Post game Pitino on ESPN 1500 - On small lineup, improving, defense, etc.

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GopherLady

GopherLady

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Richard Pitino:
• Proud of the defense, held them to 36%, rebounded well, the turnovers hurt us at the end. Had some missed shots that were good looks. We need to play about as close to perfect as possible to win the game. We're moving in the right direction. If we continue to do this, we'll win our fair share in the next 1.5 months
• One thing that our guards don't realize is that people are scared of our speed, so we need to make them pay for that. We showed some good things, we just went cold in the 2nd half for a few minutes, and turned it over a few times.
• I think if you look at our team right now, you see what it can become. Earlier in the year, we didn't show that, we didn't show great promise. Dupree is coming on, Jordan is playing a lot better, Nate is getting a lot better. We need to continue to grow this team and play our best basketball.
• On going small? Bakary went in the game and was hobbling, he couldn't run, he sprained his ankle a little in the 1st half, and Gas just isn't ready to play big minutes for us.
• On Joey King - He wasn't as aggressive as I'd like him to be, I told him, you have the green light, shoot it when you're open.
 

Small sample size but Pitino's team usually improves as the season progresses. An indication of good coaching
 

Stick with the small lineup. Much better flow, much better team when Bakary is not on the floor. Play your best 5 guys together, like he did tonight in 2nd half. Play like this and we may not have to wait for Rutgers to get a win.
 

As always, many thanks, GL. I always look forward to these dispatches.
 




Couldn't catch the game, but checked out the box score. See Buggs had a lot of minutes, but not much else. Sheesh...What's with that:confused:
 

GoodasGold said:
Couldn't catch the game, but checked out the box score. See Buggs had a lot of minutes, but not much else. Sheesh...What's with that:confused:
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He missed a few open looks and then passed the ball immediately if he wasn't wide open. It was chuck buggs
 

This team is one good shooter and one more post player who can defend from being decent.
 



Winasota Gopher said:
He missed a few open looks and then passed the ball immediately if he wasn't wide open. It was chuck buggs
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Buggs appears to be so afraid of turnovers that he gets rid of the ball like a hot potato. Just a few times this year we have seen him take the risk of driving to hole and it's a beautiful thing when he does. He has the skill to do it. He just doesn't do it. I have said 20 times on this board - with what we have at center- Buggs should be playing center this year. He would be far better off near the bucket. He can rebound, he can catch the ball, he can pass and he can finish in close.
 

GopherLady said:
Richard Pitino:
• Proud of the defense, held them to 36%, rebounded well, the turnovers hurt us at the end. Had some missed shots that were good looks. We need to play about as close to perfect as possible to win the game. We're moving in the right direction. If we continue to do this, we'll win our fair share in the next 1.5 months
• One thing that our guards don't realize is that people are scared of our speed, so we need to make them pay for that. We showed some good things, we just went cold in the 2nd half for a few minutes, and turned it over a few times.
• I think if you look at our team right now, you see what it can become. Earlier in the year, we didn't show that, we didn't show great promise. Dupree is coming on, Jordan is playing a lot better, Nate is getting a lot better. We need to continue to grow this team and play our best basketball.
• On going small? Bakary went in the game and was hobbling, he couldn't run, he sprained his ankle a little in the 1st half, and Gas just isn't ready to play big minutes for us.
• On Joey King - He wasn't as aggressive as I'd like him to be, I told him, you have the green light, shoot it when you're open.
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I still think he transfers after this season.
 

bga1 said:
Buggs appears to be so afraid of turnovers that he gets rid of the ball like a hot potato. Just a few times this year we have seen him take the risk of driving to hole and it's a beautiful thing when he does. He has the skill to do it. He just doesn't do it. I have said 20 times on this board - with what we have at center- Buggs should be playing center this year. He would be far better off near the bucket. He can rebound, he can catch the ball, he can pass and he can finish in close.
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Why do you think that is the case? Anything to do with Pitino benching him?
 

GopherLady said:
Richard Pitino:
• Proud of the defense, held them to 36%, rebounded well, the turnovers hurt us at the end.
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Well, the 36% was pure luck, not good D. How many wide open looks did Michigan simply miss? Is he watching the same game?
 




goldy93 said:
Well, the 36% was pure luck, not good D. How many wide open looks did Michigan simply miss? Is he watching the same game?
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Robinson did miss about 4 wide open 3 point looks that he usually makes with Buggs not being able to get around the screen but other than that I thought the defense was pretty good. Both Irvin and Walton also hit a few very tough shots with good defense in their face so I guess I was watching the same game as Pitino.
 

bga1 said:
Buggs appears to be so afraid of turnovers that he gets rid of the ball like a hot potato. Just a few times this year we have seen him take the risk of driving to hole and it's a beautiful thing when he does. He has the skill to do it. He just doesn't do it. I have said 20 times on this board - with what we have at center- Buggs should be playing center this year. He would be far better off near the bucket. He can rebound, he can catch the ball, he can pass and he can finish in close.
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I've seen you say this a couple times. I get what you're saying given that all of our options are equally as wrong, I just don't see Buggs rebounding in traffic. He gets boards when he can outjump people, but that's about it.

I wouldn't mind seeing him running a pick n roll on offense and running some sort of set where we are 5 out when he's on the floor. But defensively we would have to go zone as he is very weak and any post with girth is going to push him around and box him out very easily. We've historically been a TERRIBLE rebounding team while in zone as we have some of the WORST boxer outers (is that a word?) in the country. Murphy gets most of his rebounds by being athletic, same with Buggs. The only guy that I see boxing out on occasion is Joey, and he's too unathletic to go get the ball.

Long and short of it, is that it's worth a try, I just don't see it being much of an upgrade, and it's not a long-term solution as Buggs isn't/shouldn't be playing center next year. We need to continue, as ugly as it is, to try and develop Konate for next year.
 

Buggs just lacks confidence. He also needs to shoot more mid-range jumpers. I think it was during the Indiana game, he posted up, got the ball, turned around and shot a 14 footer that was pretty much impossible to defend. I think he needs to do more stuff like that instead of just shooting 3's.
 


MadtownGopher said:
I still think he transfers after this season.
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I wonder if his international status complicates things. I imagine there is a ton more paperwork to fill out for a sponsoring school than with a US scholarship. Given that he hasn't exactly shown a ton of ability, it may be that no one will want him. Couple this with the fact that he likely has a desire to complete a US education and he may be at Minnesota for two more years (unless Pitino really forces him out which wouldn't look great on Pitino).
 

goldy93 said:
Well, the 36% was pure luck, not good D. How many wide open looks did Michigan simply miss? Is he watching the same game?
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There was some luck. But in the first 10 minutes they had many wide open looks and made several. In the last 30 minutes they had far fewer.
 

howeda7 said:
There was some luck. But in the first 10 minutes they had many wide open looks and made several. In the last 30 minutes they had far fewer.
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Nope. When teams shoot well it's because Pitino sucks and our defense sucks. When teams shoot poorly it's because we got lucky and everyone still sucks. Gosh.
 

howeda7 said:
There was some luck. But in the first 10 minutes they had many wide open looks and made several. In the last 30 minutes they had far fewer.
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I should differentiate between behind the arc D and in the paint. I think our behind the arc D was the same, subpar performance that benefited from them simply missing open looks. Our D in the paint was good.
 

CentralGopher said:
I think it might be a little more than that myself.
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Why? Decent is 8-10 in the big ten. If we had a post defender/rebounder and another consistent 3 point shooter on O (besides Joey), we would be much more dynamic on O and not so easily manhandled on d boards.

These would be huge game changers with our quick guards and undersized 3/4 combinations (excluding gas who is terrible and konate who is almost as bad).

Basketball teams can be transformed with just a couple players (unlike football)
 

Actually, not much. Buggs has been a pretty low turnover guy prior to that. It seems shocking but the stats bear it out. He just doesn't take risks off the dribble. He generally shoots quickly or passes quickly. I do think that the benching has made him a less confident shooter. Prior to the benching he was shooting better than 40% from 3pt range. Since the benching I think we have a more alert (far from perfect) defender and a less effective offensive player.
 

goldy93 said:
Why do you think that is the case? Anything to do with Pitino benching him?
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I don't get this. You only get one chance to play D1 basketball. Why not go all out, with guns blazing? Why let fear dictate your performance?
 

GopherinPhilly said:
Why? Decent is 8-10 in the big ten. If we had a post defender/rebounder and another consistent 3 point shooter on O (besides Joey), we would be much more dynamic on O and not so easily manhandled on d boards.

These would be huge game changers with our quick guards and undersized 3/4 combinations (excluding gas who is terrible and konate who is almost as bad).

Basketball teams can be transformed with just a couple players (unlike football)
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I may be a little overly pessimistic lately. If they prove me wrong and get to about .500 in conference next year ill not only eat my words but also ne ecstatic but im not gonna expect it or bet on it. The conference is tough and other teams will improve too. Mcbrayer did give me some hope with how he played last night.
 

Like I wrote in the game thread, time will tell whether the Gophers are starting to put some things together and are on an upward trajectory, or whether last night is just another crest on a sine curve (e.g. Clemson, Michigan State) preceding another trough. I continue to hope that this team is quite a bit better at the end of this season and is winning games, including against opponents with better records, but a watchable performance last night does not a season make.
 

goldy93 said:
Well, the 36% was pure luck, not good D. How many wide open looks did Michigan simply miss? Is he watching the same game?
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But it's bad D when a team makes shots with people all over them? You want it both ways with the negative bs. Kind of like we aren't moving the ball but missing open shots.
 


bga1 said:
Actually, not much. Buggs has been a pretty low turnover guy prior to that. It seems shocking but the stats bear it out. He just doesn't take risks off the dribble. He generally shoots quickly or passes quickly. I do think that the benching has made him a less confident shooter. Prior to the benching he was shooting better than 40% from 3pt range. Since the benching I think we have a more alert (far from perfect) defender and a less effective offensive player.
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Actually, I think his falling stats were the reason for being benched. He had about 40 minutes of pretty much scoreless, reboundless performance across two games. This fluctuation in effectiveness if far from new with Buggs. The idea of him becoming a major cog on this team is, IMO, wishful thinking. I wish it were not but he's an enigma. Considering the way he seems periodically clueless, if he were younger I'd wonder if he was having absence seizures. He just seems to inexplicably not know what is going on at times.
 

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