Keep the faith

[SelectionSunday]

Some discouraging signs? Absolutely. Carr needs to play a lot better vs. quality competition, and Oturu needs some help on the frontline (Bueller? Anyone? Anyone?). A roster with 7 new guys isn't going to magically look great from the season's get-go, especially when 4 of the first 5 opponents are high majors.

 

[GopherinFlorida]

Pitino's recruiting is still an issue in year 7...too many holes.

 

[shaggith]

Pitino's recruiting is still an issue in year 7...too many holes.

To be fair, had Coffey stayed and Curry not gotten hurt, I think we would be 3-0 right now. He is routinely bringing in four star guys now and we've made the tourney 2 of the past 3 years. Give this team some time to build chemistry and confidence.

 

[theczar]

To bad Mr. Sarcasm coach Pitino could not even land Roddy from Breck last year...went for 12 and 6 at Duke

 

[bga1]

Some discouraging signs? Absolutely. Carr needs to play a lot better vs. quality competition, and Oturu needs some help on the frontline (Bueller? Anyone? Anyone?). A roster with 7 new guys isn't going to magically look great from the season's get-go, especially when 4 of the first 5 opponents are high majors.

Good post. It's going to be a bumpy ride. I think that we are going to take lumps in the NC schedule and hope to show improvement along the way- such that we start looking at this squad as a dangerous one, kind of like Illinois last year. Unless the frosh start showing up as good depth, and Carr gets a lot better at playing the point, it is going to be a long year. You are not going on the road and committing 18 turnovers and shooting badly and surviving it.

 

[Gopherbbdude]

My goodness fans turn fast after a NCAA tourney team with a win....wow

 

[Keyser Söze]

We will improve as the year goes on. Too early to panic.

 

[scools12]

The issue is the roster overall isn't very good.

In year 7 of Pitino and hoping the squad improves as the season goes isn't going to help keep the faith. That's getting into time to move on territory.

The question is can or should Ptino survive another take a step back season?

 

[Gopherfan84]

To bad Mr. Sarcasm coach Pitino could not even land Roddy from Breck last year...went for 12 and 6 at Duke

What's your purpose of posting here? If it's trolling you have some work to do to be good at that.

 

[mplarson7]

The thing is, our roster is nearly all underclassmen.

Seniors: Hurt, Demir
Juniors: Willis (I'd put money on Curry being done for his career)
Sophomores: Oturu, Kalscheur, Carr, Omersa
Freshmen: Williams, Greenlee, Freeman, Ihnen

Other than Willis, all of our major contributors so far this season are freshmen and sophomores. There is a LOT of room for growth, both this season and the next couple seasons.

I agree, I would rather we get punched in the mouth now than in the B1G.

 

[bga1]

The issue is the roster overall isn't very good.

In year 7 of Pitino and hoping the squad improves as the season goes isn't going to help keep the faith. That's getting into time to move on territory.

The question is can or should Ptino survive another take a step back season?

What is this year 7 thing? Are we supposed to be 33-0 by year 12? Programs do not just show a steady improvement year after year. You have ups and downs. Right now there is a pretty decent chance that this will be a down cycle year. However, I would argue that with the addition of a good PF (Garcia please) and Mashburn we have the players to be really, really good next year. Up to now- I will totally agree that Pitino has not yet done what we need to see. We all want more winning. I am going to enjoy the season, the development of the players and then at the end of the year, we'll see what the AD says about the situation.

 

[tmvander]

I'm already excited for next year. Really hoping this year gets all these guys a lot more experience and a season of ups and downs that they have to play through. Returning 4 starters next year and hopefully having an upgrade at forward will really have us looking good on paper.

We have some serious talent at guard. Guys who can shoot, play defense, pass, and handle the ball. Oturu is a stud. Don't think that this year is going to be an indicator of where this team is headed.

 

[scools12]

Pitino hasn't shown anything other than the ability to be nothing but ups and downs year after year. There is no consistency to the program. The program isn't any better off since he took over. Year 7 and there is not one thing you can point to that the team does well.

Stop with the excuses for a coach that has one winning conference season to go with one NCAA win as just the normal ups and downs.

 

[Gopherfan84]

What is this year 7 thing? Are we supposed to be 33-0 by year 12? Programs do not just show a steady improvement year after year. You have ups and downs. Right now there is a pretty decent chance that this will be a down cycle year. However, I would argue that with the addition of a good PF (Garcia please) and Mashburn we have the players to be really, really good next year. Up to now- I will totally agree that Pitino has not yet done what we need to see. We all want more winning. I am going to enjoy the season, the development of the players and then at the end of the year, we'll see what the AD says about the situation.

Amen, lets hold out. This is a group of kids who have been said to be hard workers and will get better. They already defend better than last years team and they look to play together. Cohesion will come. I still don't see why this can't be a tournament team yet. Lot of season left and way too early to tell. Duke, Kentucky, and Auburn all had issues last night, so are they terrible too? Early season basketball is ugly, teams that learn lessons and improve will rise throughout the season. Either way Pitino is here this year and if Coyle loses faith in him, he'll get rid of him, if he believes he's got the program in good standing, he'll keep him. We should enjoy that we have a good group of kids who play hard and together.

 

[Gopherfan84]

Pitino hasn't shown anything other than the ability to be nothing but ups and downs year after year. There is no consistency to the program. The program isn't any better off since he took over. Year 7 and there is not one thing you can point to that the team does well.

Stop with the excuses for a coach that has one winning conference season to go with one NCAA win as just the normal ups and downs.

Disagree strongly here. The list of coaches who'd take this job if Pitino is let go is significantly better than the group who would've taken it when Tubby was gone. That to me means the program is in better standing.

 

[Mulligan]

Most discouraged by how we've hung in there and then in both games when we fell about 6 points behind in the second half, it just felt like it was all over. Lack of depth, especially up front, has killed us. Oturu must feel like he's out there by himself at times.

 

[CentralGopher]

Not sure whether I pin the blame on recruiting or in game coaching or both but it's clear the last couple of games there is no ability to break down a defense and find the weaknesses.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[builtbadgers]

How is it that 3 games in people are passing judgement ? I suppose that is what message boards are for to some extent. Let us at least see what Ihnen brings and give the team time. I have seen plenty of teams struggle early only to become a absolute beast once the conference rolls around.

 

[golfing18now]

Pitino hasn't shown anything other than the ability to be nothing but ups and downs year after year. There is no consistency to the program. The program isn't any better off since he took over. Year 7 and there is not one thing you can point to that the team does well.

Stop with the excuses for a coach that has one winning conference season to go with one NCAA win as just the normal ups and downs.

Ups and downs are absolutely part of college basketball unless you are one of about 5 to 10 elite programs. If you want to make the point that this program hasn't done enough through the first six years and a few complete college recruiting cycles, then that would at least be worth the debate. But to suggest "Year Seven" has some sort of threshold that needs to be met is stupid. This team lost four to graduation, one to the NBA, one to transfer, and one to a catastrophic knee injury before the season even started. Only one of those losses were Pitino's fault (Washington). They have a total of two players that have played significant minutes in this program. So now you expect the first three games of "Year Seven" to be a well oiled machine right out of the gate?

 

[BarnBurner]

Disagree strongly here. The list of coaches who'd take this job if Pitino is let go is significantly better than the group who would've taken it when Tubby was gone. That to me means the program is in better standing.

Please, share it now.

 

[scools12]

Ups and downs are absolutely part of college basketball unless you are one of about 5 to 10 elite programs. If you want to make the point that this program hasn't done enough through the first six years and a few complete college recruiting cycles, then that would at least be worth the debate. But to suggest "Year Seven" has some sort of threshold that needs to be met is stupid. This team lost four to graduation, one to the NBA, one to transfer, and one to a catastrophic knee injury before the season even started. Only one of those losses were Pitino's fault (Washington). They have a total of two players that have played significant minutes in this program. So now you expect the first three games of "Year Seven" to be a well oiled machine right out of the gate?

Never said there was a threshold. I would expect by year 7 there was at least back to back years of some type of success. Instead all Ptiino's tenure has been is up down up down up down.

Expecting for at least 2 consecutive years of ups instead of one sort of up year followed by an extreme down isn't too much to expect.

They have more than 2 players that have played significant minutes. Carr and Willis both we here last year in the program. Also they both have previously played plenty of minutes in a power conference season.

 

[BarnBurner]

As I was watching last night, I remembered all the discussion of the ooc schedule. Here we are.

 

[BarnBurner]

Good post. It's going to be a bumpy ride. I think that we are going to take lumps in the NC schedule and hope to show improvement along the way- such that we start looking at this squad as a dangerous one, kind of like Illinois last year. Unless the frosh start showing up as good depth, and Carr gets a lot better at playing the point, it is going to be a long year. You are not going on the road and committing 18 turnovers and shooting badly and surviving it.

He appears to not have the handle to play the point effectively, against higher level competition. Having never seen him play before, I am somewhat underwhelmed. However, I think too much dribbling and lack of effective ball movement/general offense hurts him. Not all his fault.

I like Williams and think he will be solid or better by next year, if he plays major minutes this season. Really want to see Ihnen.

 

[Block M]

Agree with SS. This team has looked pretty tough in my limited viewing of them thus far. The lack of a skilled 3/4 is really hurting them right now. Ihnen is going to have to be that guy if his wrist heals. No one else on the roster has the physical characteristics to do it.

 

[John Galt]

To be fair, had Coffey stayed and Curry not gotten hurt, I think we would be 3-0 right now. He is routinely bringing in four star guys now and we've made the tourney 2 of the past 3 years. Give this team some time to build chemistry and confidence.

Curry was bad last year and had his 10th knee injury. If Pitino was counting on him to log 30 minutes a game this year, that's on him.

 

[howeda7]

To be fair, had Coffey stayed and Curry not gotten hurt, I think we would be 3-0 right now. He is routinely bringing in four star guys now and we've made the tourney 2 of the past 3 years. Give this team some time to build chemistry and confidence.

If this team just had Coffey, they'd be 3-0. The harsh truth is that his leaving early and essentially not being replaced is probably too much for this team to overcome. I'd like to be wrong.

 

[CPTMidnight]

The issue is the roster overall isn't very good.

In year 7 of Pitino and hoping the squad improves as the season goes isn't going to help keep the faith. That's getting into time to move on territory.

The question is can or should Ptino survive another take a step back season?

I know that 2 losses must have you positively giddy as a schoolgirl. Pitino is not going to be let go during the season unless the season completely falls apart - you know it, I know it, and the rest of Gopherhole knows it.

Mark Coyle has done a pretty good job so far (Not stepping in on the Lynch kangaroo court being the one exception). I believe he will make the right call at the end of the season and probably the one that most of the people here will support.

 

[MplsGopher]

Ups and downs are absolutely part of college basketball unless you are one of about 5 to 10 elite programs. If you want to make the point that this program hasn't done enough through the first six years and a few complete college recruiting cycles, then that would at least be worth the debate. But to suggest "Year Seven" has some sort of threshold that needs to be met is stupid. This team lost four to graduation, one to the NBA, one to transfer, and one to a catastrophic knee injury before the season even started. Only one of those losses were Pitino's fault (Washington). They have a total of two players that have played significant minutes in this program. So now you expect the first three games of "Year Seven" to be a well oiled machine right out of the gate?

So is Pitino just the unluckiest coach in the P6??

Why doesn’t this seem to happen as often at other equivalent programs?

 

[Keyser Söze]

So is Pitino just the unluckiest coach in the P6??

Why doesn’t this seem to happen as often at other equivalent programs?

Other teams struggle at the beginning of the year too. Kentucky, the #1 team, just lost to Evansville.

We don't know how good/bad this team is yet. We have 7 new players who need some time to gel and we are being thrown in the deep end right off the bat. We also haven't seen Ihnen yet.

 

[Gopherfan1000]

So far I'm concerned in a bad way. We shoot the three ball with zero success, cannot get any bench production and turn the ball over wayyyy too much. Hope it's just growing pains. I really do...