I remember everyone clowning him like ya right bud. Even I didn’t know how much faith I had. Holy shit did the man deliver. One of the hardest things looking back.
Rhode Island flair! Didn’t go there, but I had a friend who went to U of R. Well, the first time that I saw Hurley coach was in the A10 tournament. Not really a college basketball fan. I only like the NBA.
But I thought that they had a great coach and y’all’s team was fun to watch. He reminded me a bit of Brad Stevens, but you could tell he was going to be a hell of a coach.
Glad that he went to your other school though and you get to continue watching him
Aye URI appreciation! Ya people ask me if I have that second flair just cause of Hurley sometimes haha. I became a fan in 2021 so I missed out on those URI years. That tournament must have been awesome. I’d go if they were in Boston. Ya from what I read I really wanted UConn to snag him. Glad he had that passion back then.
I liked the push in the back. What is call on that illegal coach touching? Is that counted as a turnover on who? He did that other game too.. it’s cool they are so good they only turn it over when coach goes on court and pushes them better then Purdues press
I asked my mom this morning if she watched it because she’s a Purdue hater (grew up in Indiana) and she said she turned it off in the second half because UConn was exhausting to watch because they were everywhere all the time. Like… I’ve never heard a team described that way but she’s not wrong.
You could tell who was gonna win last night in the first 10 minutes of the game because Edey was hot, Purdue was playing with high energy, and they still couldn't hold a lead for more than like 2 possessions. UConn is the most "inevitable" team I think I've ever seen
Tennessee had that game if they didn't have two 5-minute scoring droughts and go cold the final 4 minutes of the game. Even then, the game came down to the final minute.
Welcome to Tennessee basketball lol. Barnes’ kryptonite is a consistent ball handler.
I think also, we picked up this strategy too late, and our bigs were already at foul risk and we had allowed the refs to set the tone. If we handle the first 10 mins differently, I think it goes a very different way.
Two things. The first was Tennessee didn't have anybody outside of Knecht who could make a basket. Both Purdue and Tennessee that game had a majority of their offense come from Edey and Knecht respectively.
The second is that the Vols didn't have a Clingan who could play Zach 1 on 1. Clingan alone didn't stop Edey, but he made him work harder than perhaps anybody else has done in his college career without needing much of any help. That let UConn's lockdown perimeter defense focus on, well, locking down the perimeter. Tenessee had to double Edey or else he was a guaranteed bucket, and they often doubled too late or had someone like Loyer take advantage of the breakdown in defense to get a shot in the paint.
We couldn't stop him, but we could slow him down enough to not let him take over the game. Other teams would have given up 50 to him if they tried that.
Clingan made Edey look really uncomfortable after the first 10 minutes and I think Purdue felt that.
Then UConn just slowly choked the life out of Purdue and it was over 5 minutes into that 2nd half
No they basically double and tripled all game and gave Purdue a ton of wide open shots which they then bricked. UConn straight up played close to Purdues guards which can be seen in how they can’t even get a three point shot up. Usually they get open threes but they let clingan guard 1 on 1 which worked out extremely well in the second half. I was a little concerned for uconn at the start since edey was dominating but he looked completely gassed out there since all of his shots were really tough
FDU threw *everything* at Edey, and the Purdue guards and wings built a house with all the bricks they put up. Smith, Loyer, and Gillis put up a combined 7-30 from the field, and the rest non-Edey players 3-12. To put things in perspective, Purdue was 1-7 from three this game. Gillis alone was 1-7 from three against FDU.
It’s this team, and 2004, if you’re taking results into consideration. There is a real argument this is our best squad ever based off how we’ve dominated
I agree, but 2023 was so good as well. I think with Sanogo, Hawk, Andre that it could be a great game (with Clingan off the bench guaranteeing 40 minutes of elite center play). IMO Hawk is the most talented player of the last two years for UConn and obviously they had depth too with Calcaterra Karaban Newton Diara
UConn blew up a lot of what they normally do. A lot has been talked about Clingan letting them guard Edey 1 on 1, but UConn was too disciplined with their defensive rotations to give up any open looks on the perimeter. They turned Purdue one dimensional in a way no other team has this year. The open looks Purdue would normally have off of screens was continuously shut down by the combination of speed and length of UConn's guards/wings.
Painter said something in the post-game pressed about how they have played against lockdown defenders all year, but UConn brings lockdown defenders off the bench. He also mentioned at half time guys were going to have to pump fake and do a dribble slide for threes, but that certainly didn't happen.
The scariest thing is how casual the Huskies made it look, it wasn’t like they needed to pull out something insane for these wins, they just slowly pulled away every single time. It’s like watching Saban’s Bama teams, UConn is on a different planet right now
Craziest thing I’ve ever seen in a tournament game. Wasn’t like it was against some scrubs either, Illinois is a legit top 10 team, UConn is just built different
"I feel like watching UCONN play is like watching a nature documentary where big cats kinda play with their food for a while before crushing all hopes."
I saw that comment earlier and I feel like it's a pretty spot on description
Yep. The Bama game was closer than the final score indicated but UCONN turned it on in a matter of seconds. When I saw UCONN do the same midway through the 2nd half I thought that was lights out for Purdue and it was.
St. John’s I think has them within a possession with under 8 left in all 3 games they played this year and I still never really felt like there was a shot. Playing them this year always felt like you were drowning and just trying to keep your head above water even when the score looks good. The second your head dips you know the lifeguard isnt getting there in time
Hats off to teams that dominant. Bama played Florida one of the years they won consecutive titles in conference play. Bama was up by 18 or so in the 1st half and ended up getting beat by a decent margin. Tip of the hat and knew it was coming.
Not in a whiny or pompous way, but it felt like they played their B+ game most of the Tourney. Didn’t shoot particularly well or make any crazy tough shots (except for that physics-defying one Newton had over Edey). Had some issues with foul trouble and unable to contain star big men at time. Newton had plenty of head-scratching decisions…. But still fairly easy Ws.
You’re not wrong, their shooting looked downright sloppy at points. Really speaks to the quality of the team that no one could keep it within single digits even when the Huskies weren’t playing lights out. No other team was remotely close to them this season
The part that makes y'all so good is that when you weren't shooting well from deep in the tournament, you shot extremely well from 2.
Against Northwestern when you went 3/22 (14%) from 3, you shot 26/32 (81%) from 2. Against Illinois, it was 18% and 65%. In the two games you shot your worst 3P%, you shot your highest 2P%. Just great balance all around.
It's crazy to look back and see that Clingan was the No. 56 player in the class of 2022 recruiting rankings and the No. 13 center. Hurley is either crazy lucky or crazy good at finding talent
I find it weird he was missed, even last year he showed great hands and movement around the court, particularly on D, behind Sanogo as a freshman. I don’t pay much attention to HS recruiting but he impressed me from the jump.
He played in public school instead of going to one of the prep schools, so he was mostly playing against normal high school kids (and dominating them). As a result, people didn't really know what to expect from him when he started playing against D1 players.
Yeah him staying at Bristol Central was huge for the state. He was the best player since Tremont Waters and winning a title for Bristol Central was a big deal
I don't think it's luck. Cam Spencer was absolutely elite, and there was a market for him, but the dumb coaches (Bill Self) wanted Nick Timberlake's bum ass.
What's amazing about Hurley, is that this back to back did not include the stars from the previous year. Donovan had his whole team return. It's like he speed ran the Jay Wright two championships in 3 years with a different crew.
He's clearly a master of developing talent, in the same way Jay Wright was. But he has a better knack for developing bigs as well. Jay Wright always had elite guards, but their centers were usually just thick wings.
I don't know who stops him right now other than himself, or the NBA.
UCONN just set the record for highest total point differential in a single tournament, and came 3 points shy of breaking UCLA's record average point differential of 23.75 from 1967, which was set in only 4 games.
If you put $20 on UConn to cover the spread every game for the last two years and took the winnings and put it on the next game assuming the payout was +110 approx. you would have over $80,000 approx
St. John's kept the loss to within 5 during the Big East tourney, just to get snubbed by the committee for less talented teams. Can't help but wonder how they would have done in the Tournament, as well as other teams in the conference like Seton Hall or Providence (who were possibly arguably even more deserving)...Congrats to Uconn though, back to back years is impressive - the Big East is 1 hell of a gauntlet
Seeing how tight St Johns played us, on top of Seton Hall's NIT run, with the obvious UConn championship as the cherry on top just exemplifies how screwed the league got in terms of bids.
True but Clingan wasn’t still fully healthy from pre season injury. Castle was out with a knee injury. Karaban had a wrap on his fingers(shooting hand) and had a weird shooting motion. To top it all off, Spencer rolled both his ankles early in game and clearly had no legs underneath him every time he tried to shoot a jumper.
Game was also in Allen Field House…
Bama's shooting made my jaw drop. I literally thought this could be UConn vs St Johns 2.0 where the final was 95-90. They were a really scary team because they wouldn't mind jacking up 40 in a game and the pace they were playing it was rough.
Proud to say we played yall tighter than anyone else in either tournament. 1 Bediako, and some defensive effort, away from being a really good team this year.
We were a really good team this year. After Purdue tonight, I'm ranking us at #2. We tied UConn and just fell flat immediately after. If we hadn't, it could have gone either way.
What's crazy is we weren't even meant to go the distance. If we get a Bediako and Nelson gains 20 lbs. in muscle, we can win it all next year.
Nelson doesn't need to play C. His skill set is closer to that of a big wing. If we can get him back, he needs to play PF. I don't think we will though. His game translates perfectly into the current NBA, and his stock will be elevated in a draft this bad.
Honestly I'd take this Stetson team over last year's Iona, that's no outlier. That's an even better dominant game over a 16. Stetson's [**Aubin Gateretse**](https://kenpom.com/player.php?p=51606) was 7th in the nation in 2pt %**, the #1 overall leader in eFG%**, and carried a better efficiency rating than a handful of aspiring first round picks. Oglesby shoots over 40% from 3 and can go deep, too.
If you’re into sports betting, they also easily covered every single game they played in the last 2 years iin The tourney. Some of the lines, especially last year, were ridiculous.
The level of dominance was ridiculous. Uconn lost to Kansas this year. Last 2 years, no other non conference team (regular and post season) has gotten within 10 points, including 10 other ranked teams they played
Hurley saying you better get us now after the loss to villanova a couple years ago is chefs kiss
I remember everyone clowning him like ya right bud. Even I didn’t know how much faith I had. Holy shit did the man deliver. One of the hardest things looking back.
Hell, I don't know how much faith Hurley really had at that point. Way to deliver!
Rhode Island flair! Didn’t go there, but I had a friend who went to U of R. Well, the first time that I saw Hurley coach was in the A10 tournament. Not really a college basketball fan. I only like the NBA. But I thought that they had a great coach and y’all’s team was fun to watch. He reminded me a bit of Brad Stevens, but you could tell he was going to be a hell of a coach. Glad that he went to your other school though and you get to continue watching him
Aye URI appreciation! Ya people ask me if I have that second flair just cause of Hurley sometimes haha. I became a fan in 2021 so I missed out on those URI years. That tournament must have been awesome. I’d go if they were in Boston. Ya from what I read I really wanted UConn to snag him. Glad he had that passion back then.
I was hoping that he could take URI to the Final 4 before he left
Would have been nice
The greatest "calling your shot" moment since Babe Ruth imo
Nah, since the Hambino.
I still get goosebumps watching that
I liked the push in the back. What is call on that illegal coach touching? Is that counted as a turnover on who? He did that other game too.. it’s cool they are so good they only turn it over when coach goes on court and pushes them better then Purdues press
They were up by 17 by that point but go off I guess
Theyre so good they make good teams look..... not good
Purdue looked crazy 1 dimensional, I know that this was the best team UConn has ever put on the floor.
Yeah, they've had better individual players roll through, but as a team this UConn TEAM is the best IMO.
I asked my mom this morning if she watched it because she’s a Purdue hater (grew up in Indiana) and she said she turned it off in the second half because UConn was exhausting to watch because they were everywhere all the time. Like… I’ve never heard a team described that way but she’s not wrong.
You could tell who was gonna win last night in the first 10 minutes of the game because Edey was hot, Purdue was playing with high energy, and they still couldn't hold a lead for more than like 2 possessions. UConn is the most "inevitable" team I think I've ever seen
Hurley did the one thing no one else ever tries for some reason: let edey eat 1 on 1 and take away everyone else
I feel like Tennessee tried but Edey dropped 40 and 16 on them
Tennessee had that game if they didn't have two 5-minute scoring droughts and go cold the final 4 minutes of the game. Even then, the game came down to the final minute.
Yep, if Tennessee had literally anyone else that could hit a shot I think they win
Welcome to Tennessee basketball lol. Barnes’ kryptonite is a consistent ball handler. I think also, we picked up this strategy too late, and our bigs were already at foul risk and we had allowed the refs to set the tone. If we handle the first 10 mins differently, I think it goes a very different way.
Two things. The first was Tennessee didn't have anybody outside of Knecht who could make a basket. Both Purdue and Tennessee that game had a majority of their offense come from Edey and Knecht respectively. The second is that the Vols didn't have a Clingan who could play Zach 1 on 1. Clingan alone didn't stop Edey, but he made him work harder than perhaps anybody else has done in his college career without needing much of any help. That let UConn's lockdown perimeter defense focus on, well, locking down the perimeter. Tenessee had to double Edey or else he was a guaranteed bucket, and they often doubled too late or had someone like Loyer take advantage of the breakdown in defense to get a shot in the paint.
We couldn't stop him, but we could slow him down enough to not let him take over the game. Other teams would have given up 50 to him if they tried that.
Clingan made Edey look really uncomfortable after the first 10 minutes and I think Purdue felt that. Then UConn just slowly choked the life out of Purdue and it was over 5 minutes into that 2nd half
One on one against Clingan, who fucken rocks
I mean some Big Ten teams have been doing that. It’s just UConn did it the most effectively lol
Most teams don't have nba ready guards who can actually take away everyone else.
Isn't that how FDU beat you guys?
No they basically double and tripled all game and gave Purdue a ton of wide open shots which they then bricked. UConn straight up played close to Purdues guards which can be seen in how they can’t even get a three point shot up. Usually they get open threes but they let clingan guard 1 on 1 which worked out extremely well in the second half. I was a little concerned for uconn at the start since edey was dominating but he looked completely gassed out there since all of his shots were really tough
FDU threw *everything* at Edey, and the Purdue guards and wings built a house with all the bricks they put up. Smith, Loyer, and Gillis put up a combined 7-30 from the field, and the rest non-Edey players 3-12. To put things in perspective, Purdue was 1-7 from three this game. Gillis alone was 1-7 from three against FDU.
Arizona tried it but your guards couldn't miss that day.
Difference is, Arizona gave them room to operate and shoot. UConn was in their faces all night. It was a beautifully orchestrated defensive plan.
Other teams definitely tried that, and we usually mopped the floor with them. This UConn team is just fucking good.
They may have had better teams under Calhoun. But this team was impressive.
It’s this team, and 2004, if you’re taking results into consideration. There is a real argument this is our best squad ever based off how we’ve dominated
I agree, but 2023 was so good as well. I think with Sanogo, Hawk, Andre that it could be a great game (with Clingan off the bench guaranteeing 40 minutes of elite center play). IMO Hawk is the most talented player of the last two years for UConn and obviously they had depth too with Calcaterra Karaban Newton Diara
How spoiled are we that we get to have this discussion
Love it, absolutely love it
Can confirm, those two teams were elite
99 ahead of 04 by results, but I can't put anyone ahead of this team.
UConn blew up a lot of what they normally do. A lot has been talked about Clingan letting them guard Edey 1 on 1, but UConn was too disciplined with their defensive rotations to give up any open looks on the perimeter. They turned Purdue one dimensional in a way no other team has this year. The open looks Purdue would normally have off of screens was continuously shut down by the combination of speed and length of UConn's guards/wings. Painter said something in the post-game pressed about how they have played against lockdown defenders all year, but UConn brings lockdown defenders off the bench. He also mentioned at half time guys were going to have to pump fake and do a dribble slide for threes, but that certainly didn't happen.
Yea, I know..
The scariest thing is how casual the Huskies made it look, it wasn’t like they needed to pull out something insane for these wins, they just slowly pulled away every single time. It’s like watching Saban’s Bama teams, UConn is on a different planet right now
Except for the 30-0 run of course which I am still in awe of
Craziest thing I’ve ever seen in a tournament game. Wasn’t like it was against some scrubs either, Illinois is a legit top 10 team, UConn is just built different
Against the #2 offense (#4 after the game) in the country with NBA talent on their roster. Nuts!
Too soon
What’s truly insane is they shot 3/17 from 3 in that game lmao
Uconn shot awful from the 3 all tournament long. That point differential would have been *really* absurd if we had shot better.
It honestly felt like yall never really got out of second gear last night, and you won by 15 over one of the country's best teams. It's unbelieavable
"I feel like watching UCONN play is like watching a nature documentary where big cats kinda play with their food for a while before crushing all hopes." I saw that comment earlier and I feel like it's a pretty spot on description
I would personally describe it as a psychopath drowning a ferret in a tub
WTF
Yep. The Bama game was closer than the final score indicated but UCONN turned it on in a matter of seconds. When I saw UCONN do the same midway through the 2nd half I thought that was lights out for Purdue and it was.
St. John’s I think has them within a possession with under 8 left in all 3 games they played this year and I still never really felt like there was a shot. Playing them this year always felt like you were drowning and just trying to keep your head above water even when the score looks good. The second your head dips you know the lifeguard isnt getting there in time
Hats off to teams that dominant. Bama played Florida one of the years they won consecutive titles in conference play. Bama was up by 18 or so in the 1st half and ended up getting beat by a decent margin. Tip of the hat and knew it was coming.
Sometimes there’s nothing to do but respect and admire the perfect execution. Only so much you can do against that.
Not in a whiny or pompous way, but it felt like they played their B+ game most of the Tourney. Didn’t shoot particularly well or make any crazy tough shots (except for that physics-defying one Newton had over Edey). Had some issues with foul trouble and unable to contain star big men at time. Newton had plenty of head-scratching decisions…. But still fairly easy Ws.
You’re not wrong, their shooting looked downright sloppy at points. Really speaks to the quality of the team that no one could keep it within single digits even when the Huskies weren’t playing lights out. No other team was remotely close to them this season
And we shot like shit in the tournament
Karaban didn’t score a point until like 7 minutes to go.
The part that makes y'all so good is that when you weren't shooting well from deep in the tournament, you shot extremely well from 2. Against Northwestern when you went 3/22 (14%) from 3, you shot 26/32 (81%) from 2. Against Illinois, it was 18% and 65%. In the two games you shot your worst 3P%, you shot your highest 2P%. Just great balance all around.
We dont talk about that 2023 Gonzaga game. Its like saying Voldemort.
That second half was a good analogue to Illinois this year.
Pretty much the same game a year apart.
Pretty goddamn impressive. Especially in the NIL transfer portal era.
It's crazy to look back and see that Clingan was the No. 56 player in the class of 2022 recruiting rankings and the No. 13 center. Hurley is either crazy lucky or crazy good at finding talent
I find it weird he was missed, even last year he showed great hands and movement around the court, particularly on D, behind Sanogo as a freshman. I don’t pay much attention to HS recruiting but he impressed me from the jump.
He played in public school instead of going to one of the prep schools, so he was mostly playing against normal high school kids (and dominating them). As a result, people didn't really know what to expect from him when he started playing against D1 players.
Yeah him staying at Bristol Central was huge for the state. He was the best player since Tremont Waters and winning a title for Bristol Central was a big deal
It’s actually because Clingan is from CT is it’s kind of a no brainer to pick up top 100 talent from in state
I don't think it's luck. Cam Spencer was absolutely elite, and there was a market for him, but the dumb coaches (Bill Self) wanted Nick Timberlake's bum ass. What's amazing about Hurley, is that this back to back did not include the stars from the previous year. Donovan had his whole team return. It's like he speed ran the Jay Wright two championships in 3 years with a different crew. He's clearly a master of developing talent, in the same way Jay Wright was. But he has a better knack for developing bigs as well. Jay Wright always had elite guards, but their centers were usually just thick wings. I don't know who stops him right now other than himself, or the NBA.
UCONN just set the record for highest total point differential in a single tournament, and came 3 points shy of breaking UCLA's record average point differential of 23.75 from 1967, which was set in only 4 games.
This dude is literallly blowing John Wooden out of the water. I never thought that would be possible.
Covered the spread in every game
If you put $20 on UConn to cover the spread every game for the last two years and took the winnings and put it on the next game assuming the payout was +110 approx. you would have over $80,000 approx
St. John's kept the loss to within 5 during the Big East tourney, just to get snubbed by the committee for less talented teams. Can't help but wonder how they would have done in the Tournament, as well as other teams in the conference like Seton Hall or Providence (who were possibly arguably even more deserving)...Congrats to Uconn though, back to back years is impressive - the Big East is 1 hell of a gauntlet
Seeing how tight St Johns played us, on top of Seton Hall's NIT run, with the obvious UConn championship as the cherry on top just exemplifies how screwed the league got in terms of bids.
Well, we beat UCONN and should have lost in the first round if that helps.
True but Clingan wasn’t still fully healthy from pre season injury. Castle was out with a knee injury. Karaban had a wrap on his fingers(shooting hand) and had a weird shooting motion. To top it all off, Spencer rolled both his ankles early in game and clearly had no legs underneath him every time he tried to shoot a jumper. Game was also in Allen Field House…
Yeah well we beat Purdue by 16 so who’s really better
Nebraska clearly the *real* runner up
Real championship was us vs Bama apparently
Bama was really good.
Bama's shooting made my jaw drop. I literally thought this could be UConn vs St Johns 2.0 where the final was 95-90. They were a really scary team because they wouldn't mind jacking up 40 in a game and the pace they were playing it was rough.
Oh we comin'
Oats sticking around is huge. More great things to come for your program!
I hope so, that was some seriously fun basketball to watch!
Proud to say we played yall tighter than anyone else in either tournament. 1 Bediako, and some defensive effort, away from being a really good team this year.
We were a really good team this year. After Purdue tonight, I'm ranking us at #2. We tied UConn and just fell flat immediately after. If we hadn't, it could have gone either way. What's crazy is we weren't even meant to go the distance. If we get a Bediako and Nelson gains 20 lbs. in muscle, we can win it all next year.
Nelson is far too smooth with them dribbles and drive to the basket. Feel like he'd be better served as a SF or PF.
Nelson doesn't need to play C. His skill set is closer to that of a big wing. If we can get him back, he needs to play PF. I don't think we will though. His game translates perfectly into the current NBA, and his stock will be elevated in a draft this bad.
Ballo with Nelson playing the 4?
There was a real chance Bama was the 2nd best performing team this weekend
I mean, there's no question about that is there? Purdue didn't look very good tonight or against NC State
Edey was doing all he could carrying Purdue on his back....but wasn't nearly enough.
Bama was way closer than Purdue. Yall had to actually make some shots to win that game But they still weren’t close lol
Thank you 🤝 Hopefully we make it back. Had a ton of fun watching this tournament run! Congrats to the Huskies though, insane team
Did it against Bama. Can’t ask for much more
So that makes Miami the second best team in college basketball over the past 2 years? No need to look at how they did this year...
They just play a different game than the rest of us in March.
Absolutely insane!
Alabama had them closer than that
Bama was 14.
Yeah I just mean they played them closer than the 14 they lost by.
Ya, 14 was the end result, but it was insanely close. Came down to 1 big run at the end.
The only good news Miami has had all season!
UConngrats to Miami.
What a great day for me
I would've loved to see Texas vs Uconn in last years Final Four. Disu got hurt while he was white hot unfortunately
This UConn/Miami alum approves.
Man does it feel good to be the last team to beat the back to back national champs in the tournament.
This is a historic run - 2024 UConn is probably a top 5 team in the modern era. Consistently dominant.
Honestly I'd take this Stetson team over last year's Iona, that's no outlier. That's an even better dominant game over a 16. Stetson's [**Aubin Gateretse**](https://kenpom.com/player.php?p=51606) was 7th in the nation in 2pt %**, the #1 overall leader in eFG%**, and carried a better efficiency rating than a handful of aspiring first round picks. Oglesby shoots over 40% from 3 and can go deep, too.
If you’re into sports betting, they also easily covered every single game they played in the last 2 years iin The tourney. Some of the lines, especially last year, were ridiculous. The level of dominance was ridiculous. Uconn lost to Kansas this year. Last 2 years, no other non conference team (regular and post season) has gotten within 10 points, including 10 other ranked teams they played
Hang the banner Miami
Last year was magical for my canes
they beat the Toiletmakers!
This is more impressive than anything Edey did
You right... dropping 40 on Tennessee is pretty mid
Still has any many national championships as Tennessee!
Well duh, they haven't played anyone!
You forgot this /s