Preseason expectations not met, but Gophers still have a lot to play for
MINNEAPOLIS -- Raising a championship banner, regardless of the sport, tends to elevate a team's expectations -- or at least the fans' expectations for that team -- for the following season. And even though the banner the Gophers raised before this season was for winning the National Invitation Tournament, more was expected of Minnesota as a result.
With just three regular-season games remaining, it's safe to say those expectations haven't been met by Richard Pitino's team in his second year at the helm. Minnesota enters Thursday's game at Michigan State with a 16-12 overall record and just a 5-10 mark in the Big Ten. The NCAA tournament, which was an expectation of many, seems unlikely for the Gophers. Even a trip back to the NIT is by no means a guarantee, either.
Perhaps Minnesota did overachieve a bit in Pitino's first season. They won a school-record 25 games, including the NIT championship that secured the banner that now hangs at Williams Arena. For a number of reasons, though, year two under Pitino has played out much differently than year one.
"Any time you go into a first year, you kind of get a free pass a little bit with everyone, and it's just kind of the honeymoon stages," Pitino said. "To do what we did in that first year, I didn't really have a whole lot of expectations. So to get to that, I was excited about it. Having a lot of guys back, I knew a lot of those guys. We had to improve because expectations would be higher."
Pitino said having heightened expectations isn't a bad thing, but he also knew his players would shoulder some of that pressure this season. Yet those same players insist they didn't necessarily put any added pressure on themselves after what they accomplished last year.
"I came into the season just wanting to get better every single day," junior forward Joey King said. "I don't really like to look forward with expectations and stuff like that. I just want to go after every single game, because that's my goal, just stacking games one on top of another will hopefully lead to success."
At this point last year -- three regular-season games remaining -- the Gophers were not much better record-wise than they are right now. Minnesota headed into its final three games at 17-11 overall and 6-9 in the Big Ten after a loss to No. 24 Ohio State. The Gophers reeled off two wins in its last three games, including one over No. 20 Iowa, before beating Penn State to open the Big Ten tournament en route to an NIT bid.
This year's Minnesota squad has a similar schedule at the end of the year, with two ranked opponents on deck. That starts Thursday with No. 25 Michigan State. The Spartans are 10-4 in Big Ten play and are winners of four straight games and six of their last seven. For the Gophers to come closer to matching the preseason expectations, a win Thursday in East Lansing would help.
"They've got two ranked opponents and then they've got Penn State at home. In their mind, I'm sure they think, 'OK, win three in a row and then win the conference tournament and make the NCAA tournament,'" Pitino said. "In their mind, that's the way they think, which is good. That's fine by me. But for us, we've always been since I've been here kind of process oriented, if you will."
Shortly after Minnesota gained a bit of momentum by winning three straight games against Nebraska, Purdue and Iowa, the Gophers have since gone on a skid. Saturday's loss to Wisconsin was the third in a row for Minnesota, which previously lost to Indiana and Northwestern.
Following Thursday's game at Michigan State, the Gophers also have dates with Wisconsin and Penn State at home to close out the regular season. The Big Ten tournament begins a few days after the regular-season finale.
It might be too late for the Gophers to match the lofty expectations that were placed on them at the beginning of the season, but Minnesota still feels it has something left to play for.
"I've never once said to these guys, 'You've got to make the NCAA tournament or else you're a failure.' I'm not saying we don't want to make the NCAA tournament. Of course we do. But you've got to build to that, and that takes time," Pitino said. "It's not that it hasn't really gone the way I wanted it to. Obviously we want to win every game. Our guys are competing. It's just continuing to build more than anything."
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