Chip: Gophers looked like team without a clue about how to win

[BleedGopher]

per Chip:

They looked like they didn’t have a clue how to win. There was no poise. No urgency. No leadership. Not one player on the court who was willing to take control of a situation that was slipping through their fingers second by agonizing second.

In simplest terms, the Gophers gave away a game they had to win. They failed to execute in a doomsday five-minute stretch that should be used as an instructional video on how not to handle crunch time.

Lesson 1: Take care of the ball.

Lesson 2: Box out on free throws.

Lesson 3: Don’t foul a shooter a split second before the shot clock expires.

The final five minutes of a 58-55 loss to Iowa on Sunday served as an indictment of the Gophers as a team and Richard Pitino’s program in general. They’re not good enough or deep enough to sustain any momentum. Their NCAA tournament hopes are hanging by a thread after they unraveled at the end of their most important game of the season.

“I think there’s some devastation,” Pitino said of the mood in the locker room.

Gophers looked like team without a clue about how to win

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[Veritas]

The BB program at the U lacks team depth. Currently, give or take a little bit, we have three Big Ten players starting and two not yet quite ready to start. Out of 13 possible guys. And this has been the pattern now for seven years. We are just too thin, too often, on talent in this modern era with excellent players leaving early so often. Sunday's game was an excellent example of this lack of depth and maturity on the team. We needed someone to play like a Big Ten senior and it just did not happen. We are not one guy short, we are several guys short.

 

[Gold Rush]

per Chip:

They looked like they didn’t have a clue how to win. There was no poise. No urgency. No leadership. Not one player on the court who was willing to take control of a situation that was slipping through their fingers second by agonizing second.

In simplest terms, the Gophers gave away a game they had to win. They failed to execute in a doomsday five-minute stretch that should be used as an instructional video on how not to handle crunch time.

Lesson 1: Take care of the ball.

Lesson 2: Box out on free throws.

Lesson 3: Don’t foul a shooter a split second before the shot clock expires.

The final five minutes of a 58-55 loss to Iowa on Sunday served as an indictment of the Gophers as a team and Richard Pitino’s program in general. They’re not good enough or deep enough to sustain any momentum. Their NCAA tournament hopes are hanging by a thread after they unraveled at the end of their most important game of the season.

“I think there’s some devastation,” Pitino said of the mood in the locker room.

Gophers looked like team without a clue about how to win

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

This is exactly what several of us have been saying, and you really can't argue with any of this. Just to be clear, I am not saying fire Pitino immediately, let it play out to the end of the year but I would be starting to talk and see who would be available and who might be interested in this job if I were Coyle. He did a great job on this same thing when Fleck was hired so I bet he is doing some preliminary work on it right now. Let's just say Pitino's in the major hotseat right now regardless of what happens.

 

[Flash30]

This is exactly what several of us have been saying, and you really can't argue with any of this. Just to be clear, I am not saying fire Pitino immediately, let it play out to the end of the year but I would be starting to talk and see who would be available and who might be interested in this job if I were Coyle. He did a great job on this same thing when Fleck was hired so I bet he is doing some preliminary work on it right now. Let's just say Pitino's in the major hotseat right now regardless of what happens.

How much more do you need to see? The basketball program has been pathetic for quite a while now.

 

[JimmyJamesMD]

I am a big fan of Pitino personally. But all you have to do is see the "atmosphere" at Williams Arena and asked what happened? I remember when it was a hostile environment and a tough place to play

 

[GoGophersUMN]

It's getting harder and harder to blame anyone other than Pitino.

Other than the bench, talent is not the issue. The starters are good enough that the team should be doing better. The bench is a problem but it has been that way the entire time under Pitino. That's 100% on him. He needs to consider everyone who will play when recruiting and not just focus on starters.

There are so many bad things that every Pitino team has done. They all are horrible against aggressive zone defenses. They start bad way too often in big games, especially early ones and on the road. They play too conservatively at the end of games with a lead but somehow still make bad mistakes (turnovers, bad shots, bad rebounding, allowing fast breaks, etc.). They all have guys repeatedly taking shots they can't make early in the shot clock. They've almost all been below average at free throws (the one year they were well above average was the first year with guys Pitino didn't recruit). It's the same thing year after year and you can't blame that on the players.

The back to back 10-second violations last night were a perfect example of Pitino's bad coaching. Maybe lack of coaching is the better way to describe it. They get the first one; he argues with it and doesn't say anything to the team. They do the same exact thing next time and get the same result. That's something that's acceptable from a middle school coach but any decent college coach should be making sure the team doesn't wait until the last second the next time.

The three point shots this season are another great example. The Gophers have one of the best centers in the conference and are the worst in the conference at 3 point % but they have more attempts than average. Either he's too stubborn to change the offense or he doesn't hold his players accountable for taking shots they can't make.

I think he should stay until the end of the season and only be replaced if they think they can find someone better but they should be looking in this offseason, assuming the team doesn't finish extremely strong.

 

[builtbadgers]

It is a super tough job and hyper competitive . Coaches are extremely well compensated. In every single profession only a few shine through as special. Not every professor has elite teaching skills. There truly only a select few truly gifted as teachers. When you go into a coaches classroom, a practice you know it in 15 minutes who has a certain gift. Same on a PGA driving range. They all arrived but only a dozen stand out. Same with Lawyers, same with surgeons. I can remember it like it was yesterday when i went to a UCLA practice for the first time and the way Wooden could convey a message and elevate first the player and then the team. Later, i saw Knight and he could move a Army. They know what to stress, when to stress it and how to do it in a way that is magical. It makes you better than you thought you could be. Everyone here can remember a teacher from their childhood that sttod out way above and beyond over the others. Some people are better at it than others and you can see it early.

 

[GoodasGold]

per Chip:

They looked like they didn’t have a clue how to win. There was no poise. No urgency. No leadership. Not one player on the court who was willing to take control of a situation that was slipping through their fingers second by agonizing second.

In simplest terms, the Gophers gave away a game they had to win. They failed to execute in a doomsday five-minute stretch that should be used as an instructional video on how not to handle crunch time.

Lesson 1: Take care of the ball.

Lesson 2: Box out on free throws.

Lesson 3: Don’t foul a shooter a split second before the shot clock expires.

The final five minutes of a 58-55 loss to Iowa on Sunday served as an indictment of the Gophers as a team and Richard Pitino’s program in general. They’re not good enough or deep enough to sustain any momentum. Their NCAA tournament hopes are hanging by a thread after they unraveled at the end of their most important game of the season.

“I think there’s some devastation,” Pitino said of the mood in the locker room.

Gophers looked like team without a clue about how to win

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

Coach say it not they don’t know how, they just don’t wanna. That what coach say.