Pitino: When lofty statistics don't carry, "you've got to play the game"

[BleedGopher]

per the STrib:

When Minnesota took the court vs. Furman on Monday night, the Gophers were ranked No. 1 in the nation in assists per game. They were ranked second nationally in steals. They were third in turnover margin. The last three games? They had them by an average of 33 points.

So you can imagine the players' confusion when coach Richard Pitino was getting after them -- hard -- just one day earlier in practice.

"They were looking at me funny," the coach said. "Like 'Why is this guy on us?'"

Now, he says, they know.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/286685291.html

Go Gophers!!

 

[Bad Gopher]

Last season was a process of the team learning how to win close games. They didn't do it very well in the conference season, but they gutted out a couple close ones in the NIT, which was really nice to see. The question was whether that would carry over to this year. The losses to Louisville and St. Johns were not close games at the end, so the first gut check was the other night. They scrapped and made the plays they needed to.

It's funny, Pitino has been on Mathieu to become more of a distributor, and now he's on him to take opportunities to score more. He's obviously looking for a balanced approach and obviously wanting his team to take the easiest basket available to them. That's one of the keys to basketball - try to make it so you don't have to make an extraordinary, difficult shot just to make two points. A layup scores the same as a circus shot.

 

[Dr.Don]

I remember making a "circus shot" in high school...a hook shot from mid-court.

Unfortunately it happened in practice.

 

[GoodasGold]

I remember making a "circus shot" in high school...a hook shot from mid-court.

Unfortunately it happened in practice.

Courts were much smaller back then.

 

[station19]

Courts were much smaller back then.

Reminds me, my father played hs basketball on a court that one line served as the midcourt line and both free throw lines. The ceiling was 11' high so the basket was 9' and slanted downward. True story.

 

[Dr.Don]

Reminds me, my father played hs basketball on a court that one line served as the midcourt line and both free throw lines. The ceiling was 11' high so the basket was 9' and slanted downward. True story.

Hey, I played on many small courts where the over and back lines were in the backcourt.

When we played on a full sized court, it was too big for us.

Schidt, I remember playing in Chatfield where the gym floor was on the stage of their auditorium.

 

[jamalo]

The Granada-Huntley high school gym was a dumpster fire. Thankfully, they started using the East Chain gym after I left and they won a championship!