When the Gophers hired Richard Pitino on April 4, 2013, there was some concern because it seemed like the Gophers search committee found no interest in the job from any of the top basketball coaches in the country. Pitino, 31, had only one year of head coaching experience, and there was some question if he was ready for the Minnesota job.
Well, there's no question now that Pitino is proving to be the best hire possible with the success he is having with the Gophers this season, taking a team everyone thought was dead in the water and making them an NCAA tournament contender.
The Gophers are currently fourth in the Big Ten with their 4-3 record, after their 81-68 upset of No. 9 Wisconsin at Williams Arena on Wednesday, and when ESPN released its latest tournament bracket predictions Thursday, the Gophers were a No. 9 seed.
Minnesota lost starters Rodney Williams, Trevor Mbakwe and Joe Coleman, who accounted for 41.7 percent of the Gophers' scoring and 45.5 percent of their rebounding last season, and the big question was whether Pitino could find players to replace them. Many thought he would use players from the last class recruited by Tubby Smith, including redshirt freshman Charles Buggs or sophomore Wally Ellenson, but Buggs has played only 19 minutes this season and Ellenson has played only 62 minutes.
Instead, Pitino has found tremendous improvement in players such as Oto Osenieks, Elliott Eliason and Mo Walker, while mixing in recruits such as former Florida International standout Malik Smith, junior college transfer DeAndre Mathieu and Drake transfer Joey King.
Osenieks is averaging 7.1 points and 3.4 rebounds after averaging 2.2 points and 1.7 rebounds last year. Eliason is at 6.5 points and a team-high 8.5 rebounds per game after averaging 2.2 points and 3.5 rebounds per game a year ago.
Walker was playing only 6.6 minutes and averaging 2.2 points and 2.0 rebounds per game last season. Pitino told Walker he had to lose weight to play and Walker did, dropping 60 pounds. He is now averaging 13.4 minutes, 5.9 points and 3.6 rebounds — including career bests with 18 points and nine rebounds Wednesday against the Badgers.
Mathieu, who originally walked on at Morehead State in Kentucky before spending one year playing junior college ball at Central Arizona College, has been perhaps the Gophers' best all-around player. He's averaging 11.6 points, a team-high 4.4 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game. Teams don't win without a great point guard, and Mathieu reminds me of former Gophers star Ray Williams. Mathieu might be the best point guard the Gophers have had since then.
