More starting lineup changes coming for Gophers? Pitino not ruling that out

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per Marcus:

Gophers coach Richard Pitino will be without two starters for an extended period of time this season, so he might experiment with different starting lineups until he finds one that works best.

Replacing suspended center Reggie Lynch and injured guard Amir Coffey in Saturday’s 75-71 loss against Indiana were Bakary Konate and Michael Hurt. Pitino doesn’t know if he’ll go with those same new starters for Wednesday’s game at Northwestern.

“I don’t know,” Pitino said. “Yeah, we’ll take a look at the film and see. I don’t put a crazy amount of stock in starting, more so the combinations and everything like that.”

More playing time could help Fitzgerald, Hurt and Konate gain confidence.

“I think Michael will get more comfortable,” Pitino said. “I think Bakary will get more comfortable. Certainly, if there are shots to be taken, they’ll get there. I played small a little bit with Murph and Davonte. I played Dupree at the three. I haven’t done much. So the more time, we’ll be able to practice a little bit. It’ll be beneficial, because they have to learn the plays and do those things and understand those things.”

Pitino is “hopeful” that Coffey will be back this season. There’s no timetable other than not anytime soon, meaning he’s definitely out Wednesday against Northwestern. The Gophers didn’t have much time to prepare to play without him Saturday. They didn’t know he’d be sidelined with a right shoulder injury until Friday night.

“It happened in the Illinois game,” Pitino said. “It was a physical bump more than anything. We felt like he could maybe come back from it (soon), but we got an MRI. You want to be careful with him and make sure he’s 100 percent.”

http://www.startribune.com/more-sta...gophers-pitino-not-ruling-that-out/468348093/

Go Gophers!!
 


I think it has to be Fitzgerald over Hurt and maybe even Gaston over Konate. Fitzgerald is the better athlete and can at least muster the courage to shoot the ball. He's also at least as good a defender as Hurt. Konate bless his heart does not have the ability to play the game.
 

More minutes for Konate? Did they watch the tape of the Indiana game? He cannot catch simple passes and cannot track rebounds ( especially not out of his area) problem is that lynch Occupied center on other team which helped Murphy rebound against smaller guys. If Murphy has to play the five it’s not optimal for him - we really needed another big guy this season - Konate looked good in limited minutes earlier against non starters, but is exposed against fresh starters.
 

Block M said:
I think it has to be Fitzgerald over Hurt and maybe even Gaston over Konate. Fitzgerald is the better athlete and can at least muster the courage to shoot the ball. He's also at least as good a defender as Hurt. Konate bless his heart does not have the ability to play the game.
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There has to be something to Fitzgerald’s game when he was reportedly tearing it up in practice - he can shoot and with more game experience hopefully he can show what he can really do.
 


I feel like I'm looking at the restaurant menu and thinking that none of the choices are going to taste particularly good.
 


Thymanst said:
More minutes for Konate? Did they watch the tape of the Indiana game? He cannot catch simple passes and cannot track rebounds ( especially not out of his area) problem is that lynch Occupied center on other team which helped Murphy rebound against smaller guys. If Murphy has to play the five it’s not optimal for him - we really needed another big guy this season - Konate looked good in limited minutes earlier against non starters, but is exposed against fresh starters.
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If we were expecting to lose 2 of our 3 best bigs, then maybe. I would have thought Lynch, Murphy, Konate, Curry, and Fitzgerald would have been enough going into this season.
 




Block M said:
I think it has to be Fitzgerald over Hurt and maybe even Gaston over Konate. Fitzgerald is the better athlete and can at least muster the courage to shoot the ball. He's also at least as good a defender as Hurt. Konate bless his heart does not have the ability to play the game.
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Highly doubt it will be Fitzgerald over Hurt. After the 2nd ACL injury Fitz has played exclusively the 4 as he just can't keep up with 3s for most teams. He looks like he should be physical enough to guard 4s but has struggled there too. Right now its hard for me to see him getting many minutes at all next year. I don't think Pitino will change the starting lineup yet but if he did I'd say it is to go small. Either Fitzgerald in for Konate with Murphy sliding to the 5 or Washington in for Hurt and sliding McBrayer to the 3.
 

Go ahead...play the games...see what happens. It might not HURT as badly as people seem to think.
 

Urbandale said:
I feel like I'm looking at the restaurant menu and thinking that none of the choices are going to taste particularly good.
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HaHaHa. Agreed.

I hope Pitino changes it up. May as well go w/o a true center and maybe just play fast and let it rip. Not much to lose.
 

Cayman said:
If we were expecting to lose 2 of our 3 best bigs, then maybe. I would have thought Lynch, Murphy, Konate, Curry, and Fitzgerald would have been enough going into this season.
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I hate to keep repeating this, but only in a perfect world. In the world of injuries, transfers, suspensions, expulsions from the team, and players who just well underperform expectations, no that wasn't enough going into the season. All those things I mentioned above are not anomalies. They can be expected to one degree or another most seasons.

2017 was an amazingly clean year until Springs was hurt but Fitzgerald ended up sitting another year and we only had a 7 player rotation of trustworthy players;
2016 featured Morris being booted from the team; McBrayer, Dorsey, and Mason being suspended; Buggs being benched for a good bit of the season until there were no more bodies, and King being injured at the end of the year;
2015 featured McNeil being jailed and dismissed from the team, Martin transferring, Eliason being in the doghouse, Gaston not being able to play at all, and Konate not being able to play very well.

I could go on but what's the point? Stop thinking that you have a set rotation that will stay intact and play competently throughout the season. That's more the exception than the rule.
 



Block M said:
HaHaHa. Agreed.

I hope Pitino changes it up. May as well go w/o a true center and maybe just play fast and let it rip. Not much to lose.
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We don't have shooters. We'll be eaten alive with your strategy. Do you remember 8-23? That's what we'll be if this team "plays fast a lets it rip."
 

I would like to see Gaston get more minutes. He seems to "get it" more than Konate. Not as big but he has a better overall skill set...well at least he doesn't foul every minute or two.
 

I 100% agree with you here, thanking you for taking the time to do that. Since last spring taking on Stockman and banking a scholarship has been a big mistake it has just been exasperated into a giant one with the recent happenings. This was a mistake by Pitino, and hopefully doesn't cost him his job. This was suppose to be an all in year and not getting anyone last spring to help this year was a mistake plain and simple.

cjbfbp said:
I hate to keep repeating this, but only in a perfect world. In the world of injuries, transfers, suspensions, expulsions from the team, and players who just well underperform expectations, no that wasn't enough going into the season. All those things I mentioned above are not anomalies. They can be expected to one degree or another most seasons.

2017 was an amazingly clean year until Springs was hurt but Fitzgerald ended up sitting another year and we only had a 7 player rotation of trustworthy players;
2016 featured Morris being booted from the team; McBrayer, Dorsey, and Mason being suspended; Buggs being benched for a good bit of the season until there were no more bodies, and King being injured at the end of the year;
2015 featured McNeil being jailed and dismissed from the team, Martin transferring, Eliason being in the doghouse, Gaston not being able to play at all, and Konate not being able to play very well.

I could go on but what's the point? Stop thinking that you have a set rotation that will stay intact and play competently throughout the season. That's more the exception than the rule.
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NotAFanOfBecky said:
I would like to see Gaston get more minutes. He seems to "get it" more than Konate. Not as big but he has a better overall skill set...well at least he doesn't foul every minute or two.
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The guy put the ball on the floor from 17 feet out for cripes sakes. He gets it?. Obviously he doesn't.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

No way Pitino should be on the hot seat. Calculate the odds of Curry tearing his ACL, Coffey getting his HVAC (I know) hurt and Lynch being suspended. The only one he could have possibly anticipated was Reggie and at the time of the investigation being started he still had Curry and Coffey. I don't know enough about Stockman to know if he will be an asset to the team or not. I do think our coaches know something about evaluating players so I will withhold judgment till later on Stockman. Harris and IW are making me question evaluation skills considering we could have most likely signed Mickinly Wright and he is playing well at Colorado. Still, Wright could have accepted the Gopher's offer before IW even came to campus.

Point is, you cannot blame Pitino for anything other than dismissing Lynch when the investigation was made known to him. Maybe next time he'll be more on the cautious side.
 

Does the 29-47 conference record confirm they know how to evaluate talent? This is year 5 hearing the future is bright is tiresome, the future needs to be now at some point, if this ends with a 5-13 record he better be on the hot seat. At some point he needs to be held responsible for his results, say my 5-13 prediction plays out that would put him at 32-68, with 0 NCAA wins, those are unacceptable results for any power 5 teams after 5 years.


Otis said:
No way Pitino should be on the hot seat. Calculate the odds of Curry tearing his ACL, Coffey getting his HVAC (I know) hurt and Lynch being suspended. The only one he could have possibly anticipated was Reggie and at the time of the investigation being started he still had Curry and Coffey. I don't know enough about Stockman to know if he will be an asset to the team or not. I do think our coaches know something about evaluating players so I will withhold judgment till later on Stockman. Harris and IW are making me question evaluation skills considering we could have most likely signed Mickinly Wright and he is playing well at Colorado. Still, Wright could have accepted the Gopher's offer before IW even came to campus.

Point is, you cannot blame Pitino for anything other than dismissing Lynch when the investigation was made known to him. Maybe next time he'll be more on the cautious side.
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rivergopher said:
Does the 29-47 conference record confirm they know how to evaluate talent? This is year 5 hearing the future is bright is tiresome, the future needs to be now at some point, if this ends with a 5-13 record he better be on the hot seat. At some point he needs to be held responsible for his results, say my 5-13 prediction plays out that would put him at 32-68, with 0 NCAA wins, those are unacceptable results for any power 5 teams after 5 years.
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Wow. You need to follow Duke or the New England Patriots. This cannot be fun for you.
 

MennoSota said:
We don't have shooters. We'll be eaten alive with your strategy. Do you remember 8-23? That's what we'll be if this team "plays fast a lets it rip."
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So we will play so bad that they will actually take 5 of our wins away while losing all of the rest?
 

MennoSota said:
We don't have shooters. We'll be eaten alive with your strategy. Do you remember 8-23? That's what we'll be if this team "plays fast a lets it rip."
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I've always thought this was just as much of an issue as our depth. Athleticism and size are great, but at some point you need guys who can consistently hit jump shots.
 

People we have lost our #6 player, Curry and our #4 player, Lynch and our #3 player, Cofey. Other than maybe one of the top five blue blood teams no team in the country would be able to recover from this. So I don't think you can put this all on Pitino.
 


Angrygopher1 said:
People we have lost our #6 player, Curry and our #4 player, Lynch and our #3 player, Cofey. Other than maybe one of the top five blue blood teams no team in the country would be able to recover from this. So I don't think you can put this all on Pitino.
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I don't know that anyone is putting this on Pitino...unless we infer that Pitino is culpable for the alleged sexual misconduct of players on the team (This includes the infamous sex tape of 2016.)
 

Season ticket holder, my expectations are not really that high, .500 conference record, and 2 ncaa wins every 5 years is what I expect out of the program. Tell me how many other big ten teams would be satisfied with 18 games under .500 in a 4 year 4 game stretch. Rutgers maybe? His conference record is not even mediocre. Last year was the aberration not the norm it is looking like. I am not calling for him to be fired and I had to eat a lot of crow with last year but results are what matter, lets revisit this when the season is over. This is year 5 and his results so far have been terrible. Even Monson did not have a 5 year stretch as bad as we are in now.


bga1 said:
Wow. You need to follow Duke or the New England Patriots. This cannot be fun for you.
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CentralGopher said:
The guy put the ball on the floor from 17 feet out for cripes sakes. He gets it?. Obviously he doesn't.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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That was brutal. But at least he seems generally able to hold onto a rebound or a pass without fumbling it, which is an upgrade over BK.
 

rivergopher said:
Season ticket holder, my expectations are not really that high, .500 conference record, and 2 ncaa wins every 5 years is what I expect out of the program. Tell me how many other big ten teams would be satisfied with 18 games under .500 in a 4 year 4 game stretch. Rutgers maybe? His conference record is not even mediocre. Last year was the aberration not the norm it is looking like. I am not calling for him to be fired and I had to eat a lot of crow with last year but results are what matter, lets revisit this when the season is over. This is year 5 and his results so far have been terrible. Even Monson did not have a 5 year stretch as bad as we are in now.
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Pitino put a team together that, prior to the start of the season was top ten in the country material. Then one thing after the other happened, none of it was related to coaching or recruiting, which are the things a coach is generally evaluated on. The season is not over, so we will see what happens. Next year we will have a team that is a bit younger, but perhaps even more talented the one we were starting this year with.
So for this fan, looking at the whole picture, I am happy with what the coach has done and want to keep him for a long, long time to come. I am not happy with the current bad fortune but I have no idea who to blame it on, so I'm not going to blame anyone.

Quick quiz for you- Can you name an ACC coach whose first four years in conference were 20-36 (.357 winning percentage- worse than Pitino) who later did pretty well?
 

I guess we will agree to disagree, I am more about results I guess and not having to always look to the future. Those results are terrible the worse since the mid eighties. I do think he gets next year but if it is not an NCAA tournament bid it is time to move on. You can talk all you want about "recruiting" 0 NCAA wins and a well below .500 conference record after 6 years is enough sample size for programs that actually have expectations to move on. You can have all the Johnny and Joes you want, if you cannot coach, construct a roster, and motivate we will be left perpetually looking at the future talking about the next recruiting class.
 

rivergopher said:
I guess we will agree to disagree, I am more about results I guess and not having to always look to the future. Those results are terrible the worse since the mid eighties. I do think he gets next year but if it is not an NCAA tournament bid it is time to move on. You can talk all you want about "recruiting" 0 NCAA wins and a well below .500 conference record after 6 years is enough sample size for programs that actually have expectations to move on. You can have all the Johnny and Joes you want, if you cannot coach, construct a roster, and motivate we will be left perpetually looking at the future talking about the next recruiting class.
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I assume that you are discussing last year's Big Ten coach of the year here.... ;)

Were you able to identify the coach that failed even by current Pitino standards?
 

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