Richard Pitino Blog No. 1 - Gopher Basketball Update

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HouseOfHagen said:
Ahanmisi has the potential to be our leader? I don't know what Little Dick is smokin', but pass some over this way. Puff, puff, pass, brotha.
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Read between the lines. He also said he wanted Andre to be more of a vocal leader.
 

DeathClutch said:
Interesting to see his comments on King and Buggs. Sounds like King may have the early edge over Buggs for the start at the 4. We really need Rakeem.
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Talking to a parent of a player, from their 4 practices teammates believe Oto is the leader to get the starting job. That really scared me. I said right now it has to be King or Buggs, because if it's Oto we are in serious trouble.

Like the honesty from Pitino; Buggs is really raw for a red-shirt freshman with tons of potential.
 

HouseOfHagen said:
Ahanmisi has the potential to be our leader? I don't know what Little Dick is smokin', but pass some over this way. Puff, puff, pass, brotha.
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In your experience could you educate the rest of us on what Maverick is like in the locker room? During practice? In the huddle? On the bench? In the weightroom? On the charter? In the film room? Thanks. We know how ludicrous it would be for a guy who's played in 99 career games (2nd on the team) could even be considered a leader.
 

If Wally can't find his shot & doesn't have a productive season he will be spending 2014-15 focused solely on high jumping.
 

Maximus said:
In your experience could you educate the rest of us on what Maverick is like in the locker room? During practice? In the huddle? On the bench? In the weightroom? On the charter? In the film room? Thanks. We know how ludicrous it would be for a guy who's played in 99 career games (2nd on the team) could even be considered a leader.
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I agree. Always nice to hear a senior is stepping up. Mav has improved in small increments each year and IMHO at the final home game when he gets his picture taken with his family, it maybe emotional for some of the Gopher Faithful.
 


98VQueens said:
Talking to a parent of a player, from their 4 practices teammates believe Oto is the leader to get the starting job. That really scared me. I said right now it has to be King or Buggs, because if it's Oto we are in serious trouble.
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I have to believe that the staff would not continue to hold open a scholarship all the way through the summer if they didn't believe Buckles was ultimately going to make it here.
 

Plinnius said:
"Maverick Ahanmisi: Turned out his best practice last week. Showed toughess that I didn't know he had. Has the ability to make shots and play multiple positions for us. He has the potential to be our leader."

I think Mav could be a very solid player if you took the ball out of his hands and played him at the two.
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I agree, the guy can shoot, he's got the slowest set of hands I've ever seen trying to play PG in major college basketball though, Tubby had him playing out of position most of the time, using his skills correctly he can be productive off the bench.
 

WanderingGopher said:
I have to believe that the staff would not continue to hold open a scholarship all the way through the summer if they didn't believe Buckles was ultimately going to make it here.
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I'm well aware of that. I think it will happen but it's not a done deal.
 

Maximus said:
In your experience could you educate the rest of us on what Maverick is like in the locker room? During practice? In the huddle? On the bench? In the weightroom? On the charter? In the film room? Thanks. We know how ludicrous it would be for a guy who's played in 99 career games (2nd on the team) could even be considered a leader.
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I don't need to know all that crap to know he's not going to be our leader. It's called common sense, give me a break.

A bench leader? Perhaps.
 



HouseOfHagen said:
I don't need to know all that crap to know he's not going to be our leader. It's called common sense, give me a break.

A bench leader? Perhaps.
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Obviously you've never seen the Mighty Ducks. Mav is our Charlie Conway.
 






HouseOfHagen said:
I don't need to know all that crap to know he's not going to be our leader. It's called common sense, give me a break.

A bench leader? Perhaps.
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Cheerleader?

Joking, there are many ways he could be a leader without being a star player.
 


98VQueens said:
Talking to a parent of a player, from their 4 practices teammates believe Oto is the leader to get the starting job. That really scared me. I said right now it has to be King or Buggs, because if it's Oto we are in serious trouble.

Like the honesty from Pitino; Buggs is really raw for a red-shirt freshman with tons of potential.
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This is what I've been saying for over 6 months. Oto, barring a transfer like Buckles coming is the clear leader to play the PF spot. Buggs is not even in this conversation. It's Oto or King, if Buckles doesn't make it here & Oto is bigger, stronger, older, more experienced, etc. The good news is that aside from Oto's shot disappearing he's actually a pretty decent player. His aggressiveness, picks, rebounding & passing are all solid, if he can find his long range shot he'll be a quality player.
 

Little Dick??? That's really a pricky thing to call him. He hasn't lost a single game yet and you're demeaning him.

HouseOfHagen said:
Ahanmisi has the potential to be our leader? I don't know what Little Dick is smokin', but pass some over this way. Puff, puff, pass, brotha.
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jaymil said:
Has Mav been working on his Triple Deke?
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He's been working on the basketball equivalent: dribbling.

Seriously, the triple deke can't be very effective when it's just stickhandling, followed by coming to a complete stop in order to take the shot.
 

I am surprised about the hate for Mav. he has had issues for not being good/fast enough but he has alwyas shown a fair bit of swagger.

He will take tough shots and I think, now that Mbakwe is gone, is the Gopher most likely to get into it if things get physical.

I expect he will have a good senior year.
 

Winnipegopher said:
I am surprised about the hate for Mav. he has had issues for not being good/fast enough but he has alwyas shown a fair bit of swagger.

He will take tough shots and I think, now that Mbakwe is gone, is the Gopher most likely to get into it if things get physical.

I expect he will have a good senior year.
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It's called the "Nick Punto Syndrome".
 


station19 said:
BS. Punto was a good player.

Punto------see ball, catch ball.

Mav-------see ball, throw away ball.
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I can see the comparison. Punto was a good utility player that people hated on because of his major deficiency, hitting. Mav is a good role player who is hated on (far too much) because of his major deficiency, ball handling. Other than that he has shown to be a good kid who can some big shots. I have never understood all the hate Mav gets on this board.
 

It's a Pig Man! said:
I can see the comparison. Punto was a good utility player that people hated on because of his major deficiency, hitting. Mav is a good role player who is hated on (far too much) because of his major deficiency, ball handling. Other than that he has shown to be a good kid who can some big shots. I have never understood all the hate Mav gets on this board.
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Punto was supposed to be a utility infielder and defensive specialist. He was.

Mav was supposed to be a capable point guard. He isn't.
 

station19 said:
Punto was supposed to be a utility infielder and defensive specialist. He was.

Mav was supposed to be a guy who was still available late in the recruiting process because Tubby whiffed on Cory Joseph who would fill a scholarship opening and contribute. He is.
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FIFY
 


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>FWIW, Richard Pitino and Tubby Smith had a 90 second conversation before the game. Pry talking Twin Cities restaurants. Tavern on France #1</p>— Ryan James (@RyanJamesMN) <a href="https://twitter.com/RyanJamesMN/statuses/355683959209861120">July 12, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
This is what I've been saying for over 6 months. Oto, barring a transfer like Buckles coming is the clear leader to play the PF spot. Buggs is not even in this conversation. It's Oto or King, if Buckles doesn't make it here & Oto is bigger, stronger, older, more experienced, etc. The good news is that aside from Oto's shot disappearing he's actually a pretty decent player. His aggressiveness, picks, rebounding & passing are all solid, if he can find his long range shot he'll be a quality player.
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I agree, Tubby recruited him and then tried to play him on the wing which just didn't work, in my mind Oto was similiar to Iverson, playing out of his position most of the time, might be a little undersized for PF but plays hard and not afraid to mix it up.
 

I don't see how anyone can say Oto is the clear option to start at PF while also saying Buggs has no shot at starting. First, Oto has been one of the worst players on the team since his arrival. Second, no one has seen Buggs play a meaningful minute.
 

MadtownGopher said:
I don't see how anyone can say Oto is the clear option to start at PF while also saying Buggs has no shot at starting. First, Oto has been one of the worst players on the team since his arrival. Second, no one has seen Buggs play a meaningful minute.
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I agree. To say that Buggs "isn't even in this conversation" on July 10th is ridiculous. We need to let this play out a little bit.
 

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