Pat Donnelly: Pitino preaching positivity as Gophers stare at 0-3 start

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per Donnelly:

"That's life in the Big Ten. ... We've just got to rebound, get back to work and stay positive," Pitino said. "Certainly 0-3 is difficult going on the road but we've just got to stay positive."

The upbeat message echoed throughout the Gophers' locker room, starting with senior point guard DeAndre Mathieu.

"We've got a lot of games to play. We could go on a streak at any time. We've just got to keep chipping away and keep getting better every day," Mathieu said.

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/...ositivity_as_Gophers_stare_at_03_start_010715

Go Gophers!!
 

As much as I want to believe that Pitino is being positive in the locker room, I just can't. He just seems like such a dick to me! That close up of him ripping into morris last night... And all this pictures of him just screaming at king.. I just can't imagine the players have much confidence, and I think that is the problem right now. There is a fine line in coaching. You can't be soft, but you also can't be a straight up jerk, and I think Rich is walking that line right now.
 

point guard 10 said:
As much as I want to believe that Pitino is being positive in the locker room, I just can't. He just seems like such a dick to me! That close up of him ripping into morris last night... And all this pictures of him just screaming at king.. I just can't imagine the players have much confidence, and I think that is the problem right now. There is a fine line in coaching. You can't be soft, but you also can't be a straight up jerk, and I think Rich is walking that line right now.
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Monson did a lot more screaming here than I remember him doing in Spokane or that I've seen him do in Long Beach. This is a high pressure situation with expectations, revenue, etc. - and going up against the best coaches in the nation every night. Tubby found that out, too, the hard way; this was not the easy gig he thought it would be either. The Big Ten has chewed up and spit out a number of otherwise good coaches. You really do have to have special qualities to succeed here.
 

point guard 10 said:
As much as I want to believe that Pitino is being positive in the locker room, I just can't. He just seems like such a dick to me! That close up of him ripping into morris last night... And all this pictures of him just screaming at king.. I just can't imagine the players have much confidence, and I think that is the problem right now. There is a fine line in coaching. You can't be soft, but you also can't be a straight up jerk, and I think Rich is walking that line right now.
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When Morris falls asleep on defense in an absolutely critical point in the game and gets back-doored for a dunk, you think he deserves a slap on the ass and "you'll get 'em next time"?
 

Bryce Webster said:
When Morris falls asleep on defense in an absolutely critical point in the game and gets back-doored for a dunk, you think he deserves a slap on the ass and "you'll get 'em next time"?
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No, but I also don't think a college kid who is relatively new to the program deserves to be screamed at by the coach as loud as he can an inch of the way from his face. There are better ways to coach. I am in NO WAY an expert, to me it just seems like everyone is constantly afraid of making mistakes. Look at king! He almost blew 2 possessions by being afraid to take a shot. You have to believe part of that is due to all the times he was screamed at by Pitino last year.
 


Bad Gopher said:
Monson did a lot more screaming here than I remember him doing in Spokane or that I've seen him do in Long Beach. This is a high pressure situation with expectations, revenue, etc. - and going up against the best coaches in the nation every night. Tubby found that out, too, the hard way; this was not the easy gig he thought it would be either. The Big Ten has chewed up and spit out a number of otherwise good coaches. You really do have to have special qualities to succeed here.
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You think that Tubby Smith thought this would be an "easy gig"? Based on what?
 

point guard 10 said:
No, but I also don't think a college kid who is relatively new to the program deserves to be screamed at by the coach as loud as he can an inch of the way from his face. There are better ways to coach. I am in NO WAY an expert, to me it just seems like everyone is constantly afraid of making mistakes. Look at king! He almost blew 2 possessions by being afraid to take a shot. You have to believe part of that is due to all the times he was screamed at by Pitino last year.
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No, actually I don't believe that has anything to do with it. Coaches know which players can and cannot take the heat. Joey strikes me as the kind of kid who can take it. It's much more likely that he's concerned about getting his shot blocked than being afraid to shoot. The only time I've ever seen Pitino scream at Joey for taking a shot was when he was trying one of his 15 foot fall away jump shots (which surely we can all agree is a shot he should not be taking).

I'd rather have a coach in a kids face screaming for 5 seconds then I would one who doesn't care enough to do so. This isn't 8th grade, so when a player does something that is middle school quality, he deserves to hear about it.
 

dpodoll68 said:
You think that Tubby Smith thought this would be an "easy gig"? Based on what?
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That's my very general impression based on the things he said when he was hired contrasted with the things he said later in his tenure, at the time of his dismissal and since.
 

Bad Gopher said:
That's my very general impression based on the things he said when he was hired contrasted with the things he said later in his tenure, at the time of his dismissal and since.
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I was hoping that's what you'd say. Thank you for admitting that you fabricated it out of thin air.
 



dpodoll68 said:
I was hoping that's what you'd say. Thank you for admitting that you fabricated it out of thin air.
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To answer your question, no, I'm not going to expand this into a senior thesis. It's an honest observation based on my recollections.

My request of you is to civilly either take or leave my observations and opinions without denigration.
 

Bad Gopher said:
To answer your question, no, I'm not going to expand this into a senior thesis. It's an honest observation based on my recollections.

My request of you is to civilly either take or leave my observations and opinions without denigration.
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Just ignore that ******. Your comment was right the first time.
 

Bad Gopher said:
To answer your question, no, I'm not going to expand this into a senior thesis. It's an honest observation based on my recollections.

My request of you is to civilly either take or leave my observations and opinions without denigration.
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My request of you is to stop making sh1t up and badmouthing the former coach without basis.
 

WanderingGopher said:
Just ignore that ******. Your comment was right the first time.
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The funny part of it is that you claim he thought it was an easy job (a made-up statement) when in fact it really must've been easy for him. The worst coach in the history of Gopher basketball inherited a 9-win team and was able to take it to the NCAA Tournament in his 2nd year despite all of his apparent, obvious, and debilitating shortcomings. Meanwhile, the greatest young coach in the history of Gopher basketball (for the time that he is here, before he inevitably leaves for Louisville, Duke, Kentucky, Syracuse, or the Los Angeles Lakers [or perhaps all 5 at the same time]) already has his bobos making excuses as to why he will not match the feat of making the Tournament in his 2nd year (despite inheriting a team that won an NCAA Tournament game). And, furthermore, the fact that he won't make the Tournament in his 2nd year is "nbd", and "just wait until he has the players to run his system". It's really priceless.
 



dpodoll68 said:
My request of you is to stop making sh1t up and badmouthing the former coach without basis.
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Tubby is a horse**** coach.

Your continued support of him is priceless.

Edit: Horsesh!t coach.
 


station19 said:
Tubby is a horse**** coach.

Your continued support of him is priceless.

Edit: Horsesh!t coach.
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I don't support him. I support the truth. Critique him all you want - just make the critique based in fact. There are plenty of legitimate things to criticize him for, so why do people feel the need to make stuff up? The same thing happens with Brewster, notwithstanding the fact that Tubby Smith's career is eons better than Brewster's (or Pitino's) will ever be.
 

Bad Gopher said:
That's my very general impression based on the things he said when he was hired contrasted with the things he said later in his tenure, at the time of his dismissal and since.
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Well, this gig certainly is easier than Kentucky. Tubby's successor at UK, Billie Gillespie, was fired after two seasons with a 40-27 record, an NCAA tournament appearance, and an NIT appearance.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I don't support him. I support the truth. Critique him all you want - just make the critique based in fact. There are plenty of legitimate things to criticize him for, so why do people feel the need to make stuff up? The same thing happens with Brewster, notwithstanding the fact that Tubby Smith's career is eons better than Brewster's (or Pitino's) will ever be.
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Is that a fact????
 

dpodoll68 said:
I don't support him. I support the truth. Critique him all you want - just make the critique based in fact. There are plenty of legitimate things to criticize him for, so why do people feel the need to make stuff up? The same thing happens with Brewster, notwithstanding the fact that Tubby Smith's career is eons better than Brewster's (or Pitino's) will ever be.
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Please provide your factual evidence that Tubby's career is better than Pitino's "will ever be".

Thanks in advance.

Ignore the fact that Pitino has achieved more as an assistant and head coach than Smith did as an assistant coach by the time they both reached the age of 32.
 



cjbfbp said:
Stop fighting with people over pointless crap.
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Don't tell me what to do. Tell the Tubby Haters to stop making things up.

P.S. Literally the entirety of this board is "pointless crap".

cjbfbp said:
You just aggravate yourself while not impressing anyone else.
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Fortunately for me, my objective isn't to impress anyone else.
 

point guard 10 said:
No, but I also don't think a college kid who is relatively new to the program deserves to be screamed at by the coach as loud as he can an inch of the way from his face. There are better ways to coach. I am in NO WAY an expert, to me it just seems like everyone is constantly afraid of making mistakes. Look at king! He almost blew 2 possessions by being afraid to take a shot. You have to believe part of that is due to all the times he was screamed at by Pitino last year.
Click to expand...

At least someone on the team cared that they were getting their tails kicked. I fully expect a college coach or nba or high school coach to scream at players when they play like crap. Pitino spreads plenty of love around to make up for a few outbursts. I'd rather have that then a coach that does nothing or just sits a player for a few without giving him an earful. He needs to let them know he has an expectation they need to meet. That said, the pitino honeymoon may be over if the players are quiting on him and not listening. At this point we don't know if that has happened but they aren't performing to expectations.
 

CentralGopher said:
At least someone on the team cared that they were getting their tails kicked. I fully expect a college coach or nba or high school coach to scream at players when they play like crap. Pitino spreads plenty of love around to make up for a few outbursts. I'd rather have that then a coach that does nothing or just sits a player for a few without giving him an earful. He needs to let them know he has an expectation they need to meet. That said, the pitino honeymoon may be over if the players are quiting on him and not listening. At this point we don't know if that has happened but they aren't performing to expectations.
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I think most importantly, they aren't performing to third-party expectations. Its one thing when I look at the schedule through maroon and gold glasses and say "yep, I see 30 wins there" and then get disappointed when they don't do it. However, I believe we have lost three games we were favored to win (we were favored against St. John's, right?), and have not upset anyone who was favored over us. That's a problem. One of my strongly held sports convictions is that the mark of a team that is working their hardest and getting quality coaching is that you end up on the right side of upsets more often than the wrong side.
 







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