With 6 years completed in the Pitino era, the program is?...

With 6 years completed in the Pitino era, the program is?...

  • The program is better than I expected.

    Votes: 4 3.5%
  • The program is about where I expected.

    Votes: 52 46.0%
  • The program is worse than I expected.

    Votes: 54 47.8%
  • Other (list)

    Votes: 3 2.7%

  • Total voters
    113

What does displaying passion have to do with anything? Tim Brewster displayed far more passion than Bill Belicheck ever has.

I think Pitino will still be the coach and probably should be. I think his ceiling is about.500 in the B1G and making it to the round of 32. If those are the expectations, then we’re set up well for the next 10 years. I am hoping for something more.

Coaching requires more than just x's and o's, and more than just passion. The previous coach no longer seemed like he wanted to be the coach. That should be enough reason to look elsewhere. I have significantly more faith in the program after six years of the current coach than I did after six years of the previous coach, echoing DHGopher's post earlier in this thread.
 
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We just came off the Round of 32 and we aren't decent :rolleyes:

We were a 5 seed and a 10 seed in the past three years (with a woulda/coulda/shoulda high seed in between). This seems to be pretty similar to what Clem Haskins achieved early in his career (other than a bit more postseason success with less-significant late-season injuries), and I cannot remember any real push to question Clem's position as head coach until the scandal hit.

We were decent. Average. But we weren’t really good.
What does displaying passion have to do with anything? Tim Brewster displayed far more passion than Bill Belicheck ever has.

I think Pitino will still be the coach and probably should be. I think his ceiling is about.500 in the B1G and making it to the round of 32. If those are the expectations, then we’re set up well for the next 10 years. I am hoping for something more.

Galty, "average" teams make the NCAA Tournament? "Average" teams make it to the round of 32? I personally believe the ceiling is higher than that; heck it probably would have already been achieved without unlucky injuries and medical conditions.
 
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I chose other because I became a Gopher basketball fan during the 2015-16 season and comparing to that doesn't make too much sense.

Without knowing the expectations 6 years ago firsthand, I would say about as expected. Over the 29 years of the 64+ team tournament that are officially counted, the Gophers have made it 9 times and made the round of 32 4 times. That means making it once every 3 years and making the second round once every 7, both of which Pitino has done. If you look at the trend and the fact that injuries and the Lynch situation killed the team last year, things look even better.

That answer could easily change in the next few months depending on how recruiting goes though. The Gophers have 1 center and 3 forwards total on the roster. One of those forwards is likely transferring and another has been injured so often that I'd assume he will never play again and take any time he can play as a bonus. The Gophers need a big guy who can start next year and 1-2 who can provide some minutes off the bench. The guard situation is a little better but it's possible that the Gophers only have 1 guard who is a good scorer. If Coffey leaves and recruiting goes poorly next year could be a disaster.
 



Disagree,

I'm more optimistic about the future of our program now then I was 6 years ago with Tubby. Both are coming off a win in the first round of the tourney but this team returns Coffey, Oturu, Gabe and Carr. I'd say that's a more talented and younger core returning than what Tubby was suppose to have with Andre, Austin and Joe Coleman. Pitino is also bringing in a top 150 guard in Williams, potentially two with Sherfield and still will have 2-4 more scholarships for grad transfers and other guys. Tubby had two guys that weren't in the top 200 and no open scholarships for grad transfers. And Pitno has gone 3 straight years of bringing in a composite top 60 recruit in with Coffey, Washington and Oturu whereas Tubby started hot but tailed off on the recruiting trail later.

I agree with you.


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Decent isn't good enough! Raise the bar!

That should have said better than decent.

Why didn't I think of that? If we just nag the university that we really wanted a national championship then they would finally get the message and try hard.
 

What does displaying passion have to do with anything? Tim Brewster displayed far more passion than Bill Belicheck ever has.

I think Pitino will still be the coach and probably should be. I think his ceiling is about.500 in the B1G and making it to the round of 32. If those are the expectations, then we’re set up well for the next 10 years. I am hoping for something more.

So if he fills in the roster with more good players and doesn’t have injuries or suspension to his best player that he can’t do any better than we have done so far? I don’t think Pitino has reach his ceiling by any means and I don’t think Pitino is satisfied with his results.

I really think that Pitino expects to develop this program to complete with the best.


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So if he fills in the roster with more good players and doesn’t have injuries or suspension to his best player that he can’t do any better than we have done so far? I don’t think Pitino has reach his ceiling by any means and I don’t think Pitino is satisfied with his results.

I really think that Pitino expects to develop this program to complete with the best.


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Of course he expects too. The question is can he ? One win in the NCAA is not the measure of competing with the best. Right now we are competing at best in the very middle of the conference. Said all along that he will be back but if it is under .500 again and worst than 6th he will be gone.
 



Why didn't I think of that? If we just nag the university that we really wanted a national championship then they would finally get the message and try hard.

We can't win the national championship here. 32 will have to do.

Hell if we nag enough maybe they will get Hurt.

Let's go with as is and never discuss anything. Maybe shut this board down.
 

Why didn't I think of that? If we just nag the university that we really wanted a national championship then they would finally get the message and try hard.

You haven't thought of this........you still want Pitino......LMAO
 

Watching a team like Tennessee makes you realizes we don't have the superior athletes. Watching the Wofford guards makes your realize we don't have that caliber of guard.
 

The overall 6 year resume is clearly not acceptable. But it doesn't really matter at this point whether the 15-16 team should have been 15-15 instead of 9-21 or whether the 17-18 team would have made the tournament or not with Lynch and Coffey.

If Pitino fills out the open scholarships with decent recruits, signs some good 2020 guys and gets us back to the NCAA's next year, he will be here a long time. If he fails to do at least 2/3, he's probably gone one year from now.
 



Year in and year out, we are one injury away from being 2-16.

As others have remarked.
 

Over the last 6 years, how does our conference record compare?

Worse than everybody but Rutgers, is that correct?
 

It's about where I expected. I think Richard made some early mistakes (mainly bad character guys) which have come to bite him. I want it to be better and think it can happen, but I also felt the program was in worse shape than most others when Richard was hired. The major growth areas I've seen from Richard is that he's not recruiting those kids anymore and I'm starting to see an identity. We also have the best staff since he's been here. Jeters work with the defense showed this year.
 

Not what i'd hoped, but about where i'd expected. I've been a fan for 30+ years and just know better than to think we're going to be in the hunt for Big Ten titles often, but i certainly think it can happen some times. That being said, i think most of us knew or at least expected this hire to come with a lot of growing pains. While i'd expected because of his pedigree that Richard might be a much better x and o's guy, it's so hard to tell without the right players on the court. This isn't exonerating him, he needs to recruit better and put the right players there. However, we might finally be seeing some glimpses of an upward trajectory. You can gripe all you want, but getting to the NCAAs every year is a big deal, and i'd be thrilled if/when that ever becomes a lackluster 'floor' for this team; i won't be complaining. I'm invested enough in Pitino to give him another 4-5 years to see how things play out.
 

Of course he expects too. The question is can he ? One win in the NCAA is not the measure of competing with the best. Right now we are competing at best in the very middle of the conference. Said all along that he will be back but if it is under .500 again and worst than 6th he will be gone.

Where did I say that 1 NCAA win was completing with the best? I was talking about the expectations and not our current status.

The point of this thread was to see if people think that the results of this season (beating the co-champion twice, beating a marquee team in the NCAA, etc...) was enough to open up recruiting enough to get better players.


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Reading these threads always makes me shake my head. I have a pretty clear idea of what posters think of each other, but not much what they think of the state of the program. After one or two posts on either side of the question, it quickly devolves into name calling, spin and “prove where I said that.” Are all of you knobs in high school debate club?
Sigh.
 


Not likely, I guess; at least the free ones. I’ve heard that the pay sites have less juvenile, ego arguing, but I’m too cheap to find out. There are alwsys some great takes here, if you don’t mind scrolling through the testosterone.
 

I don't know how the answer could be anything but worse than expected. If you expected the worst conference winning percentage of any Gopher coach in at least 50 years, I guess you'd answer about what I expected? I don't remember half the board screaming for Tubby Smith to stay, yet the program hasn't moved forward and has arguably moved backward in the 6 years since his dismissal. I would assume most expected improvement on the Tubby era? I know I certainly did. Maybe the end of this year is really a turning point in a positive direction for Richard Pitino, but it seems like a lot of people are answering this question based on the last month as opposed to the last 6 years.
 

I don't know how the answer could be anything but worse than expected. If you expected the worst conference winning percentage of any Gopher coach in at least 50 years, I guess you'd answer about what I expected?.

Over the last 6 years, how does our conference record compare?

Worse than everybody but Rutgers, is that correct?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


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I don't know how the answer could be anything but worse than expected. If you expected the worst conference winning percentage of any Gopher coach in at least 50 years, I guess you'd answer about what I expected? I don't remember half the board screaming for Tubby Smith to stay, yet the program hasn't moved forward and has arguably moved backward in the 6 years since his dismissal. I would assume most expected improvement on the Tubby era? I know I certainly did. Maybe the end of this year is really a turning point in a positive direction for Richard Pitino, but it seems like a lot of people are answering this question based on the last month as opposed to the last 6 years.

So are you happy or not with Pitino's tenure? I think we give him a few more years to see if the recruiting can improve before looking for a new hire.
 

I don't know how the answer could be anything but worse than expected. If you expected the worst conference winning percentage of any Gopher coach in at least 50 years, I guess you'd answer about what I expected? I don't remember half the board screaming for Tubby Smith to stay, yet the program hasn't moved forward and has arguably moved backward in the 6 years since his dismissal. I would assume most expected improvement on the Tubby era? I know I certainly did. Maybe the end of this year is really a turning point in a positive direction for Richard Pitino, but it seems like a lot of people are answering this question based on the last month as opposed to the last 6 years.

Year 1-Winning the NIT. For many of us that isn't a bad season, it's not a good season, but it's good consolation prize for not making the tourney (winning one game in tourney > NIT)

Year 2-18-15. Not even an NIT invite

Year 3-Brutal. One of the worst gopher seasons I can remember. Lone highlight beating Maryland and Joey King crying during interview

Year 4-Finally success. Good regular season. Winning conference record. NCAA tournament birth. Pitino coach of the year. Injury to springs just before NCAA tournament. Mason injured first half of game. Mid Tenn St couldn't miss. Disappointing first round exit, but hope to come

Year-5-Expectations are high, only loss was Springs. Depth still an issue, but gopher fans were optimistic incoming freshman could provide bench use. Some debated if hot shot PG should start over Mason. Curry ends up missing season hurting an already shallow team. Mcbrayer gets a leg infection. Mason hurts his ankle. Coffey hurts his shoulder. Lynch is suspended. Season derails

Year 6-Expectaions are meh. Gophers have an up down season, ok run in B1G tourney, and win an NCAA tourney game. Gophers get big contributions from incoming freshman


I think gopher fans that like pitino focusesyears 4-6....2 of 3 tournament appearances and with the missing one derailed by suspensions and injuries

I'm on fence with Pitino, but I don't think you can fire him this off-season. I think we suck it up, realize he's our coach, and support him
 

Tubby was fired for the impression that the team was going down hill, that this team should have higher expectaions-even though historically he was better than Mn average, and that the team didnt look interested or that they were enjoying basketball, and the energy seemed low.

With Pitino the biggest concern I have today is the lack of recruits he has lined up. This freshmen group in Oturu, Gabe, and Omersa is rock solid.

Next year? Minnesota high school has its best ranked guys in 3 successive classes probably in its history. Getting top 20 players like Hurt and Suggs are unlikely those guys almost always choose blue bloods. But I wish he could real in at least one of : Garcia, Carlson, Dainja, or Walton.
I even think having Robert Jones, 6-10 Sr at Prior Lake in our 1 player class would have been nice considering our front court depth next year. We seem to have good luck with outstate kids so I wouldn't doubt Treton Thompson (Alexandria) would really consider the gophers in a couple years.
 

Tubby was fired for the impression that the team was going down hill, that this team should have higher expectaions-even though historically he was better than Mn average, and that the team didnt look interested or that they were enjoying basketball, and the energy seemed low.

With Pitino the biggest concern I have today is the lack of recruits he has lined up. This freshmen group in Oturu, Gabe, and Omersa is rock solid.

Next year? Minnesota high school has its best ranked guys in 3 successive classes probably in its history. Getting top 20 players like Hurt and Suggs are unlikely those guys almost always choose blue bloods. But I wish he could real in at least one of : Garcia, Carlson, Dainja, or Walton.
I even think having Robert Jones, 6-10 Sr at Prior Lake in our 1 player class would have been nice considering our front court depth next year. We seem to have good luck with outstate kids so I wouldn't doubt Treton Thompson (Alexandria) would really consider the gophers in a couple years.

Recruiting pressure is there for coach
 

We were a 5 seed and a 10 seed in the past three years (with a woulda/coulda/shoulda high seed in between). This seems to be pretty similar to what Clem Haskins achieved early in his career (other than a bit more postseason success with less-significant late-season injuries), and I cannot remember any real push to question Clem's position as head coach until the scandal hit.




Galty, "average" teams make the NCAA Tournament? "Average" teams make it to the round of 32? I personally believe the ceiling is higher than that; heck it probably would have already been achieved without unlucky injuries and medical conditions.

After the Elite Eight run in 1990, the Gophers lived on the bubble for six years and made the NCAA tournament twice. People were definitely getting restless. However, Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight appearances tend to give a coach a bit more of a leash. Also, there was no Twitter back then, and I think message boards were still a few years away or in their very early stages. It's quite possible that if social media was around back then Clem would've been under more pressure.
 

After the Elite Eight run in 1990, the Gophers lived on the bubble for six years and made the NCAA tournament twice. People were definitely getting restless. However, Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight appearances tend to give a coach a bit more of a leash. Also, there was no Twitter back then, and I think message boards were still a few years away or in their very early stages. It's quite possible that if social media was around back then Clem would've been under more pressure.

Good point. I recall Clem being courted by Arizona State and not being hugely worried. The big difference between his situation and now, beyond the pressure of social media, is that he had a clear identity of good athletes and aggressive defense. This team doesn't have an identity yet, so recruiting "your kind of player" is difficult.
 

Also, there was no Twitter back then, and I think message boards were still a few years away or in their very early stages. It's quite possible that if social media was around back then Clem would've been under more pressure.

Ya really think anyone involved in the actual decision-making process pays attention to what's said on social media? I seriously doubt Coyle has a staffer charged with monitoring the pulse of Gopherhole.

And for that, I am grateful. Most of the time.

JTG
 




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