PiPress: Gophers’ Richard Pitino could have his best team next season

[RickDornsby]

There is no way in the world they could have pressed and ran this year. They had a roster that was short on depth, experience and rebounding. Next year looks to offer an improvement in all three of those areas. Let's see what he does with a full roster- assuming that the three amigos return. As to your extremely mistake prone comment- I disagree. We averaged 11 turnovers per game. That's pretty good when 4 frosh and two sophs are picking up a ton of the playing time.

Well whatever it was, our KenPom AdjO was 270th in the nation. Shooting also plays in. They're young and that 270 involves some of the dumpster fire down the stretch, but it's going to have to take a leap of we want to see this marked improvement that gets us very excited about 2017-2018.

 

[Holy Man]

This continues to be very disconcerting: Pitino's inability to implement his supposed style of play. We're headed into Year 4, people; just how many years into the future are we talking about before we see a running, pressing team? Or is it just a recruiting sales pitch?

They may be able to run. They will never be able to press for 40 minutes a game in the B1G. Opposing guards are too good. If they improve rebounding and defense, they can run in the genre of Michigan State, a team that runs a lot but does not have a reputation as a running team.

 

[Bad Gopher]

They may be able to run. They will never be able to press for 40 minutes a game in the B1G. Opposing guards are too good. If they improve rebounding and defense, they can run in the genre of Michigan State, a team that runs a lot but does not have a reputation as a running team.

I hope Pitino understands this, too. I think a full court press is an essential defense to run, but you have to be able to play different defenses and show the other teams different looks so they don't know what's coming next. That's the nature of defense/pitching in any sport.

 

[bga1]

Well whatever it was, our KenPom AdjO was 270th in the nation. Shooting also plays in. They're young and that 270 involves some of the dumpster fire down the stretch, but it's going to have to take a leap of we want to see this marked improvement that gets us very excited about 2017-2018.

Shooting. Now you are onto something. This was a terrible shooting team and that must improve in a big way. Running would help that, but we also have to hope the Fitz, Lynch, Hurt, Curry and Coffey help that, along with improvement from others. Dupree, for example, improved as the season went along.

 

[bga1]

I hope Pitino understands this, too. I think a full court press is an essential defense to run, but you have to be able to play different defenses and show the other teams different looks so they don't know what's coming next. That's the nature of defense/pitching in any sport.

Well, he obviously does, because we hardly pressed at all this year. This is an indication that he will do what he thinks he has to do in a given situation.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Well, he obviously does, because we hardly pressed at all this year. This is an indication that he will do what he thinks he has to do in a given situation.

We needed to press more than we did. We weren't too bad at it, and you can only get better if you actually do it. Obviously we were limited by numbers, but to do it so infrequently... Other teams didn't even have to take it seriously. At least do it enough that people have to prepare for you.

 

[JMGIII]

Funny you should bring up Bo Ryan. I grew up in Wisconsin and have watched almost every badger game for the last 15 or so years. What I've learned from watching him succeed at Wisconsin is that maybe three things are needed for a program to be successful.

1) seniors

Through some faults of his own and others out of his control, Pitino has had very little (talented) senior leadership to date. However, following next season, Pitino will have a succession in place.

2) stability

Very few significant players left Bo's program. Guys ended up at the positions they were recruited to play, and they could trust that the given role would be theirs after they understood how to operate in the offensive and defensive schemes. Pitino's brand of bball is finally being established. Firing Pitino blows this up for another 3 years (because we aren't in a position to lure any big time coaches at the moment).

3) continual improvement

Players at Wisconsin have shown improvement within seasons and took steps each offseason. I think Pitino's guards have done the same, and he helped Mo develop though has faltered with BK thus far. Im confident guys like Mason, macbrayer, and Gilbert will continue to develop into solid or great upperclassman. Hopefully the next recruiting class looks as promising.

To be more direct: Firing Pitino because you aren't happy with his record won't make the gophers a better team now or within the next couple of years, unless you know of a coach that can come in and do some serious damage control. In my opinion, it's better to get through this low and establish some programmatic stability and groom these young players into upper classman before you blow up the program.


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+1 No doubt. The sky is not falling. Has potential to have all of the above nicely in place. Just convince the young men to avoid trouble.....


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[Otis]

We needed to press more than we did. We weren't too bad at it, and you can only get better if you actually do it. Obviously we were limited by numbers, but to do it so infrequently... Other teams didn't even have to take it seriously. At least do it enough that people have to prepare for you.

I agree. I like it when teams change up their defense throughout the game. When I used to coach, I'd have the kids pick up full court man to man after made baskets, fall back into a 2-1-2 matchup zone when we missed and play a box and 1 after a trip by us to the charity stripe. The other team would be arguing with each other about what defense they were playing against and get confused on which offense to run.

Obviously, college teams should be able to handle this but just sticking with one philosophy doesn't make them think at all. Then again, Bobby Knight and Jim Boehiem have been pretty successful never changing styles.

We will see next year as Pitino will have no personnel excuse to not run his preferred style.

 

[bc2211]

It's a catch-22. If Pitino was a good enough coach to warrant stability, he wouldn't have underachieved so often. I'm a fan of stability and letting coaches sit through some of their down years, but you run the risk of letting Pitino coach 2 more years and wasting more time if he continues to suck.

Also, to #2: are we really seeing his style formulate? We barely pressed this year. We played somewhat up-tempo but were extremely mistake-prone in doing so. Even if that gets cleaned up a bit as guys mature, that's a terrible formula.

The other catch-22 is 2017. We are hoping to open up spots for that loaded class with currently only 1. By doing so, we'd have to kill the continuity factor again. If Gaston leaves or If Dorsey has to go elsewhere, I know Gaston sucks, but we continue to crater the 4-year guys for the next greener pasture and pretty soon another coach will be coaching the next greener pasture of 2017 recruit.

A little delayed in responding here regarding style of play. I saw the team hit a stride in several games playing pick and roll game with Mason, macbrayer, and Dorsey and BK/Murphy setting screens with the other clearing on the block. This was an aggressive style and usually was what we were doing in those losses when we stormed back to within a possession late in games. It's tough to say whether or not it's because the other teams had backed off, but there were plenty of times when the offense ran smoothly and it was fun to watch. This is what I've associated with Pitino's style of play. I bet we see more of this now that there are pieces in place... and hopefully we can add some knock down shooters in the future.

Pressing is interesting. Maybe it's a ploy like Bad suggested. I'm indifferent as long as the defense is good. We leave way too many shooters open as it is, though, so I'm speculating that the fundamentals need to be tightened before we apply more pressure.


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[Biggsohnasty]

I enjoy the work Marcus does, and he's definitely a good writer. His takes on the program/team/situation at times though leave me baffled.

All we've heard since last year was that this year would be a difficult one and the 2016-17 season would be when we start to see progress again.

Expectations of "could have his best team next season" just sets them up for failure. Think he said he thinks the team could be a top-30ish type team next year. I just don't see that at all.

If the Gophers can go 10-3 in the nonconference and win 7 or 8 games in the league, then win a Big 10 tournament game or two, I'll be happy. You don't go from being one of the worst major conference teams in America to top-30.

And to say that he should have his best team, his first year the team won the NIT and was on the bubble late in the year. Then last year, people thought the team would be a top-30 type team and the wheels came off after that 0-5 start. They win two or 3 of those first 5 games I think last year is completely different. Those first two years weren't dumpster fire type teams.

High Aspirations, Low Expectations people.

The way the media seems to building this up, anything less than 20 wins is going to be a fireable offense.