2019 - Top 5 youngest team

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As someone else previously mentioned, Kill drove this "we are a young team" into the ground. Granted, his illness intervened but I don't recall any comments about how old and experienced we were after the years went by.

Now Fleck is over stating the same thing. And the definition can change depending on what you want. Most freshmen? Most Freshman and sophomores? Most underclassmen? Most players with fewer than 10 starts? Youngest average age by years? Fewest players with game experience? Most underclassmen starters? Ect. Ect. There will always be some definition of the team that makes it look young.

I can see it now, as the upcoming sophomore class (sophomores and redshirt sophomores) gets to be seniors, Fleck will begin talking about how young the Gophers are because the younger guys haven't seen the field as much. Nearly every season could have a "young team" flag planted in the turf.
 

Schnauzer said:
As someone else previously mentioned, Kill drove this "we are a young team" into the ground. Granted, his illness intervened but I don't recall any comments about how old and experienced we were after the years went by.

Now Fleck is over stating the same thing.
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I agree about Kill. Claeys did not make those excuses though. He was pretty bold about win predictions.

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bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Some will, but he doesnt need to put the ball on the tee and hand them the bat.
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People who complain about stuff like "oh he's making excuses" will find ANYTHING to complain about.

You can't change your works or not say stuff because of those folks.
 

Word said:
I agree about Kill. Claeys did not make those excuses though. He was pretty bold about win predictions.

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You're right; Tracy Claeys did not believe in dialing back expectations. If I recall correctly, before the 2016 season he said the team should win 9 games.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
People who complain about stuff like "oh he's making excuses" will find ANYTHING to complain about.

You can't change your works or not say stuff because of those folks.
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There is no real reason to say it though. It comes off as whiny to anyone who isn't inclined to love every word he says. Also, for everyone who says Kill did it too, I guess the grand "culture change" didnt include excuse making.
 


bleedsmaroonandgold said:
There is no real reason to say it though. It comes off as whiny to anyone who isn't inclined to love every word he says. Also, for everyone who says Kill did it too, I guess the grand "culture change" didnt include excuse making.
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So who cares about the folks who don't love what he says?

If not that, they'll complain about something else.

It's like a politician responding to unfounded rumors that folks who are inclined not to like them make up, there's no point in it.

There's zero advantage to bending over backwards for the haters.
 

It’s not hard or bending over backward to use actual numbers. Beyond that, yes, I’m tired of hearing about how he only has “one” recruiting class/doesn’t have all his players yet, too young but it’s not the end of the world. It’s just annoying. It’s true, everyone makes excuses to some extent and press conferences would be pretty boring if every question was answered with we haven’t coached the guys well enough, we didn’t have them motivated, we could have made better calls, my fault.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
So who cares about the folks who don't love what he says?

If not that, they'll complain about something else.

It's like a politician responding to unfounded rumors that folks who are inclined not to like them make up, there's no point in it.

There's zero advantage to bending over backwards for the haters.
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Well...Flecksters seem to care, a lot.
 

My take on the "young" thing with PJ is he says it a lot in sort of a shotgun approach to spreading the word. I think he figures the casual fans that are tuning in for only the 2nd time all year may hear it and think it's good information and help put a positive spin on things. But for those of us that follow the team closely and have heard it 50 times, it gets old.
 



I think the more it angers the media, the more PJ will say it (as long as it's true in some form).
 

Less people would complain about it if he used actual/factual numbers to support it.


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Pitino is getting shredded on the basketball forum for setting the expectations at “this is the most talented and experienced team I’ve had here”
 

Jeshurun said:
Pitino is getting shredded on the basketball forum for setting the expectations at “this is the most talented and experienced team I’ve had here”
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Any chance he is getting shredded for underachieving?


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Jeshurun said:
Pitino is getting shredded on the basketball forum for setting the expectations at “this is the most talented and experienced team I’ve had here”
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Damned if you do damned if you don't.

The only real difference in any of it is if you get a lot of Ws.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
It’s not hard or bending over backward to use actual numbers. Beyond that, yes, I’m tired of hearing about how he only has “one” recruiting class/doesn’t have all his players yet, too young but it’s not the end of the world. It’s just annoying. It’s true, everyone makes excuses to some extent and press conferences would be pretty boring if every question was answered with we haven’t coached the guys well enough, we didn’t have them motivated, we could have made better calls, my fault.
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Hmmmmmm oh boy do I have a solution for you. Get this... you could.... stop listening to what he says instead of complaining about it every. single. day.
 

Cynical point of view:

This is a win-win for Fleck - or any coach playing the "we're so young" card.

If the team wins, you look better for having succeeded despite the extreme youth.

If the team doesn't win, you have a potential excuse to fall back on.

So, from that point of view, Fleck can't lose by playing the "youth" card.

But, of course, Fleck would never resort to that type of gamesmanship.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Cynical point of view:

This is a win-win for Fleck - or any coach playing the "we're so young" card.

If the team wins, you look better for having succeeded despite the extreme youth.

If the team doesn't win, you have a potential excuse to fall back on.

So, from that point of view, Fleck can't lose by playing the "youth" card.

But, of course, Fleck would never resort to that type of gamesmanship.
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It's also not possible that Fleck is right or even that he's just being sincere.
 

I can think of at least 16 ways to measure "youngest team":

1. Average number of years in college
2. % of freshmen and sophomores
3. % of players with no experience starting
4. % of players who have never played at all
5. % of players who have never played, excluding special teams
6. % of players who have never played, excluding special teams and garbage time
7. % of starters who are freshmen or sophomores
8. % of starters with no experience starting
9. % of starters who have never played at all
10. % of starters who have never played, excluding special teams
11. % of starters who have never played, excluding special teams and garbage time
12. % of players on the two-deep who are freshmen or sophomores
13. % of players on the two-deep with no experience starting
14. % of players on the two-deep who have never played at all
15. % of players on the two-deep who have never played, excluding special teams
16. % of players on the two-deep who have never played, excluding special teams and garbage time

I'm sure there's a lot of teams who are on the top 5 of multiple of these but with so many definitions, I would bet that at least a quarter of the teams in the country are the top 5 youngest using one of these. If the definition is allowed to change, Fleck can probably come up with some way of measuring youth where we are in the top 5 or 10. If he can't, he can probably only look at offense or defense and find somewhere where we are in the top 5 or 10 there.

It doesn't really matter but to me it feels like he's making excuses before the games are even played. But as long as he produces results, he can say whatever he wants. Hopefully it helps sell recruits on the fact that we'll be better when they're ready to start and it's not just to make his own coaching performance look better.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
So who cares about the folks who don't love what he says?

If not that, they'll complain about something else.

It's like a politician responding to unfounded rumors that folks who are inclined not to like them make up, there's no point in it.

There's zero advantage to bending over backwards for the haters.
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You dont have to be a hater to be turned off by constant excuse making.
 

Jeshurun said:
Pitino is getting shredded on the basketball forum for setting the expectations at “this is the most talented and experienced team I’ve had here”
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no, he's being shredded because he was right and they still are falling below where they should be.
 

GoGophersUMN said:
2. % of freshmen and sophomores
3. % of players with no experience starting
4. % of players who have never played at all
5. % of players who have never played, excluding special teams
6. % of players who have never played, excluding special teams and garbage time
7. % of starters who are freshmen or sophomores
8. % of starters with no experience starting
9. % of starters who have never played at all
10. % of starters who have never played, excluding special teams
11. % of starters who have never played, excluding special teams and garbage time
12. % of players on the two-deep who are freshmen or sophomores
13. % of players on the two-deep with no experience starting
14. % of players on the two-deep who have never played at all
15. % of players on the two-deep who have never played, excluding special teams
16. % of players on the two-deep who have never played, excluding special teams and garbage time
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All 16 of these are measures of collegiate experience or NCAA football experience, none measure age which is by definition the only way to determine who is the "youngest" team.
 


Ski U Master said:
All 16 of these are measures of collegiate experience or NCAA football experience, none measure age which is by definition the only way to determine who is the "youngest" team.
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young adjective

1a : being in the first or an early stage of life, growth, or development
b : JUNIOR sense 1a
c : of an early, tender, or desirable age for use as food or drink
fresh young lamb
a young wine
2 : having little experience
3a : recently come into being : NEW
a young publishing company
b : YOUTHFUL sense 5
 

Jeshurun said:
Pitino is getting shredded on the basketball forum for setting the expectations at “this is the most talented and experienced team I’ve had here”
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It’s hard to believed people have supported him this long. I don’t follow basketball closely -has the team ever overachieved or met expectations? The one good season they were bounced by MTSU?
 

MNGopher23 said:
Hmmmmmm oh boy do I have a solution for you. Get this... you could.... stop listening to what he says instead of complaining about it every. single. day.
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Well, I’m a football fan, so...I’m interested in everything going on.

It would be easier if he’d stop misstating numbers, then I wouldn’t have to groan.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Well, I’m a football fan, so...I’m interested in everything going on.

It would be easier if he’d stop misstating numbers, then I wouldn’t have to groan.
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That’s it.

You HAVE to groan. I never knew and now forgive you.
 




GoGophersUMN said:
young adjective

1a : being in the first or an early stage of life, growth, or development
b : JUNIOR sense 1a
c : of an early, tender, or desirable age for use as food or drink
fresh young lamb
a young wine
2 : having little experience
3a : recently come into being : NEW
a young publishing company
b : YOUTHFUL sense 5
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Wouldn't it make more sense to say "Inexperienced" then? Really he's just saying something so non-specific as to be unprovable while creating a reason for potential under performance.
 

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