Still have faith in Pitino?

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sonnygarcia

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The team has regressed this year. He has yet to recruit a skilled 3,4 or 5. His teams play like they don't have a fuggin clue how to play basketball. Why hasn't he brought in any skill yet, either through high school recruits or transfers. Mason will be a nice player, but everyone else he's brought in so far is crap. The 2 African guys are major projects and depth players. Morris is just crap, you can't win with guys like that, yet Pitino thought he could? Another recruiting mistake. Even McNeil, he brought in a 6'3" point guard to play small forward for you? Really? He has mismanaged the roster so far and while he has a couple nice guards coming in, both are undersized and won't be able to create their own shots. So who are the scoring threats inside? The 2016 recruits are the earliest we can hope to get skilled wings in here. Will he have lost the fan base by then? This team will be equally crappy next year. Blow it the fuc& up.....
 

He's had one recruiting class. Mason, Morris, King, and Mathieu are 4 of our 6 best players. Settle down. If you give up on every coach after a year and a half then you'll never become a good program.
 

sonnygarcia said:
The team has regressed this year. He has yet to recruit a skilled 3,4 or 5. His teams play like they don't have a fuggin clue how to play basketball. Why hasn't he brought in any skill yet, either through high school recruits or transfers. Mason will be a nice player, but everyone else he's brought in so far is crap. The 2 African guys are major projects and depth players. Morris is just crap, you can't win with guys like that, yet Pitino thought he could? Another recruiting mistake. Even McNeil, he brought in a 6'3" point guard to play small forward for you? Really? He has mismanaged the roster so far and while he has a couple nice guards coming in, both are undersized and won't be able to create their own shots. So who are the scoring threats inside? The 2016 recruits are the earliest we can hope to get skilled wings in here. Will he have lost the fan base by then? This team will be equally crappy next year. Blow it the fuc& up.....
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This is his first second year running a program. This will be his first underachieving team. A season of firsts. He's finding out that this is the toughest conference in the country to coach in.
 

The thing is that they are getting worse. The B1G sucks this year. This is not the same conference as in years past. This squad is talented enough to get to the big dance and win games in conference. And prior to the season starting, everyone predicted we'd go to the tourney. We may not make the NIT.
 


Bad Gopher said:
This is his first second year running a program. This will be his first underachieving team. A season of firsts. He's finding out that this is the toughest conference in the country to coach in.
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+1
Coaches make mistakes and learn from them too, believe it or not.
 

KyGopherfan said:
The thing is that they are getting worse. The B1G sucks this year. This is not the same conference as in years past. This squad is talented enough to get to the big dance and win games in conference. And prior to the season starting, everyone predicted we'd go to the tourney. We may not make the NIT.
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Have you watched the games? They don't look talented enough...
 

How come you are not banned yet? Pitino will be fine, Tubby ain't coming back.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Coach will be fine. He's going to recruit and he's going to learn. I love this system and so do recruits. Need better players for this system. Even with the guys we have we have been in every game to the end.
 



bga1 said:
Coach will be fine. He's going to recruit and he's going to learn. I love this system and so do recruits. Need better players for this system. Even with the guys we have we have been in every game to the end.
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+19
 

It's not worth judging a season half-way through and it's not worth judging a coach 2 years in. Am I concerned? Yes. Do I still have faith? Yes. This season will be a disappointment no matter what now. But let's get to 7-11 and make another NIT run.
 

These d*ckheads calling Gopher players "crap" and "garbage" after games and carrying on like pouting teen age girls after a loss make me wonder just how pathetic and messed up their lives must be.
 

sonnygarcia said:
The team has regressed this year. He has yet to recruit a skilled 3,4 or 5. His teams play like they don't have a fuggin clue how to play basketball. Why hasn't he brought in any skill yet, either through high school recruits or transfers. Mason will be a nice player, but everyone else he's brought in so far is crap. The 2 African guys are major projects and depth players. Morris is just crap, you can't win with guys like that, yet Pitino thought he could? Another recruiting mistake. Even McNeil, he brought in a 6'3" point guard to play small forward for you? Really? He has mismanaged the roster so far and while he has a couple nice guards coming in, both are undersized and won't be able to create their own shots. So who are the scoring threats inside? The 2016 recruits are the earliest we can hope to get skilled wings in here. Will he have lost the fan base by then? This team will be equally crappy next year. Blow it the fuc& up.....
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Dude, you should totally coach the team!
 



This is quickly turning into one of the most frustrating seasons in quite some time and the vitriol toward Pitino is somewhat warranted. He's the face of the program and needs to take some heat for his team simply not playing well. The big question is, though, are they playing to their capabilities? If not, that's mainly on the coach. It's his job to extract every ounce of talent from his players and put them in position to succeed.

If the players simply aren't any good and he's maximizing what he has, than it's not really his fault? Yes, he brought many of these guys in, but not all of them. He doesn't have the right mix at this point and I don't think he was going to work miracles after one-plus season. I've been OK with his recruiting as the Johnson, Dorsey and Hurt appear to be legitimate national recruits.

But if this season continues to plummet and the team finishes something like 2-16 in league play, I don't know how the program is going to respond. Minnesota Men's Basketball isn't exactly on stable ground. The strong pillars aren't there to sustain a disastrous season.
 

There's no excuse for this. I don't know how anyone can watch the games and conclude that the Gophers should be sitting anywhere worse than 4-3 right now. You can argue most of that is on the players choking, but SOME of the blame has got to go to Pitino. Nebraska plays essentially without a PG and has limited perimeter quickness and our guards handled the ball like a hand grenade. The decision to CONTINUALLY give Mo Walker post touches which ended up in miss after miss was absolutely on Pitino. You've got to be concerned that the team is getting worse, not better as the season goes a long. Three of the Gophers four worst performances of the season have occurred in the last three games.

I have been a big believer in Coach Pitino and still believe he's likely to do good things. That said, I don't know how you can be as confident in Coach Pitino as you were a few months ago.
 

It's a fair question. I just feel like this is kind of an awkward year in the rebuilding process. You have a chunk of players you have recruited that are a year or two off, but fit the system (Mason, Konate, Diedhiou), you have a few guys who are only here to fill in instant need, but offer no real upside (King, Mathieu, Morris), and finally you have a chunk of players from the previous regime who are under-skilled with no strong leadership qualities, and exhibit extremely fragile mind sets (especially in key situations).

Luckily in basketball it just takes one solid recruiting class. I think next year we will be better than 1-6, seven games into the BIG10 season. We will finally see a press that causes havoc, a rotation that is solid with some real depth, and dare I say a leader? I don't think Pitino deserves 4 or 5 years to prove himself. Underclassmen can have just as big of an impact as upperclassmen. 2016-2017 is when I will really start to analyze what Pitino is doing and speculating if he is the right man.

I have faith!
 


John Wooden could not win with this group. Undersized guards, no slashing attackers; big men who play below the rim.

Recruiting will be the key.
 

EG#9 said:
There's no excuse for this. I don't know how anyone can watch the games and conclude that the Gophers should be sitting anywhere worse than 4-3 right now. You can argue most of that is on the players choking, but SOME of the blame has got to go to Pitino. Nebraska plays essentially without a PG and has limited perimeter quickness and our guards handled the ball like a hand grenade. The decision to CONTINUALLY give Mo Walker post touches which ended up in miss after miss was absolutely on Pitino. You've got to be concerned that the team is getting worse, not better as the season goes a long. Three of the Gophers four worst performances of the season have occurred in the last three games.

I have been a big believer in Coach Pitino and still believe he's likely to do good things. That said, I don't know how you can be as confident in Coach Pitino as you were a few months ago.
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Hindsight is 20/20. Mo has been one of our best and most consistent players all season.
 

I'm not a tubby guy; he was dead weight, needed to go.

Just look at this f'ing circus we're trotting out there. This is a mess, and the mismanaged roster is going to ensure we stay at this level for a couple more years, then HOPEFULLY Pitino can bring in better players, but can he?

His recruiting has been blah, how about player development? Who on this team has gotten better under Pitino? Walker? I guess, but mainly because he use to be obese, now he's not. He still as average as ever. Hollins use to be good, now he's as average as can be.

How about in game coaching? The only thoughts I have in my head are us losing games by making stupid decisions, all the time. Are these guys being coached? Or has he just recruited dumb basketball players? Either way, it's troubling.

He has the last name, sure; but is he really ready for this? Woody May have went to the billy Donovan well one too many times. This disaster will keep getting worse before it gets better. How you gonna convince 2016 recruits to come here when you can't even make the NIt?
 

Block M said:
John Wooden could not win with this group. Undersized guards, no slashing attackers; big men who play below the rim.

Recruiting will be the key.
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Who recruited the undersiZed guards on the team? And who has 2 more undersized guards coming in next year (still with no skilled wings)?
 

sonnygarcia said:
I'm not a tubby guy; he was dead weight, needed to go.

Just look at this f'ing circus we're trotting out there. This is a mess, and the mismanaged roster is going to ensure we stay at this level for a couple more years, then HOPEFULLY Pitino can bring in better players, but can he?

His recruiting has been blah, how about player development? Who on this team has gotten better under Pitino? Walker? I guess, but mainly because he use to be obese, now he's not. He still as average as ever. Hollins use to be good, now he's as average as can be.

How about in game coaching? The only thoughts I have in my head are us losing games by making stupid decisions, all the time. Are these guys being coached? Or has he just recruited dumb basketball players? Either way, it's troubling.

He has the last name, sure; but is he really ready for this? Woody May have went to the billy Donovan well one too many times. This disaster will keep getting worse before it gets better. How you gonna convince 2016 recruits to come here when you can't even make the NIt?
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Playing time, system and the opportunity to come in with a good recruiting class. I am watching this game on tape right now- these guys are getting great opportunities to score- I just watch Mathieu twice, Hollins once, Walker once all miss easy opportunities in succession. Pitino will win here.
 

mcal24 said:
Have you watched the games? They don't look talented enough...
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They have the talent. They don't have the mental strength, however. This team does not cherish their possessions, but instead plays sloppy with the ball. This is an area where Coach can get better at imposing his will on players. He'll learn that a bit of a reign on the leash is in order. Problem is that Tubby left the upperclassmen shaking like a frightened kitten in the corner. Pitino has had to work to undo that mentality, but in so doing has allowed a bit too much sloppiness to take place. He's a young coach, he'll find that balance and this year will be a great year for him to learn.

...lack of talent isn't our problem with this team.
 

Come on guys, this is Pitino's third year only as a head coach... and his second recruiting class coming in next year. Give him two more years.
 

tinyarch said:
They have the talent. They don't have the mental strength, however. This team does not cherish their possessions, but instead plays sloppy with the ball. This is an area where Coach can get better at imposing his will on players. He'll learn that a bit of a reign on the leash is in order. Problem is that Tubby left the upperclassmen shaking like a frightened kitten in the corner. Pitino has had to work to undo that mentality, but in so doing has allowed a bit too much sloppiness to take place. He's a young coach, he'll find that balance and this year will be a great year for him to learn.

...lack of talent isn't our problem with this team.
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There are guys with talent. Mo is a good offensive player. Hollins a good shooter (except in 5 off the last 6 games) Matheui has great speed. King has a great shot fake. Morris has athleticism. There are just very few really good two way players and very little size and almost no toughness. There is talent but ....not really enough of the things it takes to make a team. There's enough to win against anybody but not much margin for error.
 

EG#9 said:
There's no excuse for this. I don't know how anyone can watch the games and conclude that the Gophers should be sitting anywhere worse than 4-3 right now. You can argue most of that is on the players choking, but SOME of the blame has got to go to Pitino. Nebraska plays essentially without a PG and has limited perimeter quickness and our guards handled the ball like a hand grenade. The decision to CONTINUALLY give Mo Walker post touches which ended up in miss after miss was absolutely on Pitino. You've got to be concerned that the team is getting worse, not better as the season goes a long. Three of the Gophers four worst performances of the season have occurred in the last three games.

I have been a big believer in Coach Pitino and still believe he's likely to do good things. That said, I don't know how you can be as confident in Coach Pitino as you were a few months ago.
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The first bolded comment made me laugh. It's a good analogy for these kids. They don't value their possessions.

The second bolded comment is a toss up for me. I don't think the team has played all that well throughout the entire season. We've had some glaring weaknesses from the get go. We just don't execute efficiently on every possession and it hurts us with close losses.
 

tinyarch said:
The first bolded comment made me laugh. It's a good analogy for these kids. They don't value their possessions.

The second bolded comment is a toss up for me. I don't think the team has played all that well throughout the entire season. We've had some glaring weaknesses from the get go. We just don't execute efficiently on every possession and it hurts us with close losses.
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They have no margin for error Tiny. If you want to think back on what talent looks like- think of Mbakwe and Williams. The great play that Morris made under the bucket blocking Shields- that's one of the few times I've seen an athletic and tough play like that all year. Williams and Mbakwe made three four plays like that every game.
 

Let's move Stollings over. Would be good press. And we'd have good inbounds plays. and I guarantee they won't shoot less than 50% on free throws.
 


We lost by 3 points! If Deandre could hit the ocean from a boat we would have tied or won. 0 for 7. They had good shots and couldn't convert. Fee throws were terrible, remember when Andre was automatic?

The only thing stopping this team is their lousy shooting percentage. Heck they had 11 offensive rebounds! I'm sure they are frustrated more than you are.
 

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