Reusse: Pitino's plan: a little PR, a lot of home games

per Pat:

Pitino would have been gone if Norwood Teague, the disgraced former athletic director, had not presented Richard with the going-away present of a contract extension with a $7 million-plus buyout if it occurred before this season.

University President Eric Kaler had to settle for calling out Pitino’s program when making the announcement that Mark Coyle had been hired as the athletic director on May 12.

In response, Richard Pitino did what Pitinos do. He developed a plan for survival. He went from limited media availability to being interviewed everywhere … apologetic (sort of) and vowing better days ahead.

That was an easy promise to make, since future days could not have been worse on the court.

Actually, the upswing had started when Pitino swept Kevin Dorsey out of the program in early April. He was more trouble than a guy who didn’t want to pass the ball on a fast break was worth.

The other two suspended players, Nate Mason and Dupree McBrayer, stayed. Reggie Lynch also was reinstated after being cleared on an accusation of sexual misconduct. Freshman Amir Coffey was outstanding, and Eric Curry was a strong addition.

Better personnel — and a nonconference schedule that showed off the Pitino gene for survival.

There would be no trip to an eight-team tournament with a strong field where the Gophers might get beat twice.

There would be nonconference games at Williams Arena, and another against a mediocre Vanderbilt team in the neutral-site game in Sioux Falls. The ACC/Big Ten challenge required the lone road game, and also the lone loss at Florida State.

The Gophers topped the Big Ten with 11 of the 13 nonconference games at home. Ohio State played 10, with nine apiece for Northwestern, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan and Indiana, not counting this Saturday’s game against Louisville in Indianapolis.

Nebraska, Penn State, Purdue. Rutgers, Wisconsin and Illinois played eight at home, and Michigan State — the opponent for the Big Ten opener on Tuesday night — played seven in East Lansing.

When faced with a crisis, a Pitino knows how to survive. And how to schedule.

http://www.startribune.com/pitino-s-plan-a-little-pr-a-lot-of-home-games/408469815/

Go Gophers!!

BleedGopher said:

per Pat:
Better personnel — and a nonconference schedule that showed off the Pitino gene for survival.

There would be no trip to an eight-team tournament with a strong field where the Gophers might get beat twice.

There would be nonconference games at Williams Arena, and another against a mediocre Vanderbilt team in the neutral-site game in Sioux Falls. The ACC/Big Ten challenge required the lone road game, and also the lone loss at Florida State.
http://www.startribune.com/pitino-s-plan-a-little-pr-a-lot-of-home-games/408469815/

Go Gophers!!

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Correct me if Im wrong, but isn't non-conference scheduling done 2-3 years in advance? Or does Pitino only schedule during the offseason for the following year; that doesn't make sense to me. There has been announcements of agreed upon big non-conference games including scheduling against Louisville which was announced 4 years ahead of schedule (Pitinos second year) and it always sounded like he was trying to build opportunities to play in bigger games not only away, but have them be at home as well.

Having those larger games at home is a bigger ask which requires a lot of negotiation (per working out the details with his dad) where two teams would have to go back and forth year after year trading home games.

I feel like this "gene of survival" is a bit ill-conceived. Maybe better stated as a cheap jab. All founded on one tough loss against MSU who was underrated going into the game.

What am I missing or am I confused about when Pitino Schedules? Am I completely wrong?

And he set up the home-and-home series with Arkansas and St. John's with home games this season when we had so many new parts to integrate, with away games next year when we are older and more experienced. Call that manipulative and saving your butt if you must; I call that being smart enough to recognize the importance of this year to building the program.

woozee said:

Correct me if Im wrong, but isn't non-conference scheduling done 2-3 years in advance? Or does Pitino only schedule during the offseason for the following year; that doesn't make sense to me. There has been announcements of agreed upon big non-conference games including scheduling against Louisville which was announced 4 years ahead of schedule (Pitinos second year) and it always sounded like he was trying to build opportunities to play in bigger games not only away, but have them be at home as well.

Having those larger games at home is a bigger ask which requires a lot of negotiation (per working out the details with his dad) where two teams would have to go back and forth year after year trading home games.

I feel like this "gene of survival" is a bit ill-conceived. Maybe better stated as a cheap jab. All founded on one tough loss against MSU who was underrated going into the game.

What am I missing or am I confused about when Pitino Schedules? Am I completely wrong?

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Basketball non-conference scheduling by and large is done on yearly basis. Opposite of football scheduling.

Patrick and the rest of the Pitino haters were silent for a month just chomping at the bit to pounce as soon as a loss like last night transpired. Although, Pat did tweet awhile ago how much better this team is after last year. But it's a lot easier to go with the take Pitino is a snake oil salesman then see the big picture.


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I'm fine with our schedule this year. 4 our of best players are sophomores and freshman. Our starting center never set foot on the floor last year. If we had Michigan St's schedule and started the year 8-5 what would the media be saying about Pitino and the gophers?

I'm pissed about the game last night but it isn't like we came out super unprepared and got blown out of the water.

Without looking, I'm assuming most of the teams he included played in a some kind of holiday tournament.

SelectionSunday said:

Basketball non-conference scheduling by and large is done on yearly basis. Opposite of football scheduling.

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Got it -- thanks man.

Though statistics don't tell the whole story and our strength of schedule also includes the Big Ten I'd say we have had a challenging year. I dug up our SOS rating and compared it to some other big ten teams:

Minnesota Gophers: 3.63 (53rd in the country)
Wisconsin Badgers: 2.09 (95th in the country)
Indiana Hoosiers: -1.2 (214th in the country)
Purdue: 2.3 (86th in the country)

Does this have any merit to argue against Mr. Reusse?

WindyCityGopher said:

And he set up the home-and-home series with Arkansas and St. John's with home games this season when we had so many new parts to integrate, with away games next year when we are older and more experienced. Call that manipulative and saving your butt if you must; I call that being smart enough to recognize the importance of this year to building the program.

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St. John's was part of the Gavitt Tip-Off, not a home and home.

The non-conference schedule was tough enough (solid, slightly above average, but not great) and appropriate for this particular Gophers team. Should always play at least 2 true road games IMO, but that's just me. Too much home cooking. ... the Gophers played more NC home games (11) than the other 74 Power 6 programs. There were a handful that played 10.

woozee said:

Though statistics don't tell the whole story and our strength of schedule also includes the Big Ten I'd say we have had a challenging year. I dug up our SOS rating and compared it to some other big ten teams:

Minnesota Gophers: 3.63 (53rd in the country)
Wisconsin Badgers: 2.09 (95th in the country)
Indiana Hoosiers: -1.2 (214th in the country)
Purdue: 2.3 (86th in the country)

Does this have any merit to argue against Mr. Reusse?

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I wouldn't pay much attention to any of the RPI stats just yet. Still needs time to sort itself out. Starts to become a worthwhile metric in maybe another 4-6 weeks.

And I mean, just looking at those 4 teams schedules you can see why. Indiana has Kansas, Butler, North Carolina, and Louisville on their schedule, and three of those are played away from their home arena. Some of their other games are junk, but the only game we played that could even be compared to any of those 4 was at Florida State. I would guess that when all is said and done we won't have a single RPI top 50 win from our non-conference.

bizzle22 said:

I wouldn't pay much attention to any of the RPI stats just yet. Still needs time to sort itself out. Starts to become a worthwhile metric in maybe another 4-6 weeks.

And I mean, just looking at those 4 teams schedules you can see why. Indiana has Kansas, Butler, North Carolina, and Louisville on their schedule, and three of those are played away from their home arena. Some of their other games are junk, but the only game we played that could even be compared to any of those 4 was at Florida State. I would guess that when all is said and done we won't have a single RPI top 50 win from our non-conference.

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You think Texas Arlington will sink hard eh?


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woozee said:

You think Texas Arlington will sink hard eh?


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Once they hit conference play they could win games and still drop. Some absolute SOS killers in their conference that they have to play twice. Would be very surprised if UT-Arlington ends up too 50. Arkansas probably has the best chance to be a top 50 win, but I wouldn't bank on it.