ESPN Article - At the Watercooler: Talking Big Ten

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STrib weighs in: Can an up-tempo style succeed in the Big Ten without elite players?

Because Big Ten teams do have to play against snail-paced squads like Wisconsin and Nebraska, as well as defensive juggernauts like Michigan State and Ohio State, the overall conference tempo is dragged down some as a general rule. Yet not every team plays extremely slow. Even teams like Iowa (which had the highest adjusted tempo in the league last year, ranked at 104 nationally according to Ken Pomeroy) and Purdue had success pressing and running at times … and without the elite talent Medcalf's anonymous coach cited.

I’m sure that Pitino – whose Florida International team landed at No. 48 in the country in adjusted tempo last year – could envision a roster that is immediately more talented than the current one. To be sure, while the Gophers do have some good players, next year could be a bit of a struggle regardless of the style of play.

But with his clear vision (it is apparent already that he has an obvious player “type”) and strong recruiting efforts, his idea will be to strengthen that roster. Over time, if he can recruit the type of athletes he believes will thrive, and develop those athletes properly, I think his run-and-gun style could absolutely be successful at Minnesota.

The biggest note, however, is that a style's success should not be judged on one year. Wait until Pitino gets his own players and acclimates the holdovers to his style (this won’t happen overnight) – when he has done the best he can do in those two regards, then we’ll know whether his style can work in this league.

In the meantime, I don't think it makes much sense for Pitino to change the tenets of his coaching philosophy just because he doesn’t have his ideal roster in place. Will the team struggle in that regard at times? Yes. Absolutely. But it should be an interesting project to watch, and an intriguing building block for potential future success at Minnesota.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/209247211.html

Go Gophers!!
 

Scheme has nothing to do with it, you can't win in this league without top talent, period. Or...if you don't get that top talent, you better develop the crap outta those players so you can at least get them to top levels come their upperclassmen years. That's partly why I was excited to hear him talk about individual player development as a big focus. That's as important as getting a talented player here in the first place. But the scheme? Oh, I think that matters little, as long as you're executing and taking care of the ball.
 

Monty519 said:
Scheme has nothing to do with it, you can't win in this league without top talent, period. Or...if you don't get that top talent, you better develop the crap outta those players so you can at least get them to top levels come their upperclassmen years. That's partly why I was excited to hear him talk about individual player development as a big focus. That's as important as getting a talented player here in the first place. But the scheme? Oh, I think that matters little, as long as you're executing and taking care of the ball.
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+1
 

I think you have to look at what Michigan State does. They run when they have the opportunity, and they don't miss an opportunity to run. In the type of game you usually end up in against a club like Wisconsin, those few easy baskets can be the difference in the game. As I've been saying, it's a matter of execution, discipline and opportunism.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I think you have to look at what Michigan State does. They run when they have the opportunity, and they don't miss an opportunity to run. In the type of game you usually end up in against a club like Wisconsin, those few easy baskets can be the difference in the game. As I've been saying, it's a matter of execution, discipline and opportunism.
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100% agreed, it's about adaptability. It's one thing to have a style that you prefer to play. It's a completely different situation if you're able to take into account how your opponent is playing and modify your scheme accordingly. This is one of the largest gripes that many people had with Tubby, and I'm cautiously optimistic that Pitino can provide that time of on-the-fly adjustment that is so crucially necessary in the game.
 


MinneStoa said:
100% agreed, it's about adaptability. It's one thing to have a style that you prefer to play. It's a completely different situation if you're able to take into account how your opponent is playing and modify your scheme accordingly. This is one of the largest gripes that many people had with Tubby, and I'm cautiously optimistic that Pitino can provide that time of on-the-fly adjustment that is so crucially necessary in the game.
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The best teams can play multiple styles. If the new staff is going to win conistently, it will need to win half court games as well as getting opponents to play faster than they want to.
 

My god, you'd think Pitino was installing Grinnell or Paul Westhead's style of play with all of these articles.

The team that just won the National Championship plays this style of game. If you do it right, it works.
 

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