We need the wild and emotional Hurley back

[thatguyed]

Ever since he got that late T a few weeks ago, he's seemed really calm on the sidelines, at least as far as what we can see on TV. I don't recall if that was the first loss or not, but it was one of the first. Since then, the slide. Are the players lacking an "edge" from this?

 

[McLovin]

I could care less about how he acts on the sideline. What we really need is Dan to fix whatever is going on behinds the scenes with his attitude.

The common thread of the Hurley era is his teams playing incredibly tight in “big” games. The body language of the players in those games is so poor. Everything looks half a second rushed because of the adrenaline/ stress. They miss so many open 3s and layups they make in low pressure games. Open shots. Not contested ones.

It’s the final piece for this team to go from good (middle of the pack, top 20 - top 45 team) to great (top 15 team) consistently.

No surprise they looked great again in the second half when they came out and played like they had nothing to lose and just balled.

 

[Hi-Low]

Probably not a good idea for DH to be overly wild on the sidelines right now....DH is on double-secret probation with most Refs.

On the flip side, I don't understand how Miller was allowed to turn Freemantle's 5th foul into a congressional investigation. It was his 5th foul Miller, stfu and sit down...that's how they would have treated DH.

 

[jake14mw]

He's not calm on the sidelines. He is still animated, still a big cheerleader. He's just toned down the childish behavior with the refs. That is a good thing IMO.

 

[Connecticut13]

Nah.....what, should he have gotten a late game technical so we didn't have an opportunity to tie the game?

I'd rather he be a little tougher on his players and not accept the poor start. Calhoun would've yanked Jackson out of the game early on for his lack of discipline. Call an early time-out, make subs and address the unacceptable play.

 

[thatguyed]

Nah.....what, should he have gotten a late game technical so we didn't have an opportunity to tie the game?

I'd rather he be a little tougher on his players and not accept the poor start. Calhoun would've yanked Jackson out of the game early on for his lack of discipline. Call an early time-out, make subs and address the unacceptable play.

I'm not saying "get another T" crazy, just more emotional than he has been lately.

 

[Luna]

I like him emotional on the sidelines… and if the refs got a problem with that then Val should have a talk with them

 

[UCLJ0211]

Not sure if they showed it on tv, but I was at the game last night and there was a time he jumped onto near mid court with his arms up to pump up the crowd after we went on one of our 2nd half runs. I loved seeing that, just wish we could have brought it home at the end.

 

[bendm]

Never thought I’d hear anyone say that

 

[willie99]

Probably not a good idea for DH to be overly wild on the sidelines right now....DH is on double-secret probation with most Refs.

On the flip side, I don't understand how Miller was allowed to turn Freemantle's 5th foul into a congressional investigation. It was his 5th foul Miller, stfu and sit down...that's how they would have treated DH.

Bought a long timeout for his thin squad that just got thinner. Furthermore, how about when like six X personnel were on the court toweling off some tiny spot for an extended period of time delaying play yet again?

Is this a thing for Miller?

 

[willie99]

I'm amused that in the house Jim Calhoun built, people complain about Hurley being emotional and working the refs.

I don't get it. What good college coach doesn't work the refs? Seriously?

Dan be Dan, you have to be you to succeed in life. Can't pretend to be someone else.

 

[UConn990411]

I'm amused that in the house Jim Calhoun built, people complain about Hurley being emotional and working the refs.

I don't get it. What good college coach doesn't work the refs? Seriously?

Dan be Dan, you have to be you to succeed in life. Can't pretend to be someone else.

Calhoun knew how to work the refs. Yes, he’d get on them a lot, but he would also have conversations with them throughout the game.

Hurley doesn’t work the refs - he antagonizes them. There’s a difference.

 

[Umami Zen]

IMO.. The players respond to Dan's intensity and passion--sometimes shown through his body language. I think he is trying to align his actions/words better at crucial times in the game this year over previous years.

He needs to determine whether his courtside manner is "working" with the refs and is it impacting calls at important times of the game...esp. crunch time. I would suggest its still a work in progress and he's still trying to figure out the proper balance. One of last his hurdles to more success in Storrs.

He and his staff have many superior qualities that are lacking in other Programs.. He respects and reps the UConn brand very well. He's improving just as the players coming through the Program improve while here. He's not perfect.. As none of us are..

 

[Hunt for 7]

If he is trying to be someone he is not….that is pretty much the worse thing you can do as a coach. Athletes as talented as those who are good enough to get to this level have more than likely ran into “fake” coaches and have learned they usually don’t have the players best interest in mind. He just needs to be himself….maybe he is still figuring that out but aren’t we all…..

 

[Huskygrad88]

Nah.....what, should he have gotten a late game technical so we didn't have an opportunity to tie the game?

I'd rather he be a little tougher on his players and not accept the poor start. Calhoun would've yanked Jackson out of the game early on for his lack of discipline. Call an early time-out, make subs and address the unacceptable play.

This is not to you but using your post to start a comment about how much people need to stop bringing up Calhoun v Hurley. The times are just completely different. Players had very little pull back then, so the way a coach “yanked” them was handled differently. If a player does not like that approach they walk out. That was no where near as common or allowed back then. The way coaches and refs interacted was completely different. You knew exactly who had what quick trigger and who did not. Now, who the heck knows but a coach generally knew back then exactly when and for what they were getting a T. For the quick timeout, of course Calhoun called more and more quickly. The rule was different and he had more timeouts to call!

 

[jake14mw]

I'm amused that in the house Jim Calhoun built, people complain about Hurley being emotional and working the refs.

I don't get it. What good college coach doesn't work the refs? Seriously?

Dan be Dan, you have to be you to succeed in life. Can't pretend to be someone else.

There is a huge difference between working the refs and what Hurley was doing. Hurley was loudly complaining about way too many calls in a way too animated fashion. Refs don't mind coach's pointing out stuff they don't agree with. Hurley was WAY over the line and he and the team paid for it.

 

[tentoes4rings]

I don’t care if he’s wild and emotional or calm and collected, he has to start winning big games.

 

[Billy Jack]

Having the highest paid public employee in the state standing in front of national TV cameras dropping a whole string of F-bombs and other assorted 4-letter words and otherwise acting like a completely childish jerk is completely unacceptable. If any other state employee acted like this, he’d be fired on the spot.

As for basketball, a head coach who is out of control and who can’t let a call go 5 or 10 minutes later is not the person you want in charge of in-game decisions and game strategy especially late when the game is on the line. His antics have been a distraction to his players and encourage them to do the same.

It’s been a pleasure lately to see that he seems to have cleaned up his act.

 

[Purple Stein]

The common thread of the Hurley era is his teams playing incredibly tight in “big” games. The body language of the players in those games is so poor. Everything looks half a second rushed because of the adrenaline/ stress. They miss so many open 3s and layups they make in low pressure games. Open shots. Not contested ones.

I agree with this. The guys play tight - hope they learn how to play with a chip on their shoulder instead.

 

[Rocktheworld]

I could care less about how he acts on the sideline. What we really need is Dan to fix whatever is going on behinds the scenes with his attitude.

The common thread of the Hurley era is his teams playing incredibly tight in “big” games. The body language of the players in those games is so poor. Everything looks half a second rushed because of the adrenaline/ stress. They miss so many open 3s and layups they make in low pressure games. Open shots. Not contested ones.

It’s the final piece for this team to go from good (middle of the pack, top 20 - top 45 team) to great (top 15 team) consistently.

No surprise they looked great again in the second half when they came out and played like they had nothing to lose and just balled.

We’ve been seeing this for years, but the quote about winning not even bringing joy, just relief, was the most telling and concrete sample of DH’s mentality that clearly impacts his players. Still can’t believe he said that out loud.

Also no surprise they started the season off so well and won those early tournament games when nobody saw us coming.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Miller reaming his team

 

[Friarsnoop]

Bought a long timeout for his thin squad that just got thinner. Furthermore, how about when like six X personnel were on the court toweling off some tiny spot for an extended period of time delaying play yet again?

Is this a thing for Miller?

Apparently, after the technical, the official scorer mistakenly told Miller that Fremantle had 3 fouls instead of 4, and told the referee what happened. That's why there was a delay.

 

[McLovin]

We’ve been seeing this for years, but the quote about winning not even bringing joy, just relief, was the most telling and concrete sample of DH’s mentality that clearly impacts his players. Still can’t believe he said that out loud.

Also no surprise they started the season off so well and won those early tournament games when nobody saw us coming.

They played like they had nothing to lose, because losing any of the OOC games wouldn’t let Hurley down on his dream of winning the Big East regular season title.

As soon as they entered the conference started they playing like they were terrified of losing because they didn’t want to let down their coach.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Ever since he got that late T a few weeks ago, he's seemed really calm on the sidelines, at least as far as what we can see on TV. I don't recall if that was the first loss or not, but it was one of the first. Since then, the slide. Are the players lacking an "edge" from this?

No, he was like that the last 4 years. Not going to help now

 

[UConnSwag11]

Apparently, after the technical, the official scorer mistakenly told Miller that Fremantle had 3 fouls instead of 4, and told the referee what happened. That's why there was a delay.

Don’t buy it. That was a smart move in Miller’s part. Buy time, calm his team, down ruin UCONN’s momentum, take the crowd out, all with out using a timeout. Great move