Dan Hurley's 'Whole Playbook' Approach Tests New-Look UConn Roster

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Dan Hurley has always viewed himself as an educator first and foremost, a perspective that shaped his response when asked how much of UConn's intricate offense would be introduced to his reshaped roster.

With Solo Ball unavailable, only Silas Demary Jr., Braylon Mullins, and Jayden Ross return after averaging at least 10 minutes per game for the fourth-ranked Huskies. Nevertheless, Hurley and his staff have not altered their method of installing offensive sets.

“There are some math teachers that go slow, and then you have some math teachers who just throw the whole lesson at you,” Hurley explained. “I throw the whole playbook at the players and really overwhelm them with concepts to force them to think, understand the reads, understand the counters, understand basic shell formations that we are bringing in.”

The burden falls on the players to keep pace, because falling behind early as daily layers and wrinkles—different reads and concepts—are added will only widen the gap.

Exhibition Tests and Roster Turnover

UConn challenged itself with exhibition games against Syracuse, No. 6 Michigan State, and Purdue. Five of the eight Huskies who averaged more than 10 minutes in those contests had never worn a UConn uniform before. The program is also without assistant coach Luke Murray, now the head coach at Boston College, and general manager Tom Moore, who retired.

Growing pains appear likely, particularly with a nonconference schedule that features matchups against No. 2 Duke, No. 3 Illinois, No. 5 Arizona, No. 9 Virginia, No. 16 Michigan, and No. 17 Kansas.

“It's been a challenge, especially starting in the summer,” said Duke transfer Nik Khamenia, who led the Huskies in minutes played during the three exhibition games. “I am just adjusting to everything. Playing against them last year, it was like, ‘Trust whatever you can do and hope that it works out.’ Seeing it now, it makes sense. I wouldn't know how another team would know every single thing that we are doing because for some of us, it is hard.”

Simplifying the Complex

Opposing coaches often mention the difficulties of defending UConn's various sets. Some might assume Hurley possesses a playbook as thick as “War and Peace,” but he claims everything is listed on a single sheet of paper. He acknowledges that UConn has become more sophisticated and harder to prepare for.

“It is extensive in terms of the amount of things that we do,” he said. “I think the biggest thing is getting more shooting, getting better cutters, getting personnel who fit the way we want to play better. If you look at some of those rosters that we got, we give too much credit for changing so much. It is probably the way we have addressed recruiting smarter players, better processors, high-level skill, better shooting.”

In recent seasons, Alex Karaban served as the ideal translator for new players with questions about the system. Karaban is now in the NBA, and that role has fallen to Demary.

“What I learned about Alex last year is how professional he is, to know the playbook ins and outs, to know what coach is thinking, know what coach wants us to do and help to prepare guys for practice,” Demary said. “The approach that we have is that practice here has to be the right approach every day; otherwise, you are going to have a rough day and coach is going to let you hear about it. To have the guys look at me and come to me for every little thing, I am grateful and thankful to be in that position.”

This is Demary's second season with the Huskies after playing at Georgia as a freshman and sophomore. He had to learn on the fly last season and proved to be a quick study on a UConn team that advanced to the national championship game for the third time in four seasons.

“It was definitely overwhelming because coming from a system that I came from at Georgia, it was different from how we play here,” Demary said. “Just to be able to know that it is going to be tough to learn the system here and you are going to make mistakes and not get down on yourself is my biggest thing.”

UConn opens the season against Gardner-Webb on Monday before heading to Boston for a national championship rematch with Michigan on Nov. 6.

Originally reported by yourvalley_net.