After Duke’s remarkable win over St. John’s, the Blue Devils have to suck it up for another major encounter with a Big East team, and it’s UConn, and all the ties that it implies.
For one, Duke and UConn have been the dominant programs in college basketball for some time: since 1991 in Duke’s case, and 1999 in UConn’s. Since then, Duke has won titles in 1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, and 2015, while UConn won in 1999, 2004, 2011, 2014, 2023, and 2024.
All of Duke’s came under Mike Krzyzewski, while the first
three of UConn’s came under Jim Calhoun, the fourth under Kevin Ollie, and the final two under current coach Danny Hurley. And Hurley, of course, has great ties to the Duke program.
First, his brother, Bobby, is one of the greatest Duke players of all time and perhaps the best point guard in NCAA history. He led his team to three national championship games, won two, and set an assist record which stood until just a few days ago when Purdue’s Braden Smith broke it after 34 years.
Danny has been an immensely successful coach, but it hasn’t been an easy road for the younger Hurley.
His father was one of the finest coaches in the game, at any level. What he did at St. Anthony’s, a Catholic high school in Jersey City, is the stuff of legends (sadly, St. Anthony’s is now closed).
Bobby set a standard in college that no one could touch, not even his brother.
None of this has been easy for Danny, who, as anyone can see, and as he has openly discussed, has at times struggled with his emotions. Like Bobby, he can be volatile.
He is certainly volatile on the sidelines, something for which he gets a lot of criticism. Unlike most of us, though, Hurley has had to wrestle his demons in public. One hopes his coaching success has brought him some measure of peace. He has done something his father will never do, and something his brother has not done: won back-to-back championships.
That ensures he will be in the Hall of Fame one day, and he definitely deserves it.
However, he still has things to accomplish, and Duke is an obstacle in two ways.
One, the Blue Devils are still the largest brand in college basketball, and it’s not even close. We saw something the other day that said that Duke’s brand in basketball is even bigger than Alabama’s in football. That’s astonishing.
Hurley has tried to schedule Duke in recent years, but it hasn’t happened. Now, he gets to take them on and to try to surpass the Blue Devils on the court, and he really wants that.
And second, as a kid, especially a kid with powerful emotions, it cannot have been easy to be Bob Hurley’s son and Bobby’s little brother, and to follow them both into a basketball life.
He told a story once of coming to visit Bobby in Durham and getting the Laettner Treatment from Christian Laettner. He didn’t enjoy it, and obviously, he remembers it years later. Duke, we suspect, is never that far from his mind.
All that is to say that this is a huge game for Coach Hurley, bigger for him in some ways than anyone else involved. We have immense respect for him and his entire family, and this will be the only time we have ever pulled against a Hurley. And if they win, we’re riding with UConn the rest of the way.
So how will this game unfold?
Well, the Huskies have some advantages.
First, experience. Alex Karaban (6-8), Solo Ball (6-4), and Tarris Reed (6-11/265) have been on two national championship teams. They know the deal.
Second, Luke Murray, whom we’ll see soon as the head coach at Boston College, has helped build a tremendous offense.
Third, they’re deeper than Duke, and Duke is still banged up. Caleb Foster had an amazing game against St. John’s, but he’s playing three weeks after foot surgery and with a still-healing bone. Pat Ngongba played against TCU and St. John’s, but he’s clearly not 100%. He’s only taken three shots (but made them all), has had 6 rebounds, and 5 assists in 30 minutes of play. And against St. John’s, he was just 1-6 from the line, which could have cost Duke the game. It didn’t, but it could have.
Both of those guys are still on scooters when not playing, and there are no guarantees for either on Sunday.
Three-point shooting, often a strength for Duke this season, has not been good in the tournament so far: the Blue Devils have shot 17-61 so far, for 27.9%. Isaiah Evans, Dame Sarr, and Cayden Boozer have all hit 33.3% on their attempts, but Nik Khamenia is 2-8, and Cameron Boozer is a surprising 1-7. No one else has hit one.
Three-point shots have accounted for just 22% of Duke’s offense in the tournament, but on the bright side, it has gotten better every game:
- vs. Siena: 5-26 (.192)
- vs. TCU: 7-21 (.333)
- vs. St. John’s: 5-14 (.357)
You can expect UConn to do a couple of things. First, to force Duke to prove it can hit outside. The cost of that is going to be to hammer Cameron Boozer inside, where he’ll have to deal with the massive Reed. Boozer is a really strong big, but Reed is bigger, and possibly stronger. If nothing else, he’s four years older.
Second, to attack Duke inside to try to get the big guys in foul trouble. Ngongba was helpful against TCU, but he also picked up four fouls. For all his defensive brilliance, Maliq Brown has had a tendency to pick up fouls. That could be a huge issue in this game if those guys get in foul trouble.
As good as UConn can be, though, and as fine a coach as Hurley has become, they’re vulnerable, too.
First, point guard Silas Demary is dealing with a Grade 2 high ankle sprain, combined with calf and Achilles issues. That’s a lot to overcome, and UConn may be vulnerable, as we saw with St. John’s pressuring them into 16 turnovers in the Big East tournament, and winning by 20 points.
Solo Ball and Braylon Mullins have not shot well in the post-season, though there’s no guarantee that will continue, obviously.
And while the Blue Devils have not shot threes well in the post-season, UConn’s defensive scheme encourages a high volume of threes. And if you leave Isaiah Evans open, you run the risk of him getting on a crazy heater.
UConn is going to try to defend the paint at all costs, so expect Duke to attack inside with Boozer hopefully drawing fouls. That’s a twofer.
First, he’s a superior foul shooter, and second, if you get their interior defense in foul trouble, UConn’s got a major problem. They really need to keep Reed on the floor, and Karaban, too.
This is going to be a fascinating game in many ways, but if Duke can stay out of foul trouble, limit turnovers, and hit a decent volume of threes, they should be in good shape.
Finally, there is a notion that UConn is not a good foul shooting team.
Well, that’s sort of true: the team collectively averages a middling 71.6%.
Reed is poor at 59%, but Demary hits 80.9%, Karaban 85.3%, Ball 85.5%, and Mullins 88.2%.
You can pick on Reed if he gets the ball in a critical situation, but the other guys? Barring fouls or other issues, they’re going to be on the court, and they’re probably making their shots.
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