Rick Pitino watched his son Richard Pitino coach the Gophers to the NIT championship last night, defeating SMU 65-63 in New York. The older Pitino was feeling fatherly pride when interviewed after the game on 1500 ESPN.
In his first year coaching the Gophers and second season as a college head coach, Richard is earning praise at age 31. Dad said the NIT accomplishment by his son might be the “proudest moment” of his life and that apparently includes Rick coaching national championship teams at Kentucky and Louisville.
Then the Louisville head coach talked about how NIT champions frequently make deep runs in the NCAA Tournament the year after winning in New York. “Not that there is pressure on my son but I just think it’s an awesome segue into a very special career,” he said on the radio.
To continue building on his success, Pitino will have to soon lead the Gophers to the NCAA Tournament. In 2012 the Gophers advanced to the NIT Finals where they lost to Stanford and the following season earned an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. Will they receive an NCAA invite in 2015?
If you can find betting odds in Las Vegas, jump hard on Minnesota being in the “Big Dance” next year.
The Gophers will have four starters returning from their NIT title team. Three of the four returnees, guards Andre Hollins and DeAndre Mathieu, and center Mo Walker, will be seniors. The fourth regular is forward Joey King, a junior next season. Elliott Eliason, who was the starting center until an ankle injury reduced his minutes during the NIT games in New York, will also be a senior next season.
There are few absolutes in life—including college basketball—but having a senior-dominated starting lineup is a reason for optimism about the Gophers. The experience of the five players mentioned could translate into minimal mistakes and big plays like last night when senior guard Austin Hollins led the team with 19 points and four steals.
Eliason, King, Andre Hollins, Mathieu and Walker have a total of 13 seasons of Division I experience. Other leading players returning are redshirt freshman forward Charles Buggs and freshman guard Daquein McNeil. Those seven players not only are familiar with the demands of college basketball but now have learned the team system under Pitino who took over the Gophers’ program last spring.
Guards Andre Hollins and Mathieu are the team’s best returning players and that’s another reason to slap a smiley face on Goldy Gopher. There is a decades-old truism about successful teams in college basketball that goes like this: “You win with good guards.”
Hollins, a shooting guard, and Mathieu, a point guard, were selected as Big Ten Conference Honorable Mention players after last season by the media. In the NIT win last night Hollins was second in scoring with 14 points while Mathieu at times was simply the best player on the floor, scoring 13 points while darting around the court and producing a team high seven assists.
Pitino’s first-year coaching has been impressive and prompts positive anticipation about the future. His team came up with an 8-10 Big Ten record and Minnesota earned consideration for an NCAA Tournament invitation. The Gophers won five games in the NIT while finishing with an overall 25-13 record.
The total “balance sheet” for 2013-2014 left a lot of observers, including this one, feeling the Gophers overachieved. Previous coach Tubby Smith didn’t leave a lot of talent for Pitino. Smith’s roster for his last team was similar to what Pitino worked with except Trevor Mbakwe and Rodney Williams, the team’s best front court players, were seniors in 2012-2013.
Without Mbakwe and Williams, the Gophers lacked inside scoring. Their rebounding and shot blocking were missed, too. Eliason and Walker, both about 6-foot-11, improved their play to sometimes make up for the absence of Mbakwe and Williams but those two were shorter, more mobile players and their athleticism left a void in Minnesota’s talent pool.
Pitino and staff improved both the individual and team skills of the Gophers. Eliason, although inconsistent, turned into one of the Big Ten’s leading rebounders and shot blockers. Walker lost weight, reshaped his body and learned low post moves that turned him into a scoring threat near the basket.
Other Gophers improved, too, including upper classman Oto Osenieks who in his early years at Minnesota looked too timid to become a contributor. Osenieks gained enough skill and confidence to win the starting power forward position, a job he kept until a troublesome knee forced him to the bench and he was replaced by King.
With Smith coaching it often seemed like the Gophers were underachieving with the talent available. The Gophers disappointed in the Big Ten, losing more games than they won. At times players stood around on offense looking as confused as the bewildered fans watching.
Players didn’t improve from one season to the next. That was frustrating and so too was watching some of the better players transfer to other schools. And while recruiting was sometimes effective, the coaching staff struggled to make the point guard position a strength.
Pitino and staff will have to prove they can recruit if Minnesota is to some day challenge for Big Ten titles. After being hired last spring the coaches had minimal time to sign up quality recruits but did score big by finding Mathieu, a junior college transfer. The first fair test comes next fall. That’s when several new players arrive representing a group the Minnesota coaches had more months to attract.
Three players committed during the early signing period last fall and Pitino has scholarship inventory to sign a couple more this spring. Newcomers will need to contribute if the Gophers are to take a next step in 2014-2015, with help particularly needed at the small and power forward positions, plus a deeper and more talented bench.
But there’s plenty of time to see how that develops. For now the Gophers have already taken a step in the right direction.