UConn Men's Basketball | UConn coach Dan Hurley quiets the ‘Final Four favorites’ noise as he snaps the Huskies back to attention

[drayenob]

UConn coach Dan Hurley quiets the ‘Final Four favorites’ noise as he snaps the Huskies back to attention

The UConn men’s basketball team felt pressure to get past the first round of this year’s NCAA Tournament, but now, even as favorites to take a fifth national championship trophy back to…

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“I jumped them [Tuesday] in practice because they’ve gotta get their heads out of their phones,” Hurley said. “There’s obviously a lot of media and attention that comes with this that’s great for the university, it’s great for the basketball program. When you get on this stage it’s a great opportunity for everyone but we’ve got to be focused on the work, we’ve got, like, 101 hours or something – no one’s counting, but like 101 hours until we play. And we need to be completely immersed in our work and in preparation for a great Miami team.”

“I’ve been just mining Coach Calhoun for information, advice, wisdom, especially in the last month but recently on overdrive, just to try to squeeze every bit of information from him. He’s been a fixture here and he’ll be back before we go for one last message for the boys and then he’ll be with us (in Houston),” Hurley said.

“Obviously Geno (Auriemma, the UConn women’s coach) has been an incredible resource since I’ve been here and he’s obviously been helpful to get ready for this weekend. Then for me, Jay Wright’s been great to me, Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski), with their Final Four experience. And then I have my own people: my brother, my dad, (ESPN college basketball analyst and former head coach) Seth Greenberg – the people that give me great advice just as a coach, really smart people that I respect.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

That’s gonna be one of the keys, to keep the players fully focused on the end goal. And I fully trust they will be with Danny at the helm and Andre as an extension of him. Andre is as focused and determined a UConn player i’ve ever seen at the moment.

 

[I Bleed Blue]

Greenburg is clearly a big fan of Danny. Nothing but praise for him the last few weeks on First Take, Game Day, etc.

Great to hear Jay Wright and even K has been guiding him a bit. Awesome to see along with the Hurley fam and Calhoun.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Greenburg is clearly a big fan of Danny. Nothing but praise for him the last few weeks on First Take, Game Day, etc.

Great to hear Jay Wright and even K has been guiding him a bit. Awesome to see along with the Hurley fam and Calhoun.

Greenberg has been around the program quite a bit in recent years. I’ve seen him at the open practices. He’s a great proponent of UConn bball.

 

[caw]

UConn coach Dan Hurley quiets the ‘Final Four favorites’ noise as he snaps the Huskies back to attention

The UConn men’s basketball team felt pressure to get past the first round of this year’s NCAA Tournament, but now, even as favorites to take a fifth national championship trophy back to…

www.courant.com

PrintFriendly.com: Print & PDF

Print Friendly and PDF webpages

www.printfriendly.com

“I jumped them [Tuesday] in practice because they’ve gotta get their heads out of their phones,” Hurley said. “There’s obviously a lot of media and attention that comes with this that’s great for the university, it’s great for the basketball program. When you get on this stage it’s a great opportunity for everyone but we’ve got to be focused on the work, we’ve got, like, 101 hours or something – no one’s counting, but like 101 hours until we play. And we need to be completely immersed in our work and in preparation for a great Miami team.”

“I’ve been just mining Coach Calhoun for information, advice, wisdom, especially in the last month but recently on overdrive, just to try to squeeze every bit of information from him. He’s been a fixture here and he’ll be back before we go for one last message for the boys and then he’ll be with us (in Houston),” Hurley said.

“Obviously Geno (Auriemma, the UConn women’s coach) has been an incredible resource since I’ve been here and he’s obviously been helpful to get ready for this weekend. Then for me, Jay Wright’s been great to me, Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski), with their Final Four experience. And then I have my own people: my brother, my dad, (ESPN college basketball analyst and former head coach) Seth Greenberg – the people that give me great advice just as a coach, really smart people that I respect.

Greenburg is clearly a big fan of Danny. Nothing but praise for him the last few weeks on First Take, Game Day, etc.

Great to hear Jay Wright and even K has been guiding him a bit. Awesome to see along with the Hurley fam and Calhoun.

I think this sums up my thoughts on the subject.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Coach Ratface, Wright and the GOAT are definitely three good resources. Those three all coached teams that were expected to win. That presents its own challenges, but I think it is OK to embrace being the favorite, as long as you don't get complacent. The "underdog mentality" can backfire, because it puts in the mind of the team that the other team is better or equal. In a situation like the one UConn is in, Hurley wants them expecting to win, no matter what happens in the first 10 or 20 or 39 minutes of the game. They should expect to win, because they are better. That doesn't mean they take the other team for granted, it just means they come in the game confident.

Ratface, Wright and the GOAT have all been in that situation.

 

[Umami Zen]

Danny keeping it real..

 

[Huskyforlife]

Coach Ratface, Wright and the GOAT are definitely three good resources. Those three all coached teams that were expected to win. That presents its own challenges, but I think it is OK to embrace being the favorite, as long as you don't get complacent. The "underdog mentality" can backfire, because it puts in the mind of the team that the other team is better or equal. In a situation like the one UConn is in, Hurley wants them expecting to win, no matter what happens in the first 10 or 20 or 39 minutes of the game. They should expect to win, because they are better. That doesn't mean they take the other team for granted, it just means they come in the game confident.

Ratface, Wright and the GOAT have all been in that situation.

The line between confident and overconfident is thin. I think I prefer the underdog mentality because it means you’re clawing to prove the doubters wrong. It’s like a self belief achieved by your own confidence, not the confidence of outsiders.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The line between confident and overconfident is thin. I think I prefer the underdog mentality because it means you’re clawing to prove the doubters wrong. It’s like a self belief achieved by your own confidence, not the confidence of outsiders.

Complacency is fake confidence, but whether in basketball or just about anything else, I will take real confidence over "proving the doubters wrong" every time.

There are some coaches that were just losers. Coaches like Travis Steele, Steve Lappas, and Tim Welsh were just losers. They knew their X's and O's, and had talent at times during their tenure. Heck, Steele put together a great team at Xavier. But I could tell watching those teams that they were going to choke more often than they weren't. They expected to lose. Xavier would fall apart in close games, often because they would degenerate to hero ball because they didn't trust their teammates. It is hard to uncoach that once it gets ingrained in a team, because I think Xavier did it in the Sweet 16 this year against Texas. Calipari often coaches scared, which is how a guy that has had amazing talent during his tenure at Kentucky only has ONE National Championship to show for it, and no Final Fours since 2015. He has actually missed the Tournament twice in the last 9 seasons since he won it in 2012.

An extreme example of the other end, where a coach just oozes confidence even though he isn't a great coach is Mack Brown. I think he is an idiot in game management, and I have listened to interviews of his former players and none of them sing his praises as a game coach, even if they like him personally. But it is impossible to argue with his success. And before you say "well anyone can win at Texas", Brown's last three seasons at UT were 8, 9 and 8 wins. Since he left, UT has won 8 games twice and 10 games once, and every other season has been worse than Mack Brown's last year in Austin.

I am a big fan of confidence, and I want a team to expect to win.