Pitino Reflects On 1st Season After Missing Big Dance
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Gophers aren't in the NCAA Tournament. Instead, in a weird bit of poetry, they'll play Tubby Smith's alma mater, High Point, on Tuesday night in the opening round of the NIT at Williams Arena.
When you miss the NCAA Tournament, the would'a could'a shoulda's are inevitable.
"Yeah, I mean everybody's going to say, 'What if Mo made the layup versus Northwestern?'" Gophers coach Richard Pitino said. "That's the obvious one everyone's going to say."
In Pitino's first season at Minnesota, he took his team to the bubble of the NCAA Tournament. But not in.
Whether that counts as disappointment, success or progress depends on your perspective. Ask Pitino what he thinks?
"I don't care if we're First Four out (or) 50th out," Pitino said. "I want to be in...I think what it comes down to, bottom line, moving forward, is what we want to get our program to -- and every coach does -- is we don't want to be on the bubble. Coaches don't want to be on the bubble. We want to build a program where we're fighting for a good seed, not a bubble. We understand that's difficult, we understand that's going to take time.
"This is a process," he added, "that we've got to continue to build off of. Like I said, I want to get to the point where we're not on the bubble. Where we're playing for good seeds. We're not there yet. So hopefully we learn from this this year and continue to grow and continue to get better."
The challenge now for Pitino is getting his team ready to play Tuesday night, in a tournament that – let's be honest – nobody ever really wants to play in. Except for teams like the Gophers' opponent. And that can be dangerous.
"More than anything, as you get into this tournament, who wants to be there, who doesn't want to be there?" Pitino said. "For High Point, this is a big deal for them. We've got to understand that. And we've got to be ready to play [Tuesday]."