ESPN: 5 burning questions for the BT (Can Pitino salvage things in Minnesota?)

[BleedGopher]

per ESPN:

3. Can Richard Pitino salvage things in Minnesota?

The Gophers started last season as a top-25 team with a handful of promising players. By the time February arrived, the wheels had completely fallen off for the Gophers. Two assistants have departed this offseason and some of the talent is gone as well.

Senior forward Jordan Murphy remains one of the league's better players -- and Pitino's team should be fun to watch -- but it will take a Herculean effort to get things back on track. Pitino enters the season as the Big Ten coach who has to do the most to keep his job for another season.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...es-better-ncaa-tournament-haul-2018-19-season

Go Gophers!!

 

[bemidjigopher]

Sounds about right, plus I can't think of any other coaches that are really on the hot seat yet in this league. Miles bought himself more time, Collins is the greatest NW coach of all time, too early to pull the plug in Rutgers or Illinois. Chambers one the NIT, I think they'll have a poor year this year and that will put him on the hot seat next year. Stay healthy and the gophs will make the tourney and Pitino will be fine, miss the dance I hope Couple has Musselman or another up and comer on speed dial

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[Unregistered User]

...has Musselman or another up and comer on speed dial...

He's 53 years old and has been coaching since 1989. Hardly an "up and comer".

And the short note about the Gophers season makes it seem like "the wheels had completely fallen off" for no reason other than coaching, like there were no circumstances like injury, etc. Short-sighted take.

 

[Cayman]

Sounds about right, plus I can't think of any other coaches that are really on the hot seat yet in this league. Miles bought himself more time, Collins is the greatest NW coach of all time, too early to pull the plug in Rutgers or Illinois. Chambers one the NIT, I think they'll have a poor year this year and that will put him on the hot seat next year. Stay healthy and the gophs will make the tourney and Pitino will be fine, miss the dance I hope Couple has Musselman or another up and comer on speed dial

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I was trying to think of other coaches in the conference who were maybe feeling some heat and Patrick Chambers was my first thought. I figured 7 seasons with no tournament appearance (and apparently not even an NIT appearance in the first 6) has to be getting old, even at a place like Penn State. I had totally forgotten that they won the NIT last year, which has to count for at least something, and I remember them getting some hype as potentially being an upper tier Big Ten team this coming season if Tony Carr hadn't left early for the NBA. I suppose with the low expectations Penn State has, coupled with Chambers coming off of his best season yet, means that even winning just 6 or 7 conference games would be enough for him to stay another year.

Chris Collins making the tournament at Northwestern and winning a game there is a big deal, but he has no other NCAA tournament or NIT appearances, and the Wildcats ended up falling far short of what preseason expectations were a year ago. They opened last season ranked and ended up with a losing overall record, and I think they're expected to be not great again this year, though I'll admit that he probably won't get fired unless he goes winless in conference or something.

Iowa was also a disappointment last year. They lost Peter Jok and pretty much nothing else off of a team that had a winning conference record and won a game in the NIT in 2016-17, and then ended up tied with us at 11th in the Big Ten in 2017-18. I remember seeing an Iowa fan say something like "We're just as bad as Minnesota but with none of the injuries." It looks like they return just about everyone again, but are still projected to be a lower tier Big Ten team again this year.

I agree that it's too early for Illinois or Rutgers to consider firing their coaches, and Collins, Chambers, and McCaffery are probably a year away from being at risk of being fired if they do poorly this year, which I suppose probably gives Pitino the hottest seat in the Big Ten, though I'm fairly confident that as long as Isaiah Washington continues his improvement from the end of last season and doesn't get hurt, things will turn out okay here.

 

[Otis]

"Wheels completely fallen off" sounds about right to me.

Reggie's suspension resulted directly in about 55% of our effectiveness on defense. Plus his absence really dumped a lot of heat on Murph.

Curry's injury gave us no depth up front to even speak of. He would have helped stem the tide on defense and certainly made things easier for Murphy.

Coffey's injury took out our number 2 or 3 scorer and probably our best defensive perimeter player.

Dupree's injuries took out a top 4 scorer and a very reliable defender.

Add it all up and you are down 4 of your top 6 players. Murphy and Mason were the last men standing playing with a non-power 5 group of players thrown together as best Pitino could. With all of that, last season end was all about development of Washington and getting players healthy.

PG: Washington, McBrayer, Coffey, Carr?
SG: McBrayer, Snell, Kalesheur
SF: Coffey, Hurt, Curry?
PF: Murphy, Curry, Omersa, Oturu
C: Curry, Oturu, Stockman

That is a lot better situation than we had at the end of last year! No injuries of significance and Pitino has no excuse for not making the tournament. A key injury to Washington and we could be back to a losing season if McBrayer and Coffey don't step up. We lose Washington and Coffey and "here we go again"!

 

[bemidjigopher]

I was trying to think of other coaches in the conference who were maybe feeling some heat and Patrick Chambers was my first thought. I figured 7 seasons with no tournament appearance (and apparently not even an NIT appearance in the first 6) has to be getting old, even at a place like Penn State. I had totally forgotten that they won the NIT last year, which has to count for at least something, and I remember them getting some hype as potentially being an upper tier Big Ten team this coming season if Tony Carr hadn't left early for the NBA. I suppose with the low expectations Penn State has, coupled with Chambers coming off of his best season yet, means that even winning just 6 or 7 conference games would be enough for him to stay another year.

Chris Collins making the tournament at Northwestern and winning a game there is a big deal, but he has no other NCAA tournament or NIT appearances, and the Wildcats ended up falling far short of what preseason expectations were a year ago. They opened last season ranked and ended up with a losing overall record, and I think they're expected to be not great again this year, though I'll admit that he probably won't get fired unless he goes winless in conference or something.

Iowa was also a disappointment last year. They lost Peter Jok and pretty much nothing else off of a team that had a winning conference record and won a game in the NIT in 2016-17, and then ended up tied with us at 11th in the Big Ten in 2017-18. I remember seeing an Iowa fan say something like "We're just as bad as Minnesota but with none of the injuries." It looks like they return just about everyone again, but are still projected to be a lower tier Big Ten team again this year.

I agree that it's too early for Illinois or Rutgers to consider firing their coaches, and Collins, Chambers, and McCaffery are probably a year away from being at risk of being fired if they do poorly this year, which I suppose probably gives Pitino the hottest seat in the Big Ten, though I'm fairly confident that as long as Isaiah Washington continues his improvement from the end of last season and doesn't get hurt, things will turn out okay here.

Forgot about Fran, but I think he has two sons coming into the program that are highly rated and since Fran is a university employee he doesn't haven't to waste a scholarship on either of them. They have another nice recruit coming in this year, Fran's kids give him two extra schools to work with I feel like they'll let him ride that out before making a change.

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[Gopher Skipper]

Forgot about Fran, but I think he has two sons coming into the program that are highly rated and since Fran is a university employee he doesn't haven't to waste a scholarship on either of them. They have another nice recruit coming in this year, Fran's kids give him two extra schools to work with I feel like they'll let him ride that out before making a change.

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Have a source for the 'not having to waste a scholie on his kids'? Maybe the rules have changed, but I remember talking to Saul Smith about this years ago, referencing his Kentucky days. Remember him saying something about a rule that if a coach's kid was a legit recruit/had other offers, he had to take a scholarship to play on his dad's team. I could be wrong, but this would seem like the right policy, would seem iffy if his son Patrick was allowed to float by without taking up a scholarship, not sure about his other kids.

 

[Urbandale]

Forgot about Fran, but I think he has two sons coming into the program that are highly rated and since Fran is a university employee he doesn't haven't to waste a scholarship on either of them. They have another nice recruit coming in this year, Fran's kids give him two extra schools to work with I feel like they'll let him ride that out before making a change.

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Both of Fran’s boys are/will be on scholarship at Iowa.