BleedGopher
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per Marcus:
Pitino referenced last season, when the Gophers were barely ranked all year but wound up with the No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament.
“Everyone told us we stunk last year, and we weren’t ranked,” he said. “Rankings are great for fans, but in my ideal world it would almost be like the college football playoff. Don’t unveil rankings until like late January. … We have games to play, and we have to get better.”
Believing their own hype was far from the only reason the Gophers struggled in that loss at Nebraska. There were some questionable calls. It was a tough environment.
“The biggest thing they have to understand, and it’s so early, but when the elements hit you — crowd gets into it, a call you don’t like — that’s when you have to get stronger, tougher, better together,” Pitino said. “That’s where I thought (Thursday’s) practice was really good.”
As for the broader message of not believing their own hype? It sounds like the players are hearing that, too.
“We just have to take the mindset of not thinking teams are going to roll over for us just because we have a top-25 ranking,” big man Reggie Lynch said. “We need to flush that down the toilet and understand every team is going to try to come at us this year because we have that number in front of us. There aren’t going to be easy games throughout the season.”
http://m.startribune.com/richard-pi...usion-of-being-good/462856893/?section=sports
Go Gophers!!
Pitino referenced last season, when the Gophers were barely ranked all year but wound up with the No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament.
“Everyone told us we stunk last year, and we weren’t ranked,” he said. “Rankings are great for fans, but in my ideal world it would almost be like the college football playoff. Don’t unveil rankings until like late January. … We have games to play, and we have to get better.”
Believing their own hype was far from the only reason the Gophers struggled in that loss at Nebraska. There were some questionable calls. It was a tough environment.
“The biggest thing they have to understand, and it’s so early, but when the elements hit you — crowd gets into it, a call you don’t like — that’s when you have to get stronger, tougher, better together,” Pitino said. “That’s where I thought (Thursday’s) practice was really good.”
As for the broader message of not believing their own hype? It sounds like the players are hearing that, too.
“We just have to take the mindset of not thinking teams are going to roll over for us just because we have a top-25 ranking,” big man Reggie Lynch said. “We need to flush that down the toilet and understand every team is going to try to come at us this year because we have that number in front of us. There aren’t going to be easy games throughout the season.”
http://m.startribune.com/richard-pi...usion-of-being-good/462856893/?section=sports
Go Gophers!!
