Marcus: Richard Pitino Excited About His Six Newcomers

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DeathClutch

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Interesting Quotes:

- On Murphy: "He’ll be a guy who will play power forward spot. Maybe down the road morph into a (small forward). But right now he’ll be the power forward. Joey (King) will play a little bit less at the position."

- "We’re really trying to this year to play (bigger guards like) Carlos Morris and Dupree McBrayer at (shooting guard). We’re trying not to play three guards."

- On Fitzgerald: “Has had moments where he’s the best player on the court. Looks healthy. We’ve been playing him at the (small forward) some, really trying to get bigger."

http://blogs.twincities.com/gophers...no-excited-about-his-six-newcomers-this-year/
 



It surprises me that the comments about Gilbert still talk about him not being in good enough shape. It's not as if he's built like Mo Walker was. It's disappointing that he came in this summer not in good condition, but I'll give him a pass not knowing the intensity level needed at this level. But now he's been with the program for about four months, including the practices for the Spain trip, and Pitino still mentions him needing to get in better condition each time he evaluates him. I hope its a tactic to motivate him, but either way, let's get to work Ahmad!

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
It surprises me that the comments about Gilbert still talk about him not being in good enough shape. It's not as if he's built like Mo Walker was. It's disappointing that he came in this summer not in good condition, but I'll give him a pass not knowing the intensity level needed at this level. But now he's been with the program for about four months, including the practices for the Spain trip, and Pitino still mentions him needing to get in better condition each time he evaluates him. I hope its a tactic to motivate him, but either way, let's get to work Ahmad!

Go Gophers!!
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Weren't these comments made awhile ago? I remember reading them before
 




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Good to hear. Maybe if he keeps it up he could push Buggs for that starting 3 position?
 




Gilbert's high school coach talked about him willing to be patient, and how he had the frame to go 220-225. This season we need help at the 3, but it's very difficult to throw a true freshman into the B1G fire unless he's a top 75-100 type. I like his future, but don't expect a lot early.
 

howieramone said:
Gilbert's high school coach talked about him willing to be patient, and how he had the frame to go 220-225. This season we need help at the 3, but it's very difficult to throw a true freshman into the B1G fire unless he's a top 75-100 type. I like his future, but don't expect a lot early.
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I agree. I just look at this year's roster and wonder how we get to 40 minutes at the SF position without him putting in about 10mpg minimum. Of course we can play both Morris and McBrayer at the same time as long as we don't get foul trouble.
 

Tim1406 said:
I agree. I just look at this year's roster and wonder how we get to 40 minutes at the SF position without him putting in about 10mpg minimum. Of course we can play both Morris and McBrayer at the same time as long as we don't get foul trouble.
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We will play with 3 guards frequently this year.
 




HOOP DREAMS said:
Pitino from the podcast- "...we can go three guards, I'd like to stay away from that"
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Yup, he would also like to win the Big 10, and last year he said we would all love Josh Martin. He's a salesmen, and he can want to stay away from it all he wants, but I don't believe it's going to be possible. Our talent is at the guard position, our weakness is in the front court.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Yup, he would also like to win the Big 10, and last year he said we would all love Josh Martin. He's a salesmen, and he can want to stay away from it all he wants, but I don't believe it's going to be possible. Our talent is at the guard position, our weakness is in the front court.
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He followed it up with it would hurt our defense and rebounding and it depends on Gilbert and Buggs play... which confused me a bit, thinking Morris will play major mins at the 3, with Murphy, Buggs, etc. getting the left overs.
 

HOOP DREAMS said:
He followed it up with it would hurt our defense and rebounding and it depends on Gilbert and Buggs play... which confused me a bit, thinking Morris will play major mins at the 3, with Murphy, Buggs, etc. getting the left overs.
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Agreed, I was left confused with his comments about guards getting bigger and last year "quickness to the ball" was a problem. I think we are talking about the same comment/response.

I love Pitino and have been one of his biggest supporters, however, I will admit he says a lot of stuff and just gets away with it because hes a nice guy to talk to. It's going to be a goofy year and anyone going into it with anything but excitement to watch the youth is likely going to be disapointed.
 

People on here loved Martin. If he stayed, there's no reason to think we wouldn't have loved him. He was super athletic and entertaining on and off the court. You don't have to become a great player to be loved by fans.

In the context of college basketball coaches, Pitino is really not a salesman, at least not in a bad way. I think most fans are very satisfied with Pitino when he speaks to the media.

Winasota Gopher said:
Yup, he would also like to win the Big 10, and last year he said we would all love Josh Martin. He's a salesmen, and he can want to stay away from it all he wants, but I don't believe it's going to be possible. Our talent is at the guard position, our weakness is in the front court.
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Morris has been his starting shooting guard so far this year. He wants him to get the majority of his minutes there but it depends on how ready Buggs and Gilbert are to get major minutes at sf.

HOOP DREAMS said:
He followed it up with it would hurt our defense and rebounding and it depends on Gilbert and Buggs play... which confused me a bit, thinking Morris will play major mins at the 3, with Murphy, Buggs, etc. getting the left overs.
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Lost Mathieu and Andre. Look at who is there now--we have bigger guards. We weren't quick enough last year. I don't understand what doesn't make sense and what kind of stuff you think Pitino gets away with.

Winasota Gopher said:
Agreed, I was left confused with his comments about guards getting bigger and last year "quickness to the ball" was a problem. I think we are talking about the same comment/response.

I love Pitino and have been one of his biggest supporters, however, I will admit he says a lot of stuff and just gets away with it because hes a nice guy to talk to. It's going to be a goofy year and anyone going into it with anything but excitement to watch the youth is likely going to be disapointed.
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underground629 said:
Lost Mathieu and Andre. Look at who is there now--we have bigger guards. We weren't quick enough last year. I don't understand what doesn't make sense and what kind of stuff you think Pitino gets away with.
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Article-Pitino said:
I hope they will, because it will make us a better defensive team and better rebounding the ball. A lot of our issues last year from a defensive standpoint were being quick to the ball. A lot of that has to do with playing three guards. It was a strength offensively but not as much defensively and rebounding the ball.
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K

To that point, we loose Mathieu and Andre and get bigger, how is that going to solve our quickness issues from last year? Also I believe the quote you are referencing, unless it was misquoted, he was speaking of how the lack of quickness to the ball hurt our defense and then our rebounding. I don't understand the logic there. I understand that getting bigger will help rebounding, but why the quickness comment? Small things, but like I said in my post, I think because he is a good speaker and very likable, those things get overlooked as it likely does with most college coaches. Not a big deal.

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In this interview he makes some very strange comments about the shot-clock. Again I might be misunderstanding, but first time through I was scratching my head. He then gets called out on it by a reporter at the very end and then says something different that confused me even more. Media day, who really cares? Just an observation.
 

underground629 said:
People on here loved Martin. If he stayed, there's no reason to think we wouldn't have loved him. He was super athletic and entertaining on and off the court. You don't have to become a great player to be loved by fans.

In the context of college basketball coaches, Pitino is really not a salesman, at least not in a bad way. I think most fans are very satisfied with Pitino when he speaks to the media.
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Pretty sure I don't love Josh Martin. He quit on his team after a few games. I don't know the specifics, but I don't love Josh Martin.

I'm not saying hes a salesmen in a negative fashion. I'm just saying, he's selling what his plan is, just like he should. I personally don't believe he is going to be able to stick to that game plan based on the talent distribution of this seasons roster. I think he's going to play more guards than he is currently leading on. McBrayer and Morris will play more 3 than he wants to.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Pretty sure I don't love Josh Martin. He quit on his team after a few games. I don't know the specifics, but I don't love Josh Martin.

I'm not saying hes a salesmen in a negative fashion. I'm just saying, he's selling what his plan is, just like he should. I personally don't believe he is going to be able to stick to that game plan based on the talent distribution of this seasons roster. I think he's going to play more guards than he is currently leading on. McBrayer and Morris will play more 3 than he wants to.
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I agree with you on Morris, but I don't see McBrayer at the 3. He's maybe 180 lbs? I hope I counted wrong, but are we down to 9 players? Good to hear Gilbert is ready to contribute.
 

howieramone said:
I agree with you on Morris, but I don't see McBrayer at the 3. He's maybe 180 lbs? I hope I counted wrong, but are we down to 9 players? Good to hear Gilbert is ready to contribute.
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Down to 9 players because Konate is out? Then yes.
 

howieramone said:
I agree with you on Morris, but I don't see McBrayer at the 3. He's maybe 180 lbs? I hope I counted wrong, but are we down to 9 players? Good to hear Gilbert is ready to contribute.
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You're likely right, I just assumed that since he lumped those 2 together that it's a possibility that we run out there with Dorsey, Mason and Morris/McBrayer, with McBrayer being the less likely situation. Even if he plays 1 minute at the 3 spot or as the 3rd guard then it's more than Pitino likely wants. I just think the talent on that roster is going to lead us into more 3 guard situations than he is selling at this point.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
You're likely right, I just assumed that since he lumped those 2 together that it's a possibility that we run out there with Dorsey, Mason and Morris/McBrayer, with McBrayer being the less likely situation. Even if he plays 1 minute at the 3 spot or as the 3rd guard then it's more than Pitino likely wants. I just think the talent on that roster is going to lead us into more 3 guard situations than he is selling at this point.
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I'm with you. I think we have all speculated that Dorsey and Mason would see the court together a fair amount. Would those minutes come at the expense of Morris/McBrayer or at the expense of Buggs/Gilbert at the three? I think the latter with Morris/McBrayer playing minutes in a three guard offense.
 

underground629 said:
Morris has been his starting shooting guard so far this year. He wants him to get the majority of his minutes there but it depends on how ready Buggs and Gilbert are to get major minutes at sf.
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I'd bet Dorsey, Mason and Morris, but if Mason, Morris and Buggs/Gilbert win out, great.
 

He is talking about being quicker to the ball. Which is only part of speed of the player. You can be quicker to the ball by being more situationally aware and being longer than another player who is faster than you. Taller players don't have to go as far to influence defensively and if Pitino thinks the new recruits fit his style better they might react quicker and get on the ball faster.
 

Otis said:
He is talking about being quicker to the ball. Which is only part of speed of the player. You can be quicker to the ball by being more situationally aware and being longer than another player who is faster than you. Taller players don't have to go as far to influence defensively and if Pitino thinks the new recruits fit his style better they might react quicker and get on the ball faster.
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This makes much more sense than what underground was saying. Not sure that's what Pitino was saying, and if he was he could have said it much differently to be clearer.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
K

To that point, we loose Mathieu and Andre and get bigger, how is that going to solve our quickness issues from last year? Also I believe the quote you are referencing, unless it was misquoted, he was speaking of how the lack of quickness to the ball hurt our defense and then our rebounding. I don't understand the logic there. I understand that getting bigger will help rebounding, but why the quickness comment? Small things, but like I said in my post, I think because he is a good speaker and very likable, those things get overlooked as it likely does with most college coaches. Not a big deal.

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

In this interview he makes some very strange comments about the shot-clock. Again I might be misunderstanding, but first time through I was scratching my head. He then gets called out on it by a reporter at the very end and then says something different that confused me even more. Media day, who really cares? Just an observation.
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The part about quickness and 3-guard lineups was confusing without him explaining, but we are undoubtedly quicker this year. We replaced Mathieu's speed with supposedly the same speed, and we lost extremely slow people to graduation (Mo, EE, Andre). Do you think the players replacing them are not quicker? When it comes to rebounding, quickness to the ball means we aren't reacting quickly enough and then actually getting there quickly enough, particularly on long rebounds. Quickness is of course important for defense, particularly in Pitino's system where he wants fast guards to apply a lot of ball pressure. When I originally listened to the press conference, I thought all of what he said about the team made sense.

Now, I agree that he wasn't super clear in regards to the shot-clock but mostly in his response to the reporter being an idiot. The reporter changed his words. The reporter asked why he thought those 5 seconds don't make a difference. He never said that. He said how they do make a difference (other coaches might change their press) but that it isn't that substantial of a difference and that it doesn't really change our team at all. That made sense--the reporter didn't. Pitino didn't explain things well after the reporter made the stupid comment, but other than that, I think everything he said was pretty clear and informative. I just think as far as listening to coaches talk in any sport at any level, Pitino is one of the most interesting, genuine, and blunt. I'll give him a pass for misspeaking a little bit at the end when I really do think he was caught off guard by such a weird overreaction by the reporter. It was also the first time talking to the non-MN media in a while.
 

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