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UConn MBB Coach Dan Hurley Final 4 Presser · Coaches Corner

0:02
Speaker 1: We're now joined by Yukon headman's basketball coach Dan Hurley.
0:06
Speaker 1: We'll ask coach to make an opening comment and then
0:08
Speaker 1: we will take your questions. Uh.
0:10
Speaker 2: With that, coach, we'll open for opening state.
0:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, thrilled to be here, uh in Indianapolis, just uh,
0:18
Speaker 3: you know, landing the hospitality obviously to hoo's your state.
0:22
Speaker 3: Uh do I feel like there's many better places, you know,
0:26
Speaker 3: to play a Final four, So it's uh, it's one
0:29
Speaker 3: of the truly great places that you get to, uh
0:31
Speaker 3: that you get to play it, and uh, you know,
0:35
Speaker 3: for me, I was you here for the magical Duke
0:38
Speaker 3: un l V game, you know, for the final four,
0:41
Speaker 3: So uh, it's cool to be back here, uh for
0:44
Speaker 3: a non COVID final four.
0:47
Speaker 1: So all right, thank you, coach. Go ahead and start
0:51
Speaker 1: here in the third row right in front of me.
0:54
Speaker 4: Hey, coach, the last two title coming in Model War,
0:59
Speaker 4: everyone sort of new was the team to be and
1:03
Speaker 4: you were having favorites every game. This year is a
1:04
Speaker 4: little bit different. If you guys were to win your first.
1:06
Speaker 5: Game, you'd probably at least considered splash their dogs in
1:08
Speaker 5: your second game.
1:09
Speaker 4: Does that change at all your approach to the tournament.
1:13
Speaker 4: How what you're telling your guys that you're going into
1:14
Speaker 4: it or is it pretty much the same amount of what?
1:17
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, the.
1:19
Speaker 3: I think the mentality is it's just pretty much, you
1:22
Speaker 3: know the same and it's not a situation where there's
1:26
Speaker 3: like more pressure less pressure. You're the favorite, You're you know,
1:31
Speaker 3: you're considered the you know, the fourth favorite. You know
1:33
Speaker 3: for us, You're just you're so dialed into how you
1:36
Speaker 3: prepare for games at this point, you know, the everything
1:39
Speaker 3: is so programmed, everything is so automated, like you know,
1:43
Speaker 3: the practices, the drills, the techniques, the fundamentals. You know,
1:48
Speaker 3: we know the things that that we have to do,
1:50
Speaker 3: the things that have caused us to not be, you know,
1:53
Speaker 3: the the efficient team that we've wanted to be throughout
1:56
Speaker 3: the year, whether it's been turnovers at the offensive end,
1:59
Speaker 3: not always being on the offensive glass, obviously some shooting
2:02
Speaker 3: struggles from three. Yeah, but what doesn't get measured when
2:06
Speaker 3: you're dealing with teams and efficiencies is is the ability
2:10
Speaker 3: of you know, the will to fight, a team's refusal
2:13
Speaker 3: to lose games. You know, that's uh doesn't get factored in, obviously,
2:18
Speaker 3: to the analytics coach.
2:20
Speaker 2: We'll go over to our right hand side. Yeah, right
2:23
Speaker 2: here on the.
2:24
Speaker 7: Zach Austmin and the and Apolstar. You referenced it there.
2:26
Speaker 7: This is the first final four here since twenty twenty one,
2:29
Speaker 7: which is obviously a weird experience for everyone. I'm just
2:32
Speaker 7: curious what you remember from that experience, just kind of
2:35
Speaker 7: like just the process of the bubble essentially. I know,
2:38
Speaker 7: everybody really had to stay inside most of the time.
2:40
Speaker 7: I think teams maybe were almost given just like a
2:42
Speaker 7: little bit outside time.
2:43
Speaker 6: Yeah, we got let loose in the yard. Yeah a prison.
2:47
Speaker 2: Did you get to go to the baseball stadium? I
2:48
Speaker 2: think some people got to do that.
2:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, and all the teams were circling each other.
2:52
Speaker 3: It was bizarre.
2:52
Speaker 6: I mean, uh.
2:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, listen, everyone from that toy if you did great
2:58
Speaker 3: in that tournament, you deserve all the credit. I mean,
3:01
Speaker 3: if it went bad for you, and I'm not just
3:02
Speaker 3: saying that because it went bad for us, but you
3:05
Speaker 3: should get a pass.
3:06
Speaker 6: I mean that was a mess.
3:07
Speaker 3: I mean they were literally knocking on your door and
3:11
Speaker 3: dropping the food at your door. At it was like
3:15
Speaker 3: and it wasn't slop, but it was maybe it was,
3:21
Speaker 3: but it was it was a you know, the whole year.
3:25
Speaker 2: Was just a.
3:27
Speaker 6: You know, that whole season was tough season.
3:29
Speaker 3: It was we were lucky to just be able to
3:31
Speaker 3: get get a tournament in and do those things. So, uh, yeah,
3:36
Speaker 3: I guess I brought it up and then that led
3:38
Speaker 3: to that question. But now I'm like jarred mentally up here.
3:41
Speaker 3: Just yeah, that was horrible, coach.
3:44
Speaker 2: We'll go over here on our left hands.
3:46
Speaker 6: And we had to play a Purdue. It was like
3:48
Speaker 6: a long ride.
3:48
Speaker 3: I wanted to play a Butler, but I don't get
3:52
Speaker 3: to decide where you get to play, you know, because
3:54
Speaker 3: we win at Butler.
3:55
Speaker 6: But I'm done.
4:03
Speaker 2: All right, we'll go here on the left.
4:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, when what a correct to him?
4:10
Speaker 8: And how does a guy that big and that first
4:13
Speaker 8: look through the recruiting process the.
4:14
Speaker 4: First time around?
4:16
Speaker 6: Yeah, with you know, with Silas?
4:19
Speaker 3: Uh you know again, I don't I don't remember, you know,
4:22
Speaker 3: seeing him as a high school player. I think a
4:24
Speaker 3: lot of head coaches and recruiting, you go where the
4:27
Speaker 3: assistants sends you for the play. They kind of filter
4:30
Speaker 3: who you get a chance to put your eyes on.
4:34
Speaker 3: And then just knowing, you know, the the vulnerabilities, the
4:39
Speaker 3: issues that we had with our twenty five team, you
4:43
Speaker 3: know that that we needed size at point guard. We
4:46
Speaker 3: needed a ball hawk at point guard. We needed somebody
4:49
Speaker 3: that had some of the same traits as Tristan Newton
4:52
Speaker 3: at point guard. That's what just the versatility, the three
4:58
Speaker 3: way player, he rebounds, he played both ends of the court.
5:02
Speaker 3: And then the thing, we needed a warrior, you know,
5:05
Speaker 3: we needed we needed a guy that that had tremendous
5:10
Speaker 3: will and a fighter and a warrior.
5:12
Speaker 6: And I think you've seen that.
5:14
Speaker 3: You know, in the NGAA tournament, this guy played at
5:16
Speaker 3: probably sixty five percent the first weekend versus UCLA. He
5:21
Speaker 3: probably got to seventy five percent in the Sweet sixteen
5:24
Speaker 3: Elite eight game.
5:25
Speaker 6: And I think that he's much better this week.
5:27
Speaker 3: I think he's got a chance to play it like
5:29
Speaker 3: ninety percent physically for the Illinois game, which we're going
5:32
Speaker 3: to need all of that.
5:35
Speaker 2: Coach, we'll go around the right, Dan, Dan walking down,
5:38
Speaker 2: Who's sports.
5:39
Speaker 9: I know that you've commented on the thing with Roger Ears,
5:42
Speaker 9: and you've talked about it. You surprised the amount of
5:44
Speaker 9: attention that that's gotten. And I was also just curious
5:47
Speaker 9: as a follow on that, what is your general approach
5:51
Speaker 9: to dealing with officials during games.
5:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, surprise, now, you know, I don't. I mean, there's
6:00
Speaker 3: obviously a you know.
6:04
Speaker 6: The the reaction, the the outrage. You know, I don't.
6:10
Speaker 3: I guess I just look at it a lot differently,
6:12
Speaker 3: you know, and I think we all do. And I
6:14
Speaker 3: think that's what I guess makes social media so appealing
6:19
Speaker 3: to people, is that you could have the discourse and
6:23
Speaker 3: different opinions about how somebody carries themselves in a in
6:28
Speaker 3: a in a for you, it's a game, or for
6:31
Speaker 3: some people were just out there playing a game. For me,
6:34
Speaker 3: it's a life or death battle, It's it's a war,
6:37
Speaker 3: it's a street fight for me. However, you look at
6:41
Speaker 3: sports or or you know, people on social media that
6:45
Speaker 3: comment on how the combatants carry themselves, that's not right
6:49
Speaker 3: really for me to judge. I mean, I approach sports
6:53
Speaker 3: as a competitor. The way that I do. My responsibility
6:57
Speaker 3: is is to to win games and obviously do a
7:04
Speaker 3: great job for my players, you know, like those are
7:06
Speaker 3: really the only two things that I'm concerned with.
7:09
Speaker 6: All that other stuff.
7:10
Speaker 3: It's just it's it comes with the territory and a
7:13
Speaker 3: lot of it comes with the success you know, the
7:15
Speaker 3: winning back to back championships. You know, you you put
7:18
Speaker 3: yourself in a position where you know you're going to
7:21
Speaker 3: be picked apart, and then you know, deal with the officials.
7:25
Speaker 4: You know.
7:25
Speaker 3: I think I'm an intense coach. It's it's not easy
7:29
Speaker 3: to work my games. But I've also gotten zero technical
7:32
Speaker 3: fouls in my n cua A tournament coaching career. So
7:36
Speaker 3: and I just jinxed myself like you and my god,
7:39
Speaker 3: Now I get bounced out of this thing. Oh getting
7:43
Speaker 3: walked out of a stadium.
7:47
Speaker 6: Long walk, All.
7:49
Speaker 10: Right, we'll go straight in front of me and Pete
7:52
Speaker 10: Daniel kind of half answered my question about Silas by
7:54
Speaker 10: giving me percentages of how he is. What does it
7:56
Speaker 10: say about him as a person and a player that
7:58
Speaker 10: he's gutted through this run.
8:00
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just the character of the family he
8:02
Speaker 3: comes from. I think the thing that we've gotten right
8:05
Speaker 3: the best is, uh, just the families around the players.
8:09
Speaker 3: Just we get players that come from great they're just
8:12
Speaker 3: great pedigree. And uh, he's got an incredible family and
8:16
Speaker 3: support system. And he's got a dad who's a former
8:19
Speaker 3: football player, So you get a you get a football
8:22
Speaker 3: player's mentality and a basketball player. I mean, then you
8:26
Speaker 3: know they're gonna play with that ankle, and you know
8:30
Speaker 3: there's so much attention obviously, you know, and rightfully so,
8:33
Speaker 3: the play by the play by Braylin, the deflection by
8:37
Speaker 3: Silas Carabert, the fight in the team. But really those
8:40
Speaker 3: threes that he hit in the second half, you know,
8:42
Speaker 3: like that to me was you know, there's no anything
8:45
Speaker 3: after that without those three point shots going in when
8:47
Speaker 3: there was a lid on the bucket.
8:50
Speaker 1: Coach will stay in this section in front of me, Yeah,
8:54
Speaker 1: Kevin Spreen Sports Illustrated.
8:56
Speaker 4: I feel like after the Mester State.
8:59
Speaker 5: Lost in the tournament, talk a lot about the importance
9:02
Speaker 5: of Andre and Jordan Hawkins and Madonna and their leadership
9:06
Speaker 5: and how they helped shape the program into the champions
9:09
Speaker 5: year the next year. And it's curious what you mean
9:12
Speaker 5: on from the returners of this group and what April.
9:15
Speaker 4: And may look like in terms of re establishing the
9:17
Speaker 4: culture that you guys want to create.
9:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, you lose so many players. I mean
9:26
Speaker 3: that that two year stretch. I mean there the Donovan Klingons,
9:30
Speaker 3: the Steph Castle's, the Jordan Hawkins, the camp Spencer's. I
9:33
Speaker 3: mean you know there's gonna be at some point there's
9:36
Speaker 3: gonna be a void or a hole in your program
9:39
Speaker 3: that's just gonna be impossible to fill and absolutely get.
9:44
Speaker 6: It right, like a third year in a row.
9:46
Speaker 3: The level that you got to get it right to
9:48
Speaker 3: to be back in the final four, and just the
9:52
Speaker 3: two years of losing all those incredible men just uh,
9:56
Speaker 3: you know, it was a down year for us in
9:59
Speaker 3: twenty five. Was across the board. I had a bad
10:03
Speaker 3: year coaching. I think we didn't put together a great group.
10:08
Speaker 3: Maybe we were, you know, just feeling ourselves too much,
10:12
Speaker 3: too much ego, But I know that we had an
10:15
Speaker 3: incredible summers. What's set the stage for what we've been
10:18
Speaker 3: able to do here. We really got back to uh,
10:22
Speaker 3: you know that summer grind where we went eight hard
10:25
Speaker 3: weeks and set a tone for our season. And then
10:28
Speaker 3: you know, this group has just been resilient, man. I
10:30
Speaker 3: mean we dealt with injuries the whole year. In the
10:33
Speaker 3: non conference, you know, we were able to beat teams
10:35
Speaker 3: like Florida and Illinois, and you know, with with an
10:39
Speaker 3: injured roster, and then obviously we're able to advance through
10:42
Speaker 3: this tournament losing our quarterback. But having a guy like
10:45
Speaker 3: Malachi Smith come come in and step up. So I
10:49
Speaker 3: think we got that belief back in the program that
10:52
Speaker 3: you know that we can win a national championship.
10:54
Speaker 2: Coach, We'll go to our right in the back.
11:00
Speaker 11: High Coach Aaron from aeron a ti different ESPN. You've
11:04
Speaker 11: been to three different final fours and you've talked about
11:07
Speaker 11: it that it's just felt different. What has changed in
11:11
Speaker 11: your approach this time with the construct of the team
11:15
Speaker 11: that you have compared to the previous two.
11:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, the advantage I haven't been here is and then
11:22
Speaker 3: you have the year we had last year. I think
11:24
Speaker 3: it's like, now you give yourself permission to enjoy it
11:30
Speaker 3: and appreciate it because it's hard to do, and it's
11:33
Speaker 3: harder to do than ever in college basketball because there's
11:36
Speaker 3: so many more programs that are brut into competing for it.
11:40
Speaker 3: With nil and portal, you know, it's a deeper pool
11:42
Speaker 3: of teams you're competing against. Then prior, I'm prior, you
11:46
Speaker 3: were eliminated from competing to get far in this tournament
11:48
Speaker 3: because everything in recruiting was based on tradition, branding, and
11:52
Speaker 3: there weren't that many programs that were investing there's so
11:55
Speaker 3: many more people that are investing. So for me, I'm
11:59
Speaker 3: not scrambling or worrying about how to plan practices for
12:03
Speaker 3: this week or you know, what are the responsibilities.
12:06
Speaker 6: Of the week.
12:07
Speaker 3: Because we've got those past experiences, I know exactly what
12:12
Speaker 3: the practice should look like this week. I don't have
12:14
Speaker 3: to call around and ask coaches I don't know how
12:16
Speaker 3: to keep my I don't have to call around and
12:19
Speaker 3: ask other coaches that have been here how to keep
12:21
Speaker 3: my team focused, because you've just been.
12:23
Speaker 6: Through this process before.
12:24
Speaker 3: But I would say the biggest thing is like when
12:27
Speaker 3: we're driving on your bus, I'm like looking out the
12:29
Speaker 3: window and I'm allowing myself to enjoy it. And I'm
12:33
Speaker 3: not going to lose my edge in terms of, you know,
12:36
Speaker 3: the monsters that we need to show up at on
12:39
Speaker 3: Saturday night to get to the championship game. We know
12:41
Speaker 3: we got to flip the switch and be maniacal in
12:44
Speaker 3: our pursuit of getting to Monday night. But I'm gonna
12:47
Speaker 3: let myself enjoy the parts that you should enjoy.
12:51
Speaker 8: Coach Will go in the center Ile Coach Jake Finner
12:56
Speaker 8: Daily Mail, It's up, Jake. You started the season on
13:01
Speaker 8: a heater of a run in the non conference Come
13:03
Speaker 8: Big East time, you put together some inconsistent wins, fell
13:07
Speaker 8: off a little bit towards the back end of the calendar,
13:09
Speaker 8: and now the team seems to be putting up a
13:12
Speaker 8: similarly good stretch of runs and wins from similar to
13:17
Speaker 8: that previous non con How were you able to refocus
13:21
Speaker 8: your team around that in order to pull those kinds
13:24
Speaker 8: of results out of them?
13:26
Speaker 3: Well, I mean some of it, you know, as a
13:28
Speaker 3: as a coach, like you're talking about the areas that
13:30
Speaker 3: kind of hurt us. You know, turnovers have been an
13:33
Speaker 3: issue the whole year. We haven't been the offensive rebounding team,
13:37
Speaker 3: you know, the you know, the the shooting at times,
13:40
Speaker 3: which I think is you know, and I going into
13:44
Speaker 3: the r I was thinking, you know, we're probably going
13:46
Speaker 3: to be maybe my best shooting team. You know, we've
13:50
Speaker 3: kind of you know, hit some some some tough stretches
13:53
Speaker 3: with with making the three. So some of it was
13:56
Speaker 3: you know, those things like uh and and you know
13:59
Speaker 3: the rebound in the take care of the ball or controllable.
14:02
Speaker 3: Obviously the shop making is not always controllable. Comes down
14:05
Speaker 3: to nerves, and it comes down to performance and confidence.
14:11
Speaker 3: And then part of why I think, you know, you
14:13
Speaker 3: end up dropping during the course of the year is
14:15
Speaker 3: like there weren't you know, You're playing these brutal conference
14:18
Speaker 3: games in the Big East, and like there weren't a
14:20
Speaker 3: lot of teams with high ken palms or high efficiencies.
14:25
Speaker 3: So now you get into these street fight rock fight
14:27
Speaker 3: conference games and you end up winning a game by
14:31
Speaker 3: five versus a team that's maybe thirty third and some
14:35
Speaker 3: type of a ranking, You're you're now going to drop
14:37
Speaker 3: efficiency wise as a team, you know. But I think
14:41
Speaker 3: we've always and I've acknowledged it. Our our floor this
14:45
Speaker 3: year at times has been low. Our ceiling as a
14:48
Speaker 3: team has been really really high.
14:49
Speaker 4: You know.
14:51
Speaker 3: Again, we proved Florida game, the Illinois game, the BYU
14:56
Speaker 3: game when Saunders played and the other guard who who
14:59
Speaker 3: and was my man's name, the shooter a big time.
15:03
Speaker 3: He tore his acl Yeah, I mean like when we
15:07
Speaker 3: beat them and beat in Boston, like BYU as a
15:10
Speaker 3: team was an Elite eight team, maybe a Final four team.
15:12
Speaker 3: So yeah, we showed our ceiling a lot throughout the year.
15:15
Speaker 3: To Saint John's game at home, but our floor has
15:17
Speaker 3: been lower than in twenty three and twenty four.
15:21
Speaker 2: Coach, We're going to go over here on our right
15:23
Speaker 2: hand side on the.
15:24
Speaker 12: Aisle, Mike Anthony from hers Hey. Dan Solo made a
15:29
Speaker 12: massive play late the other day as part of the comeback,
15:32
Speaker 12: finishing through contact on the break. How much did that
15:35
Speaker 12: mean to the momentumy we're building in that game and
15:38
Speaker 12: just his season overall? Dad, He hasn't quite shot the
15:41
Speaker 12: ball the way he did last year. Yeah, but I
15:44
Speaker 12: think he's made a lot of effort to impact the
15:46
Speaker 12: game in other ways.
15:47
Speaker 6: You're just your thoughts on his season.
15:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, listen, Solo's dealt with the wrist throughout
15:51
Speaker 3: the year, which shooting hand for a shooter, it's not
15:55
Speaker 3: an easy thing. But you know, he's such a threat
15:59
Speaker 3: and he's so capable. I mean, he played so great
16:01
Speaker 3: against Illinois and at MSG he made some shots, and
16:05
Speaker 3: that's always good for a player going into a game
16:07
Speaker 3: versus an opponent because that matters to players psyche. But
16:11
Speaker 3: you know, he he's really guarded well for us in
16:14
Speaker 3: the Sweet sixteen, in in the Elite eight, and when
16:18
Speaker 3: you know, and when he's not making shot, he's creates
16:20
Speaker 3: so much spacing for the others as long as he
16:23
Speaker 3: guards and rebounds and makes efforts and you know, and
16:27
Speaker 3: and and and plays as hard as he can. I mean,
16:29
Speaker 3: he's still like a thirty minute a game, incredibly valuable
16:34
Speaker 3: player for us. He's got to keep his defense in
16:36
Speaker 3: his rebound. He had an offensive rebounding. He had an
16:38
Speaker 3: offensive rebound on a on a mystery that if he
16:42
Speaker 3: doesn't get that offensive rebound, like, there is no brain
16:45
Speaker 3: la Mullen shot. If he doesn't complete that three point play,
16:49
Speaker 3: you know, there is no deflection steal to end that game.
16:52
Speaker 3: So he made winning plays down the stretch. And I
16:56
Speaker 3: think there's something to people playing well against teams, you know,
17:00
Speaker 3: And I think that's good for him coming into Saturday.
17:03
Speaker 2: Coach, we'll take one final one in the center section.
17:06
Speaker 6: Zach brazila New York Post. What's up there?
17:09
Speaker 13: Braylan said on Tuesday, I guess Tuesday's practice you kind
17:13
Speaker 13: of got into him. Just a reminder put that shot
17:16
Speaker 13: behind you, No, not me, just when someone hits a
17:22
Speaker 13: shot like that, I mean, and now you have he's
17:25
Speaker 13: in his hometown. I mean, how do you think he
17:28
Speaker 13: kind of builds off.
17:29
Speaker 6: That kind of shot?
17:30
Speaker 13: I mean that it's an incredible story obviously, and it's
17:33
Speaker 13: also a lot of pressure.
17:33
Speaker 6: On a kid.
17:34
Speaker 3: Yeah listen, I mean it's like you know, dream come true,
17:38
Speaker 3: dream scenario, you know, made for TV, movie or nets.
17:43
Speaker 3: I guess goes right to streaming now, you know. So yeah, listen,
17:48
Speaker 3: we got a shock. I mean, listen, I've been shock
17:51
Speaker 3: coaching since really Tuesday. I had to let everyone enjoy it.
17:55
Speaker 3: I couldn't come in on Monday like a cold, damp
17:58
Speaker 3: blanket just and just start destroying people on Monday.
18:02
Speaker 6: I mean that just would have been.
18:05
Speaker 3: Just a cruel thing to do to people's spirit after
18:08
Speaker 3: such an incredible victory. But Tuesday, you just got to
18:11
Speaker 3: bring everybody back to reality, you know, Like the reality
18:15
Speaker 3: is that moment's over. It's an incredible movement. You'll have
18:18
Speaker 3: that the rest of your life.
18:20
Speaker 4: You know.
18:20
Speaker 3: But we came here for rings, not watches. You know,
18:24
Speaker 3: everyone that comes in frontal four gets a beautiful watch,
18:27
Speaker 3: you know, but only one.
18:28
Speaker 6: Only one group's going to get a ring, you know.
18:30
Speaker 3: So get off social media, stop injecting the dopamine into
18:34
Speaker 3: your arm, and get serious about the preparation and the practice.
18:38
Speaker 3: Because we don't hang banners for final fours at Yukon
18:41
Speaker 3: we hang national championship banners, and if you want to
18:44
Speaker 3: hang a banner, you got to get your eyes off
18:47
Speaker 3: social media, get your face out of the phone, and
18:49
Speaker 3: get locked in on Illinois because you know, Illinois is
18:52
Speaker 3: one of the best teams in the country and there
18:54
Speaker 3: as big a threat to winning this tournament as any
18:56
Speaker 3: of the four teams.
18:57
Speaker 1: Good, thank you for your time, all right, thank you,
18:59
Speaker 1: Good luck this week.