GopherHoopsFan
Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2011
- Messages
- 650
- Reaction score
- 12
- Points
- 18
I don't think anyone (even those complaining) expects us to compete for even B1G championships every year anytime soon. I was very happy with last season, and am disappointed that we couldn't take advantage of a very down B1G this year -- which no doubt was partially due to injuries/suspensions. Once Lynch went down and Coffey became hobbled it was no longer reasonable to hope for a top 4 B1G finish, and I was fine with that. After that, my hope was that the season could still be salvaged to the point of maybe a NIT bid. That no longer appears to be possible.
The last two games have been good to see. The effort is much better than it was for a stretch there, and I would hope that we can at least pull off a few more victories to end the season. It's still only two games where we've looked like we have a pulse, and I would hope that continues for the rest of the year. You will find comments from me criticizing the effort of our guys prior to the last two games, and I think that criticism was fair. I am able to recognize effort when I see it, so you will not find any comments from me criticizing the effort after the last two games.
Your comment about posters who hate Pitino not wanting to acknowledge last year's 4th place finish could be turned around the other way in that it also appears some posters want to cling to that one season while ignoring the other four with Pitino at the helm.
I do not agree that we are a program on the rise simply because the numbers don't bear that out. I badly want us to be, but that simply isn't the case. If you can find a metric by which that is true please do not hesitate to share. But looking at every common measurement, including B1G record, NCAA tournament appearances, and number of weeks spent in the national rankings we are actually on the decline if anything. As a fan, that bothers me. It doesn't mean I don't support the guys on the team right now as well as the recruits who will be joining the team, but I'm also not going to deny the facts in front of me showing that the program I love is not performing at a very high level. I'm not asking for B1G championships every year, but I'd like to be able to hang my hat on more than one NCAA tournament appearance in five seasons.
In response to the first bolded paragraph, I disagree. This is about recency. Why do people find it necessary to cling to the first three seasons, when they hold little bearing on the present? If his success was found in years one and two, that would be a problem. Considering that his success was found with HIS players in year four, it's a success worth noting when comparing it to all of his other years. He WOULD have had another successful season this year, and I will give him credit for what could have been. When I heard about the Curry injury, I knew definitively that we were in big trouble and remarkably thin in the front court. We have been thin for a long time. I agree with other posters about RP's bench depth needing to be better. And guess what? It will be next season. If Daniel Oturu, Matz Stockman, Eric Curry, and Jarvis Omersa, aren't an upgrade over Bakary and Gaston, I'm going to burn every piece of Gopher crap that I have.
As for the second bolded paragraph, fine stick to the W and L columns. So many people on here are married to the W and L columns. I mean, just look at all those L's! Jesus F'ing Christ could rise from the ashes with a coaching degree and the Gophers might eke out one additional win with this horrendously thin roster. Like you and everyone else I want better results, but it's WRONG to expect better under the circumstances. I'd LOVE to see what coach K would do with these players. And to those who say, then it's RP's fault that our players aren't good enough! They were, until they got hurt. And NO, other teams can't sustain these types of fallbacks and maintain success. No team in the Gophers league anyway.
For the record, I agree with most of what you wrote, and appreciate that most people are backing off of wanting to see RP fired. My biggest issue with GH has become how reactionary so many are. Pre injury we're awesome and show great promise, post injury RP sucks and is a con artist. what-evah