NEW YORK -- Dan Hurley said it was a “blast” watching his two former stars get chosen in the NBA Draft lottery at Barclays Center, but that the former Huskies must now excel at the next level to prove UConn was one of the best college teams in recent memory.
Steph Castle went No. 4 to the San Antonio Spurs and Donovan Clingan No. 7 to the Portland Trail Blazers, marking the first time in 12 years UConn had two players chosen in the lottery.
“It’s not the primary [motivation], I’d like them to do well for themselves first and then I’ll get into my own selfish [desires],” Hurley, whose team has won back-to-back NCAA championships, said with a chuckle. “But that’s a real thing. I think that this team played as good of basketball as anyone’s played in the last 25 years, just the quality of our offense, the quality of our defense, how hard we played, the rebounding excellence, just the way we dominated the competition.
“But you gotta exclamation point it with these two guys and eventually Alex [Karaban] and Tristen [Newton] and Cam [Spencer]. These guys are going to have to get in the NBA and play well to be considered maybe the best in the last 30 years.”
Asked what it said about UConn that the program produced two lottery picks one year after having Jordan Hawkins go at No. 14 and Andre Jackson Jr. No. 36, Hurley said:
“I think it shows that we can take a Top 10 player and help him even improve his stock, like Steph. We can take a five-star and he can help us win a national championship and we can help him even improve his stock. And we can also take players that maybe weren’t considered early-entry players and sit here in the lottery with them and win championships together. We’re showing that we can do player development with all different types.”
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As for the 6-6 Castle going No. 4 to the Spurs, Hurley said San Antonio was “around quite a bit” at UConn for “multi-day practices” and games also.
“They were really, really dialed in on Steph and there was a lot of communication about him,’ Hurley said.
“He’s going to want to be coached, he’s going to want to be directed by the older players, he’s a spark,” he said. “He’s a perfect Spur.”
The 7-2 Clingan has his own story, having lost his mother to cancer when he was 14 and then going on to star at Bristol Central High School and on back-to-back title teams at UConn.
“He’s just the most beautiful person and when he leaves your program, he leaves a void,” Hurley said. “It’s pretty jarring when he leaves your facility and your organization because of how beloved he was and just what he brought to the building every day, the life, the joy, this guy had so much pop, and he raised everyone’s level with his play and with his personality and his confidence. He had such confidence.”
Clingan returned the complement.
“Coach Hurley is the best coach in college basketball, and he’s producing players at a high level every single year,” he said.
“I’m not sure the exact number of draft picks he’s had these past five years, but Coach Hurley has been the top of the top in college for a couple years now. I love that man to death.”
Hurley joked that he will rip into his players at practice on Thursday and tell them they’re not working hard enough to make future NBA Drafts.
The plan, he said, was to watch the second round of the draft on Thursday at the UConn facility, where Spencer and Newton could be picked.
He said there’s teams “locked in in the 30s” on Spencer and Newton.
“It’s a beautiful night and you want to see it culminated with the two guys tomorrow being drafted into the right spots,” he said. “You want to see what happens with Cam and Tristen because they deserve to be in some great places.”
As for how having two lottery picks this year could help recruiting with players like Meleek Thomas and Acaden Lewis, who already visited, and Darius Adams, who visits Friday, Hurley knows it won’t hurt.
“It does, it does, and that’s the tricky thing for us, is you don’t want that to have a negative effect in terms of you start then taking players that don’t fit you the same way,” Hurley said. “You’ve got greater access and there’s a lot more excitement on the other end of text messages and phone calls, but we’ve gotta get the people that are right for us.”
As new players come in to build future chapters at UConn, Hurley said he and his staff will never forget the memories forged with the outgoing players.
“We see each other every single day for hours, 11 months a year, and you travel together and experience the highs and lows and you struggle and succeed together,” he said.
“I’m just going to miss them so much but today is like a dream come true for all of us.”
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.
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