Rochester Post Bulletin: Give and Go Column: Pitino has missed and hit so far with 'U

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BleedGopher

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per the Post Bulletin:

Likewise, I'm not overly excited about the current Gophers' outlook. I suspect they'll struggle — perhaps mightily — at the upcoming Maui Invitational (Syracuse!), but I remain confident Pitino will be an improvement over Tubby Time, who left the cupboard pretty bare.

I had to stall for time until my mood ring started working. It's currently telling me Pitino is cautiously optimistic. Transfers Malik Smith and Joey King look like nice fits for his system. And don't forget about Dre Mathieu.

It remains to be seen if the up-and-down style can be effective in the rough-and-tumble Big Ten, though. Especially with such questionable depth inside. Mo Walker's transformation was one of the biggest stories of the offseason, but his recent suspension is troubling. Ditto Wally Ellenson's alleged spat with Pitino.

Honestly, an NCAA tourney berth would stun me.

http://www.postbulletin.com/sports/...cle_39405c69-d92b-56b9-a256-b409ea71a924.html

Go Gophers!!
 


station19 said:
Awkward and clumsy read.
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And very little substance on top of that. It basically boils down to "the Gophers will probably lose to good teams and likely won't make the NCAA Tournament". Pretty heavy stuff
 

Rochester Post Bulletin: Give and Go Column: Pitino has missed and hit so far...

Tubby didn't leave the cupboard bare at all. We are a fringe tournament team. That's top 40-50.
 



The-Real-Truth said:
These guys down here in Rochester are members of great journalists in MN.
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Compare that to how Brewster left us at around 110-115 in the FBS, I don't know how they can incorrectly use that term when we experienced the cupboard being left bare only 3 years ago.
 

From the RPB story:

"Sounds like the press that Pitino wants to become a staple of this program, didn't work against Richmond. It wasn't until Pitino called it off and went to a zone defense, that the Gophers controlled the game."

That's one of my early observations I like about Pitino. A lotta' coaches are married to what they like to do. Whether it's man to man (seemingly most of the Big Ten), zone (Boeheim), havoc (VCU), for the most part a large number of coaches refuse to do anything else. It's not in their DNA to not "do what they do." Pitino doesn't appear to be that stubborn, or be a guy who'll say "This is what we do, and we're sticking with it no matter what."

At least early on, if it's not working (the press, for example) Pitino seems willing to find another solution.
 

SelectionSunday said:
From the RPB story:

"Sounds like the press that Pitino wants to become a staple of this program, didn't work against Richmond. It wasn't until Pitino called it off and went to a zone defense, that the Gophers controlled the game."

That's one of my early observations I like about Pitino. A lotta' coaches are married to what they like to do. Whether it's man to man (seemingly most of the Big Ten), zone (Boeheim), havoc (VCU), for the most a large number of coaches refuse to do anything else. It's not in their DNA to not "do what they do." Pitino doesn't appear to be that stubborn, or be a guy who'll say "This is what we do, and we're sticking with it no matter what."

At least early on, if it's not working (the press, for example) Pitino seems willing to find another solution.
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Well said. That is what really bothered me the last few years when we blew a lot of late leads. I understand that an argument can be made for the prevent offense ("run the whole shot clock down, shorten the game, and trust that the other team will run out of time") that we seemed to employ. However, after we gave up so many leads, it was very frustrating to not be willing to change it up. Just once, I would have loved to see us come out with 3:30 left, a 10 point lead, and play with an attitude that says "hey, they need a lot of baskets already, lets attack, run our offense, and if we can get 2 or 3 more buckets, there's no way they can catch us". Maybe it wouldn't have worked, but at least we wouldn't have been watching the same problem repeat itself. I feel like with Pitino, if something isn't working like that, he's going to try something different.
 

SelectionSunday said:
From the RPB story: "Sounds like the press that Pitino wants to become a staple of this program, didn't work against Richmond. It wasn't until Pitino called it off and went to a zone defense, that the Gophers controlled the game." That's one of my early observations I like about Pitino. A lotta' coaches are married to what they like to do. Whether it's man to man (seemingly most of the Big Ten), zone (Boeheim), havoc (VCU), for the most a large number of coaches refuse to do anything else. It's not in their DNA to not "do what they do." Pitino doesn't appear to be that stubborn, or be a guy who'll say "This is what we do, and we're sticking with it no matter what." At least early on, if it's not working (the press, for example) Pitino seems willing to find another solution.
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Remember the story of Pitino screaming at his dad to change his defense? One coach who didn't want to change and one who saw the necessary adjustment.

Not saying Rich is a better coach than Rick, just an example that really proves your point with some coaches mentality.
 



SelectionSunday said:
From the RPB story:

"Sounds like the press that Pitino wants to become a staple of this program, didn't work against Richmond. It wasn't until Pitino called it off and went to a zone defense, that the Gophers controlled the game."

That's one of my early observations I like about Pitino. A lotta' coaches are married to what they like to do. Whether it's man to man (seemingly most of the Big Ten), zone (Boeheim), havoc (VCU), for the most part a large number of coaches refuse to do anything else. It's not in their DNA to not "do what they do." Pitino doesn't appear to be that stubborn, or be a guy who'll say "This is what we do, and we're sticking with it no matter what."

At least early on, if it's not working (the press, for example) Pitino seems willing to find another solution.
Click to expand...

Best thing I've seen from him so far in his little bit of work. The guy isn't too proud to switch it up if it's not working. Love coaches that are flexible about what they're doing.
 

SelectionSunday said:
From the RPB story:

"Sounds like the press that Pitino wants to become a staple of this program, didn't work against Richmond. It wasn't until Pitino called it off and went to a zone defense, that the Gophers controlled the game."
Click to expand...


Well, I don't think this is remotely accurate. Just because a team plays zone in the half court doesn't mean they don't press. It is my understanding the Gophers pressed the entire game. They simply played zone once the press was broken. In fact, in listening to Pitino's radio show on Monday, he basically said he told the team that the Richmond game should prove to them that the pressing system works. Pitino said the press is what basically wore Richmond down and that's what led to the strong Gopher finish and the Spiders' ultimate demise. Assuming that's the case, then this writer couldn't be more wrong, right?
 

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