Doogie: I have every reason to believe Richard Pitino WILL be back as Gophers coach, there are just no signs

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If we (and by we I mean the people making decisions) are on the fence with keeping or dismissing Pitino, when is a good time?

The argument we hear from those who don't want him dismissed almost always start with 'this year has gone as expected'

Well if we go into next year with the expectation that they aren't very good, and they aren't very good, how do you dismiss him then? Can't we just say the same thing? He will have lost his best player (Oturu) and it's impossible to account for that so this year was lost either way.

When does that cycle end? Do we have to wait for them to be expected to be good and fail before we can make a change? I'm just confused by that.

I would agree that I'm not surprised by how this season has gone. But things change. 6 months ago, we didn't expect to have an all-league center. We didn't think Carr would be as good as he's been. Both guys have been better than expected. But because the rest of the roster is in shambles, that high-end production has been wasted.

If this team was 14-16 and I could confidently say Ihnen looks like a legit player, Williams looks like a player, the other freshmen look like they are on track to be players and the recruiting is going well, I could see the reasoning to keep him. That isn't the case. We have one awesome player who will likely leave. One good player and a lot of blah after that. They have some nice recruits coming in but it's not like it's a top-10 national class that is expected to change the trajectory of things immediately.

So what is it? Is the only reason they can't fire him because the team was bad as expected?
 

forever a gopher said:
I would agree this year just about met my expectations of what they would do. But even if Oturu comes back, I would probably expect about a 8-12 season next year. Freeman, Williams, Mitchell, Greenlee IMO all fall under the “project” category. Ihnen showed some promise at the end of the season, but there is a gaping hole at PF and backup PG. And C if Oturu leaves. Even with rose colored glasses, they are no better than .500 in conference next year. Is that good enough? Are you just going to can him next year? Just restart the process now instead of dragging your feet.

If we had a coaching vacancy, and Pitino was available, would we hire him now? There’s no way. That should tell you whether he should hang around or not.
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We are about 6 possessions away from being 11-9 this year with no power forward and a 4 man team.
I wanted Pitino gone LAST year, I don’t think he is getting fired.
 


This is exactly what
USAF said:
Either fire him or extend him.

"One more year" makes zero sense.

If you're happy with the program, extend.

It's not going to change. We know who Pitino is.
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This is the exactly same thing everyone had to ask last year. Which is why he is getting two years to prove himself not one.

I would’ve answered the other way last year. But by giving him this year, barring a complete tank job he was getting 20-21.
 



scools12 said:
At this point I would be surprised if Pitino isn’t given another year where more than likely he is coaching for his job.

With the coaching hot seat he will be on recruiting going to be difficult.
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The barn
theczar said:
The clown trolls calling for Pitino’s head ..will be wrong as usual this season
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theczar said:
The clown trolls calling for Pitino’s head ..will be wrong as usual this season
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Trolling Pitino might be the easiest thing to do on this planet earth.

The material that can be used is staggering.
 

Well, the hockey team doesn’t draw any fans so why not the basketball team?
 

builtbadgers said:
So they are trolls if they want him gone after 47-82 ? I see them as fans who think they have had enough of failure.
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On a sidenote.........Fran McCaffrey just blistered the refs at halftime. I thought you'd like to know.
 




Some guy said:
Honestly anyone who thought the gophers would be better than this this year was kind of dreaming.

not saying it’s acceptable. Saying it was expected. I’m sure Coyle knew we would be around .500 this year and definitely bottom half of the conference.
I maintain if he was going to get fired for a season like this they would’ve fired him last year. Because everyone saw this coming.
in fact, we were better than I thought we would be
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Strongly disagree. This roster is built more efficient. Don't fall apart at the end of half of their close games instead of 90% and they are an NCAA tourney team this year.
 
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Some Day...Maybe said:
Well, the hockey team doesn’t draw any fans so why not the basketball team?
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The teams that draw well on campus are teams that win. Volleyball has no problem selling tickets. I get it is a smaller venue but that can’t be held against them. If Gopher basketball was 24-6 (or so) for 3-4 years, with a couple sweet sixteens or better, they’d draw well.

The question is if Pitino can get them enough wins to draw more fans. Winning solves a lot. Pitino hasn’t had back to back NCAA tourney teams...hard to imagine that changing anytime soon.
 




manderson1984 said:
Strongly disagree. This roster is built more efficient. Don't fall apart at the end of half the game so instead of 90% and they are an NCAA tourney team this year.
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Pretty sure this is more ridiculous maroon colored glasses homer claptrap, but you write so poorly it's hard to tell.
 

Pitino will be our coach for many years to come.

How many teams in the B1G can compete for the title with seven new players? This team had a chance to overachieve if they had finished out a few more games. They have changed styles with more emphasis on defense and a roster of more athletic and versatile players. It takes time for that style to get entrenched and for the young players to gain confidence to finish out games. We all understand that the team is not where we want it to be, but it is still going in the right direction.
 

USAF said:
Pretty sure this is more ridiculous maroon colored glasses homer claptrap, but you write so poorly it's hard to tell.
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Lol, good call on being poorly written, when I type on my iPad it can get sketchy. I'll fix that, but if you can't analytically look at this team and understand it's more efficient than years past then you don't understand math and basketball.
 

Some Day...Maybe said:
Well, the hockey team doesn’t draw any fans so why not the basketball team?
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That’s not even close to an apples to apples comparison. The hockey team is still in the crapper after their (forced) move into the B1G hockey conference. They have the same issues with scholarship seating, which is being partially fixed for next season. Their team was very young this season, with a new coach. They turned it on about halfway through the season and attendance picked up once they started winning (amazing how that happens). One team had a young team, they jelled, started winning, and will potentially be in the NCAA tournament. The other team had a young team, went in the crapper, and will not be in the tournament.
 


manderson1984 said:
Lol, good call on being poorly written, when I type on my iPad it can get sketchy. I'll fix that, but if you can't analytically look at this team and understand it's more efficient than years past then you don't understand math and basketball.
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A losing record, no NCAA birth at all, and 12th in the big 10.................and more efficient than years past. bwahbwahbwahbwahbwah

Is this doesn't say it all, I don't know what else to say!

Is this guy a bit?
 

manderson1984 said:
Gotta be honest I am surprised to see you on the forum today. You do realize they won today instead of lost?
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not sure why you'd think I'm not on this forum when they win...I mean, what evidence would you base that on? They win so rarely
 

Goldteam said:
A losing record, no NCAA birth at all, and 12th in the big 10.................and more efficient than years past. bwahbwahbwahbwahbwah

Is this doesn't say it all, I don't know what else to say!
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Check our rankings in KenPom and other analytics. One would argue we were in as many games as we were this year because we were more efficient. We didn't finish a lot games where we had leads in the second half. This can be attributed to a couple of different things I need my opinion, but mostly was we just didn't defend at as high a level as this team is capable. If you'd rather bring up missing some 3 pointers, free throws, or lack of "depth" go ahead, but finishing defensive possessions is more controllable.
 

alchemy2u said:
Pitino will be our coach for many years to come.

How many teams in the B1G can compete for the title with seven new players? This team had a chance to overachieve if they had finished out a few more games. They have changed styles with more emphasis on defense and a roster of more athletic and versatile players. It takes time for that style to get entrenched and for the young players to gain confidence to finish out games. We all understand that the team is not where we want it to be, but it is still going in the right direction.
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I honestly wish I shared your optimism. I just don’t see how this team can be projected to be better next year or the year after. Maybe they get another big time recruit or two? Carr, Oturu, Kalscheur are legit B1G starting players. After that, it’s only Ihnen that looks like he may have star potential. Williams has moments, especially early, but his 3’s and free’s left a lot to be desired. At least he is confident. Willis is a 10-15min bench guy on a good team. Omersa is a 10min bench energy guy on a good team. Freeman and Greenlee the jury is still out. Mitchell looks like he may be more of a project. Mashburn has so-so stats in HS (yes, I know his team is “loaded”). Anything you get out of Curry is a total bonus at this point.

If they have to ride 3 starters into the ground again next year, I would assume a similar result. They managed a pretty lackluster year with no major (or really even minor) injuries. What if they had injuries? This year could have been an absolute disaster.
 

USAF said:
not sure why you'd think I'm not on this forum when they win...I mean, what evidence would you base that on? They win so rarely
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Please quote one positive thing you've said about today's win. I'll be fair and say I haven't read them all tonight, but I'll take my chances.
 

manderson1984 said:
Check our rankings in KenPom and other analytics. One would argue we were in as many games as we were this year because we were more efficient. We didn't finish a lot games where we had leads in the second half. This can be attributed to a couple of different things I need my opinion, but mostly was we just didn't defend at as high a level as this team is capable. If you'd rather bring up missing some 3 pointers, free throws, or lack of "depth" go ahead, but finishing defensive possessions is more controllable.
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Oh ya, analytics! I forgot!

:blah::blah::blah::blah::blah:
 

manderson1984 said:
Please quote one positive thing you've said about today's win. I'll be fair and say I haven't read them all tonight, but I'll take my chances.
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Why don't you post one negative thing you've said about a loss. Ready, set, go!
 




alchemy2u said:
Pitino will be our coach for many years to come.

How many teams in the B1G can compete for the title with seven new players? This team had a chance to overachieve if they had finished out a few more games. They have changed styles with more emphasis on defense and a roster of more athletic and versatile players. It takes time for that style to get entrenched and for the young players to gain confidence to finish out games. We all understand that the team is not where we want it to be, but it is still going in the right direction.
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Anything you want to wager on the many years to come ? so at least 5 more years right ?
 

Goldteam said:
Why don't you post one negative thing you've said about a loss. Ready, set, go!
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I've said I want a new coach numerous times! I've said this team should be better defensively which I attribute to coaching. I ripped our press beak against Maryland and also lack of urgency against Iowa.
 

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