STrib: Isaiah Washington returns home to play first Gophers game in NY

per Marcus:

JELLY’S HOME – Isaiah Washington returns to play in his home state of New York for the first time with the Gophers. You can bet there will be sections of fans chanting “Jelly! Jelly! Jelly!” at Barclays Center this weekend. With hundreds of thousands of Jelly Fam followers hoping he would take over at the college level from Day One, it was hard to live up to such high expectations to start his college career. Washington’s had good and bad moments so far. And it’s way too early to judge him. The talented freshman guard from Harlem doesn’t need to be a dominant scorer right now playing behind and alongside senior captain Nate Mason in the backcourt. He just needs to continue to gain a tighter grasp of Richard Pitino’s system, run the offense effectively and get teammates involved without making too many mistakes. Oh yes, and play defense. Washington is averaging 7.2 points and 3.4 assists in 19.2 minutes. He’s shooting just 31.6 percent from the field, including 12 percent from three-point range (2-for-17). But he has 17 assists to just seven turnovers. His shots will fall eventually. Pitino is more concerned about Washington’s defense and understanding the big picture. “There’s a lot being thrown at Isaiah,” Pitino said. “Not to mention the weight of his name and all those things. It’s going to take some time and that’s Ok. He knows that and he’s a willing learner. With Isaiah, it’s getting him to understand that if you play the right way, what you ultimately want will come – and that’s going to take some time. You want to win and go to the NBA one day. All the fanfare he has is really cool, but at the end of the day that’s not the end goal. And I think Isaiah knows that.”

http://m.startribune.com/isaiah-was...-gophers-game-in-ny/459668463/?section=sports

Go Gophers!!

I kind of feel bad for Isiah just because of the insane pressure and hype coming into college ball even though he created himself. It was always going to be difficult for him to come onto a legit top 10 team and start or average enough points to satisfy his fans. Legit seems like a chill and humble dude and wish nothing but the best for him in the next 4 years. Hope his shot stars falling a bit more too!

BuckyGopher said:

I kind of feel bad for Isiah just because of the insane pressure and hype coming into college ball even though he created himself. It was always going to be difficult for him to come onto a legit top 10 team and start or average enough points to satisfy his fans. Legit seems like a chill and humble dude and wish nothing but the best for him in the next 4 years. Hope his shot stars falling a bit more too!

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They are grooming him to take over for Nate when he graduates, Washington's fans won't have to wait long for him to get ample playing time...and for years to come.

skauma said:

They are grooming him to take over for Nate when he graduates, Washington's fans won't have to wait long for him to get ample playing time...and for years to come.

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I agree, take my last post with a grain of salt. I mean how sorry can somebody really feel for a top 50 product with **** ton of fans, playing decent time for a legit top 10 team in the country?!? IW will def start next year and U will be top 25 preseason imo as long as Murphy does not do something stupid and try and enter the draft after a great season this year.

His fans are 17-19 year old kids. They don’t know what waiting a year means. Pitino has him in the right place for his success and the programs success. The fan base will need to learn about patience.


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