Latest / Coaches Corner / Dan Hurley - Pre Elite 8 Presser

Transcript

Dan Hurley - Pre Elite 8 Presser · Coaches Corner

• 0:00
  Yeah, Dan, as you may be aware, it's been a long time
• 0:04
  since anyone's repeated, And I was just wondering, with all the stuff that's
• 0:06
  going on in the sport these days, do you think it's getting harder to
• 0:10
  do that with the transfer portal and all that stuff, or do you think
• 0:12
  it's maybe going to get easier because you can just bring someone in. Oh,
• 0:14
  it's harder. It's way harder. Forget the fact, I mean coaching
• 0:20
  is harder. The game is way more sophisticated, right, I mean,
• 0:24
  just the players are more skilled, they're more versatile, so many you know,
• 0:30
  different types of teams with different you know, tactics offensively, defensively.
• 0:35
  Obviously you're managing your roster with the with the portal with n I L.
• 0:41
  I mean for us, you know, we we've you know, you better
• 0:44
  be a more skilled coach these days because you're dealing with a lot more stuff.
• 0:48
  And then just for you know, for us, I think, uh,
• 0:51
  you know, we we uh we've made it look easy in these past
• 0:56
  two tournaments, but it's been it's hard. You know. We we do
• 1:00
  hard things really really well, like the defense, the rebounding, you know,
• 1:03
  the way that we play at the offensive end of the court, you
• 1:07
  know. So yeah, I mean it's tough. It's not it's not easier.
• 1:11
  It's going to get tougher, you know, unless you know somebody isn't
• 1:15
  you know, so we get it like a commissioner or something that gets this
• 1:19
  thing a little bit, uh, you know, more organized than under control.
• 1:23
  We could really use a commissioner. Got such an incredible sport. We've
• 1:26
  got the greatest sport event that this country has on a yearly basis. That
• 1:30
  catch captures the imagination of the whole country. You know, casuals, nonsport
• 1:34
  fans, everybody, everyone's got a bracket. You know, you got this
• 1:38
  incredible product that's marketed horribly outside of March. You know, it's an incredible
• 1:44
  sport and uh yeah, you better be a better coach, and we need
• 1:49
  a commissioner. Good Dan Matt Norlanders, CBS Sports. You've been frequent in
• 1:55
  your outspokenness about your opposition to the transfer portal being opened during the tournament.
• 1:59
  I think a lot of people in your profession would share that opinion. I'm
• 2:00
  curious in your position, Yukon Uh if you have found yourself in the past
• 2:07
  couple of weeks in the rare spot where instead of having a staff that has
• 2:12
  to work the portal, work the back channels. If anything, you've had
• 2:15
  people approach either you your staff and say, hey, how can we how
• 2:20
  can we get our guys involved in what you're doing? If you've had to
• 2:23
  deal with that, if you've almost had to push the brakes on everyone as
• 2:27
  you try and do this and kind of keep all your focus on your team.
• 2:30
  Yeah, we're you know, we have Tom Moore in a a pseudo
• 2:36
  GM role, you know, obviously trying to project out what the what the
• 2:40
  roster is going to look like. Obviously you know we have players that we
• 2:45
  know that won't return. Then you have some some younger players that that you
• 2:49
  know are going to have heavy, heavy interest, you know, in terms
• 2:54
  of steph and and Donovan and and ak so. But those things we're kind
• 3:02
  of having casual conversations about that, but we really are really just trying to
• 3:07
  focus on next practice, you know, studying the heck out of this Illinois
• 3:12
  team, staying in the moment, staying present with that. It hasn't hurt
• 3:17
  us in the past. That's the way we've always handled things. You know,
• 3:21
  we're not good at tampering or cheating. We've never tried that and we've
• 3:25
  still been very successful. So you know, we want to play out the
• 3:30
  season and then obviously, you know, we'll deal with our roster situations.
• 3:34
  But you know, we just as a program, you know, we want
• 3:38
  to have a high level culture and the respect of our peers to not be
• 3:42
  one of those programs that's you know, trying to steal players off other teams
• 3:46
  in season. Just a quick follow up with that because last year, you
• 3:52
  know, you spoke on how you had to take a few of these zoom
• 3:55
  interviews with these transfers, like have you put your you know, foot down
• 4:00
  line in the sand, the whole thing on, Like you know, if
• 4:02
  you're fortunate enough to go to Arizona, like we're not doing that again,
• 4:05
  or is it a state of the business where like it's almost out of your
• 4:09
  control for me to make for you specifically in this team, Like you know
• 4:13
  that that must not have been like what you wanted to do a year ago
• 4:15
  when you're trying to win a title on your and your gob on you you
• 4:17
  got assistance hopping on. I'm wondering if you're if you're intent on not having
• 4:20
  to repeat that or if it's just an unavoidable reality here. So what we've
• 4:25
  tried to do is like as players have gone in that there may be an
• 4:29
  interest in based on how some personnel things go for us, either portal or
• 4:34
  early entry draft. You know, we've had like you know, Tom who's
• 4:40
  acting as a pseudo you know, GM for us maybe making an initial call
• 4:44
  of interest. But yeah, I'm not actively. I think I've I've called
• 4:48
  a high school player that's available and had a had a phone conversation. But
• 4:54
  i just think it's our practice, you know, for me and Kamani and
• 4:58
  Luke to to lock in on team and to take this season as far as
• 5:02
  we can go. And you know, if we if we lose players because
• 5:08
  we're moving slower. Again, it hasn't hurt us the past two years,
• 5:15
  Dan, you talked about a lot of what college basketball as a whole is
• 5:17
  facing the issue of gambling being so out there for those of us of a
• 5:23
  certain age that's strange enough to kind of live in a space where gambling is
• 5:28
  so present in there. I'm curious what you how you feel about that and
• 5:33
  if gambling to you is a threat, because like the kids are you know,
• 5:38
  could be targeted by people, or if it's because they're vulnerable and then
• 5:42
  you're looking at you know, bad stuff, point shaving things like that.
• 5:45
  What do you see as the threats? I think you worry about the people
• 5:47
  getting close to the players, you know, anyone involved in your program,
• 5:53
  with the student managers or what have you. I just think the antennas are
• 5:56
  up, you know now with these plays now with players, you know,
• 6:00
  with this n I L opportunity. You know it's not like they need to
• 6:03
  bet, uh you know, on on games in college with that inside information
• 6:08
  because they need the cash. You know, these kids now are in a
• 6:12
  position, uh you know, to to begin investing money, taking care of
• 6:17
  family, having family, travel and il has been great. But yeah,
• 6:23
  you worry about the people are around the players and just how easily accessible it
• 6:27
  is. I mean we you know we we play in practice uh at the
• 6:31
  Excel Center, not very far from a window where we could see you know,
• 6:35
  the you know, the the gambling going on. So lets go shaere
• 6:40
  front left Gavin Keith in London, day Dan, How do you go about
• 6:43
  building a strong connection with your players and how important is that to your team's
• 6:46
  success? Time? You know, you invest every second that you can in
• 6:54
  them that the n C Double A allows both on the court, you know,
• 7:00
  and off the court. Truly, you just pour everything you have into
• 7:05
  them. Your family is intertwined with your program, and I think players sense
• 7:15
  that they feel that. You know, my players will accept the hard coaching
• 7:18
  for me because and our staff, because you know, they know how much
• 7:24
  we love them. They know how much we're trying to prepare them, toughen
• 7:28
  them up, teach them, help them grow as men, develop new skills
• 7:30
  quickly, all those things that are going to add value to their lives.
• 7:34
  And we're relentless for them. You know, we're literally giving everything we got
• 7:40
  to them while they're on campus. Now, I wouldn't want to play for
• 7:43
  me for ten years, twelve years. I mean I wouldn't want to play
• 7:46
  for this staff for eight, ten, twelve, fifteen years. You know.
• 7:50
  We we go hard for these guys while they're on campus. And that's
• 7:55
  why I think you see the bond the way it is. It's in some
• 8:00
  cases it's you know, it's eight months, it's ten months, it's two
• 8:01
  or three years. You've got to do that at a sprinter's pace, you
• 8:05
  know, because it's such a short window where you're trying to prepare these guys
• 8:09
  for the rest of their lives success, the stuff that they need to learn.
• 8:13
  As men's coach, Dan, what's the single most important or maybe the
• 8:20
  two or three most important pieces of advice that either Jim Calhoun or one of
• 8:24
  the other you know, veteran coaches that you talk to about handling the later
• 8:28
  stages of March. Yeah, I mean for me, certainly shortening up practices.
• 8:35
  I think that, you know, trusting your team. I think from
• 8:39
  Coach Calhoun and and and and Gino have really tried to hammer that home,
• 8:45
  uh, you know, with with me as the season's gone on, shortening
• 8:48
  those practices, and I think, you know, the you know, the
• 8:54
  the leadership, the public persona. I think Gino and Coach Calhoun have a
• 9:03
  heavy influence on how I try to carry myself this time a year as a
• 9:07
  Yukon coach. The confidence that you've got to display both in house and in
• 9:13
  front of you guys, because because of what Yukon represents in March and April.
• 9:20
  Jimmy goldfrom the Associated Press to follow up on what you mentioned about Donovan
• 9:24
  the other day, What is it about his game that you saw could be
• 9:28
  could improve if he stuck around, and what kind of growth have you seen
• 9:31
  from him? And then kind of how remarkable is it for you that a
• 9:35
  guy can look at the NBA and say, now I'm good. I'll wait.
• 9:37
  Yeah, I mean, obviously all the defensive things and now that he's
• 9:41
  healthy, all the movement and the ballscreen defense, plus the rim protection.
• 9:46
  He's got a unique skill set for somebody that's seven to two, seven to
• 9:48
  three. You could see somebody that's very comfortable like passing and handling the ball
• 9:54
  away from the basket, which is so critical in the NBA game today with
• 10:00
  the five out. And you know, I think if you watch him,
• 10:05
  you know, in pregame warm ups, you could see that the shooting eventually
• 10:09
  at the air as he gets into an NBA organization, you know, you
• 10:13
  you'll see the shooting with him. You'll see a guy that eventually will be
• 10:16
  able to step away and make shots. People see Jokic and what he looks
• 10:20
  like when he's twenty five, twenty six years old. You know, when
• 10:24
  he was twenty he wasn't making you know, twenty four foot threes and doing
• 10:28
  all the things that you're seeing him do. The last couple of years.
• 10:31
  So you know, Donovan's you know, Donovan has an ability to uh to
• 10:37
  develop new skills rapidly, and you know you'll you'll see that, you know
• 10:43
  when he gets to the NBA that he was able to you know, put
• 10:48
  off. Yeah, but you know he comes uh you know, a great
• 10:56
  family raised them and and in Bristol's to humble and grounded, and you know
• 11:03
  he's Connecticut kid. He loves Connecticut. You know, he loves college.
• 11:09
  You know, once these guys leave college, they're not going to be on
• 11:11
  teams like this again that feel the way we feel about each other. Ever
• 11:16
  again, you're going to go into an NBA organization and it's going to be
• 11:22
  it's gonna be business. It's it's gonna be it's gonna be man. You
• 11:24
  know what. You know that there's it's not gonna be like this in terms
• 11:31
  of the way the group feels about each other, the brotherhood, the camaraderie,
• 11:35
  and I think you know he wanted another year of that one more for
• 11:41
  you, Dan. It has not been a recurring trope for this team to
• 11:46
  win close games. You had to perhaps there, but I am curious how
• 11:50
  you are trying to guard against or prepare your team, for if it's caught
• 11:54
  in a one possession game with two minutes to go tomorrow night, or if
• 12:00
  if you do, does you and your staff have any control over your team's
• 12:03
  composure when it comes to that, How much does that weigh on you if
• 12:05
  you wind up getting you know, if you're not blowing them out with with
• 12:09
  with at the under four you know, yeah, well, we've played under
• 12:11
  pressure on a daily basis because you know, our practice is very intense,
• 12:16
  So I do think that helps us to a degree. But you know,
• 12:20
  at MSG, that's Saint John's game, you know that was not you know
• 12:26
  that that that game was tight and and we made plays later in the second
• 12:31
  half in an electric building to get it to double figures. You know,
• 12:35
  the Marquette game in the in the Biggiest Finals was was not a runaway for
• 12:39
  us. It was a tight game that we got separation in the second half.
• 12:45
  You know, we've played close games during the year. Uh. You
• 12:48
  know, I just think you know the expect you know the expectation, and
• 12:54
  you know, in the game versus Illinois, Illinois is one of the best
• 12:56
  teams in the country, you know, one of the best team teams in
• 13:00
  the country. We expect a forty minute war going into every game that we
• 13:05
  go into. You know, I know you'll see you know the end of
• 13:07
  that clip when I came into the locker room and said, we just keep
• 13:09
  blowing these teams out, Well, they missed the first part of that,
• 13:13
  which was, Man, I don't know how we're blowing these teams out in
• 13:18
  this setting. You guys are special. So we go into every game,
• 13:22
  you know, San Diego State, we didn't think we'd be plus twenty seven
• 13:24
  on the backboard versus that rebounding team. We didn't think that we would beat
• 13:28
  a team like that, you know, that beat the team that you know,
• 13:33
  that beat the Auburn team that everyone felt like could make a deep,
• 13:37
  deep run in this tournament by you know, by thirty. So you go
• 13:41
  into it thinking it's gonna be a full forty minute war, you know,
• 13:45
  and we've systematically been able to break teams down. It's about five one rights
• 13:50
  go ahead to the right. When Norm in yukon Sports Network, Dan,
• 13:52
  you just talk rebounding. These are two of the top ten rebound margin teams
• 13:58
  in the country. How do you see the rebounding battle playing out tomorrow?
• 14:01
  And where do you maybe have an edge. Yeah, it's gonna be bloody
• 14:03
  battle. It's a rebounding war tomorrow, and it's gonna be a it's gonna
• 14:07
  be a bloody one. You know, the Big East and the Big Ten,
• 14:11
  two of the toughest leagues. You know, you get you get real
• 14:15
  men playing in these two conferences. So, uh, you know, when
• 14:18
  the ball goes up, you know whoever's fastest to it, whoever makes that
• 14:22
  first violent contact and then continues to improve their position. They're an excellent rebounding
• 14:28
  team. We're an excellent rebounding team. We both go to the offensive glass.
• 14:33
  I think tomorrow is gonna be just I think it's gonna be a fun
• 14:35
  game. I think too, the two top offenses in the country, you
• 14:41
  know, play NBA players up and down, you know, both rosters.
• 14:46
  You know, I know they're hungry to break through and get to a final
• 14:48
  four. You know we're hungry to get back to a final four. So
• 14:52
  you know, we're two of the two of the truly best teams in the
• 14:56
  country. Anything elseide the coach, all right, thanks, how you look tomm