UConn’s Dan Hurley has special bond with two Cleveland Cavaliers

By ADAM ZAGORIA

When Dan Hurley took the UConn job in March, he received congratulatory text messages from hundreds of people, but only two of them happen to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Hurley coached both J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson during his nine-year tenure at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark (2001-10), and both NBA players reached out to congratulate Hurley on his latest career move, telling him it was “unbelievable.”

“When we have big things going on, playing in the NCAA Tournament [at Rhode Island] or when I got the job at UConn, I hear from those guys,” Hurley told me Wednesday by phone.

The Cavaliers, of course, open Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night at the defending champion Golden State Warriors. It is the fourth straight season these two teams have met in the Finals. Hurley will be tuned in and especially keen to watch his two former pupils.