Pete Thamel: Dan Hurley NBA speculation a sign college basketball is 'year-to-year business'

Thursday morning began like many crazy NBA offseason days over the years, with a massive report from Adrian Wojnarowski in the wee hours. That report being that UConn coach Dan Hurley could be headed to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Of course, Hurley is fresh off back-to-back national titles with the Huskies and just turned down a reportedly huge offer from Kentucky a couple months back. Now, it’s an even bigger basketball giant, the Lakers, who are preparing to godfather offer to top coach in college hoops.

When discussing this potential move on Get Up, host Mike Greenberg invited college sports insider Pete Thamel onto the show to explain why a jump to the NBA could be appealing for Hurley given the nature of modern collegiate athletics.

“Well, I think Dan Hurley accidentally summed this up for you Greenie,” said Thamel. “A couple weeks after they won the title, he tweeted out ‘Portal Day 1’ and it’s a picture of him lying in the fetal position in his office having to deal with that.”

Despite his immense success in the current era, perhaps Hurley still doesn’t love the turnstile nature of roster construction nowadays.

“I think what Dan Hurley is saying is college basketball is a year-to-year business,” added Thamel. “Your roster one season has very little to do with your roster the next season. I think if you walk in the average American sports bar right now and ask ‘can you name five college basketball players for next year?’ — I don’t think anyone can unless they’re a hardcore message board fan.”

With the decreasing amount of stars who actually return to their schools the next season, Thamel thinks coaches like Hurley have and will grow tired of keeping up on a yearly basis.

“That constant churn and constant turnover makes it challenging to do what Dan Hurley does so well — run a program, be a program-builder — when you have all these new starters. And then your roster is 80% different every year. That becomes taxing and unsustainable over a long period of time if you’re going to pour into these players and have your program built on development.”

All that to say: with personnel decisions out of his control in the NBA, the focus is solely on coaching ball, which is where Hurley wants it. Sure, he’d have less control in LA than in Storrs, but the opportunity to lead arguably basketball’s biggest worldwide brand is hard to pass up.