***OFFICIAL MINNESOTA AT RUTGERS IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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topos said:
IMO, this has been Pitinos biggest undoing. Unwavering support for Gabe.
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Frankly there is a long list of his undoing's. Gabe is definitely on there no doubt as he should not be starting any longer, but to me it's his lack of a cohesive strategy to close out a game. There is zero discipline on this team and it really shows at the end in close games.

Carr can do whatever he wants without consequence. In fact, I think Carr is encouraged to do this by Pitino.
 

I just can't get over that last possession by Carr. Fans....it's one thing. You could say he doesn't owe us anything. But walking the ball up the court in a one possession game....wasting valuable seconds....and then taking a terrible three pointer like that. I have to think that the other guys on the team are a little salty about that too. What a bullshit way to close out a winnable game.
 


bhk3yx said:
This game was disappointing, feels as if we won about 4/5 of it. Really liked seeing contributions across the line up. Thought we were very patient looking for shots, sans end of game. Avoided chucking up threes when faced with difficultly. Johnson looks to have kicked in into another gear mentally, playing with tenacity and purpose. I can see Johnson as a crucial factor to the team going down the stretch if he continues to string these types of performances together.
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Most noticeably during the end of the game there were a lot of ticky tack calls against us that became a drag on any momentum we had when breaking away with the lead. I won't blame the refs for our loss but I also do believe that if there weren't so many calls in the final 5 minutes of the game, we would have walked away with a W by 5-10. That said, our wheels can't simply fall off when faced with predictable adversity on the road e.g. calls not going our way. In particular, in the final 2 minutes, after a series of stoppages, our offense became completely discombobulated. This lead us to throwing the game away but also needs to be expected on the road and we cant let it get into our psyche when closing out a game.
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I liked that we didn't have Carr take up the ball to take a buzzer shot at the end of the 1st half. I think this needs to happen more and it was perfectly highlighted by how much it buried us at the end in the 2nd half. I'm sure a ton on here are already shredding Carr for it but two things here. 1) I was shocked they didn't try and push the ball with 30 seconds left to go for a two. We were in the game still and that consigned us to a must-hit three. Completely unnecessary. 2) Carr should have realized he had no shot at some point way sooner and had a viable plan-b to go to (which would be more viable if he hadn't walked up the court).

I think Carr knows he really messed that one up. I hope that he learns from the mistake and doesn't do it again. Yes it's obvious he made a poor decision or two at the end. I'm not going to excoriate him or call for his transfer immediately. He's a kid. I think it'll be very apparent how dumb it looked on film. I'm still very optimistic about the team's play going forward and I'd rather we suffer from our stupid blunders now than experience them in the Big Ten or NCAA tournament.
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Or 3...
 

60's Guy said:
I’d think even in a pandemic this was shockingly embarrassing enough coaching to get someone fired.
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This was really bad. Beyond me why you would not want to move the ball up the floor quickly and try to score. Beyond embarrassing. Perhaps it is time for a change.
 



i wont be watching until we beat a ranked team (aka I have seen my last game of the season)
 

Marcus Carr's "hero ball" was an abject failure tonight.
When I saw him casually bring the ball up and remove a 2 point basket from the options, I knew it was over.
Second, the continued carelessness with the ball is entirely on Coach Pitino. One game, that's on the players. An entire season, that's on the coach.
Third, how can so many D1 players miss the rim by 3 feet on their shots? Guys who have practiced that many open 3s should be able to hit the rim with their eyes closed, but there were multiple air balls of unprecedented proportions. How can that happen?
Sadly, this team feels like a Tubby Smith team that peaked in December and is careening down the hill at breakneck speed. Disappointing is an understatement.
 




USAF said:
I've only been screaming "fire Pitino" at the top of my lungs for a couple years now.

Maybe someone will listen finally. Hes not B1G coach, never was, never will be.

End this pain, Coyle. Jeebus.
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I wanted him gone three seasons ago and I still cannot for the life of me understand how anyone didn't think the same. Can't recruit and can't coach.
 

I guess with Carr you have to take the good with the bad. His play has won some big games for us. Perhaps he is just as frustrated as some of us are with the fact that we are such a poor shooting team. Hard to get assists when nobody else can make a shot.
 

jblass said:
I guess with Carr you have to take the good with the bad. His play has won some big games for us. Perhaps he is just as frustrated as some of us are with the fact that we are such a poor shooting team. Hard to get assists when nobody else can make a shot.
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PG has 2 jobs ... get ball to guys to score and score when you can ... last shot had .009% chance of going in ... his teammates had 33% chance if he would just make a pass ... needs to be smarter, but coach calling that play was even dumber
 




jblass said:
This was really bad. Beyond me why you would not want to move the ball up the floor quickly and try to score. Beyond embarrassing. Perhaps it is time for a change.
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Perhaps?! What are you people watching? Do you like being a joke of a program in the conference? Year after year

The two basketball coaches in town only got their jobs because of who their dads are. Pitino should have been gone years ago and well the Wolves could just go altogether.
 

McDobb4BB said:
PG has 2 jobs ... get ball to guys to score and score when you can ... last shot had .009% chance of going in ... his teammates had 33% chance if he would just make a pass ... needs to be smarter, but coach calling that play was even dumber
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Teams are double teaming him up top to make him get rid of the ball. Problem is hes not getting rid of the ball! If your saying Pitino called that play then I'm gonna say what play? Dribbling all over the place almost falling down twice and then chucking up an airball with a guy in his face? That's a play? I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just saying that I'm sure the play is carr driving lane and possibly dishing it off, but no way carr is giving ball up lol
 

Carr is Jekyll and Hyde. Either love him or don't. But this loss is not all his doing. Pitino gives MC free rein and then it's no longer team ball.

This is all on Pitino. This has been his choice of "play" during the end of the half or game all season. This is all he has to offer to the players and to the fans. It's ALL on Carr to either get it done or fail.
"We ran a play that won us a lot of games," Pitino said. "It's been good in the past. It wasn't good there. You've got to give the defense credit. I thought for 37½ minutes, we were terrific."

It was a bad choice to walk the ball and hope for one good look rather than push it, get a look and allow some time for a rare offense rebound then another three. RP must have felt that was not a very good option other wise he would have been yelling for Carr to push it.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
Carr is Jekyll and Hyde. Either love him or don't. But this loss is not all his doing. Pitino gives MC free rein and then it's no longer team ball.

This is all on Pitino. This has been his choice of "play" during the end of the half or game all season. This is all he has to offer to the players and to the fans. It's ALL on Carr to either get it done or fail.
"We ran a play that won us a lot of games," Pitino said. "It's been good in the past. It wasn't good there. You've got to give the defense credit. I thought for 37½ minutes, we were terrific."

It was a bad choice to walk the ball and hope for one good look rather than push it, get a look and allow some time for a rare offense rebound then another three. RP must have felt that was not a very good option other wise he would have been yelling for Carr to push it.
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If he really thinks they ran a play there...holy cow. I still can't believe what I saw, and I can't believe what I'm hearing. When you're down, even by one point, you need to lengthen the game, not milk the clock and have the game ride on one possession and a desperation heave. It depresses me that Pitino thinks this is some kind of secret formula of winning basketball.
 

Bad Gopher said:
If he really thinks they ran a play there...holy cow. I still can't believe what I saw, and I can't believe what I'm hearing. When you're down, even by one point, you need to lengthen the game, not milk the clock and have the game ride on one possession and a desperation heave. It depresses me that Pitino thinks this is some kind of secret formula of winning basketball.
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I agree 100%. When did basketball get away with running a play down the stretch. Unfortunately basketball has gone to point guard just dribbling and then just chucking up a 35 footer. Doesnt make sense to me. Pitino isnt any different than most coaches as they all do the same desperation at end of game. Now obviously there are a few coaches out therethat actually run plays, but the fact that pitino just sits back and watches this garbage is beyond me. It all started with the fact that turgeon had the right gameplan and now everyone is double teaming carr trying to make him pass the ball. Instead of passing carr has turned this into a curly neal exhibition! lol
 

Every good team in the BIG has about 3 players who at various times individually can take control of a game and win it for the team. The Gophers have guys who try to do that, as in the Rutgers game (0, 11, 23, 22), but they don't have the superior talent needed. Only 5, Carr, can do it and he has a few times. The opponents know only Carr can beat them, so they double or triple team him when the pressure's really on & he's fatigued. Even if the Gophers' players who would be wide open do get the ball under pressure, they don't hit game-winning shots, as 2 of Rutgers' players did last night near the end. It won't matter who coaches the Gophers or how good his in-game coaching is, if he doesn't recruit players with some superior talent.
 

gophereric30 said:
It all started with the fact that turgeon had the right gameplan and now everyone is double teaming carr trying to make him pass the ball. Instead of passing carr has turned this into a curly neal exhibition! lol
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For 36 minutes, Carr did not get pushed away from the 3 point line with double teams while continuing to dribble. Then he reverted for some unknown reason.
Hrothgar said:
Every good team in the BIG has about 3 players who at various times individually can take control of a game and win it for the team. The Gophers have guys who try to do that, as in the Rutgers game (0, 11, 23, 22), but they don't have the superior talent needed. Only 5, Carr, can do it and he has a few times. The opponents know only Carr can beat them, so they double or triple team him when the pressure's really on & he's fatigued. Even if the Gophers' players who would be wide open do get the ball under pressure, they don't hit game-winning shots, as 2 of Rutgers' players did last night near the end. It won't matter who coaches the Gophers or how good his in-game coaching is, if he doesn't recruit players with some superior talent.
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Totally disagree with your post. There is plenty of talent on this year's roster. Marcus Carr is not the only person that could have won that game for us. If Pitino wanted Gach in the game toward the end, the player to pull was Kalsheur, not Mashburn. That game should never have resulted in us down 3 with 30 seconds to play. And even if it did, we have more options on the floor than a step-back 3 pointer by an off-balance Carr.
 

The "plenty of talent on this years roster" shot 10/41 (24.1%) last night. Outside of Carr/Robbins we dont really have "plenty of talent". Take out Rutgers top 2 scoring options in Harper and Young, the rest of Rutgers shot 21/35 (60%), we have far less talent than people think, and we couple that with a bad coach and these things happen. Carr does dumb thing sometimes, but his coach has 0 idea how to run anything on offense so that sometimes means he simply has no other option. It looks AWFUL at times but there are times it makes us look really good, but to pin it all on him is tough, Pitino simply has no way to put our guys in better spots.
 

I am still astounded by the lack of a play call and discipline in the last minute of the game. Those last 30 seconds sum up pitino’s tenure here. Unbelievable.
 

I’ve seen a lot of complaints about Carr, they are completely warranted after that last possession. But I am still in disbelief about the possession before. We wasted TWO timeouts and still couldn’t get a quality shot up! What kind of dumb plays is Pitino drawing up during these timeouts? That alone says everything about his coaching to me.
 
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Bayfieldgopher said:
Carr is Jekyll and Hyde. Either love him or don't. But this loss is not all his doing. Pitino gives MC free rein and then it's no longer team ball.

This is all on Pitino. This has been his choice of "play" during the end of the half or game all season. This is all he has to offer to the players and to the fans. It's ALL on Carr to either get it done or fail.
"We ran a play that won us a lot of games," Pitino said. "It's been good in the past. It wasn't good there. You've got to give the defense credit. I thought for 37½ minutes, we were terrific."

It was a bad choice to walk the ball and hope for one good look rather than push it, get a look and allow some time for a rare offense rebound then another three. RP must have felt that was not a very good option other wise he would have been yelling for Carr to push it.
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A couple of comments here:
1. "We ran a play that won us a lot of games" - All apologies Richard, but you've never won a lot of conference games. In fact, you've never won a lot of games period. So, that nice flowery line doesn't really fly.

2. "It's been good in the past" - Even if you've won games that way, it wasn't because of the excellent play you designed. It was because the hero-ball approach worked a couple of times on a wing and a prayer by Marcus Carr. It doesn't and won't win against actual top level competition. But, sure, it's been good in the past or something.

3. "You've got to give the defense credit. I thought for 37 1/2 minutes we were terrific" - The defense has an easy job against you and your team late in games. Why? Because it's the same set up every single time. Essentially, it becomes Marcus Carr vs. the world. Every conference team knows it. Hence, the wing-and-a-prayer approach to late game scenarios. Also, if you had really been terrific for 37 1/2 minutes, you would've had a working margin that could have overcome you're own deficiencies as a coach and a team. You played good, sound basketball for 37 1/2 minutes. But that wasn't enough. Why? Because you and your team have no idea how to actually win games late against solid competition. Hence, the moral victory line of "I thought for 37 1/2 minutes we were terrific."
 

gophereric30 said:
I agree 100%. When did basketball get away with running a play down the stretch. Unfortunately basketball has gone to point guard just dribbling and then just chucking up a 35 footer. Doesnt make sense to me. Pitino isnt any different than most coaches as they all do the same desperation at end of game. Now obviously there are a few coaches out therethat actually run plays, but the fact that pitino just sits back and watches this garbage is beyond me. It all started with the fact that turgeon had the right gameplan and now everyone is double teaming carr trying to make him pass the ball. Instead of passing carr has turned this into a curly neal exhibition! lol
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It's no different from how opponents started to neutralize Matthieu in Richard's first year here. Tim Miles came with that game plan, and it was adopted by other teams the rest of the season. Consequently the Gophers went from being an NCAA hopeful/probable early in the conference schedule to a NIT team. What we find through this is that Pitino has gotten no better at countering or adjusting in the 7 years since then.
 

Hey Pitino and Carr......... pass the f'n ball! Earlier Carr stole the ball gave it up and thanks to Robbins, the result was a perfect 2 on 1 fast break basket. The ball touched the floor twice the whole length of the court. Later Carr on a 3 on1 failed to give it up, after many, many dribbles, and resulted in 0 points. This is not basketball. I trust Robbins to run the fast break more than Carr. Carr and the NBA, yea right, what a joke. Sorry if already discussed.
 

WHB Brewer said:
Pitino B10 win% = 0.371
Monson 0.393
Tubby 0.426
Think about how low the bar has been set.
How does he still have a job?
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Pitino keeps doing the same thing year after year, and fans keep expecting different results. He cannot coach, or recruit. We get out-played very badly in the 2nd half of games, and late in games. That is 100% on Pitino.
 

To repeat myself, from a couple years ago, because I'm a really smart guy:

Pitino can't recruit well enough to overcome his coaching, and he can't coach well enough to overcome his recruiting .
 


Unfortunately, Coach Pitino's overall record is not nearly good enough in my opinion. Marginal incremental improvement is the reality over his tenure. A higher standard of performance must and should be expected. As well, no excuses either as all programs deal with transfers, injuries, etc. In the end, I believe Could has given Mr. Pitino enough time as will make a coaching change this spring unless there is a dramatic improvement through the rest of the year.
 

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