Mathieu said Pitino told the team after the game it "had no heart"

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Go Gophers!!
 

The truth hurts. A lot of talk among our season ticket group about what's wrong with this team and some individual players. Perplexing. One of our people noted that there's nothing worse than an underperforming senior team. In some ways it feels like Voshon Lenard's senior year, when he came in fat and disengaged.
 

This is my first post, but I've been a gopherhole reader for years.

I couldn't agree more with the coach here. Losing without rebounding, getting to loose balls, and closing out on 3 point shooters is a lack of heart.
 

This team really doesn't have heart and it starts with the seniors. Too many of Tubby's recruits lacked heart. I can't wait for a fresh start next year. This season is gone.
 

MadtownGopher said:
This team really doesn't have heart and it starts with the seniors. Too many of Tubby's recruits lacked heart. I can't wait for a fresh start next year. This season is gone.
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I don't buy the heart angle. What this team doesn't have is talent. It doesn't have a real 5 (Walker is best but very flawed), has no 4 (none- unbelievable Pitino allowed this to happen) and doesn't really have a 3.

Hard to win games when you do not have a BIG frontcourt whatsoever.
 


This is the worst Gopher basketball team I have ever seen, and in no way to I put that all on the players. It looks as though some of them have no idea what they are doing or what they should be doing. Having a good last name can only get you so far, hopefully his new recruits can bring some life to this program instead of watching DeAndre complain and Elliot mope around.
 

We'll see if Pitino is right by the way the seniors respond to the challenges ahead.

Certainly Mathieu has digressed in a number of ways. It's not so much that his shot isn't dropping, but it's the demeanor of accepting or expecting his shot not to drop that is disappointing. It's the attitude of expecting the worst as a self-fulfilling prophecy that is difficult to watch. How a person reacts to adversity in a sport or other extra-curricular activity is a telling sign as to how they will react in a stressful job or career. Any employer going to watch the Gophers will take note of attitude and determination when the situation gets difficult. These are seniors. They need jobs in a few months. Time to show future employers what you are made of. Do you really want your "letter of reference" to say: "He has no heart!"?
 

'13Gopher said:
This is the worst Gopher basketball team I have ever seen, and in no way to I put that all on the players. It looks as though some of them have no idea what they are doing or what they should be doing. Having a good last name can only get you so far, hopefully his new recruits can bring some life to this program instead of watching DeAndre complain and Elliot mope around.
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Obviously you haven't watched a whole lot of Gopher basketball...
 

Seriously Bizarre to blame this on Tubby...His last season they got to the final 32, last year these kids won NIT....this season blame Tubby...please get some help!
 



Winnipegopher said:
I don't buy the heart angle. What this team doesn't have is talent. It doesn't have a real 5 (Walker is best but very flawed), has no 4 (none- unbelievable Pitino allowed this to happen) and doesn't really have a 3.

Hard to win games when you do not have a BIG frontcourt whatsoever.
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They won more games in a better conference with no frontcourt last year.
 

MadtownGopher said:
This team really doesn't have heart and it starts with the seniors. Too many of Tubby's recruits lacked heart. I can't wait for a fresh start next year. This season is gone.
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I wondered how many posts it would take for somebody to blame Tubby for this season. I now await the explanation of how you're going to blame Tubby for Mathieu.
 

My big problem with Tubby was that he just sat there when things started to slip away. If your team has no heart, at least try and light a fire. Send all five guys to the bench, get T'd up, do something.
 

Well, the boys have just been called out by their coach.

Maybe RP should play the guys with "heart" and let the others sit and think about it. Blocking out and playing in your face D takes heart. The best players need to wake up if the Gophers are to make a run for the NIT. That is if they care.
 



Can't disagree with Pitino. We didn't play like a team whose season was on the line last night. It was embarrassing. Whatever talent we do or don't have, it doesn't take any talent to try your hardest and to do everything you can to win battles for loose balls. This team always seems to care that they lost after the fact when the game is over, but they don't seem enough to consistently put together forty minutes of solid effort and focus when they still have a chance to do something about winning or losing.
 


It drove me crazy watching this game (and the Indiana game) and seeing our guys get caught on down screens that led to open threes. It is just bad defensive positioning to be caught between your man and the basket on the help side. So is this lack of effort on the part of the players or is it lack of teaching on the part of the coaching staff? Also, of all the times that I saw us try to doubleteam the ball handler only once did someone from the helpside rotate over to pick up the open man one pass away from the double team. If you leave open the man who is the easiest person to pass to out of the double team, what have you accomplished? Again, is this laziness or lack of teaching? I don't have the answer to that question, but it sure is frustrating to watch. I've got to believe that the coaches of every team that the Gophers play the rest of the season are going to look at these last two games and have their players screening down for open threes. If we don't get this figured out, we won't even be in the NIT.
 

I wonder if Zahaui B has a brother? Anyone see her knock the Iowa girl on her ass in the last few minutes after clearing off a rebound? She also put that big as a tank Nebraska center on her ass when they played at Williams.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I now await the explanation of how you're going to blame Tubby for Mathieu.
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Pitino brought in a 5-9 PG from Morehead State because Tubby failed to recruit the position since Nolen left.

Ellis, Foster - not PGs.
Ellison, Buggs - not PGs.
Hollins, Coleman, Ingram - not PGs. Welch - not a good PG
Eliason, Hollins, Osenieks, Walker - not PGs. Ahanmisi - not a good PG
Williams, White - not PGs. Justin Cobb - not very good as FR. Then gone.

How'd I do?
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
Well, the boys have just been called out by their coach.

Maybe RP should play the guys with "heart" and let the others sit and think about it. Blocking out and playing in your face D takes heart. The best players need to wake up if the Gophers are to make a run for the NIT. That is if they care.
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LOL

Good idea coach.
 


It's hard to pull the car out of the ditch twice in one season, but that's where we are. 0-5 in the ditch. 5-2, out of the ditch. Getting embarrassed by the worst team in the conference at home, right back in the ditch. I hope you have another one in you Richard. Otherwise, even the NIT is lost.
 



Winnipegopher said:
I don't buy the heart angle. What this team doesn't have is talent. It doesn't have a real 5 (Walker is best but very flawed), has no 4 (none- unbelievable Pitino allowed this to happen) and doesn't really have a 3.

Hard to win games when you do not have a BIG frontcourt whatsoever.
Click to expand...

Since you feel we are missing on talent (which I agree to a point but short of allowing it to explain the lack of heart I see on the court) I am curious as to what you think of the two bigs that were brought in based not on talent but POTENTIAL. Do you think that the coach failed for not getting talented players to get the scholarship instead of raw potential?

Also, most basketball coaches would agree that this great sport is one of the MOST probable sports to allow chemistry to out perform talent so how does the chemistry on this team stack up?
 

Missourigopherfan said:
It drove me crazy watching this game (and the Indiana game) and seeing our guys get caught on down screens that led to open threes. It is just bad defensive positioning to be caught between your man and the basket on the help side. So is this lack of effort on the part of the players or is it lack of teaching on the part of the coaching staff? Also, of all the times that I saw us try to doubleteam the ball handler only once did someone from the helpside rotate over to pick up the open man one pass away from the double team. If you leave open the man who is the easiest person to pass to out of the double team, what have you accomplished? Again, is this laziness or lack of teaching? I don't have the answer to that question, but it sure is frustrating to watch. I've got to believe that the coaches of every team that the Gophers play the rest of the season are going to look at these last two games and have their players screening down for open threes. If we don't get this figured out, we won't even be in the NIT.
Click to expand...

I think it has more to do with team sets and coaching than the players' ability or effort.

To the posters who say that we are where we are because of having no talent, I'll respond with the obvious that this team won the NIT last year, ran roughshod over the midmajors in nonconference, and beat a couple of power conference teams in the nonconference schedule. Most of these players (with a two or three possible exceptions) have demonstrated the ability to be starters and rotation players at the power conference level. When you get into conference play, teams know you better and some staffs prepare their teams better than others.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
Well, the boys have just been called out by their coach.

Maybe RP should play the guys with "heart" and let the others sit and think about it. Blocking out and playing in your face D takes heart. The best players need to wake up if the Gophers are to make a run for the NIT. That is if they care.
Click to expand...

That's the maddening part. This team WAS playing in-your-face defense for a while, and the outcome was wins. Is that impossible to sustain? I just don't understand how the effort and intensity comes and goes like that.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I wondered how many posts it would take for somebody to blame Tubby for this season. I now await the explanation of how you're going to blame Tubby for Mathieu.
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Impossible to come up with an explanation because Tubby never recruited a PG.......
 

EliteOpinionGuy said:
Since you feel we are missing on talent (which I agree to a point but short of allowing it to explain the lack of heart I see on the court) I am curious as to what you think of the two bigs that were brought in based not on talent but POTENTIAL. Do you think that the coach failed for not getting talented players to get the scholarship instead of raw potential?

Also, most basketball coaches would agree that this great sport is one of the MOST probable sports to allow chemistry to out perform talent so how does the chemistry on this team stack up?
Click to expand...

For your first question, I have no doubt that Pitino feels he failed in recruiting a 3 or 4 that could contribute this year. The fact that he used the last two scholarships so late proves that. Whether Konate or Diedhue pan out does not change that they spent the spring and summer looking for graduate transfer talent. I hope they both are hugely successful, if at least one of them contributes next year, they will fill a huge gap.

Chemistry on the team is not good but I argue that is because they are so flawed in personnel. I see players who try hard but are not that good or forced to play out of position. I don't see players not trying, I see a lack of ability.
 

Winnipegopher said:
For your first question, I have no doubt that Pitino feels he failed in recruiting a 3 or 4 that could contribute this year. The fact that he used the last two scholarships so late proves that. Whether Konate or Diedhue pan out does not change that they spent the spring and summer looking for graduate transfer talent. I hope they both are hugely successful, if at least one of them contributes next year, they will fill a huge gap.

Chemistry on the team is not good but I argue that is because they are so flawed in personnel. I see players who try hard but are not that good or forced to play out of position. I don't see players not trying, I see a lack of ability.
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Fair response but I will question you this; which team did you see last night as "more talented"?

If you seen the level of talent put out by NW and said this team is more talented than the gophers then I would be interested in seeing how you thought/predicted this season would turn out. If you said looking at the game that the gophers SHOULD be winning this game, I would agree with you and say that they lost to a team that had less talent but more chemistry. Even though that team started two freshman and a sophomore to our 4 upperclassman and Buggs.
 

The Brain Trust said:
Seriously Bizarre to blame this on Tubby...His last season they got to the final 32, last year these kids won NIT....this season blame Tubby...please get some help!
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True it cannot be blamed on Tubby. But you cannot connect the dots between the NCAA final Tubby team and what he handed Pitino. He handed Pitino a team that no longer had Mbakwe or Williams with the recruiting class to replace them of Foster and Ellis. Mo was 320 pounds and they had no point guard and no power forward. Pitino went out and got King and Matheui to complement the two Hollins and a 50 pound lighter Mo and the team overperformed last year. Thsi year we expected more based on the possibility that they would all get better, DayDay would step in with Morris to replace Hollins and Martin would come in as a rebounder. Instead Matheui has a kid and comes in not ready to go. DayDay is in the pokey and Martin is back home with mom. Tubby handed Pitino a whole lot of nothing other than the two Hollins. But I agree- it's not Tubby's fault, Tubby has problems of his own in Lubbock. Pitino brought some kids in that didn't help take the next step off the good first year and some of the returnees made some life choices that affected basketball.
 

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