It pains me to say this, but Danny Hurley is the best coach in CBB right now

[cuse_future]

I'm not sure if its been that dazzling prior to the last 2 or 3 years (at least going back to 2012). 2023 and 2024 are really the only two really good teams they had all that period. I don't see what they did between 2012-2021 (or even 2010-2022) as anything we would want to emulate in terms of program performance. Because teams that do that aren't going to get as lucky in March.

I agree with the OP that Hurley has now taken UConn back to being a dominant team He has clearly elevated the program from where it was. Them winning the NC is not a major surprise mor filled with breaks now. Where the 2023 and 2024 teams fit the profile of a truly dominant team, rather than a team that is remarkably lucky in March like 2014 (and 2011 as well). Last year even as a 4 seed, they just felt dominant from the beginning, and this year they were dominant all year.

Is this our goal over our next 10 regular seasons? (UConn between 2012-2021)
Make the tournament 4 times, miss it 6 times.
Get seeds as follows - 7,7,9.9
Have a 3 years in a row where we are below .500

Sure they got a national title in there, but 99%+ of teams that follow this path over a 10 year period are not sniffing a national title. If we get a 7.7.9,9 in the next 10 years we are not getting a national title either, and likely not even a FInal 4.

Our goal could be what Hurley has done to re-elevate the program. But I don't think we want to learn a single damn thing from what they did between 2010-2021. Getting 2 national titles out of that was luck.

This is a banana land take. You would take those other seasons for 2 national championships.

You would take UVA’s past few seasons for one.

We are an NIT/first weekend team and have been for a while. If we can take that and sprinkle it in with a national championship that would be AWESOME.

Also, they knew they had down years, and fired their coach who won a national championship, something it took us WAY too long to do with JB.

 

[Cuse12]

Can’t stand Uconn, but it’s so clearly obvious what the right coach can do for a “sleeping giant” type of program. (Cuse is also a sleeping giant type of program).

I’ll put it this way, Hurley is like the cbb player that you love if he’s on your team but would absolutely despise him if he’s on the opponents team (Grayson Allen, Aaron craft, Q Copeland types etc.).

If he was cuse’s coach we would all be head over heels. Huge odds to go BACK TO BACK… and we can’t even sniff the tourney…. Big sigh. We just have to hope something happens here soon.

 

[XC Cuse]

Or, as he ages, he’ll mellow at. Especially after he wins another trophy.

He's gotta be about 50. When's the mellowing going to happen?

 

[CuseFaninVT]

He's gotta be about 50. When's the mellowing going to happen?

I just turned 55. Just starting for me.

 

[sabach]

I wonder what Marsh01 has to say?

But UConn has done about as good as they could have done after being left out of the musical chairs of conference realignment. I get that we are building a football program and I appreciate that as a football STH. But I'm not going to lie, watching UConn play 9 games in NYC this season, including the BET, and then getting a Brooklyn/Boston NCAA tournament draw is brutal. I used to love those seasons.

 

[jncuse]

This is a banana land take. You would take those other seasons for 2 national championships.

You would take UVA’s past few seasons for one.

We are an NIT/first weekend team and have been for a while. If we can take that and sprinkle it in with a national championship that would be AWESOME.

Also, they knew they had down years, and fired their coach who won a national championship, something it took us WAY too long to do with JB.

Once again someone taking my comment totally out of context, assigning me a fake take that I never made, and then attacking it and calling me a moron. Of course I would take 2 national titles over a 4 year or 10 year period (2010-2020), if you told me that we were guaranteed 2 national titles.

The point I was making is what can we learn from UConn,. since that is what I was quoting. See post 65.

I am nothing but complimentary to Danny Hurley that is absolutely something we should analyze and learn from. He has taken a a program who was modestly performing in recent years, even with the national title, to what it look like a giant who will consistently compete for national titles year after year like those great team's of the 90's and 2000's.

If you want to look at a model that is a good one for us to follow, the Danny Hurley build is it. But prior I wouldn't look to that period as something to replicate from a building perspective.

Yes our goal is National Titles. But if we build teams to get 7-9 seeds in the future over the next 10 years, and miss the tournament half the time, no its very unlikely we get titles or final fours. If we do get a title I would absolutely take that period and be happy - but being a realist I would note that would almost certainly not happen.. The goal has to be building consistency and at times more elite teams like Hurley has.

 

[Eric15]

It’s a shame how not being in a Power 5 conference has ruined their hoops program.

That’s probably my favorite colossally stupid take that’s ever been offered here.

I'm not going to bump it, but I was reading a thread the other day from 2014ish where otherwise very smart posters were just aggressively adamant that UConn was done forever. Like there was zero chance they weren't going to become the University of San Francisco.

 

[albanycuse]

I'm not going to bump it, but I was reading a thread the other day from 2014ish where otherwise very smart posters were just aggressively adamant that UConn was done forever. Like there was zero chance they weren't going to become the University of San Francisco.

I remember all that.

 

[jncuse]

I'm not going to bump it, but I was reading a thread the other day from 2014ish where otherwise very smart posters were just aggressively adamant that UConn was done forever. Like there was zero chance they weren't going to become the University of San Francisco.

Could have been me with that flop. Even worse, I'm sure I made certain takes comparing them to Houston as well in terms of becoming irrelevant, and Houston was apparently a sleeping giant.

Thing is being in the AAC was going to be tough to overcome in order to be really great again (good sure, great???) -- I'm sure I oversold how bad it would be, and said they were never going to be good again either, so I was off either way.. But there is still some validity to the notion that the AAC was going to limit them. Going back to the Big East, where there is really a "P6" in college basketball, was a very beneficial and smart strategic move for them. I do wonder if Hurley signing in the summer of 2018, was based on the knowledge they were in the process of applying back to Big East (confirmed in summer of 2019). Or perhaps it was just $$.

Its interesting looking back at 2014. Two teams stuck in the AAC at the time. One basketball program (UConn) certainly did not want to be in the AAC but was forced there because of their football team. The other basketball program (Houston) who was probably happy they could play in a relatively quality conference like the AAC, because of their football team

Now they are both back to (or got into) power conference and amongst the top 5 programs in the current short term era.

 

[jncuse]

This is a banana land take. You would take those other seasons for 2 national championships.

You would take UVA’s past few seasons for one.

We are an NIT/first weekend team and have been for a while. If we can take that and sprinkle it in with a national championship that would be AWESOME.

Also, they knew they had down years, and fired their coach who won a national championship, something it took us WAY too long to do with JB.

Just want to get to this bolded point. Were you happy with where we were at in the summer of 2018. After all we had relative post season sucess, so in your opinion everything must have been relatively OK.

I can remember having several arguments with people circa 2018/2019, with my take that our program was not doing well and we were clearly heading in the wrong direction. They made "We made the final 4 in 2016", "We made the sweet 16 in 2018". "We won 7 games in the tournament in 2016 and 2018, more than everyone except a couple teams".

Point is postseason success, which i will always enjoy, isn't the best indicator of the health of the program, where it is heading, and what you should be learning from it -- regular season play is a much better indicator of all of that.

We were not heading in a very good direction at the time. But that "relative" postseason success, in 2 tournament we were lucky to even get invited to, led people to make bad takes or decisions, They led many people here to make wrong takes on where we were. And more importantly it impacted the real decision makers.

You strive to build a program that has prolonged full season success, like we did between 2009-2014, like UConn did pre 2010, and like UConn is likely entering into now under Hurley. And then the postseason success is much more likely to come.

 

[Fly Rodder]

You strive to build a program that has prolonged full season success,

Prolonged success gets more consistent and regular opportunities in the post season and where seeding does matter.

 

[jncuse]

Prolonged success gets more consistent and regular opportunities in the post season and where seeding does matter.

Banana land take. We should strive for and look to learn from 7.7.9, seeds over 6 years, instead of 3,1,3,1,4,3 seeds over 6 years.

 

[djcon57]

I'm not going to bump it, but I was reading a thread the other day from 2014ish where otherwise very smart posters were just aggressively adamant that UConn was done forever. Like there was zero chance they weren't going to become the University of San Francisco.

I think you have to be fair though regarding that debate. In 2010 UConn was in the Fiesta Bowl, how would you expect folks in 2014 to think "No worries, they will destroy their football program to help their basketball team" 6 years later

 

[Eric15]

I think you have to be fair though regarding that debate. In 2010 UConn was in the Fiesta Bowl, how would you expect folks in 2014 to think "No worries, they will destroy their football program to help their basketball team" 6 years later

I'm not referring to open-minded people who were saying "let's see what happens, maybe UConn struggles in future years, and maybe they don't." I'm talking about those were absolutely 100% certain that they were done as a basketball program.

And I know "Fiesta Bowl" sounds impressive on the surface, but that 2010 UConn team that went 8-5 and didn't play a ranked team in the regular season was probably the worst team to ever make a BCS game.

 

[Bayside44]

I think you have to be fair though regarding that debate. In 2010 UConn was in the Fiesta Bowl, how would you expect folks in 2014 to think "No worries, they will destroy their football program to help their basketball team" 6 years later

Yeah there have been articles along the way where Danny Hurley said it didn't feel right to be playing games in Tulsa and Memphis and other outposts. Back then that was their destiny, until it wasn't.

 

[djcon57]

I'm not referring to open-minded people who were saying "let's see what happens, maybe UConn struggles in future years, and maybe they don't." I'm talking about those were absolutely 100% certain that they were done as a basketball program.

And I know "Fiesta Bowl" sounds impressive on the surface, but that 2010 UConn team that went 8-5 and didn't play a ranked team in the regular season was probably the worst team to ever make a BCS game.

Comparing an 8-5 Fiesta Bowl team vs what they are now is still like night and day.

 

[Scooch]

I'm not going to bump it, but I was reading a thread the other day from 2014ish where otherwise very smart posters were just aggressively adamant that UConn was done forever. Like there was zero chance they weren't going to become the University of San Francisco.

It really was the Titanic of takes on this board.

Everyone who wasn't in a P5 conference was going to rapidly fade into Bolivian. Since then Nova and UConn have four titles between them.

But those 2 Sweet 16 runs keep me warm at night.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Lengthy article but it provides a nice sense of the offensive scheme Hurley has put in place.
And a little more about him and his personality.

No iso-ball.
Perhaps something the Orange need to shake.

Dan Hurley's desire to adapt helped UConn evolve into an offensive juggernaut | FOX Sports

Two years ago, UConn coach Dan Hurley made a commitment to embracing offense with NCAA Tournament success in mind. Michael Cohen explains how Hurley's desire to adapt has helped transform UConn into an offensive juggernaut.

www.foxsports.com

I saw a couple UConn games earlier this season, and the thing that struck me about them was how good their offensive sets were. Lots of back cuts, lots of movement. Very enjoyable to watch. They make the extra interior pass, too. Very unselfish team on offense.

 

[IthacaMatt]

How's that saying go, I'd rather be lucky than good?

Think you are parsing their record a little too fine. The goal IS, to win National Championships, not to have the most aesthetically pleasing cumulative record over a given time span.

Anyway, don't believe there is a program in the country that would turn down an offer of 5 NCs in the next 24 years, even if you told them there would be a few down years and even some sub-.500 seasons mixed in with that. Let's not even ponder they are the favorites to win number 6 this year, which would give them back-to-back championships.

Turning down UCONNs basketball accomplishments of the past quarter-century because the down years are unacceptable would be like the guy who considers turning down a winning MegaMillions ticket because he doesn't want to pay the taxes. File that under, problems I'd like to have.

They have 5 titles. The Kemba Walker one was a gift. The refs literally stopped calling traveling on him that post-season. One other one, they caught breaks when their bracket opened up for them.

But you still have to win the games, don't you? And they have 3 other championships apart from the 2 "lucky ones", and one more very possible. That's an outstanding program.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Well, are we taking age out of play or just the best coach? Because Bill Self has been to the final 8 or better 9x in the last 20 years. His stupid statement yesterday not withstanding. With 2 National championships.

Self seems to have peaked. His teams have not done that well these past few years, despite the recent championship.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I'm not going to bump it, but I was reading a thread the other day from 2014ish where otherwise very smart posters were just aggressively adamant that UConn was done forever. Like there was zero chance they weren't going to become the University of San Francisco.

Not all of us were predicting it, but I was certainly HOPING for it.

 

[Sherman20]

I saw a couple UConn games earlier this season, and the thing that struck me about them was how good their offensive sets were. Lots of back cuts, lots of movement. Very enjoyable to watch. They make the extra interior pass, too. Very unselfish team on offense.

They can thank, in part, UConn’s offensive mastermind assistant Luke Murray and Hurley’s receptivity to focusing on offense and not just blue-collar, hard-nosed defense and also valuing analytics. We have to find a young up and coming offensive innovator for that open assistant position.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

They can thank, in part, UConn’s offensive mastermind assistant Luke Murray and Hurley’s receptivity to focusing on offense and not just blue-collar, hard-nosed defense and also valuing analytics. We have to find a young up and coming offensive innovator for that open assistant position.

You mean he’s one of those leaders who surround themselves with smart people and allow them to do their jobs? What a concept!

 

[orangecuse]

I'm not going to bump it, but I was reading a thread the other day from 2014ish where otherwise very smart posters were just aggressively adamant that UConn was done forever. Like there was zero chance they weren't going to become the University of San Francisco.

Ha. Probably many of those same "smart" (usual suspects) posters that thought NIL, etc. and its theoretical intention would actually play out, versus some of us others (not as "smart") practically felt otherwise.

 

[Cusefan0307]

The interesting thing about their style is they dominate teams playing in the half court. They do not run at all. They are 316th in tempo and average 82ppg.

Virginia averages just 3 less possessions than them(slowest team in the country at 360) and averaged 62!