New Pitino Blog: "When healthy he (Fitz) shows flashes of being our best player."

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BleedGopher

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New Pitino Blog: "When healthy he (Fitz) shows flashes of being our best player."

Some good nuggets as usual from Pitino:

• Eric Curry - Had a good freshman campaign with some terrific moments. He can make a huge jump. Has to live in the gym this summer. Has a chance to be a special one!

• Michael Hurt - Played spot minutes and that can always be difficult. Huge offseason for Michael. I know he will put in the work on the court and in the weight room. Smart player, great attitude!

• Amir Coffey - Obviously had a terrific freshman year and what excites me is how much room he has to grow. Have to work on his right hand as well as shooting more of a jump shot then a set shot. I want him to start dreaming big because he's a special talent.

• Jordan Murphy - Obviously had a monstrous end of the season and was a huge reason why we won 8 league games in a row. Has to ride that momentum into a huge offseason. I know he's excited to get to work to continue to develop his all-around game. When his mentality is right, look out. Sometimes forget he's only a sophomore! He showed terrific leadership this season. On the verge of becoming a special player.

• Dupree McBrayer - Really improved from year 1 to year 2. If he gets to 200 pounds he could be a legit force in this league. Has to live in the weight room! He was more consistent with his jumper and really good at getting to the rim. Still a young sophomore but his stock is rising big time.

• Nate Mason - Had a good chat with Nate today about where he can take the next step. He had a terrific junior year and was a huge reason for our success. He still hasn't been able to work out since his injury in the Middle Tennessee game. Has to develop a consistent catch and shoot jumper as well as slim down which will help his foot speed. I'm proud of Nate. I know he's ready to get back on the court.

• Davonte Fitzgerald - When healthy he shows flashes of being our best player. There were times last year that he blocked just as many shots as Reggie. He's getting healthy and working hard in his rehab. Will look at him at the 3 and the 4 next season. Great versatility!

Much more:

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/040617aaa.html

Go Gophers!!
 

Coach is putting a lot of eggs into the Fitz basket. I'm not sure he has spoken more highly about a player since he got here. Still seems really high risk to significantly rely on a guy coming off such a serious injury. I hope he works out.
 

If Fitz can give us 10-15 productive minutes next season, I will be ecstatic.
 

With regard to Gilbert, does Pitino mean they are helping him find a landing spot?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 



Holy Man said:
Coach is putting a lot of eggs into the Fitz basket. I'm not sure he has spoken more highly about a player since he got here. Still seems really high risk to significantly rely on a guy coming off such a serious injury. I hope he works out.
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Not sure I understand the eggs comment. Patino thinks the kid has big upside if he can keep him on the court. Also not sure how he is relying on him anymore than what is logical given the situation. The kid had another ACL, sh!t luck, but athletes make 100% recovery from those all the time. He's a piece of the 2017-18 team.
 

Regarding Fitz - I'd essentially approach this spring recruiting cycle with the mindset that he's not even on the team. Don't expect anything from him and go find a guy that you can play and build as good a team as possible without Fitz. Then if he can give you anything, it's a massive bonus.

Still think the best thing they can do is find a 6'4-6'7 wing who can shoot and doesn't need to dominate touches. Allows you so many different lineup combinations and they could run teams ragged.
 

I think Pitino's comments about Fitz are two fold. One, he wants to keep him positive in his rehab. Let the guy know the coach has not forgotten him. Make him feel good about himself and his future. And two, there has to be some previous flashes there to repeatedly continue to bring Fitz up optimistically in other conversations, often unprompted. Players have also mentioned him as someone with ability.
It's certainly possible for him to become and remain healthy. Hopefully he does and lives up to the optimism Pitino sees in his play. I'd look at Fitz as a bonus if he contributes in a positive manner on the court. I would like it if we could add a more proven dependable impact player with the scholarship.
 




Some unspecified hip injury in the first half of the MTSU game.
 

hyperbole

You are spot on. And not to put too much in what he is saying about Fitzgerald, one could have almost have described Buggs the same way. Very athletic, could play a few spots, good streak shooter. Sometimes people look great in practice yet something is missing in terms of doing that in competitive games. I hope Fitz is healthy and can give us solid minutes I would love an 8-9 person rotation in the big ten.





60's Guy said:
I think Pitino's comments about Fitz are two fold. One, he wants to keep him positive in his rehab. Let the guy know the coach has not forgotten him. Make him feel good about himself and his future. And two, there has to be some previous flashes there to repeatedly continue to bring Fitz up optimistically in other conversations, often unprompted. Players have also mentioned him as someone with ability.
It's certainly possible for him to become and remain healthy. Hopefully he does and lives up to the optimism Pitino sees in his play. I'd look at Fitz as a bonus if he contributes in a positive manner on the court. I would like it if we could add a more proven dependable impact player with the scholarship.
Click to expand...
 

Holy Man said:
Coach is putting a lot of eggs into the Fitz basket. I'm not sure he has spoken more highly about a player since he got here. Still seems really high risk to significantly rely on a guy coming off such a serious injury. I hope he works out.
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Pitino was VERY high on Lynch during his transfer year, and that turned out pretty good.
 

Does anybody know where Fitzgerald is at in his recovery, is he going to be able to participate in the summer workouts.
 



One of the student managers is a family friend and he told us that Fitz was the best player during the practices last season. He said he was the best pure shooter on the team. An interesting what if scenario had he not been injured this year.
 

beavergopher said:
One of the student managers is a family friend and he told us that Fitz was the best player during the practices last season. He said he was the best pure shooter on the team. An interesting what if scenario had he not been injured this year.
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He's def one of the best shooters of the practice for I've attended the year before. He just seemed soft because I thought he was a 4. If he's improved his handles and his strength and is capable of giving us minutes at 3/4, I think we will finish 1 or 2 in the Big Ten. We can play Amir, Fitz, Dupree, Murphy, and Curry together. That would be a really good versatile lineup that will present matchup problems and will have length to do a lot of different things defensively
 

beavergopher said:
One of the student managers is a family friend and he told us that Fitz was the best player during the practices last season. He said he was the best pure shooter on the team. An interesting what if scenario had he not been injured this year.
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I have also heard this from a buddy who has a friend in some sort of equipment/manger roles on the team. Everything that I have heard has been extremely positive about Fitzgerald.
 

It's tough to wrap my mind around the idea that a guy that did very little for a mediocre aTm squad could somehow be one of our best players, but there have been cases of guys transferring and showing themselves to be much better players than they did before. Justin Cobb's is probably a great example of that. Didn't show much here, became an all conference guard for a good Call team
 

Maturity has a lot to do with it - that and change in scenery has propelled a lot of players to good careers - some take a little longer to really mature ( I think micheal hurt will get expontially better)
 

oleboy41 said:
It's tough to wrap my mind around the idea that a guy that did very little for a mediocre aTm squad could somehow be one of our best players, but there have been cases of guys transferring and showing themselves to be much better players than they did before. Justin Cobb's is probably a great example of that. Didn't show much here, became an all conference guard for a good Call team
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Trevor Mbakwe averaged 1.5 points for Marquette as a freshman.
 


The interesting thing about Fitzgerald to me was that Pitino's praise for him drew noticeably quieter as we got closer to the season (prior to his injury). During the struggles in 2015-2016, Pitino praised both Lynch and Fitzgerald equally. By the time fall of 2016 rolled around, the praise for Lynch remained high, but Pitino was much more tempered in his comments in regards to Fitzgerald.
 

Biggsohnasty said:
Regarding Fitz - I'd essentially approach this spring recruiting cycle with the mindset that he's not even on the team. Don't expect anything from him and go find a guy that you can play and build as good a team as possible without Fitz. Then if he can give you anything, it's a massive bonus.

Still think the best thing they can do is find a 6'4-6'7 wing who can shoot and doesn't need to dominate touches. Allows you so many different lineup combinations and they could run teams ragged.
Click to expand...

Why would you approach it like he isn't on the team? He's practicing now and is healthy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


Because he's had two ACL injuries in 3 years and hasn't played in a college basketball game since 2015.

It's a matter of expectation. Build as good a team as you can with the expectation that Fitz gives you nothing. If you ends up playing well, now you've got an even better team.

I hope they aren't counting on him to give them key rotation player minutes because when he was healthy he wasn't all that good and he hasn't been healthy in a long, long time. Is it that complicated?
 

Fitzgerald is not practicing now and he's not "healthy". It was announced on October 7 that Davonte tore his ACL. It's been no more than 6 months since his surgery and in Pitino's own blog he stakes he's making progress in rehab. Not counting on a kid who will have not played a game of D-1 basketball in nearly two years and is coming off his second major knee injury in a four year span seems like a rational approach to me. That's not to say he can't or won't contribute, just that counting on him is unfair to the kid and can put the team in a bad spot.
 

60's Guy said:
I think Pitino's comments about Fitz are two fold. One, he wants to keep him positive in his rehab. Let the guy know the coach has not forgotten him. Make him feel good about himself and his future. And two, there has to be some previous flashes there to repeatedly continue to bring Fitz up optimistically in other conversations, often unprompted. Players have also mentioned him as someone with ability.
It's certainly possible for him to become and remain healthy. Hopefully he does and lives up to the optimism Pitino sees in his play. I'd look at Fitz as a bonus if he contributes in a positive manner on the court. I would like it if we could add a more proven dependable impact player with the scholarship.
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I can't find the link, but two years ago, when Reggie & Fitz were practicing, but not playing, he said Fitz was the best player on the team. Pitino clearly likes Fitz's game.
 

march madness said:
You are spot on. And not to put too much in what he is saying about Fitzgerald, one could have almost have described Buggs the same way. Very athletic, could play a few spots, good streak shooter. Sometimes people look great in practice yet something is missing in terms of doing that in competitive games. I hope Fitz is healthy and can give us solid minutes I would love an 8-9 person rotation in the big ten.
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone ever thought Buggs was a good practice player.
 

oleboy41 said:
It's tough to wrap my mind around the idea that a guy that did very little for a mediocre aTm squad could somehow be one of our best players, but there have been cases of guys transferring and showing themselves to be much better players than they did before. Justin Cobb's is probably a great example of that. Didn't show much here, became an all conference guard for a good Call team
Click to expand...

I find that looking at players per 40 min stats to be very helpful.

As a freshman Fitz averaged
18.5 pts/40 5.7 rbs/40 and 0.3 ast/40
Sophomore:
14.7 pts/40 6.7 rbs/40 and 0.7 ast/40

The kid needs to learn to pass hahaha.

As a reference here were Mason, Murphy and Coffey per 40 stats from this past season.
Mason: 17.5 pts/40 4.2 rbs/40 5.8 ast/40
Coffey: 14.7 pts/40 4.6 rbs/40 3.7 ast/40
Murphy: 16.4 pts/40 12.8 rbs/40 1.2 ast/40

I'd say Fitz did play decently well at Texas A&M. He just didn't get enough playing time for the overall stats to be higher.
 

Biggsohnasty said:
Because he's had two ACL injuries in 3 years and hasn't played in a college basketball game since 2015.

It's a matter of expectation. Build as good a team as you can with the expectation that Fitz gives you nothing. If you ends up playing well, now you've got an even better team.

I hope they aren't counting on him to give them key rotation player minutes because when he was healthy he wasn't all that good and he hasn't been healthy in a long, long time. Is it that complicated?
Click to expand...

I'm going to go out on a limb here, but a coach who is in charge of a major college team and has seen what the guy can and cannot do on the court probably more than you have, doesn't need your advice. That's actually the uncomplicated part.
 

Tim1406 said:
I find that looking at players per 40 min stats to be very helpful.

As a freshman Fitz averaged
18.5 pts/40 5.7 rbs/40 and 0.3 ast/40
Sophomore:
14.7 pts/40 6.7 rbs/40 and 0.7 ast/40

The kid needs to learn to pass hahaha.

As a reference here were Mason, Murphy and Coffey per 40 stats from this past season.
Mason: 17.5 pts/40 4.2 rbs/40 5.8 ast/40
Coffey: 14.7 pts/40 4.6 rbs/40 3.7 ast/40
Murphy: 16.4 pts/40 12.8 rbs/40 1.2 ast/40

I'd say Fitz did play decently well at Texas A&M. He just didn't get enough playing time for the overall stats to be higher.
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Helpful information. If he gets healthy, he will help the team. I am still in the camp that thinks relying heavily on a player coming back from that serious of an injury and not playing in two years is not wise. I hope for his sake and the team he makes a full recovery and contributes to his full potential.
 

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