GopherLady
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These are REALLY unedited, as it's media day and off to interview players, but wanted to get you the notes from Richard Pitino's media day presser:
• Excited about media day, when you take that team picture it feel official
• Pitino likes @Randball's new haircut. I agree.
• We've got a lot of pieces in play, we have a long way to go, but we're excited about Sunday at 4pm (scrimmage). We've had one scrimmage a few days ago. Our defense wasn't great, better than it was at this time last year. Know that we have a tough schedule, probably the toughest since I've had since I've been here.
• The shot clock for us isn't a huge challenge, because we play fast.
• I always think, and I don't know, that it starts this way always, then come B1G season it becomes more physical, I like speeding up the game, when a guy fouls out, etc. 30 seconds before a media timeout, that becomes the media timeout. Come B1G season, we'll be back where we were.
• Does hoops need to have changes? It can always get better. We're always trying to improve. Izzo said he wanted continuity from college to NBA, and I agree…but we don't have NBA players. NBA is so geared to the player. People like offense, they want to see offense than low scoring games. No better program than the Gophers to see all offense and no defense. (Jokingly).
• All 4 freshman have got to play. My 1st two years they didn't have to. We have 10 available guys, every single one of them needs to play. OSU does not care our age, we better be ready. There's a sense of urgency. We're not going to say "oh we're young, no big deal."
• I like Buggs at the 3, Joey at the 4, Bakary and Gas at the 5, gotta be ready to adjust.
• On not playing Dorsey and Mason together? I worry about the 3 spot being small. When your 1's and 2's are small, you don't get hurt on the glass as much. The size doesn't hurt you as much…what I try to get away is playing 3 guards. Morris at the 3.
• Are Dorsey and Mason your two best guards? They're good, very talented, so is Dupree and Morris. They're all pretty even.
• Bakary can naturally be a good rebounders, he's huge and quick to the ball. Gas is improving. Murphy has got the ability to be a huge rebounder.
• Nate Mason - my heart dropped when that happen, I turned negative real quick, I didn't let the team see it. For him to only miss a day or practice…but we thought he was out. Torn ACL, we were 100% convinced. I think Nate has the ability to be one of the better guards in the league, to have him healthy is extremely important.
• I never liked when people said, "those aren't your players" because they played their butts off for us. There's a feel that every guy in this program is recruited to play the way we want to play. There's a sense of…we sat in the living room with your family, and where we thought you'd be. I'm excited about where we're headed. Recruiting is going great. We have good young talent, I like the transfers that are sitting out, but of them could be impact guys.
• Every year is critical. How critical one is over the other. I do know that this year is huge, next year will be, as was last year. People aren't patient, I'm not patient.
• The transfers are hard, when you have 2 really good ones, you want to throw them into practice, but they aren't playing this year. You get excited about playing line-ups. That's a challenge. We're getting close to some games. We need to lock in on guys who are eligible this year.
• All four freshmen could play at the same time, it could work. Nate, Bakary and Gas are only sophomores. Gas should be considered a freshman.
• Talking about youth, we don't want to make excuse or focus on it. That's not fair to anybody.
Richard on Rick Pitino:
• I think more than anything what I would say - there are so many allegations out there, everyone wants to truth, you want it to happen right away. I told him this, put your head on the pillow at night and know you did nothing wrong and had no knowledge of this. We know what you're all about, anyone that's worked for you, they know what type of program you run, and hopefully when the truth comes out…we'll all see that. It's certainly difficult, I hate seeing him go through it, but I know he had zero knowledge of those things.
• Responsible for his staff - those are the rules. That's the way it's going to be. Do I think that we know everything, no. That's difficult to do that, but it's on us, and it's always going to be that way.
• Allegations surprising - that's very surprising, I never ever heard of any of that, saw any of that, that would have shocked any of us. That would have been addressed immediately, but they are allegations, we don't know the truth.
• No worried about his job being affected by this, no, not even a little bit.
• It's hard, because you're not always going to be with your guys, but it's what we're being judged on, those are the rules, everyone has to live with it.
• Anytime anything pops up throughout all sports, we visit with everyone about what those things are about. It's pretty crystal clear. Compliance is always informing you on what's right and wrong.
Excited about athlete's village, it's progress. I'm very grateful for the regents, the president, Beth, and the donors. It's going to change our athletic department. It's extremely exciting. It's going to be really special.
• Excited about media day, when you take that team picture it feel official
• Pitino likes @Randball's new haircut. I agree.
• We've got a lot of pieces in play, we have a long way to go, but we're excited about Sunday at 4pm (scrimmage). We've had one scrimmage a few days ago. Our defense wasn't great, better than it was at this time last year. Know that we have a tough schedule, probably the toughest since I've had since I've been here.
• The shot clock for us isn't a huge challenge, because we play fast.
• I always think, and I don't know, that it starts this way always, then come B1G season it becomes more physical, I like speeding up the game, when a guy fouls out, etc. 30 seconds before a media timeout, that becomes the media timeout. Come B1G season, we'll be back where we were.
• Does hoops need to have changes? It can always get better. We're always trying to improve. Izzo said he wanted continuity from college to NBA, and I agree…but we don't have NBA players. NBA is so geared to the player. People like offense, they want to see offense than low scoring games. No better program than the Gophers to see all offense and no defense. (Jokingly).
• All 4 freshman have got to play. My 1st two years they didn't have to. We have 10 available guys, every single one of them needs to play. OSU does not care our age, we better be ready. There's a sense of urgency. We're not going to say "oh we're young, no big deal."
• I like Buggs at the 3, Joey at the 4, Bakary and Gas at the 5, gotta be ready to adjust.
• On not playing Dorsey and Mason together? I worry about the 3 spot being small. When your 1's and 2's are small, you don't get hurt on the glass as much. The size doesn't hurt you as much…what I try to get away is playing 3 guards. Morris at the 3.
• Are Dorsey and Mason your two best guards? They're good, very talented, so is Dupree and Morris. They're all pretty even.
• Bakary can naturally be a good rebounders, he's huge and quick to the ball. Gas is improving. Murphy has got the ability to be a huge rebounder.
• Nate Mason - my heart dropped when that happen, I turned negative real quick, I didn't let the team see it. For him to only miss a day or practice…but we thought he was out. Torn ACL, we were 100% convinced. I think Nate has the ability to be one of the better guards in the league, to have him healthy is extremely important.
• I never liked when people said, "those aren't your players" because they played their butts off for us. There's a feel that every guy in this program is recruited to play the way we want to play. There's a sense of…we sat in the living room with your family, and where we thought you'd be. I'm excited about where we're headed. Recruiting is going great. We have good young talent, I like the transfers that are sitting out, but of them could be impact guys.
• Every year is critical. How critical one is over the other. I do know that this year is huge, next year will be, as was last year. People aren't patient, I'm not patient.
• The transfers are hard, when you have 2 really good ones, you want to throw them into practice, but they aren't playing this year. You get excited about playing line-ups. That's a challenge. We're getting close to some games. We need to lock in on guys who are eligible this year.
• All four freshmen could play at the same time, it could work. Nate, Bakary and Gas are only sophomores. Gas should be considered a freshman.
• Talking about youth, we don't want to make excuse or focus on it. That's not fair to anybody.
Richard on Rick Pitino:
• I think more than anything what I would say - there are so many allegations out there, everyone wants to truth, you want it to happen right away. I told him this, put your head on the pillow at night and know you did nothing wrong and had no knowledge of this. We know what you're all about, anyone that's worked for you, they know what type of program you run, and hopefully when the truth comes out…we'll all see that. It's certainly difficult, I hate seeing him go through it, but I know he had zero knowledge of those things.
• Responsible for his staff - those are the rules. That's the way it's going to be. Do I think that we know everything, no. That's difficult to do that, but it's on us, and it's always going to be that way.
• Allegations surprising - that's very surprising, I never ever heard of any of that, saw any of that, that would have shocked any of us. That would have been addressed immediately, but they are allegations, we don't know the truth.
• No worried about his job being affected by this, no, not even a little bit.
• It's hard, because you're not always going to be with your guys, but it's what we're being judged on, those are the rules, everyone has to live with it.
• Anytime anything pops up throughout all sports, we visit with everyone about what those things are about. It's pretty crystal clear. Compliance is always informing you on what's right and wrong.
Excited about athlete's village, it's progress. I'm very grateful for the regents, the president, Beth, and the donors. It's going to change our athletic department. It's extremely exciting. It's going to be really special.
