Hurley On Court Strategy this Year | The Boneyard

Hurley On Court Strategy this Year

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We need something to discuss.

Strategy:
Even with a decade of coaching under his belt, I think this can be a real growth year for Hurley as a coach. On paper we have a versatile team with so many possible successful combinations of players, the combinations Hurley chooses to play, and what he tries to do, will be very revealing. With more talent, will he be more flexible to experiment with lineups in games? Hurley has a history of being stubborn, (Adams and Gilbert floundering), (never playing a zone), (always hard hedging with his bigs, even when it seems not to fit the player - Carlton), etc. In my mind he generally allows the opposing team to dictate personnel matchups, rather than trying to force that team to match us. By that, I mean that he nearly always goes small when another team does, even when that team can't handle our size, (Sanogo taken out of St Johns & Carlton DNP's are examples). Will he find a way to keep Clingan in the paint defensively, or negate our own size advantage in the paint by having him hedge or be drawn to the perimeter to defend? Will Hurley better counter when an opposing coach chooses not to guard a player, (Creighton - Whaley). Those defensive strategies result in 5 defenders against 4 offensive options we prefer to take the shot. Clingan can shoot from the outside like Whaley, and Sanogo (per Karaban) is hitting 3's, but, if they are unguarded and allowed to shoot, we don't want that to be our offense. Other than just trying a different defender, will Hurley be prepared with any strategies to stop an opposing player who is taking over a game against our regular defense, (Gillespie & Richmond backing down Cole on clearouts, the New Mex St kid going off, etc)? Maybe you have other strategy points.

Tactics: (What will we try to do)
1. I expect us to rebound and run to try to finish at the rim or shoot a spot up 3 before the defense is set.
2. Once we are set against a half court defense I think as a general strategy we will favor certain outcomes
a. Newton to the rack to draw fouls on the other team & get their better players into foul difficulty, (he seems to have that knack in the past)
b. Get the ball to Sanogo in his favorite jump hook position close to the rim, (pass back out if he is a step o/s his sweet spot)
c. Spot up 3's from Hawkins, Alleyne, Karaban, Calceterra
d. Passes to any of our players cutting to the rim from the key or the baseline for finishes or fouls
3. Threes by Johnson, Diarra, Jackson, and Newton are okay but I would expect less conversion
4. (Clingan set a great Jake Voskuhl pick in the scrimmage highlights. I'd love a steady diet of that to free shooters & drivers)

End of shot clocks? Cole took over, I'm not sure who Hurley will turn to, nor what the intent will be. Your thoughts?

End of games, last possessions with small leads. I want our 85% foul shooting team on the court. Newton, Alleyne, Calceterra, Karaban, Jackson. This team of ball handlers should be able to get the ball in, get fouled, and make the shots. We'll see how Hurley plays it.

With so many athletes will we play full court pressure D with Sanogo, Clingan, or Johnson in the role of Thabeet as the last line of defense?

How do we play if Newton is on the bench for a rest or 2 early fouls? I assume Diarra takes over and Jackson needs to be on the court with him, or does Jackson take over and really on support from Calceterra & Alleyne?

Defensive end of game possession full court. I would think Johnson's wingspan on the inbounder to allow Jackson to play the Henefeld role? Who else?

Defensive end game front court possession. Who do you expect to be on the court? Any change in the in bounds play is under the basket?

Type away your thoughts
 
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We need something to discuss.

Strategy:
Even with a decade of coaching under his belt, I think this can be a real growth year for Hurley as a coach. On paper we have a versatile team with so many possible successful combinations of players, the combinations Hurley chooses to play, and what he tries to do, will be very revealing. With more talent, will he be more flexible to experiment with lineups in games? Hurley has a history of being stubborn, (Adams and Gilbert floundering), (never playing a zone), (always hard hedging with his bigs, even when it seems not to fit the player - Carlton), etc. In my mind he generally allows the opposing team to dictate personnel matchups, rather than trying to force that team to match us. By that, I mean that he nearly always goes small when another team does, even when that team can't handle our size, (Sanogo taken out of St Johns & Carlton DNP's are examples). Will he find a way to keep Clingan in the paint defensively, or negate our own size advantage in the paint by having him hedge or be drawn to the perimeter to defend? Will Hurley better counter when an opposing coach chooses not to guard a player, (Creighton - Whaley). Those defensive strategies result in 5 defenders against 4 offensive options we prefer to take the shot. Clingan can shoot from the outside like Whaley, and Sanogo (per Karaban) is hitting 3's, but, if they are unguarded and allowed to shoot, we don't want that to be our offense. Other than just trying a different defender, will Hurley be prepared with any strategies to stop an opposing player who is taking over a game against our regular defense, (Gillespie & Richmond backing down Cole on clearouts, the New Mex St kid going off, etc)? Maybe you have other strategy points.

Tactics: (What will we try to do)
1. I expect us to rebound and run to try to finish at the rim or shoot a spot up 3 before the defense is set.
2. Once we are set against a half court defense I think as a general strategy we will favor certain outcomes
a. Newton to the rack to draw fouls on the other team & get their better players into foul difficulty, (he seems to have that knack in the past)
b. Get the ball to Sanogo in his favorite jump hook position close to the rim, (pass back out if he is a step o/s his sweet spot)
c. Spot up 3's from Hawkins, Alleyne, Karaban, Calceterra
d. Passes to any of our players cutting to the rim from the key or the baseline for finishes or fouls
3. Threes by Johnson, Diarra, Jackson, and Newton are okay but I would expect less conversion
4. (Clingan set a great Jake Voskuhl pick in the scrimmage highlights. I'd love a steady diet of that to free shooters & drivers)

End of shot clocks? Cole took over, I'm not sure who Hurley will turn to, nor what the intent will be. Your thoughts?

End of games, last possessions with small leads. I want our 85% foul shooting team on the court. Newton, Alleyne, Calceterra, Karaban, Jackson. This team of ball handlers should be able to get the ball in, get fouled, and make the shots. We'll see how Hurley plays it.

With so many athletes will we play full court pressure D with Sanogo, Clingan, or Johnson in the role of Thabeet as the last line of defense?

How do we play if Newton is on the bench for a rest or 2 early fouls? I assume Diarra takes over and Jackson needs to be on the court with him, or does Jackson take over and really on support from Calceterra & Alleyne?

Defensive end of game possession full court. I would think Johnson's wingspan on the inbounder to allow Jackson to play the Henefeld role? Who else?

Defensive end game front court possession. Who do you expect to be on the court? Any change in the in bounds play is under the basket?

Type away your thoughts
Let the coach coach..
 

gtcam

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He definitely has a difficult task in front of him with all these new faces from different programs and philosophies. No one knows how these kids will react under the bright lights and how they will interact with each other
One thing that is for certain - he needs to get to the dance and win a game while there
I do look at this team being one of the stronger, overall, in recent memory
 

RichZ

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I'm pretty sure it matters not a whit, what any of us want him do do, or think he should do. DH is our guy and we're going to ride the horses he puts out there, regardless. This being the boneyard, every decision he makes will be picked apart and over-analyzed to death. Some posters will criticize every move he makes, and others will back him. And life will go on.
 
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With so many athletes will we play full court pressure D with Sanogo, Clingan, or Johnson in the role of Thabeet as the last line of defense?

Sure hope so. Unlikely anyone can replace Whaley in the high hedge, and having Sanogo continue to tire himself out, and collect fouls 23 feet from the basket is frustrating as heck.

Appears to be good upside potential on outside shooting and getting to the hoop, but a big question on defense and who will replace the toughness (and all the rest) provided by Tyrese? Will be fun to watch this bunch hopefully gel, but I won't be up on the ledge when we see some growing pains.
 
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Strong post.

My only critique is that we keep talking about that St. John's game as an example of Hurley being dictated to, but he took out freshman Sanogo, who was in worse shape and had played a bunch in a row, in order to put the starting lineup in down the stretch. The critique of not maximizing the mismatch through to the end of the game is fair, but he didn't "go small" or match the opponent. He put our best/typical closing lineup in for crunch time.

Later, you talk about how to counter the 5 defenders/4 offensive people we want to shoot. In this scenario, it does seem like we need to "be dictated to" and swap personnel. If they're successfully manipulating us to lower our efficiency, we need to counter with a lineup with less offensive weaknesses. Hopefully this is less of an issue this year. It was mostly an artifact of trying to play 4 out with a 4 who was unwilling to shoot (and usually only 2 willing shooters). Easy to swap in Karaban and let them get rained on this year.

Otherwise. I expect Sanogo to be the first option down the stretch and in late game situations. We mostly went to him last year similarly and had Cole as a fallback if we couldn't get an entry. I would imagine Hawkins or Newton will be that "fallback" guy this year. I imagine we'll have a few plays designed for Sanogo to kick out on late game doubles to an open shooter in a favored spot.
 

MyDorona

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The critique of not maximizing the mismatch through to the end of the game is fair, but he didn't "go small" or match the opponent. He put our best/typical closing lineup in for crunch time.



Not trying to bust b*lls here, but that is exactly what Hurley did, and I remember him using that excuse in his post-game presser. I remember it because this was the first time I ever wondered aloud whether Hurley was The Guy for this program.
 
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Not trying to bust b*lls here, but that is exactly what Hurley did, and I remember him using that excuse in his post-game presser. I remember it because this was the first time I ever wondered aloud whether Hurley was The Guy for this program.

I appreciate the fact check. I had forgotten he said that. I guess both things are true. He admittedly went away from Adama to go smaller, but also put in our normal closing lineup. So they "dictated us" into our strongest lineup, but Hurley in retrospect and we all at the time felt that the Sanogo lineup was the stronger lineup for that game specifically.
 
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Love the thoughtfulness put into this post. Some of my general thoughts are -

1. Please no high hedge. Whaley is pretty much the only big that consistently did it well. Sanogo got better throughout the year but it was rough to watch anybody except Whaley do that.

2. The makeup of this team is very different than last year. RJ, Tyrese, and Whaley were absolute dogs. We’re replacing them with more smoothness and versatility (Newton, Hawkins, Karaban). We were junkyard dogs last year but this year I think our identity will be completely different (other than Sanogo eating every opposing big alive).

3. I hope Hurley is more flexible with his lineups. I agree he is stubborn. We have a few guys that can play 1-3, might as well throw different looks out there if something isn’t working.

4. If the defense is double teaming Sanogo and leaving 1-2 of Newton/Hawkins/Andre/Karaban open, then green light to let it fly. If Sanogo has been working on his shot and can reliably hit midrange shots, let him. We should play our game and punish defenses, not play the game the defense gives us by taking away our strengths.

5. I’d like to think our main oh--we-need-a-bucket guy would be Newton or Hawkins. I think RJ overachieved in that role during the last stretch of the season, but he should have never had to have been that guy. Newton and Hawkins should be much better iso players. Having both on the court helps a lot.
 
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Love the thoughtfulness put into this post. Some of my general thoughts are -

1. Please no high hedge. Whaley is pretty much the only big that consistently did it well. Sanogo got better throughout the year but it was rough to watch anybody except Whaley do that.

2. The makeup of this team is very different than last year. RJ, Tyrese, and Whaley were absolute dogs. We’re replacing them with more smoothness and versatility (Newton, Hawkins, Karaban). We were junkyard dogs last year but this year I think our identity will be completely different (other than Sanogo eating every opposing big alive).

3. I hope Hurley is more flexible with his lineups. I agree he is stubborn. We have a few guys that can play 1-3, might as well throw different looks out there if something isn’t working.

4. If the defense is double teaming Sanogo and leaving 1-2 of Newton/Hawkins/Andre/Karaban open, then green light to let it fly. If Sanogo has been working on his shot and can reliably hit midrange shots, let him. We should play our game and punish defenses, not play the game the defense gives us by taking away our strengths.

5. I’d like to think our main oh--we-need-a-bucket guy would be Newton or Hawkins. I think RJ overachieved in that role during the last stretch of the season, but he should have never had to have been that guy. Newton and Hawkins should be much better iso players. Having both on the court helps a lot.
Agree with everything here.

In regards to the high hedge, Whaley might be the best ever at that and Sanogo isn't as good but I think its obvious we are still going to employ it. If its not a strong hedge its a switch in today's basketball, which means Sanogo, Clingan or whoever will be switching onto a ball handler. We probably could run some lineups where switching is easy, if Johnson is as mobile as I think he may be.
 
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They're going to be more talented and more versatile this year than in past years, Hurley's job will be using that versatility to exploit the opponents. He's been a bit too one note coaching in games/not adjusting and it's bit him in the arse against the top opponents and reared it's head in tournament games. The recruiting is great and the feel around the program is great, it's time to make a little noise this season.
 
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And to think I was excited to read about DH talking about his game strategy for this season. Misleading title.
 
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My thoughts on the upcoming season are essentially if Sanogo can avoid nagging injuries and finish the season strong (he was gassed last year), Hawkins and Jackson make the jumps we think they will, and if Newton is the guy we think he is there will be a lot of games where 4 of the 5 best players on the floor will be on our team. I don't really want to assign an overall expectation to the season given how the last 2 have ended and the influx of new pieces, but if it all works out we should be playing deep into March.
 

dennismenace

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Hurley has proven to be too dogmatic. Overall, I like him and support him. But, I'd like to see a little more on-the-fly thinking from him in year 5.
This is a very good point. He does seem to have push button options and if he is too amped to figure this out on the fly (because he feels that is his best suit) he just needs to delegate that responsibility to one of the assistants or else calm down enough to figure out a strategy that is workable on the fly while someone else cheerleads. This isn't baseball where things are slow moving and you can do a lot of analyzing. In bb it would seem that this stuff would be figured out pre-game as "what if's" or are we going to act or react? I think we have a very good staff but like the team itself the shortcomings of in game need to be discussed in this case by the staff for the staff. Hopefully the abundance of players will be an array of weapons to be deployed against opponents and their coaches and the game can be taken to them to figure out.
Love the thoughtfulness put into this post. Some of my general thoughts are -

1. Please no high hedge. Whaley is pretty much the only big that consistently did it well. Sanogo got better throughout the year but it was rough to watch anybody except Whaley do that.

2. The makeup of this team is very different than last year. RJ, Tyrese, and Whaley were absolute dogs. We’re replacing them with more smoothness and versatility (Newton, Hawkins, Karaban). We were junkyard dogs last year but this year I think our identity will be completely different (other than Sanogo eating every opposing big alive).

3. I hope Hurley is more flexible with his lineups. I agree he is stubborn. We have a few guys that can play 1-3, might as well throw different looks out there if something isn’t working.

4. If the defense is double teaming Sanogo and leaving 1-2 of Newton/Hawkins/Andre/Karaban open, then green light to let it fly. If Sanogo has been working on his shot and can reliably hit midrange shots, let him. We should play our game and punish defenses, not play the game the defense gives us by taking away our strengths.

5. I’d like to think our main oh--we-need-a-bucket guy would be Newton or Hawkins. I think RJ overachieved in that role during the last stretch of the season, but he should have never had to have been that guy. Newton and Hawkins should be much better iso players. Having both on the court helps a lot.

Amen to that. Act...............don't react. Defend and attack, attack and attack.
 

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