Gopher Men's Basketball Off To Great Start, But Tough Road Ahead
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- My how things have changed for the Gopher men's basketball team.
A year ago they won eight games, period. Right now they're 11-1.
But the road is about to get a lot tougher. Friday night is their final nonconference game, and then the real test begins.
"This is always a very, very difficult game to prepare for," coach Richard Pitino said. "And we've got to be emotionally ready."
No, it's not so much that Arkansas State strikes fear into the heart of Pitino, as much as it's the one last warmup before the start of the Big Ten season – a trap game if there ever was one.
Cue all the standard clichés about not overlooking anybody.
"You've got to get them to understand that this opponent is in front of us, they can beat us," Pitino said. "They're a very good team."
Pitino has good reason to feel good about his team as they get set to hit the Big Ten schedule. Their 11-1 record is their best start in four years.
But continuing that in conference play is what counts, and to help get them ready, Pitino employed an interesting tactic at Thursday's practice.
"I put together a little edit today for our guys to watch," Pitino said.
Highlights of last night's Kentucky-Louisville game, and not just because Pops was coaching. It's something Pitino actually does a lot, even when it has nothing to do with them or an upcoming opponent.
"There's always teaching moments," Pitino said, "and the good thing is, like, our players probably watched that game, because it was a prime-time game, it was a big game, but they may not necessarily have been paying attention to the teaching part of it… You know, there's two top-10 teams. Well, we're in the Big Ten. So we're going to have to compete against teams like that. So if we want to be where we want to be, we're going to have to beat teams like that, playing that physical."
That is, after beating Arkansas State, of course.