Coaches' sons Hurley and Musselman to meet in Sweet 16

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Every day he wasn't out recruiting or away at a game, Bill Musselman wrote a message on his son's school lunch bag.

Effort, energy, enthusiasm.

The message and the relentless pursuit of perfection it implored served as the substratum of Eric Musselman's life.

“Everything that happened with my dad and I, whenever I was around him, being a competitor was kind of beyond belief,” the Arkansas coach said Wednesday.

UConn coach Dan Hurley knows the feeling.

Like Musselman, he spent his childhood being told just good enough might as well be failure.

The two coaches' sons have come together in the desert, preparing for a Sweet 16 game Thursday night that will push one a step closer to college basketball's ultimate goal.

“I think being coaches' kids just gives you such a unique perspective and it makes basketball such a huge part of your life,” Hurley said. “I think that’s why we both coach with so much passion and we live and die with every possession.”