Pitino says McNeil and Squirrel to compete for SF spot

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BleedGopher

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per Marcus:

Because freshman Daquein McNeil is the only small forward returning next season, "The Squirrel's spot was the most important," Pitino said.

"Certainly, we could play small if we have to," the coach added, "but Squirrel was that necessary, kind of right-away guy."

If Morris is the guy that needs to play right away, then Pitino's other two incoming recruits -- forward Josh Martin and point guard Nate Mason -- will have time to develop. As will potentially more additions to the class with three scholarships left to fill.

Pitino on Wednesday openly challenged McNeil to compete with Morris for the starting job.

"I told him this morning that, 'You're the only pure small forward in our program right now,' " he said. " 'Will you lay claim to that spot, or will you allow Squirrel to come in and just take it from you?' That's healthy competition."

http://www.twincities.com/gophers/ci_25532181/gophers-basketball-key-addition-so-far-is-squirrel

Go Gophers!!
 

Kind've disappointing that Pulley isn't doing the summer league this year. Anybody know why he isn't?
 





That really is a reminder of how much it sucks that they won't be holding that this summer. On a better note, it will be nice to have a guy of that size who can dribble and create like that.
 

Uff-da. I was hoping for an athletic, rangy (6-6 to 6-7) true "3" with skills (handle, pass & shoot); not a 6-3 guard that most had penciled in for the backup "2." I really liked McNeil this year and see him in the guard rotation this year, not the forwards. Looks like we'll be playing small ball a lot if Squirrel can't grab the starting spot.
 

Settle down fellas, a lot to happen in the next couple weeks/months.

We had no idea what this team would look like at this point last year.
 

I hope this settles the debate of whether or not Buggs can play the 3 in this system. Pitino didn't even mention him as a possibility.
 



I like McNeil but Holy crap! McNeil is our only small forward? I did not ever think that at 6'3" and 195 pounds he was a small forward. They got the "small" part right.

What will we do when we want to go smaller?
 

Section201 said:
I like McNeil but Holy crap! McNeil is our only small forward? I did not ever think that at 6'3" and 195 pounds he was a small forward. They got the "small" part right. What will we do when we want to go smaller?
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This isn't the NBA. LeBron James isn't lining up at SF next week. Kevin Durant played PF and C a lot at Texas, NBA SF. sure by NBA standards 6-3 is a tiny SF. Fairly small SG too. But Pitino and college ball in general has no problem with a 3 guard line up. Heck we played a 4 guard like up at times this year.
 

scher215 said:
This isn't the NBA. LeBron James isn't lining up at SF next week. Kevin Durant played PF and C a lot at Texas, NBA SF. sure by NBA standards 6-3 is a tiny SF. Fairly small SG too. But Pitino and college ball in general has no problem with a 3 guard line up. Heck we played a 4 guard like up at times this year.
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Correct, but bigger and longer is still ideal.
 





I you look at this Gopher roster at this time we have a big hole at the wing position. We have what could be a good looking starting lineup with one backup. We could really use another player and maybe two with the ability to play SF and OG. I know people have talked a great deal about PF but we have Martin, King, and Buggs to fill time at that position. What we really dont have is another player and maybe 2 who can be the backups at both SF and OG. We will have Hollins, Mathiue, McNeil, and Mason all 6'3" or shorter which isnt the biggest deal at the guard positions but we dont really have much size other than Morris. Adding a couple guys with length and size would be great.

Maybe Anderson or Piper could help with that as both guys are 6'6". Martin and Buggs could also see some time at SF.
 


Gopherguy0723 said:
Correct, but bigger and longer is still ideal.
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That's what she said....

But seriously, I'm not sure why people are surprised at this. McNeil was Austin's primary back-up at times. And I think Pitino prefers 3 guys who can handle the ball. King/Martin will have to carry the rebounding load.
 

We're fairly thin all over next year other than the 5
 



oleboy41 said:
We're fairly thin all over next year other than the 5
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If we are thin next year, what did you think about this years roster?

This is lame BS panic that is unwarranted. We got one contributor that is graduating and everyone else is one season better in the Pitino system. We have a decent roster with or without Piper/name 4 star recruit coming in at the wing. The interchangeable parts that Pitino played with in at the 3 and 4 this year will be the same thing as next year. Stop being so damn Minnesotan everyone!
 

oleboy41 said:
We're fairly thin all over next year other than the 5
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We're good at PG, SG, and C. Do I wish we were better, yes! But we are not Louisville yet. And we will be better at PF than we were this year even with, what I suspect, Joey King starting.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
If we are thin next year, what did you think about this years roster?

This is lame BS panic that is unwarranted. We got one contributor that is graduating and everyone else is one season better in the Pitino system. We have a decent roster with or without Piper/name 4 star recruit coming in at the wing. The interchangeable parts that Pitino played with in at the 3 and 4 this year will be the same thing as next year. Stop being so damn Minnesotan everyone!
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its not lame panic, just reality. I probably should've added PG but in reality we'll have 5 guards on the roster (as of now) and we play a 3 guard system. One guy gets injured or in foul trouble and we're really thin now. And I honestly completely forgot about Martin so we should at least have 3 bodies at the 4 spot so I guess I wouldn't call that 'thin'. So basically I've argued with myself and changed my mind
 

Tim1406 said:
We're good at PG, SG, and C. Do I wish we were better, yes! But we are not Louisville yet. And we will be better at PF than we were this year even with, what I suspect, Joey King starting.
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To your point we should be better at PG, PF and C for sure. 2nd year Dre and Mason (with Andre filling in) should be better than 1st year Dre and Hollins were this year. At PF King should be improved and Martin is seemingly an upgrade in talent so at the least we'll be better than we were late in the year after Oto went down. At C both guys should improve. SG/SF is unknown as we'll certainly miss Austin but we could be better with a healthy Dre, 2nd year McNeil and Morris. Hope so
 


Winasota Gopher said:
If we are thin next year, what did you think about this years roster?

This is lame BS panic that is unwarranted. We got one contributor that is graduating and everyone else is one season better in the Pitino system. We have a decent roster with or without Piper/name 4 star recruit coming in at the wing. The interchangeable parts that Pitino played with in at the 3 and 4 this year will be the same thing as next year. Stop being so damn Minnesotan everyone!
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So true and you can only play 5 at a time anyway. We have 10 on scholarship, 2 walk-ons, 15-20 cheerleaders, and a guy in a chicken suit. Stop being so damn Minnesotan everyone!:)
 

howieramone said:
So true and you can only play 5 at a time anyway. We have 10 on scholarship, 2 walk-ons, 15-20 cheerleaders, and a guy in a chicken suit. Stop being so damn Minnesotan everyone!:)
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Dance team is nice too.

POLLYRAMA!
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Dance team is nice too.

POLLYRAMA!
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To be honest guys, I am partial to the Concordia College Moorhead gals who pull wallet scams in the WalMart parking lots. The problem is keeping wallets in stock.
 


It seems pretty clear that, pending any further incoming recruits, Morris will be the only player on roster with the requisite physical profile to play the 3 full time in the Big Ten. Pitino is pretending like McNeil has a shot in order to make it seem like he's not handing Morris a starting spot with no competition. McNeil will continue to be a combo guard like he was this year.
 

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