Danny Hurley on NCAA Success & The Next Level

Mike Francesa talks with UConn basketball coach Danny Hurley on the back-to-back National Championships, the whirlwind aftermath and what it would take for him to coach in the NBA.

00:00 Danny Hurley on life after the title game
03:53 Stephon Castle’s impact & NBA draft potential
07:23 UConn’s big five
10:51 UConn’s tournament run
20:54 Coaching through pressure
28:12 The Hurley House & NBA coaching possibility
31:31 The Wild West of NIL

it’s the Mike Francesa podcast on the BET Rivers network hello again everybody the Mike Francesa podcast on the BET Rivers network is brought to you by KAS Amigos tequila KAS Amigos is brought to you by those who drink it ever since they won the back-to-back titles in historic fashion I’ve wanted to have a chance to chat with the head coach who has now moved into the legendary status with his back-to-back titles uh and now that the smoke is cleared and things have settled down we got to chance to chat so Danny Hurley the Yukon head coach joins us now Danny coach welcome how are you Mike Awesome Man uh great to be back on with you just like last year oh thank you and Danny tell me how crazy has it been how Whirlwind has it been since this uh second title um I think just uh just I think the the sport is crazier um you know with with the portal uh and with nil I I don’t think that maybe you know back years ago there might have been more of a A celebratory couple weeks worldwind that way uh whereas I think in in the game today like literally um you know two days uh you know two days after you win it you’re hosting a v uh you’re hosting visits for kids in the portal uh you’re fundraising nil money you’re figuring out kind of what your budget is and where you need to be to put together a competitive roster um so I think uh you know maybe you sneak in some of the stock exchanges and first pitches and White House White House trips right you know uh it’s funny there were two coaches that I looked at and I said when they leave the program’s going to collapse one was Georgetown and it did the second was Yukon I didn’t think it could stay where Calhoun took it because to me did the greatest coaching job in building that program in the history of college basketball because people have no idea how hard that was to do uh but you’ve been able to go to a school that was smart enough to come back to the Big East which I thought was critical but has had a woman’s coach who has dominated and a legendary male coach and now you have seamlessly taken your place right alongside them how hard has that been and how how much have been a part of it yeah um you know so for Coach I mean uh you know to to spend time around him even you know at at 80 years old or 80 plus uh you know you could still you could see what made him what what made him so such an incredible coach and his force of will and his eye for talent and and his ability to to connect the team you know he’s uh I he’s he’s top three all time most underated Big Time coach of all time oh he doesn’t get mentioned enough yeah yeah top three I mean coach wooden Coach K uh you know and then I think coach Calhoun with the three at Yukon from you know from nothing um and then just you know to be in an environment where your your two mentors or or your support system uh where where you can uh get advice get mentorship uh you know get a pat on the back or kick in the ass I me when you have that with Coach Calhoun and Gino Ara um you know it’s just it doesn’t get any better than that for a coach coming in here from Rhode Island like I was that you know wasn’t I’m not a fully formed coach and still am not uh so to have access to coaches two of the best to ever do it in basketballs so huge advantage and a father who’s on the same level so that doesn’t hurt either I mean that’s that’s a big part of it we’re talking with Danny Hurley Danny February 1st I go to the Garden my I take my youngest son uh who’s a senior in high school was sitting there about maybe an hour before the game or so big game real real tension in the building you know St John’s mad that there’s so many Yukon fans in the building the whole thing uh but Tom Moore who I’ve known forever comes over and he sits down next to me and we’re chatting and he says we’re gonna unleash this kid Castle watch what happens after that game I walked out with my son and a couple other young guys that we were taking a train back I said guys with that kid in the lineup nobody’s beating this team nobody that team took off when he took off what was your plan with him this year yeah I just um you you you you you meet the kid and and you get a chance to uh you know both his parents are from Queens um you know and then uh you know he spends his his childhood uh you know in Georgia so he’s got that you know he’s got kind of that the New York City you know blood in him that toughness but that he’s got the sensibility of going up in you know in in the South and he just has incredible parents and he just uh you know he’s just a do everything type of player a Marcus Smart type of guard that uh okay you need me to get you know 20 uh you need me to get 28 rebounds and six assists this game okay if that’s what the game dictates okay I’ll do go do that for you coach all right now okay you need me to shut shut down be leyan or uh or or or booy and sacrifice some offense uh you know at 6625 pounds with the point guards handle and vision and the you know toughness and he’s just uh I think he’s a guy because we’re such a loaded team I think he’s going into the draft maybe a little bit underrated but the team he’s GNA be a top five pick I think now I think he’s I think those days are underrated over I think he’s probably going to go into top five picks yeah and the teams that came in and watched watched us practice I think have a much better sense of his all-around abilities because um you know see him as a point guard you see him as a point guard Danny I think he’s got some primary you know Handler in him I think early in his career he’s going to need to be in the back court with right uh you know with a guy that could take those responsibilities but within a year or two I think he’s going to be and on the ball facilitator 80% of the time you know who he reminds me of and this is High compliment he reminds me of Scotty Pippen at the same development I mean he can do everything and he’s long and he’s lean and he can jump and he can defend that’s who he he’s a little smaller but that’s the guy he reminds me of yeah and and you look at his just his allaround abilities and and and that great connective peace and and he you look at his numbers when he finally got healthy the first half of the year he was not healthy um but all of his shooting numbers uh you know the last 15 games they were close to 50% from the field you know mid-30s from three and then mid to high 70s from the free throw line so I know the shooting is something that people you know question but but he’s got a smooth shot and he’s still he’s young and he’ll develop it and he shot well when the pros tried him out he he shot very well in their test so he did really well it’s what moved him up in the he and Shephard both moved up a mile we’re talking with Danny Hurley Danny the five were such a unique five in that any one of them could lead the team in scoring in the NCA tournament four of them did and each had such a unique role and what they could bring and they anyone could dominate at one time um probably the biggest blending guy was Caravan but he still had a lot of talent he could make a big three he could do a lot of things but Spencer was this intense this player who was always in the right spot at the right time at the right moment making a three coming in getting an offensive rebound giving you a head fake and making a shot a putback making a great pass what a wonderful college player and and a unique college player yeah I mean just uh you special you know double special and um again I think it’s like it goes back to like the family you know a family that is like old school values of accountability work ethic no excuses whatever need from me coach uh no Tick Tock Instagram you know like not on social media doesn’t know what any of that is probably still has a flip f um but just you know loves the game uh loves to compete and uh you know at every level the kids ever play that he’s just always surprised people and gotten it done because he doesn’t blow your way with athleticism but he blows you but his instincts and feel for the game allow him to to make up for that athleticism and um you know he was he was on the he just missed that that that 50 45 90 right the 50 from the field 45 from three and 90 from the line which right is rare for a college player but you know he’s a guy that’s gonna be drafted somewhere in the second round and it just wouldn’t surprise me my te and you got two guys going to be top five you got castley you got kingan who some teams don’t need senters maybe somebody’s going to trade into the top five to take him but how about his development you really brought him along and he just got better day after day after day you well he’s a guy you know again I’m GNA go back to like the parents and just you know the Inner Circle didn’t ruin him before he got to college he didn’t you know that people didn’t make him think he made it before he actually made it he stayed at his his public high school he didn’t go out and play on the big sneaker sneaker circuit a team he kind of stayed secluded and and in a tight Circle grown up in Bristol and uh so he wasn’t ruined kind of by Grassroots basketball when he got here so he was humble and hardworking and and uh I think teams uh are seeing right now that you know he can really pass and handle the ball in those five out uh types of uh of uh of looks he’s got a shooting a look as a shooter that is going to trans late a couple of years down the line to a guy that will be able to step out and make him and then and Mike when you meet the person he blows you away like when when he visits your organization for a day or two in this pre-draft process these teams are going to fall in love with this guy and I I wouldn’t be surprised if if he’s a serious threat to go one oh I I agree with you 100% we’re talking with Danny Hurley Danny couple things in the games uh the the first team ever backto back years not only win back toback championships which is impossible to do in the NCA tournament so hard to do and this team ranks with the greatest teams of all time I I’ve seen everyone from the Walton gang forward well I’ve saw everyone from the Jabar team and jabbar’s Junior years considered to be the greatest team of all time I’m not sure it is but it was considered to be I’ve seen every one of those teams your team ranks with the greatest teams that ever played in the NCA tournament and is the only one ever to win every game for two years by double digits but a couple of things Illinois game that stood out to me it’s 23 up and damask is there’s finally a player who’s bothering you guys he’s hurting you guys he’s he’s killing you guys early and I’m like wow they actually have a player who can score it wasn’t Shannon who had to go to the basket it was this damask who could do a little bit of everything and it’s 23 up with a minute in the first half the next thing you know you run off 30 straight points take me to that game in the end of the first half at 23 up well even in the leadup to that one Mike it’s sometimes you look at the quotes by the opposing program and and you feel like uh you know you you you you get more confident and I think on the leadup they they were saying a lot of um you know we we we’ve played against you know uh multiple teams as good as these guys in the Big 10 right we’ll take it right to the rim on them you know we’re going to dve it on them which they did which was utter stupidity which we saw for a long time in the game but damask is hurting you right so first player that’s really hurting you at any time in the tournament you’re 23 up were you concerned at all no I I I think it didn’t feel sustainable uh you know in a sense that it you know for us at that point in the game it’s it’s still body blows um you we have tremend we had tremendous size at guard uh he was making some really tough twos um and uh in a similar way to to Edy uh that just it wasn’t a way that they were going to be able to score enough points you know to win the game we hadn’t caught in our offensive Rhythm we were getting great shots uh we were taking away the three-point line and we were taking away the rim and and all they had was was Dom mask making really tough mides which it didn’t feel sustainable once we found our Rhythm which he only scored two points the rest of the game and you took a kid that no one else in the NCA tournament could handle and Shannon and shut him out I mean embarrassed them let’s be honest uh just completely embarrassed them in the game in that win then the Alabama game and this was fascinating to me and you know everyone says oh yukon’s got all his talent they got all his size they got all this they got that this game to me was a subtle game and they were a very dangerous team because they could really shoot it I mean they could shoot it scary good Alabama and in that game they leave Castle early they’re not going to guard him and he hits a couple of Threes then he cools off but you make such a subtle adjustment that I thought was so smart in that game you start using him as the primary screener and then he rolls off that for easy baskets and easy foul shots and winds up being your high scorer in the game that to me was just a great Nuance of stuff that you guys did to win this tournament yeah well you know Mike it it goes back to uh like like any success it it goes back to a fail failure of mine as a coach where the year before you know with Andre Jackson who when teams started playing him that way last January when we struggled uh yeah we were Str I was slow to to to to figure out the you know the code to to break the code in terms of how to use a perimeter guard uh when they’re helping significantly off of him so uh you know learning to to use Andre Jackson the appropriate way which led in large part to last year’s championship so as soon as teams you know went to school on that uh you know we we went back to our experience with Andre and using him as a cutter on the Baseline for lob dunks uh and then yeah have using him as a ball screen and roll guy and now this 66 guy with great finishing ability and passing is now attacking three on twos and four on threes throwing lobs spraying it out for threes and finishing it the rim um yeah but the the misusing Andre a little bit the year before kind of helped us in that spot interesting you know the other thing is and I don’t want to beat on the Big 10 but their coaching in the Illinois game and the Purdue game Left Me banging my head against the wall I did not understand that in the least I mean how do you play for twos like Purdue did and I did not understand how Illinois attacked the rim when they were having no success and continue to just attack the rim with no success but here’s the thing I want to bring it to the Big East got beat up and didn’t get a lot of teams in the tournament we all know that they got screwed okay at at the after you big guys the amazing thing was the sophistication of the coaching in the Big East is so much better than what I saw in the tournament from guys like especially the Big 10 guys and I’m not trying to beat them up but let’s be honest you go against patino you go against what kraton did with the three-point shot you go against the sophistication that you saw in the league it’s a lot higher than it was when you get in some of those NCA I mean the best coaches in the country are well I think they they they they reside in the Big East uh no question I know sounds like I’m I’m biased and stuff like that but you know what watch the games just watch the sophistication of the games yeah I mean sean Shawn Miller is one of the best coaches in the country Terri and whaton does with their three-point stuff okay and what did listen what patino did he was never going to win that game in in in the conference tournament but you know what he hung in there and they and you know they turned you over a couple times and hit some threes and kept the game close I mean so and that’s patino we all know what kind of Coach patino is I mean patino’s um you know we’re obviously not best friends but he’s one of the best coaches this generation I mean he’s I like the Rivalry I think that’s great I think that makes it I really do but he’s a a legendary coach as are you now but the bottom line is that kind of intensity and that kind of uh fight is great to have in a league but the whole league the coaching in the league is just sophisticated let’s be honest the coaching the way the the way the games are officiated I mean they feel like a UFC fight every game feels like a a Hearns Haggler um the environments are intense the coaches are the best in the country the the you know you have the history and tradition of the league too that like you know having tension between coaches having uh you know having that that that tension that that that energy that a little bit of dislike I think it it makes the regular season interesting where most people just want to tune in for watch Madness you know you got to give people you know some the matchups and some of the storylines to make it interesting in in in February and January we’re talk with Danny Hurley Danny three games in you win the first game by 39 you win the second game by 17 against the stubborn Northwestern team which played okay in the second half you got you win the third game by 30 which opened everybody’s eyes now it’s Yukon on one level Purdue on one second level and then everybody else everyone thinks Purdue can get there everyone knows Yukon can get there but what people don’t realize is how hard it is to coach in that tournament that’s one and done and to insulate your team game in and game out how hard was that considering you were looking for a repeat considering the way your team was beating people and the expectations now which were enormous going into the regional final forward yeah big pressure I mean big big uh big pressure late in the regular season Once uh we lost at CR we lost atraton yeah they shot the lights out right yeah I mean they shut the lights out we we just it was one of those one of those nights for us and then our response to that though going to Marquette to Providence uh and then and then you know winning two home games all in dominant fashion I think at that point we we said to ourselves man this is a this is a special team I mean this is a better team than we had last year I was gonna that was my next question I think it’s a I think the second team now I’m not taking anything away from the first team and the big played great on the first team okay he played Sensational but this team was a better team I thought SU NS eight man and your eight men were important because the guys off the bench the three guys off the bench were really good so eight men this was a all-time great team I thought better than the team year before you agree I mean we won 37 I you know we SW I mean the big we we we set uh you know Big East regular season uh Champs and and most wins ever um and then and then obviously you know the the St John’s game was a tough game but you know you you double Champs in the Big East you win 37 games you play the the the second number one seed you know and you win that in in pretty dominant fashion the the pressure you know I’d say the the pressure hit and it was intense once you know you’ve got the best team which you know we knew for like you know end of the Big East regular season all the way to to the getting on the bus going to the national championship game in Phoenix that was intense pressure when like you know that your team is Far and Away the best team what how did you insulate your kids how did you talk to your kids identity you know guys like everything’s automatic right now um reminders of of the kraton game on the road reminders of the the game at se Hall like hey if we get away from our identity we’re as vulnerable as anyone else uh but there were just you know Mike we were we were the best offensive team in the country maybe the best defensive team in the country we were one of the one of the best rebounding teams in the country we played harder than the opponent uh and then the preparation with with my staff for games game planning was you know was high level and then the culture I mean across the board we just we were not we weren’t vulnerable at all no and you coached that way and it came across that way and a lot of coaches don’t like to act that way you didn’t mind acting that way you put a lot of pressure on your own shoulders was there any moment Alabama any moment anywhere where you went into a timeout a little concerned about your ball Club was there any moment at any game where you were a little concerned or was it you were in control the whole way the I did not like the start to the uh Purdue game uh necessarily and Luke Murray is a brilliant guy and and Co kamat young associate head coach and these guys are incredible coaches and and you know Luke um you know Luke convinced the uh me and kamani to uh you know to stay away from Trapp and Edy unless we got into serious foul trouble and and live with those tough twos and let’s just blanket the three-point line well you killed them they made one three in the whole game I mean that which and they stopped taking threes and settled for twos and floaters which I just did not understand yeah and and and it was it was so tempting without us doubling uh Edie to just keep throwing it in because he’s so prolific and he got tired he did get Tio yes he got tired and kingan did start to time it and start to get a feel for what he was trying to do which made him very inefficient during that middle part of the game uh early on he hurt us and then late he hurt us but they were twos and we were up 17 so it it you know it really would it had no impact but that middle part of the game when the game was won that middle kind of that 20 minute stretch there when kingan really figured him out made him really inefficient he got tired and then that’s where we we got separation and then their lack of ability to to get threes and to turn us over um you know the game was kind of pretty much over no question and I thought uh first of all a lot of people didn’t even think Clingan could play you know 30 minutes in that game he did he didn’t foul out which was key also and I think Edy got very tired Ed’s a good offensive player there’s no question I mean he’s a but and they lived on that corner three and they didn’t make a corner three in the entire game I mean it was unbelievable that how can you go away from that weapon I did I’m telling you I don’t I’m not trying to insult them but I thought the Illinois and Purdue game plans were the most ridiculous things I’ve seen in the basketball in a long time I really did I’m sure you had a lot to do with that but I didn’t understand them yeah I mean we really in those particular games really tried to run them off the line and and and provide no help on any dribble penetration or post UPS so it was just on your own on your own almost a face guard situation to try to prevent them from uh you know from even giving it a look and I think it did it does you know Ed got trapped so much just when they know it’s single coverage down there and they’re trying to get kingan out of the game I think with with foul trouble but um you know kingan was able to to play disciplined and and uh and we were I mean our perimeter size was a was a big factor guards so the size of your Gods was yeah the size of your guards was a Hu a huge factor in the game I don’t think there’s any question Newton had a very very good game too you know he had a good a very good final game and he and Castle both did and the size was a major major factor the other thing that always amazed me is I don’t care what game I saw and I probably saw you play 15 games last year I saw you play in person three times every time Johnson comes in the game within a minute he got a dunk I could I’ve never seen anything like it I mean every single time the guy got a dunk I was like how does this guy do this he comes in the game and within 30 seconds he’s got a dunk well he moves like a guard I mean he’s the most sudden 610 guy uh in the ball screen game I mean just when this guy’s rolling to the rim or running the floor or or or or cutting um just it it’s like highest level NBA Twitchy athlete um where you could basically throw the ball up anywhere around the corner of the backboard and this guy is like old school Plastic Man um you know but his Movement Center you know to be able I think such a key to our success is like having two centers that are different looks for our opponents and he gives you this this this unique Movement Center uh that like if you put his like highlight film mixtape of dunks I I don’t think there was a more spectacular Center highlight film than his from last year did that did this team have a player who was a leader was there one player who was the the leader on this team or not really uh I think you know kingan’s got this huge personality in the locker room uh he’s this you know this s he was this super confident guy you had the back court um that was like ice you know Newton was like Iceman cool guy from from El Paso uh and then you you had the fire with uh um you know with Spencer so you had the fire in the ice who had temperament like you as a matter of fact yeah yeah yeah that’s my that’s my Mini Me and uh that’s what you yeah yeah I mean listen you you like to you like to Stir It Up which I like I like that okay and and you know Calhoun was that way too coun and I who became very good friends years later almost at our first final four got in a fist fight I mean because he was protecting his player and I was ripping him and we almost got in figh in a restaurant so I mean that that was my start with Calhoun and we we became very close after that and you know and I love him but our first thought was we almost got into a brawl in a fist fight at the final four yeah I I I’m not surprised I I I I uh you know Co I got a lot of stories like that uh with Coach right when I talk to people that have that that that have known coach but you know you’re the coach at Yukon and you’re following coach Calhoun and you got gin over there with 11 there championships um you better uh you know you better be an alpha coach or or a coach with an edge to you if you want to survive or forget Thrive if you want to just survive at a place like Yukon with the basketball history yeah but now you are the toaster of the world I mean you could have taken any job you you know you didn’t even blink at Kentucky which would have you know opened the Vault for you I know you wouldn’t go to Kentucky but the point is you could do you could write your own ticket anywhere you’ve already had an incred anyone who wins back-to-back titles is golden and you know in your family which people don’t realize I mean you guys are the you know what Mannings are the football you guys are of basketball I mean you know what what you guys have all accomplished from your father who people might not realize is a legend one of the legendary High School coaches of all time okay on the level with Morgan Wooten legendary coach at St Anthony’s in Jersey City and your brother who was a great player at Duke a great point guarden would have had a great pro career if he hadn’t had a terrible car accident so uh and is a good coach in his own right and now you as to come up and deal with your father and your brother and now click off this uh you no longer have to you know worry about that anymore you’re not the little guy in the family anymore that’s for sure you know no yeah I mean it’s definitely uh you know you feel a lot lighter um yeah I would say absolutely I mean it’s a it’s a and inside that family that’s a great accomplishment it really is you know I I mean to do what you’ve done and you’ve developed this personality yourself where you know you don’t mind taking some of the stuff on on your shoulders too and getting out there and making some statements which I like I I think coaches have to have personality I think it helps their team I really do it does and and it it all fits into our to our play style too like my personality it’s a reflection of of how we play the intensity that we take the court with how hard we play you know growing up in the Hurley house as as a as one of the hurly men uh just you grow up uh with your brother uh and then your your father driving and pushing you two guys I mean you’re you’re you know I’m who I am as a competitor and that that drive comes from you know that growing up in that household in that city of Jersey City um and and Yukon fits me perfectly I do Aspire um you know one day if the if the right NBA situation were were were to come along I I do aspire to that’s nice to know really that okay you’d like you’d like to take a shot at the NBA I mean if the right the right situation where right you know an organization wants a a tone Setter to to to to to come in and and uh you know instill a culture you know young players and an organization that that wants to pursue championships uh would it have to be in the Northeast with your wife or would she because I don’t know if she’d go all over the country would she she’s the boss uh she’s the boss well we all we all have a boss Danny you know that we all have a boss so you know I always said I was the boss as soon as I left my driveway till I got back in my driveway okay then that was it I was not the boss anymore we all we all live the same way you know that we we all do when we’re lucky enough to have those kind of wives we all live that way you know that yeah I mean somebody’s got to check you absolutely if we don’t have somebody checking us U you’re right no absolutely right and and and taking care of the kids and doing everything that has to be done so I agree but that’s that’s good to know now tell me this this na nil thing which has chased coaches out okay let’s be honest coaches great coaches have been vocal how the nil the kids driven by the cash asking them about money all the time stuff like that has driven them out of the sport how do you deal with that right now and what do you see going forward in this crazy time in college basketball yeah I mean there’s not a sport right now that that’s functioning like ours where there’s I mean there’s just basically no rules there there’s it’s just total fre Wild West it’s like the wild west yeah yeah and it’s you know and I think it makes the the off season interesting uh because people are talking about it uh there there’s there’s constant activity and movement so it keeps college basketball relevant in a Time year when when when people aren’t even thinking about it but um it’s just it’s not sustainable I think eventually it’s going to be a major turnoff for the fans I think we we’ve got to get to a point um you know where um you know where there are are salary caps uh potentially where there’s where where players have contracts and buyouts if they want to move on uh to another place just like coaches um you know we we’ve got to get to that point um and then I think you know places like ours where um you know when we win at Yukon we’ve won backto back you know NCAA tournaments in a tournament that makes over a billion dollars a year in terms of Revenue we’ve won that tournament but uh I don’t know we don’t see a lot of that type of monotonization not enough and now that’s got to change when it’s got to change when you got to go out and buy players that’s got to change it’s all got to change and there’s going to be more coming and there’s going to be more legislation and there’s going to be unions and everything else it’s going to be hard for is it really is it’s going to be a whole different world it already is you know but I think you’re modern enough and you have the right temperament where it might drive some guys out I don’t think it’ll drive you out I think you I think you like this competitive stuff I do and and I do believe that um there there are still uh there’s still old school families and old school mentality players uh like a Newton like a castle like a like a cling in a cariban that you can recruit that where nil is not going to be the first thing maybe it’s the third or the fourth thing um so as long as we’re able to find these like old school folks to bring into our program and then we just blend it with modern basketball um and then we pursue championships and then we put these guys in the NBA if we could keep doing it like this uh I’ll stay here and the NBA will never be a thing hey I’ll tell you this uh now everyone’s looking forward to the Yukon St John’s game this year forget the Gard forget kosa I think I think he wants to play it in St Agnes’s Cathedral High School where I think it holds 200 I think or that is St Mary The Isle where I played coo ball down in Long Beach I think it’s seats 12 so one or the other I think that those are the two I think he’s looking at now I think he thinks Conor is too big forget the garden I he thinks Conor is too big I’ll play it anywhere as long as my my guy in the red blazer is there the guy that that got me the technical foul as long as he’s there I’ll play it anywhere I was there I was at that game I was sitting about five rows behind you guys so I got I got it was very funny it it really was but it’s great theater with you guys it really is how did that game the game had first of all it was a great game it was there was shot making uh it was intense play there was shot making it was a highlevel game it was a joke that they weren’t in a tournament it was a joke that c the hall was in a tournament and it was a joke that Providence wasn’t especially St Hall and St John’s they would have been good teams in the tournament they really would embarrassing for for for the tournament embarrassing when when you look at what some of those teams did that they put in um but that game in the Big East semis I mean you you gave the fans that came in you gave them emotion you you gave them energy you gave them uh just an incredible show that night I mean M that was almost like Georgetown St John’s back in the days of coner and the sweater and and and and S and Georgetown one versus two in the mid 80s that’s how it’s been that long since the garden has been that excited about college basketball you have done that again and now when Yukon comes down and St John’s is good enough to hold their own or at least play you it now makes for a very very exciting couple of games it really does yeah and and you know having coached patino in the league it just it it’s brought some a lot of juice and you know it’s it’s it’s a thrill to coach against them and those games you know it just it creates that interest it it those are the highest rated games that we that that the big EC’s um you know which is is what we need we need to play these big high profile games so that we can you know get a better you know TV deal so that we can share more Revenue with the players so that Big East rosters can stay competitive with the with the big football schools listen the the C the that seats 12 doesn’t have any locker room so you guys can dress at my house if you want on the island so you know if you know because it only seats 12 so the seats are going to go for a lot of money so and it has no locker room so you know so I’m not sure that’s the winner yet but I think that’s the last one they’re looking for well I’m sure you got a big uh with everything that you’ve done I’m sure you got a big house I’m comfortable I could I could house I could house them to get dressed that’s it you know they can take a from if they want first to okay seven Footers could fit in there no doubt listen thanks uh congratulations again for uh everything you’ve accomplished it’s it really it was so much fun to watch and to watch it unfold and you know I don’t think people understand the pressure that a team that has to win has to win plays under and you guys handled it so brilliantly it was like uh very few performances I’ve ever seen I I I rank your team with the greatest teams I’ve ever seen in the NCA tournament that’s how good it is yeah and I think so too Mike and I think these guys obviously how they perform in their pro career in the NBA we we’ll determine you know the historic you know where where it lines up but uh just the quality of ball and people love the the way we moved and passed it and shared it and uh in an era where every where it feels like these guards are just everything is a bable it was I think refreshing for people that love the game purist uh the way that we played it I agree uh thanks very much my best to your family uh and I’ll talk to you soon thanks Danny Mike appreciate you man thank you Danny Hurley the two-time now Champion NCA Champion backto back champions folk first team in NCA tournament history to win back-to back years and Win Every Game by at least double digits 24 15 23 28 13 and 16 two years ago and then this year 39 17 30 25 14 and 15 one of the I mean Jabar didn’t do that Walton didn’t do that those are those are insane performances they really are I mean those are really it it doesn’t get any better than that it really doesn’t back after you’re listening to the Mike Francesa podcast on the BET Rivers network now I wanted to tell you as we wrap things up tomorrow I will uh put forth the NBA Finals preview so look for that tomorrow we will have same game pars up every game there’s a field of 10 for the Belmont which will be conducted at a mile and a quarter Saturday around 6:57 at Saratoga because Belmont is being rebuilt it’s being refurbished into a allpurpose winter track and then Aqueduct will be sold to the airport so then racing will be at Belmont all year and then in Saratoga in the summertime so uh the Belmont Stakes which will have a field of 10 including the Derby winner who finished second in the pness uh including Sierra Leon including uh a very good group of 10 uh and I will have that for you that’ll be up and will have the same game parlays up for each of the NCA final game I mean each of the NBA final games the Celtics are a two to one 220 to1 favorite I’ve told you I think that Dallas can win the series I will get into that more tomorrow we’ll see you then thanks for listening to the Mike francessa podcast on the BET Rivers network for