Donnelly: Pitino's quick Gophers can benefit from patience on offense.

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Gophers' 60-42 victory over Nebraska on Saturday might have provided Richard Pitino's squad with a peek at a roadmap, one charting a path back to respectability in the Big Ten.

Since Pitino arrived in Dinkytown two years ago, the Gophers' ethos has been to push the pace of the game whenever possible. Pitino unleashed guards DeAndre Mathieu and Andre Hollins to wreak havoc (in theory) and release the program from the shackles of Tubby Smith's preferred style of play, which at times threatened to erase 120 years of progress made since James Naismith cut the bottom out of the peach basket.

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station19 said:

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/...phers_can_benefit_off_a_patient_offense020115

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Basketball coaches love to talk about their players "valuing the ball."

That's a trait that's been missing at the Barn this season.

Of course, you can take valuing the ball to extreme levels, which can be just as fruitless and painful to watch. Nobody's pining for a return to 'Tubbyball,' where the guards walked the ball up the court and the shot clock was milked to single digits before anybody even thought about starting to maybe consider hinting at making a move to the basket.

But this year the Gophers have seen the downside of Pitino's preferred pace of play. Sure, it's more fun to play an up-tempo style, but it's even more fun to win, and you can't do that when you're turning the ball over and missing rushed shots because you're trying to run every chance you get.

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