STrib: Richard Pitino, Gophers begin big challenge with season's first practice

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Does anyone know when practice starts and if they have any practices open to the public?
 

John Galt said:
Does anyone know when practice starts and if they have any practices open to the public?
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The first official practice was on Friday. I doubt it on the second part.

I did see that Purdue live-streamed their first practice. I think that would be awesome for us diehards.
 

I have to say this is the most excited I have been in years for this team!!
 

gopherhoopsguy said:
I have to say this is the most excited I have been in years for this team!!
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+1 I want to see what Pitino can do with this team. His short history has shown that the team gets better as the year goes on. Last year I think we would have seen this if it wasn't for the dismissal of three key players at the time the team was beginning to compete.
 



They're going to need to over achieve for Pitino to keep his job, right? I can't see him being here next year if they finish where they're picked at 12. I sure hope they can slide up to 8 / 7 and have a shot on selection Sunday.
 

He's got to, at a minimum, make a run in the NIT to get more time.

I will parse that by saying, there is good reason to keep him given his recruiting success last three years.

Hopefully it's an easy decision.
 

Take a peek at their B1G schedule. It's not an easy one. Getting to the NIT likely will require 8 conference wins. If the Gophers get to that number with this schedule, I'd have a hard time calling the season a failure. Some seasons the NIT is nothing to feel good about. Coming off a 2-16 season that also included off-court embarrassments, 2016-17 wouldn't be one of those seasons.
 



SelectionSunday said:
Take a peek at their B1G schedule. It's not an easy one. Getting to the NIT likely will require 8 conference wins. If the Gophers get to that number with this schedule, I'd have a hard time calling the season a failure. Some seasons the NIT is nothing to feel good about. Coming off a 2-16 season that also included off-court embarrassments, 2016-17 isn't one of those seasons.
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I don't dissagree with you. However, a empathetic fanbase is not something Minnesota seems to posess for Gopher sports. Add in a new AD who may or may not want his own stamp on the department.... I think he's going to have to impress this year to get a chance. I personally want him to stay at a minimum 2 more years, I just don't think this fanbase will give him that time unless he puts us in the tournament.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Take a peek at their B1G schedule. It's not an easy one. Getting to the NIT likely will require 8 conference wins. If the Gophers get to that number with this schedule, I'd have a hard time calling the season a failure. Some seasons the NIT is nothing to feel good about. Coming off a 2-16 season that also included off-court embarrassments, 2016-17 wouldn't be one of those seasons.
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Yep that schedule is brutal. We somehow need to go 3-3(or better) in the first 6 games of BIG play to have a chance at the NCAAs. That likely means wins @NW, @PSU, and one of home vs. MSU or OSU. We always play Purdue tough so maybe that @PUR could be that 3rd win if we're lucky.
 

Gophers need to survive first half of schedule

Tim1406 said:
Yep that schedule is brutal. We somehow need to go 3-3(or better) in the first 6 games of BIG play to have a chance at the NCAAs. That likely means wins @NW, @PSU, and one of home vs. MSU or OSU. We always play Purdue tough so maybe that @PUR could be that 3rd win if we're lucky.
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Yep. The game @ Northwestern game is likely to be significant, especially if it's an 0-2 start vs. Sparty & Purdue.

For me the key is surviving the first half of the conference schedule. The second half -- on paper, of course -- appears much more manageable. If the Gophers get to the halfway mark at 4-5 (or better), they'll be positioned pretty well at least for a NIT bid, assuming the non-conference season wasn't a disaster (worse than 10-3).
 

SelectionSunday said:
Yep. The game @ Northwestern game is likely to be significant, especially if it's an 0-2 start vs. Sparty & Purdue.

For me the key is surviving the first half of the conference schedule. The second half -- on paper, of course -- appears much more manageable. If the Gophers get to the halfway mark at 4-5 (or better), they'll be positioned pretty well at least for a NIT bid, assuming the non-conference season wasn't a disaster (worse than 10-3).
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More importantly.....are we going to get a "Road to 21" or a "Peer Group" post this year?
 



I saw a team of a bunch of freshman and sophomores get better as the season went on, and take every top B1G team they played down to the wire. Without the suspensions, I think they could have had at least 2 more B1G wins.

Throw in another year of these guys getting older and improving, adding two talented transfers, and 3 talented freshman, I don't think 8-10 B1G wins is out of reach.
 

golfing18now said:
More importantly.....are we going to get a "Road to 21" or a "Peer Group" post this year?
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Appreciate it, but scaling back this year. Time has come to observe more than participate. I'll still do the Field of 68 thingie every so often.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I saw a team of a bunch of freshman and sophomores get better as the season went on, and take every top B1G team they played down to the wire. Without the suspensions, I think they could have had at least 2 more B1G wins.

Throw in another year of these guys getting older and improving, adding two talented transfers, and 3 talented freshman, I don't think 8-10 B1G wins is out of reach.
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+19

I'm with ya

Go Gophers
 

Winasota Gopher said:
I don't dissagree with you. However, a empathetic fanbase is not something Minnesota seems to posess for Gopher sports. Add in a new AD who may or may not want his own stamp on the department.... I think he's going to have to impress this year to get a chance. I personally want him to stay at a minimum 2 more years, I just don't think this fanbase will give him that time unless he puts us in the tournament.
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Are you ignoring the buyout? I believe it is still something like $5.4 million if he's fired after this year. The fanbase may not want him but, unless the fans are going to chip in to fund his buyout, they might get him even if he isn't very successful this year.
 

JCK said:
+1 I want to see what Pitino can do with this team. His short history has shown that the team gets better as the year goes on. Last year I think we would have seen this if it wasn't for the dismissal of three key players at the time the team was beginning to compete.
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I agree with this guy. After getting completely blown out by halftime against South Dakota state we weren't blown out by most of the other teams until the second half. I can't believe some of the stuff that people post?
 

cjbfbp said:
Are you ignoring the buyout? I believe it is still something like $5.4 million if he's fired after this year. The fanbase may not want him but, unless the fans are going to chip in to fund his buyout, they might get him even if he isn't very successful this year.
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That's a good point. I was not taking that into consideration. I still think there will be considerable noise if they don't make either tournament this year. Enough to make Coyle think about it.
 

Tim1406 said:
Yep that schedule is brutal. We somehow need to go 3-3(or better) in the first 6 games of BIG play to have a chance at the NCAAs. That likely means wins @NW, @PSU, and one of home vs. MSU or OSU. We always play Purdue tough so maybe that @PUR could be that 3rd win if we're lucky.
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I don't get these comments about how tough the scheduled is? They do want to play in the Big Ten do they not? Would any Big Ten team have an easy conference schedule? Other than the unbalanced schedule, I would guess all conference teams could see a reason to call their schedule brutal.
 

bobmartinfan said:
I agree with this guy. After getting completely blown out by halftime against South Dakota state we weren't blown out by most of the other teams until the second half. I can't believe some of the stuff that people post?
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Are you trying to destroy my optimism before the season even starts, they couldn't even get a stop against South Dakota State, the season was pretty much written in stone by halftime, you can have all the talent in the world and it just won't matter if you play like that. Still have no clue if Pitino can coach a team that can compete at a high level defensively. Keeping my fingers crossed.
 

macgopher said:
I don't get these comments about how tough the scheduled is? They do want to play in the Big Ten do they not? Would any Big Ten team have an easy conference schedule? Other than the unbalanced schedule, I would guess all conference teams could see a reason to call their schedule brutal.
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True, but with 14 in the BIG now and only 18 conference games the 5 teams you play twice can vary widely from season to season in terms of toughness. It is arguably a bigger factor in the competitive BIG in terms of who finishes what place than the talent of the team (in terms of who finishes in what order in 1-4, 5-10, 11-14 as teams probably wont jump out of their talent tier).
 

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