Dan Hurley on what separates UConn from other programs, what he's betting on as Huskies chase three-peat

AVON, Conn. — Dan Hurley takes pride in the fact that he was able to return four players from last year’s “Fab Five” recruiting class, which was headlined by the fourth overall pick in the NBA draft, Stephon Castle. Of course, there is pride in sending players like Castle to the draft, but the retention is what separates UConn from other programs.

“We do want to maintain that culture, a transformational type of program as opposed to the transactional, G-League type. There’s a lot of colleges doing the G League (thing) and they basically have a new team every year that’s old as hell, and we don’t want to be like that,” Hurley said Tuesday morning at the Connecticut Basketball Coaches Breakfast, hosted at the Golf Club of Avon by ESPN’s Seth Greenberg to benefit the Jimmy V Foundation.

“We want to be real strategic with bringing a transfer in in absolute-need situations, but just develop young players and still kind of run a program more like programs were run years ago — the way a lot of these guys are running their program. I don’t want to be a G League coach, actually I could’ve been an NBA coach.”

Hurley’s comment, as he sat on stage with some of Connecticut’s other Division I men’s basketball coaches (Central’s Pat Sellers, Yale’s James Jones and Quinnipiac associate head coach Shaun Morris), sent the whole banquet room into laughter.

The annual coaches’ panel in Avon raises money for cancer research while giving the state’s coaches an opportunity for some light-hearted banter as they preview their respective seasons and comment on the state of the sport.

Hurley received his second straight CT Coach of the Year award after winning back-to-back national titles, and Jones was recognized with the new “CT Dean of Coaches Award” after Yale’s upset over Auburn in the NCAA Tournament. Jones joked that he made a “business decision” to ensure San Diego State made every shot in their second-round game because UConn was set up to play the winner, and “Danny called me up and said, ‘Listen, if you win that game we’re gonna beat you by 60.' ”

In order for the Huskies to continue their unprecedented NCAA Tournament run, 12 consecutive wins by double digits, Hurley’s bet on the sophomore class and the five newcomers needs to hit.

Of the returning sophomores, Hurley said Solo Ball has made the “biggest leap to this point,” but if someone were to have watched the team practice for the first time yesterday they would’ve thought Jayden Ross would be a top-20 pick in this year’s NBA draft. Jaylin Stewart, who got involved as the season went on and had his best games in the Big East tournament, has also been competing for a significant role increase.

A better idea of the Huskies’ rotations should come after UConn takes the court against Rhode Island in Monday’s charity exhibition at Mohegan Sun.

Hurley said he and his staff were looking for “a public game, something without a lot of travel but we could simulate an overnight trip, get some of the jitters out that normally you wouldn’t get out until the opener,” he said. “I think it’s a fun exhibition and it’s a chance for our fans to get a little preview and then for both me and (URI coach) Archie (Miller) just to get a sense of what’s working and what’s not gonna work. It’s always a great exercise, these closed scrimmages and now these exhibitions.”

UConn will also play a closed scrimmage against a certain Ivy League school from Massachusetts (Harvard) before the season, as it has done in the past.

The format for Monday’s exhibition hasn’t been totally set in stone, but it will resemble an actual game with 20-minute halves. Hurley hopes the foul limit will be extended and that there will be opportunities for him and Rhode Island coach Archie Miller, brother of Xavier coach Sean Miller, to get on the court and correct things so that the day is useful as a teaching tool.

Ideally, players will further separate themselves in the competition to get into UConn’s top eight, where consistent minutes would be found.

“I don’t really know who is gonna start Monday night’s exhibition. At best I could say maybe 2-3 guys that would be starting, a lot of it is gonna be determined through Sunday,” he said.

“You want to see people battling and earning their role. Literally, going into the year I think Alex (Karaban) is the only one that you looked at and just said, ‘This guy’s an automatic starter.’ I think you can make a case that every other starting spot needs to be earned. And they always have to be earned, but with so much roster turnover, there’s so much for people to compete for. You want to see that right now.”