Pitino quote from Marcus Fuller

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Bad Gopher said:
I've repeated that I'll be as happy as a clam with more than six conference wins.
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Wow. If you're still saying that after the NBA declaring period is over, I'd advise you to rethink expectations.

I'm fine with Pitino talking coach-speak to the press, but personally I'd be extremely disappointed if we don't make the tourney next year. For one thing, I thought we significantly underachieved this year by only getting to the final 32. I'd take Hollins, Hollins and Coleman as a returning set of guards over anybody else in the big ten except maybe Ohio State (Craft and Ross) or MSU (Appling and Harris). I think Eliason will hold his own at center by next year.

And yes Mbakwe and Williams leave holes to fill, but what we lose isn't nearly as much as what a lot of other good teams are losing. Think about that quote ... how many good teams DON'T lose at least 2 good players every year?? LOL
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
How is the NCAA tournament not realistic?
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Seriously, do you think Coach Pitino is not going to do everything he can to make the tourney? It is, as others have said, coachspeak. Either you know that and are just trolling, or you are a Tubby-did-no-wrong guy, or you are naïve, or some combination of the three.

After seeing what Tubby accomplished in six years I think Coach Pitino has an equal chance to make the dance but with a higher long term ceiling.

Accepting mediocrity would have been to keep Tubby.

6-12
6-12
8-10
 

John Galt said:
What should he have done, guaranteed a tournament appearance and said we might make a sweet sixteen run?
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His answer in the Michael Rand interview, to essentially the same question, was about perfect:

Q This team is coming off an NCAA tournament berth and a win in its first game. That said, some key pieces are missing. What are your expectations for next year?
A My expectations are that I am hoping to develop a culture of hard, hard work. My expectations are that these guys get better every single day, that they do the right things in the classroom and on campus. My expectations are the kids get better and I can establish my brand. It’s really hard when you take over a job to set goals from wins and losses. Certainly Coach Smith established a lot of great things here. But I’m not going to look at wins and losses in year one. We’ve lost some pretty big pieces. Mbakwe and Williams are two very good players.

Kill is also of the "underpromise and overdeliver" mindset, but he's always very careful (especially before his 1st season) to never comment specifically on achievable benchmarks, things like wins and losses. By saying what he said to Fuller, Pitino is admitting that he doesn't think it's realistic to win enough games to make the Tournament. That's not a good way to start your tenure.
 

WanderingGopher said:
Wow. If you're still saying that after the NBA declaring period is over, I'd advise you to rethink expectations.

I'm fine with Pitino talking coach-speak to the press, but personally I'd be extremely disappointed if we don't make the tourney next year. For one thing, I thought we significantly underachieved this year by only getting to the final 32. I'd take Hollins, Hollins and Coleman as a returning set of guards over anybody else in the big ten except maybe Ohio State (Craft and Ross) or MSU (Appling and Harris). I think Eliason will hold his own at center by next year.

And yes Mbakwe and Williams leave holes to fill, but what we lose isn't nearly as much as what a lot of other good teams are losing. Think about that quote ... how many good teams DON'T lose at least 2 good players every year?? LOL
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Usually there is a recruiting class coming in to help.
 

If I was a current player, I would imagine I would be ticked off after hearing my coach say that after coming off of a trip to the NCAA Tourney.
 


I thought it was a realistic statement. Hard to expect to make the NCAA tourney next year with the roster as it is. Unless two players besides Andre Hollins really improve, its pretty realistic to belive that at least talent wise, this team is in the bottom half, if not bottom third, of the conference next year IMO...
 

So if you had roughly one week as the amount of time it'd take for fans to start questioning Pitino, you win!

That seat is already starting to get hot ...
 

John Galt said:
And what are Minnesota fans expecting from a team that just finished 8-10 in the Big Ten, loses 4 seniors including 2 of the top 4 players on the team, and has no highly rated players coming in?
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Couldn't have said it better myself
 

GOALS: The expectations that THE TEAM sets for themselves to achieve.

EXPECTATIONS: What fans claim they demand (wins/losses) from THE TEAM.

I am not coaching the Gophers, so I let them set their goals that they are will to work for to achieve.

I AM a FAN of the Gophers, and all I have for EXPECTATIONS are to give it their all in efforts to achieve the GOALS they have set for themselves, and the wins/losses take care of themselves.
 



dpodoll68 said:
His answer in the Michael Rand interview, to essentially the same question, was about perfect:

Q This team is coming off an NCAA tournament berth and a win in its first game. That said, some key pieces are missing. What are your expectations for next year?
A My expectations are that I am hoping to develop a culture of hard, hard work. My expectations are that these guys get better every single day, that they do the right things in the classroom and on campus. My expectations are the kids get better and I can establish my brand. It’s really hard when you take over a job to set goals from wins and losses. Certainly Coach Smith established a lot of great things here. But I’m not going to look at wins and losses in year one. We’ve lost some pretty big pieces. Mbakwe and Williams are two very good players.

Kill is also of the "underpromise and overdeliver" mindset, but he's always very careful (especially before his 1st season) to never comment specifically on achievable benchmarks, things like wins and losses. By saying what he said to Fuller, Pitino is admitting that he doesn't think it's realistic to win enough games to make the Tournament. That's not a good way to start your tenure.
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If you read closer -he's not admitting that at all. Rather he is attempting to refocus our attention. Tubby did not get fired simply based on W's and L's. Tubby got fired because everybody was tired of the optics of the situation. The brand was tired and the players played unethusiastically. There is enough here (and on the way I trust) to have a goal of reaching the tournament. But that is achieved by installing the brand, the enthusiasm and the hard work necessary to get to the result. He is trying to get us all to look for enthusiasm, look for development and look for an exciting brand of play. Those are things he thinks he can deliver with certainty. If so- I'm confident that they will have a shot at the tournament.
 

dpodoll68 said:
His answer in the Michael Rand interview, to essentially the same question, was about perfect:

Q This team is coming off an NCAA tournament berth and a win in its first game. That said, some key pieces are missing. What are your expectations for next year?
A My expectations are that I am hoping to develop a culture of hard, hard work. My expectations are that these guys get better every single day, that they do the right things in the classroom and on campus. My expectations are the kids get better and I can establish my brand. It’s really hard when you take over a job to set goals from wins and losses. Certainly Coach Smith established a lot of great things here. But I’m not going to look at wins and losses in year one. We’ve lost some pretty big pieces. Mbakwe and Williams are two very good players.

Kill is also of the "underpromise and overdeliver" mindset, but he's always very careful (especially before his 1st season) to never comment specifically on achievable benchmarks, things like wins and losses. By saying what he said to Fuller, Pitino is admitting that he doesn't think it's realistic to win enough games to make the Tournament. That's not a good way to start your tenure.
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We don't know Pitino well enough yet to know if he's being a straight shooter or setting expectations low. A large part of the problem is people who think last year's team would have finished in the Top 3 in the B1G if it weren't for Tubby. IMO, the only team that finished ahead of us that had less talent was Wisconsin. Indiana, Michigan, Michigan St., and Ohio St. had much more talented teams than we did this past year. We were an average Big Ten team, talent-wise and coaching-wise.

Bottom line, we finished 8-10 last year when the expectations were for much more. Why would anyone realistically think we should go to the Tourney next year given the players we just lost with no freshmen coming in, a new coach, and a new system? Even if we win 8 Big Ten games again next year, that probably wouldn't be enough to get us in.
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
So has everyone on this board and most would say that the tournament should be the goal for next season.
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The tournament should be the goal every season, however, this team will struggle to get to 6 conference wins next season whether the coach is Pitino or if Tubby was still here.

This is the Tubbyites way of placing too high of exectations on next season and if the team struggles they have their "Should have kept Tubby" response at the ready.
 

I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't care in the slightest about what a coach says in regards to expectations. I care how he actually performs. Performance is what matters to me.
 



GophersOnTheRise said:
I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't care in the slightest about what a coach says in regards to expectations. I care how he actually performs. Performance is what matters to me.
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I would agree, but also add that I care what a coach says about performance.

Might have a mediocre season or game. That's when I want the coach to step up and say that it pisses him off, that it's not acceptable, that it's on him to improve. Not a coach that blames players and a lack of practice facility. Tubby was never a "buck stops here" kind of guy.

In summary in case anyone is taking notes:
  1. I don't care about what Coach P. says about expectations.
  2. I care about performances and results
  3. I care about what he says about said performances and results
 

scools12 said:
The tournament should be the goal every season. This team will struggle to get to 6 conference wins next season whether the coach is Pitino or if Tubby was still here.

This is Tubbyites way of place too high of exectations on next season and if the team struggles they have their "Should have kept Tubby" response ready to go.
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Honestly, yeah.

I personally have no clue what expectations to put on next season. I'd like to go based on history, but there really isn't much for Pitino with only one year of coaching.

If you look at the players history. This almost exact team went 6-12 in the B1G and made the NIT two years ago. Now subtract Rodney Williams from that team and you have what we know about this upcoming season.

Now obviously Andre and others have improved from that team, but we also have no clue what additional recruits we will get or how guys will develop next season.

I'm not sure expecting an NCAA tournament bid is realistic, but I sure hope it is the goal of him and everyone else on the team.
 

What would the Tubby apologists have expected from next year's team if he were still around? It's plain to see that the cupboard is somewhat bare and the expectations for next year's team were going to be lower regardless. Tubby was fired because last year was the year they were supposed to turn the corner and it didn't happen. If the best team in six years stumbles that badly down the stretch, momentum is lost. Enthusiasm disappears. Mediocrity becomes the expectation.

Of course Rich is aiming for the NCAAs next year, but it isn't some sort of disaster is they don't qualify. Give the man some time to establish himself. He's not a miracle worker. One would be foolish to think that he hasn't given this program a much need shot in the arm, however.
 

6 conference wins would be a massive disappointment for the veteran back court we have returning. Especially if we bring in a little help in the PF position.
 

scools12 said:
The tournament should be the goal every season, however, this team will struggle to get to 6 conference wins next season whether the coach is Pitino or if Tubby was still here.

This is the Tubbyites way of placing too high of exectations on next season and if the team struggles they have their "Should have kept Tubby" response at the ready.
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Once again what is a "Tubbyite"?
 

What a stupid argument. It must be the off season.
 

Nobody is excepting mediocrity, we're realistic though on our expectations for next season. If in 6 yrs he still hasnt finished above .500 and were ok with that, than yes that would be excepting mediocrity. He certainly wants to make the tourney but you are a fool if you expect to make the tourney with this current team. I think we can compete with our guard play but we have no front court depth what so ever. Imagine what our record would have been this year without Mbakwe, depending on who Pitino brings in my expectations will remain low. I wish the Tubby suckers would watch the B1G season all over again and see how excruciating it was to watch and count the number of hair follicles lost due to the absolutely terrible basketball.
 

GoldenHerbs said:
Nobody is excepting mediocrity, we're realistic though on our expectations for next season. If in 6 yrs he still hasnt finished above .500 and were ok with that, than yes that would be excepting mediocrity. He certainly wants to make the tourney but you are a fool if you expect to make the tourney with this current team. I think we can compete with our guard play but we have no front court depth what so ever. Imagine what our record would have been this year without Mbakwe, depending on who Pitino brings in my expectations will remain low. I wish the Tubby suckers would watch the B1G season all over again and see how excruciating it was to watch and count the number of hair follicles lost due to the absolutely terrible basketball.
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The coach accepting mediocrity and fans is completely different.
 


I thought Holers would be rejoicing over this because it means Pitino won't have a good enough resume to leave after a year...
 



It's not unrealistic to make the Tourney. I mean, you can go 12-1 in non-conference and have a losing record in the big ten and still get a bid....
 

PrairieDog4 said:
It's not unrealistic to make the Tourney. I mean, you can go 12-1 in non-conference and have a losing record in the big ten and still get a bid....
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It's rare. Usually you have to go 9-9 at least.
 

bga1 said:
Johnny- We still don't know how the question was phrased. For example expectation is different than goal. A goal is something that we strive for and if we get a lot better- we reach it. An expectation is more based on what we see. My expectation about Coach Pitino is that his goal is that we would reach the NCAA tourney. Currently he sees that there is a gap. Depending on how well the players develop and depending on who coach P can add to the roster, the expectation may change but the goal probably won't.
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Well said bga1.
 

joshvanklomp said:
I thought Holers would be rejoicing over this because it means Pitino won't have a good enough resume to leave after a year...
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He can leave anytime that his dad decides to hang it up at Louisville.
 

Are we really judging a basketball coach by what he has accomplished or think he will accomplish in year 1? Really?

With Tubby, "accepting mediocrity" was being kind because Tubby is a nice guy. With Tubby, through 6 years, we were a less than mediocore Big 10 team. We were a bottom 1/2 program in the Big 10, with Tubby. To argue that he did a good job would be saying that you accept being a team in the bottom 1/2 of the Big 10.

However, Pitino is in year 1. He hasn't coached a game yet! If Pitino said, "we'll never be a team that makes a run in the tournament or being in the top 1/2 of the Big 10 most seasons is unrealistic", the shoehorning of the "accepting mediocrity" argument could make some sense. Now, it seems desperate.

A first year coach should always be given slack. I said the same thing with Brew, Kill, Mase and I'll say to whatever next round of coaches are at the U. When a new coach comes in, loses his best player, he deserves some slack. It's possible we make the tournament next year, we have some good players. But it says very little about Pitino if we do not.
 

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