How UConn’s Dan Hurley turned the most important teaching character in school basketball

Dan Hurley took a deep breath of aid within the again hallway of TD Backyard.

The Huskies’ sixth-year head coach had cried earlier within the day, shedding tears when deep in considered UConn‘s journey, and the stress of pursuing the primary back-to-back nationwide championships in males’s school basketball since Florida in 2006 and ’07. 

In downtown Boston on Saturday night time, Hurley received a second to smile and soak within the greatness of his program, which continued to rewrite historical past with an eye-popping 30-0 run en path to a 77-52 win over Illinois to punch a ticket to a second straight Closing 4.

“I am a crier,” Hurley instructed FOX Sports activities. “I snigger, I yell and I cry. Jim Valvano stated that is a full day. 

“Clearly, you pour plenty of your self into this job, plenty of your self emotionally into your gamers and into your group. Bodily, these seasons are lengthy and whenever you’re actually going for it the way in which we’re, you’re crammed with emotion. You permit the lodge and there are a whole bunch of UConn followers high-fiving you on the way in which to get on the bus to come back over right here [to the arena] to go on your second Closing 4 in a row. After which there are issues going by your thoughts too, that this can be my final 12 months teaching my son [Andrew]. I’ve received to get Cam Spencer [a transfer] and Stephon Castle [a freshman] to the Closing 4. This crew deserves Phoenix. You are emotional going by that.” 

All of that built-up starvation and drive is unleashed when Hurley’s crew steps on the court docket. The Huskies got here off a 10-for-30 taking pictures efficiency within the first half towards the Illini, after which opened the second half by scoring 25 unanswered factors. The 30-0 run – relationship again to the primary half – marked this system’s longest in a sport in 34 years. And, this got here on a night when first-team All-American Tristen Newton didn’t report a made subject objective and UConn shot 3-for-17 from 3-point territory.

“We all know it is not regular to return to again,” stated sophomore Alex Karaban, considered one of 5 Huskies who scored in double-figures within the 25-point Elite-Eight win. “However there’s not a single regular particular person on this locker room.”

What UConn has achieved by 4 video games on this match shouldn’t be regular. 

The Huskies’ +111 level differential is the fourth-highest mark of any crew by the Elite Eight within the NCAA Match. The one groups to have the next level differential: 1993 Kentucky: +124 (misplaced in Closing 4), 1999 Duke: +120 (misplaced in title sport) and 1996 Kentucky: +113 (gained title).

UConn can also be the one crew within the sport’s historical past to win 10 straight NCAA Match video games by 13-plus factors. The Huskies have gained 18 video games this season by 20-plus factors, and 15 of these have been by 25-plus factors, probably the most of any Division 1 crew this season.

We’re watching one of many single best seasons in NCAA males’s basketball historical past, and Hurley is unabashed to say it, and to point out it in his strategy. When he threw his fingers within the air to pump up the UConn-heavy crowd with beneath 4 minutes remaining and his crew main by 30 on Saturday night time, you may see why he is the proper match for a college that followers consult with as “The Basketball Capitol of the World.”

That marriage is what has led to a blue blood being reborn, and Hurley changing into the most important teaching character within the sport proper now. 

“I simply wished to have fun with our followers,” Hurley stated. “Dave Benedict [UConn’s athletic director] noticed one thing in me as a mid-major coach, being a Hurley, so I’d have thick sufficient pores and skin … then there’s the fiery character that is good for this fan base. You’ll be able to’t have an empty swimsuit over there with these folks. You have to have a monster on the sidelines at Connecticut. Plus, we’re a program the place our gamers have plenty of confidence and plenty of swagger. Our fan base is obnoxious as s— on social. So everybody hates us.

“It was an opportunity to have fun with them as a result of our fan base and our group proper now … It is us towards the world of school basketball, and I wished to have fun with them a bit bit.”

When Hurley talks about having thick pores and skin, he is referring to his dad, Bob Sr., who gained 26 state championships at St. Anthony Excessive College in New Jersey, in addition to his brother, Bobby, the two-time nationwide champion at Duke and now Arizona State head coach, who will not must journey far to assist his brother within the Closing 4 subsequent weekend. 

Now, Hurley is the famous person within the household, silencing his doubters and, within the course of, making those that query UConn’s standing on school basketball’s blue-blood pedestal look silly. He is aware of that not everyone likes him. He understands some opposing coaches are rubbed the unsuitable approach by his fiery demeanor on the sidelines. And he would not give a rattling — he simply retains profitable.

“If I’m a kind of [faces of the sport], I am most likely a great one as a result of I am genuine,” Hurley stated. “I am mainly a highschool coach masquerading on the school degree. I do not actually care what folks consider my depth or ardour. It clearly reveals up with my crew with how we play. We do not cheat. We do not lie. We’re about all the correct issues. Simply at occasions, I am an asshole.

“When your protection is elite, which ours is, and your offense is elite, which ours is, we’re not flawed in any explicit approach. That makes you as bulletproof as doable.”

Maybe no participant exemplifies these attributes higher than Donovan Clingan, the Huskies’ dominant massive man who shares in his coach’s swagger and selected to remain in his dwelling state to play for Hurley and the Huskies.

Clingan was named the East Area Most Excellent Participant, totaling 22 factors, 10 rebounds, 5 blocks and three steals within the victory over Illinois. Following the sport, Hurley was fast to go with Clingan, saying he is an instance of why every little thing in Storrs has blended so properly, as a result of a man who could be a ten/10 on the “will get us” meter with Connecticut’s fan base, fits up for this crew and is wired just one approach – to win.

“We love the problem of this,” Hurley stated. “It is what will get you away from bed within the morning, being judged by the best to ever do it. However we’ve got all winners, man. It is the connection they’ve with one another, and the arrogance they present up with on the court docket. 

“We play with an power and an depth like we’ve not achieved a rattling factor within the sport.” 

And that is precisely why these Huskies are within the territory few have entered, and why Hurley says he is totally embracing being one of many faces of school basketball.

John Fanta is a nationwide school basketball broadcaster and author for FOX Sports activities. He covers the game in a wide range of capacities, from calling video games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Community to offering commentary on The Discipline of 68 Media Community. Comply with him on Twitter @John_Fanta.