Full Recap of Pitino interview on KFAN...talked Hollins', Walker/EE conditioning, etc

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Winasota Gopher said:
And lets not go to extremes, obviously there are instances of Tubby talking to players, however, you and I both know he is not known as being the "coach'm up" guy.
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Then why didn't you just say that instead of implying that Tubby just sits there the whole game doing nothing?
 

Mulligan said:
I sure hope you're right, SS, but there are some similarities. He's young and still an unproven gamble replacing someone who seemed to have settled. He's casting a wide recruiting net just like Brewster, promising a new and exciting era. I get it's a lot easier to change a program in BB, and I get he has a lot more solid background and pedigree than Brewster. But is he a young coach who is a rising star or is Pitino going to get overwhelmed like Brewster? We really don't know.

However much I felt it was time for a change, I'm still worried. Michigan State, Ohio State, and Wisconsin are always tough. Michigan certainly is up there with them now. Illinois is a factor simply because of location. Purdue should bounce back with a pretty good recruiting class, and Iowa seems to be on the upswing. A lot of teams to crawl over. I just hope folks give him enough time.

I'm still excited about the hire, but, damn, being a Gopher fan for over 50 years conditions you to expect the worse. Maybe I wouldn't be so down if young Rich would just stop using the word "great" so much.
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All fair points. I'd agree that hiring him is a bit of a gamble, but I just can't view Pitino in the same light as I viewed Brewster when he was hired. Brewster felt too much like a snake-oil salesman. Too much false bravado for my tastes. I don't get that same vibe with Lil' Ricky. My early impressions are that he's an extremely confident young man (got that from Pops, probably), and that he's not a big bag of wind like Brewster. Maybe there's a hint of arrogance there, but I'll take that over the phoney baloney Brewster stuff.

It will be interesting to watch him cut his chops vs. the likes of Izzo, Ryan, Beilein, Painter, and Matta.
 

Mulligan said:
I sure hope you're right, SS, but there are some similarities. He's young and still an unproven gamble replacing someone who seemed to have settled. He's casting a wide recruiting net just like Brewster, promising a new and exciting era. I get it's a lot easier to change a program in BB, and I get he has a lot more solid background and pedigree than Brewster. But is he a young coach who is a rising star or is Pitino going to get overwhelmed like Brewster? We really don't know.

However much I felt it was time for a change, I'm still worried. Michigan State, Ohio State, and Wisconsin are always tough. Michigan certainly is up there with them now. Illinois is a factor simply because of location. Purdue should bounce back with a pretty good recruiting class, and Iowa seems to be on the upswing. A lot of teams to crawl over. I just hope folks give him enough time.

I'm still excited about the hire, but, damn, being a Gopher fan for over 50 years conditions you to expect the worse. Maybe I wouldn't be so down if young Rich would just stop using the word "great" so much.
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The thing that sold me on Pitino was the way he turned FIU around in only one year. I think he had something like 8 roster spots he had to fill going into last season. Going 18-14(11-9) after going 8-21(5-11) without even having a proper recruiting class is pretty impressive. Then coming within 3 points of making the tourney is just as impressive. Brewster was a position coach who never had any head or assistant coaching experience except for high school. I don't see many similarities between the two myself.
 

DeathClutch said:
The thing that sold me on Pitino was the way he turned FIU around in only one year. I think he had something like 8 roster spots he had to fill going into last season. Going 18-14(11-9) after going 8-21(5-11) without even having a proper recruiting class is pretty impressive. Then coming within 3 points of making the tourney is just as impressive. Brewster was a position coach who never had any head or assistant coaching experience except for high school. I don't see many simioarities between the two myself.
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Kind of like taking a 9-22 B1G team into a 20-14 team in your first year?
 

Gold Vision said:
Kind of like taking a 9-22 B1G team into a 20-14 team in your first year?
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Absolutely. Make no mistake, that was an incredible coaching job. If all Tubby's teams could have shown that fire and level of overachievement, we'd be here celebrating a couple S16 / E8 runs
 


fryguy22 said:
Absolutely. Make no mistake, that was an incredible coaching job. If all Tubby's teams could have shown that fire and level of overachievement, we'd be here celebrating a couple S16 / E8 runs
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That was a fun few years, really thought they had turned the corner.
 


Winasota Gopher said:
I think something that I haven't heard yet but is equally important is how Pitino portrays himself on televised games. There is going to be a TON of talk about him during the early season especially ACC challenge and early Big 10 about how he is the new fresh face and new style to the Big 10. If he has any success early it will be huge. He needs to know when the camera is on him and be smiling and interacting with the players to the fullest. Not saying Tubby didn't do that, but lets be honest, he didn't do that. A stark contrast to the prior regime will be a positive conversation piece for recruits and the media will love it.
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dpodoll68 said:
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Yes...lets [sic] be honest indeed.
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Winasota Gopher said:
Some of those are terrible examples of what I was getting at.....

And lets not go to extremes, obviously there are instances of Tubby talking to players, however, you and I both know he is not known as being the "coach'm up" guy. There is a phrase "the tubby stare" for a reason.

PS dont google that unless you like thick women....
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dpodoll68 said:
Then why didn't you just say that instead of implying that Tubby just sits there the whole game doing nothing?
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Winasota Gopher said:
Your words not mine
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Where did he say that Tubby just sat there the whole game? He never really seemed to smile/enjoy himself or interact (without yelling) at players. Even in most of the pictures you decided to post, he looks pissed off at the players. You can coach, constructively without looking like your point guard just ran over your dog. Even post game interviews after a big win, he always seemed disappointed. It's one thing to always be coaching....but you still need to sell the program.
 

pharmacygopher said:
Where did he say that Tubby just sat there the whole game? He never really seemed to smile/enjoy himself or interact (without yelling) at players. Even in most of the pictures you decided to post, he looks pissed off at the players. You can coach, constructively without looking like your point guard just ran over your dog. Even post game interviews after a big win, he always seemed disappointed. It's one thing to always be coaching....but you still need to sell the program.
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In fairness to Tubby.. how many great coaches smile during the game? I think folks are focusing too much on Tubby and not enough on Pitino. Move forward folks. Tubby helped the program. Its in better shape than before he was here. He kind of maxed out what he was capable of doing here and we have a new coach with young fresh energy. Thats all, thats it.
 



Rouser said:
In fairness to Tubby.. how many great coaches smile during the game? I think folks are focusing too much on Tubby and not enough on Pitino. Move forward folks. Tubby helped the program. Its in better shape than before he was here. He kind of maxed out what he was capable of doing here and we have a new coach with young fresh energy. Thats all, thats it.
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I think it's called offseasonitis.
 

Rouser said:
In fairness to Tubby.. how many great coaches smile during the game? I think folks are focusing too much on Tubby and not enough on Pitino. Move forward folks. Tubby helped the program. Its in better shape than before he was here.
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Thanks, Rouser.

Yes, a key criteria I want in my head coach is that they smile more. And I don't want the coach to be pi**ed at his players, either. I want them to hold hands, sing Kumbaya, and tell each other how much they love one another after every game, win or lose.
 

Rouser said:
In fairness to Tubby.. how many great coaches smile during the game? I think folks are focusing too much on Tubby and not enough on Pitino. Move forward folks. Tubby helped the program. Its in better shape than before he was here. He kind of maxed out what he was capable of doing here and we have a new coach with young fresh energy. Thats all, thats it.
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+1
 

WanderingGopher said:
Or grow a few inches.

But seriously, Austin was one of those recruits everyone thought wasn't done growing yet, maybe would turn into a Quincy Lewis type player ... but he was listed as 6'4" coming in and he's still listed as 6'4".
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I'd but $ he 6'5.5+

It was pretty easy to see he grew from year one to year three.
 



Rouser said:
In fairness to Tubby.. how many great coaches smile during the game? I think folks are focusing too much on Tubby and not enough on Pitino. Move forward folks. Tubby helped the program. Its in better shape than before he was here. He kind of maxed out what he was capable of doing here and we have a new coach with young fresh energy. Thats all, thats it.
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I can second that!
 

STrib blog: Some Pitino thoughts from the Golden Gopher road trip

Here's just a little bit of what he said about each player:

Austin Hollins -- "I think he's going to have a great year. I think he had a really good year last year. I'm excited about him. I think he's going to be a very, very good player for us and he'll be a major impact guy for us."

Maverick Ahanmisi -- "I won't try to pronounce his last name. Mav is a guy that will play a couple positions for us. The great thing about Mav is he can shoot the basketball and that's extremely, extremely important for how we want to play."

Malik Smith -- "He's a one-year kid for us who was at FIU, there's these new rules, you can bring in a guy for one year and then you get rid of him -- it's great, I wish we could do that with all of them, but we won't. Malik is a great kid, he knows our system, he knows our style, he's probably as good of shooter in the country from the 3-point line."

Deandre Mathieu -- "Lightning fast. You guys will love watching him. He will probably drive me crazy but he's entertaining."

Elliott Eliason -- Currently studying abroad with Andre Hollins as part of the Carlson Business School. "I have a competition with him that I can do more pushups than him and I'm positive that I can do it right now. We did it the other day, I beat him 5 to 4 (joking) and he's going to continue to improve. I think Elliott is going to be a great player for us, he just has no muscle on him."

Andre Hollins -- "I think Andre is the epitome of a student-athlete. He's not just about basketball. ... He's going to be successful whether or not it's on the court or in the business world at some point in his life. He's a special, special kid and a really good player."

Oto Osenieks -- "He will play a little bit at the forward spot for us, the 4, the 3, whatever it may be."

Mo Walker -- "He's lost 20 pounds since I took the job and he's probably got to lose about 30 more. And we don't start until October, so we're going to get there eventually."

Wally Ellenson -- "He is in the nationals for the high jump -- that's top-15 in the country. ... I had no idea he was even good at it, and he's shown he's as good as anyone out there. So you never know, he could surprise somebody and win it all. He's surprised us to this day, so hopefully he can surprise me on the court as well."

Daquein McNeil -- "He is a guy that I think is a guy I think is going to be very good down the road. He's got potential, he can play multiple positions, fit really well with our style.

Charles Buggs -- "Another guy that I think you're really going to see some good things out of, he's just got to put on some weight."

Overall: "I like our roster -- it could change. We've got another scholarship, who knows where that will go or what we'll do with it. The key with every coaching change is to bring in the right fit. You can't just give away a scholarship just to fill a spot."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/210431621.html

Go Gophers!!
 

SelectionSunday said:
Thanks, Rouser.

Yes, a key criteria I want in my head coach is that they smile more. And I don't want the coach to be pi**ed at his players, either. I want them to hold hands, sing Kumbaya, and tell each other how much they love one another after every game, win or lose.
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Responses like these completely miss the point of my original post. Tubby was not a players coach, be it right or be it wrong, he wasn't a coach kids gushed over about playing for. You can win and be great either way, Tubby struggled to attract top flight talent while holding the teacher role rather than the buddy role.

My point was I think Pitino has the demeanor, the charisma and the look to compete with the likes of Izzo to be that kind of coach, one that not only kids want to play for, but the type E!SPN does special segments about, he has that "it" (or it feels like he does right now). I'm hoping he has a completely refreshed way to present this program to the masses, and I'm excited about it.
 

Not exactly glowing comments for Oto... Not surprising with the Joey King signing
 


jamalo said:
Not exactly glowing comments for Oto... Not surprising with the Joey King signing
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Pitino easily could replace Oto's role entirely with King and look to open up Oto's scholarship (presumably via graduate transfer) after the season.
 

Daquein McNeil -- "He is a guy that I think is a guy I think is going to be very good down the road. He's got potential, he can play multiple positions, fit really well with our style.






Is he questioning if Daquan is a man?
 

crazysauce said:
Daquein McNeil -- "He is a guy that I think is a guy I think is going to be very good down the road. He's got potential, he can play multiple positions, fit really well with our style.






Is he questioning if Daquan is a man?
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What the fuch does that mean?
 

crazysauce said:
Daquein McNeil -- "He is a guy that I think is a guy I think is going to be very good down the road. He's got potential, he can play multiple positions, fit really well with our style.



Is he questioning if Daquan is a man?
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Haha that was an awkward sentence, no doubt
 

Haha, I noticed that as well. At least we didn't have to hear about how great of a shooter he supposedly is.

jamalo said:
Not exactly glowing comments for Oto... Not surprising with the Joey King signing
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Coach K smiles all the time. He must be a great coach.
 



dpodoll68 said:
Coach K smiles all the time. He must be a great coach.
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You have to admit he is rather entertaining, "... the reason you shoot a lot of threes is because there are no fours, if there were, we'd shoot fours. It's more than two." So, if nothing else, we get a little stand up at the press conferences. :)
 

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