Post game - Pitino on Kaminsky: The only way to beat him, is get him on the bench...

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somehow. Hard to do.

Here are Pitino and Ryan's notes, will have the players up shortly:

Bo Ryan:
• I'm proud of them, they have goals, I've been saying that all along. What's in a player's mind, only they know. Frank made his intentions known. Today we clinched the outright (B1G title), it was a goal, it's not like they trash talked.
• We shot it really well, and they made their explosion, and held on down the stretch
• They gained some confidence with their comeback, most players do. The other team has to be able to withstand that, and keep battling back, and that's what our guys did. If you watched 25 college games, you'd see that back and forth, the streaks, and it's nothing new, but you have to be resilient if you're on the bad end of that.
• You know how older people like myself like to say "it was a lot tougher when I was younger" it was, as far as conditioning. We try to use the inactivity really well, like timeouts, having them sit down right away.
• Pressure, because you never know how you're going to react in the road. Bronson handled everything really well, for a sophomore. Nigel did a really good job or helping, Frank beat the pressure. It's nice to have 5 guys that are comfortable handling the ball…that's why they have the record that they have right now.
Richard Pitino:
• Obviously a very very good team, aside from Kentucky, that's about impressive of a team as I've seen. In the beginning of the game, we were getting good looks, we were just missing them for some reason. I thought we were playing somewhat well, but they make you pay. Gotta give them credit.
• That's a very, very good team.
• Shots not going in in the first few minutes was deflating us, then we started to understand not to get frustrated with it.
• We started getting stops when Bakary came in the game, I'm very excited about him. He's a big presence. Even Gas, who isn't quite ready, but is a presence, I'm excited to build around those guys. That was probably the best game Bakary has played. When he got here, he'd make a million moves, now, he had one play where he didn't even dribble. What he does, you can't really coach - he's got size, he's quick, he gets every rebound in his area, extremely willing to learn, works his butt off, he's got an extremely high ceiling.
• Wisconsin forces you to make plays, they switch and they sag, with Nate, and Carlos and DeAndre…they're going by people, and they've got that one on one game, that favors them a little more. I'm excited about Nate, he's going to be a very good player.
• I don't think this year has come into play, we just came in to beat MSU, a team we haven't beat since 1997, we lost to one of the best teams in the country. We hate losing, but we'll be ready to roll on Sunday.
• Joey's playing a lot of minutes, he was getting tired. I don't like playing Bakary and Gas at the same time right now, next year I will. We just had match-up issues, Dekker over Morris, huge size issues.
• Kaminsky - he played. He was on the court, we got fortunate last year to get him in foul trouble. I personally think he's the Wooden winner. Everything he does, 7 assists, 25 points, love him. The only way to beat him, is get him on the bench somehow. Hard to do.
• I think they do a really good job…I'll say this…we expect refs to be perfect, why I don't know, they're going to miss some. It was a well officiated game. I didn't have a problem with the way it was officiated.
• Bo said to me "I'll see you at the Big 10 Tournament" I said, "I hope not, because they're really really good."
• We turned them over 9 times, he may make them walk back to Madison for that.
 

FWIW, I though Konate played extremely well. Very encouraging.
 

GopherLady said:
somehow. Hard to do.

Here are Pitino and Ryan's notes, will have the players up shortly:

Bo Ryan:
• I'm proud of them, they have goals, I've been saying that all along. What's in a player's mind, only they know. Frank made his intentions known. Today we clinched the outright (B1G title), it was a goal, it's not like they trash talked.
• We shot it really well, and they made their explosion, and held on down the stretch
• They gained some confidence with their comeback, most players do. The other team has to be able to withstand that, and keep battling back, and that's what our guys did. If you watched 25 college games, you'd see that back and forth, the streaks, and it's nothing new, but you have to be resilient if you're on the bad end of that.
• You know how older people like myself like to say "it was a lot tougher when I was younger" it was, as far as conditioning. We try to use the inactivity really well, like timeouts, having them sit down right away.
• Pressure, because you never know how you're going to react in the road. Bronson handled everything really well, for a sophomore. Nigel did a really good job or helping, Frank beat the pressure. It's nice to have 5 guys that are comfortable handling the ball…that's why they have the record that they have right now.
Richard Pitino:
• Obviously a very very good team, aside from Kentucky, that's about impressive of a team as I've seen. In the beginning of the game, we were getting good looks, we were just missing them for some reason. I thought we were playing somewhat well, but they make you pay. Gotta give them credit.
• That's a very, very good team.
• Shots not going in in the first few minutes was deflating us, then we started to understand not to get frustrated with it.
• We started getting stops when Bakary came in the game, I'm very excited about him. He's a big presence. Even Gas, who isn't quite ready, but is a presence, I'm excited to build around those guys. That was probably the best game Bakary has played. When he got here, he'd make a million moves, now, he had one play where he didn't even dribble. What he does, you can't really coach - he's got size, he's quick, he gets every rebound in his area, extremely willing to learn, works his butt off, he's got an extremely high ceiling.
• Wisconsin forces you to make plays, they switch and they sag, with Nate, and Carlos and DeAndre…they're going by people, and they've got that one on one game, that favors them a little more. I'm excited about Nate, he's going to be a very good player.
• I don't think this year has come into play, we just came in to beat MSU, a team we haven't beat since 1997, we lost to one of the best teams in the country. We hate losing, but we'll be ready to roll on Sunday.
• Joey's playing a lot of minutes, he was getting tired. I don't like playing Bakary and Gas at the same time right now, next year I will. We just had match-up issues, Dekker over Morris, huge size issues.
• Kaminsky - he played. He was on the court, we got fortunate last year to get him in foul trouble. I personally think he's the Wooden winner. Everything he does, 7 assists, 25 points, love him. The only way to beat him, is get him on the bench somehow. Hard to do.
• I think they do a really good job…I'll say this…we expect refs to be perfect, why I don't know, they're going to miss some. It was a well officiated game. I didn't have a problem with the way it was officiated.
• Bo said to me "I'll see you at the Big 10 Tournament" I said, "I hope not, because they're really really good."
• We turned them over 9 times, he may make them walk back to Madison for that.
Click to expand...

No mention by Pitino about why Walker and Hollins didnt play at the end?
 

DeAndre Mathieu
Do you feel like you got mentally down in the beginning of the game? Not really, we got some good looks, they didn't fall, they were doing what Wisconsin does, making shots and not turning the ball over.
What didn't they execute from the game plan? Nothing really, we executed well on the offensive end. The defensive end we didn't do a good job of getting the shooters. Our whole thing was to stop Frank Kaminsky, I don't think we did that. You've gotta stop him if you want to beat them.
If we win tonight, we could get our name back out there, and could start to make a run, this could get us going. We didn't do that, so we've got to get back to work. Try to make a run in the BTT.
Have you had the NIT conversation? I don't know if you want to be back to bank NIT champions.*It's good to keep winning, but I don't really know right now.
This was way more up and down than last year
We dug a hole, if we hadn't, we'd probably be a lot more confident right now

Nate mason
Coach has been taking to me about being more aggressive and I've tried to do that
We're really not looking towards next year
Where is the team at mentally? We're definitely all down, we just have to come back and make a run in the BTT.
On MSU building confidence - It was a big time win, so we thought we'd turn the pressure up, but it didn't work out like that.
On commits Kevin Dorsey and Jarvis Johnson: I've been in contact with Jarvis, a little with Kevin. Just trying to tell those guys they need to be ready, need to work this offseason, they need to be ready to do something big. They can't wait.*I'm really not trying to think about next year.

Bakary Konate
On going up against Kaminsky: I was very excited to guard one of the best big guys in the country. I tried to do what coach told me to do.
On his post moves: Now I try to play simple, catch a ball and move on.
I feel confident and relaxed, communication, more engaged…
Did you expect to play this much today? Not really, not really, because I know I'm behind 2 very good big men. I was surprised. I tried to do my best.

Andre Hollins
Biggest stand out moment as a Gopher: Making it to the NCAA tourney my sophomore year
Do they talk about strategy for post season? We definitely talk about it, since we're not in it right now. Now we have to move our focus towards Penn State.
On expectations for this year: I didn't expect this at all, but you have to learn from it, it has to make you stronger, we've learned from it. We're not done yet.
 



scher215 said:
FWIW, I though Konate played extremely well. Very encouraging.
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Agreed. Really liked what I saw as well. Still raw but it's obvious he's gotten better and more comfortable throughout the season.
 

Andre Hollins
Biggest stand out moment as a Gopher: Making it to the NCAA tourney my sophomore year
Do they talk about strategy for post season? We definitely talk about it, since we're not in it right now. Now we have to move our focus towards Penn State.
On expectations for this year: I didn't expect this at all, but you have to learn from it, it has to make you stronger, we've learned from it. We're not done yet.


We've learned from it?????? Wow..... Thanks for your effort tonight at home Dre against your biggest rival.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Agreed. Really liked what I saw as well. Still raw but it's obvious he's gotten better and more comfortable throughout the season.
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Pitino (as you can read) was raving about him, really excited about him developing. On a side note, the kid could not be any nicer or more excited. Has always had a great attitude.

1997vacatedfinalfour said:
Andre Hollins
Biggest stand out moment as a Gopher: Making it to the NCAA tourney my sophomore year
Do they talk about strategy for post season? We definitely talk about it, since we're not in it right now. Now we have to move our focus towards Penn State.
On expectations for this year: I didn't expect this at all, but you have to learn from it, it has to make you stronger, we've learned from it. We're not done yet.


We've learned from it?????? Wow..... Thanks for your effort tonight at home Dre against your biggest rival.
Click to expand...

Come on now, Andre's had issues with his shot (like tonight), but he still had 4 assists, no TO's, a few boards, etc. I don't think it's a lack of effort, especially in regards to shooting, it's execution.
 

1997vacatedfinalfour said:
No mention by Pitino about why Walker and Hollins didnt play at the end?
Click to expand...

Bakary is at least a step quicker than Mo, he was able to react and get out on Kaminsky much better without giving up much in the middle, He really looked good on defense and made some shots on the offensive end of the court. He could be very good in a couple of years.
 



GopherLady said:
Pitino (as you can read) was raving about him, really excited about him developing. On a side note, the kid could not be any nicer or more excited. Has always had a great attitude.



Come on now, Andre's had issues with his shot (like tonight), but he still had 4 assists, no TO's, a few boards, etc. I don't think it's a lack of effort, especially in regards to shooting, it's execution.
Click to expand...

Funny how Wisconsin's leaders Kaminsky and Dekker found a way to step up with 25 and 20....Anyway you slice Dre has been a big disappointment this year and one of the main reasons that we are heading back to the NIT.
 

GopherLady said:
Come on now, Andre's had issues with his shot (like tonight), but he still had 4 assists, no TO's, a few boards, etc. I don't think it's a lack of effort, especially in regards to shooting, it's execution.
Click to expand...
He was also well guarded.
 

After the Northwestern game I was pretty down on the future of this team and felt like the young guys on Northwestern looked miles ahead of the young guys on the Gophers. However, it has been really nice to see the improvement of Konate/Mason/Morris/King/Diedhiou in the last few games. For me, the future doesn't look nearly as bleak. I'm excited again for next year.
 

Thank You Gopher Lady

Aprreciate the notes as always!
 



1997vacatedfinalfour said:
Funny how Wisconsin's leaders Kaminsky and Dekker found a way to step up with 25 and 20....Anyway you slice Dre has been a big disappointment this year and one of the main reasons that we are heading back to the NIT.
Click to expand...

Are you really comparing guys going to the NBA to a guy that could have a decent career in Europe? That's not fair. Dre has never been at their level.

Moonlight said:
He was also well guarded.
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Also true.

golfing18now said:
After the Northwestern game I was pretty down on the future of this team and felt like the young guys on Northwestern looked miles ahead of the young guys on the Gophers. However, it has been really nice to see the improvement of Konate/Mason/Morris/King/Diedhiou in the last few games. For me, the future doesn't look nearly as bleak. I'm excited again for next year.
Click to expand...

I'm with ya. I was really dreading next year, but Mason has been the best player on the court more times than not lately, and the rest of the guys have shown promise.

60's Guy said:
Aprreciate the notes as always!
Click to expand...

Thank, you're very welcome :).
 

I concur - Mason was our best player tonight and Bakary looked like he belonged!
 

GopherLady said:
Pitino (as you can read) was raving about him, really excited about him developing. On a side note, the kid could not be any nicer or more excited. Has always had a great attitude.



Come on now, Andre's had issues with his shot (like tonight), but he still had 4 assists, no TO's, a few boards, etc. I don't think it's a lack of effort, especially in regards to shooting, it's execution.
Click to expand...

Anybody who says that Andre isn't trying isn't watching. Andre is a great shooter who can be taken out of the game by an opposing team because he has size and speed limitations. He's not great off the dribble. But he is giving it his all playing defense and doing what he can. He just could not get an open look last night.
 

bga1 said:
Anybody who says that Andre isn't trying isn't watching. Andre is a great shooter who can be taken out of the game by an opposing team because he has size and speed limitations. He's not great off the dribble. But he is giving it his all playing defense and doing what he can. He just could not get an open look last night.
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I think this is a good point. I think he'd be better in an offense that generated open looks for shooters where he could just spot up more and shoot like 6 3s a game.
 

Pitino's comment on Wisconsin defense - about how well they switch. That's true and is really extraordinary how well they do it. I'm not sure I've seen another team in the country who switches so well and is always in the right place. It helps that they have good overall size, so they can avoid bad matchups. But the bigger picture is how well they know what to do and what they're doing out there. Other teams could do what they do, but it takes a lot of teaching in a limited amount of practice time. That's the trick in amateur coaching.

I observed about Bakary at the beginning of the season that he looked like he'd touched a basketball for the first time three weeks ago. I couldn't see how he could ever contribute. Well, that's obviously not the case any more. He played significant, meaningful minutes against a top-10 team and looked like he belonged out there. He has good footwork on both offense and defense and good agility overall. He has nice touch in close and has even made a few jump shots. If he can have a productive off season developing some offensive moves and can continue his improvement curve on defense, he could be a pretty decent and well rounded player next year.

Nate Mason is not the quickest dude in the gym, but he was the one guy who was able to create some space for himself out there.
 

justthefacts said:
I think this is a good point. I think he'd be better in an offense that generated open looks for shooters where he could just spot up more and shoot like 6 3s a game.
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The point is that there are plenty of Division 3 players who can do that - make jump shots. Hollins doesn't really do anything extraordinary out there.
 

Nate Mason needs a season of quickness and strength development as well as a left handed finishing move. The rest of his game is quite nice. Was my fav recruit coming in and I haven't moved off that (obviously). He and Carlos with a brain may be able to surprise some teams next year with a Joey king playing like the last week consistently.
 

golfing18now said:
For me, the future doesn't look nearly as bleak. I'm excited again for next year.
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Yes, it shouldn't be too bleak at all. Pitino does need to get two more scholarship players with at least one of them capable of being a significant rotation player next year. Next year's team may not go 11-2 in non-conference but I'm optimistic that they have a fair shot of having a better conference record than this one.
 

cjbfbp said:
Yes, it shouldn't be too bleak at all. Pitino does need to get two more scholarship players with at least one of them capable of being a significant rotation player next year. Next year's team may not go 11-2 in non-conference but I'm optimistic that they have a fair shot of having a better conference record than this one.
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11-2?
 

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