Latest / Coaches Corner / MBB Coach Dan Hurley - Postseason Wrap April 20

Transcript

MBB Coach Dan Hurley - Postseason Wrap April 20 · Coaches Corner

• 0:00
  So what's this week been like. It's been kind of a lot of stuff
• 0:03
  going on. Yeah. Well, there's a good thing about um this uh,
• 0:08
  this job is that there's always stuff going on constantly, um, all
• 0:13
  the time, especially with all the changes to the rules and everything. So
• 0:16
  you just, uh it's it's very comfortable when when things, I guess on
• 0:20
  the outside world outsiders feel like it's a little bit chaotic, uh, but
• 0:24
  for us, we're very comfortable, um, you know with all this going
• 0:27
  on because it's uh, just a reality of what it is daily. So
• 0:32
  just opportunities that being presented to your players because of it's I think everything that
• 0:36
  has happened to this point, um, is exactly what we thought was going
• 0:41
  to happen. I've said this during the course of the year. I think
• 0:43
  you you could anticipate in January, who, um, you know, who's
• 0:48
  going to end up going in the portal. You know, if it's a
• 0:50
  player that's older, um, you know that that's been looking at a situation
• 0:54
  where maybe you know they're at the end of their career and they want a
• 0:57
  bigger role, they're more than likely going to going to move on on.
• 1:00
  Um. You know. For us, I think we anticipated having a national
• 1:04
  championship year. Uh. This is what elite programs face. You know,
• 1:08
  they face, Um, you know, players leaving early to the NBA,
• 1:11
  they face Uh, you know, players going through the draft process, maintaining
• 1:15
  eligibility. UM. You know you usually UM, obviously there's usually staff,
• 1:23
  major staff changes, which you know, to this point, we're fortunate to
• 1:26
  be intact there. But it's it's a reality of being an elite program.
• 1:30
  Now that's where we're at. We're gonna be deal with this every year.
• 1:32
  I was about to ask, is that going to be the new normal for
• 1:34
  UC on basketball? And is that the way you want it? Um?
• 1:37
  I mean I would prefer it to be to be a little more stable.
• 1:41
  Um. But I think when you get to this level of college basketball and
• 1:45
  your your national champion, and your players have lots of value, and your
• 1:49
  coaching staff has lots of value because you're very successful, opportunities get created.
• 1:55
  Um. Unlike last year, when it was pretty crystal clear um that that
• 2:00
  players we're moving on, it was easier for us to to make moves rosterwise.
• 2:07
  UM, We're gonna have to have some patience and kind of some some
• 2:12
  plans in the back of our minds as to you know what we're Tristan an
• 2:15
  Andre situation. Um, if one of them's back, if both of them
• 2:19
  are back, if neither's back, Uh, you know what we're gonna what
• 2:23
  We're gonna look to do. Um. But right now I think our focus
• 2:27
  is, um, you know, we're going to return five to seven players
• 2:30
  from a national championship team. We've got, uh, you know, an
• 2:35
  elite recruiting class coming in that's one of the best in the country, and
• 2:38
  I think a couple of those guys are actually underrated, um, you know,
• 2:44
  and and there's going to be a little bit of uncertainty for the next
• 2:46
  month for us, and we're going to focus on twenty four recruiting and bring
• 2:50
  in another elite class in that class, and then you know, some moves
• 2:53
  maybe for next year's team. We're going to have to probably wait a little
• 2:57
  while, um, until we have a little more clarity. But those guys
• 3:00
  have to do because I mean, obviously you want good players. Some plays
• 3:04
  plays don't want to be on your schedule. They want to make decision for
• 3:07
  yeah. Ready, It's just it's hard because, um, you know,
• 3:08
  if you're trying to recruit a player right now, if you're looking for some
• 3:13
  type of a piece, It's it's hard to give them a vision of what
• 3:16
  they're walking into. When, um, you know, when you have two
• 3:20
  perimeter I mean you have you have one of the best point guards in the
• 3:23
  country in Tristan, and then you have one of you know, the best
• 3:27
  all around perimeter people in the country. You're in the draft process, it's
• 3:30
  it's hard to recruit um with that type of uncertainty. So um, but
• 3:36
  this is why we went out and invest of the time that we did in
• 3:38
  the twenty three class. Uh. And then obviously, um, we've got
• 3:43
  uh two of the best returning front court players in the country that we're obviously
• 3:47
  going to build around. And then you know, we'll see how Tristan and
• 3:51
  Alex and Donovan and then we see Tristan and uh you see how Tristan and
• 3:55
  Andre how this plays out of it of course for the next month or so.
• 4:00
  Uh. And we also feel like, uh, we got some guys
• 4:02
  here in Hassan and Sampson that are almost like new recruits for us. Two
• 4:06
  guys I think that we're going to give us a lot more um than we
• 4:10
  have. Apostleis who we really believe in game when you're trying to retain guys
• 4:15
  and even when you're trying to bring guys in, how much has the NIL
• 4:17
  change that can when you can say the player, hey, you're famous in
• 4:21
  Connecticut. You you get opportunity to make money here with without leaving, yeah,
• 4:28
  or by coming here. Yeah. Um, somebody open there. Yeah
• 4:33
  yeah, I think yeah, you listen, you're your NIL has got to
• 4:36
  be has got to be strong, um in today's game, and you know
• 4:43
  to to to stay at this level. Um, you know, our n
• 4:46
  I l our collective here is going to have to be really strong. I've
• 4:48
  said this a lot. Uh. I don't want it to be a reason
• 4:53
  why players come here. I want players to want to play for me.
• 4:57
  I want players to want to play for this story program. I want players
• 5:00
  to want to be part of our culture. I want players to see this
• 5:03
  as a place where they could develop and become NBA players, where you know,
• 5:09
  where the big, big life changing opportunities are in their career. So.
• 5:13
  Um, but we also don't want to lose players because of it in
• 5:15
  terms of retention and um, you know, but I don't want it to
• 5:19
  be you know, the primary reason as a as a as a type of
• 5:24
  coach that I am. That that's why players want to come here. Is
• 5:27
  it hard to with the uncertainty between with Fishing and Andre? Having all said
• 5:30
  all that, is it hard to kind of the type of player you might
• 5:34
  be looking for in the portal or whether it be a shooter or a big
• 5:38
  or whatever. Yeah, I mean if you look, you know, I
• 5:42
  think, um, you know, it's just it's tough right now either to
• 5:46
  um, you know, to sell a vision to a player or to really
• 5:50
  have a vision for a player when it is uncertain. And I think for
• 5:55
  us it's, uh, we'll throw our focus on on getting those like blue
• 5:59
  chip eat guys that we believe are are those foundation players in twenty four to
• 6:04
  continue to stockpile, you know, the elite players in these high school classes,
• 6:09
  and then you know, I think you start to get feedback as these
• 6:13
  as days turn into the next couple of weeks with with Tristan and Andre,
• 6:15
  obviously, uh, you know we're in a perfect world those guys, you
• 6:19
  know, you know, Tristan makes himself turns himself into a draft pick like
• 6:25
  Tyrese did, and Andre becomes a first round pick. I mean, in
• 6:28
  a perfect world, that's what happens. I mean, obviously that's not the
• 6:30
  best interest of our season next year, but it's in the best interest of
• 6:34
  our program and because of everything those guys, those two guys have done for
• 6:38
  us. So yeah, I mean it's going to be, uh, you
• 6:41
  know, for us, it's going to be uncertain for the next month in
• 6:45
  terms of what the you know, what it's going to totally look like on
• 6:47
  the court. But you know, the staff and the fans, you know
• 6:50
  that this group just to deliver to a national championship, we gotta be I
• 6:55
  think we owe it to the program to be a little patient and to you
• 6:59
  know, not Yeah, what's the process like for those two guys that we're
• 7:03
  talking to you? And then did they just come in this week and tell
• 7:06
  you I'm going to go to the NBA are gonna put myself in the draft?
• 7:10
  What was your role in that? And how did you find out?
• 7:12
  No, I mean we've known for a couple of weeks or no, I
• 7:15
  think we were playing a couple of weeks ago. It feels like we um
• 7:17
  No, we've had conversations with those two guys. I would say for the
• 7:23
  last week to ten days. I think it's been more. Um, you
• 7:27
  know, those guys being aligned with the right representation and then just coming up
• 7:31
  with a plan for you know where they're going to work out in train and
• 7:34
  they've obviously been in our workouts and we'll continue to take care of the academics
• 7:40
  until then. Um. You know the difference between a Dama, uh and
• 7:44
  Jordan and Andre and Tristan as they'd maintain the eligibility, whereas the other two
• 7:47
  guys have turned pro So these guys are still here and the other guys are
• 7:53
  gone. Do you feel like the kids who had to make decisions have made
• 7:55
  them? Like who's here now? It's you're pretty fe good like like guys
• 7:59
  like Asan SAMs. Yeah, it's got a coming back. Yeah, yeah,
• 8:01
  I mean we've we've had those meetings and and uh, um it looks
• 8:05
  like that's where we're at, um, you know, with the group and
• 8:09
  and uh you know, we go forward. I mean they see an opportunity,
• 8:13
  you know, particularly at their particular position, there's going to be opportunities
• 8:16
  on the perimeters of the opportunities in Froe Court. Um, you know,
• 8:18
  we we've lost some people and obviously, uh, you know, we got
• 8:22
  we got some tremendous returners and then obviously the big recruiting class. We'll see
• 8:26
  what happens with those two guys. Are you expecting the staff to stay the
• 8:31
  same or or or I mean you would think Kimi and Luke would get some
• 8:35
  I mean I was a year ago. For me, just the only thing
• 8:39
  that really interests me is is uh, you know, adding the general manager
• 8:43
  piece. I wanted to do it before other people. I think Kimani told
• 8:46
  me it was stupid or Luke, I don't know. Somebody told me it
• 8:52
  was. It was they looked at me before Duke did it. I wanted
• 8:54
  to do it, um, but somebody up there, I don't know.
• 9:00
  I can't remember if it was Lucer, Come on, it wasn't Tom.
• 9:03
  Somebody said it was a bad idea. But for me, just with where
• 9:07
  the game is now, like we're still a program in a sense, we
• 9:09
  have a culture, but this college basketball is now, you're it's an organization
• 9:13
  and there with the re recruitment of players in your program and the portal and
• 9:22
  a lot of things that are going on now. I think if you,
• 9:24
  if you're a top level organization in college basketball college football, you better have
• 9:28
  somebody that looks at themselves like a general manager that's dealing with schedule, that's
• 9:33
  dealing with the conference, that's dealing with the nil, that's raising money,
• 9:37
  and looking it at that, I think it's almost more important than maybe even
• 9:43
  you know, critical staff positions. I think it's going to become the thing.
• 9:46
  Is it a different challenge for you now to get the hunger back or
• 9:50
  keep the hunger in the building now that you think No, I mean I'm
• 9:54
  ready to go. I mean I can't wait to get a break in May
• 9:58
  at some point when things have settled a little bit. But no, I
• 10:01
  am um no, no, no, no, no, no. Once
• 10:07
  you get a taste of that, I mean, once you experience that,
• 10:09
  uh, I think you're desired to get back into and to do it again,
• 10:13
  and to do it again, and to do it with with people that
• 10:16
  haven't experienced that. I mean that experience you want to deliver to more people
• 10:22
  that you care about and more people that you recruit and envision doing it with.
• 10:26
  And you just want to experience that with more people that you that you
• 10:31
  care about, because it's so incredible. Sampson h could you see him playing
• 10:35
  with five next year? I mean I think we have a lot of flexibility.
• 10:39
  I think Alex, Um, you know, guys like Alex and Jaylen
• 10:43
  Stewart have the flexibility to play on the perimeter. Uh. They're both super
• 10:48
  skilled. They both can shoot, you know, which opens up minutes at
• 10:50
  the four and um, you know, and and and Sampson obviously, uh,
• 10:54
  you know, could play either front court position. And I think he's
• 10:58
  intent on, you know, trying to really build up his body in the
• 11:00
  weight room. And um, you know it's Donovan's not going to be able
• 11:05
  to be a thirty two to thirty four minute a game player, nor do
• 11:07
  we want them to be. Um, you know, we want we want
• 11:09
  Donovan to be able to be in that twenty six you know, twenty six
• 11:15
  to twenty eight minute range I think in a perfect world. And so there's
• 11:18
  uh, you know, there's going to be more front court minutes there.
• 11:20
  So Sampson, even you're asking to be patient, all ye, he's been
• 11:24
  patient. I guess he has. He has it. I you credit people
• 11:26
  that, um that don't want to leave this level, that believe that they
• 11:31
  are that they can you know, they can get the role or earn the
• 11:35
  role that they want and not leave this level. And and and and also
• 11:39
  want the responsibility of keeping the program at the level that it's at. Um
• 11:43
  And you got a ton of respect for guys like Hassan and and uh and
• 11:48
  Samson an Apostolus Um, you know for wanting to u you know, to
• 11:52
  earn their way on the court and uh, you know, for the you
• 11:56
  know, the defending national champs. It's great and it may be a dumb
• 11:58
  question, but but no, no, no, there's there's there. Well,
• 12:07
  I was just listening to the podcast. Yes they're talking about this,
• 12:09
  and I was like, I was saying, now, you know, I
• 12:11
  was to it, Adama, there's no chance of him coming back. Here's
• 12:16
  that fair to say? I mean, yeah, I mean with what just
• 12:18
  to what we witnessed there in the conversations and um, you know, and
• 12:22
  yeah, you know his full tent is his pro bawl and you know,
• 12:28
  I think he's uh, I think he's gonna be this year's Tyrese. But
• 12:33
  yeah, Adama's done with with college basketball. There's got to be more,
• 12:39
  right, what are we forgetting off easy? I won't see this girl the
• 12:45
  summer summer numbers wise, obviously, you know, you have a lot of
• 12:50
  guys I've gone or just yeah, like possibilities to affect your world. No,
• 12:54
  I don't think so. I think, uh, you know, unfortunately
• 12:56
  for my son Andrew, um, but his cardio is pretty good. He
• 13:00
  played and every enst double a game. So now I just think we were
• 13:07
  so intent last year to get to thirteen for practice purposes, and you know,
• 13:13
  I would say that maybe maybe you look for a variety of reasons.
• 13:18
  Maybe you think about the roster being maybe eleven or twelve m and just make
• 13:24
  sure that that the that the walk Ons can help you practice, because there
• 13:26
  are other things that are you know, there's other considerations like it just puts
• 13:33
  you in a situation where more people are going into portal. Um, you
• 13:37
  know there's also nil there where now you have more people. Um. So
• 13:43
  yeah, I think, Um, I don't know that we'll be as um,
• 13:48
  you know, as focused on trying to get to the maximum number as
• 13:50
  we are just feeling great about our team. And at what date do you
• 13:54
  expect to have the roster set, the staff set, everything so well,
• 13:58
  I mean we didn't get I mean Joey California was in was in June,
• 14:03
  and I remember there was a lot of consternation about our offseason last summer.
• 14:09
  So um, I don't think we can. I don't think we're necessarily know
• 14:15
  when it's all going to come together. We have to get you know,
• 14:18
  we learned a lot about roster construction. We learned a lot about personalities,
• 14:20
  We learned a lot about um, you know, how we want to set
• 14:24
  up our team at both ends of the court in terms of the skills and
• 14:28
  the way we want to play a mirror the way we just played it.
• 14:31
  So um, and make some adjustments for personnel. But yeah, I mean,
• 14:35
  I just think we're just going to have to be patient. It's not
• 14:37
  easy for me because as you can tell, patience is not my greatest virtue,
• 14:43
  and it's not for our fans or for my staff. So but we
• 14:46
  all going to have to be patient, and they're just everyone's just going to
• 14:50
  have to occasually just look up at the banner or the trophy. Anytime that
• 14:54
  they just start to lose patience and lose their mind, just look look up
• 14:58
  there, or get a replica. Find Jimmy California. Now, I guess
• 15:03
  I'm if I could ever I mean, listen, if there's ever a kid
• 15:07
  from from California that could make threes and that's some guts Well, I mean
• 15:11
  there's some big opportunities now, So I don't don't think we're not looking.
• 15:13
  You know, we've got Jalen from you know, we've got Jalen from Seattle.
• 15:18
  But find that a guy that could make some threes from California right now.
• 15:22
  I mean that's a pretty pretty good deal. Whether this year or in
• 15:28
  the future. What's going to make Andres such a good grow you guys?
• 15:31
  Yeah, yeah, I just think that, Um, there's a number of
• 15:35
  players in the NBA that, you know, whether again it's like a Draymond
• 15:39
  Green or uh Bruce Brown. Um, you know, if there's a number
• 15:45
  of guys in the NBA right now that are being very successful on NBA teams
• 15:50
  that you know aren't necessarily three point shooters, they're just all around tremendous basketball
• 15:54
  players. And he just he's a he's a playmaker. He's an impact player,
• 16:00
  makes your organization better. I mean he's a champion. He's a championship
• 16:03
  level player. Um, like what any or what organization doesn't want an individual
• 16:08
  he immediately makes your organization better. And uh, it's an incredible playmaker.
• 16:15
  Any like any maybe be the best athlete in the NBA from a day he
• 16:18
  steps into the NBA, and I'm I'm talking about like lateral quickness, speed
• 16:23
  above the rim, athleticism, strength. I don't I think that he could
• 16:29
  potentially be the best all around athlete and a good guy to be able to
• 16:33
  do program. I mean, that's got to you. You don't they don't
• 16:37
  make him like him And that's where again it's like you can't be selfish,
• 16:41
  you you you know him in triest him. Um, you know what they've
• 16:45
  done for the program, what they've done for all of us in their career,
• 16:48
  what they've experienced in their own career. I mean you just you know
• 16:51
  you listen, you'd love to coach him again and love to run it back
• 16:56
  with them and increases our chances of winning it again. But like it's the
• 17:00
  world all right, then they're both in the NBA. Wait, thank you, Thanks go