Pitino talk season about the season in latest blog post



Such a great read as always and this one was particularly enlightening.

I thought this was funny:

If you do see me in public and ask what i think just be prepared for me to say "We will see in time. Just have to stay healthy!" Also, please resist the temptation of saying "tough season coach." I'm aware :)

Go Gophers!!
 




"Davonte Fitzgerald - Has to take better shots. He was dealing with a little minor knee stuff towards the end of the season and did a great job of fighting through it. Has to work on being more physical defensively. I feel for him because he has been through a lot physically. Need him to get healthy."

There's been a ton of speculation that this might be his only season as a Gopher. Obviously things could change, but this makes me think he'll be wearing maroon and gold next year.
 

Probably the best line in the blog " I am not sure how much better we could have been but I do know we could have been better."

Everyone understood the situation but to have it go as pear shaped as it did brought on the major of criticism that the poor play couldn't be just blown off because of suspensions and injuries.
 

Probably the best line in the blog " I am not sure how much better we could have been but I do know we could have been better."

Everyone understood the situation but to have it go as pear shaped as it did brought on the major of criticism that the poor play couldn't be just blown off because of suspensions and injuries.

I was glad to hear that, too. It confirms my observations/opinion.
 

“Jarvis Omersa- Having a terrific senior season. Best athlete I will have coached since being here. Love the way he connects with everyone on and off the court. Underrated passer”

I have a hard time believing he’s more athletic than Rodney Williams. Can anyone confirm?
 



“Jarvis Omersa- Having a terrific senior season. Best athlete I will have coached since being here. Love the way he connects with everyone on and off the court. Underrated passer”

I have a hard time believing he’s more athletic than Rodney Williams. Can anyone confirm?

Love that RP owns his failings. As for Jarvis being a better athlete than Rodney i look to where they are different. First jump is both quick and insanely high but give Jarvis the second and third jump a huge advantage. Recognition and anticipation go to Jarvis and since in a small area quickness rules that is vital because those reactionary skills are 80% of quickness. I count those intangibles as athletic. Both are below average shooters but Jarvis is more selective and a better passer. Jarvis can become that lockdown defender at as many as 4 positions depending on match ups. RW was awesome off one foot but that takes longer where Jarvis goes off two and fast. This allows you to cover verticle and horizontal space. Both need better handles but everyone has some holes and he by all accounts goes to the end to learn and improve.
 

“Jarvis Omersa- Having a terrific senior season. Best athlete I will have coached since being here. Love the way he connects with everyone on and off the court. Underrated passer”

I have a hard time believing he’s more athletic than Rodney Williams. Can anyone confirm?

Pitino didn't coach Rodney. The clips on Jarvis are amazing...as were Rodney's.
 

“Jarvis Omersa- Having a terrific senior season. Best athlete I will have coached since being here. Love the way he connects with everyone on and off the court. Underrated passer”

I have a hard time believing he’s more athletic than Rodney Williams. Can anyone confirm?

Pitino didn't coach Rodney. Rodney graduated after the 2012-2013 season. Richard started the 2013-2014 season
 

Love that RP owns his failings. As for Jarvis being a better athlete than Rodney i look to where they are different. First jump is both quick and insanely high but give Jarvis the second and third jump a huge advantage. Recognition and anticipation go to Jarvis and since in a small area quickness rules that is vital because those reactionary skills are 80% of quickness. I count those intangibles as athletic. Both are below average shooters but Jarvis is more selective and a better passer. Jarvis can become that lockdown defender at as many as 4 positions depending on match ups. RW was awesome off one foot but that takes longer where Jarvis goes off two and fast. This allows you to cover verticle and horizontal space. Both need better handles but everyone has some holes and he by all accounts goes to the end to learn and improve.

Yeah, I have a hard time believing that. Almost every single highlight of Rodney finishing is off of 2 feet. He also has many highlight reel dunks coming off of 2nd and third jumps. Rodney was also a much higher rated recruit than Jarvis and a more prolific high school scorer.
 



Pitino didn't coach Rodney. Rodney graduated after the 2012-2013 season. Richard started the 2013-2014 season

Agh! I even checked the grad date, sorry. I thought they overlapped in that NIT championship year.
 

Yeah, I have a hard time believing that. Almost every single highlight of Rodney finishing is off of 2 feet. He also has many highlight reel dunks coming off of 2nd and third jumps. Rodney was also a much higher rated recruit than Jarvis and a more prolific high school scorer.

You have your opinion, i have mine. Not claiming mine is better. Could care less about ranking or highlights. In person evaluation is where i see the difference especially in those intangibles that get over looked.
 

Tino said what most of us observed. Now, the question is whether we'll see anything different next season.
There is no doubt that he and his staff were out coached. Tino can fix that. He had the roster he had, but the fact is he didn't make the most of the hand that was dealt him. Tino didn't adapt well to the skillset he had to work with.
Perhaps we might see a change in assistant coaches. Some folks who can break down film and organize game plans. Someone who will teach spacing and not rely on the globetrotter weave.
Hopefully Tino gets the coaches that can help him improve. If he stays at status quo he'll likely be gone in a years time.
 

Actually, the Globetrotter weave is damned effective...at least it was against the Generals.
 

"I could list 100 excuses of why we finished the way we did and they would all be justified." Practice is impossible plan and be productive with that many injuries/missing people and Dupree not practicing for two months. The thought of somebody/anybody getting hurt in practice is paralyzing. Keeping us competitive in games was no easy task. Two freshmen who had their own mindsets sounds as if it only made even more challenging.

"Clearly I, along with our staff, need to do a better job of recruiting depth all over our roster."
Biggest problem in his time here. Realizing it is step one. We will have our deepest roster next year. But IW has to buy in and we must recruit another point guard or it will repeat itself all over again next year at some point in the season...be it injury, suspension or foul trouble.

Fitzgerald remaining on scholarship is another roster management situation. We will have 6 solid players inside counting Hurt. We have 5 guards...only one can play the point. Two of 5 were hurt and there are no guarantees they will be available all season long next year. One of the 5 is another incoming freshman. Another is a returning sophomore who considers himself a 29% specialist according to the coach. The open scholarship needs to go to a point guard. I'd be a lot more comfortable with Fitzgerald's scholarship building depth for the future and giving us another more versatile player.
 

“Jarvis Omersa- Having a terrific senior season. Best athlete I will have coached since being here. Love the way he connects with everyone on and off the court. Underrated passer”

I have a hard time believing he’s more athletic than Rodney Williams. Can anyone confirm?

Pretty darn close
 

"Clearly I, along with our staff, need to do a better job of recruiting depth all over our roster." Biggest problem in his time here. Realizing it is step one.

I have to continue to hammer on this. Had we sought some local two-star center who had the capability of catching a basketball pass or rebound instead of grabbing a couple international projects who, it was clear from the first moment we saw them, had trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time, we wouldn't have had the catastrophic situation at center this year after Lynch was suspended. When we talk about necessary changes in approach, this is a huge one. An easily-tested litmus test of inclusion on a high-major college roster is what happens when you throw a basketball hard at them. If they catch it, they've passed the first test. This is not f-ing rocket science.
 

I have to continue to hammer on this. Had we sought some local two-star center who had the capability of catching a basketball pass or rebound instead of grabbing a couple international projects who, it was clear from the first moment we saw them, had trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time, we wouldn't have had the catastrophic situation at center this year after Lynch was suspended. When we talk about necessary changes in approach, this is a huge one. An easily-tested litmus test of inclusion on a high-major college roster is what happens when you throw a basketball hard at them. If they catch it, they've passed the first test. This is not f-ing rocket science.

That happened in his first recruiting class. He took a chance on two very raw players. One would have been okay, not two. It's been much better ever since. Still some misses but not two at the same position in the same year.
 

I have to continue to hammer on this. Had we sought some local two-star center who had the capability of catching a basketball pass or rebound instead of grabbing a couple international projects who, it was clear from the first moment we saw them, had trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time, we wouldn't have had the catastrophic situation at center this year after Lynch was suspended. When we talk about necessary changes in approach, this is a huge one. An easily-tested litmus test of inclusion on a high-major college roster is what happens when you throw a basketball hard at them. If they catch it, they've passed the first test. This is not f-ing rocket science.

I think we have seen a change in approach. As we've talked about, Pitino's first class was a disappointment overall. He aimed too high and had to scramble at the end. Unfortunately, we had to look at that mistake for four years. That mistake became a catastrophic situation (after losing Lynch) in large part due to Curry's injury at the start of the year. I would argue we haven't seen any "reaches" like Konate/Diedhiou since year one.
 

I think we have seen a change in approach. As we've talked about, Pitino's first class was a disappointment overall. He aimed too high and had to scramble at the end. Unfortunately, we had to look at that mistake for four years. That mistake became a catastrophic situation (after losing Lynch) in large part due to Curry's injury at the start of the year. I would argue we haven't seen any "reaches" like Konate/Diedhiou since year one.

Smart post.
 

I think we have seen a change in approach. As we've talked about, Pitino's first class was a disappointment overall. He aimed too high and had to scramble at the end. Unfortunately, we had to look at that mistake for four years. That mistake became a catastrophic situation (after losing Lynch) in large part due to Curry's injury at the start of the year. I would argue we haven't seen any "reaches" like Konate/Diedhiou since year one.

I agree.
 

I think we have seen a change in approach. As we've talked about, Pitino's first class was a disappointment overall. He aimed too high and had to scramble at the end. Unfortunately, we had to look at that mistake for four years. That mistake became a catastrophic situation (after losing Lynch) in large part due to Curry's injury at the start of the year. I would argue we haven't seen any "reaches" like Konate/Diedhiou since year one.

Excellent post, though one could argue Michael Hurt was a reach, albeit with extenuating circumstances that may or may not pan out.
 

I think we have seen a change in approach. As we've talked about, Pitino's first class was a disappointment overall. He aimed too high and had to scramble at the end. Unfortunately, we had to look at that mistake for four years. That mistake became a catastrophic situation (after losing Lynch) in large part due to Curry's injury at the start of the year. I would argue we haven't seen any "reaches" like Konate/Diedhiou since year one.

It doesn't change the point I was making. Even when you're in scramble mode, there are guys out there around here who can catch a basketball. You don't have to go to Senegal and pick someone with hands of stone and not only fouls every few seconds but doesn't seem to understand what he just did, judging by how he argues obvious calls.
 

I think we have seen a change in approach. As we've talked about, Pitino's first class was a disappointment overall. He aimed too high and had to scramble at the end. Unfortunately, we had to look at that mistake for four years. That mistake became a catastrophic situation (after losing Lynch) in large part due to Curry's injury at the start of the year. I would argue we haven't seen any "reaches" like Konate/Diedhiou since year one.

I wouldn't call Konate a reach necessarily. He had other good offers. It was just very raw. Okay with taking a chance on a player like that, just not two in the same year at the same position.
 

I wouldn't call Konate a reach necessarily. He had other good offers. It was just very raw. Okay with taking a chance on a player like that, just not two in the same year at the same position.

Id also argue that Konate is not as bad as people make it out to be either. He was a decently solid defensive player most of his time here.

The problem is he had to play in a role he should have never been asked to. He should have never been asked to be anything more than a backup center or 3rd big man on a team. This year he was asked to play big minutes and was eventually the only big man we had after Lynch. Some scholarships have to be used for backup players and just because he was not a starting caliber player does not mean it was a wasted roster spot. That being said, he probably could have been better but not awful. Ghaston was a complete miss.
 

As far as the Blog: the first step in fixing a problem is admitting you have a problem. If Pitino and his coaches recognize the need to make improvements, that's a positive. Now, they have to translate that into action - AND the results have to show up on the court.

Honestly, if I was coaching this team, I would scrap the entire offense and start from scratch. Look at the talent you have - skills and weaknesses - and figure out an offense that plays to their strengths and minimizes their weaknesses.

next year, they will not have Nate mason to bail the team out of a bad possession by hitting a 3 or driving to the basket. Can Washington grow into that role? I would prefer to see Washington focus on being a point guard - and not worrying that he "has" to be a scorer. If Washington is the leading scorer next year, this team is in trouble. Ideally, Washington should be 4th or 5th on the team in scoring - because the offense is getting guys good looks and they're taking advantage. Murphy, Coffey, Mc Brayer should be the top scorers. Washington should be in the next group with Curry.

But, in one sense, the key to the entire season may be the player they add in Spring recruiting. If they bring in someone who is capable of playing significant minutes, or at the least can play 10-15 minutes a game as the backup PG, that would make me feel a lot better about this team.
 

Actually, the Globetrotter weave is damned effective...at least it was against the Generals.
Osborne Lockhart is not walking through that door.

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