Gopher Recruiting

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hungan1

hungan1

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It is a Catch 22. The Gophers have to win or maybe even a shot at the Big Ten Tournament title which will help in recruiting. But, they have to have enough talent on the team to pull it off.

Bottom line - the Gophers have to recruit better. Pitino needs recruiting help.

On the bright side, the Gophers were picked to finish 12th and ended up finishing in 8th place in the B1G.

Just plain bad breaks - The Reggie Lynch debacle killed any hope for the team last year. And now it it injuries to Murphy, Curry and Stockman and having to play MSU in Round 2.

Could they have made it to the Sweet 16 if they were in another bracket? Who knows. The NCAA tournament is an opportunity to showcase the team. The further they go the better the exposure.

I am not making excuses for Pitino after his 5th season. Recruiting has to be better somehow. Get a lucky break. He only has one one player signed for 2019.
 

Yep I’ve been saying he needs an uptick in recruiting but he’s in on some good talent if he can land another solid one or two to go with the current commit (transfer or recruit IMO) then it’s a pretty decent class.
 

I think you’re giving too much credit to Curry and Stockman.

Curry had a few good games as a freshman but his injuries have turned him into a shell of his former self. He plays a style of below the rim play that is more fitting of Ultimate Hoops at LifeTime.

Matz was refreshing and should’ve played more, but Nick Ward is an absolute bruiser who would’ve used his frame and bulk to punishing Matz.

What was refreshing during the game was the few minutes that they played full court pressure / trapping defense.

Pitino needs to identify his system. After 6 years I can’t isentify what the Pitino system is. It seems he wants to play fast, but he then plays coffee at point? Coffee should be a 3 / 4 in a fast pace system that runs / presses.

We are never going to outsize the elite teams in the big ten, we need to play Jelly, Gabe, Recruit/Transfer, Coffee & Oturo. Omersa comes off the bench as an energy big. Let’s go!
 

I actually think recruiting has been fine. Player development is what’s held us back for the most part in my opinion. Generally our best 5 has been able to play with anyone, it’s when we have an injury or someone gets in foul trouble is when the wheels come off a bit. This is a huge offseason for the likes of Washington, Omersa and Hurt if he stays. If we can turn those guys into really serviceable bench guys and the class finishes on a high note which despite how rough it’s been this year seems to have some light at the end of the tunnel....we could be in pretty good shape next year and beyond. If we get these guys in the weight room and hone in on fundamentals, we’ll be right back in the tournament. Last night was not fun but I’m optimistic. A lot to build on with the talent we have coming back.
 

LosingHopeSince87 said:
I think you’re giving too much credit to Curry and Stockman.

Curry had a few good games as a freshman but his injuries have turned him into a shell of his former self. He plays a style of below the rim play that is more fitting of Ultimate Hoops at LifeTime.

Matz was refreshing and should’ve played more, but Nick Ward is an absolute bruiser who would’ve used his frame and bulk to punishing Matz.

What was refreshing during the game was the few minutes that they played full court pressure / trapping defense.

Pitino needs to identify his system. After 6 years I can’t isentify what the Pitino system is. It seems he wants to play fast, but he then plays coffee at point? Coffee should be a 3 / 4 in a fast pace system that runs / presses.

We are never going to outsize the elite teams in the big ten, we need to play Jelly, Gabe, Recruit/Transfer, Coffee & Oturo. Omersa comes off the bench as an energy big. Let’s go!
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We just need these guys to be healthy and available. Unfortunately not.

I like the way they played against Louisville with the pressing defense. I'd like for them to be able to do what MSU did to them. Play aggressive defense and fast transitions. That will be an entertaining brand of basketball. Of course, each Big Ten team poses different challenges based on personnel and schemes. I too don't quite know what to make of Pitino's style of play and it has been five years.
 


hungan1 said:
We just need these guys to be healthy and available. Unfortunately not.

I like the way they played against Louisville with the pressing defense. I'd like for them to be able to do what MSU did to them. Play aggressive defense and fast transitions. That will be an entertaining brand of basketball. Of course, each Big Ten team poses different challenges based on personnel and schemes. I too don't quite know what to make of Pitino's style of play and it has been five years.
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When you say pressing do you mean doubling the ball or just applying pressure full court. if you mean doubling the ball I think there is a reason Pitino doesn't do that to much in the Big Ten and it is to prevent an onslaught of easy baskets, I just don't think you can do it in league play, if you mean applying man to man pressure like Michigan State did and if you have the skills and athleticism I'm all for it.
 

jovs said:
When you say pressing do you mean doubling the ball or just applying pressure full court. if you mean doubling the ball I think there is a reason Pitino doesn't do that to much in the Big Ten and it is to prevent an onslaught of easy baskets, I just don't think you can do it in league play, if you mean applying man to man pressure like Michigan State did and if you have the skills and athleticism I'm all for it.
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I mean doubling and trapping. In regards to easy buckets, we already do that in a traditional half court game. Plus our lack of size / depth really struggles in a half pace game.

How many times did we have under 24 pta in a half? We have to avoid grind it out okay as we don’t have the guards / shooting to compete in those games
 

jovs said:
When you say pressing do you mean doubling the ball or just applying pressure full court. if you mean doubling the ball I think there is a reason Pitino doesn't do that to much in the Big Ten and it is to prevent an onslaught of easy baskets, I just don't think you can do it in league play, if you mean applying man to man pressure like Michigan State did and if you have the skills and athleticism I'm all for it.
Click to expand...

Michigan State was able to double down low on us aggressively because we couldn't shoot. I love our defense for most of last night and for most of the latter half of the season it was good. I think that this is an identity that Pitino has learned is mandatory in the Big Ten. I don't think you have to become a grinding, boring Wisconsin team. Michigan State is a great model. Defend hard and get the ball up court quickly. We need a speedy point guard who is a good on ball defender.
 

Beeg, I agree on getting the ball in the front court fast. Should be running offense within 10 seconds.

Get better shots as well.
 



Getting back to the OP, the 2019 recruiting class has been a disaster so far. We couldn’t even land MN kids that we weren’t that excited about like Roddy and Wahl. He needs to pull a rabbit out of his hat in the next few months to salvage the class.
 

Just checked on Ahmad Gilbert at Rider. He averaged 8 minutes per game this season and 3 points per game for Rider And Pitino gave a scholarship to this person?
 





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