Pitino talk season about the season in latest blog post

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short ornery norwegian said:
As far as the Blog: the first step in fixing a problem is admitting you have a problem. If Pitino and his coaches recognize the need to make improvements, that's a positive. Now, they have to translate that into action - AND the results have to show up on the court.

Honestly, if I was coaching this team, I would scrap the entire offense and start from scratch. Look at the talent you have - skills and weaknesses - and figure out an offense that plays to their strengths and minimizes their weaknesses.

next year, they will not have Nate mason to bail the team out of a bad possession by hitting a 3 or driving to the basket. Can Washington grow into that role? I would prefer to see Washington focus on being a point guard - and not worrying that he "has" to be a scorer. If Washington is the leading scorer next year, this team is in trouble. Ideally, Washington should be 4th or 5th on the team in scoring - because the offense is getting guys good looks and they're taking advantage. Murphy, Coffey, Mc Brayer should be the top scorers. Washington should be in the next group with Curry.

But, in one sense, the key to the entire season may be the player they add in Spring recruiting. If they bring in someone who is capable of playing significant minutes, or at the least can play 10-15 minutes a game as the backup PG, that would make me feel a lot better about this team.
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The offense was pretty good a season ago with a full squad. I agree you have to make adjustments when you have as many players out as they did this past season but I don't think you have to scrap the entire offense.
 

GophersInIowa said:
The offense was pretty good a season ago with a full squad. I agree you have to make adjustments when you have as many players out as they did this past season but I don't think you have to scrap the entire offense.
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Pretty good about 70 % of the time. Way too much one on one. Much improvement needed to become high level.
 

GophersInIowa said:
The offense was pretty good a season ago with a full squad. I agree you have to make adjustments when you have as many players out as they did this past season but I don't think you have to scrap the entire offense.
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With Dupree not practicing for the last two months and also having Amir sitting out then playing for awhile, it would be really hard to install new offensive sets without them going through it. Sure they can be there and watch, but that isn't the same as going through it live on the floor.
 

Appreciate Pitino's honesty.

Probably discussed in a recruiting thread but we have an open spot with Fitz on the team next year? 2 if he doesn't return?
 

I would disagree with the suggestion that Washington needs to be the 4th or 5th scorer or else the team is in trouble.

Plenty of PG that are relied upon to score and be a facilitator. Yes he needs to get the team into their offensive sets but taking away his freedom as a scorer and asking him to be a pass first PG I don't think plays to his strengths. From what we have seen this year Washington looks to be a score first PG and see no reason why that should change.
 


BarnBurner said:
Pretty good about 70 % of the time. Way too much one on one. Much improvement needed to become high level.
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I was referring to the 2016-17 season. They were 5th in the Big Ten in scoring and assists per game.
 


Can't imagine many coaches would open their thoughts to the fan base like this. He is more critical of himself in this blog than I as a fan have been of him. Pretty stunning openness and honesty. I would think he has enough connections in the coaching fraternity to use as resources if necessary to help make any of those changes that he writes about.
 

Omersa - Is physically much bigger and stronger than Williams. They both jump out of the gym. I hope Omersa can develop a jumper because Williams never did.
 



While Pitino's recruiting has definitely improved, I still think his roster decisions leave a lot to be desired. Twice (Fitz, Stockman) he has taken on big-man transfers that have had to sit out a year which really hurt our depth, and at least one of them didn't pan out when he got on the floor. Also, as the roster stands we have one natural PG who some (I don't really believe it) say might be transferring. If IW can't play 30 minutes for whatever reason, this team is in big trouble next year. Hopefully we get a point guard grad transfer or spring recruit to ameliorate the issue, but that's not guaranteed.
 


Maybe its just me, so correct me if I am wrong, but is it weird folks have not only the time but also the mental capacity to breakdown and truly believe they know who has a better 2nd or 3rd quick jump between Jarvis and Rodney Williams?
 

Just watched Colorado beat arizona state with a freshman guard who led the victory from Minnesota. We've seen wisconsin's freshman beat minnesota. We're these two recruited by pitino?
 



ltf said:
Can't imagine many coaches would open their thoughts to the fan base like this. He is more critical of himself in this blog than I as a fan have been of him. Pretty stunning openness and honesty. I would think he has enough connections in the coaching fraternity to use as resources if necessary to help make any of those changes that he writes about.
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This is what we thought would be his strong suit in recruiting when he first arrived and that has been suspect at best.

He might be very candid about himself, but his aptitude for the game, especially in-game decisions, is highly suspect in my opinion.

If he is here next year, then I need to see a miracle season from him. He needs to make the NCAA tournament and win at least two games in that tournament to begin to dispel doubts.


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Desertbobcat said:
Just watched Colorado beat arizona state with a freshman guard who led the victory from Minnesota. We've seen wisconsin's freshman beat minnesota. We're these two recruited by pitino?
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Wright yes, Davison not really. Wright had an offer for months before Washington committed, but never pulled the trigger. Davison got a token offer days before committing to becky.
 

SPEGOPHER said:
While Pitino's recruiting has definitely improved, I still think his roster decisions leave a lot to be desired. Twice (Fitz, Stockman) he has taken on big-man transfers that have had to sit out a year which really hurt our depth, and at least one of them didn't pan out when he got on the floor. Also, as the roster stands we have one natural PG who some (I don't really believe it) say might be transferring. If IW can't play 30 minutes for whatever reason, this team is in big trouble next year. Hopefully we get a point guard grad transfer or spring recruit to ameliorate the issue, but that's not guaranteed.
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It was 3 times. Lynch also sat out a year after transferring.

As for people saying he should have taken another big recruit last year... its revisionist history to think that we actually needed another post player before Curry got hurt. We had, going into the season, Konate as a 3rd string center. Lynch, Curry and Murphy would have been quite a good 3 players for 2 spots situation.
 

Ewert86PC said:
This is what we thought would be his strong suit in recruiting when he first arrived and that has been suspect at best.

He might be very candid about himself, but his aptitude for the game, especially in-game decisions, is highly suspect in my opinion.

If he is here next year, then I need to see a miracle season from him. He needs to make the NCAA tournament and win at least two games in that tournament to begin to dispel doubts.


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He could win those two NCAA games and it will somehow be in spite of Pitino, just like 2016-2017 happened in spite of him. If things don't go well next season I'll reconsider my position, but at this point think that Pitino has us primed for good things.
 

ltf said:
He could win those two NCAA games and it will somehow be in spite of Pitino, just like 2016-2017 happened in spite of him. If things don't go well next season I'll reconsider my position, but at this point think that Pitino has us primed for good things.
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If they go to the NCAA tournament and win two games in spite of Pitino, that would mean there is better talent on the team, especially better depth, which would mean better recruiting has happened and that would mean Pitino has actually made some improvement. That is something we haven't seen in the last five years. If that seems like a very high bar, then that is because a very deep hole has been dug.

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Ewert86PC said:
If they go to the NCAA tournament and win two games in spite of Pitino, that would mean there is better talent on the team, especially better depth, which would mean better recruiting has happened and that would mean Pitino has actually made some improvement. That is something we haven't seen in the last five years. If that seems like a very high bar, then that is because a very deep hole has been dug.

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Your blind....or on the pipe.

Pitino or bust for 2022

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