We're all warming up for the start of the college basketball season – which officially begins for Minnesota on Nov. 13 but two tuneups start on Sunday with an exhibition vs. Minnesota-Crookston – and that includes coach Richard Pitino starting the engines back up with the media.
Thanks to nosy and basketball deprived reporters all over the Twin Cities, we've already gotten him on a number of different topics that haven't been written about in full. Here are three thoughts from him throughout the media circus of the last two weeks:
1. Friday's groundbreaking means progress. Tomorrow, Minnesota will finally get shovels in the ground for a $166 million Athletes Village project that has been in the works since the summer of 2013. Sadly for Minnesota, facilities fundraiser and champion Jerry Kill will no longer be the school's football coach when the first pieces of earth tossed. The groundbreaking does, however, mark a big moment for Gophers athletics; the new facilities are expected to be done by 2018 and will, in a way, move the program into the 21st century. "It's progress, which is awesome," Pitino said last week. "I'm very grateful for the Regents, very grateful for the president. [Interim athletic director] Beth [Goetz], what she's been able to do and certainly the donors to come forward, get this done, it's going to change our athletic department. It's going to change all the programs. And that's something that's extremely, extremely exciting. We've got so much to offer, now you put that in the mix as well – it's going to be really special. So we're really excited about it."
2. Rebounding has got to get better. Last year, Minnesota averaged just 32.9 rebounds per game, nearly three boards fewer than their opponents. That didn't cut it a year ago, when the Gophers went 18-15 overall and 6-12 in the Big Ten, and it's not going to cut it this year, Pitino says. However, that means big improvements from expected frontcourt starters, power forward Joey King – who averaged just 3 rebounds per game – and center Bakary Konate, who battled with even staying in the game due to foul trouble. "Joey needs to get better," Pitino said. "Whether or not it's technique, we've been getting better at it, but he's just got to get a little bit quicker to the ball. But [freshman forward] Jordan Murphy is naturally a very good rebounder. So I've told Joey if you're not in there rebounding the ball, we need guys in there who can rebound. That's something we've talked about a lot. I think Bakary can naturally be a very good rebounder because he's huge for one, but he's quick to the ball, he's got long arms, he's got length. I think [backup center] Gas [Diedhiou] is improving. I think Jordan Murphy has got the physical ability to be a phenomenal rebounder. Then if you play bigger at the [small forward], you're going to see better results rebounding and defense.
3. Experience matters in the Big Ten. Now that Pitino is going into his third season, he's had the benefit of two trips through the rugged league. Although the Gophers coach downplayed the fact that he DIDN'T have that in his first two years, he admitted last week that there is a certain comfort to knowing, to a degree, what the critical two and a half months of conference play will bring. "It's going to be a war every night," he said. "I think being in the league for two years now, I understand it a little bit more, that experience. When you're young, you say experience doesn't matter. It matters. And for me as a coach, just getting more comfortable, understanding what it takes to win in this league, because it's a possessions league –as you saw with us last year, so many close games. So now it's just getting our guys to understand it and getting prepared for it."
