Coach Pitino has a player-by-player breakdown of Saturday's scrimmage on his blog

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Love this! And I love that it's not all flowers and roses.

I am most intrigued by the feedback on Wally. Seems like he's having a good contribution early. I think he'll thrive in this system.

Wally Ellenson

Positives-
5 deflections
3 steals
Made big shots down the stretch
Played with a good motor
Tried him at the 4 briefly and he adapted well


Negatives-
0 offensive rebounds
That needs to be a huge strength for him
 

This one stood out to me (about EE):

"Body language has improved."

That tells me Pitino has seen plenty of tape on EE's in-game theatrics. I like EE, but body language really is something he needs to work on. Worry less about the officials' calls and just play.
 

Thought this part was pretty funny about Joey King:

Negatives-
Had an identity crisis and thought he was Malik Smith (took seven 3s)
 

LOL @ his comment on King: "Had an identity crisis and thought he was Malik Smith (took seven 3s)"

I like this in that he doesn't necessarily blast on his players, and isn't overly positive either, makes it seem more legit. I like that he's letting us into the program a little bit, I wonder how that will go as time goes on, but for making first impressions, it's not a bad way to go when expectations are low and people will be a little more patient with you.
 


SelectionSunday said:
This one stood out to me (about EE):

"Body language has improved."

That tells me Pitino has seen plenty of tape on EE's in-game theatrics. I like EE, but body language really is something he needs to work on. Worry less about the officials' calls and just play.
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+1 I sure hope Pitino corrects that incredibly annoying habit of EE's.
 

Great stuff.

I love that he puts an emphasis on # of deflections. Deflections are a good measure for how disrupting you are on defense.

A lot of "0 offensive rebounds" in the negative section. That would've been one of the top positives about the team last year, just goes to show how different we will look in the frontcourt.
 

haha Joey had 9 fouls.
and Mathieu went 10-13. kid can finish.
 

And I really like the focus on deflections and limiting TO's.
 



The four seems to be the issue. Buggs seems to have a ways to go and the farther Oto gets from Minnesota the better. Hope King can play this season we really need him. Loved that coach gave this breakdown. Great stuff for the fans. Such a refreshing attitude from the old tired one this program had become. The future is going to be very bright.
 

Sounds like Oto will not be getting a lot of playing time.

Pitino said Mo needs to demand the ball in the post more often, so I definitely think we should not expect much from him this year. /sarcasm
 

El Amin Fan said:
Love this! And I love that it's not all flowers and roses.

I am most intrigued by the feedback on Wally. Seems like he's having a good contribution early. I think he'll thrive in this system.

Wally Ellenson

Positives-
5 deflections
3 steals
Made big shots down the stretch
Played with a good motor
Tried him at the 4 briefly and he adapted well


Negatives-
0 offensive rebounds
That needs to be a huge strength for him
Click to expand...

This team is just screaming for guys that will go to the boards. If Wally can do that he gets plenty of floor time at the 3 and at the 4.
 

I love stuff like this. I'm really hoping that Pitino can deliver on the recruiting trail and on the floor, because I like what I've heard from him so far.
 



Blackhammer said:
The four seems to be the issue. Buggs seems to have a ways to go and the farther Oto gets from Minnesota the better. Hope King can play this season we really need him. Loved that coach gave this breakdown. Great stuff for the fans. Such a refreshing attitude from the old tired one this program had become. The future is going to be very bright.
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I don't think this is for the fans...I think it is to motivate the players. He has clearly given players instructions on what they need to do to improve...and if they do it is announced to the public...and if they don't, that is announced too. Can you imagine how much more seriously you will track down rebounds at practice if everyone in the world will know that you got a big 0 for the day? Can you imagine how hard you will work, even if you ride the bench when your successes are announced publicly? It's like this: The whole world will know whether you are working your butt off or not.
 

GophersOnTheRise said:
Thought this part was pretty funny about Joey King:

Negatives-
Had an identity crisis and thought he was Malik Smith (took seven 3s)
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Another example of the wit I enjoy from RP.

I appreciate that the coach didn't criticize Andre Hollins (or anyone) for missing a bunch of shots. It's evident he's conscious of not wanting to make anyone gun shy. He wrote more about whether people were taking good shots in the flow of the game.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Another example of the wit I enjoy from RP.

I appreciate that the coach didn't criticize Andre Hollins (or anyone) for missing a bunch of shots. It's evident he's conscious of not wanting to make anyone gun shy. He wrote more about whether people were taking good shots in the flow of the game.
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Noticed this too. Very refreshing. I think our offense will look a LOT different this year. Players will be much less terrified of making mistakes than they have been the last few years and I think it will result in more scoring and less standing around/holding the ball.
 

CoMn said:
I don't think this is for the fans...I think it is to motivate the players. He has clearly given players instructions on what they need to do to improve...and if they do it is announced to the public...and if they don't, that is announced too. Can you imagine how much more seriously you will track down rebounds at practice if everyone in the world will know that you got a big 0 for the day? Can you imagine how hard you will work, even if you ride the bench when your successes are announced publicly? It's like this: The whole world will know whether you are working your butt off or not.
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Can't it be both?
 

Yes. My thought was just that it is brilliant coaching in order to motivate players. As a fan I have certainly enjoyed all his posts. I've never read stuff like that from a coach before.
 

CoMn said:
Yes. My thought was just that it is brilliant coaching in order to motivate players. As a fan I have certainly enjoyed all his posts. I've never read stuff like that from a coach before.
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Agreed. I think it accomplishes that while also getting fans more engaged. If the casual fans begin reading his blog, it may lead them to becoming more attached to the program and thus bigger fans. The more fan support, the more money the program brings in and the more appealing we become to recruits.

Safe to say that the blog is a great idea.
 

My son is 12 years older than Coach P. He told me, "damn it's nice to see Woody take a young guy and turn him loose."

My son calling a 30 something a young guy??? Damn, I am old. Go Coach Pitino and GO GOPHERS!!!
 

What does Coach Pitino mean by missed screens? Does that mean the player in question failed to get a piece of the defender while setting a screen or that the player should have set a screen in a certain situation, but did not?
 

EG#9 said:
What does Coach Pitino mean by missed screens? Does that mean the player in question failed to get a piece of the defender while setting a screen or that the player should have set a screen in a certain situation, but did not?
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I took it as the player set a "lazy" screen in that they didn't really make contact and probably rolled to try and get open too soon. You see that way too much in college and pro basketball nowadays. I always loved setting a hard screen, particularly when the defender doesn't see it coming.
 

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