Pitino post game - On why no Buggs, why so much Morris, going to be a good team...

[GopherLady]

Here you go, as always, this is not verbatim. Very interesting takes.

Richard Pitino:
• Proud of our guys effort, thought we really competed. Thought we were getting good looks, we just didn't get shots to fall when we needed them. If we compete like that, we'll win our fair share of the games. Tough one for us, I thought the fans were awesome, appreciate the loyalty they show to this team. We're going to be a good team.
• Charles Buggs - has no disciplinary issues.
• Stephon and Gilbert were good, I was pleased with the effort, I wanted to win, but was pleased with the effort. Our guys battled. It's a process, it's going to take time. This is one of the younger teams out there. We bounced back, showed great effort and heart.
• I just played the guys that I thought would help us win the game. Doesn't mean I won't play him the next game.
• Dupree - defensively, I really like what he's doing. Playing Carlos at the 3 was better too. The only negative in my opinion is that we didn't win the game.
• I thought we got open looks, I thought we really did
• Love their mentality in practice, in the locker room, in timeouts, they competed.
• They were happy with the way they played in the 1st half.
• 1000 perfect better defensive team tonight, our activity and communication was really good. It wasn't perfect, but it's getting better.
• This is a totally different team than last year, these are freshmen and sophomores.
• We had some really good practices leading up to today
• Only 5 assists - it was a lot of missed shots. Before I thought we were forcing things, I thought we were making the extra pass. We just missed a lot. We could have easily had 15 assists, I may think differently after watching the film.
• I liked the way he's play, 3-15 is not ideal, but I think he's competing and talking. I don't concern myself as much with that. Everyone can get better at shot selection, but I think he's really growing and evolving as a player. We just didn't make shots.
• We just corrected as much as we possibly could. We were exposed in the SDSU game. Our guys understood, you communicate, got each other's back, and we'll be ok. Emphasizing as much as we possibly can.

Jordan Murphy:
• I think we did a good job of taking the punch, and coming back from it (in the 2nd half).
• I think our guards do a pretty good job of slashing and driving
• It was really exciting, seeing all the gopher fans, it was great, the turnout was great.
• I think there's only one way to handle it, and it's to bounce back

Nate Mason:
• We were feeling pretty good about the comeback, they made a couple more shots like that.
• Our communication the 1st half was really good. It felt like OSU was rattled by that
• I feel like the guys on our team work on their games a lot
• Stay together, last year, we kind of separated from each other a little bit. With every loss, we're getting closer.
• Any loss is tough to swallow, they both hurt us the same way, but we came to play this time. (on if this is tougher than SDSU)

 

[Iceland12]

Here you go, as always, this is not verbatim. Very interesting takes.

Richard Pitino:
• Proud of our guys effort, thought we really competed. Thought we were getting good looks, we just didn't get shots to fall when we needed them. If we compete like that, we'll win our fair share of the games. Tough one for us, I thought the fans were awesome, appreciate the loyalty they show to this team. We're going to be a good team.
• Charles Buggs - has no disciplinary issues.
• Stephon and Gilbert were good, I was pleased with the effort, I wanted to win, but was pleased with the effort. Our guys battled. It's a process, it's going to take time. This is one of the younger teams out there. We bounced back, showed great effort and heart.
• I just played the guys that I thought would help us win the game. Doesn't mean I won't play him the next game.
• Dupree - defensively, I really like what he's doing. Playing Carlos at the 3 was better too. The only negative in my opinion is that we didn't win the game.
• I thought we got open looks, I thought we really did
• Love their mentality in practice, in the locker room, in timeouts, they competed.
• They were happy with the way they played in the 1st half.
• 1000 perfect better defensive team tonight, our activity and communication was really good. It wasn't perfect, but it's getting better.
• This is a totally different team than last year, these are freshmen and sophomores.
• We had some really good practices leading up to today
• Only 5 assists - it was a lot of missed shots. Before I thought we were forcing things, I thought we were making the extra pass. We just missed a lot. We could have easily had 15 assists, I may think differently after watching the film.
• I liked the way he's play, 3-15 is not ideal, but I think he's competing and talking. I don't concern myself as much with that. Everyone can get better at shot selection, but I think he's really growing and evolving as a player. We just didn't make shots.
• We just corrected as much as we possibly could. We were exposed in the SDSU game. Our guys understood, you communicate, got each other's back, and we'll be ok. Emphasizing as much as we possibly can.

Jordan Murphy:
• I think we did a good job of taking the punch, and coming back from it (in the 2nd half).
• I think our guards do a pretty good job of slashing and driving
• It was really exciting, seeing all the gopher fans, it was great, the turnout was great.
• I think there's only one way to handle it, and it's to bounce back

Nate Mason:
• We were feeling pretty good about the comeback, they made a couple more shots like that.
• Our communication the 1st half was really good. It felt like OSU was rattled by that
• I feel like the guys on our team work on their games a lot
• Stay together, last year, we kind of separated from each other a little bit. With every loss, we're getting closer.
• Any loss is tough to swallow, they both hurt us the same way, but we came to play this time. (on if this is tougher than SDSU)

Very good info, but uh, do you want it here?

 

[GopherLady]

Very good info, but uh, do you want it here?

I figured the football crowd should know what's going on in hoops world .

Thanks, was working too fast and now it's on the hoops board!

 

[Blackhammer]

Thanks Nadine. I still believe Pitino is going to turn out to be a good hire.

 

[underground629]

I did think Morris looked better in certain aspects of the game, but I'm a little confused that Pitino wasn't a bit more disturbed by how many quick, terrible shots Morris put up. 3-15? It's not like his shots just weren't falling so he stopped firing or started to only take high percentage looks. I have no problem with him missing those. 33 minutes of him felt like an awful lot today. I wouldn't have minded seeing a few more minutes of Gilbert and McBrayer. It would be interesting to know what exactly is up with Buggs that he hasn't been in ever since he was yanked quickly against SDSU.

 

[GopherLady]

Thanks Nadine. I still believe Pitino is going to turn out to be a good hire.

I think so too - and really hope so. The guy knows hoops, and at least today they came our ready to play. Time will tell if we're both wrong.

I did think Morris looked better in certain aspects of the game, but I'm a little confused that Pitino wasn't a bit more disturbed by how many quick, terrible shots Morris put up. 3-15? It's not like his shots just weren't falling so he stopped firing or started to only take high percentage looks. I have no problem with him missing those. 33 minutes of him felt like an awful lot today. I wouldn't have minded seeing a few more minutes of Gilbert and McBrayer. It would be interesting to know what exactly is up with Buggs that he hasn't been in ever since he was yanked quickly against SDSU.

I think the message he was really sending was - shots fall and they don't, and of course he'd like them to make better choices, but you're going to get benched for other aspects of the game.

I'd like to know the story behind Buggs too - Amelia, Marcus and I asked him about 4 different ways. All we could get out of him was that he's not in trouble, or injured, and I asked if he was playing poorly in practice even, and he said "no." You could tell by his body language, he was not happy, he was very much moping, and the last off the bench in time outs...I can't imagine that's helping his cause.

 

[bc2211]

I think so too - and really hope so. The guy knows hoops, and at least today they came our ready to play. Time will tell if we're both wrong.



I think the message he was really sending was - shots fall and they don't, and of course he'd like them to make better choices, but you're going to get benched for other aspects of the game.

I'd like to know the story behind Buggs too - Amelia, Marcus and I asked him about 4 different ways. All we could get out of him was that he's not in trouble, or injured, and I asked if he was playing poorly in practice even, and he said "no." You could tell by his body language, he was not happy, he was very much moping, and the last off the bench in time outs...I can't imagine that's helping his cause.

Coach's attitude towards these two questions (Buggs and Morris) really concern me. Pitino knows what he wants to do, but I would personally loath playing with a teammate like Carlos Morris. It's gotta be devastating to have four guys trying to learn to play team ball only to have one guy chucking. His offensive decision making is terrible and his defense is below average. Plus, he is a senior, so he is clearly not going to learn better shot selection all of the sudden, especially when his coach gives him public kudos for a great game full of bad shots.

Regarding Buggs: when confident,he has shown that he can score with relative ease. When King and Morris aren't shooting well, this team needs another offensive threat from outside. They also need an athletic guy to help on the defensive boards. Buggs has been that guy so far this year. Pitino needs to figure out how to keep him engaged, and based on Buggs's history, I seriously doubt that this message is well received.

I'm not a coach or a sports psychologist, but I really think coach is hurting the team with these individual situations.. in both short and long term scenarios.


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[jamiche]

I wasn't at the SDSU game and I didn't see it on TV. (As a long time season ticket holder and hard core gopher hoops fan, that wouldn't have happened years ago. The family calendar was always cleared for gopher games. If I'm representative, that's an indication of the state of the program. I never missed games during the Monson era.) I don't know what kind of an effort Buggs put out in that game. The whole team was flat against South Dakota.

In a game of small differences you can make a reasonable argument that Pitino's decision not to play Buggs cost the gophers the game last night. Buggs isn't a program changer, not even close, but his presence in the game would have meant more interior size on defense (where they got killed), better perimeter shooting (where they killed themselves) and less Carlos Morris (who killed them). In a two point game that's all it takes.

As always, Nadine, thanks for the recap.

 

[jamiche]

Coach's attitude towards these two questions (Buggs and Morris) really concern me. Pitino knows what he wants to do, but I would personally loath playing with a teammate like Carlos Morris. It's gotta be devastating to have four guys trying to learn to play team ball only to have one guy chucking. His offensive decision making is terrible and his defense is below average. Plus, he is a senior, so he is clearly not going to learn better shot selection all of the sudden, especially when his coach gives him public kudos for a great game full of bad shots.

Regarding Buggs: when confident,he has shown that he can score with relative ease. When King and Morris aren't shooting well, this team needs another offensive threat from outside. They also need an athletic guy to help on the defensive boards. Buggs has been that guy so far this year. Pitino needs to figure out how to keep him engaged, and based on Buggs's history, I seriously doubt that this message is well received.

I'm not a coach or a sports psychologist, but I really think coach is hurting the team with these individual situations.. in both short and long term scenarios.


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Well said. The end of the Carlos Morris era can't come soon enough.

 

[bc2211]

Well said. The end of the Carlos Morris era can't come soon enough.

Agreed, and like you stated in your post. This is a game of small differences. I wonder if this particular game was coached into a loss.


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[BarnBurner]

Coach's attitude towards these two questions (Buggs and Morris) really concern me. Pitino knows what he wants to do, but I would personally loath playing with a teammate like Carlos Morris. It's gotta be devastating to have four guys trying to learn to play team ball only to have one guy chucking. His offensive decision making is terrible and his defense is below average. Plus, he is a senior, so he is clearly not going to learn better shot selection all of the sudden, especially when his coach gives him public kudos for a great game full of bad shots.

Regarding Buggs: when confident,he has shown that he can score with relative ease. When King and Morris aren't shooting well, this team needs another offensive threat from outside. They also need an athletic guy to help on the defensive boards. Buggs has been that guy so far this year. Pitino needs to figure out how to keep him engaged, and based on Buggs's history, I seriously doubt that this message is well received.

I'm not a coach or a sports psychologist, but I really think coach is hurting the team with these individual situations.. in both short and long term scenarios.


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Your post is spot on, imo. Well said.

That Morris appears immune to the same standard as Buggs is perplexing. Pitino said he played the guys giving the best chance to win. I believe that is BS. Playing Morris as much as he does and not playing Buggs is 180 away from giving the best chance to win. Buggs is not perfect however he provides more than Morris, imo.

The offense nearly stops when the ball goes to Morris. The Freshmen seemed to move the ball relatively well last night.

 

[scools12]

Pitino post game - On why no Buggs, why so much Morris, going to be a good te...

Of course wins and losses matter but this season is about development for the future. Is Buggs a part of the future of the program? Maybe not playing Buggs not only a message to him but setting an example for the guys that are the core of the future on what is expected from them in practice and in games.

 

[minny01]

Your post is spot on, imo. Well said.

That Morris appears immune to the same standard as Buggs is perplexing. Pitino said he played the guys giving the best chance to win. I believe that is BS. Playing Morris as much as he does and not playing Buggs is 180 away from giving the best chance to win. Buggs is not perfect however he provides more than Morris, imo.

The offense nearly stops when the ball goes to Morris. The Freshmen seemed to move the ball relatively well last night.

As much as you want to believe that Coach would never lead us wrong, you've got to believe that there is something else there with the Buggs situation. It is only a matter of time until we see a 3 guard lineup, with McBreyer in place of Morris. But Konate needs to develop more, so that we can go with only 2 big players.

We only have 2 Big 10 quality type players on the roster right now, Mason and Murphy, but Dorsey and McBreyer are showing signs that that are pointing in the direction that they are. If we can get a couple of more in next years recruiting class, need Coffey to be the real deal, we are on our way back. Coach knows what he is doing and we need to be patient and let him build the team. I had a chance to watch Hurt play this past weekend and he can be a player. If he is our third best recruit in this class, it will get better.

 

[jamiche]

As much as you want to believe that Coach would never lead us wrong, you've got to believe that there is something else there with the Buggs situation. It is only a matter of time until we see a 3 guard lineup, with McBreyer in place of Morris. But Konate needs to develop more, so that we can go with only 2 big players.

We only have 2 Big 10 quality type players on the roster right now, Mason and Murphy, but Dorsey and McBreyer are showing signs that that are pointing in the direction that they are. If we can get a couple of more in next years recruiting class, need Coffey to be the real deal, we are on our way back. Coach knows what he is doing and we need to be patient and let him build the team. I had a chance to watch Hurt play this past weekend and he can be a player. If he is our third best recruit in this class, it will get better.

I think that Pitino is very bright but I think that he is still a couple of years away (and possibly one job away) from knowing what he is doing in terms of running all of the facets of his program. Pitino has far more potential than Dan Monson ever did and I think that he will eventually be very successful. However, the current program has the look, feel and aura of the worst of the Monson years. I know that next year's recruiting class is very good on paper, but if a couple of the better players from the current team get fed up and decide to transfer, there is no upward trend. It feels aimless and shaky that Carlos Morris gets to fling it (a la Kris Humphries) while Buggs sits. A very knowledgeable gopher fan texted me during the SDSU game saying, "This is just like Monson." Hard to argue the point.

Finally, we knew this would be a tough year, which means that to give away a real opportunity for a victory against a name opponent by not playing one of your five or six best players seems disheartening. I hope that there was a solidly legit reason that Pitino can't share with the public for the benching.

 

[StCroix]

The message to Buggs has to be related to something that occurred in practice or behind the scenes. It doesn't necessarily have to be a disciplinary thing, but maybe coach saw/heard enough in practice and said...we're done with you. We have long bodies coming in next year...I won't be surprised if Buggs is gone.

There were times/moments in this game where you could really see the future. Its going to be a tough year for sure, but I am trying to watch the games with an eye on the development. Murphy and McBrayer are going to be special.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

I wasn't at all surprised not to see Buggs play last night. The little he played against SDSU he did a lot of standing around and showed little to no effort on either ends of the floor. Don't know how long it will last but think Pitino was sending him and the rest of the team a message that if you don't want to work you won't play and I'd guess he will have to earn the playing time back with effort in practice.

 

[Winasota Gopher]

Maybe Buggs told the coach to **** off?

My guess is as accurate as everyone claiming coach is losing the team.

We are Jon Snow, We know nothing.

 

[bc2211]

Maybe Buggs told the coach to **** off?

My guess is as accurate as everyone claiming coach is losing the team.

We are Jon Snow, We know nothing.

I don't think he's losing the team, I think he lost a game.

But you are right. We really don't know.


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[jovs]

Maybe Buggs told the coach to **** off?

My guess is as accurate as everyone claiming coach is losing the team.

We are Jon Snow, We know nothing.

I would think it is something like that, Buggs has had some good games, a few bad minutes in one game shouldn't constitute being benched completely like he has been, not sure though that isn't the case though, I didn't hear any interaction in the SDSU game and the reaction from both was pretty obvious almost immediately. If the benching is based on the SDSU game then Pitino will never be successful, if that is the case he has no idea on how to motivate and develop players and eventually everyone that plays for him will become disenchanted.

After the results of last season and what I have seen this season I am beginning to think that player management is his worst short comming, I'm not altogether sure he is qualified to be doing what he is doing at this level. The senior's level of play last year really declined not unlike the play of the seniors this year.

 

[alchemy2u]

It is all my fault with my Buggs to the NBA talk...lol.

We don't know why he is in the dog house and comparing it to Morris is not useful because we don't know all the facts.

Buggs did get called out a couple of times on the radio for turning over the ball at the end of the USD game. Coach has talked in the past about trusting players and that may have been enough to blame the loss on him.


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[Atl Gopher]

I wasn't at the SDSU game and I didn't see it on TV. (As a long time season ticket holder and hard core gopher hoops fan, that wouldn't have happened years ago. The family calendar was always cleared for gopher games. If I'm representative, that's an indication of the state of the program. I never missed games during the Monson era.) I don't know what kind of an effort Buggs put out in that game. The whole team was flat against South Dakota.

In a game of small differences you can make a reasonable argument that Pitino's decision not to play Buggs cost the gophers the game last night. Buggs isn't a program changer, not even close, but his presence in the game would have meant more interior size on defense (where they got killed), better perimeter shooting (where they killed themselves) and less Carlos Morris (who killed them). In a two point game that's all it takes.

As always, Nadine, thanks for the recap.

I understand why you might not be too enthusiastic this year. I went to both Wisconsin games Pitino's year 1. Hard to do and expensive to do considering I live in Atlanta. Last year from the opening over-the-top tip-off circus in Puerto Rico my enthusiasm waned. This year it has dropped even lower. I am not hopping on any planes this year to watch them.

Still I will watch every game. If I am traveling out of the country, etc. I will DVR or watch them when I can on BPN2go replays. I actually watched a game live on my I-phone a couple of weeks ago sitting in a small Russian airport. I love college basketball. I still remember emotionally my college days, season ticket days, when we lived in Minnesota. It won't take much to win me over again. A few good victories this year and progress will do it. I like the young kids' potential and I am very excited about the 5 new players next year.

 

[scher215]

Maybe losing to the Dakota schools and in South Dakota was a favor to T Denny so he'd donate more money?

 

[rrjackIII]

Can anyone remember a time when a player (maybe one of the top 5 or 6 players on the team) has been benched for an entire game and it is not related to discipline, academics or injury? I just can't.

I am a fan of Buggs. Somewhere I think he has real talent that has been hard to tap. I am a fan of Pitino. I think he will someday be a good - maybe very good coach. But this Buggs benching is very perplexing.

I remember reading a quote awhile ago and I looked it up and found it in an old Shama article (likely linked on GH by Bleed). I am not trying to start anything here but I thought I would quote it here just for Gopher Hole musings.

quote from link below which is over a year old:

" Buggs was recruited by former Gophers coach Tubby Smith, now at Texas Tech. Buggs’ parents remain friendly with Smith and they attended the Midnight Madness practice last week when Smith, dressed in a John Shaft costume, fell off a motorcycle. Smith wasn’t injured in the fall. "

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/gophers-goal-big-tens-best-backcourt/

Probably no connection between the Buggs benching and the Tubby connection but just sort of curious. Sorry, couldn't resist the conspiracy theory.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

I would think it is something like that, Buggs has had some good games, a few bad minutes in one game shouldn't constitute being benched completely like he has been, not sure though that isn't the case though, I didn't hear any interaction in the SDSU game and the reaction from both was pretty obvious almost immediately. If the benching is based on the SDSU game then Pitino will never be successful, if that is the case he has no idea on how to motivate and develop players and eventually everyone that plays for him will become disenchanted.

After the results of last season and what I have seen this season I am beginning to think that player management is his worst short comming, I'm not altogether sure he is qualified to be doing what he is doing at this level. The senior's level of play last year really declined not unlike the play of the seniors this year.

Completely disagree with the bolded it wasn't Buggs messing up on a few plays that got him benched. It was him showing a complete lack of effort when he was on the floor. If you let one guy get away with playing with no effort than it starts to spread to the rest of the team and Pitino can't let that happen. He's just sending the message that if you're not gonna work then you're not gonna play and I completely agree with what Pitino did.

 

[cjbfbp]

I would think it is something like that, Buggs has had some good games, a few bad minutes in one game shouldn't constitute being benched completely like he has been, not sure though that isn't the case though, I didn't hear any interaction in the SDSU game and the reaction from both was pretty obvious almost immediately. If the benching is based on the SDSU game then Pitino will never be successful, if that is the case he has no idea on how to motivate and develop players and eventually everyone that plays for him will become disenchanted.

After the results of last season and what I have seen this season I am beginning to think that player management is his worst short comming, I'm not altogether sure he is qualified to be doing what he is doing at this level. The senior's level of play last year really declined not unlike the play of the seniors this year.

Perhaps Buggs is primed to become this season's Elliot. Elliot was clearly better (defensively anyway) than either Bakary or Gaston but he played little or not at all during the latter part of the season. Elliot played well during the first half of the Big Ten conference game against OSU but he was benched in favor of Bakary in the second and OSU racked up big differentials when Bakary was in the game. I won't claim to understand the inner workings of Pitino but it appeared to me that Pitino's doghouse treatment of Elliot last year was deliberately punitive.

If Pitino singles out a player for the exercise of his overall frustrations, I agree with you that such a strategy has dubious potential for success. Buggs has played better this year than his previous two and I had the feeling that the Gophers could have won last night's game if he would have played some of the minutes given to others.

 

[bigticket1]

The message to Buggs has to be related to something that occurred in practice or behind the scenes. It doesn't necessarily have to be a disciplinary thing, but maybe coach saw/heard enough in practice and said...we're done with you. We have long bodies coming in next year...I won't be surprised if Buggs is gone.

There were times/moments in this game where you could really see the future. Its going to be a tough year for sure, but I am trying to watch the games with an eye on the development. Murphy and McBrayer are going to be special.

You have to wonder if the Buggs benching isn't a result of how he responded to being permanently pulled during the SDSU game. Most coaches aren't going to admit that publicly even if it is the case.

 

[station19]

It is all my fault with my Buggs to the NBA talk...lol.

We don't know why he is in the dog house and comparing it to Morris is not useful because we don't know all the facts.

Buggs did get called out a couple of times on the radio for turning over the ball at the end of the USD game. Coach has talked in the past about trusting players and that may have been enough to blame the loss on him.


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Bingo!

 

[Duker]

The message to Buggs has to be related to something that occurred in practice or behind the scenes. It doesn't necessarily have to be a disciplinary thing, but maybe coach saw/heard enough in practice and said...we're done with you. We have long bodies coming in next year...I won't be surprised if Buggs is gone.

There were times/moments in this game where you could really see the future. Its going to be a tough year for sure, but I am trying to watch the games with an eye on the development. Murphy and McBrayer are going to be special.

I agree that Murphy wil be special and McBreyer does a lot of things well, but his shooting has been atrocious. He shoots free throws well so hopefully it will improve but right now I cringe every time he puts one up.

 

[bga1]

Despite how bad last night was, the defensive effort was probably the best of the year. My guess on Buggs is that his problems are on defensive intensity and that Pitino is sending a message that defense is going to be this team's identity and a lack of effort and intensity will get you benched. I like Buggs and hope he takes the message and does something with it.

 

[underground629]

I think so too - and really hope so. The guy knows hoops, and at least today they came our ready to play. Time will tell if we're both wrong.



I think the message he was really sending was - shots fall and they don't, and of course he'd like them to make better choices, but you're going to get benched for other aspects of the game.

I'd like to know the story behind Buggs too - Amelia, Marcus and I asked him about 4 different ways. All we could get out of him was that he's not in trouble, or injured, and I asked if he was playing poorly in practice even, and he said "no." You could tell by his body language, he was not happy, he was very much moping, and the last off the bench in time outs...I can't imagine that's helping his cause.

Thanks for the info. He seems to have a very odd dynamic with Buggs.