New Pitino Blog: "When healthy he (Fitz) shows flashes of being our best player."

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Holy Man said:
Helpful information. If he gets healthy, he will help the team. I am still in the camp that thinks relying heavily on a player coming back from that serious of an injury and not playing in two years is not wise. I hope for his sake and the team he makes a full recovery and contributes to his full potential.
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Why would we rely on him heavily? Springs is the only loss with two guards coming in. I don't know whose minutes fitz gets - I don't see minutes for him unless he takes hurts' minutes. Unless he plays as good as mentioned , especially if the other bigs improve, we are in a great situation ( but maybe bad for him)
 

If he is healthy and proves to be a quality piece, he'll take nearly all of Hurts minutes and a few from Amir at the 3 as we wouldn't need to rely as heavily on him anymore and possibly some of Konate's minutes when he plays the 4 which would push Curry to the 5. If he isn't healthy then we'll just rely on a hopefully improved Hurt just like last year.
 

beavergopher said:
One of the student managers is a family friend and he told us that Fitz was the best player during the practices last season. He said he was the best pure shooter on the team. An interesting what if scenario had he not been injured this year.
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Pitino said this numerous times last year that he was there best 3 point shooter..
Why are we doubting this? He has been on campus for 2 years now and only the coaches have seen his development. And Richard was talking about lynch a lot last year. I really think we will see a very nice talent off the bench this season.
 

If the reigning B1G coach of the year says a guy is the best shooter on the team, who are we to doubt him?

I hope he is a great shooter, would solve loss of Amir internally without using the scholarship! This would enable Pitino to go looking for a big man.
 

Otis said:
If the reigning B1G coach of the year says a guy is the best shooter on the team, who are we to doubt him?

I hope he is a great shooter, would solve loss of Amir internally without using the scholarship! This would enable Pitino to go looking for a big man.
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Loss of Amir?? I hope you meant Akeem. I almost had a heart attack when I opened this thread before any others.
 


Basketball is a game of reliance, just by virtue of numbers of players. One injury and we need to 'rely' on someone unexpectedly. Part of recruiting has to be able to recognize the kind of player who can step up and solidly contribute. Everyone has to be somewhat 'expendable'. Pitino has demonstrated a capacity to be creative is his coaching. I don't worry that all our eggs have been put in one basket!
 


Mulligan said:
I'm going to go out on a limb here, but a coach who is in charge of a major college team and has seen what the guy can and cannot do on the court probably more than you have, doesn't need your advice. That's actually the uncomplicated part.
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Way to go out on a limb.

Forgive me for posting what I think on an internet message board. Here we're less than a year removed from a majority of people wanting to fire Pitino and now we're at a point where all faith has been restored. He can make mistakes just like any coach. I think a big one would be simply expecting Fitz to be a reliable player. If he turns out good, great. But it'd be wise to have legitimate backup plans - or plans that make him a backup plan.
 

Biggsohnasty said:
Way to go out on a limb.

Forgive me for posting what I think on an internet message board. Here we're less than a year removed from a majority of people wanting to fire Pitino and now we're at a point where all faith has been restored. He can make mistakes just like any coach. I think a big one would be simply expecting Fitz to be a reliable player. If he turns out good, great. But it'd be wise to have legitimate backup plans - or plans that make him a backup plan.
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We already do in Hurt. If Fitz ends up being reliable then great, if not then we'll simply play Hurt as a backup SF just like last year.
 



die hard gopher said:
We already do in Hurt. If Fitz ends up being reliable then great, if not then we'll simply play Hurt as a backup SF just like last year.
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And we can go with Dupree, Nate, and Washington if Hurt or Fitz aren't ready.
 

die hard gopher said:
If Fitz ends up being reliable then great, if not then we'll simply play Hurt as a backup SF just like last year.
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So, you're comfortable relying on a guy who scored 18 points and pulled down 14 rebounds in 150 minutes? I hope not.
 

Biggsohnasty said:
Because he's had two ACL injuries in 3 years and hasn't played in a college basketball game since 2015.

It's a matter of expectation. Build as good a team as you can with the expectation that Fitz gives you nothing. If you ends up playing well, now you've got an even better team.

I hope they aren't counting on him to give them key rotation player minutes because when he was healthy he wasn't all that good and he hasn't been healthy in a long, long time. Is it that complicated?
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What does it mean to not count on him? Why are expectations so important?
 

Moonlight said:
Pitino has demonstrated a capacity to be creative is his coaching. I don't worry that all our eggs have been put in one basket!
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I think his recruiting has tended to leave the team a bit short on the numbers and so attrition has had very detrimental effects. For his first three years, the team was always short on something critical (no real power forward in the first two years, freshman guards who were very slow starters and ended up being suspended shortly after finally getting going last year). This year a team with little depth at guard and wing managed to stay remarkably healthy and intact throughout the regular season but it only took one injury to make this a very different team.

There doesn't appear to be much cost or risk in getting a grad transfer so I hope he gets one unless a really worthwhile sit-out transfer emerges.
 



cjbfbp said:
So, you're comfortable relying on a guy who scored 18 points and pulled down 14 rebounds in 150 minutes? I hope not.
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It's certainly not preferable but we finished top 4 in the Big Ten with him in the rotation last year so I can live with Hurt as a backup to the backup.
 

die hard gopher said:
It's certainly not preferable but we finished top 4 in the Big Ten with him in the rotation last year so I can live with Hurt as a backup to the backup.
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I think hurt will be fine, an offseason to develop and get stronger will do him a lot of good. He has good instincts, the game will slow down for him next year, if Fitz is healthy we may not need him as much next year, but Hurt will be a contributor IMO before he leaves this program.
 

bemidjigopher said:
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I think hurt will be fine, an offseason to develop and get stronger will do him a lot of good. He has good instincts, the game will slow down for him next year, if Fitz is healthy we may not need him as much next year, but Hurt will be a contributor IMO before he leaves this program.
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I agree. He has the size and ability, just needs strength and confidence. Some Freshman are ready right away, some are not. Hurt wasn't ready but played out of necessity.
 

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