have been a pretty large setback.

one thing that has concerned me about Hurley from the beginning, and I think it is the same thing theOP was getting at, is that he has the Seton Hall-Providence mind set where getting to the NCAA Tournament is the goal. That’s fine for Seton Hall, Providence, lots of schools really. But the great coaches, the Roy Williams, K, Boeheim, Wright, Pitino, Calhoun those guys go into every season with a higher goal. Hell, even though he is a scummy person, I heard a Pitino interview talking about telling his Iona team to pack for a long stay.
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That is actually a fair concern. To that, I would suggest to be honest on where this program was when Hurley came on board. It was in total shambles. This was a total rebuild. I totally understand if you choose not to throw Hurley accolades, but to suggest that we are not on the right trajectory is simply not true. From 2018 to now, we are exactly where we should be. The future is bright.
 
Phoenixhusky said:
The season was a huge success based on the last five years and how far we had fallen.
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Yes, it's all relative from where your coming from and who is reviewing your accomplishments. He has to be up-beat but should include areas for improvement as any employment review would.
 
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djct1999 said:
That is actually a fair concern. To that, I would suggest to be honest on where this program was when Hurley came on board. It was in total shambles. This was a total rebuild. I totally understand if you choose not to throw Hurley accolades, but to suggest that we are not on the right trajectory is simply not true. From 2018 to now, we are exactly where we should be. The future is bright.
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The program was not in shambles when Hurley showed up, and something else very important happened right around the time. UConn was invited to join the Big East.

It is a lot easier to recruit when UConn is not the northern outpost in a southern mid-major conference.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
The program was not in shambles when Hurley showed up, and something else very important happened right around the time. UConn was invited to join the Big East.

It is a lot easier to recruit when UConn is not the northern outpost in a southern mid-major conference.
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it wasn't?

We do agree on your Big East point. Even there, you only recruit better with the right coach in place. We have that now. Its very hard to recruit well when you dont put in the time on the recruiting trail and alienate everyone in the business.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
The program was not in shambles when Hurley showed up, and something else very important happened right around the time. UConn was invited to join the Big East.

It is a lot easier to recruit when UConn is not the northern outpost in a southern mid-major conference.
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14-18. 8th in the AAC. 179 in kenpom. Mass exodus of transfers and recruits .....but yup not in shambles.
 
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