New Gophers coach Richard Pitino told Sports Headliners he will talk with his father, Rick Pitino, about scheduling Minnesota and Louisville nonconference games.
“I think it would be great for fan bases and great universities, great athletic departments,” Richard said this week. “We would definitely talk about that at some point down the road.”
How about playing in the Vikings stadium that opens in 2016? “That would be a great idea,” the Gophers coach said. “That would bring some good exposure.”
Such a game could attract 25,000 fans or more to the downtown dome stadium. With Louisville’s reputation as an elite basketball school and the intrigue of a father against son matchup, it doesn’t take much imagination to see the game being nationally televised and providing valuable publicity for Pitino as he builds his Minnesota program and brand.
It’s likely any agreement between the two schools would include games scheduled in both Louisville and Minneapolis. The Pitinos met on the court as head coaches for the first time last December when Rick’s team beat Richard’s Florida International group, 79-55 in Louisville.
Richard worked for his dad at Louisville until he took the head coaching job at Florida International last season. The two are close and talk frequently. Rick, who coached the Cardinals to the national championship in April, is known for his work ethic.
“I think he really taught me just do (things) with unbelievable effort, unbelievable hard work,” Richard said. “He’s one of the most motivated guys I know. I just learned a lot by example from working with him for three years and being around him my whole life.”
Richard on other subjects including Drake transfer and former Eastview High School player Joey King who is waiting for an NCAA ruling on whether he will be eligible this coming season or have to wait a year:
“I love him. Tough kid. Huge chip on his shoulder. Really believes he is the best player on the court. Has that great confidence. Fearless. Can play multiple positions on the court.”
The 6-9 Eagan native has an ill family member who wants to watch King play at Minnesota, Pitino said. The NCAA is known to grant immediate eligibility in such situations.
Pitino wasn’t surprised his best player, junior guard Andre Hollins, didn’t make the USA junior team at tryouts last month. Hollins, as part of his academic experience, was in Italy before the tryouts and didn’t have access to a basketball facility.
“I told him, ‘Listen, you gotta expect you’re not going to make it. It has nothing to do with your ability. It has nothing to do with how good of a basketball player you are. You’re just very rusty.’ He wasn’t too down about it. He understood that.”
Pitino said right now there are no players who have a lock on starting next season, not even Hollins who led the team in scoring at 14.6 points per game or senior guard Austin Hollins who was second at 10.7. “I would assume that they are going to be in the starting five and they are going to play major, major minutes,” Pitino said. “But they’ve got to show me that.”
The Gophers finished with an 8-10 record in the Big Ten last season. Minnesota has only two Big Ten season records above .500 since 2000 but Pitino expects “to build this program on a high level.”
What does high level mean? “I think the biggest thing that you’ve gotta do is try to compete for conference championships,” Pitino said. “Try to get to the top half of that league and win a conference title. If you win a conference title in a conference like us, you’re gonna get a great seed in the (NCAA) Tournament. Then you never know what might happen.”
The Gophers have only two returning starters in Andre and Austin Hollins. Just two other returning players averaged double figure minutes per game, senior guard Maverick Ahanmisi and junior center Elliott Eliason. Pitino said it’s too early for him to talk about what his first Minnesota team accomplishes in wins and losses. “It’s going to take time, that’s what it does whenever you build a program.”
The Big Ten has a reputation for teams playing slow, conservative basketball. Pitino wants to coach at a fast pace on offense and defense. “I don’t think it has as much to do with the conference as it does with the players that I have on my team,” Pitino said. “I will be able to run. I will be able to press. I will be able to play fast if I have athletes and fast players on my team. I won’t be able to do it if I don’t.
“It comes down to the personnel more than the conference. Certainly game by game will be a little different but we just need to have the right type of players to play that style.”
Pitino has a new blog at Gophersports.com and this week he discusses each of his players.