astrohoya
Bulldog (over 250 posts)
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Post by astrohoya on Apr 9, 2024 11:50:52 GMT -5
Connecticut truly represents the decline of Georgetown basketball and the twilight of John Thompson Jr. Big John built Georgetown basketball from nothing, and the program dominated the 1980’s. But he simply did not sustain that after 1990 and outside of short periods coinciding with Iverson and Peak JT3, it has been pretty grim since, both during Big John’s last decade and in the next two decades when he exerted an often toxic influence behind the scenes.
Jim Calhoun also built the UConn program from nothing. He won his first Big East title the year after Big John won his last, and UConn filled the vacuum left by Georgetown’s decline. Unlike Big John, however, Calhoun kept up the general excellence for 20+ years. In the end, UConn’s achievements surpassed Georgetown’s.
Both programs stalled out in the latter half of the 2010’s. Georgetown doubled down on the 1980’s, hiring Patrick Ewing and not even considering a strong group of up and coming coaches. UConn went another direction, going outside the family to hire one of the most promising and obvious candidates from that group, Dan Hurley. Ewing totally failed and Georgetown fell to a level lower than anything in living memory. Hurley succeeded and UConn has built the best college basketball team of this era, by some margin.
So yes, UConn’s win is good for the conference. And they deserve it. But it is hard to watch because they truly represent the Georgetown that might have been, and serve as a painful reminder of the disastrous consequences of Georgetown’s failure to evolve past the 1980’s.
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Post by Lethal_Interjection on Apr 9, 2024 13:57:41 GMT -5
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CTHoya08
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Bring back Izzo!
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Post by CTHoya08 on Apr 9, 2024 14:58:58 GMT -5
How much money would it take Kentucky to lure Hurley? He currently makes ~ $6M/year ... I assume UConn will give him some sort bump and years ... but something like 6 years $75M/$80M??? You have to think that they will at least throw his agent some #s. It would take a ton as Hurley, like many others, said he isn't interested and is staying put. What would be in it for Hurley, anyway? He's already making a boatload of money and winning national titles at UConn. What does Kentucky offer him other than an inpatient fan base? I could see him considering an NBA offer, sure, that's a different challenge. But is the Kentucky job really "better" considering the success he's managed to achieve at UConn?
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saxagael
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by saxagael on Apr 9, 2024 16:03:41 GMT -5
It would take a ton as Hurley, like many others, said he isn't interested and is staying put. What would be in it for Hurley, anyway? He's already making a boatload of money and winning national titles at UConn. What does Kentucky offer him other than an inpatient fan base? I could see him considering an NBA offer, sure, that's a different challenge. But is the Kentucky job really "better" considering the success he's managed to achieve at UConn? Kentucky isn't a better job, which is why I said it would take a ton of money to make it interesting. Hurley in the NBA with this personality wouldn't last long. It would be very high entertainment though.
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CTHoya08
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Bring back Izzo!
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Post by CTHoya08 on Apr 9, 2024 16:46:29 GMT -5
Yeah. Not saying going to the NBA would be a good idea for him. Just different in a way that might interest him, which is not something I see in Kentucky.
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Post by Lethal_Interjection on Apr 9, 2024 18:05:23 GMT -5
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Post by professorhoya on Apr 9, 2024 21:47:45 GMT -5
It would take a ton as Hurley, like many others, said he isn't interested and is staying put. What would be in it for Hurley, anyway? He's already making a boatload of money and winning national titles at UConn. What does Kentucky offer him other than an inpatient fan base? I could see him considering an NBA offer, sure, that's a different challenge. But is the Kentucky job really "better" considering the success he's managed to achieve at UConn? Kentucky is not a good fit for a east coast/die hard New York guy like Dan Hurley. Same thing with Georgetown. Was never a good fit for New Yorker Dan Hurley.
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DanMcQ
Moderator
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Post by DanMcQ on Apr 9, 2024 22:13:51 GMT -5
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prhoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by prhoya on Apr 9, 2024 22:24:34 GMT -5
What would be in it for Hurley, anyway? He's already making a boatload of money and winning national titles at UConn. What does Kentucky offer him other than an inpatient fan base? I could see him considering an NBA offer, sure, that's a different challenge. But is the Kentucky job really "better" considering the success he's managed to achieve at UConn? Kentucky is not a good fit for a east coast/die hard New York guy like Dan Hurley. Same thing with Georgetown. Was never a good fit for New Yorker Dan Hurley. B.S.! If UConn/Storrs, CT is a fit, then so is Georgetown/D.C. and even UK/Lexington, KY. Although you’re right that in 2017, GU was not a good fit for Hurley because the one doing the fitting was not going to allow someone from outside La Famiglia to come in. Paraphrasing: “Come on, Patrick, keep it in the family.”
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on Apr 9, 2024 22:27:49 GMT -5
What would be in it for Hurley, anyway? He's already making a boatload of money and winning national titles at UConn. What does Kentucky offer him other than an inpatient fan base? I could see him considering an NBA offer, sure, that's a different challenge. But is the Kentucky job really "better" considering the success he's managed to achieve at UConn? Kentucky is not a good fit for a east coast/die hard New York guy like Dan Hurley. Same thing with Georgetown. Was never a good fit for New Yorker Dan Hurley. I could have sworn some East Coast/New York kinda guy coached at Kentucky. I think he may have even won an NCAA Championship there . . .
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hoyaboya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by hoyaboya on Apr 10, 2024 7:57:24 GMT -5
Interesting to see how some of our conference's opponents are positioning their opportunities with recruits: "Chattanooga transfer Sam Alexis announced he was down to five schools last week. Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State, Providence, and Xavier made the cut for the 6-foot-9, 225-pound big man out of Apopka (Fla.). "Those five schools were in contact with me the most throughout the whole process," Alexis said. "I like how some of the schools play."... Providence: "I like how they play. They play a lot like how I did at Chattanooga. They give the balls to the bigs more. They play in a lot of ball screen actions and I love Kim English. He is a great guy. I feel like I can relate to him because he is a young coach and we probably come from the same background." Xavier: "My goal is to get to the NBA. Sean Miller has a history of bringing guys in at my position and getting them to the league. The fact that he has so many connections is crazy." 247sports.com/college/basketball/recruiting/article/college-basketball-transfer-portal-sam-alexis-chattanooga-florida-providence-visits-230184131/
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saxagael
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by saxagael on Apr 10, 2024 7:58:11 GMT -5
I hate UConn, but love this for the conference, only issue is I am worried that sooner rather then later UConn will Get poached, and the Power 4 football conferences will decide the Big East will not be included in future big time sports. If any of you watched ESpn the past 24 hours Seth Greenberg and others keep alluding to it. There have been many rounds of realignment and nobody has wanted UConn. The only real danger would be the ACC--the Big 10, Big 12, and SEC would never take them. But, if the ACC loses Clemson, Florida State, and others potentially, one could envision a scenario where the ACC gets desperate enough to add them despite choices not to do so in the past. A sizable part of conference ACC and other not top 3 football conferences is all about what schools have a large enough draw for television viewers for their football team. Television contracts for the conferences for football are where the focus. UConn's football team doesn't have the viewership draw to get the invitations to a ACC or higher. Football is expensive to run at a top level (also at lower levels) and the money needed to get decent improvement in football if put in to, say basketball, can get a far more sizable jump in quality. This is pretty much what UConn has done. The UConn donor base isn't sizable enough nor have deep enough pockets to improve their level of the football program drastically, nor in a metro region with enough population that cares about college football to be interesting enough for larger conferences to be interested.
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hoyaboya
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Post by hoyaboya on Apr 10, 2024 9:48:20 GMT -5
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hoyaboya
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Post by hoyaboya on Apr 10, 2024 9:49:24 GMT -5
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hoyaboya
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Post by hoyaboya on Apr 10, 2024 12:59:31 GMT -5
This is interesting since Villanova is a conference rival and Armstrong logged a lot of minutes.
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hoyaboya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by hoyaboya on Apr 10, 2024 14:40:10 GMT -5
Same commentary as the post above this one.
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Post by professorhoya on Apr 10, 2024 14:58:11 GMT -5
Same commentary as the post above this one. Would you want to play for Medicore Kyle Neptune? Giggle, giggle.
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hoyaboya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by hoyaboya on Apr 10, 2024 16:21:23 GMT -5
This is interesting as Providence is a conference rival and they've added one of the best young big men in the portal.
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hoyaboya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by hoyaboya on Apr 10, 2024 19:17:53 GMT -5
This is interesting as DePaul is a conference rival and Jordan is a well-respected assistant coach that Chris Holtmann is adding to his staff.
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daveg023
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 10, 2024 19:24:36 GMT -5
This is interesting as DePaul is a conference rival and Jordan is a well-respected assistant coach that Chris Holtmann is adding to his staff. Am I the only one enjoying the “this is interesting…” additions to each post to meet the boards standards? Shades of “I’m only here so I won’t get fined”.
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