Looking back: Did nobody in the media see this coming?

BarnBoy

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Interesting to look back and see that most media picked the Gophers to repeat as bottom feeders. Seems lazy looking back.

We lost a lot of close games last year.
We had a lot of young guys.
We had a good recruiting class.
We added two transfers (Springs and Lynch)
Pitino added 1 or two coaches (right?)

I'm not saying I would have expected any of these outlets to predict a top-4 finish, but maybe a 7th or an 8th place? Seems lazy to look at the above factors and just assume the same result.

I just grabbed the first handful of prediction articles I found from Oct 1 through Nov 12...

Just an interesting look back:

BTN Dienhart: 12. Minnesota.
This is a big season for Richard Pitino, whose Golden Gophers went 2-16 in the Big Ten last year. Off-court issues have cropped up, and attrition has hurt. The result: an unstable roster and program with a lot to prove. Fans are stoked about the arrival of Gopher legacy Amir Coffey, a real gem. - See more at: http://btn.com/2016/10/13/how-will-...-mens-hoops-predictions/#sthash.ZQU1c8Dz.dpuf
http://btn.com/2016/10/13/how-will-...rt-offers-his-big-ten-mens-hoops-predictions/

SI: Minnesota (6–12)
The Gophers should improve from last year’s turbulent, suspension-ridden, 2–16 campaign but still finish second-to-last in the league. They have an established lead guard in Nate Mason and better depth with the addition of Milwaukee transfer shooting guard Akeem Springs and former Illinois State center Reggie Lynch.
http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2016/10/24/big-ten-preview-wisconsin-purdue-indiana

CBS Sports: "4 Experts Pick, 11, 12, 12, 12"
http://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...n-totals-x-factors-and-what-you-need-to-know/

USA Today: 10th, Minnesota
What to watch: Off-the-court issues and eight conference wins over the last two seasons have put Richard Pitino at a crossroads in his fourth year as head coach. Guards Kevin Dorsey, Nate Mason and Dupree McBrayer were suspended for the final four games of the 2015-16 season. Reggie Lynch, who sat out last season per NCAA transfer requirements, was arrested during the offseason. Mason and McBrayer returned to the program. Lynch has been cleared of allegations, but the distractions left the program beleaguered.
Bottom line: Graduate transfer Akeem Springs (Milwaukee) is one of six newcomers Pitino brought in to turn around the Minnesota program. Without finding answers to their shooting woes, however, the Gophers will linger near the bottom of the Big Ten.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...all-rankings-2016-17-season-preview/92680128/

Penn Live: 10. Minnesota
Minnesota is either going to improve or Richard Pitino might be out the door. The son of the Hall of Fame Louisville coach survived a virtual tsunami last year of not only player misconduct (including the posting of an internet porn video) but administration chaos when the AD who hired him was booted for sexual harassment. So, Mark Coyle, the well-travelled new AD last seen at Syracuse, has no association with Pitino and that’s never a comfortable position for a coach. He does have the versatile soph forward Jordan Murphy returning plus a well-regarded freshman class. “I think he’s got a chance to be one of the better forwards in the conference,” said Pitino of Murphy. “He’s a load.” As for the various insanity of last year, did he learn anything about coaching? “What are we doing from a culture standpoint, we looked ourselves in the mirror – I looked myself in the mirror – and said, ‘We’ve gotta get better.’ I think our guys understand everything that goes into being a college athlete.” Yes, maybe they understand it too well.
http://www.pennlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/10/big_ten_basketball_predictions.html

MLive: 12. Minnesota
The Gophers will be bad, again, as Richard Pitino's job likely resides in his freshmen's hands.
http://www.mlive.com/sports/2016/10/2016-17_big_ten_basketball_pre.html

Bleacher report: "Bottom Feeder"
The Gophers added a quality recruiting class and three transfers in what looks like a make-or-break year for head coach Richard Pitino. Freshman Amir Coffey should make an immediate impact, and Illinois State transfer Reggie Lynch and Milwaukee transfer Akeem Springs are expected to help right away. Davonte Fitzgerald, a transfer from Texas A&M, suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason, continuing the string of injuries, departures, suspensions and legal problems that have crippled the program.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ll-preview-and-predictions-for-2016-17-season

Athlon Sports: "12th"
Minnesota: Richard Pitino has failed to make the NCAA Tournament for three seasons and needs to impress a new athletic director.
http://athlonsports.com/college-bas...7-preview-predictions-and-all-conference-team
 

I'm not surprised in the least. Media has a very negative view of UM sports when it comes to the big 2.
 

It's understandable. A lot has had to happen for this to happen:
-Springs coming in and being a productive starter and example-setting team leader
-Lynch coming in and being the big man we needed, ranking fourth in the nation in blocked shots per game - and coming off an off-season injury to boot
-Amir Coffey outperforming expectations...and the expectations were high! He's better from 3, more mature, and a better decision maker than I could have dreamed
-Eric Curry being a stud freshman. We were just hoping he'd contribute in some way.
-Dupree taking the next step. We hoped he would and heard he would, but the proof is in the pudding.
-Nate ascending to all-conference caliber. Again, we were kind of counting on it, but there was no guarantee.

When you look at it, things have really come together, almost miraculously.
 

I'm not surprised either. We have more new players, 5 expected until Fitz got hurt, that were complete unknowns as to how they would fit in and compete than returning contributors. They all could have bombed but they didn't. They have played really well together.
 

It's understandable. A lot has had to happen for this to happen:
-Springs coming in and being a productive starter and example-setting team leader
-Lynch coming in and being the big man we needed, ranking fourth in the nation in blocked shots per game - and coming off an off-season injury to boot
-Amir Coffey outperforming expectations...and the expectations were high! He's better from 3, more mature, and a better decision maker than I could have dreamed
-Eric Curry being a stud freshman. We were just hoping he'd contribute in some way.
-Dupree taking the next step. We hoped he would and heard he would, but the proof is in the pudding.
-Nate ascending to all-conference caliber. Again, we were kind of counting on it, but there was no guarantee.

When you look at it, things have really come together, almost miraculously.

I agree, I didn't see this coming, and I think few people did. But I did think this would be an NIT team just on the wrong side of the NCAA bubble, who was being slept on by national media. So in fairness, I think a lot of fans were seeing this team improving. As you said, few saw them improving to this level though. I thought this jump would be next year.
 


I guess what I meant to stress is that I am surprised that nobody saw us improving (e.g. more predictions of 10th, 9th, 8th, etc)

Nobody saw THIS coming... except for prediction thread guy, touchdownvikings.
 



I am not sure exactly what my prediction was, and I've been accused of being overly optimistic in the past, even a homer, and I admit that I have predicted better results than ended up coming to pass more often than the other way around, but last season I did predict a big improvement for this season. Not a top 4 finish in the conference standings, but I think my prediction was something like a 9-9 kind of season with a shot of making the NCAA tourney.


And with how weak the B1G is this year, and all the new and talented AND EXPERIENCED new blood brought into the program, I am a little surprised that the pundits didn't see some improvement coming.

I agree that it was lazy on their part. Guess none of them felt it was worth the risk if we didn't improve, to predict we would. Who cares if we go from 2nd to last to 5th or 6th from last or not? Right?!
 



It's understandable. A lot has had to happen for this to happen:
-Springs coming in and being a productive starter and example-setting team leader
-Lynch coming in and being the big man we needed, ranking fourth in the nation in blocked shots per game - and coming off an off-season injury to boot
-Amir Coffey outperforming expectations...and the expectations were high! He's better from 3, more mature, and a better decision maker than I could have dreamed
-Eric Curry being a stud freshman. We were just hoping he'd contribute in some way.
-Dupree taking the next step. We hoped he would and heard he would, but the proof is in the pudding.
-Nate ascending to all-conference caliber. Again, we were kind of counting on it, but there was no guarantee.

When you look at it, things have really come together, almost miraculously.

Good breakdown of what has had to come together for all this to happen. I really don't think anyone expected Lynch to have the impact he has had as a shot blocker and Springs ability to hit 3's has been massive to go along with the stability he provides as a grad transfer.

A lot of times what you get with those pre-season predictions is some strong feelings about the teams at the top and then a big jumble in the middle of teams that might get better but might also stay the same. I know my expectations about what this team could do didn't start to shift until I saw a few early season games. Once it was clear how some of the new pieces might fit together it became a lot easier to see a path to the kind of season we are currently having.
 

I forget who it was,might of been either Settles or Crispin, but whoever was the analys for a game last year @ Penn State said both teams would compete for top three in the conference next year
 

I forget who it was,might of been either Settles or Crispin, but whoever was the analys for a game last year @ Penn State said both teams would compete for top three in the conference next year

Well, they were half right, lol.
 

Looking back at a thread from October with the topic "Predict the order of finish in the Big Ten", GopherHolers didn't see it coming either. Average placement of 9th, with a low of 11 and a high of 7. One poster even commented, "Anything above 9 is crazy talk"
 



I have to shake my head and admit I would have fired Pitino except he had that stiff buyout in his contract. Now I look at the masterful job he has done of bringing this team together, good in-game coaching (switching defenses etc.) and building up the confidence of his players. He talks about removing ego in the team concept and you can see that working beautifully. My hat is off to him, Coach of the Year.
 

Looking back at a thread from October with the topic "Predict the order of finish in the Big Ten", GopherHolers didn't see it coming either. Average placement of 9th, with a low of 11 and a high of 7. One poster even commented, "Anything above 9 is crazy talk"

Well, a low of 7 is better than the 10th or did I see a 9th from one of those sources? And a low of 11th is better than 13th, or did I see a 14th from one of those sources?

And an average of 9th is better than the 11-12 average of those sources.


So Gopher fans at least expected more improvement than the press.
 

.....Pitino added 1 or two coaches (right?).....

Pitino brought in Ed Conroy this past September. While he did arrive late, Conroy brought a huge amount of college coaching experience including head coach experience. I don't know what his particular responsibilities are but all that experience must be a big help to a relatively inexperienced head coach. We might be finding ourselves hoping Pitino can keep this staff together for a long time.

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/ed_conroy_1026976.html
 

Be tough to hold on to the staff after the deep run they make in the big dance. Those assistants will be sought after.
 


I guess what I meant to stress is that I am surprised that nobody saw us improving (e.g. more predictions of 10th, 9th, 8th, etc)

Nobody saw THIS coming... except for prediction thread guy, touchdownvikings.

Came here for this; did not leave disappointed. Thank you, kind sir!
 

I guess what I meant to stress is that I am surprised that nobody saw us improving (e.g. more predictions of 10th, 9th, 8th, etc)

Nobody saw THIS coming... except for prediction thread guy, touchdownvikings.

Hey some of us did predict 10-11 B1G wins before the season started! And stayed positive about Pitino last season because you knew there would be a significant talent upgrade this year.
 

Lets pony up and pay em more. :)

I like Kimani Young and Ben Johnson. Both have landed big recruits for us, but there is a surplus of up and coming assistant coaches who can persuade impressionable kids. We will inevitably lose them in the not-too-distant future.
 

I do believe I predicted a much improved season, BUT...

what I will admit that I did not see coming and did not predict was

Losing @OSU & @PSU, while WINNING @NW, @Purdue & @Maryland. I would have thought it would be the other way around, that we'd lose to Maryland, Purdue and NW, but would beat OSU and PSU.


But how its all played out makes sense, too. The players and maybe even our coach, have been learning as they go, improving and getting better, not all on the same pace, but it seems that when one player struggles, someone else steps up to the plate and makes up for them.


Just can't imagine how good this team would be if it was hitting on all cylinders at once?!
 


Hey some of us did predict 10-11 B1G wins before the season started! And stayed positive about Pitino last season because you knew there would be a significant talent upgrade this year.

Thanks, GWG. Was speaking more to media than fans.
Go Gophers!
 

I predicted 8-10 in the B1G, happy to be wrong.
 

There were a few of us backing Pitino because we followed recruiting and recruits win. Plus all the freshman gained experience in the big ten. No I didn't predict a top 4 finish but a very decent chance of making the dance.
 

Hey some of us did predict 10-11 B1G wins before the season started! And stayed positive about Pitino last season because you knew there would be a significant talent upgrade this year.

Exactly! There were many on here who called for a firing because he decided to play freshman and kick guys of the team. Following recruiting in basketball it will tell u want happens in the future.
 

Um, that was last night.

Yeah, they were hitting on most cylinders last night, but I'm talking about ALL cylinders. Guys not waiting til the 2nd half to make their first point, for example. Don't get me wrong, his 2nd half is what helped us put the game away, for sure, and on another site, I even called that, too. I said he'd have to hit another double double for us to win, and was happy that I was wrong, in part.
 


I thought this team would flirt with 20 wins based on the recruiting class, the development of Mason and McBrayer, and the added depth of Lynch and Springs. I've been pleasantly surprised by the success so far as I had the team pegged for 10 BT wins and 20 total wins as the ceiling for this team going into the conference tournament. Already at 21 wins and should have at least 11 conference wins before the post-season. I don't think even the most optimistic hoops fan saw this coming.
 




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