***OFFICIAL #17 MICHIGAN STATE AT #21 MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD***

[builtbadgers]

You of all people of course, know that Tony's year 1 was really the 4th year of Dick Bennett's regime at WSU. Dick had not done well there but had the table set for a decent start for Tony otherwise Tony would not have done it. Minnesota has been historically one of the toughest programs to get the job done at. Huge potential here as the long D1 club but always the negative stigma of being a place you can't do it at without cheating. One non cheating Big Ten title in 48 years kind of tells the story.

Truth. Dick took all the bullets, Tony did all the recruiting except 2 players a friend found. He knew about getting only character, he knew about eyeing talent. The Thompsons went to Tony with Klay because they knew. Wooden said when he met him that he would win huge. Ryan knew at 30, he inherited him wisely. Some knew before then. If you saw how he played, how he taught , how he conducted himself. Same thing with Jay Wright. Certain rare people change the way people think right about meeting them. I know this from hiring people. Every once in awhile there is truly someone special. Ask Pitino Sr what he thinks about both Bennett and Wright and when he first saw it. It all worked for the best. If we hired him at Pitino's age we would have won a big 10 title by 35 but he eventually would have gone to UVA as the best fit in nearly every way. Most guys would not have turned down IU at such a young age, LSU and then later IU,LSU, Texas for huge bucks. WSU was about doing something with your dad, winning the job by being yourself. Jim Sterk made a great decision and Tony knew if he won there he could call his shots. Knowing Coaches was a big part of not only my youth but a business we built.Finding out how bright and how authentic someone is happens early.WE saw it with Thad Matta. We knew it with Stevens. Seem to be about two per generation. Sometimes you have to be careful of who the media thinks it is. Shaka rode one run to a final 4 at a young age and never even won the conference since. It is very rare to build sustainsble success at places of mediocrity but it can be done. If UW could do it we can, they were worse than us. What they had was someone who knew who to talk to about who they should hire.

 

[bga1]

Truth. Dick took all the bullets, Tony did all the recruiting except 2 players a friend found. He knew about getting only character, he knew about eyeing talent. The Thompsons went to Tony with Klay because they knew. Wooden said when he met him that he would win huge. Ryan knew at 30, he inherited him wisely. Some knew before then. If you saw how he played, how he taught , how he conducted himself. Same thing with Jay Wright. Certain rare people change the way people think right about meeting them. I know this from hiring people. Every once in awhile there is truly someone special. Ask Pitino Sr what he thinks about both Bennett and Wright and when he first saw it. It all worked for the best. If we hired him at Pitino's age we would have won a big 10 title by 35 but he eventually would have gone to UVA as the best fit in nearly every way. Most guys would not have turned down IU at such a young age, LSU and then later IU,LSU, Texas for huge bucks. WSU was about doing something with your dad, winning the job by being yourself. Jim Sterk made a great decision and Tony knew if he won there he could call his shots. Knowing Coaches was a big part of not only my youth but a business we built.Finding out how bright and how authentic someone is happens early.WE saw it with Thad Matta. We knew it with Stevens. Seem to be about two per generation. Sometimes you have to be careful of who the media thinks it is. Shaka rode one run to a final 4 at a young age and never even won the conference since. It is very rare to build sustainsble success at places of mediocrity but it can be done. If UW could do it we can, they were worse than us. What they had was someone who knew who to talk to about who they should hire.

I don't disagree with anything you have said there. That said, I think people can learn and grow. We may be seeing that in Pitino. We'll see how the rest of the year goes but he has put together a nice group now and has them playing better, not great, but better defense. He was able to get to Carr and get him moving the ball better, he has gotten Robbins in sync and built some depth. All good signs.

 

[builtbadgers]

I don't disagree with anything you have said there. That said, I think people can learn and grow. We may be seeing that in Pitino. We'll see how the rest of the year goes but he has put together a nice group now and has them playing better, not great, but better defense. He was able to get to Carr and get him moving the ball better, he has gotten Robbins in sync and built some depth. All good signs.

And i always give credit when someone changes and grows. I am still doing it often by trial and failure, then success. As long as he is here i will support him in donations equal to success and always cheer for the win as well as praise for a job well done. I am a optimist but believe in reason, data and a ledger. The wins say a great deal to the masses but the signs i see/saw are even better because it is repeatable. Not all losses are on him. Coaches get too much blame when they lose and too much credit when they win but it is how they are measured.

 

[EG#9]

Can't miss a game thread right now, but didn't have a chance to get in here ealier. If the Gophers would have lost this game the narrative/excuse would have been it was unluckly to play Michigan State after 2 losses in a row and that Izzo obviously had them locked in and ready to play a great game. Of course when the Gophers win you could say that Michigan State is playing terrible basketball, got beat by Northwestern, etc, etc.

I try to be fair, there was no way Minnesota caugh Michigan State by surprise on Monday. I was more surprised by the result on Sunday than the result on Christmas. Really great to hold MSU to 16 in the first half and to control the entire game. It's kind of disheartening to realize the last 5 games against them have been a beatdown of the exact same magnitude the other way, but you have to turn that around one game at a time anyway.

The best sign to me this game was the Gophers were able to soundly blow out Michigan State without playing anywhere near a perfect game. There were way too many bad turnovers, they missed a lot of open shots, the team can play better! That's not to say they played poorly, just that it's nice to not have some margin for error.

Individually, I loved Liam Robbins game. He seems to be stepping up his physicality and he was able to play more or less a full game without being hampered by foul issues. It's impressive how he's responded from the Illinois game.

 

[Mulligan]

It will be very interesting to see how the Wisconsin game goes. In the past, Wisc has given the Gophers a lot of problems with their style of play.

Be interesting to see how they try to handle Carr. Our dislike/hatred of Davidson might go to another level if he pulls some of his usual crap while guarding Marcus.

 

[builtbadgers]

UW can not match Carr. The individual match ups favor Minnesota. Look at that spread ! Money to be made.