Pitino Blog: Recapping the Road Trips

Donate To GopherHole
GophersInIowa

GophersInIowa

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
44,266
Reaction score
26,909
Points
113
Good afternoon Gopher fans,

Before I forget, let's take a trip down memory lane and revisit our successful trip to Vancouver. First and foremost, I wouldn't be surprised if the Vancouver Showcase becomes a popular destination amongst college basketball teams moving forward. The hotel and venue were first class and right across the street from each other. For those who haven't been, Vancouver is a world class, top notch city. I can't wait to go back! Of course, if we lost I would have said I hated the city! That's how coaches remember the places they visit during the season. Thank you so much to our loyal fans who traveled out to support our guys. It definitely helped us get three wins!

I have asked our team often "how would you describe the Gophers if you were watching us play?" Good teams have an identity. In our league, if adjectives such as toughness and grit aren't used then you're not going to win. Plain and simple. We showed great mental and physical toughness in Vancouver. We got stronger as the game went on. We didn't allow fatigue and poor free throw shooting to affect our defense. We won ugly. We need to take pride in that. We are a man down. Eric Curry is extremely important to this team. We need to scratch and claw for everything right now. All three wins will be quality wins down the road.
Click to expand...

https://gophersports.com/news/2018/11/29/mens-basketball-pitino-blog-recapping-the-road-trips.aspx
 

Best parts:

Below I will break down the Boston College game. I won't give a breakdown of the three big wins in the Vancouver Showcase for obvious reasons. Go negative if you want people to read your blog. That's rule number one that my favorite local media members have taught me and let's face it - I only do this blog for clicks!
Click to expand...

We hope to see everyone out there. I have been told there is less than 60,000 seats available so get online and buy them before they run out!
Click to expand...

Gopher fans will love our new purple uniforms. Just kidding!
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:

Love this guy!

per Pitino:

Below I will break down the Boston College game. I won't give a breakdown of the three big wins in the Vancouver Showcase for obvious reasons. Go negative if you want people to read your blog. That's rule number one that my favorite local media members have taught me and let's face it - I only do this blog for clicks!

95%: F

The little things win games on the road especially when your shots aren't falling. Boston College won the loose ball battle 11 to 4. We bailed on at least three charges. Our guys complained to the refs on several occasions. Let's leave that to Mike Grimm. Several people have tried to give us a pass by saying the travel made us look tired. Who cares. Those are excuses. We have to overcome any adversity that is thrown our way.

Coaching: F

Mike Leach has a sign on his wall in his office that reads "You're either coaching it or allowing it to happen." I love this quote. In our staff meeting the next day our coaches, myself included, frustratingly complained about all the things our guys did during the game. I had to stop my guys and tell them it's on us. We didn't play hard for 40 minutes. That's my fault. We didn't execute properly vs. the zone. On me as well. We got outworked, out-toughed, and outcoached. It will be fixed.

Friday night vs. Oklahoma State:

I am going to be honest. I wasn't initially very excited about losing a home game to play in U.S. Bank Stadium. Those feelings went away yesterday when we took the team over to practice. What an amazing setup. To see our guys faces up on that Jumbotron in a world class stadium is something they will never forget. We hope to see everyone out there. I have been told there is less than 60,000 seats available so get online and buy them before they run out! Oklahoma State is playing at a high level. They just had their way with a LSU, a top-20 opponent. They will deny every pass which will make it difficult to run our set plays. It's going to be a great opportunity for our guys and could potentially be a quality win come March. Put the kids to bed, head downtown for dinner, then head over to U.S. Bank! Gopher fans will love our new purple uniforms. Just kidding! Wear gold everyone. See you there!

https://gophersports.com/news/2018/11/29/mens-basketball-pitino-blog-recapping-the-road-trips.aspx

Go Gophers!!
 




How can anyone not want this guy to continue as our coach? He can't be any more honest or sharing. Always fun to listen to and read coach Pitino.

Thanks for posting. Go Gophers!
 


He is legitimately funny, not coach funny. Not sure if that counts for anything but it doesn't hurt.
 

What a big difference in the responses of Mike Krzyzewski and Richard Pitino after the first losses of the season. Mike blames the refs and the youth on the roster. Richard takes the blame, and gives his entire coaching staff an F, including himself.
 



60's Guy said:
How can anyone not want this guy to continue as our coach? He can't be any more honest or sharing. Always fun to listen to and read coach Pitino.

Thanks for posting. Go Gophers!
Click to expand...

Ditto


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

I find myself tearing up that we won't be wearing purple on Friday. [emoji26]
 

This inside look is very interesting to me as a fan. Anyone know if this kind of public evaluation is a common thing among college coaches?
 

His direct honest responses are why I want him to succeed. I really hope he can make Mn a winner.
 




GophersInIowa said:
Best parts:


"Below I will break down the Boston College game. I won't give a breakdown of the three big wins in the Vancouver Showcase for obvious reasons. Go negative if you want people to read your blog. That's rule number one that my favorite local media members have taught me and let's face it - I only do this blog for clicks!"

"We hope to see everyone out there. I have been told there is less than 60,000 seats available so get online and buy them before they run out!"

"Gopher fans will love our new purple uniforms. Just kidding!"
Click to expand...

Regardless of how Pitino's run goes here, I'll always appreciate his style of humor.

Our guys complained to the refs on several occasions. Let's leave that to Mike Grimm.
Click to expand...

LOLz
 

Yeah, he's pretty funny...I like his approach there, the negative to get chicks was comedy gold yet true! Hope he an continue to develop as a coach and make this program consistent. Needs to step up the recuiting game a little bit right now and he will hopefully be alright.
 

NotAFanOfBecky said:
Yeah, he's pretty funny...I like his approach there, the negative to get chicks was comedy gold yet true! Hope he an continue to develop as a coach and make this program consistent. Needs to step up the recuiting game a little bit right now and he will hopefully be alright.
Click to expand...

chicks? Don't think Mrs. Pitino would 've approved of that.
 

I love this guy. He has an amazing ability to poke back at the media without sounding like he is bitter or whining.
 

In Vancouver, at the team hotel, he was very approachable and thanked us for being there. Same with his dad and mom. As he said in the blog, the team hotel was right across the street from Canada Place (the convention center which was turned into a nice venue for 3200 fans) We were able to walk across the street with the team to the venue while chatting with Dupree and others. Dupree told me his body is 100% and looking forward to this season. His family issues aside, let's hope so! A major shout out to Creative Charters for a fabulous trip to Vancouver.
 


So the question has to be asked. Does he have a ghost writer? A good ghost writer knows the mind of the one s/he is writing for and can do it in the proper voice. I'm sure he'll never tell. People I have written for never tell but are usually grateful.
 

Holy Man said:
So the question has to be asked. Does he have a ghost writer? A good ghost writer knows the mind of the one s/he is writing for and can do it in the proper voice. I'm sure he'll never tell. People I have written for never tell but are usually grateful.
Click to expand...
Does this mean Sid is just a hologram? [emoji57]
 


ltf said:
This inside look is very interesting to me as a fan. Anyone know if this kind of public evaluation is a common thing among college coaches?
Click to expand...
I also like the fact that we get to see his personal evaluation. I feel like some coaches would be stubborn and be convinced their plan is not being executed properly but with these blog posts we can see Pitino's thoughts on what transpired.
 

matt said:
I also like the fact that we get to see his personal evaluation. I feel like some coaches would be stubborn and be convinced their plan is not being executed properly but with these blog posts we can see Pitino's thoughts on what transpired.
Click to expand...

The point is that he is honest with his players and lets them know where they stand. That is how he can be so straight forward in his public comments without offending any of the players.
 

I thought the comment about Grimm was hilarious. I like Grimm's work, but any foul against the gophers is met by utter disbelief and somehow the other team always gets away with murder against us. He comes across as more of a fan than a dispassionate broadcaster, which is fine by me.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom