Dan Hurley, UConn Should Remove Hassan Diarra From Lineup Until He's Healthy

Having a healthy Diarra in March is what's important

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It’s time for Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies to make the difficult decision to take Hassan Diarra out of the lineup.

Hurley talked about Diarra’s lingering knee issue following UConn’s home loss to St. John’s on Friday night.

“Hassan is hobbled … we gotta find a way to try to get Hassan healthy,” Hurley said.

“He’s dealing with a knee, so he’s not practicing in between, which is an issue for him ... there becomes a problem with being sharp.”

“Does that mean we gotta sit Hassan for a week or two, try to hold down the fort, see if we can get him back? We gotta make some decisions medically because what we’re doing right now is not working.”

The answer is clear: Sit Diarra and give his knee time to heal. Otherwise, you’re facing a situation in which Diarra is playing on one leg during the Big East tournament and NCAA tournament … a worst-case scenario.

The only reason to keep Diarra in the lineup right now is if the medical team has decided that — even in the event of two weeks of rest — his knee isn’t going to markedly improve until he takes months off following the season.

If that’s what the conversation is behind closed doors, so be it, but Hurley’s comments didn’t reflect that that’s the case.

UConn’s problem with Diarra right now is that they don’t have a capable backup point guard, which makes taking him off the court seem impossible.

It’s a crisis, indeed, but one that Hurley can fix by making Liam McNeeley UConn’s de facto point guard until Diarra returns to action. 

Solo Ball is also capable of bringing the ball up the court and at least making an entry pass to the elbow to get the offense started. No, Solo isn’t going to look like Chris Paul out there as a lead guard, but he’s a decent enough ball handler to beat his defender in the backcourt, make a pass, and then become an off-ball threat for the rest of the possession.

Diarra has only looked more and more injured in recent games, which leads one to believe that he needs time off.

UConn needs to uncover some alternate ball handling options to Diarra, anyway, so ripping the Band-Aid off and forcing the team to figure it out offensively without Diarra could lead to a revelation that will help in March.

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