Tag: UConn Huskies

Former UConn star Cam Spencer shines for Memphis Grizzlies in Summer League

Former UConn Huskies guard Cam Spencer performed well for the Memphis Grizzlies in NBA Summer League on Tuesday.

It’s been a splashy week for Memphis Grizzlies rookies. First it was Zach Edey dominating in his NBA Summer League debut, posting a 14 point, 15 rebound double-double with the game-tying tip-in.

Then on Tuesday the headlines belonged to second round pick Jaylen Wells out of Washington State, who had a game-high 27 points including the game winning floater to secure a win for Memphis over the Philadelphia 76ers.

Wells may have had the bigger statline, but fellow second round pick Cam Spencer may have had the more impressive performance. Spencer, who helped bring a second straight national championship to UConn last season after playing the previous year at Rutgers, dropped 18 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds in about 35 minutes of action.

He shot 7-14 from the field and 3-7 from deep, with one steal and just one turnover on the night.

Spencer signed a two-way deal with Memphis on Monday in a move that already looks promising for the Grizzlies – who used this draft to add NBA-ready talent to a team hoping to compete right away with a fully healthy Ja Morant in the mix.

Edey is expected to start at the center position, while Wells has the size and outside shooting ability to be a rotation player right away. Spencer is a lights out shooter who will get a chance to contribute as a rookie right away as well.

It’s not hard to imagine Spencer’s intensity, scoring ability, winning mentality and experience leading him to a role as a floor spacer and hard-nosed energy guy for this Grizzlies team in Year 1, potentially giving them a trio of contributors out of what was widely considered a weak draft class.

In Liam McNeeley, UConn has college basketball’s next villain

UConn Huskies freshman wing Liam McNeeley is set to be college basketball’s villain for the 2024-25 season.

After winning back-to-back national championships, Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies have fully embraced being college basketball’s villains.

Hurley’s extreme reactions on the sidelines and “us against the world” mentality have helped build the villainy, and many of the players who come into the program are taylor made to be college basketball villains – with Rutgers transfer Cam Spencer filling the role admirably last season.

This year, Hurley already identified Spencer’s replacement as incoming freshman Liam McNeeley, the No. 10 ranked player in the 2024 recruiting class who is expected to be a day one starter and one-and-done player who gets taken in the lottery of the 2025 NBA draft.

Hurley spoke to the media on Tuesday and discussed McNeeley’s attitude and confidence, going as far as to say he thinks “opposing fan bases will find him to be an acceptable villain.”

McNeeley is from Richardson, TX and was a McDonald’s All-American who spent time at three different high schools. He originally committed to the Indiana Hoosiers before reopening his recruitment and joining the Huskies as they look for a third straight national title.

Fan bases in Texas and Indiana already have a reason to treat McNeeley like a villain, and soon the rest of the Big East will follow suit – particularly if he plays a big role in UConn continuing to win at an absurdly high rate in 2024-25.

What’s next for JJ Redick as he prepares for his first season as the Los Angeles Lakers coach?

Looking at what JJ Redick has in front of him as he prepares for his first season as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Monday was a massive day for [autotag]JJ Redick[/autotag]. It was officially the first day of an entirely new chapter in his life as he was introduced as the 29th head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers at a press conference.

Redick was the Lakers’ choice after an offseason that saw them pursue and fail to land Connecticut head coach Dan Hurley. Redick was an early option to replace Darvin Ham, who was replaced after the Lakers got bounced from the NBA playoffs by the Denver Nuggets for a second consecutive season.

Redick could not interview and meet with Lakers brass as he was an analyst for the NBA Finals. It wasn’t until after the Boston Celtics’ 4-1 win over the Dallas Mavericks that the Lakers could sit down and get into the fine details with Redick.

Redick connected with Lakers Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Rob Pelinka, and if this hiring pans out, that relationship will be meaningful in the future.

“It was very evident that he had a unique perspective and philosophy on basketball and how it’s to be taught,” Pelinka said at the introductory press conference.

Pelinka also reiterated that he and Redick share “a basketball philosophy that was very similar, and it was based on high-level strategy, it was based on a certain way of communicating with players and teaching them,” in addition to “prioritizing player development.”

With things official, what’s next for Redick as he prepares for his first season as a professional basketball coach?

Picking a staff and preparing for the NBA draft, plus NBA free agency, are the big ones for Redick.

Where does Redick get a coaching staff when he is not a coach with prior coaching connections? There have been murmurs that the Lakers and Redick are united on the notion that Redick’s assistants are fellow high-IQ minds like himself mixed with multiple former coaches with head coaching experience. That would be of real value to Redick, who doesn’t know what it takes yet to handle a locker room, especially in a locker room led by LeBron James.

Roster construction matters more than ever, and for the Lakers, it matters even more because they don’t have the financial wiggle room to be free spenders. They’ll have even less once we consider their plan to offer what would likely be LeBron James’ final contract as a Laker.

James has until June 29 to opt into the final year of his current contract, which would pay him $51.4M for the upcoming 2024-2025 season, but the expectation is that he’ll forgo that player option and become a free agent. Any new deal would only have a three-year max because James is 39, and the NBA employs an over-38 rule that stipulates that no player over that age can sign for more than three years.

Assuming LeBron returns to LA at his age, he can’t be the focal point anymore. Redick should look to building the roster around star forward Anthony Davis more. He discussed that in the conference when referring to Davis and how he planned to use him.

“One of the things I brought up with him is just the idea of him as a hub,” Redick said. “There’s a bunch of guys at the five position in the NBA that operate that way. I don’t know that he’s been used that way and maximized all his abilities.”

With that said, shooting, wing defense, and competent depth down low to take some of the load off Anthony Davis nightly were significant holes in the Lakers last year. The Lakers have a first-round pick in the upcoming 2024 NBA Draft, where they pick 17th. College Sports Wire’s Andy Patton mocked a player from a familiar school to the Lakers in Wednesday’s opening round.

Patton mocked Kyle Filipowski from Duke University for LA’s first-round pick. Filipowski has the size and skill to be a floor-spacing big that the Lakers could slot in and around Anthony Davis. He can handle the ball, as we’ve seen for Duke, and he has a wide array of offensive skills that complement Davis.

The Lakers’ new head coach and Pelinka, his new boss, both spent a significant amount of time harping on player development and how that would guide LA in the short and long term. Redick riffed about communicating with players already under contract about how they can improve and how they will function in his offensive and defensive system. For Redick, he spent his college years playing under one of the most outstanding teachers ever to grace the game of basketball, Coach K.

If this new venture is to work for Redick, it’ll have to be in the hands to create a culture and mentality in LA. This is something that has been missing for the Purple and Gold since the days of Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson.

“The pursuit of greatness can’t be miserable,” Redick said. “Every day somebody walks into this building, they have to enjoy it. I think part of being a coach, right, is, like, ‘Can I maximize each player?’ That helps maximize the group. And does everybody in the building, not just the players and staff, does everybody in the building enjoy coming to work every day? That’s sort of on me to create that culture.”

Dan Hurley denied ‘conspiracy’ that he leveraged the Lakers to get more money from UConn

UConn’s Dan Hurley called this one of the worst takes he ever heard.

UConn Huskies men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley said there was no conspiracy theory about his interest in the Los Angeles Lakers gig.

While it was initially shocking news that Hurley had emerged as a serious candidate for the Lakers, the college coach eventually said no to the NBA opportunity Los Angeles. During an interview on Dan Le Batard Show, he called it a “gut-wrenching decision” before he made his choice.

But then it was simply business as usual for the Huskies once Hurley eventually made his decision to defend his back-to-back collegiate national titles.

According to Hurley, it is a bad faith argument to suggest that he was trying to use negotiations with the Lakers against UConn for a contract extension:

“One of the worst takes I’ve heard is this was a leverage play by me to improve my situation at UConn. I don’t need leverage here. We’ve won back-to-back national championships at this place. This was never a leverage situation for me. I’ve had a contract in place here for a couple weeks and the financial part in terms of salary has been done for a while. There are some other parts like NIL and staff salaries and some different things that I want adjusted that I’m not comfortable with. But the sense that this was some conspiracy to get me a sweeter deal at UConn is lazy.”

The coach was reportedly offered $70 million over six years by the Lakers.

Hurley said he had already figured out the financials on his next deal with the university, who recently announced a contract extension for UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma.

He argued that anyone who viewed this saga as a way to sweeten the pot for himself in negotiations with UConn was being lazy.

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UConn had a perfectly calm reaction to Dan Hurley turning down the Lakers’ massive offer

It’s just business as usual now that Dan Hurley will not leave for the Lakers.

It was no secret the Lakers wanted to hire UConn men’s basketball head coach Dan Hurley. But the two-time collegiate national champion is staying put.

After winning March Madness in back-to-back seasons, Hurley is going to try for a three-peat. He would become the first men’s basketball coach who accomplished as much since John Wooden did as much for UCLA.

Hurley was an enticing but risky candidate for Los Angeles and now, the Lakers will go back to the drawing board as they look to replace Darvin Ham (now an assistant coach on the Bucks). Most likely, JJ Redick will once again emerge as the favorite.

Meanwhile, despite a few days of drama, the Huskies are back to business as usual in Connecticut. After some brief chaos and frenzy, Hurley met with his team on Monday and informed them that he is not leaving.

UConn Men’s Basketball account had a casual reaction to the developing story, tweeting that their 2:00 p.m. practice had begun.

It was a perfectly nonchalant way of describing what happened, which is that nothing has changed but the day on the calendar.

Hurley was reportedly offered $70 million to leave the NCAA but he gets to defend his championships instead. It is easy to imagine that all of the players on the roster felt pretty fired up after the announcement and that the practice had tremendous vibes.

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Dan Hurley turns down Lakers, will remain at UConn to chase a threepeat

Dan Hurley returned to the UConn Huskies, turning down a reported $70M offer from the Los Angeles Lakers.

Dan Hurley is staying home.

The 51-year-old head coach entertained a lucrative offer to leave the UConn Huskies to head across the country and coach LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers, but ultimately decided to return to Storrs and chase an elusive college basketball threepeat, which has not happened since John Wooden at UCLA.

Hurley reportedly turned down an offer from LA in the ballpark of six years and $70M, and instead will remain at UConn – where he has an extension offer in the range of six years and $50M, according to Jeff Goodman.

Hurley turned down a chance to coach the Kentucky Wildcats earlier this offseason, and now has rejected not only his first offer to be an NBA head coach, but a chance to coach perhaps the biggest basketball brand on the planet, and work with two future Hall of Famers in James and Davis.

For UConn, Hurley’s return means the roster the staff worked tirelessly to build will remain intact. Alex Karaban, who returned to chase a third straight title despite serious NBA draft attention, will now stay put in Storrs and should be in consideration as a preseason All-American.

Transfer portal additions Tarris Reed (Michigan) and Aidan Mahaney (St. Mary’s) will remain in the mix as well, along with incoming freshman Liam McNeeley.

Hurley’s ties to the east coast are one of many factors that kept him in Storrs, and a chance to lead UConn to another title and cement his legacy as one of the greatest coaches in college basketball history awaits him heading into the 2024-25 season.

Report: Lakers targeting UConn’s Danny Hurley as next head coach

The Los Angeles Lakers are preparing to make a massive offer to hire UConn Huskies head basketball coach Danny Hurley.

The biggest NBA brand is looking to bring in the most successful college basketball coach, with ESPN reporting the Los Angeles Lakers are targeting UConn’s Danny Hurley for their vacant head coach position.

Hurley led the Huskies to back-to-back NCAA Championships, becoming the first coach to do so since Billy Donovan did it with the Florida Gators in 2007 and 2008.

The Lakers had been targeting former Duke guard and NBA analyst J.J. Redick for the role, but now the team is reportedly preparing to offer Hurley a huge contract to pull him to the NBA.

The 51-year-old would take over a team still hoping to keep their championship window open with 40-year-old LeBron James and veteran big man Anthony Davis in the mix. LA won the title in 2020 but lost twice in the first round, and missed the playoffs altogether, since then.

For UConn, if Hurley does depart the players on the roster will all have 30 days to enter the transfer portal, and all eyes will be on recent NBA draft returnee Alex Karaban as well as incoming freshman Liam McNeeley and transfer portal additions Aidan Mahaney (St. Mary’s) and Tarris Reed (Michigan).

This story is continuing to develop.

Dan Hurley as coach of the Lakers makes more sense for Bronny James than it does for LeBron

Do the Lakers want a coach known for development so they can help Bronny James?

Early on Thursday morning, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski shocked the NBA world with a report about the Los Angeles Lakers head coaching vacancy.

According to Wojnarowski, the Lakers are preparing a “massive, long-term” contract that would bring UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley from the college ranks to the NBA.

This is, obviously, a major change of pace from previous reports indicating that former NBA veteran and ESPN commentator JJ Redick was likely going to accept the gig after he completed his on-air duties for the NBA Finals.

At first blush, this doesn’t seem to make a ton of sense for LeBron James. After all, LeBron co-hosts a basketball podcast with Redick and the two have great chemistry together on the show.

To be clear, that isn’t to suggest that LeBron isn’t a fan of Hurley or what he has accomplished at UConn. In fact, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer posted a reply to a recent podcast appearance featuring Hurley with very high praise.

The host of that podcast was none other than Redick, who may assumed was previously the frontrunner to take over as head coach of the Lakers before the recent report about Hurley surfaced.

LeBron is clearly impressed by Hurley and after two consecutive collegiate national championships, it is easy to see why.

But for all of his accolades and accomplishments that he has earned thus far, what he is most celebrated for is his ability to get the most out of young players. Even in ESPN’s initial report, Hurley’s “elite player development” is unsurprisingly one of the first traits mentioned.

That matters significantly, per Wojnarowski, and could mean a lot to the future of LeBron’s son Bronny:

“Assuming James returns to L.A. in free agency, the possibility of using the 55th pick in this month’s NBA draft on USC freshman guard Bronny James makes Hurley an even more intriguing candidate. If that happens, James gets a chance to play with his son and the benefit of Hurley and his staff becoming responsible for Bronny’s pro development.”

Wojnarowski continued that thought during an appearance on ESPN’s UNSPORTSMANLIKE Radio.

Here is more from Woj:

“You’re gonna have to grow your young players and the idea of Bronny James and the Lakers: They have the 55th pick. Who better potentially than Dan Hurley to be the development coach to lead his growth than the coach who has really dominated the college sport?”

For what it is worth, though, Bronny (a former McDonald’s All-American) did not receive an offer from Hurley and UConn when he was coming out of high school.

But of course, it isn’t just Bronny (who isn’t even on the Lakers roster at this point) that Los Angeles is considering when targeting Hurley.

Wojnarowski added:

“This is a decision and an idea for beyond LeBron James. I think Anthony Davis is at the forefront of this conversation … He wants to have a voice in this. He wants to be on the same page with this new head coach, whoever it is, and see how that new coach may use him, the actions he can put him in.”

Overall, the messaging is that this hire is not about a 39-year-old LeBron and more about the rest of the roster.

Here are some thoughts from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst:

“LeBron told the Lakers they need to make a decision on their head coach that’s not just about me, it’s not just about what’s good for me for this year, next year … It’s going to be about what you need to do for your franchise. It’s going to be about Anthony Davis. That is what he said … He wants the Lakers to do what’s best for their team long-term. If the Lakers make a hire like this, it’s not for LeBron.”

There is a lot to unpack here but the reality is that Hurley has most of his experience coaching players like Bronny, who have the potential to improve but aren’t where they want to be as basketball players quite yet.

Does that mean he is incapable of coaching stars like LeBron and Davis?

We have seen him have tremendous success in the NCAA using NBA-style schemes and systems, so it could potentially translate.

When you watch Hurley coach, you can see why his message resonates well with players Bronny’s age and may not have that same impact on NBA vets. All things considered, this coach seems to make the most sense for a younger roster where the Lakers are a team loaded with experienced pros.

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The Lakers are reportedly targeting Dan Hurley as coach and fans were stunned at the turn of events

So is JJ Redick the next Lakers coach or not?

The Los Angeles Lakers coaching search appeared to be over. After weeks of rumors that J.J. Redick was the leader in the clubhouse, The Athletic’s Sham Charania gave the news his stamp Wednesday with yet another report that LA was zeroing in on Redick as the frontrunner.

One day later, and that no longer seems to be the case. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Thursday morning that the Lakers are actually targeting UConn head coach Dan Hurley for the position.

Maybe this is why Redick said he would be addressing Charania after the NBA Finals?

According to Wojnarowski, the Lakers are preparing a massive long-term offer to the back-to-back national champion Hurley. And not only have they already had preliminary talks with the coach, he’s been at the forefront of their search the entire time.

Fans didn’t see this coming

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Sooners eliminated from NCAA Tournament after 7-1 loss to UConn

Oklahoma Sooners season comes to an end after 7-1 loss to UCONN in regional title game

Monday was a rough day for both Oklahoma sports teams on the diamond. While the ladies of the softball team lost at the hands of Florida, the baseball team had their own business to tend to.

The mission was straightforward: Win and move on to the Super Regionals to face the Florida State Seminoles.

However, things didn’t go nearly as planned. The UConn Huskies, winners of the Big East regular-season crown, laid waste to the Sooners in Norman to punch their ticket to Tallahassee.

Carson Atwood received the start for the Sooners, while the Huskies sent out DIII transfer Gabe Van Emon to start things in the winner-take-all game.

After keeping the Huskies off the board first, the Sooners opened up the bottom of the first, looking to strike first and capture some serious momentum.

John Spikerman led the inning off with a single up the middle before Bryce Madron worked a walk. An Easton Carmichael double play followed and UConn coach Jim Penders decided to intentionally walk Michael Snyder. Snyder has terrorized opposing pitching staffs in the regional, which led to a Jaxon Willits ground out and the end of the inning.

What started as a promising half-inning fizzled out big time. That was virtually the game for the Sooners.

Both teams were held scoreless until the fourth inning, when things came apart for the Sooners.

Korey Morton cranked a two-run homer over the fence in left-center to put the Huskies out in front. Catcher Scott Mudler made a critical throwing error to complete what would have been a strikeout and the third out of the inning. The ball rolled to the wall on the right field, and Tyler Minnick raced around to third base.

After Skip Johnson relieved Arwood, he brought in Carter Campbell, who promptly gave up a two-run homer. The Huskies lead doubled to 4-0.

After connecting on a couple of singles, in the bottom half of the inning, OU remained scoreless. They couldn’t put together the big hit when needed.

Luke Broadhurst and Korey Morton delivered RBI singles for UConn later in the game to make it 6-0 and that pretty much decided the game.

Van Emon, hardly a flamethrower, used well-located breaking pitches to keep the Sooners off balance. His defense behind him, by far the best defensive unit in this region and the best defensive team OU has played all season, kept dazzling with spectacular plays and made the routine ones look routine. He pitched 7.1 shutout innings, allowed five hits, and walked just two batters en route to the win.

A dynamic offense like Oklahoma’s just ran into bad luck, and a much-improved pitching unit had one of its least effective outings in quite some time. Throw in some defensive miscues by the Sooners, and you will get the result.

With the loss, OU’s season comes to an ends. The Sooners will have quite a few returners but lose some valuable pieces as they leap to the SEC next season. There will be multiple decisions to make, and Skip Johnson and his staff will have to use the transfer portal to fill in gaps along the way.

Johnson and this team were a much-improved group, winning a Big 12 regular season title and earning a top 16 national seed. It’s not the way anyone expected the season to end, but OU shouldn’t hang its head. They put together a terrific season.

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