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00:00Now this is a treat. If we sleep in May, do we go over potential June head coaching vacancies
00:10in this month? Because this is June live right here on this Wednesday with John Rosti joining
00:17us once again on behalf of FanDuel live right here on the early line. And of course, John,
00:23we have to look back on the week that was in the carousel in Connecticut around Dan Hurley,
00:29who stays in stores. What it means for you, Con, and Dan Hurley's legacy moving forward.
00:35We do all that here in June, but first we say welcome back to the early line. We're glad to
00:40have you. Great to be with you, Ben. Always great to be talking College Hoops with you and your
00:45esteemed crew. And that is what happens here in the month of June. So let's go through the Dan
00:51Hurley timeline, because John, it really came out of left field a week ago, Thursday morning,
00:57ahead of game one of the 2024 NBA finals. ESPN's Adrian Roginowski reported the Lakers were
01:03targeting Dan Hurley as their next head coach. Dan Hurley goes to Los Angeles to meet with the
01:10Lakers the following day, and then over the weekend, molds his decision. And then a couple
01:16of days ago on Tuesday, or on, excuse me, Monday afternoon, we got that final determination that
01:24Dan Hurley was not going to go to Los Angeles, rejecting the Lakers' offer and would remain as
01:30UConn's head coach. Let's start with the timeline here, John. Do you believe in everything that you
01:35have heard around this situation, Dan Hurley was seriously considering the Lakers' position?
01:42He wouldn't have went to Los Angeles if he wasn't considering the Lakers' position. And as you know,
01:47and it's been well documented, Dan Hurley met in person with the Lakers late last week and then
01:53returned to the East Coast. But there's a lot of reasons why Dan Hurley opted to remain at the
01:58University of Connecticut. A big one is the geographic portion of this. In my opinion,
02:03if the Knicks or the Celtics courted Dan Hurley to be its next head basketball coach,
02:10I think the result of this could have been different. But ultimately, the chance to go back
02:15to Connecticut, a place that Dan Hurley has reinvigorated under his watch and brought the
02:21Huskies back to a level that we saw under Jim Calhoun, that decision obviously usurped the
02:27ability to go cross country and be the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. John, if we're taking a
02:33look at maybe that step from college into the pros, was this something that maybe the Hurley
02:37camp was putting out for feelers in the NBA or just really caught him off guard and intrigued
02:42him when the Lakers made that first phone call? Dan Hurley has been open about his desire to coach
02:47the NBA, although with conversations that I've had with Dan Hurley, even some in the last couple
02:52of days after he made his decision, he initially thought that was going to be down the road. And
02:58again, I stand by what I said. If this was the Knicks, if this was the Celtics, if this was in
03:03a different geographic region, I think the result of this could have been different. But there's
03:08also the allure of chasing history next season at Connecticut. And there's also something that
03:14we have to keep in mind, guys. And this is something that isn't as pronounced in this
03:18transfer portal era. Dan Hurley is a very loyal person, especially when it comes to his players.
03:24And there are several players at UConn that he has coached now for multiple seasons that have
03:29been a part of teams that have won back-to-back national championships. Asan Diara, Alex Caravan,
03:35Samson Johnson. He knows he owes it to those players who committed to him to see this thing
03:41through, especially when this courtship started in early June. So John, the best coach currently
03:47in college basketball remains in college basketball for UConn, for the sport as a whole.
03:54What does it mean that Dan Hurley is staying in stores? It's tremendous. And it's a major
04:00storyline now, obviously going into next season that UConn, again, a team that lost several key
04:07ingredients again from a team that was dominant in its run to a national championship, will be
04:12going for a three-peat in 24-25. You know, Ben, I understand fully what's going on off the field,
04:20off the court in college athletics, and I know how volatile it is. But you look right now here
04:25on June 12th about what lies ahead next season. UConn is going for a three-peat in men's basketball.
04:32We also have Alabama bringing back Mark Sears, adding Cliff Omori, trying to go back to the
04:38Final Four for the second consecutive year under Nate Oates. You also have to look at Duke bringing
04:43in a generational talent potentially in freshman forward Cooper Flagg. And on top of that, we have
04:49teams of high ilk in different conferences. UCLA, Oregon, USC, and Washington are going to the Big Ten.
04:57The Big 12 could potentially have five teams in the preseason top ten. Kansas, Houston, Iowa State,
05:06Baylor, and Arizona. I know how volatile things are off the court and off the field in college sports,
05:12but the on-court product in college basketball is extremely, extremely healthy.
05:17It's going to be fun to watch UConn next year, and the reason I bring that up is Dan Hurley,
05:20six seasons, 141 wins at UConn, back-to-back national championships, going for a third. We
05:25know he is very loyal to that university. Did any of those conversations or talks come
05:29up between you and him where it's like, you know what, if I did go to the Lakers,
05:33that 30-day portal opens up, and who knows what sort of team that we would be fielding at UConn
05:38for the upcoming season? Now, crisis averted at that point, but that had to be a big thing that
05:42was sort of drawing him back to UConn. It was definitely part of it, Donnie, but also we have
05:47to look at this too. When a college coach is going to entertain an NBA opportunity,
05:52if you're in an opportunity like Dan Hurley, where you have won and rebuilt UConn's program,
05:59again, to the level that it was under Jim Calhoun, you want to take an opportunity in the NBA if
06:06you're going to exercise that, you know, demon. Demon might be the wrong word, but if you want
06:11to exercise that right to go coach in the NBA, I think you want to go into a situation where you
06:17know you're going to win and have success. I am not one of these people who covers college
06:21basketball all year long and then jumps in the next like I have a working knowledge of every
06:25NBA roster, but from the people I've talked to, you know, in the NBA over the last week,
06:31they've told me that the Lakers are not exactly a ready-made championship team with obviously the
06:35history, you know, of LeBron James potentially maybe, you know, retiring near the age of 40.
06:40I think that's something to really keep in mind right now. If a college coach is going to leave
06:45a tailor-made situation for success and go to the NBA, he's got to be in a situation where
06:50obviously he's set up to win. Yeah, John, some of the reporting around the Lakers situation and
06:55their ownership group, there is the prestige of Los Angeles. There is the luster of this
07:01Lakers organization based on its history, but current day, maybe not as attractive
07:07as a head coaching position as some maybe originally thought. So let's focus on the
07:13college basketball perspective of this all. Connecticut trying to win a third consecutive
07:18national championship will enter next year as of this moment as a co-favorite to cut down the nets
07:25in early April. Once again, a 10-to-1 price for UConn alongside the Kansas Jayhawks. It is a
07:32tournament known as Madness that ends with a crowning of a national champion. So John, is it
07:38realistic to expect the Connecticut Huskies to contend for a third straight title? I think UConn's
07:46preseason ranking this year after losing four starters, Newton, Spencer, Steph Castle, Donovan
07:54Klingon from last year's team that won 37-3 is based more on what this program has done in the
07:59last two seasons than what the team looks like entering next year. But I will say this, you look
08:04at those in Greece right now in Storrs, Connecticut, and you're thinking about the meal that could be
08:10sampled. You say, what? I don't know if the sauce is going to taste as good as it's been the last
08:14couple of years. But then you remember who the chef is and the chef is Dan Hurley. And remember
08:20this, UConn does not have to be as dominant as it was in each of the past two seasons to win a
08:27national championship because UConn in the last two seasons under Dan Hurley won 12 NCAA tournament
08:34games by an average of 21.7 points per game. I'm not saying that UConn is one of the best
08:45teams, again, of all time. But I'll say this, you have to put them in the conversation among the best
08:51teams of all time when you look at different eras and so on and so forth because of how dominant
08:57this team was. It's definitely one of the best teams of the modern era in college basketball.
09:03And again, I think you have to put it in the conversation. It's one of the best teams of all
09:07time considering what this program has done under Dan Hurley in the past two years.
09:12Listen, this was a treat. This is June with Jon Rothstein live right here on The Early Line.
09:18Jon, we appreciate the time as always.