Pitino wants to get that underdog mentality back for the Badger game

[GopherLady]

Here are a few notes from his post game interview on 1500 ESPN:


• They played great, you've got to give them credit, they look like one of the best teams in the country
• We didn't do our job defensively, that was an eye opener for us, we probably needed that. After OSU, we lost the mentality of the underdog, and I saw that coming. We got our butts handed to us.
• We made some mistakes defensively, great teams like that make you pay for it. I'm very impressed with that team, not so impressed with our team, but very impressed with Iowa.
• They were just passing the ball well, we weren't guarding the ball well. They are really good players, they deserved to win.
• It's got to be like it was against Syracuse, in an us against the world mentality. We were picked 10th in the Big 10, and haven't really done anything to prove that wrong. We thought we could go toe to toe with Iowa, and they handed it to us.

 

[Gold Vision]

Wow, pretty candid. Must not have liked the last couple practices or something

 

[Bad Gopher]

Love the sentiment. This team needs to adopt the junkyard dog mentality and play desperate basketball. If they can do that, they have a chance against Wisconsin.

 

[bemidjigopher]

The key was the last two minutes of the first half, if we could just step on their ****in throat in those minutes we win going away, it was there for the taking, but four days to prep for our biggest rival and biggest home game of the year and we're 3-3 in the conference, I'll take it

 

[Winasota Gopher]

Inside, I gotta think Rich is a bit happy about how we battled for most of the game... Then again most of the positives were from his pushing the right buttons to keep us in the game.... I think he's sending a message a ill bit too.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Sounds like he wants to make sure the focus is all there for the Wisconsin game and I have a feeling the really won't be a problem.

 

[millions2spare]

This team is suspect on defense all year. Without improving on D, this team will only win 7 or 8 B1G games. Pitino is so correct, the only way this team wins is by overachieving. Let's see how this team responds vs badger. It is going to take at least 2 recruiting classes to get his system fully implemented. Patience my friends. I would expect a few more games like this one before this season is over. We will surprise a team or two and also be surprised. It is the nature of a new coach, new system, etc. Expect the Gophers to make a run in the B1G tournament however. Time will tell if it will be enough to get into the dance. This team will improve but realistically expect a three step fwd one step back season.....

 

[Winasota Gopher]

This team is suspect on defense all year. Without improving on D, this team will only win 7 or 8 B1G games. Pitino is so correct, the only way this team wins is by overachieving. Let's see how this team responds vs badger. It is going to take at least 2 recruiting classes to get his system fully implemented. Patience my friends. I would expect a few more games like this one before this season is over. We will surprise a team or two and also be surprised. It is the nature of a new coach, new system, etc. Expect the Gophers to make a run in the B1G tournament however. Time will tell if it will be enough to get into the dance. This team will improve but realistically expect a three step fwd one step back season.....

I don't think we fair well in the big tournament... Bench is too short... Remember Maui??

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

Love the sentiment. This team needs to adopt the junkyard dog mentality and play desperate basketball. If they can do that, they have a chance against Wisconsin.

I agree, but really, really a tough thing to maintain after big wins. He's setting the table for the Wisky game with his remarks. He's going to have them ready for that one. Even a team with much more talent than the Gophers would have trouble in Iowa City.

 

[bemidjigopher]

This team is suspect on defense all year. Without improving on D, this team will only win 7 or 8 B1G games. Pitino is so correct, the only way this team wins is by overachieving. Let's see how this team responds vs badger. It is going to take at least 2 recruiting classes to get his system fully implemented. Patience my friends. I would expect a few more games like this one before this season is over. We will surprise a team or two and also be surprised. It is the nature of a new coach, new system, etc. Expect the Gophers to make a run in the B1G tournament however. Time will tell if it will be enough to get into the dance. This team will improve but realistically expect a three step fwd one step back season.....

Well wins against PSU, two vs NW and one vs Nebraska will get us 7, you really think both Illinois and IU are going to come in and beat us on our court? Not to mention I think we can hang with anyone on our homecourt as the OSU game showed and after seeing Penn State go into to Purdue, if we play our game there's no reason we can't win. Point is this team is better than 7 wins

 

[ruppertflywheel]

We'll beat Wisconsin. Period. End of story.

 

[book]

Did Iowa just get another foul and shoot two more freethrows?

 

[millions2spare]

If this team plays like it did vs Iowa 7 or 8 wins is all we should count on. If we overachieve and play like we did vs Sparty and OSU, we may get to 9 wins or 10 but realistically, this is a very weak defensive team and anything more than 7 would would be a bonus headed into the B1G tournament. We will need to make a run there to bubble the dance....

 

[golfing18now]

If this team plays like it did vs Iowa 7 or 8 wins is all we should count on. If we overachieve and play like we did vs Sparty and OSU, we may get to 9 wins or 10 but realistically, this is a very weak defensive team and anything more than 7 would would be a bonus headed into the B1G tournament. We will need to make a run there to bubble the dance....

I would be really suprised if this team only wins 7 games this year.

 

[station19]

We'll beat Wisconsin. Period. End of story.

Can I use your credit card # on that one?

 

[cncmin]

If this team plays like it did vs Iowa 7 or 8 wins is all we should count on. If we overachieve and play like we did vs Sparty and OSU, we may get to 9 wins or 10 but realistically, this is a very weak defensive team ....

You have any data to back that up, other than the 94 points a red-hot Iowa team put up today?

 

[millions2spare]

You have any data to back that up, other than the 94 points a red-hot Iowa team put up today?

KENPOM had the Gophers 74th in Defensive efficiency. That will not get it done. Pitino has made reference to this number all year...
I am not sure what they can do to really improve it except work real hard. They do not have the talent to become an elite defense team.
Schemes and coaching can help some, but as Pitino said today post con, if the gophers actually think they are good and can win on talent, it will be
a long season. They have to out work everyone they play. Short of that, count on 7 B1G wins....

 

[mcal24]

KENPOM had the Gophers 74th in Defensive efficiency. That will not get it done. Pitino has made reference to this number all year...
I am not sure what they can do to really improve it except work real hard. They do not have the talent to become an elite defense team.
Schemes and coaching can help some, but as Pitino said today post con, if the gophers actually think they are good and can win on talent, it will be
a long season. They have to out work everyone they play. Short of that, count on 7 B1G wins....

So 74the would be in the upper third of Division 1, right? I'm not saying that's great for a Big Ten team, but it's nowhere near awful.

Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk

 

[Gold Vision]

So 74the would be in the upper third of Division 1, right? I'm not saying that's great for a Big Ten team, but it's nowhere near awful. Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk

That's 9th in the Big 10. Also 10th in defensive efficiency. In conference so far, this is our worst defensive team since 06'-07'.

Definitely not good enough. It'll get better as we go through a couple recruiting cycles.

 

[gopherlaney]

If this team plays like it did vs Iowa 7 or 8 wins is all we should count on. If we overachieve and play like we did vs Sparty and OSU, we may get to 9 wins or 10 but realistically, this is a very weak defensive team and anything more than 7 would would be a bonus headed into the B1G tournament. We will need to make a run there to bubble the dance....

Iowa and Michigan State at full strength are by far our toughest match ups due to their depth and skill along the front line. I mean, did you see Oto? On four separate occasions he literally lost balance on his own and fell over. On one occasion he got off balance pivoting and threw the ball out of bounds.

 

[cncmin]

That's 9th in the Big 10. Also 10th in defensive efficiency. In conference so far, this is our worst defensive team since 06'-07'.

Definitely not good enough. It'll get better as we go through a couple recruiting cycles.

9th of the 12 teams in the B1G, and after having played a fairly tough schedule including 4 top-15 teams, 2 of those games away and 1 neutral site...yeah I smell huge trouble (sarcasm).

You forget that one of the reasons Tubby's defenses gave up fewer points was because much more often they milked the shot clock down to single digits before chucking up clunkers, then protected against the transition game and sat back in half-court defenses. While I fully realize this season's defense is not elite, it's also obvious that this defense would compete just fine with the likes of those of previous teams. Not once in 6 seasons was I ever impressed with a Tubby defense, not even close. Tubby's scheme simply sunk into the lane and let opposing 3-point shooters shoot wide-open 3's. Mediocre shooting teams like North Dakota State gave Tubby's teams fits consistently; the scheme only worked when the opposition had bad shooting days. I believe OSU, who rarely had that problem, once shot about 65% at Williams against a Tubby team. (!) The era of basketball in which that strategy was truly effective passed decades ago.

 

[GophersInIowa]

You forget that one of the reasons Tubby's defenses gave up fewer points was because much more often they milked the shot clock down to single digits before chucking up clunkers, then protected against the transition game and sat back in half-court defenses.

You're right to a certain degree but there isn't that much of a difference. This year we're 218th in the country with 68.9 possessions per game which is less than 3 more possessions per game than last year. Different, but not a huge difference.

Not once in 6 seasons was I ever impressed with a Tubby defense, not even close. Tubby's scheme simply sunk into the lane and let opposing 3-point shooters shoot wide-open 3's. The era of basketball in which that strategy was truly effective passed decades ago.

So many things wrong with this post.
1. We are allowing more 3-point attempts a game this year than the last two years under Tubby.
2. Who cares how you do it on defense as long as you don't allow a lot of points. Our defense is also giving up more points inside the 3-point line this year.
3. I know it is early, but we gave up 63.8 points a game in conference play last year, which is nearly 10 points less a game than this year.

 

[Gold Vision]

9th of the 12 teams in the B1G, and after having played a fairly tough schedule including 4 top-15 teams, 2 of those games away and 1 neutral site...yeah I smell huge trouble (sarcasm). You forget that one of the reasons Tubby's defenses gave up fewer points was because much more often they milked the shot clock down to single digits before chucking up clunkers, then protected against the transition game and sat back in half-court defenses. While I fully realize this season's defense is not elite, it's also obvious that this defense would compete just fine with the likes of those of previous teams. Not once in 6 seasons was I ever impressed with a Tubby defense, not even close. Tubby's scheme simply sunk into the lane and let opposing 3-point shooters shoot wide-open 3's. Mediocre shooting teams like North Dakota State gave Tubby's teams fits consistently; the scheme only worked when the opposition had bad shooting days. I believe OSU, who rarely had that problem, once shot about 65% at Williams against a Tubby team. (!) The era of basketball in which that strategy was truly effective passed decades ago.

It's clear you have no idea how kenpom ratings and tempo free efficiency numbers are calculated.

Pitino would agree with me, as he references them all the time. It's a new system with someone else's players. It will come along, but this team is not as good defensively as any of our recent teams.

 

[cncmin]

You're right to a certain degree but there isn't that much of a difference. This year we're 218th in the country with 68.9 possessions per game which is less than 3 more possessions per game than last year. Different, but not a huge difference.



So many things wrong with this post.
1. We are allowing more 3-point attempts a game this year than the last two years under Tubby.
2. Who cares how you do it on defense as long as you don't allow a lot of points. Our defense is also giving up more points inside the 3-point line this year.
3. I know it is early, but we gave up 63.8 points a game in conference play last year, which is nearly 10 points less a game than this year.

That's the key (bold). This can and should be revisited after the next 5-game stretch. If the Gophers are still having problems winning games due to defense, it will be a good thread. As far as your point #2 goes, it's not the defensive points given up that matters, it's the W/L differential, which is much more closely related with point differential.

One other thing to consider regarding points given up - the team this year is giving up a ton of extra chances due to problems on the defensive boards, which largely weren't an issue with some of the previous, bigger teams. I guess in my mind I'm disassociating worse defensive rebounding with the general defensive game, and you could argue that's an error on my part. Still, overall on D I have as much or more confidence in this team as I did last year's, so long as EE is in the game and not Mo, at which point I lose all confidence.

 

[Gold Vision]

That's the key (bold). This can and should be revisited after the next 5-game stretch. If the Gophers are still having problems winning games due to defense, it will be a good thread. As far as your point #2 goes, it's not the defensive points given up that matters, it's the W/L differential, which is much more closely related with point differential. One other thing to consider regarding points given up - the team this year is giving up a ton of extra chances due to problems on the defensive boards, which largely weren't an issue with some of the previous, bigger teams. I guess in my mind I'm disassociating worse defensive rebounding with the general defensive game, and you could argue that's an error on my part. Still, overall on D I have as much or more confidence in this team as I did last year's, so long as EE is in the game and not Mo, at which point I lose all confidence.

You're correct. PPG is not a good measure. eFG and efficiency are much better metrics. Both of which we are struggling with.

Kenpom weights it's ratings based on the opponents, so unless they improve their actual defense over the next 5 games, that number won't improve.

 

[EG#9]

No doubt defense is a concern, but this Gopher team has had a legit shot to win 5 of their 6 conference games so far. I thought this game would be a terrible match up for the Gophers because I didn't think they could get stops against Iowa on the road. Iowa is much more talented on the offensive end than the defensive end and that type of team is going to give this Gopher team fits because they lack both size to stop them and offensive firepower to keep up. Iowa played one of their better games of the season and the Gophers played one of their worst, that's going to happen through the course of a conference season. This game only hurts because it sucks to ever lose to Iowa and it knocks the Gophers down out of the cluster of teams behind MSU and Michigan. I'd be far more worried if the Gophers played a home game like Indiana did on Saturday.

I am not sure how much this team can improve defensively given the roster, but I do think there's room to continue to improve on the offensive end. Foul trouble for Eliason will likely always spell doom for this team because we are a poor defensive 2fg% with him and seemingly horrid without him.

 

[Dr.Don]

We need the mentality of LeRoy Brown, meaner than a Junk Yard Dog.

 

[Bad Gopher]

You're right to a certain degree but there isn't that much of a difference. This year we're 218th in the country with 68.9 possessions per game which is less than 3 more possessions per game than last year. Different, but not a huge difference.



So many things wrong with this post.
1. We are allowing more 3-point attempts a game this year than the last two years under Tubby.
2. Who cares how you do it on defense as long as you don't allow a lot of points. Our defense is also giving up more points inside the 3-point line this year.
3. I know it is early, but we gave up 63.8 points a game in conference play last year, which is nearly 10 points less a game than this year.

You have to consider the great interior defender we lost in Trevor.

This team leads the conference in steals if I'm not mistaken. Beyond that, I'm personally relieved to not have to watch the ball line defense anymore.

 

[Ski U Mah Gopher]

Interior defense is where everything starts.

Bad interior defense leads to high dFG% and also open threes because perimeter defenders have to help too much on the inside.