This isn’t the first time the Minnesota Golden Gophers have had high expectations under Richard Pitino.
After 25 wins and a surprising N.I.T. title in Pitino’s first season, the Gophers returned most of their starting lineup and had aspirations of Andre Hollins, Mo Walker and Deandre Mathieu leading an NCAA Tournament run in 2014-15.
That season started — and ended — in bitter disappointment.
The Gophers lost their first five Big Ten games — as well as five of their final six — and finished at 18-15, missing the postseason altogether.
There’s no comparison, however, to that team and this year’s team, which kicks off its season on Friday at Williams Arena.
The 2016-17 squad, which improved by a gaudy 16 victories off a rebuilding year in 2015-16, earned a 5-seed in the Big Dance and might have made a deeper run if not for injuries to Akeem Springs and Nate Mason in the Big Ten Tournament. As it was, the Gophers bowed out in the first round to Middle Tennessee State.
Now the hype is at a new high for the Pitino Era with a majority of the team returning. For the first time since 2014-15, the student section has sold out its 2,200 tickets. Season tickets were renewed at a 98 percent clip. The electric Isaiah Washington and sharpshooting Jamir Harris have been added to the fold.
This is what Pitino’s tenure has been building toward. But the burden of expectations can be heavy if not handled with the right touch.
“I really believe it’s a lot easier to handle people telling you how bad you are,” Pitino said at his season-opening September press conference.
“When you lose, everybody tells you how bad you are, you block out the noise, you ignore the haters, all that stuff. When everybody tells you how good you are, you do the same thing. It really does not matter, so you’ve got to get young people to understand that. That’s probably been the number one thing that I have done this summer, is talk to them about that, about handling success.”
In the course of two seasons, the Gophers have gone from raw to seasoned. They’ll be led by seniors Nate Mason and Reggie Lynch; the former a Big Ten All-Conference First-Team guard, the latter the reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
Pitino has often spoken about the challenges of being a senior, especially those with outside hopes of continuing their basketball careers. Hollins, from the 2014-15 team, and Joey King the following year dealt with these hurdles.
Mason and Lynch will face pressures of their own. In Mason’s case, he may have to learn to play compatibly with Washington, who is on track to become Mason’s successor.
“Isaiah loves the game,” said Pitino. “As good as any player we’ve had here. Lives in the gym. Infectious personality. Brings others with him. Sometimes young people don’t do that. He needs to understand he’s a freshman.”
For Lynch, he’ll need to reduce his fouling habit after getting disqualified in eight games last year and picking up four fouls in 10 others. With backup forward Eric Curry out for the season with a knee injury, Lynch will have less help against opposing big men.
“Losing Eric Curry hurt us. It did,” said Pitino. “I’ve gone back and I’ve rewatched games as we get closer to the season. It’s amazing how many times Eric Curry made a winning play.”
Meanwhile, the team’s younger players will be expected to ascend. Dupree McBrayer took strides last year but could stand to improve his passing and rebounding. Amir Coffey was one of the conference’s best freshman, but he’ll be expected to have a cleaner jump shot. Michael Hurt made very little impact in his freshman season, but he’ll be needed to give Minnesota a viable bench.
The Big Ten is sure to be a free for all, as usual, but the Gophers are not the only team to have gotten better on paper. Northwestern returns its top five scorers. Purdue returns three of its top four. Michigan State gets another year of Miles Bridges and Nick Ward.
Nothing will be given to the Gophers despite their No. 15 ranking in the preseason Top-25. It may require Pitino’s greatest coaching effort to get his team to grasp that.
“We were so eager to get the respect back of everybody and to win again and to get people talking,” Pitino said. “We’ve got to understand that that can go away. That’s fleeting as well. What got us here was doing it for each other, no ego, working hard. This group has shown that thus far, but it’s still very early.”
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