You are what your record says you are. Don't give me this "we would be better, but we're unlucky" crap. You are what your record says you are. Don'y give me this "trending upwards" BS when we have clearly taken a step (or maybe 2 or 3 steps) backwards.
If you want to go making excuses, it's pretty easy to make excuses for Tubby and Monson. For example, in Tubby's fifth season he was down Mo Walker for the whole year and only had Trevor for 7 games. Do you think that we would have had a better record with both of them healthy the whole season? I'd say you are crazy if your answer to that isn't yes. A full season of Trevor/Mo probably makes that team a NCAA tournament team instead of a NIT team. And Monson took over an absolute dumpster fire after the scandal. He righted the ship, and while he wasn't all that successful on the court he still deserves a ton of credit.
Clem putting all his eggs in the 88-89 and 89-90 basket is fine with me. Why? Because he made a sweet sixteen and elite eight in those two seasons. All Pitino did was make the tournament. Not even close to as successful as Clem's good seasons. Clem delivered big-time during those seasons so it is much easier to accept having a couple down years after success like that. Pitino's one NCAA tourney appearance without even winning a game doesn't buy him the same level of acceptance of a bad season, and it shouldn't.
Seems all you have to do to get fans to defend Monson and Tubby and Clem, is to supposedly attack them, lol.
Maybe I should attack Pitino and then you'd defend him too?
I've been a Gopher bb fan since my very first memories as a child, watching Muss's best teams! on a Black and White TV with a screen just a tab bigger than the laptop I am using to type this message with.
So I was fine with Clem putting all his eggs in the 88-89 and 89-90 basket, too. I was one of the few Gopher fans who believed in Clem during his first 2 seasons when he went 6-30 in conference. I spent a huge percentage of my monthly spending cash on renting a car to drive 4 hours to get to that Elite 8 game down at the SuperDome. Was supposed to have 3 guys going with me splitting the costs 4 ways, but all 3 bailed on me. Granted none of them were Gopher fans, but I was, so I went anyways, all by myself, 4 hours to a city I'd never been to, to sit all by myself amongst strangers to watch my very first Gopher game ever. Believe me, Clem Haskins did more to rip my heart out than he did to most. I had just moved to a foreign country, was one of the first of my generation from my town to join the military, and it was this band of rag tags that Clem brought together that helped me while I was over there. Gave me a way to feel a piece of home while over there. The fact that I ruffled some feathers and got a General here in the states to order my E-8 there in Germany to send me home to the States immediately seemed the reason they made sure to send me to what I heard was one of the worst posts in the states, Fort PUKE in Lousyana. But seeing as I got the last laugh in that it allowed me to be close enough to go to that Elite 8 game, well looking back, I felt it was sort of destiny.
So to cut this short and get to the point. I never had any issues with Clem. And if he wouldn't have taken the U's money and ran off and hid after the whole scandal thing, I might feel sorry for him, sort of. But the fact he later resorted to cheating doesn't detract from the facts of the other things he did and didn't do.
If you are so open to make excuses for Monson and Tubby AND Clem, how on earth can you possibly hate Pitino so much???
Did Clem's 1989 team lose its best defensive player just before the tourney???
And who did the Gophers play in the 2nd round? I mean, I'll brag about that Sweet 16 forever, because this kind of thing happens to other teams as well and no one is going to take anything away from their own team, but seriously, just between two Gopher fans, that 2nd round opponent was a gift. Siena played the best game of that program's entire cbb history maybe? Probably? And not as if KSU was a cbb super power either. Just keeping it real.
So last year's team loses its best defensive player, and like I predicted, just like the year before vs highly ranked MSU, MTSU would have to shoot the lights out from deep to beat us, and just like vs MSU, that is what they did. And just like the year before, they went into the 2nd round and did NOT shoot the lights out and lost big.
So you can try to downplay last year all you want, but I was there all season long, just like I was during the 1988-89 season, and in a one game elim tourney format, we all know the best teams do not always advance, and as easy as it is to use NCAA tourney results to measure programs against each other, and over long periods of time it is also pretty fair to do so, taking any one single NCAA tourney result and holding it up as PROOF of a team's greatness or failure, is irresponsible in the least, but arguably absolutely ridiculous in many cases.
And I was there cheering on both Monson and Tubby, too. And yes, Monson had sanctions to deal with, and he got us through them, I'm not trying to totally piss on his or Tubby's OR Clem's resumes. Just showing how Pitino's compares, and if you like your program trending UPWARDS, then how his resume compares FAVORABLY to all 3 of theirs.
Would Monson and Tubby's resume's look better had they not suffered through some bad luck? Sure, same with Clem's. But nothing changes the fact that Monson was trending DOWNWARDS, with both his last 2 seasons being 2 of his worst, despite sanctions easing up over time and having more scholarships, etc.. And nothing changes the fact that Clem turned to cheating and even if he hadn't, was so up and down, it was like being on a roller coaster. And nothing changes the fact that Tubby's last 3 seasons were his worst three and his recruiting efforts and results were both trending DOWNWARDS!!!
And in contrast to all 3 of those guys, Pitino's recruiting efforts and results have been trending UPWARDS, and before the injuries/suspension, the team's defensive efficiency was trending UPWARDS as well. This year was a small step back from last year, but last year was a very good year defensively and its obvious to everyone the reason behind the small step back being the loss of Springs. And the issue with character issues has been trending in the very positive direction as well.
Pitino seems to carry himself very well and is a likable guy. His players get better during the season and from year to year. And its not like he forced himself into the position, we hired him knowing his lack of experience.
And no matter what anyone wants to believe, he did orchestrate one of the greatest turnarounds in NCAA cbb history, and was named the B1G Coach of the Year.
And no matter how you feel about the guy, its simply unfair to ignore the MASSIVE effect losing such a huge and important chunk of the lineup can and has had.
When did this all happen?
Just as the team was getting ready to embark on a 5 games in 11 days marathon with 4 of those 5 games being road games essentially. And its not like they had a week off to prepare for this 5 game stretch either. They played Illinois just 3 days before starting that 5 game stretch and 2 games the 6 days prior, and followed those 5 games with another home game 3 days later. So it was 5 games in 11 days whether you start with the game on the 10th or the 13th, and 6 games in 14 days and 7 in 18 and 8 in 21.
They kept trying to play despite not even being able to practice because of their injuries or the pain they were playing with.
But even a full roster would get a little wore out and tired during a stretch like that.
But they weren't even close to full roster.
Curry, Stockman and Lynch didn't play in any of those 8 games. That brings the roster down to 10 scholly players, and only 4 of our 6 best players.
Coffey only played in 2 of those 8 games, and shouldn't have played, it was originally announced that he would be out until yesterday, but he wanted to play, so he was allowed to play but not practice, and he reaggravated the injury and then couldn't play vs Iowa. So even in the 2 games he played he was not even close to 100%.
So essentially the team was down to just NINE players, and just 3 of our Top 6 players.
Oh, but wait, McBreyer hasn't been allowed to practice either and only plays in games, and obviously in pain, and is no where near 100%.
So now we are down to what? 8 and a half, and only 2 and a half of our Top 6?
OH WAIT? Even Gaston only played in 6 of the first 11 conf games. And I believe he played in the first 2 or 3.
So he may have only played in half of those 8 games?
So now our 8 and a half players is closer to only 8?
And Harris missed at least one game, too. Just to add injury to insult.
EIGHT GUYS!!! If you count McBreyer and Gaston as sort of one maybe?
7 healthy players IF you consider Mason and Murphy to be healthy, as Mason missed a game early in the season, something related to what he had off season surgery for, and might not be 100%? Murphy twisted his ankle and got taken out of a game, but came back. He's a tough guy, who knows if he's at 100%???
SO, take all of that into account, and combine it with 5 games in 11 days, 4 of them being road games, and even playing at home the next game, seeing as it was only 3 days later, just can't be seen as enough to make a difference.
The team won 1 of those 5 games, btw. Was ahead at half time in 3 of the 4 losses, but just got gassed. They are beat up and tired, and I challenge anyone else in the country to try to even compare to the height of the hurdles and the # of hurdles that this team is trying to leap over, while hobbled.
The closest game of the 8 was the IU game, THE FIRST game, just a 4 point loss at home, just 4 days before the start of the 5 games in 11 days stretch. The previous game was also a home game vs Illinois, so not the kind of game that would have wore them out.
And we weren't playing frigging scrubs either during that 5 game stretch, Purdue, OSU, Maryland and even NW this year, with the only home game being vs the Best team in the country some believe, but at least the best in the B1G. And the one scrub we played, even on the road, we beat, in PSU.
And now today, ON THE ROAD, vs a Top 25 ranked team???
BadgerGopher guy always wants me to tell him what Pitino's, what this team's identity is. I told him...
THEY NEVER GIVE UP!!!!!!
Do they instill that in themselves, or does Pitino instill that fighting spirit in them?? Either way, he's responsible for bringing those guys here to Minnesota.
