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Connecticut

Dan Hurley explains how he rebuilt UConn roster after widespread offseason turnover

Alex Weberby:Alex Weber•03/31/23
dan hurley
LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 25: UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley reacts to a call during the NCAA Division I Men's Championship Elite Eight round basketball game between the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the UConn Huskies on March 25, 2023 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

UConn may have a lot of veterans on this year’s team, but they lost quite a bit from the 2022 group heading into the season. The Huskies lost 3/5 starers, 2/3 leading scorers and replaced a good chunk of the roster with transfers and freshmen. It’s a team that had to blend together all in one season to make such a run in March. Ahead of their Final Four games, UConn coach Dan Hurley explained his roster-building philosophy heading into the season.

“We knew that we had a Big 3 in Andre Jackson, Jordan Hawkins, and Adama Sanogo,” Hurley said. “We knew the big sophomore jump was coming for Hawk.”

Hawkins certainly made a leap, from six points per game to 16 points per game while also blossoming into an elite high-volume shooter. But even with those returners headlining the team, Coach Hurley needed freshmen and transfer to step up.

“We knew we had two blue-chip freshmen,” Hurley added, referring to rookie colossuses Donovan Clingan and 2021 top-100 prospect Alex Karaban, who redshirted last year but has been an excellent floor-spacer for the Huskies this year.

Hurley continued:

“We knew that if we could get another perimeter starter like a Tristen Newton that could shoot and score. We knew going into the portal we needed specific things, especially perimeter shooting. And older players.

“We had like Nahiem Alleyne, we were desperate to get Nahiem because of his success in the NCAA Tournament at Virginia Tech. Particularly in the Florida game, I think he had 29. And we had struggled the year before. So obviously that was appealing to bring something into a program that had struggled the year before. A confident March player. Obviously Joey California. And then the bulldog backup guard in Hassan Diarra. So we had a vision for how we could put it together. But we knew the big 3 would deliver.”

UConn certainly hit on some transfer portal guys to fill out this roster. While none of them are stars, those four guards he mentioned basically make up the UConn backcourt. Newton is the closest thing they have to a point guard alongside Andre Jackson, and Alleyne, Calcaterra and Diarra all fill various roles off the bench.

Dan Hurley is getting major contributions from veteran grass roots guys, transfers and even freshmen during this dominant tournament run thus far.