1500's Patrick Donnelly: Pitino's up-tempo style injecting excitement, energy to U

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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The Gophers are just 10 games into Richard Pitino's tenure, but they've already put together a highlight reel eclipsing any excitement from the Tubby Smith era.

The latest addition to the thrill ride that has been the 2013-14 season came on Saturday during Minnesota's 80-65 victory over New Orleans. And the key figures were two of the usual suspects: point guard DeAndre Mathieu and swingman Austin Hollins.

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/...ting_excitement_energy_to_Gophers_hoops120713

Go Gophers!!
 

So was Mr. Donnelly living under a rock when Rodney Williams was here giving dunk lessons??
 

woozee said:
So was Mr. Donnelly living under a rock when Rodney Williams was here giving dunk lessons??
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Or Trevor for that matter....

That's quite the overstatement, but does accurately depict the perception of the differences between the two in the TC right now.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Or Trevor for that matter....

That's quite the overstatement, but does accurately depict the perception of the differences between the two in the TC right now.
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Perception is the key word. According to KenPom, the Gophers' adjusted tempo is 67.5 possessions per game, good for 219th in the country. In 2011 it was 66.2, in 2012 it was 64.5, and in 2013 it was 63.4. The key difference, of course, is that the Gophers' are likely to slow down in conference.

So it's slightly more up-tempo than in the past and there's the possibility that delta will be eliminated by the end of the year.
 

justthefacts said:
Perception is the key word. According to KenPom, the Gophers' adjusted tempo is 67.5 possessions per game, good for 219th in the country. In 2011 it was 66.2, in 2012 it was 64.5, and in 2013 it was 63.4. The key difference, of course, is that the Gophers' are likely to slow down in conference.

So it's slightly more up-tempo than in the past and there's the possibility that delta will be eliminated by the end of the year.
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That seems odd to me. My perception is that shots are taken much sooner and players are allowed to fire when ready.
 


Section201 said:
That seems odd to me. My perception is that shots are taken much sooner and players are allowed to fire when ready.
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I agree with your perception for the beginning of the year. But his tempo has slow down ever since Maui they are spending more time in their offensive sets.

What scares me most is that there shooting percentage has gotten worst.
 

We need to see how all this plays out once the Big Ten season starts. Entirely different animal when you're playing quality competition night in & night out.
 

Section201 said:
That seems odd to me. My perception is that shots are taken much sooner and players are allowed to fire when ready.
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ya, but we also spend more time on defense because we don't crash the boards as well, this season, teams get a lot of extra looks
 

bemidjigopher said:
ya, but we also spend more time on defense because we don't crash the boards as well, this season, teams get a lot of extra looks
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This is a very good point. Last years team was strong on the defensive and offensive boards, which allowed for more attempts, even if the pace was a bit slower. This years team is undersized and gives up second shots more often. Nice observation, bemidji.
 



tinyarch said:
This is a very good point. Last years team was strong on the defensive and offensive boards, which allowed for more attempts, even if the pace was a bit slower. This years team is undersized and gives up second shots more often. Nice observation, bemidji.
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Wasn't our defensive rebounding pretty average, if not slightly below average? It was our offensive rebounding that was so good.
 

Well when you turn the ball over at the rate we did last year thats going to create quite a few extra possessions in a ball game....


/Flamethrower
 


1500 is definitely playing to a perception. But in the entertainment industry - which this is - perception is very important. I think this is a more enjoyable brand of basketball to watch, and a lot of people agree.
 



Gophers looked really good the non-conference portion of the season last year, with one of the bigger concerns being that Rodney didn't carryover his offensive game from the prior years NIT. The game at FSU was about as exciting as it gets, as was the early season win at Illinois where Joe Coleman was getting a bunch of transition buckets...then the rest of the year happened and the Gophers lost EIGHT times to B1G opponents while scoring 53 points or fewer (and one win over Wisconsin that was 58-53 after OT).

I think this year only positive conclusions can be drawn about Pitino's ability to play fast (or at least faster) in the B1G. Meaning, if he can do it with this group, he should be able to do it the future. Alternatively, failing to play faster this year shouldn't set off alarm bells given the current construction of the roster. Credit where credit is due though, Tubby's teams usually hammered the non-conference cream puffs and Rodney and/or Trevor was always good for a spectacular play or two.
 

I wasn't at Saturday's game but perception does mean something. I have seen this team dominate in a different way - its almost visceral to the observer. What will happen when the BT season rolls around? I'll paraphrase Souhan - this team may look better losing that Tubby's teams did winning.

Here's why I have season tickets - I really like to watch college players grow and develop. Main reason Tubby was let go? This wasn't happening and everyone knew it, so recruiting was going to tank.
 

Moonlight said:
I wasn't at Saturday's game but perception does mean something. I have seen this team dominate in a different way - its almost visceral to the observer. What will happen when the BT season rolls around? I'll paraphrase Souhan - this team may look better losing that Tubby's teams did winning.

Here's why I have season tickets - I really like to watch college players grow and develop. Main reason Tubby was let go? This wasn't happening and everyone knew it, so recruiting was going to tank.
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Good post. I see people saying -well we aren't playing any faster, per KenPom. Ken Pom is great- but we ARE playing faster. When you watch how we play, the tempo of things is so much better...the movement, the confidence of players to shoot when open. It's fun to watch. And you are right, the confidence of players will also help them develop and already is doing so.
 

We are two different teams this year to last. Last year you could describe them as an athletic team who rebounded well, especially offensively, a good shot blocking and defensive team. Weaknesses were outside shooting for sure, ball handling, turnovers and sometimes size. This year I would say adding Mathieu at pg, Dre to the 2, and Austin to the 3, has definitely given us better defense, better ball handling, and possibly better shooting (Mathieu for Coleman in essence). We are definitely weaker without Trevor. The combo of EE and Walker can replace some of that. The athletiscm of Rodney is now replaced with the determination and skill of Oto and King. You trade defense and highlight film plays for hopefully solid, smart, and effecienct play. Losing Buckles just plain hurts. We can still suprise but we may always seem one strong, atheltic player short in the frontcourt rotation.
 

GophersOnTheRise said:
Wasn't our defensive rebounding pretty average, if not slightly below average? It was our offensive rebounding that was so good.
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Yes, the Gophers offensive rebounding was #1 in the country last year, but their defensive rebounding was 245th. This year the Gophers are 60th in OReb% and 146th in DReb%.

So the difference between their pace and their perceived pace can't be a matter of giving up offensive boards to the other team whereas they didn't last year.
 

Yeah, the hyperbole is quite strong with this one. Last year alone had highlights on top of highlights, especially in the non-conference season.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ehrkN0NWm68" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The way he just hangs there....my word, I still shake my head on this one haha
 

Monty519 said:
Yeah, the hyperbole is quite strong with this one. Last year alone had highlights on top of highlights, especially in the non-conference season.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ehrkN0NWm68" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The way he just hangs there....my word, I still shake my head on this one haha
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Ordinary dunk if welch could throw a F'ING pass...... :/
 

Let's wait and see what the rebounding numbers are once we get in the big ten before we compare them to last year.
 

march madness said:
Let's wait and see what the rebounding numbers are once we get in the big ten before we compare them to last year.
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The only reason we were comparing rebounding to last year is as a way of explaining why it may seem the Gophers are playing fast when in fact they're not. If they were playing more uptempo, but giving up more offensive rebounds, it would have the effect of slowing down play in spite of that faster pace. What happens in conference relative to rebounding isn't relevant since we were looking to explain the perception of what has already happened.

I do think it seems likely the pace slows down in conference.

Also, FWIW, 61 possessions last night. SoDak St actually has averaged 69.1 possessions so it can't be attributed the opponent. Plenty of basketball left but there's some reason to believe that the expectation of a more uptempo basketball team isn't gonna come to fruition. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. Tempo isn't inherently bad or good.
 

Big ten teams are very good rebounding teams. Our numbers are likely to go down.
 

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