Post game notes - Pitino was going with Buggs today regardless of Oto's injury

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Amelia just tweeted Buggs isn't comfortable talking to the media yet and that's why he wasn't available.
 

GL, did anyone address why the Gophers switch to standing in a 1-4 set and remain motionless until there is 10 seconds on the shot clock in the closing minutes of the game? My pet-peeve with the team so far has been the change in offense as the game winds down and we try to protect a lead. Why doesn't Pitino continue to have the kids work their motion offense and look for open shots? I was worried we were going to give the game away as four guys watched Mathieu dribble until the shot clock reached 10. I'd love to hear Coach Pitino address the reasons for switching offensive style as the game winds down.
 

tinyarch said:
GL, did anyone address why the Gophers switch to standing in a 1-4 set and remain motionless until there is 10 seconds on the shot clock in the closing minutes of the game? My pet-peeve with the team so far has been the change in offense as the game winds down and we try to protect a lead. Why doesn't Pitino continue to have the kids work their motion offense and look for open shots? I was worried we were going to give the game away as four guys watched Mathieu dribble until the shot clock reached 10. I'd love to hear Coach Pitino address the reasons for switching offensive style as the game winds down.
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A good question.

I understand needing to know time & score and all that stuff, but the Gophers started playing not to lose instead of playing to win. And when they did that (slowed it down), plain as day you could see they started to play tight (witness Joey's two open shots right under the basket, and he wasn't the only culprit). It happens way too often. Saw that with last year's team, too. Drives me nuts.
 


tinyarch said:
GL, did anyone address why the Gophers switch to standing in a 1-4 set and remain motionless until there is 10 seconds on the shot clock in the closing minutes of the game? My pet-peeve with the team so far has been the change in offense as the game winds down and we try to protect a lead. Why doesn't Pitino continue to have the kids work their motion offense and look for open shots? I was worried we were going to give the game away as four guys watched Mathieu dribble until the shot clock reached 10. I'd love to hear Coach Pitino address the reasons for switching offensive style as the game winds down.
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I agree. I hate playing not to lose. It's little sign that he doesn't trust the players yet. At the end of the first half, they went into the offense a little too soon and I think it was Joey King who tossed a decent but ill advised pass into Mo Walker with perhaps 15 seconds left. Mo fumbles it and Iowa comes down and drills a three. So there is reason for concern- still run the offense.
 

SelectionSunday said:
A good question.

I understand needing to know time & score and all that stuff, but the Gophers started playing not to lose instead of playing to win. And when they did that (slowed it down), plain as day you could see they started to play tight (witness Joey's two open shots right under the basket, and he wasn't the only culprit). It happens way too often. Saw that with last year's team, too. Drives me nuts.
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My wife, who does enjoy the games but knows little about the game, just starts bitching when they go into that mode. She's telling them they've got to move or shoot the ball. Sadly, she's basically right.
 

Mulligan said:
My wife, who does enjoy the games but knows little about the game, just starts bitching when they go into that mode. She's telling them they've got to move or shoot the ball. Sadly, she's basically right.
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Great minds think alike.

Not kidding you, my girlfriend said basically the same thing last night. She was as into a Gopher game as I've ever seen her, she's all fired up with the up & down pace, and then noting the slowdown, she asks, "Why did they decide to start standing around all of a sudden?"

I had no answer for her.
 

tinyarch said:
GL, did anyone address why the Gophers switch to standing in a 1-4 set and remain motionless until there is 10 seconds on the shot clock in the closing minutes of the game? My pet-peeve with the team so far has been the change in offense as the game winds down and we try to protect a lead. Why doesn't Pitino continue to have the kids work their motion offense and look for open shots? I was worried we were going to give the game away as four guys watched Mathieu dribble until the shot clock reached 10. I'd love to hear Coach Pitino address the reasons for switching offensive style as the game winds down.
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That's exactly what Tubby teams used to do, instead of playing proactively, playing not to lose, and it rarely works. Last night, we got lucky and it did. No one did ask that question, but I remember tweeting about it too last night. If you guys ever have any questions you'd like me to ask the players or Pitino after the game, feel free to tweet them to me. www.twitter.com/nadinebabu - just know I only check Twitter up to the end of the game, and then after I get my notes up.

jaymil said:
Amelia just tweeted Buggs isn't comfortable talking to the media yet and that's why he wasn't available.
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That seems so weird. He was great on media day 2 years ago, and always seems personable. Oh well!

Fennell said:
I'm pretty sure Richard was just joking around. He likes to poke fun and give people some grief, and i don't see y thats a problem being it's all in good fun?
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Yes, SS - he was. He is by no means a Brewster that's obsessed with reading everything everyone says about him, including everything on GH. He does spend his time coaching, he just likes to give people a hard time. It's all in good fun, and not rude at all.
 



GopherLady said:
That's exactly what Tubby teams used to do, instead of playing proactively, playing not to lose, and it rarely works. Last night, we got lucky and it did. No one did ask that question, but I remember tweeting about it too last night. If you guys ever have any questions you'd like me to ask the players or Pitino after the game, feel free to tweet them to me. www.twitter.com/nadinebabu - just know I only check Twitter up to the end of the game, and then after I get my notes up.



That seems so weird. He was great on media day 2 years ago, and always seems personable. Oh well!




Yes, SS - he was. He is by no means a Brewster that's obsessed with reading everything everyone says about him, including everything on GH. He does spend his time coaching, he just likes to give people a hard time. It's all in good fun, and not rude at all.
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The problem GL, is that too many commentors take everything so seriously that they can't have fun.
 

Dr.Don said:
The problem GL, is that too many commentors take everything so seriously that they can't have fun.
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It was a legit question - so much is lost without being able to see the tone in writing, so just wanted to clarify! :)
 

GopherLady said:
Yes, SS - he was. He is by no means a Brewster that's obsessed with reading everything everyone says about him, including everything on GH. He does spend his time coaching, he just likes to give people a hard time. It's all in good fun, and not rude at all.
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Thanks GL. Another example of how "tone" or "intent" gets lost when one's not there to hear the comments in person. My fault. I'm glad to hear it from you that Pitino is not wasting his time with that kind of stuff.
 

I think we went with the 1-4 set to keep the ball in the hands of our two players who can create their own shot and out of players hands who are not strong with the ball. Running sets at the end of big ten games is tough as the refs swallow the whistles and allow a ton of grabbing, pushing, and holding. Not that we shouldnt try, its also the reason why teams that have those good physical guards can win close games.
 



SelectionSunday said:
Great minds think alike.

Not kidding you, my girlfriend said basically the same thing last night. She was as into a Gopher game as I've ever seen her, she's all fired up with the up & down pace, and then noting the slowdown, she asks, "Why did they decide to start standing around all of a sudden?"

I had no answer for her.
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I don't know. Close to the end, they pushed the ball and Andre missed Austin on an alley-oop. Also near the end was Walker getting fouled on a fast break. I didn't see the obvious slow down you guys did.
 

Not sure if this was posted anywhere on the board, but here's Pitino's post game speech. Gives lots of props to Austin:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/eRj_zG4xhcE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 

GopherLady said:
Not sure if this was posted anywhere on the board, but here's Pitino's post game speech. Gives lots of props to Austin:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/eRj_zG4xhcE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Nice. Thanks for posting that. They just needed a reason to start believing in themselves again.
 

Good stuff. I loved that picture on the wall as a reminder not to give up because you never know when a little more effort is going to be the tipping point to success.
 

GopherLady said:
Not sure if this was posted anywhere on the board, but here's Pitino's post game speech. Gives lots of props to Austin:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/eRj_zG4xhcE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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"Will the real Charles Buggs please stand up?" lol awesome
 

Looks like a happy group of guys. Happy for them.
 

GopherLady said:
Not sure if this was posted anywhere on the board, but here's Pitino's post game speech. Gives lots of props to Austin:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/eRj_zG4xhcE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Very cool. Inspirational.
 


SelectionSunday said:
John Rothstein (CBS/CBSSN) picked the Gophers last.

Richard should have better things to do than keeping track of where the local writers picked his team in the standings. No problem that he's ticked off (read: competitive) about where the local writers picked his team, but airing it in public seems rather petty. In the future if Amelia and Fuller pick the Gophers to finish in the top 3 of the Big Ten & they end up finishing in the bottom half, is he going to call them to the carpet then, too?
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I don't think Richard had any venom at all in his remarks about where the reporters picked his team in the preseason. His comments were in regards to the NCAA tournament and he said something like only Marcus asks us about the NCAA tournament, we don't focus on that. What he's trying to accomplish is to relieve the players of the pressure of making the tournament by pointing out that they've met/exceeded preseason expectations from the media, so they shouldn't feel like not making the tournament would be some disaster. I didn't get the feeling at all that Richard was trying to embarrass the media members or use their predictions as a rallying cry, he's just strategically trying to relieve pressure on his kids (and also probably lower the bar for himself to get some credit ala Jerry Kill).
 

EG#9 said:
I don't think Richard had any venom at all in his remarks about where the reporters picked his team in the preseason. His comments were in regards to the NCAA tournament and he said something like only Marcus asks us about the NCAA tournament, we don't focus on that. What he's trying to accomplish is to relieve the players of the pressure of making the tournament by pointing out that they've met/exceeded preseason expectations from the media, so they shouldn't feel like not making the tournament would be some disaster. I didn't get the feeling at all that Richard was trying to embarrass the media members or use their predictions as a rallying cry, he's just strategically trying to relieve pressure on his kids (and also probably lower the bar for himself to get some credit ala Jerry Kill).
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I do sometimes wonder what the best approach is - relieve the pressure or embrace the pressure. My daughter's high school coach is fond of saying, "Pressure is a privilege," meaning a privilege of being a contender. And they just won the program's seventh state title in nine years. That seems to recommend embracing the pressure.
 

How many less possessions did Iowa have because of our offense 'working the clock' towards the end?
 

That always drove me absolutely insane with Tubby's teams. We'd simply pass it around the perimeter until there was no time left (though that happened throughout the game). We've done that at times this year, but that's pretty common for tons and tons of teams in college and the NBA. I don't mind it as much in college since you can waste 35 seconds and you don't have to worry about the other team scoring as much as you do in the NBA where there are such better scorers. It was much more annoying last year because we didn't have a great playermaker. When we have a decent cushion at the end of the game, I have no problem letting Deandre hold the ball til about 7 seconds and then making his way toward the hoop. He's great at getting in the lane where he can either hit that midrange or make a crazy layup. If he misses it's also not a bad way to get an offensive rebound since he draws so much attention. He also has decent vision so that if they clog the lane enough he can pass it out, though obviously he's sometimes turnover prone. Either way, he's our best player to go to with the game on the line because he doesn't settle for deep contested jumpers.

SelectionSunday said:
A good question.

I understand needing to know time & score and all that stuff, but the Gophers started playing not to lose instead of playing to win. And when they did that (slowed it down), plain as day you could see they started to play tight (witness Joey's two open shots right under the basket, and he wasn't the only culprit). It happens way too often. Saw that with last year's team, too. Drives me nuts.
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Would you rather have plays run where someone other that lil dre and Dre have the ball in their hands at that crucial time? Austin, King, EE, Oto, Smith, Mo. I can see why the coach went with it. The most likely guys to make a positive play and the least likely to make a negative have the ball.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Great minds think alike.

Not kidding you, my girlfriend said basically the same thing last night. She was as into a Gopher game as I've ever seen her, she's all fired up with the up & down pace, and then noting the slowdown, she asks, "Why did they decide to start standing around all of a sudden?"

I had no answer for her.
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Huge pet peeve of mine too. If you are winning, it is because the way have you been playing is working. Change how you play in the last 4 minutes because it worked so well that you earned a lead in the first 44 seems bizarre.
 

march madness said:
Would you rather have plays run where someone other that lil dre and Dre have the ball in their hands at that crucial time? Austin, King, EE, Oto, Smith, Mo. I can see why the coach went with it. The most likely guys to make a positive play and the least likely to make a negative have the ball.
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Two of our best FT shooters also.
 

Its a math problem fellas. If he doesn't do that and we shoot 10% on the final 10 possessions you'll be calling him an idiot.

We can argue how early he should/should not be slowing it down, or what kind of play he should be running there all day. But find me a coach that is still giving green lights to guys to run and gun with a between 2 - 10 point lead with under 4 minutes and I'll find you a coach that is likely going to get called on the carpet alot.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Huge pet peeve of mine too. If you are winning, it is because the way have you been playing is working. Change how you play in the last 4 minutes because it worked so well that you earned a lead in the first 44 seems bizarre.
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But the game changes in the last 4 minutes. I am not calling for a four corners stall or anything, but I agree that the refs tend to swallow whistles a bit towards the end. Also, the losing team tends to play a different defense towards the end (usually looking to trap, create a frenetic pace and turnovers, not worrying if they get called for a foul as that will stop the clock, etc.) The end of the game is rarely played the way the first 44 or 46 minutes are. The offense needs to adjust too.
 

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