Hurley reflects on season

Dan Hurley repeated it several times on Friday during a season wrap-up Zoom call with the media.

“45:07,” he said, then muttered it under his breath a couple more times. “45:07. 45:07.”

He wasn’t spouting off some bizarre military time or counting down the hours to UConn’s next game.

Rather, Hurley was ruing the final 45 minutes, 7 seconds of the Huskies’ 202021 season — the last 5:07 of a Big East tournament semifinal loss to Creighton, followed six days later by a disappointing 40 minutes in a season-ending loss to Maryland in the NCAA tournament’s first round.

“It’s etched in my brain,” Hurley noted.

“The last 45 minutes and seven seconds of gameplay should push and drive every member of this organization in the off-season. Coaches ... players ... the last 45:07 is not who we want to be.”

Hurley said he couldn’t watch any NCAA tourney games on Sunday, the day after UConn’s loss, but started watching again on Monday.

He’s noticed something about the 16 teams still playing.

“Those programs maybe had a little bit more maturity, in terms of being able to handle themselves in March, in those critical games,” Hurley said. “That was a really valuable experience for the program.”

Here’s what else Hurley had to say about a number of topics affecting the Huskies now and in the future:

JAMES BOUKNIGHT

“It didn’t sit well with him the way the year ended. It eats away at you,” Hurley said of Bouknight, who shot a mere 10-for-30 over the Huskies’ final two games. “James is feeling disappointment, the way the season ended for us, but feels really good about what we accomplished while he was here.”

Hurley added that he’s probably seen more of Bouknight over the past week than he did during the regular season, since Bouknight has the major decision approaching on whether to declare for the 2021 NBA draft. No decision has been made yet, but it seems pretty clear.

“If you’re a lottery pick, and you’re able to accomplish that in two years,” Hurley noted, “that’s a pretty hard thing to turn down.”

Most NBA draft analysts have Bouknight as at least a mid-first round pick, if not a lottery selection.

ISAIAH WHALEY, TYLER POLLEY

The two graduating seniors can return for another season due to a change in NCAA policy resulting from COVID-19. Both players — as well as fellow senior Josh Carlton and graduating junior Brendan Adams — were all welcome back next season. Carlton and Adams have already decided to enter the NCAA transfer portal.

“(Whaley and Polley) are in a different position than Brendan and Josh were, in terms of what the playing time was for them and for the future,” Hurley noted. “They’ve got really, really hard decisions to make.”

Complicating things are the decreased opportunities to play overseas or in the NBA G-League, thanks to the economy and other conditions wrought by COVID.

“It’s open-ended, there’s no timeline,” Hurley said. “We’ll see what the pro market is for both, take some time. We can help those guys with that, see where it all lands for them.”

If one or both players return, they wouldn’t count against UConn’s 13scholarship limit. However, the school would still have to pay for their scholarships, something it has agreed to do.

AKOK AKOK

Akok returned in early January after offseason surgery for a torn Achilles, but played sparingly the rest of the way, even though he dressed and warmed up for almost every game. Hurley said Akok won’t be back to himself, “or even making improvements on his former self,” until the 18-month mark, which would be this August.

“There were days he felt really, really good and fresh, and moments he didn’t feel as good,” the coach said. “Our messaging to him was: ‘Give us what you could this year. We’ve got to have a huge summer and get you where this program needs to get you, come next season.’ ”

TRANSFER MARKET

Hurley and his staff will continue to monitor the transfer portal, which is already filled with hundreds of names. Hurley even joked he got a notification of another player entering the portal during the Zoom call.

“We don’t need that position,” he quipped.

What the Huskies are looking for, however, will be skilled, versatile players who can shoot “that will enhance what we have returning.” Of course, some of that hinges on whether or not Whaley and/or Polley returns.

In fact, that’s how Hurley views the portal.

“I can’t see us becoming Transfer U,” he noted. “We want to build a program in a more traditional way, and try to supplement that in a given year ... We’ll rely on recruiting at the high end, high school talent, and supplement that in a given year.”

WHO HE’S ROOTING FOR

Hurley said he’s pulling for Big East compatriots Villanova and Creighton in the Sweet 16, along with Alabama, which is coached by Nate Oats, a close family friend who was Hurley’s brother Bobby’s assistant at Buffalo.

Otherwise ...

“I’m just trying to steal some concepts and ideas right now. Just kind of a thief in the night, watching these games, trying to steal some ideas.”

ODDS AND ENDS

Freshman Andre Jackson needs to work this summer on “offense, offense, offensive production” ... Littleused redshirt freshman Richie Springs excited the staff the second half of the year “in terms of his maturity. He’s a real live frontcourt body, and he has the mobility and athletic ability that you’re dying for in today’s game. Huge summer for Richie” ... Freshman Adama Sanogo could be “one of the best forwards in the country” next season ... Hurley said he expects his staff to return for next season. “There’s nothing really pending,” he noted, “but I don’t want to jinx that.”