UConn basketball, Dan Hurley not looking for sympathy following delayed arrival for Final Four

If you were looking for UConn and Dan Hurley to beg for sympathy after their team flight was delayed getting into Phoenix for the Final Four, well, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

Despite touching down at Sky Harbor just past 3 a.m. and with only four total hours of interrupted sleep, Hurley was bright-eyed and ready to go at his introductory news conference in State Farm Stadium on Thursday afternoon. He even had a few jokes in him.

“It was a real mindful exercise from 11:30 to like 1:45 on the tarmac. It was therapeutic to watch the de-icing out the window. That was probably the best part,” Hurley said with a large grin on his face.

That’s because Hurley is a tough-nosed kid from a tough-nosed family. Raised in a rough part of Jersey City in the 1970s and 1980s under a probation officer, Hurley learned long ago to not make excuses.

Hurley’s father, Bob, was a legendary high school basketball coach at St. Anthony’s, whose 2003-2004 season was chronicled by Adrian Wojnarowski in the best-selling book, “The Miracle of St. Anthony.” Hurley’s brother, Bobby, is the head coach at ASU and won back-to-back titles as a player with Duke in 1991 and 1992.

Now Dan is trying to do the same — as a coach.

“I think what goes through your mind once you’re done kind of complaining and cursing and muttering, you just start saying to yourself like you don’t really deserve to show entitlement,” Hurley said. “Such an honor to get a chance, once-in-a-lifetime experience to play in the Final Four, coach in a Final Four; that once that kind of edge wore off, lucky to be here.

“Who doesn’t deal with problems with the airlines? People deal it with during the holidays. It’s something that you just got to get through. But it sucked.”

Because of their delayed arrival to Phoenix, Hurley and his staff had to adapt once they hit the ground. While it was around 3:15 a.m. local time when they arrived, the teams’ body clocks read 6:15 a.m.

The media availability session for players was canceled to focus on on-court activities.

“We pushed things back a little bit, maybe like an hour and 15 today,” Hurley said. “The guys were able to sleep in a little bit. We did our same routine. We did our video at the hotel. We knew we only had an hour and a half on the court, so it was important to take advantage of shooting, get a little bit of live play so we could get adjusted to a much, much bigger setting. We obviously took a little bit off the practice plan. Just make sure that we do a little bit of less tonight, let these guys get their rest.

“Listen, these guys were getting in a van driving 14 hours to the Peach Jam, playing two hours later. There’s no excuses. I mean, I was driving a mini cheese bus to prep school games not too long ago. We’re in the Final Four, with a chance to advance, to repeat as national champions, make history. We’re way past that.”

Next up for Hurley and the No. 1 overall seed Huskies are No. 4 Alabama and coach Nate Oats, where he will face a family friend.

Oats has ties with the Hurley family as he was Bobby’s assistant while at Buffalo.

“This is one I think I’m excited to compete against a friend in such a big spot,” Hurley said. “This is the Final Four. It kind of changes a bit for me because we’ve both done something incredible with the season. Somebody I really care about is going to play for a national championship, preferably me. I also care about Nate, too, to a much lesser degree.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: UConn moves past flight delays and onto Final Four preparation