Why isn’t Diggins playing?

[UconnU]

I can’t think of a single reason why we wouldn’t play him at this point against weak competition with no ball handlers. The kid was a top 60 recruit and one of the most experienced and smartest players in his class. Play him, the lights will come on in game situations. There’s no way he’s this bad in practice.

 

[husky429]

Historically, Hurley has been willing to play freshman some, if not as much as I'd like... Akok, Bouk, Sanogo come to mind. Hawkins seems to be on this plan too. They didn't play as much as I'd like but they were all on the floor at least.

If Diggins isn't playing, I think we have to trust that he isn't good enough.

 

[WeAreUCONN]

Hurley doesn’t want to hurt Gaffney’s feelings.

 

[8893]

I blame Johnnie Selvie.

 

[Ts5034]

That’s been the $1,000,000 question…

 

[jibsey]

Defense is how Hurley doles out PT. Notice he pulls guys when they miss their defensive assignments or are lazy. He won’t tolerate it. Maybe Diggins can’t defend well.

 

[Hoops91]

My guess is he’s getting ate up in practice and Hurley doesn’t think he can help…just a guess

 

[August_West]

I blame Johnnie Selvie.

Nah this ain’t a Sanogo thread.

 

[Jumpman62114]

Went to the open practice. Small sample size but he looked very capable as a one on one defender. Not sure if he has all of the team defense principals down as well as Gaffney, but that just comes with time and practice.

 

[LIuconn]

Have to wonder if there’s loyalty to Gaff as part of the foundation?

 

[huskiesNhoos]

Have to wonder if there’s loyalty to Gaff as part of the foundation?

Kind of reminiscent of Hurley relentlessly sticking with B Adams getting a ton of minutes...until he didn't any more. Granted injuries necessitated that for a bit

 

[uconnfan68]

Defense is how Hurley doles out PT. Notice he pulls guys when they miss their defensive assignments or are lazy. He won’t tolerate it. Maybe Diggins can’t defend well.

It’s not like we’re chock full of quick defenders. Except IW they look like they’re running in soft sand. How bad could he be?

 

[Jay-Bone]

I'm sure he intended to play Diggins against UMES. Until we couldn't extend a lead. Hopefully we'll be able to against Grambling.

 

[freescooter]

Just guessing here, but maybe because Hurley is trying to win the games he plays, so he uses the guys he thinks give him the best chance. Right now, based on seeing him EVERY DAY, not on some made for pr public practice or recruiting highlight reel, he has concluded that right now, Diggins doesn’t give us the best chance to win. Just spitballing here.

 

[uchusky32]

Hurley doesn't think he's better, yet, than those who are playing?

Am I missing something?

 

[8893]

Obviously, Hurley is grooming him to be a lottery pick for the Hornets.

 

[CTBasketball]

I blame Johnnie Selvie.

Yo that hurts.

 

[Umami Zen]

My guess is that until Sool convinces the coaching staff that he is outplaying Gaff in practice-- He won't see a ton of PT. Why Gaff? Because its those minutes that are the most available at the guard position. Not Cole/Hawk/Tyler minutes. When or if he's on the court-- Would expect the other PG to play off the ball.

Whoever is playing at the SF/Wing position will also affect the guard rotations

 

[Ricker]

It isn't that Diggins should be getting minutes based on his play in the practices we don't see, its that he should be getting minutes here and there just to be prepared if he is the next man up. Martin is out and it can happen to others in a flash. Where does Hurley intend to turn if it is Gaffney's ankle, or Coles? Doesn't it just make sense to see what the guy can do with 5-10 minutes in games? Gaffney has played some matador defense, orchestrated a 17 sec last possession in the Mich St game which was cringe worthy, struggled against pressure, and missed all his deep shots against the best teams as I recall. Is the team really going to suffer if Diggins takes a few minutes? Same goes with the Johnson/Akok equation.

 

[businesslawyer]

Minutes are wide open. We’re not getting what we want from any of Hawkins, AJ or Gaffney. Hurley has shown and is showing he will play freshman. So he doesn’t think that Diggins is as good as the folks playing at this time.

He may be right and he may be wrong. No one is infallible. However, just because he might be wrong doesn’t mean that it isn’t laughable that fans decide he should be playing based on what he did and how he was thought of in high school.

 

[bmayuc]

Minutes are wide open. We’re not getting what we want from any of Hawkins, AJ or Gaffney. Hurley has shown and is showing he will play freshman. So he doesn’t think that Diggins is as good as the folks playing at this time.

He may be right and he may be wrong. No one is infallible. However, just because he might be wrong doesn’t mean that it isn’t laughable that fans decide he should be playing based on what he did and how he was thought of in high school.

Yeaaaaaaaa, but we also now have a 3 year set of work to evaluate with Hurley, and there are actually a surprising amount of obvious roster management questions. I'm hesitant to call them blanket mistakes, but its a track record of not evaluating his own team ideally from the start of the season. The more generous way to view this is that Hurley starts with his veterans and makes his freshman earn their minutes, and has the humility and ability to re-evaluate and change during the season. The less generous view is that he does a poor job evaluating his team during the pre-season and over-evaluates/values his veterans compared to developing more talented young players.

2017-18. Isaiah Whaley doesn't play basically all year - Hurley admits this was dumb.

2019-20. Bouknight is clearly the best player on the team right after his suspension, Hurley limits his minutes and keeps rolling with Vital/Alterique generating offense and taking(missing) the big shots until injuries force Bouk into a bigger role and into the starting lineup. Team takes off immediate.

2020-21. Sanogo is pretty obviously a beast right away, scoring in double digits first two games. Hurley basically forgets about him for December & January, to the point where he was actually asked about it by the media and admitted that he screwed up and Sanogo needed more minutes.

So, sure, casual fans may just say have faith in Hurley. But there is a fair bit of evidence that Hurley does sometimes have a blind spot for ignoring to develop and building trust with his young players early in the season where the minutes are cheap - to the possible detriment of the team later in the year.

The guy is a great builder and recruiter. Needs to grow as an in-game coach and roster manager.

 

[wheelerdog]

If I had to guess it's because of defense

 

[UConnStats]

Gaffney has been inconsistent, but the way people are talking about him lately is kind of crazy. He is a solid player off of the bench. Look how a he stacks up against his teammates in a couple popular metrics. It would be nice to have another ball handler ready for big minutes, but Hurley doesn’t think Diggins is yet.

 

[Hugo]

Went to the open practice. Small sample size but he looked very capable as a one on one defender. Not sure if he has all of the team defense principals down as well as Gaffney, but that just comes with time and practice.

After closely watching Gaffney trying to play man defense last game, even if he might know the "team defense principles" better, he is too slow to defend quick penetrating guards as we all witnessed. IMO Hurley needs to give Diggins a shot, even if it's only limited court time over the next two games.

 

[7774]

Yeaaaaaaaa, but we also now have a 3 year set of work to evaluate with Hurley, and there are actually a surprising amount of obvious roster management questions. I'm hesitant to call them blanket mistakes, but its a track record of not evaluating his own team ideally from the start of the season. The more generous way to view this is that Hurley starts with his veterans and makes his freshman earn their minutes, and has the humility and ability to re-evaluate and change during the season. The less generous view is that he does a poor job evaluating his team during the pre-season and over-evaluates/values his veterans compared to developing more talented young players.

2017-18. Isaiah Whaley doesn't play basically all year - Hurley admits this was dumb.

2019-20. Bouknight is clearly the best player on the team right after his suspension, Hurley limits his minutes and keeps rolling with Vital/Alterique generating offense and taking(missing) the big shots until injuries force Bouk into a bigger role and into the starting lineup. Team takes off immediate.

2020-21. Sanogo is pretty obviously a beast right away, scoring in double digits first two games. Hurley basically forgets about him for December & January, to the point where he was actually asked about it by the media and admitted that he screwed up and Sanogo needed more minutes.

So, sure, casual fans may just say have faith in Hurley. But there is a fair bit of evidence that Hurley does sometimes have a blind spot for ignoring to develop and building trust with his young players early in the season where the minutes are cheap - to the possible detriment of the team later in the year.

The guy is a great builder and recruiter. Needs to grow as an in-game coach and roster manager.

Not sure how Hurley was supposed to play Sanogo more in Dec. and Jan. when he was a complete fouling machine in those games.