Has Pitino turned the corner?

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Gopherbbdude said:
BB ..... I just cant see complaining about a team that just won an NCAA tourney game....but s12 seems to always complain

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We did it 6 years ago and fired the coach. It was dumb then, and it would be just as dumb to be critical today. Only caught the first half, but great win. Pumped for Saturday. 1 down, 5 to go.
 

I really think that this was a statment game that will help with recruiting. That along with the two wins against Purdue will go a long way in validate Pitino's place in the B1G. Time will tell, but if he can land a few more recruits then he will have the momentum to keep going to the tourney.
 

Maybe. Depends on if he can fill out the roster with big ten basketball players in the next couple months.
 

mnsportsgeek said:
Maybe. Depends on if he can fill out the roster with big ten basketball players in the next couple months.
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Yes, that would be a nice next step: a serviceable roster of a sufficient number of high-major players.
 

alchemy2u said:
I really think that this was a statment game that will help with recruiting. That along with the two wins against Purdue will go a long way in validate Pitino's place in the B1G. Time will tell, but if he can land a few more recruits then he will have the momentum to keep going to the tourney.
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These last two weeks have substantially improved his postseason resume. Pitino is looking a lot better to me now than he was fairly recently. Hoping the upswing continues.
 


mplarson7 said:
I was off the Pitino bandwagon for a good chunk of the conference season. It's not this one game that has changed my mind, but the performance of the team over the last 3 weeks while their backs were against the wall. Quite impressive, imo.
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Ditto. I wanted him gone as much as anybody but the team's performance at the end of the season has silenced my complaining for the rest of this year. Even if he goes on a little run this tournament, though, he still has something to prove: he hasn't managed to put together two successful (or even fairly successful) seasons in a row during his first 6 years. If he has a pretty good year next year, then he will have accomplished something that might indicate that he really has "turned the corner."
 



Has he turned a corner? Yes.
Can he do better? Yes

If we can always play with the defensive intensity we had in the first 15 mins of today's game, then I think he should be sticking around as long as he wants, regardless of how recruiting goes.
 



dex8425 said:
He has three point guards on the roster. Jarvis not getting medically cleared to play is not Pitino's fault, nor is Carr not getting a waiver the UMN clearly expected him to get.
Then you have Isaiah, who was POY in NY and fairly highly recruited. The fact that he can't play defense in the BIG or hit a three was not something most people saw coming. I thought he would at least be as good as Al Nolen, who also had no outside shot to speak of until his SR. year.
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Not having Carr available this year was a major factor that led to the team's inconsistency, IMO. In theory, Carr would have been competed for the starting PG slot with IW, and the loser of that battle would have provided depth. No Carr required Pitino to try to be creative, ending up using Coffey at PG and pushing IW into more of a role than he was ready to take on (he may never be ready, but I choose to remain optimistic).

As dex8425 said, Jarvis not getting cleared for his entire college career was not something Pitino could have planned for. The fact that he has kept Jarvis on scholarship and part of the team was the right thing to do from a human perspective, and it has also meant that a scholarship wasn't available for another PG. While I want the team to be great on the court, I have a great deal of respect for Pitino for honoring the commitment to Jarvis.
 

I thought the ncaa ruled that Jarvis’s scholarship would not count against the gophers?


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bc2211 said:
I thought the ncaa ruled that Jarvis’s scholarship would not count against the gophers?


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True. Still had 13 to use for others.


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bleedsmaroonandgold said:
We did it 6 years ago and fired the coach. It was dumb then, and it would be just as dumb to be critical today. Only caught the first half, but great win. Pumped for Saturday. 1 down, 5 to go.
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The situations are so eerily similar. The only difference, in my eyes, is the contribution and expectation that Oturu and Kalsheur are going to be big contributors in future years. Gabe has the look of a 4 year Big Ten pain in the ass for other teams.

Pitino has the NIT championship under his belt and the fact that he MIGHT be on the upswing of his career rather than the assumption (true or not) that Tubby could possibly have been on the downswing.

I'm fine with an extension of substance, I'm not good with a 1-year extension and just kicking the decision down the road.
 



Winasota Gopher said:
The situations are so eerily similar. The only difference, in my eyes, is the contribution and expectation that Oturu and Kalsheur are going to be big contributors in future years. Gabe has the look of a 4 year Big Ten pain in the ass for other teams.

Pitino has the NIT championship under his belt and the fact that he MIGHT be on the upswing of his career rather than the assumption (true or not) that Tubby could possibly have been on the downswing.

I'm fine with an extension of substance, I'm not good with a 1-year extension and just kicking the decision down the road.
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this is a Great take.

I think everyone felt Tubby was coasting in his last few years.
 

Big picture is we have a 36 year old coach in his 7th year of head coaching. Two tourney appearances, a conference coach of year with several all big ten players that he recruited. Some of his decisions haven’t panned out to which he readily acknowledges. The offers they make now are recruits that are known commodities (which everybody else is offering also) We have a good core of players that should ensure successes in the future. I wouldn’t say turning a corner but on the way building a program to a sustainable, successful level.
 

Thymanst said:
Big picture is we have a 36 year old coach in his 7th year of head coaching. Two tourney appearances, a conference coach of year with several all big ten players that he recruited. Some of his decisions haven’t panned out to which he readily acknowledges. The offers they make now are recruits that are known commodities (which everybody else is offering also) We have a good core of players that should ensure successes in the future. I wouldn’t say turning a corner but on the way building a program to a sustainable, successful level.
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This is a nice thought, but I still have apprehension that there lacks a true identity to the squad. You could say he changes to fit the team, but I'm just not sure I buy that. I still dont really understand what we run on offense other than trying to jam it into the rim with Murphy and create a high low game with Oturu. Our defense as of late has been great, but why did it take so long to get to that level of effort?

I understand the wanting to wait and see what we get next year before making a decision on him. I'm just concerned that we'll get more of the same so then what do you do? He's built a team that when at it's best, puts on great runs at the end of the year to make you think he's got it figured out, OR, they have a "circumstance" early that makes the season completely unbearable. He's got 3 of each. What is the 7th year gonna bring?
 

Bad Gopher said:
What I will say is to repeat what Tollackson said on the radio: that in the last 3 or so weeks this team has found something. I don't think it means any more or less than that, but that's something!!
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The noticeable difference in my eyes has been a much more confident/aggressive McBrayer playing like he doesn't want his basketball career to end and Coffey becoming more comfortable running the offense. Mix in some good play from Stockman in key games (yesterday's absence notwithstanding). Murphy has been the constant.

Let's face it though, the big variable in this team is Coffey...he's the game changer. This team will go as far as he can take it. When he's playing well the Gophers win and he makes Pitino look good.
 

Im pretty sure old man rick won that game for us.....told the team that if we made more 3s than them we werent going to lose...ive never seen us shoot that many threes just openly....completely opened the game up offensively for us
 

schlegs said:
Im pretty sure old man rick won that game for us.....told the team that if we made more 3s than them we werent going to lose...ive never seen us shoot that many threes just openly....completely opened the game up offensively for us
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Agreed. But if it opens up inside, we should be doing that all the time, no?


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Winasota Gopher said:
This is a nice thought, but I still have apprehension that there lacks a true identity to the squad. You could say he changes to fit the team, but I'm just not sure I buy that. I still dont really understand what we run on offense other than trying to jam it into the rim with Murphy and create a high low game with Oturu. Our defense as of late has been great, but why did it take so long to get to that level of effort?

I understand the wanting to wait and see what we get next year before making a decision on him. I'm just concerned that we'll get more of the same so then what do you do? He's built a team that when at it's best, puts on great runs at the end of the year to make you think he's got it figured out, OR, they have a "circumstance" early that makes the season completely unbearable. He's got 3 of each. What is the 7th year gonna bring?
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Apprehension is in human nature and most definitely in the nature of Minnesotans more than most I think.

A friend of mine and I were watching the MN vs MD game last Saturday, he is a great basketball mind. He mentioned that MN runs the same(very similar) offense as MD, but MD had a much more urgent rendition of it. Meaning, they run it quicker than MN. MN was much more methodical with there approach. I'm not smart enough to know if one is better than the other, but I would guess you would have to change it up. (MNs legs were visibly toast for most of that game).

what are your thoughts on it?
 

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bga1 said:
A lot of careers turn on a few games. Monson's career went south on the Illinois game years ago. It is not THE turning point, but this is program momentum for a young coach.
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That stupid game: stop Frank William's 1 time and you make the tourney...nope.
 



Gopherbbdude said:
Apprehension is in human nature and most definitely in the nature of Minnesotans more than most I think.

A friend of mine and I were watching the MN vs MD game last Saturday, he is a great basketball mind. He mentioned that MN runs the same(very similar) offense as MD, but MD had a much more urgent rendition of it. Meaning, they run it quicker than MN. MN was much more methodical with there approach. I'm not smart enough to know if one is better than the other, but I would guess you would have to change it up. (MNs legs were visibly toast for most of that game).

what are your thoughts on it?
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Maryland has a really good PG, who is actually a PG. We have a really good player at PG who is actually a SF.
 

bga1 said:
Maryland has a really good PG, who is actually a PG. We have a really good player at PG who is actually a SF, because we don't have a really good PG.
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FIFY
 

Winasota Gopher said:
This is a nice thought, but I still have apprehension that there lacks a true identity to the squad. You could say he changes to fit the team, but I'm just not sure I buy that. I still dont really understand what we run on offense other than trying to jam it into the rim with Murphy and create a high low game with Oturu. Our defense as of late has been great, but why did it take so long to get to that level of effort?

I understand the wanting to wait and see what we get next year before making a decision on him. I'm just concerned that we'll get more of the same so then what do you do? He's built a team that when at it's best, puts on great runs at the end of the year to make you think he's got it figured out, OR, they have a "circumstance" early that makes the season completely unbearable. He's got 3 of each. What is the 7th year gonna bring?
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I think its fair to say something along the lines of him sustaining 20 wins or more over the next 2-3 would satisfy me. I also believe, although some may call this mediocrity at its finest, that we could start to pull more recruits if we are a tourney team 3 out of next 4 or 2 out of next 3, which would probably be likely if we were around 20 wins every season. Slowly but surely lets raise the program until we are a 23,24,25 win team every year.
 

I think he has turned the corner in terms of keeping his job. Long term, I'm skeptical.

I think much of the improvement has come from finally accepting that this team should grind the heck out of its starters the whole game. The Gophers only have 4 players who belong in the top 8 on an upper division Big Ten team, so not burning possessions and minutes on some really inefficient dudes has helped.

Problem is, I think it's really unclear where improvement will come from next year. It's going to be hard to avoid being a Jordan Murphy-less version of this team with limited help on the way. That could put the Gophers at 5-6 wins in B1G play next year and Pitino right back on the firing line.

I'm more a skeptic of the recruiting and player development pipeline than the coaching work he has done.
 

fmlizard said:
I think he has turned the corner in terms of keeping his job. Long term, I'm skeptical.

I think much of the improvement has come from finally accepting that this team should grind the heck out of its starters the whole game. The Gophers only have 4 players who belong in the top 8 on an upper division Big Ten team, so not burning possessions and minutes on some really inefficient dudes has helped.

Problem is, I think it's really unclear where improvement will come from next year. It's going to be hard to avoid being a Jordan Murphy-less version of this team with limited help on the way. That could put the Gophers at 5-6 wins in B1G play next year and Pitino right back on the firing line.

I'm more a skeptic of the recruiting and player development pipeline than the coaching work he has done.
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why do people do this?
 

fmlizard said:
I think he has turned the corner in terms of keeping his job. Long term, I'm skeptical.

I think much of the improvement has come from finally accepting that this team should grind the heck out of its starters the whole game. The Gophers only have 4 players who belong in the top 8 on an upper division Big Ten team, so not burning possessions and minutes on some really inefficient dudes has helped.

Problem is, I think it's really unclear where improvement will come from next year. It's going to be hard to avoid being a Jordan Murphy-less version of this team with limited help on the way. That could put the Gophers at 5-6 wins in B1G play next year and Pitino right back on the firing line.

I'm more a skeptic of the recruiting and player development pipeline than the coaching work he has done.
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So you think one of Murphy, Coffey, McBrayer, Kalscheur, and Oturu don't belong on a B1G team? I wont include the others like Matz and Curry or even Carr because I think you are referencing the now but still...jeez.
 

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