Reusse: If Pitino had taken Wright from Champlin Park & not “Jelly Fam,” he wouldn’t be getting fired.

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UpAndUnder43 said:
If Wright could have got into the U he might have done that. Eligibility issues so he went to Colorado.
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:rolleyes:
Colorado, like almost every other PAC public school, is just as good as the U (of Minn).
 

tmvander said:
It's hard to say...both gach was a solid player last year in that conference and we see what he's doing here this year.
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I buy that the Big Ten is better than the PAC, sure. But not that much better. Gach obviously has something going on between the ears, whether that's confidence, Pitino's (staff's) coaching, the whole covid situation, his family, and/or whatever.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
It isn’t a claim. I was told this by a high school coach of his directly. We were at a game @ Hopkins I believe. Talked to the coach. Asked about Wright. This was said. I don’t know what else to go off of. No reason for him to lie to me.

I should say I know the coach. Friend of a friend. Again—no idea why he’d lie. Maybe I’m wrong. If I am I apologize to everyone on here.
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No one thinks you're lying. I don't, I believe you. Maybe that is the "official" reasoning that U/Pitino claimed and told behind closed doors, when asked.

It's just complete BS, is all.
 


I’m guessing Wright’s assist numbers would take a beating if he dished off to guys who connect at a 29% rate from 3, because that’s what would’ve surrounded him if he came here as part of a Pitino-assembled team...one of the worst shooting teams in college basketball.
 


WindyCityGopher said:
I’m guessing Wright’s assist numbers would take a beating if he dished off to guys who connect at a 29% rate from 3, because that’s what would’ve surrounded him if he came here as part of a Pitino-assembled team...one of the worst shooting teams in college basketball.
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Well, the 2018-19 team was brought up, with not needing Coffey to play PG.

But, they already won a 2nd round game in the BTT and won a game in the big dance that year. Say they go to the Sweet Sixteen with Wright. Would that have been enough to save Pitino's job after these last two years (assuming similar results)? Hopefully not.
 


MplsGopher said:
No one thinks you're lying. I don't, I believe you. Maybe that is the "official" reasoning that U/Pitino claimed and told behind closed doors, when asked.

It's just complete BS, is all.
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Ok. I’m glad you know more about his transcripts and stuff than his coaches. I wish you had guided him to the U with your close relationship and all.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Ok. I’m glad you know more about his transcripts and stuff than his coaches. I wish you had guided him to the U with your close relationship and all.
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Has nothing to do with what's on his transcripts, and has everything to do with the fact that any of these huge flagship public universities can get anyone in they want, if they pass the minimum NCAA DI requirements (which he clearly did).
 



I’m 34 years old. He doesn’t know me from Adam. I don’t sit here and trash former recruits who went elsewhere. If the Gophers suck we may as well have some local kids do well elsewhere. Good for them. I don’t blame kids for leaving. I gain nothing by saying anything negative about him. I hope he gets a shot at the NBA—I have no idea where he stands in that regard. He isn’t big and not a great shooter but had a wonderful career at Colorado. One of their better players in a while/ever? from what I’ve read. I also can’t name a single player to have played there so I’m probably the wrong person to add historical perspective.
In hindsight a lot of teams would have loved to have him. Hopefully he can make some money playing somewhere post college.
 

MplsGopher said:
Has nothing to do with what's on his transcripts, and has everything to do with the fact that any of these huge flagship public universities can get anyone in they want, if they pass the minimum NCAA DI requirements (which he clearly did).
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He did eventually. Maybe it took time and they weren’t sure he would? I dunno for sure. Not really going to text his former coach and ask because it doesn’t matter.
 

bc2211 said:
The point is that if Pitino can’t do it with Carr, then Wright wasn’t going to do shit for this team anyways. Even if they are on the same roster we have massive holes on the wings and in the post.
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Yes.

Sometimes when reflecting upon Pitino's career here I think of the line in the classic film Lawrence of Arabia:

"It is written."

That was a saying of the Arabs in the film meaning that something was fated and efforts to overturn the fates would be unsuccessful. Britisher Lawrence scoffed at that and said "Nothing is written!" but, as it turned out, the Arabs were right about that when it came to a critical incident in the film.

At various times throughout his tenure I have entertained the idea that Pitino just seemed destined to fail here. Whenever it looked like a significant success was on the horizon and he might be turning the corner, it all came crashing down to failure again.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
If the Gophers suck we may as well have some local kids do well elsewhere.
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Well, that's not an illogical point. If we really cared for Minnesota kids maybe we should be happy that many of them were spared this unfortunate historical period.
 



UpAndUnder43 said:
I’m 34 years old. He doesn’t know me from Adam. I don’t sit here and trash former recruits who went elsewhere. If the Gophers suck we may as well have some local kids do well elsewhere. Good for them. I don’t blame kids for leaving. I gain nothing by saying anything negative about him. I hope he gets a shot at the NBA—I have no idea where he stands in that regard. He isn’t big and not a great shooter but had a wonderful career at Colorado. One of their better players in a while/ever? from what I’ve read. I also can’t name a single player to have played there so I’m probably the wrong person to add historical perspective.
In hindsight a lot of teams would have loved to have him. Hopefully he can make some money playing somewhere post college.
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Chauncey Billups is the benchmark for Colorado basketball players. But they also have 5 former Buffs in the NBA right now led by Spencer Dinwiddie, Andre Roberson and Tyler Bey.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
He did eventually. Maybe it took time and they weren’t sure he would? I dunno for sure. Not really going to text his former coach and ask because it doesn’t matter.
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I’m sure he did some work to repair his transcript and ACT score from October to the spring when he went to Colorado. This battle isn’t worth fighting on here. No one will believe it no matter what evidence is brought up. On this board it will be an only “Pitino made a mistake thing” and “Wright and D1 were innocent and fully justified to hold a grudge”.
 


manderson1984 said:
I’m sure he did some work to repair his transcript and ACT score from October to the spring when he went to Colorado.
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Fair enough, if true.

I would only defend this: if for some reason we had an open roster spot and still wanted him at that time, we could've just as easily gotten him into the U as they got him into Boulder. Silly to suggest otherwise, IMO.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
I’m 34 years old. He doesn’t know me from Adam.
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If that's the case, then that coach is an A hole for telling a complete stranger quite personal info about one of his players.

But, I also don't believe Wright would have had an issue getting into the U. Maybe the U coaches were telling that to the high school coach to make an excuse as to why they chose someone else. Wouldn't be the first time that's happened. Many college coaches have laid that line on high school coaches as a way to cast light away from the fact they are passing on your guy.

MplsGopher said:
Has nothing to do with what's on his transcripts, and has everything to do with the fact that any of these huge flagship public universities can get anyone in they want, if they pass the minimum NCAA DI requirements (which he clearly did).
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That is not true. There are absolutely guys that coaches at the U have had to pass on because of academics who have gone on and played at other institutions right away. It happens.
 

tjgopher said:
There are absolutely guys that coaches at the U have had to pass on because of academics who have gone on and played at other institutions right away.
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Sure, if they fixed their test scores to then qualify for the DI standard, as may be the case here with Wright. You'll need to cite specifics, to have a meaningful further discussion.
 

MplsGopher said:
Fair enough, if true.

I would only defend this: if for some reason we had an open roster spot and still wanted him at that time, we could've just as easily gotten him into the U as they got him into Boulder. Silly to suggest otherwise, IMO.
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In the spring when his recruitment reopened I believe he would’ve gotten in. At that point their was Harris and Washington committed. He was still offered but they wanted him to redshirt or something if I remember correctly. The room was full. Of course Richard and staff made the wrong eval in hindsight, but as with everything else, it’s not like all just one persons fault. Truthfully, if Richard and STAFF had been better evaluators and the program was rolling, Wright may not have been offered anyways as there were some flaws/questions about if his game could translate to high major.
 

What Reusse fails to account for is the Law Of Gopher Athletics, where if Wright had committed here, the odds are much greater that he would have lost his right hand in a freak blender accident before ever stepping on the court than him being a high-quality player for the Gophers.
 
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tjgopher said:
Maybe the U coaches were telling that to the high school coach to make an excuse as to why they chose someone else. Wouldn't be the first time that's happened. Many college coaches have laid that line on high school coaches as a way to cast light away from the fact they are passing on your guy.
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Exactly
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
What Reusse fails to account for is the Law Of Gopher Athletics, where if Wright had committed here, the odds are much greater that he would have lost his right hand in a freak blender accident before ever stepping on the court than him being a high-quality player for the Giphers.
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An unfortunate smelting accident ....
 

WriterGoph said:
Chauncey Billups is the benchmark for Colorado basketball players. But they also have 5 former Buffs in the NBA right now led by Spencer Dinwiddie, Andre Roberson and Tyler Bey.
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Forgot Chauncey went there. That dude had a weird career.
 

WriterGoph said:
Chauncey Billups is the benchmark for Colorado basketball players. But they also have 5 former Buffs in the NBA right now led by Spencer Dinwiddie, Andre Roberson and Tyler Bey.
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Yes, it's amazing how often people forget that simple but reliable rule: "Things change."

We may have a historical edge over Colorado but they have the present over us. Their current coach has 8 twenty win seasons in his 11 year career there, only one losing season, 4 NCAA tournaments (with another likely coming this year), and multiple NBA players as you have stated.

This coach, Tad Boyle, has the best winning percentage of any Colorado coach since 1950. At the time of his hire, I don't suspect the Colorado fan base was ecstatic over the choice after his three years at Northern Colorado; sometimes you just never know how good something can be until you give it a try.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Imagine if Wright had followed Archie Miller to IU! They’d have hung some banners no doubt.
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So not only would wright have saved Pitino's job, but also would have saved Archie Millers job as well? Who is this wright guy? Indiana Big Ten champs too? No chance!
 

cjbfbp said:
Yes, it's amazing how often people forget that simple but reliable rule: "Things change."

We may have a historical edge over Colorado but they have the present over us. Their current coach has 8 twenty win seasons in his 11 year career there, only one losing season, 4 NCAA tournaments (with another likely coming this year), and multiple NBA players as you have stated.

This coach, Tad Boyle, has the best winning percentage of any Colorado coach since 1950. At the time of his hire, I don't suspect the Colorado fan base was ecstatic over the choice after his three years at Northern Colorado; sometimes you just never know how good something can be until you give it a try.
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The funny thing is that there are/were still people here bitching for a coaching change earlier this season regarding Boyle.

The couple things I'll say about CU is that as of late the Pac 12 is a far less challenging conference than the Big Ten and Colorado's non-conference schedules have generally been pretty lackluster.

That said, I think Boyle is definitely a solid tactical coach and he can obviously recruit some good talent (high school hoops in Colorado is nowhere near the level it is in Minnesota). I think they could make a run to the Sweet 16 this year, but they could also get mashed in the first game if they play a super physical team.
 

Imagine how Lil Ricky would have collapsed if he had the pressure of Reusse criticizing him like this for eight years.
 

Getting Wright wouldn't have mattered at all imo. Why? Because it wasn't just one player that sunk Pitino. It was Pitino himself that sunk Pitino. It's very likely Wright wouldn't have developed much under Richard's coaching, but even if he had, the offense would still be an incoherent mess and there would still be virtually no adjustments made either in games or during the season when struggles started. No one player would've magically been able to lift the team above all of that.
 

"If Pitino had landed Jalen Suggs, Matthew Hurt, Zeke Nnaji, Tyrell Terry, and Tre and Tyus Jones, he wouldn't be getting fired."-Reusse
 

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