You'd think he'd at least let the kid get through his second month of college ball before writing him off.
Analysis of non-seniors, at Wisconsin game
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You'd think he'd at least let the kid get through his second month of college ball before writing him off.
That's a three B1G win roster.
My crystal ball says Pitino will be searching for a new job after this year. It all will just depend on what he can find. The roster will make it almost impossible to compete at a high level in the Big Ten next year. There is no way he is going to let his career record tank at such a young age. If he lets it get out of control, he will find himself as a career assistant. He won't let that happen and he definitely won't stick around long enough to get fired. He will be looking, take my word. Second, I predict whether Pitino is here or not, that Nate Mason will transfer. He is a long way from home and he shows no signs of a guy who is having any fun playing the game.
JoshuaT81
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Ouch, all that would really hurt.
XMan
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Don't buy it. Can't see him leaving as he hasnt had much time and i am not sure there would be a lot of better options than where he is in the big ten right now.
Also I don't see Mason going anywhere.
The Gophers easily could have had a 12-6 type season in the B1G this year, but instead will likely finish 6-12 in conference play. Assuming the conference isn't markedly better next year, I think it's far too early to write off next years squad as a disaster. I won't argue that another terrible season isn't the most likely outcome, just point out a potential path to a better season:
Likely improvement: Point Guard. With Mathieu having a poor season and Mason having a season under his belt, the Gophers will get better play out of the point guard position. Kevin Dorsey and Jarvis Johnson (more of a combo) give us better depth, size, and athleticism as the position next season.
Possible improvement/unlikely to be worse: Small Forward/Power Forward. We have Morris/Buggs/King returning here and while none of them are players to be excited about, it's unlikely they will be less effective than they were this year. I think King is what he is and really needs to play a bench role next year, but it's at least in the realm of possibility that Morris is a better defender and decision maker in his second year in the program and that Buggs' flashes of solid play become stretches of solid play.
Possible similar production/likely to be worse: Center. This is the wildcard spot in my opinion. Center could be a major step back next year, or it could be just as effective as it was this year...just in different ways. I think it's possible that Bakary could give us better interior defense, rebounding, and a better percentage of paint finishes above the rim than Mo gave us this year. That said, there's no way Bakary is going to give us the post offense Mo gave us this year and that's a big loss for a team that lacks go to scorers next year.
Almost definitely worse than this year: Shooting Guard. Andre Hollins has been inconsistent this year, but it's hard to expect Dupree (or Nate or Carlos or unknown addition) to be the guy to string together 20 point games. Andre's defense was improved this year as well, so about the only area where we might be better at this position is handling the ball, but even that's unlikely if it's a freshman starting.
No idea if it will be better or worse: Bench. There should be better depth at guard at next year, but Nwankwo is supposedly not supposed to help much as a freshman and Gas seems to be a long shot to get better. Considering Eliason didn't give us much this year, it's tough to say if we'll be better or worse here without seeing how the open scholarships are used. The positive should be we should have a few more guys on the bench that Pitino recruited to his style of play.
I am pretty down on where the program is right now and have no interest in arguing with someone who wants to say we'll be terrible again next year. As I said to start the post, I think that's the likely outcome....I just don't think it's a slam dunk absolute.
Likely improvement: Point Guard. With Mathieu having a poor season and Mason having a season under his belt, the Gophers will get better play out of the point guard position. Kevin Dorsey and Jarvis Johnson (more of a combo) give us better depth, size, and athleticism as the position next season.
Possible improvement/unlikely to be worse: Small Forward/Power Forward. We have Morris/Buggs/King returning here and while none of them are players to be excited about, it's unlikely they will be less effective than they were this year. I think King is what he is and really needs to play a bench role next year, but it's at least in the realm of possibility that Morris is a better defender and decision maker in his second year in the program and that Buggs' flashes of solid play become stretches of solid play.
Possible similar production/likely to be worse: Center. This is the wildcard spot in my opinion. Center could be a major step back next year, or it could be just as effective as it was this year...just in different ways. I think it's possible that Bakary could give us better interior defense, rebounding, and a better percentage of paint finishes above the rim than Mo gave us this year. That said, there's no way Bakary is going to give us the post offense Mo gave us this year and that's a big loss for a team that lacks go to scorers next year.
Almost definitely worse than this year: Shooting Guard. Andre Hollins has been inconsistent this year, but it's hard to expect Dupree (or Nate or Carlos or unknown addition) to be the guy to string together 20 point games. Andre's defense was improved this year as well, so about the only area where we might be better at this position is handling the ball, but even that's unlikely if it's a freshman starting.
No idea if it will be better or worse: Bench. There should be better depth at guard at next year, but Nwankwo is supposedly not supposed to help much as a freshman and Gas seems to be a long shot to get better. Considering Eliason didn't give us much this year, it's tough to say if we'll be better or worse here without seeing how the open scholarships are used. The positive should be we should have a few more guys on the bench that Pitino recruited to his style of play.
I am pretty down on where the program is right now and have no interest in arguing with someone who wants to say we'll be terrible again next year. As I said to start the post, I think that's the likely outcome....I just don't think it's a slam dunk absolute.
I'm not very optimistic about next year either... What I don't get is why we are going after 10928383 guards, and not looking for any non-project 4/5s. Jayjuo and Konate, are a year or two away from being any good. Nwankwo would be a year off too. So who do we even have? I'll be happy with 6 wins next year.
bleedsmaroonandgold
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I won't be happy with 6 Big Ten wins in any year.
Winasota Gopher
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All the body language reading on Morris and Mason on this board is getting ridiculous. Watch a video of Nate Mason scoring 30 in that all star game last year. Didn't smile once... Kid is even keeled as they come, love his attitude and makes me think he is going to be a true gamer at some point. If he could get a little more size, develop a left hand or a better move while going left he will be able to finish at the rim at a better rate than he currently does. Add those two things to his game and we've got someone who can play in the B1G Ten. I see him and Koenig as similar style players with Bronson being a better shooter and is a year ahead of him physically (and slightly taller). Good duo to watch going forward.
That all said, I'm not guaranteeing Mason wont transfer, this day and age you never know. But to base whether or not he will leave because of his attitude on the court is stupid as it comes. He's got a clear shot to be THE MAN at Minnesota for the next 3 years. That's his best ticket to the NBA if he has those aspirations and if he's just looking to have fun playing Basketball, the offense is going to run through him for the foreseeable future. That all said, I've never heard him talk about trying to get to the league, hes a smart kid (Valedictorian) so he might have other aspirations, but I gotta think our academics fit his needs (Not sure what his major is)
Costa you are right. No sober person could predict that the roster you just listed is headed for the NCAAs next year. However, the roster is not finished and all is not lost. Any time I hear people give up hope for a season that is a year away I think of the 2004-5 squad.
With Monson on the HOT seat we had just gone 3-13 the year prior.
The returning roster was:
Jeff Hagen 4.3 points
Aaron Robinson 2.6 points
Brent Lawson 1.5 points
Prospects:
Dan Coleman
Rico Tucker
Vincent Grier
J'son Stamper
Spencer Tollackson
Hagen boosted his scoring to 11.2, Robinson to 8.4 and Lawson 7.3. All drastic improvements
Coleman averaged 8.2 and Stamper provided some toughness on the boards
The team went 10-6 in conference- a record not matched since. Nobody thought much of that recruiting class- a couple of Jucos and a top 150 point guard and Tollackson. It just turned out that they found the right leader, the right mix of players and an added emphasis on defense with Molinari and the ingredients were in place for a fun season.
It could happen again....or not. Expectations? Nope. Hope? Always. We have some size returning and three guys that have scored in double digits. We have a nice incoming recruiting class and more to come. Anything could happen.
Winasota Gopher
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Good post BGA. That was my last year at the U... Remember it quite vividly. Aaron Robinson was one of my favorite players on that squad, and I've done the Dan Coleman clap after every missed opportunity on the basketball clap since that season! (If you don't know what I mean, you might not have watched enough Gopher Bball back then).
One thing is for certain, we haven't added this type of athleticism in quite some time at the U. Our incoming guards are all shifty and quick and should be able to get up and down the court quite nicely. The one thing that was intriguing during the Wisky game on Saturday was that for a 3 or 4 minute stretch we actually got them to turn the ball over quite a bit. Gave me hope and faith in the system. Success will hinge on the ability to take our defense to the next level next year. The progress of (Gas and Konate) as well as Nwanko being able to grab boards and protect the rim.
Just my view but I don't think Dre and Mo are suited for the kind of game that Pitino wants to play. Reading here I am more optimistic then most people for next year. I don't expect a Big Ten Championship but I expect that with 3-4 more athletic bodies coming in combined with the continued development of Buggs, Konate, Morris, Mason and Diediou and think we will start seeing more up tempo. Haven't seen Nwanko play but I'm guessing he fits into the more athletic big man role like Diediou and Konate. I'm not ripping on any of the current squad just pointing out that they weren't recruited for this type of game. I absolutely love the effort of King but he doesn't fit that type of game either. We will see next year how this coaching staff are with developing players.
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I think he might be more athletic. Definitely more of an "athletic AND powerful" big man, in the line of Trevor Mbakwe, than anything we currently have.
We still play in the Big Ten where the most successful teams tend to be tough half court defensive teams with efficient offenses. The Gophers have the players to play an uptempo game. Look at the string of nonconference wins beginning with Wake Forest where the Gophers didn't score less than 84 points in a game. Then notice how the scores dropped drastically immediately upon the start of conference play. But most other Big Ten teams also have the players to play an uptempo game. Wisconsin won 63-53 the other day but could have beaten us 85-75 if the game had gone that way.
Most elite players can play the uptempo game. As a Washington State coach once said: "All players want to play faster if you ask them - even the slow ones," but it's really the tough half court game that separates the men from the boys. It's the same thing in the pros. Once the playoffs start the scores drop.
We sure will.
We have seen the staff do some good things with Hollin's defense, with Mo on offense and with Buggs. We also saw turnovers go down as the season wore on. The thing that this staff has not been able to get guys to do is block out. Overall I am confident in this staff developing players but that's one area that could use some work.
I hope the staff can get the bulk of the roster, including new guys, to be here most of the summer and working together on their games. A big drawback of weak local recruiting is that the guys generally want to go back home in the summer.
You can coach athletic kids in a half court game but you can't make "not as athletic" kids play the full court game. I agree with you they will need to be able to play the half court game at some point for wins. I'm just saying that I think Pitino is coaching to what he has on the current team and not to how he wants to play in general.
And I'm saying that I don't think he will be able to play consistently the way he wants to (if playing an uptempo transitional game is what he wants) in the Big Ten and will be as likely to lose as to win those games where he gets that opportunity. Indiana was an uptempo game but we finished 19 points on the wrong side of that one. We may get better athletes than we have now but we're not going to get better athletes than Ohio State, Michigan State, Indiana, Michigan, or even Maryland very often.
Fran McCaffrey came into the league saying the same things and he tried to play that way with limited success for a number of years. This year his team has settled into a more half court defensive game and has been most successful when it keeps the opponent's score down.
And coaching to what you have on the current team is what good coaches are able to do.
Where exactly did 'some' think he would be ~4 or ~5 years ago? The NBA? Irrelevant either way, should be a good player.
Marcus blog: Gophers recruiting: Seven-footers Bakary Konate and Anas Osama Mahmoud visit this week
Konate was reportedly a possible late addition to Louisville’s 2014 recruiting class, even trying to join the team mid-semester. Rick Pitino mentioned Konate’s situation at his signing day press conference but didn’t use his name. But Konate didn’t have a qualifying ACT score yet. His eligibility is still in question.
The 20-year-old three-star prospect first started to generate some buzz at the 2009 Nike International Junior Tournament in Berlin. He was only 16 at the time but performed well in an event that included the eventual No. 5 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, Jonas Valanciunas, a Lithuanian center for the Toronto Raptors.
Osama Mahmoud, who visited Georgia Tech last weekend, is more known nationally since he’s rated as high as a four-star recruit and the 69th best player in the 2014 class by ESPN.com. The Orlando Sentinel did a great profile on him last December. He’s been a member of the Egyptian national team for four years.
http://blogs.twincities.com/gophers/...sit-this-week/
Plainviewgopher
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Blitzkrieg
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EG, I agree with a lot of your sentiment. We have high hurdles next year and we have to have faith that Pitino has a long term vision. How long is anyone's guess but it's reasonable to state that the team may have additional growing pains. Installing a system and finding the right pieces takes time. Good post.
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This thread got way off-topic, those posts have been deleted. Any additional off-topic posts will also be deleted. Thank you.
Costa Rican Gopher
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Can you email me a copy of those posts? They were the most entertaining thing to happen here since 1/2 time of the Mizzou game and sure contenders for posts of the year. I even woke up early and logged on to watch the action
Winasota Gopher
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Can you give me the cliff notes of the halftime during Mizzou? I don't frequent the in game threads.
Thank you, Mods.
Costa Rican Gopher
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What I meant was this board has been mostly slow and boring since half time of the Mizzou game when there was great energy. Since that time it's been a slow death and the mods deleted the most entertaining thing in months when they could have simply moved it to the off-topic forum. Really disappointed the mods ceded to Jamalo's threats. No spine.