Rich Pitino on Sports Huddle 8-23

short ornery norwegian

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 9, 2011
Messages
19,497
Reaction score
13,153
Points
113
Mona- what did you learn?
RP: great practice. 10 days valuable. 7 FR & SO. try get them to understand principles. Competition not great, last game better. Different BB - rules change, refs don't speak english. Chemistry improved.

Sid- Freshmen
RP: Dorsey speed, Gilbert needs to get in shape, Murphy sky's the limit. Mc Brayer can score. valuable minutes.

Sid - most improved?
RP: Konate will make biggest jump. will start from day 1. scoring improved. improved on fouling, catching balls thrown to him.

Sid - best player on trip?
RP: all did certain things. Mason, Morris played well. It's got to be returning players. Got to up their level. King reliable. Buggs starting to improve. Konate & Gas need to keep improving.

Mona - Morris?
RP: I beg him to share the ball. got depth at every position. didn't have that last year. If you don't pass the ball, we'll take you out. Morris wants to win - trying to find way to put ball in basket. great confidence. starting to develop. JUCO's different.

Sid - competition?
RP: Madrid good competition. guys playing for money. know rules better than we do. got tested at end. put more stock in practice than games. learn culture - this is how we behave on the road. didn't have one issue.

Sid - pre-season schedule?
RP: should announce this week - waiting on contracts. Puerto Rico 3 quality opponents. Clemson, Oklahoma State, - try to prepare better for B1G season. didn't do good job of that last year.

Sid - changes in coaches?
RP: no. (lost McHale last year). want continuity.

Mona - Louisville?
RP: tough for Louisville with their schedule. just signed deal with Indiana. work out logistics. not quite able to get that done. Next year Big Ten-Big East challenge starts. want to start home-and-home next season, starting at home with Louisville or another quality opponent.

Sid - scholarships?
RP: don't anticipate using it. don't have a lot moving forward. got to balance out classes. make sure quality player?

Mona- 1st game? Buggs?
RP: 1st game Nov 14th? excited. great time of year. Buggs - started all 4 games at SF. Unique kid. gets lost on defense. needs to get reps. gets frustrated with mistakes- needs to learn to play through them. quick to rebounds, loose balls. see steps to maturing.
 

Thanks for posting this.

I guess I kinda figured the competition wasn't fantastic, still it felt good to go 4-0. Really looking forward to seeing Dorsey and Murphy this year, and to a very slightly lesser extent McBrayer. Interesting that Buggs started all 4 games. Another exciting entry in the Buggs saga this year. I'm also getting the feeling we might be half decent with some solid freshman contributions, maybe an outside shot to make the tournament? Bubble territory is Gopher territory after all.
 

Thanks for that post, Norwegian. Good to hear that Gilbert's lesser contributions on this trip were related to conditioning rather than ability. Great stuff on Konate, Dorsey, Murphy and McBrayer. The future is bright!

As usual- I love the candor of Pitino and his admissions of what the staff has done wrong in the past. Nice to hear a coach that you actually get information from.
 





Thanks for the recaps on both boards, they are much appreciated.

It will be very interesting if Buggs actually starts at small forward this year. I feel like their will need to be at least some tweaks to the offense with only two ball handlers on the floor. A starting lineup where Carlos Morris is asked to handle the ball even more than he did last year could be quite an adventure.
 


"3 quality opponents in Puerto Rico"... if Gophers get in the winners' bracket. Not so much if lose to Temple. So important to win the Temple game.
 




People seem to be really down on Morris. His shot selection was absolutely horrendous quite frequently last year, as well as his defense, but I love his ability to score in transition and get to the hoop and finish in the half court. I think he cleans up his decision-making a significant amount and ends up being All BT Honorable Mention. Even with his terrible decision making, he still had solid percentages because he's so damn good as getting to the hoop. I think he'll get to the line close to 5x a game this year. I also think he'll take defense more seriously this year and improve significantly in that department.

Even though we lost a lot of scoring to graduation, I think we'll surprise people and have at least as many BT wins as last year. I think 6 is most likely but I won't be all that surprised to win 7, though I do believe that's our ceiling.
 




Top Bottom