Rick Pitino on U-M: 'They're going to have a great season'
St. John’s fans flooded Madison Square Garden to see Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino in action while he tried to bring their program back to life. Instead, they — and Pitino — left shocked at just how good Michigan was with its team of transfers and underrated recruits in an 89-73 win.
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“I am so proud of Madison Square Garden, and the job they do for us. It was awesome. Unfortunately. we didn’t match their effort of putting it together,” Pitino said. “… We just couldn’t match the Garden, we couldn’t match the fans, and most importantly, we couldn’t match Michigan.”
Especially sophomore Dug McDaniel. He scored 26 points, adding 7 assists and 6 rebounds, and looked the part of an elite point guard. It’s early, but his confidence and control combined with his speed make him extremely dangerous.
Great college basketball teams usually need great point guard play. It’s early, but Michigan seems to have it.
“Let’s understand something — [McDaniel] played 38 minutes and played awesome,” Pitino said. “He had seven assists and two turnovers, two steals. He was brilliant.”
Veteran Nimari Burnett was the early catalyst, though. The shooting guard scored 15 of Michigan’s first 16 points, including stepback triples, aggressive drives to the rim, and even a dunk. He played with confidence, and even his second half triples were halfway down before rimming out.
But the Wolverines shared the ball and looked like they’d been playing together for years, and that was the most impressive part. There’s something to be said for a team of experienced basketball players, guys who pick things up quickly. The Wolverines have more of them now — more than that, they seem to have something to prove.
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“They played as a team that’s in January and (we) played like a team in early November,” Pitino said. “Watching them, I thought they were a great basketball team.
“All the credit goes to Michigan. “We knew they were one of the best shooting teams in the country,” Pitino said. “What we didn’t expect was to get dominated by their point guard the way he dominated us tonight. That’s a credit to him — he’s a terrific little player. Their backcourt dominated our backcourt. They played intelligent basketball.”
He gave credit to “whoever recruiting them.” That would be head coach Juwan Howard, of course, who assembled this squad after losing two players to the NBA and one All-American center to Kansas — and seems to have made his team better. This is a team more in his image, frankly — guys with a chip on their shoulders — and hopefully, he’ll be back soon to coach them.
In the meantime, associate head coach Phil Martelli is doing a brilliant job with the group in his absence, as we’ve seen many times when Howard hasn’t been able to go. They have the right staff and — it appears — the right group to make some noise in the Big Ten and maybe beyond.
At the very least, they have a believer in Pitino.
“… They can really shoot and pass,” Pitino said. “They’re going to have a great season. They’re really good. I don’t follow the Big Ten too much, but there’s not too many teams better than Michigan, I can assure you of that.”
