PITTSBURGH -- Just moments after his team was knocked out of the NCAA tournament by Duke, Rhode Island coach Dan Hurley had no interest in addressing speculation about potential job openings, despite the fact that sources told ESPN he is the front-runner for the vacant UConn job.

"Listen, I could give a crap about who's got an opening anywhere," Hurley said. "I haven't thought about it for a second. I could care less what any other school in the country that's looking for a coach or talks about me on social media -- I could give two craps about that. My heart, my mind is with this program and these players that just lost a brutal game after having an amazing last couple seasons, and for me it's easy.

"These seasons are long and hard, and for me, I'm just going to go into hibernation for a day and physically and emotionally try to recover. These five-month journeys take a lot out of you."

Sources also told ESPN that Pittsburgh is interested in Hurley, but he would prefer UConn over a Panthers program in which nine players have received their release to explore a transfer.

Hurley, 45, took over a rebuilding job at URI and took the Rams to the NCAA tournament each of the past two seasons. He is 112-82 in six seasons with the program and was 26-8 this past season. Hurley would replace Kevin Ollie at UConn. Ollie was fired with cause earlier this month by his alma mater after six seasons and was just four seasons removed from a national title.

Rhode Island coach Dan Hurley wasn't ready to talk job speculation after his team's loss to Duke, saying, "These seasons are long and hard, and for me, I'm just going to go into hibernation for a day and physically and emotionally try to recover." Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports

Hurley signed a seven-year deal last year worth a little more than $1 million per year. URI athletic director Thorr Bjorn recently told ESPN that he knows there will be opportunities coming Hurley's way, but that he'll try to be creative in an effort to keep his coach in Kingston, Rhode Island. Bjorn also said he knows he can't match many of the high-major programs financially.

Hurley wasn't in any state of mind to talk about his future plans when he was asked whether his agent had been in touch with any schools.

"We all have agents in this business, and my agent was smart enough to have no contact with me while my season's going on because he knows who I am and what type of people my family is, and that's not typical of this business," Hurley added.