Oftentimes in youth sports, the parents get in the way. I am sure you have heard the horror stories. It’s been going on for many years.
Interview below with Danny Hurley’s approach to recruiting – must listen, especially for the parents. Here’s a few quotes:
“There’s measurable talents you have to have — the height, the speed, the skill set. But we spend a lot of time really focusing on the parents.”
(I once had a college coach tell me he wouldn’t recruit a kid because of the father.)
“Are they going to be fans of their son or are they going to be parents? Are they going to hold them accountable, have an expectation that when something goes wrong that it’s not the coach’s fault? That their son’s got to work harder, he’s got to do more, he’s got to earn his role.”
“We’ve got a real old-school culture here of accountability. I’m an old-school coach in terms of the tone that I take with my players in practice. The expectations I take with effort, the focus on winning and ‘we’ over ‘me.‘”
“Have they played on seven different travel teams? Have they transferred to four or five different high schools? When you talk to the parents in the recruiting process, are they constantly complaining about the coaches after a bad game or are you having a conversation where their son has got to do more, got to play harder, he’s got to work on his skills.”
“They tell on themselves. They drop hints. [If] you’ve got the wrong type of people around the inner circle of your players, they’ll sink your program.”
Congratulations to the Connecticut Huskies men’s basketball team. Their 75-60 victory over Purdue gives them back-to-back-titles. They are the first program to repeat since the Florida Gators in 2007. It’s their 6th title in school history.
Tristen Newton, named MOP led the way for UConn with 20 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists.
Danny Hurley has done a tremendous job with the Huskies. They play hard. Share the ball and defend.
Zach Edey led Purdue with 37 pointsand 10 rebounds.
The Boilermakers shot just 1-7 from downtown.
For the six games in the tournament Huskies shot 41-136 for 30% from deep. Boilermakers 43-114 for 37%. UConn won all six games by double-figures.
UConn had 18 assists with 6 turnovers.
One big difference in the game was offensive rebounds; Huskies crashed the boards for 14.
Connecticut finishes the season 37-3. Purdue 34-5.
Edey played his last college game. It’s going to be interesting to see how his professional career shakes out.
Three quick hitters: hoop thoughts regarding the greatest sport in the world…
1-John Calipari to Arkansas: Not surprising Coach Cal gets out of Lexington and is headed to Arkansas. Cal’s record at Kentucky in 15 years was 410-122. He won 75% of his games and Wildcat fans were upset with him. Many names being mentioned to replace him.
2-Caitlin Clark: I have written about her a lot these last few weeks. I love her game. How can you not? She’s easily the women’s greatest college basketball player ever. I don’t care what the haters say. And why so much hate on someone who has lifted the women’s game and plays the right way? BTW, the championship game on Sunday against South Carolina broke another record of viewers; 18.7 million tuned in. That’s the third straight game the record has been broken. And it’s because of one player; Caitlin Clark.
3-UConn-Purdue tonight in the men’s NCAA championship. 9:20 jump-ball. Going to be a late night for me. It’s going to be a good one. I hope the officials allow them to play, especially Zach Edey and Donovan Clingan in the post. Huskies are -6.5…
Saturday was the men’s Final Four. What an awesome night. Two big-time college basketball games. It doesn’t get any better…
PURDUE-NORTH CAROLINA STATE
It was hyped up as Zach Edey against DJ Burns. But we all know basketball is a “team” sport. With that being said, Edey won the battle of the big men leading his squad to the 63-50 win. Edey scored 20 points on 9-14 shooting with 12 rebounds and 4 assists. The big fella from Toronto played all 40 minutes. This is the sixth NCAA tournament game in a row he has scored 20 or more points and has had 10 or more rebounds. Kareem Abdul-Jabber had 9 straight games with those numbers and David Robinson had 5 straight.
“Anytime your best player is unselfish, everybody just gets in line,” said Matt Painter following the game.
Edey was named Player – of – the – Year for the second straight season.
Two things right at the start the men’s coverage did that that the women did not do Friday night in their Final Four was showing the player introductions. Have to introduce the players.
Purdue’s point guard Braden Smith was called for two over and back violations in the first half. I don’t think I have ever seen that before. Solid ball pressure by NC State.
At one point in the first half they went a little more than six minutes without a whistle. Good job by the officials of letting them play.
Lance Jones scored 14 points for Purdue on 5-12 from the field, 4-9 from 3.
Smith played all 40 minutes for Purdue and shot 1-9 from the field. 1-5 from 3, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 turnovers.
DJ Horne led the Pack with 20 points.
Burns played 27 minutes, shot 4-10 from the field for 8 points. He grabbed just 1 rebound.
The Wolfpack were 9-11 in the ACC this year.
The announcing team of Ian Eagle, Grant Hill and Bill Raftery were not very good. Eagle has a metaphor every possession. Hill doesn’t explain how things happened. And Raftery just tells us what we just watched. They need better basketball analysts on the game. Jay Wright is being wasted doing pre and post game coverage.
The Big Ten has not won the National championship since 2000. Purdue has a chance to end that streak Monday night. The Boilermakers are making their first appearance in the National championship since 1969.
UCONN-ALABAMA
The Crimson Tide entered the game +11.5, no one gave them a chance against UConn but don’t you dare tell Nate Oats and his crew that nonsense. The Huskies prevailed after getting tested all night long pulling away for the 86-72 win and a date with Purdue Monday night in the championship. The Huskies are looking to go back to back.
Five Huskies scored in double figures led by Stephon Castle 21 points on 7-13 shooting. Donovan Clingan scored 18 points and had 4 blocks. The Clingan-Edey matchup is going to be good Monday night. Battle of the Bigs. I would love to see more teams and players utilize the low-post game.
“Our identity is to be relentless,” Danny Hurley said following the game.
Grant Hill called Hurley, “tough and demanding.”
Mark Sears led Alabama with 24 points.
The Huskies finished with 20 assists and 4 turnovers.
“They’re close to being bulletproof,” Oats said of UConn.
Tide had zero fast break points.
Grant Nelson had a vicious dunk on Clingan. Nelson reminds me a little of Mike Dunleavy Jr. He finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds. I love how he handles the ball at the top of the key.
Did you see Jay Wright’s breakdown of UConn’s offense? It was Gold. Coaches clinic-like. Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Clark Kellogg looked confused.
Oats and Hurley are two former high school coaches. I’m glad the network mentioned their history. Hurley helped Oats get into the college ranks.
It was nice to see Latrell Whitesell back for Bama after missing their last two games. He made 2 3’s.
Huskies led 44-40 at the half.
At one point during the game Raftery said the players looked a bit winded. Next play UConn ran a sweet ally-oop for Castle. Winded? Not exactly.
How about this dandy from Grant Hill: “It almost feels like a win when you play them this close and tough like Alabama has.”
Huh?
I hope you had a chance to listen to Kenny Smith and his “knocking at the door” analogy.
Monday night’s championship game is going to be big-time…
General George S. Patton once said, “do more than is required of you.” Last night in one women’s final four game, Iowa and UConn, it wasn’t just Caitlin Clark versus Paige Bueckers. No sir. There were other players from both teams stepping up and contributing. The Hawkeyes managed to win 71-69 and advance to the championship game Sunday against South Carolina at 3:00 pm. The Gamecocks beat NC State easily, 78-59. Dawn Staley’s crew is 37-0.
Hannah Stuelke led the way for Iowa with 23 points on 9-12 shooting. Steulke picked up the slack when Clark struggled from the floor. Kate Martin and Gabby Marshall also stepped up their game helping Iowa defeat the Huskies.
Martin scored 11 points and had 8 rebounds. Marshall wasn’t that good on offense (2-9 FG, 1-7 from 3) but she did a good job guarding Bueckers.
As for the GOAT, she scored 21 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and dished out 7 assists. 7-18 from the floor, 3-11 from deep. She’s scored 20 or more points in 48 straight games.
Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards each scored 17 points for UConn.
I thought the illegal screen called on Edwards on UConn’s last possession was awful. Huskies had the ball down one. Edwards set a screen on the right wing and was called for moving with 3.9 seconds left. Bad call.
Geno Auriemma was coaching in his 23rd final four. That’s incredible. He’s won 11 National Championships.
Right off the bat ESPN made a big mistake. Instead of watching and listening to the player introductions, we had to listen to three awful announcers talk about nonsense.
The average ticket price last night was $413.
How many times did ESPN announcer Rebecca Lobo say “elite?” Everything to her was elite. SMH
Hawkeyes had 8 turnovers in the first quarter. 12 at the half. They finished with 16.
Let’s face it, there’s not a better sport in the world than basketball.
Tonight starts the women’s college basketball Final Four in Clevland, Ohio.
South Carolina vs NC State…followed by UConn-Iowa.
The Gamecocks are 36-0. How about this? In their last 110 games they are 107-3.
That’s incredible.Their L’s have been by 1, 2 and 4 points.
Tickets for the games are going for $2,000. WOW!
Television ratings are up. Iowa-LSU last weekend in the Elite 8 averaged 12.3 million viewers, the most-watched women’s college basketball game ever. It was also the most-watched college basketball game in ESPN’s history.
In her college career, Caitlin Clark has played 137 games for Iowa. Here’s her numbers:
28.5 PPG, 7.1 RPG and 8.3 APG.
Clark has had 6 triple-doubles this season.The most by any player in the country.
Paige Bueckers from UConn, who happens to be an outstanding player put up these numbers in her career:
We’re one day away from the women’s Final Four. Can’t wait for North Carolina State-South Carolina and UConn-Iowa. Things get underway in Cleveland at 7:00 PM.
Can we please stop with all the nonsense. I’m talking Caitlin Clark. The lady is the greatest women’s college basketball player of all-time. Notice I said “college.”
I don’t care what anyone says. There’s no comparison. Just look at the numbers please. Because that’s what it all comes down to when comparing great players.
Clark is the all-time leading scorer in women’s college basketball and 4th all-time in assists. She’s the Big Ten’s all-time assists leader. You can’t find that anywhere except for LeBron James. (Many people think LBJ is the greatest of all-time.)
If you know basketball, you understand how hard it is to be the leading scorer and leader in assists. Just ask Nate Archibald.
When discussing basketball, why does it have to come down to race? Who cares if the player is white, black, Puerto Rican, Euro, Asian or Jewish. Can’t we just enjoy these individuals?
Basketball should bring people together – not separate us.
Many people have been watching women’s college basketball as of late, people who normally don’t watch the ladies game…and it’s because of Caitlin Clark. She’s lifted the women’s game to an incredible height. Just look at how much tickets are going for this weekend at the Final Four
The 3-point shot has changed the game of basketball, whether you want to believe it or not? Some will say it ruined the game, some will say it helped the game.
I took at look at the 3-point shooting for each team in the Final Four (both men and women.) These numbers are from the four NCAA tournament games.
The Connecticut Huskies are going back to the Final Four and are just two wins away from repeating as National Champs. This is the Huskies 7th trip to the Final Four. UNC has the most with 21.
The Huskies blew out Illinois 77-52 Saturday night behind Donvan Clingan’s 22 points, 19 rebounds and 5 blocks.
UConn’s defense was incredible. They held Terrence Shannon to 2-12 shooting from the floor. Fighting Illini shot 6-23 from distance.
A college coach texted me during the game and said UConn is treating Illinois like a buy game in November.
One minor concern is UConn’s 3-point shooting. They were 3-17 from deep but it didn’t seem to matter. In the four tournament games UConn is 25-89 from deep. Their pressure defense and transition offense was on all night.
Huskies jumped out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back.
UConn at one point in the game went on a 30-0 run.
In UConn’s last four NCAA tournament games they have won by 30, 30, 17 and 39.The win was UConn’s 10th straight by 13 points or more.
Bill Murray and Larry David were at the game. Murray’s son Luke is an assistant coach with UConn. An athletic director with a head coach opening should look at Luke.
After the game Jay Wright said UConn has the best back-court in the country and the second best big man.
What a night of basketball! Four games, first one started at 7:09 and ended at 12:37 am. Can’t beat 5 hours of ball. Some clown on TV was complaining about how late the last game would end. So what man, shut up and enjoy it.
First up was Arizona – Clemson. Kudos to Brad Brownell and the Tigers. The 5th place team from the ACC took out Arizona 77-72. Brownell is a terrific coach. Did you know he went to the same college as Brad Stevens? (DePauw). Tigers shot 8-25 from 3. Joe Girard of Clemson is a lot of fun to watch. (6 assists, 1-5 FG) He runs the show and gets it done. Love their bigs too. Girard is New York State’s high school all-time leading scorer. He played four years at Syracuse before transferring to Clemson. Brian Anderson and Jim Jackson were on the call. Anderson is good, Jackson, as usual talks way too much. Anderson mentioned “nerves” in the beginning of the game. Nah man, no such thing. Wildcats are moving to the Big 12 next season. Their coach Tommie Lloyd does a good job; he’s 88-20 in two years. He’s never lost two games in a row. Tigers are solid in the half court offense and defense. Caleb Love shot 5-18 for Zona, 0-9 from deep. In the 3 tournament games Love shot a combined 6-29 from 3.
In Boston UConn crushed San Diego State by 30, 82-52. SMH. Not much to say about this one, only good thing about this game was Stan Van Gundy on the call. But…play-by-play was Kevin Harlan. UConn entered the game with the least amount of 3’s made in the first two rounds (12). Last night they made 10. They’ve won all 3 games In the tournament by double-digits. Huskies are rolling. Ran across a good article from Forbes on UConn.https://www.forbes.com/sites/timcasey/2024/03/29/dan-hurley-models-uconns-program-after-jay-wrights-villanova-teams/?sh=5b83e8e84350
The Huskies’ coaches credit some of their success to getting to know people close to their players, especially their parents, before offering scholarships.
“The kind of old school people, there’s enough out there still that want to be in a program that holds their sons accountable for the highest level work ethic,” Hurley said earlier this month at Madison Square Garden after UConn won the Big East tournament title. “They’re the type of people when things are going bad, I’m not getting text messages blaming me. They’re text messaging their sons or me saying they’ve got to get better. Those are the type of people we attract because our culture is just different. It’s a Jay Wright culture. It’s a group functioning as one.”
Best game of the night was Alabama and North Carolina. Crimson Tide came out on top 89-87. Nate Oats is one of the best in the country; his guys play hard, they share the ball and just ball out. I thought UNC was a little soft. Bama flexed their muscles all night. Couple of weeks ago there was talk of the men’s game not having any big time players; one thing about the NCAA tournament is someone always pops up and the country falls in love with. Grant Nelson of Bama was that guy. In the first two rounds Nelson scored a total of 6 points on 1-7 shooting in 32 minutes. Last night the North Dakota State transfer exploded for 24 points on 6-9 shooting, 10-13 from the free-throw line. Nelson also had 12 rebounds and 5 assists. Bama played without Latrell Wrightsell who was out with a head injury. Carolina made 12 3’s but RJ Davis was off. He shot 4-20 and was 0-9 from deep. Michael Jordan’s alma mater shot 10-16 from 3 in the first half; second half they were 2-15.
In the nightcap Illinois beat Iowa State 72-69. Terrence Shannon scored 29 points for the Fighting Illini. Iowa State’s coach has some big biceps.
Nice to see Carolina’s Cormac Ryan come to his teammate’s defense, “You guys can write whatever you want about the game. You could talk about RJ, you could talk about the stats. We would not be in this position without RJ Davis.”
If I had a son playing high school ball and he was good enough I would want him to play for Nate Oats, Danny Hurley, Greg Kampe, or Kelvin Sampson.
Clemson will face Alabama and Illinois will play UConn in the Elite 8 on Saturday.
I was 3-1 last night with my picks.
Another four games tonight beginning at 7:09.
Marquette – North Carolina State. Going with Shaka Smart’s crew in Dallas.
7:39 Purdue – Gonzaga in Detroit. Zach Edey and company move on. Did you see what that politician from Michigan said about the 4 buses on the tarmac at Detroit airport? SMH.
9:39 Houston – Duke, going with the Cougars in the second game in Dallas.
9:59 Tennessee – Creighton. I love the Jays in the D.
R.I.P. Lou Gossett Jr. – back in the day when I worked the door at Planet Hollywood in NYC Gossett walked by. “Yo Lou, Lincoln High baby!” I shouted. He looked at me, raised his fist in the air and said, “You know it my man…” Gossett attended Lincoln High School in Brooklyn. Same school that produced Stephon Marbury, Sebastian Telfair, Lee Mazzilli, Marv Albert, Harvey Keitel, and Lance Stephenson.
My man Tari Eason from the Houston Rockets posted a video on Tik Tok (no, I don’t have an account) He called out the Warriors using the line “WARRIORS, COME OUT TO PLAY.” He imitated David Patrick Kelly very well. “The Warriors’ is a movie from 1979 about street gangs in NYC.
PLAY THE RIGHT WAY 