My overall season prediction has the Gophers ending with a 17-15 record (7-11 in the Big Ten). This is a decent improvement over last season, though it still may fall short of fans expectations. I like the Gophers to win at least one of their three big non-conference games (against Arkansas, Florida State, and Vanderbilt), though I expect they'll drop at least one game to a lesser team as well. For that upset, I'm picking UT-Arlington, which returns just about everyone this year and pulled off a couple of nice upsets last season.
http://minnesota.247sports.com/Article/2016-17-Gophers-Basketball-Preview-48661742
He predicts our record and lineups, but probably the best part of the article is farther down where the author explains why he's still a believer in Pitino, and I'm inclined to agree with him. Early recruiting missteps, like Lofton, McNeil, and Martin blowing up in our faces, or setting our sights a little too high on top 50 and 5-star players from out of state in 2014, or near missing on Reid Travis, were a fairly significant reason for why we were so bad last year. We could have had a couple upperclassmen guards to go with Mason, and maybe not had to force Dorsey and McBrayer to play 20 minutes a game. If Pitino is learning from past mistakes, and isn't a moron when it comes to x's and o's, he and his staff have shown that they can recruit, and I think sticking with him could pay off down the line.
http://minnesota.247sports.com/Article/2016-17-Gophers-Basketball-Preview-48661742
He predicts our record and lineups, but probably the best part of the article is farther down where the author explains why he's still a believer in Pitino, and I'm inclined to agree with him. Early recruiting missteps, like Lofton, McNeil, and Martin blowing up in our faces, or setting our sights a little too high on top 50 and 5-star players from out of state in 2014, or near missing on Reid Travis, were a fairly significant reason for why we were so bad last year. We could have had a couple upperclassmen guards to go with Mason, and maybe not had to force Dorsey and McBrayer to play 20 minutes a game. If Pitino is learning from past mistakes, and isn't a moron when it comes to x's and o's, he and his staff have shown that they can recruit, and I think sticking with him could pay off down the line.