Mathieu said Pitino told the team after the game it "had no heart"

[jovs]

Difference was that in that era most freshman entering college weren't polished.

I tend to disagree, freshman these days are not fundamentally sound which is the complaint about AAU ball, they come in with great individual skills and athleticism but not basketball skills, defensively you might as well be starting over.

Very few big men come in ready to play, I look at Ohio States 5* recruits, for the most part they don't contribute that highly in there first year, a couple of years down the line they tend to be pretty good.

 

[cjbfbp]

Very few big men come in ready to play, I look at Ohio States 5* recruits, for the most part they don't contribute that highly in there first year, a couple of years down the line they tend to be pretty good.

Sullenger contributed in a big way as a freshman and so did Oden. Byron Mullens was disappointing but he was a bust in the NBA too. Matta guessed wrong there. Kosta Koufos was not a great big man but he still averaged 14.4 pts and 6.7 rebounds a game as a freshman (something neither of our 5th year seniors can do). Other 5 star big men from around the country over the last few years (e.g., Nerlins Noel, Cauley-Stein, Anthony Davis, Okafor, Towns, Joel Embiid, Miles Turner - I could go on) have been significant contributors from the get go as well. The really good ones are more often than not forces as freshmen. The lesser ones usually are much less so.

Do your research before you make these claims because some of us aren't as lazy as you.

 

[ethomasp31]

Well there is a lot of baloney to sort through in that post - mixed in with some bits of whole grain truth.

First off, Pitino is not playing mindless run and gun basketball. I do think he wants players to take the first good open look and also get any opportunities they can off of turnovers or getting the ball up the court quicker. Iowa has done this, Michigan State does it whenever it can and certainly Indiana does it. So the idea that no one else does these things successfully in the Big Ten is just wrong.

With the players that Pitino was handed (and I don't want to go down the Tubby road but you asked for it) he did far better his first year than what I would have expected Tubby to do with what we would have had. Consider a team last year without Matheui or King and add back in Foster and Ellis. As rough as Matheui has had it this year he was terrific last year. So for you to say that he took the program "down the ladder" is wrong. This year has been disappointing to say the least and part of that is on Pitino.

Certainly this year has brought echos of the Monson era to some. Monson was not a bad coach but also not a great recruiter. He had an uptempo system but couldn't quite put the bodies on the floor to run it. Pitino is having a tough time but we do have the appearances of a good recruiting class incoming. I think you have to wait for that. By the way - Clem was not a run and gun coach by any means but once he got the horses - they ran plenty in 1996-97. Pitino will have to get the horses or he will fail. Now is way to early to call it. Other than the erased Clem championship you have to go back to the '81 Dutcher squad to find any great history and beyond that more trouble under Mussy.

King was coming here or going to try to come here no matter who was coaching the Gophers....he was looking to transfer back to the U....he didn't come here because Pitino recruited him. Is Pitino doing better than you expected this year or were you expecting 5-13 or 6-12 in the B1G? Don't try to compare what you THINK Tubby would have done last year to what Pitino did....no one has any idea what would have happened. Stop bringing up Tubby....this year has been a disaster and next year doesn't forecast to be much better.

 

[ethomasp31]

Btw, I thinK Pitino has a chance to be a good coach for us someday. I don't expect it to be next year. Hopefully next years class will live up to what some of you expect and the year after that it is even better. He is not going to win without getting good recruits, he is young and does seem to have the energy to be successful. Tubby's last recruiting class wasn't good and the last two haven't been much better.