Defending NCAA national championship winning coach Dan Hurley was raised in a basketball family. His father was recognized as one of the game’s great high school coaches. His brother Bobby is a two-time NCAA champion with Duke University, played six seasons in the NBA and currently coaches the Arizona State Sun Devils. When Dan Hurley talks basketball, people tend to listen to what he has to say.
After bulldozing their way past past Northwestern in the NCAA Tournament, Hurley’s University of Connecticut team finds themselves in the Sweet 16 once again. Connecticut, along with the other two Big East teams in the tournament, have cruised past their competition in relatively easy fashion. Marquette and Creighton pulled of victories over Colorado and Oregon, respectively, meaning all three Big East teams are still alive.
Asked after his team’s double-digit victory whether some Big East schools were unfortunate to miss out on the 68-team field, Hurley reiterated his feelings on the contentious subject.
“Obviously the mistake was made,” said Hurley per a recent piece by ESPN.” There should have been five or six Big East teams in this tournament.”
The head coach, who is now in his sixth year coaching the Huskies, provided the example of Seton Hall, a team that finished 22-12, yet still didn’t qualify.
“Just the quality of the league; look what we’ve done in non-conference games…Seton Hall beat us by 15. You know, we’ve won eight straight in this tournament, all by significant margins, and they were good enough to beat us and they were good enough to beat Marquette.” added Hurley.”
Along with Seton Hall, St. John’s and Providence will be justifiably upset about not making the cut. Both teams finished with 20 or more wins in what is proving to be one of the most challenging conference in the country.
