Rick Pitino's Take on Michigan

Now all eyes turn to Michigan State v. Duke.

Until those eyes realize they have seen this game way too many times and simply don't care anymore.

I like the fact that we've gone away from relying on the big man down low.  

"They had subs. It was crazy."

He just lost to Michigan. You think he’s gonna say anything but “what a great team”?

When real cheating isn’t punished

So far this team reminds me of a couple JB teams where everybody doubted them then they come out and destroy some teams early and everyone was like whoa there might be something here.

Guard depth is an issue

cool. but bro. he's looking ROUGH.

DICK Pitino.

FIFY

I've said it many times to the Juwan haters.  He's par for the course.  This team is very impressive.  Glad Dickinson is gone, now have a very athletic team. Who misses him?  I sure don't. One thing we need badly is Washington to get alot of experience in case Dug gets hurt. And agreed and Jackson need to work on grip coordination, for they lose ball too often.   Then I will say we can beat anyone.

Rick "PJ Fleck" Pitino.

Also:

"Whoever recruited them, they did a great job"

No comment.

He could scour out our trash cans with a hose, trim the hedges, and bake us a tray of lasagna and I'd still hate him.

I have always been a Michigan basketball optimist/apologist.   From thinking Amaker deserved one more year, to recognizing the improbable runs Beilein's early teams would make....but I was wrong about this team so far.  I really thought they would take a huge step back and be basement dwellers.  I am so glad I was wrong.  These guys are fun to watch, they score a ton of points and as Rick said, they spread the ball around so they aren't dependent on one superstar to carry the team.

I put us easily in the top 5 of the Big Ten so far this year and I think we could make some noise if they stay healthy.

Man, that block was CLEAN! 

i went to the free team scrimmage a few weeks back and did not have high hopes for the team. glad to see i missed something there

Someone (Brian, I think) said that this team is benefit to the Patrick Ewing effect, whereby the Knicks were a better team without Patrick Ewing.  Perhaps we are better team without Hunter Dickinson.

He also added the following:

“When we saw [Michigan] beat Marquette 106-101 [in a secret scrimmage] in 12-minute quarters, and then watched them in their two games, we knew that they were one of the best shooting teams in the country,” Pitino said.

“What we didn’t expect is to get dominated by their point guard the way he dominated us tonight, and that’s a credit to him.”

“[Michigan] was brilliant, in every phase of the game.”

It could be hype and to make his team not feel so bad about getting run off their own court. But I will point out, last year before the tournament began--or maybe it was after the first round--he said U Conn would win it all because of their guard play and overall team's roster. Not many people believed him when he said that. Now, he didn't say we are going to win it all this year ... but I'm just saying, Pitino has been around a lonnng time and has an eye for good teams, and what he said here shouldn't be taken lightly.

Or, so I'm telling myself.

Plus, he didn't mention stealing signs, so, that automatically makes his comment positive.

Don't sleep on Jace Howards importance to the team. He isn't coming back to give us 15 and 10 but I envision him being the emotional leader, spark plug and glue guy on this squad. I have seen Tschetter bring something in this area as well through the first three games. I think we are looking at a pleasant season, I really do! 

Wonder where the "Fire Juwan!" crowd is these days?

Pitino is a shady guy, however when he compliments the team he is playing against it’s usually a good sign. He said UConn should win the whole thing after Iona lost to them in the tournament last year. He was correct. He knows basketball.

Even now - too soon.😡

Whatever the crypt keeper says I agree with.

It sure was fun to watch

I don't give a damn what Rick Pitino thinks of us. Fuck all the way off and go to hell.

I'm so jaded, I thought we were getting Rick's thoughts on sign stealing.

I read this thinking "Who the fuck cares what Pitino thinks," but you saved it at the end. Niiiiice!

This team has been fun to watch so far!  At this point, they don't look like they'd lose to an average MAC team, so that's progress from last year.

The block was clean. 

Personal issues aside, he is one of the best basketball minds of the last 30-40 years. Years ago I was driving somewhere at night and flipped the am radio dial (in the days before I had satellite radio) and came across his weekly coaches radio show. There was a fan call in with questions segment. Now, I've listened to a lot of coaches shows over the years and rarely get more than cliches and platitudes. Instead he gave the best technical explanation of  the keys to executing a full court press that I've ever heard.

Man, that's a deeply bizarre take on Michigan's roster. Not saying Michigan doesn't have some good things happening, but other than, yeah, we have a good point guard, I'm not sure I see what on earth he's talking about. ;)

Is he still running the same prostitution ring in Queens that he had in Louisville?