AP: Pitino: Gophers have ‘got to play close to perfect’ to win

[BleedGopher]

per the AP:

With eight losses in its last nine games, Minnesota’s once-bright season has taken a dim turn.

Missing two of their original starters, with a third playing through a persistent injury, the Gophers have been forced to endure another winter of growing pains they appeared to be past with last year’s breakout fourth-place finish in the Big Ten.

The Gophers began the third-to-last week of conference play fresh from another late blown lead in a three-point overtime loss at Michigan on Saturday. Guard Isaiah Washington scored 26 points, his second straight career high on the way to the Big Ten Freshman of the Week award, but with only seven players seeing action the Gophers were again undermanned.

“We’ve got to play close to perfect. That’s evident,” head coach Richard Pitino said. “That’s hard to put on your guys, but that’s the hand you’re dealt.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...6deb18cca19_story.html?utm_term=.08a89e57a616

Go Gophers!!

 

[Bad Gopher]

If by perfect he means avoiding several blow-byes in a row down the stretch in the Michigan game, where just guarding the guy's strong hand one time could have made the difference in the game, then yeah, they need to play perfect.

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

Gophers will beat the Huskers. Somehow.

 

[KillmeNow]

If by perfect he means avoiding several blow-byes in a row down the stretch in the Michigan game, where just guarding the guy's strong hand one time could have made the difference in the game, then yeah, they need to play perfect.

I doubt playing with just 7 guys, one who is hobbled, had ANYTHING to do with it. "Down the stretch"?? You mean the part of the game where a 6.5 man team might start to show fatigue?? lol

 

[Bad Gopher]

I doubt playing with just 7 guys, one who is hobbled, had ANYTHING to do with it. "Down the stretch"?? You mean the part of the game where a 6.5 man team might start to show fatigue?? lol

When did anyone say that toughness isn't supposed to be a major factor in sports success? I remember the Gophers being beaten by one of Bob Huggins' early Cincinnati teams who was so shorthanded they had two football players on the roster. I'm sure they were fatigued, but they made a couple big shots and got a couple big stops down the stretch. They played as if there were no excuses.

 

[scools12]

I doubt playing with just 7 guys, one who is hobbled, had ANYTHING to do with it. "Down the stretch"?? You mean the part of the game where a 6.5 man team might start to show fatigue?? lol

Syracuse played 6 guys against Virginia on Saturday. They played 6 again Monday with a 7th guy playing 1 minute on the road and beat Louisville.

Playing competitive and winning games shouldn't be any tougher for the Gophers with only 6/7 getting the minutes. There is no excuse for falling off this far.

 

[KillmeNow]

When did anyone say that toughness isn't supposed to be a major factor in sports success? I remember the Gophers being beaten by one of Bob Huggins' early Cincinnati teams who was so shorthanded they had two football players on the roster. I'm sure they were fatigued, but they made a couple big shots and got a couple big stops down the stretch. They played as if there were no excuses.

And that Cincy team was playing it's 6th road game in it's last 8 games? Including a 5 games in 11 days stretch, oh, and all 8 games short handed?

Oh, and why were they short handed? For how long? And was it 3.5 of their Top 6 players that were out and not playing???


I remember that Cincy game. And I guarantee you their circumstances weren't anything like ours have been.

Oh, another question, Cincy's football program was good enough that the coach could say, NO to his players risking injury and helping out the bb team???


I guarantee you that we have some FB players that could help out.

But why don't they??


Curry's injury was a SEASON LONG injury.

Lynch's suspension was a SEASON ENDING injury.

Coffey's injury was supposed to keep him out for 4 weeks.

McBreyer's injury, under the circumstances, isn't being allowed a chance to heal.


No football coach, unless you are a sucky Cincy program, is going to start borrowing players to the basketball program FOR AN ENTIRE SEASON or to FINISH OUT THE MAJORITY of the conference season.

Players playing 2 sports does not happen anymore, not at schools with decent programs.


Oh, and Cincy bb around that time was also a Top 10-15 every season kind of program that the entire school probably cared a great deal about, unlike their Bottom 10-15 fb program of that time. I knew several Cincy fans of that era, they would have sold their children into slavery for their bb program.

Yeah, looked it up, Cincy FB went 1-9-1 in 1989-90 school year.


Not hard to believe a fb player that could make the Cincy bb team would walk on and play for a team that 2 years later went to the FF in basketball.

 

[KillmeNow]

Syracuse played 6 guys against Virginia on Saturday. They played 6 again Monday with a 7th guy playing 1 minute on the road and beat Louisville.

Playing competitive and winning games shouldn't be any tougher for the Gophers with only 6/7 getting the minutes. There is no excuse for falling off this far.

Why? Why did Syracuse play 6 guys. How long have they been playing 6-7 guys. Where? Home games or away games?

 

[gopherguy15]

If by perfect he means avoiding several blow-byes in a row down the stretch in the Michigan game, where just guarding the guy's strong hand one time could have made the difference in the game, then yeah, they need to play perfect.

Agreed. Look at every single drive by Xavier Simpson in that game. Never once was it with his left hand, and for some reason Gopher defenders just kept letting him do the same thing over and over again. Very frustrating to watch. Someone on that bench should've pointed that out. Could've been the difference maker. It's too bad, for the most part that was the best the team has played since losing Lynch (Michigan is a much better team than Penn State), and that would have been a great springboard to get the team believing they can win some more games this year. Hopefully that was a sign that they'll remain competitive the rest of the year.

 

[Bad Gopher]

And that Cincy team was playing it's 6th road game in it's last 8 games? Including a 5 games in 11 days stretch, oh, and all 8 games short handed?

Oh, and why were they short handed? For how long? And was it 3.5 of their Top 6 players that were out and not playing???


I remember that Cincy game. And I guarantee you their circumstances weren't anything like ours have been.

Oh, another question, Cincy's football program was good enough that the coach could say, NO to his players risking injury and helping out the bb team???


I guarantee you that we have some FB players that could help out.

But why don't they??


Curry's injury was a SEASON LONG injury.

Lynch's suspension was a SEASON ENDING injury.

Coffey's injury was supposed to keep him out for 4 weeks.

McBreyer's injury, under the circumstances, isn't being allowed a chance to heal.


No football coach, unless you are a sucky Cincy program, is going to start borrowing players to the basketball program FOR AN ENTIRE SEASON or to FINISH OUT THE MAJORITY of the conference season.

Players playing 2 sports does not happen anymore, not at schools with decent programs.


Oh, and Cincy bb around that time was also a Top 10-15 every season kind of program that the entire school probably cared a great deal about, unlike their Bottom 10-15 fb program of that time. I knew several Cincy fans of that era, they would have sold their children into slavery for their bb program.

Over the last couple weeks, you've written the equivalent of a short novel that is nothing more than excuse making. Do you realize how lame and unreadable that is? Why don't you try to bring more than this qualitatively and less than this quantitatively. It's been a total waste of electrons that the Internet is never going to get back.

 

[KillmeNow]

Over the last couple weeks, you've written the equivalent of a short novel that is nothing more than excuse making. Do you realize how lame and unreadable that is? Why don't you try to bring more than this qualitatively and less than this quantitatively. It's been a total waste of electrons that the Internet is never going to get back.

Some people DO read my posts, so....

That being said, yes, sometimes I write too much for the short attention spans of some. I'll try to keep some of my posts much shorter in length.

 

[KillmeNow]

Cincy fb in 1989-90 school year? 1-9-1

Cincy bb in 1989-90 school year? Fairly new coach, new Arena, 2 years removed from Final Four?


Hmmm? Wonder why a fb player would quit the fb team and walk on with the bb team that year?

Hmmm? Just a total mystery to me.

 

[NWMetroGopherFan]

If by perfect he means avoiding several blow-byes in a row down the stretch in the Michigan game, where just guarding the guy's strong hand one time could have made the difference in the game, then yeah, they need to play perfect.

Pitino made this exact point at least twice on his radio show today. He said during timeouts he was telling guys to take away the dominant hand of the Michigan guards. It was in the game plan, and sometimes you just get beat. When you've played 35+ minutes, you get tired legs. It happens. One of the biggest issues they had was Murphy not closing out and Wagner when he picked-and-popped, it killed us defensively.

The issue isn't just having guys out hurt or suspended, it's having guys playing more minutes or in positions that weren't expected of them when the season started. I would argue that Coffey's injury has a bigger impact overall than the Lynch suspension. But that said, opponents aren't afraid to drive the lane now that we don't have a rim protector there. Murphy became a stud largely because he could benefit from Lynch being in the paint, whether it was getting a rebound, helping to block a shot or Lynch occupying a defender so Murphy could get a better look in an offensive set.

McBrayer isn't practicing at all, and he's basically playing on one leg. Coffey can't practice, Curry isn't doing much other than individual work. Lynch is doing nothing. It's virtually impossible to practice or prepare for an opponent when you can't take a game plan and implement on a practice floor with 10 players.

It's not an excuse, it's reality.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Pitino made this exact point at least twice on his radio show today. He said during timeouts he was telling guys to take away the dominant hand of the Michigan guards. It was in the game plan, and sometimes you just get beat. When you've played 35+ minutes, you get tired legs. It happens. One of the biggest issues they had was Murphy not closing out and Wagner when he picked-and-popped, it killed us defensively.

The issue isn't just having guys out hurt or suspended, it's having guys playing more minutes or in positions that weren't expected of them when the season started. I would argue that Coffey's injury has a bigger impact overall than the Lynch suspension. But that said, opponents aren't afraid to drive the lane now that we don't have a rim protector there. Murphy became a stud largely because he could benefit from Lynch being in the paint, whether it was getting a rebound, helping to block a shot or Lynch occupying a defender so Murphy could get a better look in an offensive set.

McBrayer isn't practicing at all, and he's basically playing on one leg. Coffey can't practice, Curry isn't doing much other than individual work. Lynch is doing nothing. It's virtually impossible to practice or prepare for an opponent when you can't take a game plan and implement on a practice floor with 10 players.

It's not an excuse, it's reality.

My overarching point is that they don't have to be perfect - just a little better, at least in order to win that one game.

 

[Mulligan]

Cincy fb in 1989-90 school year? 1-9-1

Cincy bb in 1989-90 school year? Fairly new coach, new Arena, 2 years removed from Final Four?


Hmmm? Wonder why a fb player would quit the fb team and walk on with the bb team that year?

Hmmm? Just a total mystery to me.

Well, could you give more detail about this? Dying to know.

 

[GoodasGold]

If Coach can up his game just a bit, that will help too.

 

[Ewert86PC]

Over the last couple weeks, you've written the equivalent of a short novel that is nothing more than excuse making. Do you realize how lame and unreadable that is? Why don't you try to bring more than this qualitatively and less than this quantitatively. It's been a total waste of electrons that the Internet is never going to get back.

+10. Good one BG.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[KillmeNow]

Over the last couple weeks, you've written the equivalent of a short novel that is nothing more than excuse making. Do you realize how lame and unreadable that is? Why don't you try to bring more than this qualitatively and less than this quantitatively. It's been a total waste of electrons that the Internet is never going to get back.

Hey, Ewert agrees with you, so you are in GREAT company. lol

 

[EG#9]

Pitino's guys were favored by 2 tonight. I hope coach put a good chunk of change on Nebraska as Vegas certainly disagreed with his team needing to play over its head to win.

 

[KillmeNow]

Pitino's guys were favored by 2 tonight. I hope coach put a good chunk of change on Nebraska as Vegas certainly disagreed with his team needing to play over its head to win.

And Vegas is NEVER wrong??? Didn't Vegas also say the Patriots were going to win???

 

[Zeppelin Gopher]

Pitino's guys were favored by 2 tonight. I hope coach put a good chunk of change on Nebraska as Vegas certainly disagreed with his team needing to play over its head to win.

Normally I really enjoy your posts, but stop citing the fact that Vegas somehow had us as favorites last night. It's totally meaningless and irrelevant, not to mention completely ridiculous that we were somehow favored over a 9-4 Big Ten team.

 

[WilliamsArenaGuy]

Normally I really enjoy your posts, but stop citing the fact that Vegas somehow had us as favorites last night. It's totally meaningless and irrelevant, not to mention completely ridiculous that we were somehow favored over a 9-4 Big Ten team.

+1


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[howeda7]

Pitino's guys were favored by 2 tonight. I hope coach put a good chunk of change on Nebraska as Vegas certainly disagreed with his team needing to play over its head to win.

I had it -4. You have to figure that # is flipped on a neutral court. The Gophers still get 6-8 points from the Barn like it's 1999. I wish there were results behind it but there haven't been for years. I don't get it.

 

[howeda7]

Normally I really enjoy your posts, but stop citing the fact that Vegas somehow had us as favorites last night. It's totally meaningless and irrelevant, not to mention completely ridiculous that we were somehow favored over a 9-4 Big Ten team.

I don't think it's irrelevant as a measure of evaluating a team that's short handed. It's not realistic to win a lot of these games. It's realistic to stay competitive and cover the spread. The fact that we're 2-8 against the spread shows that we have mostly failed. I will say that the line for last night's game in particular was odd though.

 

[KillmeNow]

I don't think it's irrelevant as a measure of evaluating a team that's short handed. It's not realistic to win a lot of these games. It's realistic to stay competitive and cover the spread. The fact that we're 2-8 against the spread shows that we have mostly failed. I will say that the line for last night's game in particular was odd though.

Is Vegas taking into account our playing 6 games in 14 days? Vegas is trying to make money, they don't care about accuracy.

 

[howeda7]

Is Vegas taking into account our playing 6 games in 14 days? Vegas is trying to make money, they don't care about accuracy.

Yes, they are. But when you write about this season in your upcoming novel Against All Odds: The Richard Pitino Story be sure to give it a full chapter.

 

[PlayRoyce]

Lol

 

[row19gopher]

"Got to play close to perfect to win"...
Note to coach - maybe don't take a technical late in the game...or did he take the odds @ Vegas...

 

[KillmeNow]

Yes, they are. But when you write about this season in your upcoming novel Against All Odds: The Richard Pitino Story be sure to give it a full chapter.

I might give this season TWO chapters?! But Vegas won't get even a single line.

 

[howeda7]

I might give this season TWO chapters?! But Vegas won't get even a single line.

I think the great trials of the 3 game road trip and how Richard overcame his weeping to the media about the unfairness of it all and inspired the troops to keep the margin against OSU under 20 deserves an entire chapter of its own. Don't sell us short.