Has Rick Pitino lost his mojo?

[LCPATS]

I'm trying to figure out what everyone disagrees with so much in the article. I think a lot of you are letting the fact that a UK guy wrote it cloud your judgment. There is certainly an anti-Rick tone throughout, which can be attributed to Jones being a UK guy but I'm having a hard time seeing this article lacking factual information.

 

Why does he say things like 2 NIT's and three sweet 16's? Yes it's true, but why not go on to say 3 elite 8's and one final four. Why leave it at Sweet 16? It's little jabs like that. He mentions beating Depaul in front of a small crowd, which is true again. But why not mention it was 13,000 plus (Depaul's biggest of season) and half of them were UofL fans. What's the difference in this game for UofL and say UK's struggle at Auburn. Very comparable opponents. Gurantee he didn't bash UK when they escaped Auburn in front of 11,000 people.

 

He also conveniently left out the upset win over #2 Syracuse last week, in front of 32,000 fans at the carrier dome. The biggest crowd anyone has faced this season.

 

I don't have a problem with saying Pitino isn't the coach he used to be, but I don't think you have to be bias and leave out the good stuff he is still doing to prove your point, like Jones did. The run Pitino had a UK was special, and hasn't been duplicated by him of UK since then.

[LCPATS]

I think the biggest problem Pitino faces is the lack of great recruiting, which many of you guys have already said. Part of that lies in the fact that he doesn't appear to have a very good staff. A few changes on the bench, adding a couple guys to do the heavy lifting in recruiting, could make the coaching by Pitino look much, much better.

 

FWIW, the Pitino situation at Louisville has a really good shot at becoming like the Tubby situation at Kentucky, where they win a lot of games, lose several games, and don't recruit well. Tubby struggled in part because of a poor staff. Will the same problem end Pitino at Louisville?

 

I agree, his staff has turned over a lot. He's been through a lot of coaches at UofL. He has landed some big time players, problem is a majority of the blue-chip type have never made it to campus. The early entry rule really hurt him when he came back to college, he kept recruiting kids that you new weren't coming to college. It was almost like he was hard-headed about it.

 

That being said, he's landed some nice players at UofL too. And he's got some big time kids committed for the future. But overall, he's had many struggles with getting them to campus. Perfect example, Jeremy Tyler leaving high school to go to Europe. Donte Smith leaving Juco to go pro, and never played. The Telfair debacle, etc. The list goes on and on.

[bugatti]

Why does he say things like 2 NIT's and three sweet 16's? Yes it's true, but why not go on to say 3 elite 8's and one final four. Why leave it at Sweet 16? It's little jabs like that. He mentions beating Depaul in front of a small crowd, which is true again. But why not mention it was 13,000 plus (Depaul's biggest of season) and half of them were UofL fans. What's the difference this game for UofL and say UK's struggle at Auburn. Very comparable opponents. Gurantee he didn't bash UK when they escaped Auburn in fron of 11,000 people.

 

He also conveniently left out the upset win over #2 Syracuse last week, in front of 32,000 fans at the carrier dome. The biggest crowd anyone has face this season.

 

I don't have a problem with saying Pitino isn't the coach he used to be, but I don't think you have to be bias and leave out the good stuff he is still doing to prove your point, like Jones did.

On the CBS thing he is doing, he talked about UL traveling better than anyone else considering they mainly draw from the Louisville market.

[LCPATS]

Which is another parallel to draw to Steve Spurrier in the SEC.

 

Spurrier has had far less success at USC than Pitino has had at UofL. Not a very good comparison at all. Spurrier hasn't been ranked number one or been to any BCS games at USC--or even been close.

[Original Rookie]

Why does he say things like 2 NIT's and three sweet 16's? Yes it's true, but why not go on to say 3 elite 8's and one final four. Why leave it at Sweet 16? It's little jabs like that. He mentions beating Depaul in front of a small crowd, which is true again. But why not mention it was 13,000 plus (Depaul's biggest of season) and half of them were UofL fans. What's the difference this game for UofL and say UK's struggle at Auburn. Very comparable opponents. Gurantee he didn't bash UK when they escaped Auburn in fron of 11,000 people.

 

He also conveniently left out the upset win over #2 Syracuse last week, in front of 32,000 fans at the carrier dome. The biggest crowd anyone has face this season.

 

I don't have a problem with saying Pitino isn't the coach he used to be, but I don't think you have to be bias and leave out the good stuff he is still doing to prove your point, like Jones did.

 

He definitely should have said Elite 8's... I found that dumb.

 

Auburn having 11,000 people is a sell out :idunno:

 

He did not leave out the Syracuse win...

"The Pitino we see today is one that is presiding over a team with lackluster talent and performance that can see it lose by 20 to dismal St John's one night, win at Syracuse the next and struggle with DePaul the week after that."

[Original Rookie]

Spurrier has had far less success at USC than Pitino has had at UofL. Not a very good comparison at all. Spurrier hasn't been ranked number one or been to any BCS games at USC--or even been close.

 

There are parallels you can draw but Pitino has definitely had more success than SS as their current destinations.

[LCPATS]

There are parallels you can draw but Pitino has definitely had more success than SS as their current destinations.

 

The obvious thing between the two IMO, the "job" is sometime worth more than given credit. UF and UK are elite jobs.

[Original Rookie]

The obvious thing between the two IMO, the "job" is sometime worth more than given credit. UF and UK are elite jobs.

 

Very true, and on the other hand, the "job" at UL is closer to UK than USC is to Florida.

[LCPATS]

Very true, and on the other hand, the "job" at UL is closer to UK than USC is to Florida.

 

True.

 

My whole point is this, Jones didn't have to be so bias to get his point across. Pitino at UK > than Pitino at UofL. That's pretty obvious. However, Pitino's overall resume is quite impressive, despite not winning a championship at UofL. It's silly to act like he's "lost it". They were number one overall just last year. Did they win it, no. But only one team a year gets to say they won.

 

Is it more of him losing his mojo, or did he just have an extraordianary run at UK? He took Providence and UofL to a final four, but no title. That's still impressive...

[Original Rookie]

True.

 

My whole point is this, Jones didn't have to be so bias to get his point across. Pitino at UK > than Pitino at UofL. That's pretty obvious. However, Pitino's overall resume is quite impressive, despite not winning a championship at UofL.

 

Is it more of him losing his mojo, or did he just have an extraordianary run at UK? He took Providence and UofL to a final four, but no title. That's still impressive...

 

I agree. However, Pitino was looked at as a "savior" and magic maker in this state in the 90's. I think that would be the "mojo" that he is speaking of.

[CoachBuckett]

People talk about Pitino losing it in recruiting. Well think about this. In the 90's he only had to recruit against DUKE, Kansas, and UNC. You only had the big 4. All other schools where average.

 

Now there besides those 3 you have to add

Florida

Kentucky

Syracuse

Nova

IU

Michigan State

WVU

UC

 

In other words there are better coaches that are recruiters now than in the 90's.

[gchs_uk9]

People talk about Pitino losing it in recruiting. Well think about this. In the 90's he only had to recruit against DUKE, Kansas, and UNC. You only had the big 4. All other schools where average.

 

Pretty sure UK/Pitino had a hard time recruiting against Michigan, Indiana, and UCLA while he was at Kentucky. The names have changed, but you can't say recruiting was easier.

[bugatti]

The recruiting game is different with AAU and about 500 times the amount of games on television now.

[Irish Cat]

People talk about Pitino losing it in recruiting. Well think about this. In the 90's he only had to recruit against DUKE, Kansas, and UNC. You only had the big 4. All other schools where average.

 

Uconn?

[ColonelCrazy]

He definitely should have said Elite 8's... I found that dumb.

 

 

I think you may be giving Jones too much credit. But then again, maybe not.