Worst Coached UConn game since I have been a fan of the Huskies

[zls44]

I keep reading "Low Basketball IQ" on this board, but no one defines what that means.

Here's an example- Carlton spent the entire first half chasing Chris Vogt to the three-point line. Vogt spun him like a top, blew around him and got easy buckets because they'd just throw it over the top and Josh couldn't get in front of him again. He had a good defensive position and gave it up simply because Chris Vogt went to the top of the key.

Here's the thing on that.

Chris Vogt has attempted one three-pointer in his career. One. One! It was in 2018 at Northern Kentucky.

If Chris Vogt wants to go to the outside, Josh Carlton should be asking him if he can buy his ticket out there.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Here's an example- Carlton spent the entire first half chasing Chris Vogt to the three-point line. Vogt spun him like a top, blew around him and got easy buckets because they'd just throw it over the top and Josh couldn't get in front of him again. He had a good defensive position and gave it up simply because Chris Vogt went to the top of the key.

Here's the thing on that.

Chris Vogt has attempted one three-pointer in his career. One. One! It was in 2018 at Northern Kentucky.

If Chris Vogt wants to go to the outside, Josh Carlton should be asking him if he can buy his ticket out there.

One of two things are happening:

1) Carlton is doing that FOR AN ENTIRE GAME despite Hurley not wanting him to do that, which means Hurley is not getting his defensive scheme across to his players, or

2) Carlton is being coached to do that.

We need to stop blaming the players for things that are obviously coaching decisions.

 

[ucp990411]

I agree, I think this team is better than they played today. I dont think Hurley could've done anything to stop Gilbert and Carlton from having the performances they had.

How about benching the 2 of them? When your point guard and center are terrible it means the team is not very good.

 

[HuskyHawk]

It's amazing how hard it is for people to understand this. It's really this simple. Your favorite coach would've lost with these guys, it's not the coaching.

I don't buy that at all. Our guys are collectively much higher rated as high school recruits. Aside from Cumberland, nobody on that Cincinnati team is very impressive. They simply played harder, were vastly more physical and executed an offense and defense that was designed for what they can do.

It's a different sport but the Dolphins fired their OC. Why? Because he came from the Patriots and runs a highly complex system that the HC knows isn't suited to the young players he's likely to have.

Hurley is trying to run an offense that works best if you are the 1993 Chicago Bulls. It's completely unsuitable for these players. He's asking Josh to do things he can't and not letting him do what he can. I feel the same about Sid, who didn't play despite being a good fit to play against a team like Cinci. Hurley had one good stretch of coaching where the team ran the offense through Bouknight, who was the first guy to touch the ball after it crossed half court for about 3 minutes. He's the only guy on this roster who can individually collapse the defense and open things up, which Hurley's offense requires. But most teams don't have anybody like that and still score.

 

[HuskyHawk]

One of two things are happening:

1) Carlton is doing that FOR AN ENTIRE GAME despite Hurley not wanting him to do that, which means Hurley is not getting his defensive scheme across to his players, or

2) Carlton is being coached to do that.

We need to stop blaming the players for things that are obviously coaching decisions.

Absolutely. He is being coached to do things he athletically cannot do. Josh must play a one man zone on the rim and he'd be good in that role. Anybody who thinks AG is just over-penetrating on his own all the time has never sat behind the bench, because he is doing as instructed most of the time.

 

[yungdowork]

I don’t think Hurley had a good coaching performance but I do believe it mostly came down to talent and depth, specifically in the front court. Cincinnati has 3 big guys comparable in size and skill to Carlton and we’re lucky we even have Carlton. Akok’s matchup against Scott was tough because he doesn’t have the frame yet.

Our first half was abysmal but after the first 10 minutes, we played them even the rest of the way even with Vital picking up 4 fouls early in the second, Josh struggling, and no one really shooting well

 

[jdb50]

I may be wrong but it seems like Hurley decided to run his offense through Carlton preseason with him being some sort of reliable scorer down low which would open things up outside for others. This is not happening and the team needs a different approach. Our halfcourt offense is a disaster and any team we play that can make shots from theirs will bury us.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Nah. Ollie’s opener against Wagner was far worse than this. This was reminiscent of several Ollie coached games though, I’d agree with that. Hurley seems unwilling to adjust his approach to fit the players he has. He constantly asks them to do things they cannot, Josh most of all.

This is why I have a hard time judging Hurley right now.

He wanted to keep all of Ollie's players, not run anyone off the team, because it was the right thing to do. But he wanted to instill his system right away, even if the personnel aren't right for it.

What that tells you is he can't (or isn't willing to) win multiple ways, or he can't win with lesser talent.

That's not a problem if he gets the guys he wants and they have adequate talent, toughness, and BB IQ. And the recruiting returns have been good so far. But we're not really going to be able to judge until he has his guys shouldering most of the load. As it stands now, of our 10 man rotation, only 4 are Hurley guys, and most of them come off the bench. Next year will be the true test, when ideally 4/5 of the starting lineup are his guys.

 

[HuskyHawk]

This is why I have a hard time judging Hurley right now.

He wanted to keep all of Ollie's players, not run anyone off the team, because it was the right thing to do. But he wanted to instill his system right away, even if the personnel aren't right for it.

What that tells you is he can't (or isn't willing to) win multiple ways, or he can't win with lesser talent.

That's not a problem if he gets the guys he wants and they have adequate talent, toughness, and BB IQ. And the recruiting returns have been good so far. But we're not really going to be able to judge until he has his guys shouldering most of the load. As it stands now, of our 10 man rotation, only 4 are Hurley guys, and most of them come off the bench. Next year will be the true test, when ideally 4/5 of the starting lineup are his guys.

I think Hurley will be fine. I do think he's running absolutely the wrong offense and defense for the team he has. You can see how Springs and Javonte Brown Ferguson could potentially execute his tight man pressure defense even at the 5 spot. Do I think that's a great defense? Not really. It does limit the 3 ball, which he says he wants to do, but utterly exposes the basket to backdoor cuts and penetration and hurts defensive rebounding.

On offense, he wants to play 5 out Villanova NC team offense. Good luck with that. My guess is that almost no teams have the roster to play that way in college. Even the Celtics can't run that anymore with Horford gone. So they adjust and post the five man. He needs to abandon the dream of a five out offense now. In the college game you generate three point shots by forcing the defense to spend 3 defenders on two post players, freeing up one of three outside. This roster is ideally designed for that and yet we never do it.

 

[HuskyBoi]

. As it stands now, of our 10 man rotation, only 4 are Hurley guys, and most of them come off the bench. Next year will be the true test, when ideally 4/5 of the starting lineup are his guys.

exactly. judge the team when he has a majority of the roster being his recruits. Especially judge him when he has a full team by what 2022 of his guys.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

0 points 1 board from Polley
2 points 6 boards from Josh
7 points 3 TOs from Al

CV somehow had 0 turnovers but brought no scoring after an initial strong start.

the Ollie Cincy jinx.

Akok and Bouk did not look afraid of Cincy.

 

[UConnJim]

One of two things are happening:

1) Carlton is doing that FOR AN ENTIRE GAME despite Hurley not wanting him to do that, which means Hurley is not getting his defensive scheme across to his players, or

2) Carlton is being coached to do that.

We need to stop blaming the players for things that are obviously coaching decisions.

Something is wrong with Carlton chasing his man to the three point line and leaving the lane wide open. Carlton should have almost never left the paint. Whatever the reason for Carlton's defense, it needs to be fixed. That is up to Hurley.

And, UConn does not have big man depth and Cinci had 3 that could match up with Carlton. Against smaller teams, Carlton has, at times, looked very good. Against the 2 Cinci kids who are same size or bigger than him, he did not look good. And, Whaley does not have the ability to match up. Whaley was giving up 4" and 5" and 40 lbs to the Cinci bigs.

And, you can not have a starter who played 16 minutes contribute only 1 rebound and 1 steal for the game. I don't care if he is the best shooter. Sid would have contributed more.

For those blaming Hurley for this ugly loss, UConn had only 1 starter who outplayed his Cinci counterpart, Akok.

 

[don356]

Here's an example- Carlton spent the entire first half chasing Chris Vogt to the three-point line. Vogt spun him like a top, blew around him and got easy buckets because they'd just throw it over the top and Josh couldn't get in front of him again. He had a good defensive position and gave it up simply because Chris Vogt went to the top of the key.

Here's the thing on that.

Chris Vogt has attempted one three-pointer in his career. One. One! It was in 2018 at Northern Kentucky.

If Chris Vogt wants to go to the outside, Josh Carlton should be asking him if he can buy his ticket out there.

The problem with that is though if you let him just go out and set a pick as he sees fit at his size you're basically putting Carlton on a guard or small forward who will eat him alive one on one. Probably 3 points plays and more foul trouble. You can't make it that easy to pick off a perimeter defender. They did a little bit of that, and it didn't have any success.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

Absolutely. He is being coached to do things he athletically cannot do. Josh must play a one man zone on the rim and he'd be good in that role. Anybody who thinks AG is just over-penetrating on his own all the time has never sat behind the bench, because he is doing as instructed most of the time.

So the coaches are telling AG to dribble through 3 defenders??

 

[HuskyHawk]

So the coaches are telling AG to dribble through 3 defenders??

The coaches are telling him to take the hand off from Josh, the screener and then penetrate, yes. That's the offense. Everyone knows he's going to do it, and Josh's man stays well off him, so AG has to contend with his own defender, and Josh's defender and often a third guy. Now if Akok, Polley or Sid ran the baseline we might have a backdoor lob opportunity in that situation. But they don't, Dan has them parked in the corner. So AG is bottled up with no place to go. The only way to make that work is to use Akok or Polley as the screener, so that AG can just kick it back to them for a 3, or they could then quickly send it to a shooter in the corners.

With a shooter as screener it can work like this.

 

[The Funster]

I kept looking to see if KO was on the bench.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

The coaches are telling him to take the hand off from Josh, the screener and then penetrate, yes. That's the offense. Everyone knows he's going to do it, and Josh's man stays well off him, so AG has to contend with his own defender, and Josh's defender and often a third guy. Now if Akok, Polley or Sid ran the baseline we might have a backdoor lob opportunity in that situation. But they don't, Dan has them parked in the corner. So AG is bottled up with no place to go. The only way to make that work is to use Akok or Polley as the screener, so that AG can just kick it back to them for a 3, or they could then quickly send it to a shooter in the corners.

With a shooter as screener it can work like this.

Completely agree here. But AG over penetrates and needs to look to kick out more. Yes the 2 guys parked in the corner drives me nuts.

 

[Austin316]

People seem to forget it took Calhoun 4 years to make the NCAA tournament at UCONN and 12 years to reach a final four and yes many fans openly questioned and even doubted if he was good enough to ever reach the final four. They thought he got too tight in the really big games.

I also remember several horrible AAC losses in the 2014 championship season, a really bad road loss to a terrible Houston team to open the AAC season.

But hey, spoiled fans will always have that quick trigger. Ready, fire, aim.

This!

Most of the posts are absurd. No one is looking at the big picture. It’s all about the micro-details and nitpicking whether it’s a win or a loss.

Its nauseating to read what people post here and how they can’t control/filter their emotions.

Zero patience from many of you spoiled “fans”

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I kept looking to see if KO was on the bench.

That is a good one.

Remember when Ollie won a National Championship? I do.

 

[freescooter]

Every coach throws in clunkers
I think J Calhoun would have made necessary adjustments that would have made a huge difference in this game.
KO was not a good game coach and I see a whole lot of KO in how Dan Hurley approaches the game.
This was not the worst coached game Ive seen at UConn but it does rank in the top 20 of stinkers

On the positive side - this is his first exposure to big boy basketball as a coach and he does have a well respected father to lean on
He needs to recruit some physical specimens as priority #1

This excuse drives me insane. Hurley is being paid like a big time coach. He needs to perform like a big time coach and I have yet to see that. This is not friggin’ Wagner for heavens sake.

 

[UConnDad]

Based on the 'Hurley Hyperbole' I'm seeing, lots of people will be shocked at how much better the offense looks with good point guard play, and an upgrade at SG. Yall ain't seeing the improvements in this years team? Calhoun would've lost too, it's the players.

Well starting down 12 to 2 I would respectfully submit I missed the improvement. I knew it would be tough on the road but would like to avoid being blown out at the tip. I suppose this is where we are for this year and next.

 

[NJHusky]

He needs to call a timeout in the first couple min and reset his club. Why does he wait til the under 16?

I think there must be a bonus in his contract for having the most TIme Outs in his pocket at the end of the year. Look at the st joes and Indiana games.

 

[Captbluefin]

A bigger and stronger team who has been preparing for their conference opener at home since Dec 21 ( last game). Prepared for almost 2 weeks. And executed their plan very well.

-We lack ball handlers- they started intense ball pressure.
- Polly- gave him no room to breath
- Carlton- soft and slow made him defend away from basket.
- freshman were shocked in first true road game- Akok dropping passes etc.


From the tip jumped on us for the first 5 mins and put us in our heels chasing 15 points. Once we are down teams know we are like a beaten dog we will run into the corner and hide or take careless shots. On top of that unlike us they know how to win.

The biggest problem I had was Bouk was doing well there for a while making stuff happen and Hurley pulled him and put the sloppy starters back in. We slowed instantly

 

[AllAbout5]

I don’t know if anyone’s said this, but these players gave up a minute into this game. No competitiveness from anyone and that goes for everyone. If UConn loses this badly again I have no idea when UConn will bounce back again.

 

[The Funster]

That is a good one.

Remember when Ollie won a National Championship? I do.

Remember when Ollie was in the passenger section drinking and dancing when he should have been piloting the plane? I do.

 

[CTBasketball]

Remember when Ollie was in the passenger section drinking and dancing when he should have been piloting the plane? I do.

I saw him tanked at Grants late one Saturday night before a Sunday noon game.

Coaching hungover must be hard.

 

[UConnDad]

Once you break the press you have numbers if you attack. We’re just happy to get across halfcourt.

 

[Husky68]

What struck me during the game was how bad the spacing was between UConn players (usually too close together) and how the ball handler and the potential pass receiver seemed to be frozen in place and neither moved to free up themselves or the passing lane. I'd settle for the 2 guys frozen in the deep corners to cut to/towards foul line or other corner and come back or continue or something to make the defense take note of them rather than just standing there.
What I would expect was "ah these guys are doing ball denial and over playing passing lanes and dribbler; so lets go to offensive scheme xyz and take advantage of this". Saw none of this, more of "player with ball thinking what should I do and what will my teammate do so we can coordinate to beat this pressure, need to have a plan".
This is on the coaching.

 

[UConnDad]

What struck me during the game was how bad the spacing was between UConn players (usually too close together) and how the ball handler and the potential pass receiver seemed to be frozen in place and neither moved to free up themselves or the passing lane. I'd settle for the 2 guys frozen in the deep corners to cut to/towards foul line or other corner and come back or continue or something to make the defense take note of them rather than just standing there.
What I would expect was "ah these guys are doing ball denial and over playing passing lanes and dribbler; so lets go to offensive scheme xyz and take advantage of this". Saw none of this, more of "player with ball thinking what should I do and what will my teammate do so we can coordinate to beat this pressure, need to have a plan".
This is on the coaching.

Our guys were running into each other at times.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I saw him tanked at Grants late one Saturday night before a Sunday noon game.

Coaching hungover must be hard.

So he didn't win a national championship?