BleedGopher
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STrib: Pitino puts onus on his players to stop "hijacking" the Gophers in close games
per Marcus:
Richard Pitino is putting the onus on his players to get the Gophers men’s basketball team back on track by snapping a five-game losing streak Saturday at Illinois.
When asked on his radio show Monday about what he would’ve done differently in the losses, Pitino said he didn’t know if there was anything specific.
But he sees a lot of issues with how his players are handling themselves down the stretch in games.
“They got to figure it out,” he said. “It’s gotta be done by them on the court. So you put them in positions in practice. But at the end of the day, they’ve got to do it.”
Last season, the Gophers (15-7, 3-6) lost eight games by six points or fewer. Five of the six conference losses this season are by single digits, including Saturday’s 85-78 loss against Maryland at home.
When it comes to late-game execution, Pitino put it more on the players than the coaching staff to execute by making better decisions and avoid costly mistakes.
“I can give them motivational speeches until I’m blue in the face,” Pitino said. “They’ve got to stop hijacking themselves in the game.”
It sounded a lot like Pitino was doing what some coaches can’t help but do sometimes when they get frustrated after losses. Blame players. But he caught himself.
“It’s hard because you don’t want to sound like you’re throwing your players under the bus,” he said. “Because I really like these guys. I enjoy coaching them. But there’s certain things that like when you’re at this level you cannot do. And we’re doing that. We have to stop doing that. All it does is it takes away from the confidence of this team.”
http://www.startribune.com/pitino-p...jacking-the-gophers-in-close-games/412319843/
Go Gophers!!
per Marcus:
Richard Pitino is putting the onus on his players to get the Gophers men’s basketball team back on track by snapping a five-game losing streak Saturday at Illinois.
When asked on his radio show Monday about what he would’ve done differently in the losses, Pitino said he didn’t know if there was anything specific.
But he sees a lot of issues with how his players are handling themselves down the stretch in games.
“They got to figure it out,” he said. “It’s gotta be done by them on the court. So you put them in positions in practice. But at the end of the day, they’ve got to do it.”
Last season, the Gophers (15-7, 3-6) lost eight games by six points or fewer. Five of the six conference losses this season are by single digits, including Saturday’s 85-78 loss against Maryland at home.
When it comes to late-game execution, Pitino put it more on the players than the coaching staff to execute by making better decisions and avoid costly mistakes.
“I can give them motivational speeches until I’m blue in the face,” Pitino said. “They’ve got to stop hijacking themselves in the game.”
It sounded a lot like Pitino was doing what some coaches can’t help but do sometimes when they get frustrated after losses. Blame players. But he caught himself.
“It’s hard because you don’t want to sound like you’re throwing your players under the bus,” he said. “Because I really like these guys. I enjoy coaching them. But there’s certain things that like when you’re at this level you cannot do. And we’re doing that. We have to stop doing that. All it does is it takes away from the confidence of this team.”
http://www.startribune.com/pitino-p...jacking-the-gophers-in-close-games/412319843/
Go Gophers!!
