MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Richard Pitino's first season at Minnesota showed plenty of promise with 25 wins and an NIT championship.
But last year, the Golden Gophers stumbled to an 18-15 finish, 6-12 in the Big Ten and missed out on a postseason berth.
Heading into his third season, Pitino said a better mesh of his up-tempo system and more of the players he recruited to Minnesota should eventually yield better results.
''I never liked when people said those aren't your players,'' Pitino said. ''I just don't think that's fair because we had great kids because those guys played their butts off for us and did a lot of great things.