BleedGopher
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per the Associated Press:
Heading into his third season, Pitino said a better mesh of his up-tempo system and more of the players he recruited to Minnesota should eventually yield better results.
"I never liked when people said those aren't your players," Pitino said. "I just don't think that's fair because we had great kids because those guys played their butts off for us and did a lot of great things. But there's a feel now in this third year that every guy in the program was recruited to play the way we want to play."
There is just one problem: All those players Pitino has brought in to play the way he wants to play are young. The Gophers have just two seniors and figure to rely heavily on as many as four freshmen to play right away.
That usually spells trouble for the immediate future, unless the program is among the elites in the recruiting game such as Kentucky or Duke.
But Pitino said he won't use youth as an excuse this season, preferring instead to concentrate on the fit of his new players.
"There's just a sense of we sat in a living room with your family, we told you and your family about where we thought you'd be," Pitino said. "It doesn't always work out perfectly. But I'm really excited about where we're headed. I think the recruiting is going great. I think we've got really good, young talent."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...progress-in-3rd-season-at-minnesota/74709712/
Go Gophers!!
Heading into his third season, Pitino said a better mesh of his up-tempo system and more of the players he recruited to Minnesota should eventually yield better results.
"I never liked when people said those aren't your players," Pitino said. "I just don't think that's fair because we had great kids because those guys played their butts off for us and did a lot of great things. But there's a feel now in this third year that every guy in the program was recruited to play the way we want to play."
There is just one problem: All those players Pitino has brought in to play the way he wants to play are young. The Gophers have just two seniors and figure to rely heavily on as many as four freshmen to play right away.
That usually spells trouble for the immediate future, unless the program is among the elites in the recruiting game such as Kentucky or Duke.
But Pitino said he won't use youth as an excuse this season, preferring instead to concentrate on the fit of his new players.
"There's just a sense of we sat in a living room with your family, we told you and your family about where we thought you'd be," Pitino said. "It doesn't always work out perfectly. But I'm really excited about where we're headed. I think the recruiting is going great. I think we've got really good, young talent."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...progress-in-3rd-season-at-minnesota/74709712/
Go Gophers!!