STrib: Athletic Buggs is improving, now Pitino wants to see more passion

[BleedGopher]

per the STrib:

Buggs' minutes have gone up from last year, when he played a spot 6.7 a game to 13.4 through 29 games so far this year, and his scoring averages have increased correspondingly, from 1.7 points a game to 3.8. Meanwhile, his defense and general court awareness has improved. He still has a long ways to go before he's considered the favorite to start next year, but Pitino sees progress.

Now the coach wants to see a summer of dedication, and maybe a little more interest in watching other games as the NCAA tournament wages on.

"He's gotten way better from where he was," he said. "I mean, he has really, really improved. Now it's going to come down to he's had a decent year -- not a bad year, not a good year -- now does he want to make that jump and have a great year next year. And that means living here. Living in the gym, living in the weight room and being serious about the game."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/294842281.html

Go Gophers!!

 

[bga1]

per the STrib:

Buggs' minutes have gone up from last year, when he played a spot 6.7 a game to 13.4 through 29 games so far this year, and his scoring averages have increased correspondingly, from 1.7 points a game to 3.8. Meanwhile, his defense and general court awareness has improved. He still has a long ways to go before he's considered the favorite to start next year, but Pitino sees progress.

Now the coach wants to see a summer of dedication, and maybe a little more interest in watching other games as the NCAA tournament wages on.

"He's gotten way better from where he was," he said. "I mean, he has really, really improved. Now it's going to come down to he's had a decent year -- not a bad year, not a good year -- now does he want to make that jump and have a great year next year. And that means living here. Living in the gym, living in the weight room and being serious about the game."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/294842281.html

Go Gophers!!

Love it! There is potential there, the question is; how bad does Buggs want it? We'll see.

 

[Holy Man]

Love it! There is potential there, the question is; how bad does Buggs want it? We'll see.

Didn't he have an injury that slowed his summer down last year? Hopefully he avoids that bug and puts his all into meeting his potential. I would really like to see him become a very good player.

 

[GoodasGold]

Love it! There is potential there, the question is; how bad does Buggs want it? We'll see.

Maybe he can lose 60 ibs like Mo...that would show dedication!

 

[Dr.Don]

Maybe he can lose 60 ibs like Mo...that would show dedication!

Ya, I can see it now: 6'7" 110 pounds. But he has potential.

 

[Winasota Gopher]

Hopefully this is Pitino's second rebuild. One was of body, the second of mind. His ability to mold both Morris and Buggs' games will have a direct correlation to how far next years squad will go.

 

[Blackhammer]

Morris is twice the player Buggs is.Don't get the love affair this board has with a soft player,who can't dribble, play defense or rebound. Potential yeah, prep school, redshirt, two years and three good games later. I mean he didn't even have good numbers in prep school or high school. Only time he scored much at all was in AAU. When does he live up to this potential ? Wen he is thirty? I hope he improves and plays quality minutes next year. To me he seems to be one of those guys who you can't ever count on.

 

[bga1]

Morris is twice the player Buggs is.Don't get the love affair this board has with a soft player,who can't dribble, play defense or rebound. Potential yeah, prep school, redshirt, two years and three good games later. I mean he didn't even have good numbers in prep school or high school. Only time he scored much at all was in AAU. When does he live up to this potential ? Wen he is thirty? I hope he improves and plays quality minutes next year. To me he seems to be one of those guys who you can't ever count on.

Morris is definitely a better player right now than Buggs. Buggs is being employed partly to motivate Morris. We need both of them to improve dramatically in the offseason.

 

[scher215]

Morris is definitely a better player right now than Buggs. Buggs is being employed partly to motivate Morris. We need both of them to improve dramatically in the offseason.

I kind of like Morris off the bench too, gives the second unit some scoring punch.

 

[JoshuaT81]

Ya, I can see it now: 6'7" 110 pounds. But he has potential.

If he lost 60lbs. Would he also lose 2 inches in height?

 

[Dr.Don]

If he lost 60lbs. Would he also lose 2 inches in height?

Or just 2 inches?

 

[Moonlight]

Morris is twice the player Buggs is.Don't get the love affair this board has with a soft player,who can't dribble, play defense or rebound. Potential yeah, prep school, redshirt, two years and three good games later. I mean he didn't even have good numbers in prep school or high school. Only time he scored much at all was in AAU. When does he live up to this potential ? Wen he is thirty? I hope he improves and plays quality minutes next year. To me he seems to be one of those guys who you can't ever count on.

Hard to argue - how did he get even here, I have often wondered. Should he become a great player, I'll be looking to see Pitino walk on water next.

 

[Dr.Don]

Hard to argue - how did he get even here, I have often wondered. Should he become a great player, I'll be looking to see Pitino walk on water next.

Who recruited and signed him? Tubby or Pitino?

 

[Moonlight]

Who recruited and signed him? Tubby or Pitino?

He was brought in by Tubby and redshirted that first year, so this is his 3rd year here.
Our recruiting followers couldn't find any significant signs of activity the year before he came here.

 

[Dr.Don]

He was brought in by Tubby and redshirted that first year, so this is his 3rd year here.
Our recruiting followers couldn't find any significant signs of activity the year before he came here.

Thank you, Moonlight.

 

[EG#9]

Buggs year at prep school was very odd and nobody could find his stats and, if I remember correctly, we eventually found out he was coming off the bench. When Tubby signed him, their were several other high majors involved with Buggs, but the impression the recruiting analysts gave was that it was more of a case of supply and demand with not many guys Buggs size being unsigned at that time (late Fall I believe).

Pitino made the exact comments, stated the exact way, on Buggs during an interview a week or two ago. He also mentioned on Mackey and Judd that he saw Buggs watching a basketball game and that was really encouraging to him because he didn't think Charles watched much basketball (a later joke from Mackey about it being the Celebrity game followed). If you want to pin your hopes on Buggs, I think you have to focus on the fact that he missed most of the offseason recuperating from a knee injury. Pitino never even mentioned him unless specifically asked about him from like June-October which was very noticeable to me. If Buggs can be an active participant in all the offseason workouts (individuals would be huge for him), maybe he can experience a nice jump as a player for his Junior season.

Personally, I will consider anything significant from Buggs to be a nice development in the way it was nice what happened with Mo Walker. I think the challenge with Buggs is even greater than Mo because he's a year further removed from high school and doesn't seem to have a feel for the game of basketball. Mo, his struggles with passing out of the post aside, never really struck me as a guy who didn't know what he should be doing on the court. With Buggs, not only does he need a physical transformation (stronger or quicker, if not both), but he's got to think/feel the game better as well.

 

[USTHoops]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGJ3wVAY92E

Highlight video of Buggs from either High School or Prep School. Kind of intresting/funny reading the comments. One comment says he would be Minnesota's best player besides Rodney Williams.

 

[EG#9]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGJ3wVAY92E

Highlight video of Buggs from either High School or Prep School. Kind of intresting/funny reading the comments. One comment says he would be Minnesota's best player besides Rodney Williams.

I remember this video with the old man doing a little dance in the stands and pointing at the camera man after a pass Buggs made. If we just went by highlight videos from this season of players who will be returning to the Gophers, Buggs would probably be the guy most people would pick as our best returning player. You'd see some effortless 3's, that crazy reverse alley oop, that behind the back-step back jumper, etc, etc.

 

[98VQueens]

I think the challenge with Buggs is even greater than Mo because he's a year further removed from high school and doesn't seem to have a feel for the game of basketball. Mo, his struggles with passing out of the post aside, never really struck me as a guy who didn't know what he should be doing on the court.

Mo is a coaches son and Tubby credited him for having one of the highest basketball IQ's on the team.

That being said, his great b-ball IQ has never stood out on the court to me.

 

[jaymil]

This article and Pitino's comments aren't the most glowing endorsement of Buggs. Being motivated and loving the game aren't really things that can be taught. Hopefully him playing better and gaining confidence causes him to want it more.

 

[Minnesconsin fan]

further proof that he is starting to watch more basketball--Charles was at the St Thomas game last week.

I don't think many kids watch any basketball anymore and if they do, they don't listen to the analyst and learn anything from them either. Too many distractions and too short of attention spans. They see the game in 6 second vines.

 

[98VQueens]

further proof that he is starting to watch more basketball--Charles was at the St Thomas game last week.

Were they dunk and heckling the ST player friends again?

 

[Mulligan]

I don't think many kids watch any basketball anymore and if they do, they don't listen to the analyst and learn anything from them either.

We know Joey paid attention when Bobby Knight talked about the ball fake.

 

[bga1]

This article and Pitino's comments aren't the most glowing endorsement of Buggs. Being motivated and loving the game aren't really things that can be taught. Hopefully him playing better and gaining confidence causes him to want it more.

It's an endorsement of the physical potential of Buggs, certainly not one of Buggs current status as a player. The intrigue on Buggs and perhaps Morris is that the athleticism allows the POSSIBILITY of improvement in a big way. There is no assurance that he will improve enough to make an impact and there is no past that says he will. But the potential is there to be tapped.

 

[station19]

We know Joey paid attention when Bobby Knight talked about the ball fake.

It was a 6 second comment......over and over and over and over and over and over.

 

[cjbfbp]

Morris is twice the player Buggs is.Don't get the love affair this board has with a soft player,who can't dribble, play defense or rebound.

I agree that Morris is a much better player than Buggs but Buggs has Morris' level of athleticism and more length. The reason posters are excited to see Buggs improve is that they have been watching a starting forward this year and both primary forwards last year with subpar athleticism for this league.

 

[cjbfbp]

It's an endorsement of the physical potential of Buggs, certainly not one of Buggs current status as a player. The intrigue on Buggs and perhaps Morris is that the athleticism allows the POSSIBILITY of improvement in a big way. There is no assurance that he will improve enough to make an impact and there is no past that says he will. But the potential is there to be tapped.

Exactly.