Will "Back Against the Wall" Pitino, pull a Rabbit out of his hat?

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Otis

Otis

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I am impressed with the efforts of Mr. "I would of been fired if not for COVID 19" Pitino so far!

He has assembled an impressive list of players during a very difficult time and hired a promising young assistant coach.

Do you think he can get approval for these guys to play, find the right mix, and achieve enough success to secure an extension? Get the critics off his back? Sign another amazing recruiting class?

I don't know.

But he's off to a pretty good start.
 

Both waivers denied, Lackluster season, Pitino fired after missing tournament (Just predicting the opposite of what I hope happens!)
 

Color me optimistic but need Robbins for this season. Pitino has proven he has the coaching chops except in recruiting. Hopefully that corner has been turned.
 


Plus, also has Treyton Thompson committed for 20201. Feels like its been a while (Maybe just since Oturu) since we've had a solid commit this early.
 


Middling results propped up by transfers with 0 sustainability into 2022. It’s what he does.
 

Otis said:
I am impressed with the efforts of Mr. "I would of been fired if not for COVID 19" Pitino so far!

He has assembled an impressive list of players during a very difficult time and hired a promising young assistant coach.

Do you think he can get approval for these guys to play, find the right mix, and achieve enough success to secure an extension? Get the critics off his back? Sign another amazing recruiting class?

I don't know.

But he's off to a pretty good start.
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I've been a pretty strong critic of Pitino, but I don't know how anyone can't be impressed with what he has done this offseason. I suspect the team will be quite strong if Carr and the new players are all eligible. Even if one of Robbins or Gach can't play, they still could have a good season.

If Pitino can finish in the top five or so of the league, he should get an immediate extension after the season.
 


I've been a Pitino backer for long time, last year he started to lose me. I don't really see direction we're going and feel like we're rebuilding on the fly

Last year I saw team with improving (though still needing work) defense. If we can improve on defense and close out some games this year, we should be in ok shape. But I don't see this as more than a fringe bubble team and want us to be in mix for higher seeds.

I'm hopeful he gets he done, but if he doesn't, I think it's time to move on for both parties.
 



salzie said:
I've been a Pitino backer for long time, last year he started to lose me. I don't really see direction we're going and feel like we're rebuilding on the fly

Last year I saw team with improving (though still needing work) defense. If we can improve on defense and close out some games this year, we should be in ok shape. But I don't see this as more than a fringe bubble team and want us to be in mix for higher seeds.

I'm hopeful he gets he done, but if he doesn't, I think it's time to move on for both parties.
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If waivers are approved, Johnson and Gach should be big steps up from Demir and Willis. I am confident Gabe will improve. Would certainly expect German KD to help significantly more than last season. Robbins tempers the loss of Oturu. Much better bench. Given the waivers, we should be easily better than last season.
 

Starting line-up should be ~ equal to last year. The bench should be much stronger. Learn how to close a game and we can be an NCAA team.
 

Sweet Sixteen at least! Again, another year of big turn over with a lot of new comers. But at least three were significant stars on their teams last year. So they have game experience, just need to gel together.
 





For now, this assumes Gach gets a waiver, Robbins doesn’t (though I think because of COVID it’s slightly better than 50-50), and Carr returns. Gophers up one spot from my last projection.

 

salzie said:
I've been a Pitino backer for long time, last year he started to lose me. I don't really see direction we're going and feel like we're rebuilding on the fly

Last year I saw team with improving (though still needing work) defense. If we can improve on defense and close out some games this year, we should be in ok shape. But I don't see this as more than a fringe bubble team and want us to be in mix for higher seeds.

I'm hopeful he gets he done, but if he doesn't, I think it's time to move on for both parties.
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What, specifically, would be considered "getting it done" this season with this new cast of players?
 



salzie said:
I've been a Pitino backer for long time, last year he started to lose me. I don't really see direction we're going and feel like we're rebuilding on the fly

Last year I saw team with improving (though still needing work) defense. If we can improve on defense and close out some games this year, we should be in ok shape. But I don't see this as more than a fringe bubble team and want us to be in mix for higher seeds.

I'm hopeful he gets he done, but if he doesn't, I think it's time to move on for both parties.
Click to expand...
This has always been the question. Even when "back against the wall Pitino" pulls a rabbit out of a hat, the question builtbadgers and others have been asking is whether any of this is sustainable or whether it'll result in true contention in the conference or deep runs in the tournament.

That said, looks like we'll have an exciting-looking roster when and if they can get back on the floor again--and provided, of course, that Carr returns, which is highly likely but not certain.
 

IMHO, it all hinges on Robbins getting the waiver. If he's in the middle, that sets up the rest of the lineup.

If Robbins does not get the waiver, that impacts the rest of the lineup, because you either have to go small, play people out of position, or force-feed minutes to players who may not be ready for reasons of health (Curry) or experience (Freeman).

I think Gach is a much better bet to get a waiver based on his family situation.

Robbins is a toss-up. That decision by the NCAA will go a long way in determining the team's fate and possibly even the Coach's future.
 

Bad Gopher said:
This has always been the question. Even when "back against the wall Pitino" pulls a rabbit out of a hat, the question builtbadgers and others have been asking is whether any of this is sustainable or whether it'll result in true contention in the conference or deep runs in the tournament.

That said, looks like we'll have an exciting-looking roster when and if they can get back on the floor again--and provided, of course, that Carr returns, which is highly likely but not certain.
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I fully support him winning his way to another year. I believe in sustainable when i know the coach built a foundation year one, whether they won those first years our not. Then it becomes fact when you sustain great success over many years.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
IMHO, it all hinges on Robbins getting the waiver. If he's in the middle, that sets up the rest of the lineup.

If Robbins does not get the waiver, that impacts the rest of the lineup, because you either have to go small, play people out of position, or force-feed minutes to players who may not be ready for reasons of health (Curry) or experience (Freeman).

I think Gach is a much better bet to get a waiver based on his family situation.

Robbins is a toss-up. That decision by the NCAA will go a long way in determining the team's fate and possibly even the Coach's future.
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Post of the day! Well said. There are posters who think that the game is going away from Robbins types so we can be fine without him. Dont see it. Need his defense, rebounding, and he can be an offensive threat in the paint. Our season depends on the Robbins waiver.
 

Call me simplistic but at the end of 2021 season Pitino either needs to be fired or have signed a substantial enough extension that nobody brings up firing him again until at least 2023
 

Some guy said:
Call me simplistic but at the end of 2021 season Pitino either needs to be fired or have signed a substantial enough extension that nobody brings up firing him again until at least 2023
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He could get a 100 yr extension and the same olds would still continually bring it up every time we lost a game. Just how it is.
 

DJ Carton just got a waiver, at this point they just need to give everyone a waiver. If Carton gets one there is 0 reason to deny Gach and Robbins. Now that said, its the NCAA so there is no rhyme or reason to anything they do
 


GopherBlood666 said:
He could get a 100 yr extension and the same olds would still continually bring it up every time we lost a game. Just how it is.
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You get that at nearly every program. UW had a dozen fans calling for Gard to be fired. I will never post after a loss or a bad week to fire Pitino. I believe in good AD's to fire on a body of work .
 

Some guy said:
Call me simplistic but at the end of 2021 season Pitino either needs to be fired or have signed a substantial enough extension that nobody brings up firing him again until at least 2023
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I couldn't agree more. At times literally half the board would be b*tching about how Pitino needs to be fired in the post-game threads. How he's recruited this spring with only 1 year left on his contract and an extremely hot seat has been remarkable. It isn't easy to recruit kids when you can't promise them you'll be there in a year - I hope he earns an extension.
 

Parcival said:
I couldn't agree more. At times literally half the board would be b*tching about how Pitino needs to be fired in the post-game threads. How he's recruited this spring with only 1 year left on his contract and an extremely hot seat has been remarkable. It isn't easy to recruit kids when you can't promise them you'll be there in a year - I hope he earns an extension.
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Yeah. I know my opinion was to let him go...but I’d rather know he is going to be here for 3+ years than have rumor swirling every year.
 

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