I'm currently on a plane, drinking Woodford Reserve because why wouldn't I, and I have a really horrible internet connection but it appears that twitter says Amir Coffey committed to the University of Minnesota and holy shit dude. Not since the Rodney/Royce double pick up year has the U gotten a guy like this. ESPN ranks him as the 33rd best recruit in the entire country for 2016 and 247 Sports composite puts him at #45. That's a big deal! Dude had offers from tons of blue chippers like Arizona, Michigan State, and Texas but bam, sorry losers we got him.
The writing was pretty much on the wall that he would be a Gopher after his official visit back on September 3. He tweeted pictures of him and his dad (Richard, duh) at Williams Arena, reports came out that he kept going back for unofficials to hang with the players, and he canceled an official visit to Texas. It was still terrifying of course since, Minnesota sports, and I am glad I was on a plane and unable to load up anything to see who he chose until well after the fact, but it happened and we got him.
Coffey is a 6-7 guard, yes a 6-7 guard, and everything about him sounds awesome. They say he can play all three perimeter positions. He's smart, a good ball-handler and passer, and can hit from the perimeter or get to the rim. He can defend already. I mean everything sounds good. His negatives are he needs to build up more strength, very common for a freshman, and he could be a more vocal leader. That's all they could come up with. ESPN calls him a special player with upside off the charts and even compared him to Jalen Rose. Just the fact that he'll be able to come in and start and can already shoot and play defense puts him ahead of most freshman. This is just awesome.
None of that is even the most important part though. With Jarvis Johnson, Michael Hurt, and now Coffey Pitino has started to close the borders. This is good, but I also must clarify. The reason closing the borders is good is not because you get all the Minnesota players and if you think that way I bet you love P.A. too. The reason closing the borders is good is because when you do have an instate awesome player his thought process STARTS with I'm going to be a Gopher. It's not going to result in landing every stud, but that as the default is a much better way to start than "hey where should I go?" Pitino is on a good run right now.
The other super awesome thing is that Coffey is besties with Eric Curry. Curry is a power forward from Arkansas who visited the same time Amir did. He's not ranked as highly as Amir, but he's the 106th ranked player by 247 composite and #22 power forward and that's still pretty damn awesome. I won't get into talking too much about his abilities and what not since he hasn't committed here and may not, but it's looking better than ever right now. You know Amir is on snapchat or periscope or whatever kids use recruiting him.
In short - hell yes.
Monday, September 21, 2015
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Best Gophers of the Tubby Era: #11-#15
Throughout the summer I'll be writing up each of the 34 players who played for the University of Minnesota under Tubby Smith. Why Tubby? Because it's the most recent era that's over. If this goes well perhaps I'll go back and do Monson as well. I'll be looking at any player who played at Minnesota under Tubby at some point, even if it was just a year. And I will be considering their entire Gopher career, so guys who started under Monson or finished under Pitino will have their whole career considered, but anyone who transferred in or out is only evaluated on their Gopher stats. With me? Here we go:
#34 to #31 can be found here.
#26-#30 can be found here.
#21-#25 are here
Here's #16-#20
15. Julian Welch (2011-2013).
- This feels high for Welch considering he was a two year player whose playing time dramatically shrunk in his second year, but Welch somehow managed to rank top 10 in assists, three pointers, and steals among all Gophers in this countdown. I don't remember him as a particularly great shooter or passer, but I remember the steals simply because of the difference between his hand speed and foot speed. He had, without question, the fastest hands of any Gopher I can recall. He also was essentially a lawn gnome when he tried to guard anyone trying to get to the lane. I legitimately loved watching him simply because of those two things.
14. Elliott Eliason (2011-2015).
- This is a tough career to try to sum up, but you could probably do it best just by looking at his minutes per game each year: 15.0, 13.7 (regression), 21.9 (big leap forward!), 11.2 (ugh). That's about right. He had that one stretch of brilliance his junior season where he put up double doubles in four of eight games with two other near misses, and that stretch included five Big Ten games, where it looked like he might be becoming something, but alas, it wasn't meant to be and his career kind of spiraled to an underwhelming conclusion. However it's almost impossible to look back on this guy with any kind of bad feelings. He was a guy who came and gave it everything he had whenever he was on the court, and never let playing time get to him in any way you could see or hear about it. Good dude.
13. Lawrence McKenzie (2006-2008).
- McKenzie ranks high because even though he was only a Gopher for two years he was pretty much the man both of those years, averaging 13.3 points per game, and led the Gophers to the NIT in Tubby's first year which seemed like an impossibility following the disaster that was the final Monson/Molinari year and suddenly everything seemed possible and we were on our way and we could build this dream together standing strong forever nothing's gonna stop us now. Or whatever.
12. Maurice Walker (2010-2015).
- Walker played for 17 years as a Gopher, and that kind of time is tough to forget. I also think he might have lost some weight once Pitino came in, but I'm not sure I thought I heard that somewhere though. Seriously though, the first time I saw Walker play as a freshman I could tell right away he had a great feel for the game. You know how a lot of big men get the ball on the block and go right into score mode? Walker didn't, he saw the court amazingly well, although it's not backed up by his assist numbers I stand by what I saw. Injuries and weight issues (perhaps related) robbed him of some athleticism and explosiveness, and who knows what might have been? He was clearly a hard worker, just looking at his weight loss and free throws, and I believe he could have developed an outside shot at some point. This would be a good guy to take a do over on, if you could do such as that.
11. Spencer Tollackson (2004-2008).
- No bonus points for being the radio guy for the Gophers, though not because I dislike him or anything - I actually like when he weights in from the player's perspective on things, even if he's behind only Paul Allen on the homer list. That actually kind of sums up his playing career - a little bit annoying and a little bit likable. Similar to Walker, he was clearly a hard worker who wanted to win. I remember him completely revamping his free throw form to try to fix that issue (didn't work) and going from a garbage man to someone with a variety of moves. Unfortunately, all that hard work to develop those moves didn't really work because he didn't have the natural talent to finish. Clearly worked at it though, which is cool.
#34 to #31 can be found here.
#26-#30 can be found here.
#21-#25 are here
Here's #16-#20
15. Julian Welch (2011-2013).
- This feels high for Welch considering he was a two year player whose playing time dramatically shrunk in his second year, but Welch somehow managed to rank top 10 in assists, three pointers, and steals among all Gophers in this countdown. I don't remember him as a particularly great shooter or passer, but I remember the steals simply because of the difference between his hand speed and foot speed. He had, without question, the fastest hands of any Gopher I can recall. He also was essentially a lawn gnome when he tried to guard anyone trying to get to the lane. I legitimately loved watching him simply because of those two things.
14. Elliott Eliason (2011-2015).
- This is a tough career to try to sum up, but you could probably do it best just by looking at his minutes per game each year: 15.0, 13.7 (regression), 21.9 (big leap forward!), 11.2 (ugh). That's about right. He had that one stretch of brilliance his junior season where he put up double doubles in four of eight games with two other near misses, and that stretch included five Big Ten games, where it looked like he might be becoming something, but alas, it wasn't meant to be and his career kind of spiraled to an underwhelming conclusion. However it's almost impossible to look back on this guy with any kind of bad feelings. He was a guy who came and gave it everything he had whenever he was on the court, and never let playing time get to him in any way you could see or hear about it. Good dude.
13. Lawrence McKenzie (2006-2008).
- McKenzie ranks high because even though he was only a Gopher for two years he was pretty much the man both of those years, averaging 13.3 points per game, and led the Gophers to the NIT in Tubby's first year which seemed like an impossibility following the disaster that was the final Monson/Molinari year and suddenly everything seemed possible and we were on our way and we could build this dream together standing strong forever nothing's gonna stop us now. Or whatever.
12. Maurice Walker (2010-2015).
- Walker played for 17 years as a Gopher, and that kind of time is tough to forget. I also think he might have lost some weight once Pitino came in, but I'm not sure I thought I heard that somewhere though. Seriously though, the first time I saw Walker play as a freshman I could tell right away he had a great feel for the game. You know how a lot of big men get the ball on the block and go right into score mode? Walker didn't, he saw the court amazingly well, although it's not backed up by his assist numbers I stand by what I saw. Injuries and weight issues (perhaps related) robbed him of some athleticism and explosiveness, and who knows what might have been? He was clearly a hard worker, just looking at his weight loss and free throws, and I believe he could have developed an outside shot at some point. This would be a good guy to take a do over on, if you could do such as that.
11. Spencer Tollackson (2004-2008).
- No bonus points for being the radio guy for the Gophers, though not because I dislike him or anything - I actually like when he weights in from the player's perspective on things, even if he's behind only Paul Allen on the homer list. That actually kind of sums up his playing career - a little bit annoying and a little bit likable. Similar to Walker, he was clearly a hard worker who wanted to win. I remember him completely revamping his free throw form to try to fix that issue (didn't work) and going from a garbage man to someone with a variety of moves. Unfortunately, all that hard work to develop those moves didn't really work because he didn't have the natural talent to finish. Clearly worked at it though, which is cool.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Gophers of the Tubby Era Countdown: #16-#20
Throughout the summer I'll be writing up each of the 34 players who played for the University of Minnesota under Tubby Smith. Why Tubby? Because it's the most recent era that's over. If this goes well perhaps I'll go back and do Monson as well. I'll be looking at any player who played at Minnesota under Tubby at some point, even if it was just a year. And I will be considering their entire Gopher career, so guys who started under Monson or finished under Pitino will have their whole career considered, but anyone who transferred in or out is only evaluated on their Gopher stats. With me? Here we go:
#34 to #31 can be found here.
#26-#30 can be found here.
#21-#25 are here
#20. MAVERICK AHANMISI (2010-2014).
- Stuck around all four years, which is a positive, but never really developed into a third string point guard. Probably took more heat than anyone on this list, but you can't blame him too much because he basically got forced into more playing time than he had the talent to play. He did see his playing time dwindle from 13.3 minutes per game in his sophomore year to 10.5 as a junior and 9.6 as a senior. He ended his career shooting under 40% from the floor and with a 1.1 to 0.9 assist-to-turnover ratio. He was a late spring desperation signing and he generally played like it. But at least he tried and wasn't a whiner.
#19. JOE COLEMAN (2011-2013).
- He was a pretty important piece on Tubby's last two teams before transferring to St. Mary's when Richard Pitino came in despite having a game that would thrive in his system. He never developed an outside shot, but he excelled at getting to the rim and finding ways to score despite standing just 6-4. His amazing 29 point outburst at Illinois showed his potential, but he wasn't able to harness that consistently and now he's off to the Gaels. He played in one game last season before an injury knocked him out for the year.
#18. JAMAL ABU SHAMALA (2005-2009).
- One of the harder players to rank. He wasn't very good, but he played four years and had his moments, generally behind the 3-point line because he basically didn't do anything else. It was a special moment whenever he found himself with an open three and you just didn't care if it went in because if he was in the game when it mattered it was when the Gophers were terrible and if he was in when they were decent the game was probably out of hand already. Completely unfair to him, but for whatever reason he represents the failure of the Monson/Molinari years to me. Probably because he was actually starting at one point when things were pretty much completely off the rails. Now I can appreciate who he was, at pretty much right in the middle of this countdown seems about right.
#17. COLTON IVERSON (2008-2011).
- If you had to make a poster for guys who never developed under Tubby Smith, it would have to be a pretty big poster. But if you wanted to narrow down to two guys, Iverson is one of them. He was a so so post player for the Gophers, but once he transferred to Colorado State he turned into a monster who got himself drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft. Don't remember he became a monster because he played in a smaller conference way out west? Well he averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds a game his senior year. Those are amazing numbers. Could he have put that up in the Big Ten? Most likely not, but it's clear he was underutilized his three years as a Gopher.
#16. DEVOE JOSEPH (2008-2011).
- One of the most disappointing players of the era for me, I really thought Joseph was going to be a lights out scorer. There were times where he looked so good, but he and Tubby clearly didn't get along, both on the court (Joseph could get lost out there at times) and off (weed). Then, 8 games into his junior year he bolted after being suspended twice for an undisclosed reason (weed), apparently complaining about not getting enough playing time and shot attempts which was ridiculous. Al Nolen would get hurt later that season, which would have given Joseph all the playing time he could handle. By then he was already at Oregon, and, rather than sit out a full year to maximize his playing time, he joined the ducks for the second semester of the 2011-2012 year, which meant that in his final two years he played a grand total of just 36 games. Yeah, he ended up developing into that scorer I thought he would (averaged 16.7 points per game), but a series of poor decisions cost him a lot.
#34 to #31 can be found here.
#26-#30 can be found here.
#21-#25 are here
#20. MAVERICK AHANMISI (2010-2014).
- Stuck around all four years, which is a positive, but never really developed into a third string point guard. Probably took more heat than anyone on this list, but you can't blame him too much because he basically got forced into more playing time than he had the talent to play. He did see his playing time dwindle from 13.3 minutes per game in his sophomore year to 10.5 as a junior and 9.6 as a senior. He ended his career shooting under 40% from the floor and with a 1.1 to 0.9 assist-to-turnover ratio. He was a late spring desperation signing and he generally played like it. But at least he tried and wasn't a whiner.
#19. JOE COLEMAN (2011-2013).
- He was a pretty important piece on Tubby's last two teams before transferring to St. Mary's when Richard Pitino came in despite having a game that would thrive in his system. He never developed an outside shot, but he excelled at getting to the rim and finding ways to score despite standing just 6-4. His amazing 29 point outburst at Illinois showed his potential, but he wasn't able to harness that consistently and now he's off to the Gaels. He played in one game last season before an injury knocked him out for the year.
#18. JAMAL ABU SHAMALA (2005-2009).
- One of the harder players to rank. He wasn't very good, but he played four years and had his moments, generally behind the 3-point line because he basically didn't do anything else. It was a special moment whenever he found himself with an open three and you just didn't care if it went in because if he was in the game when it mattered it was when the Gophers were terrible and if he was in when they were decent the game was probably out of hand already. Completely unfair to him, but for whatever reason he represents the failure of the Monson/Molinari years to me. Probably because he was actually starting at one point when things were pretty much completely off the rails. Now I can appreciate who he was, at pretty much right in the middle of this countdown seems about right.
#17. COLTON IVERSON (2008-2011).
- If you had to make a poster for guys who never developed under Tubby Smith, it would have to be a pretty big poster. But if you wanted to narrow down to two guys, Iverson is one of them. He was a so so post player for the Gophers, but once he transferred to Colorado State he turned into a monster who got himself drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft. Don't remember he became a monster because he played in a smaller conference way out west? Well he averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds a game his senior year. Those are amazing numbers. Could he have put that up in the Big Ten? Most likely not, but it's clear he was underutilized his three years as a Gopher.
#16. DEVOE JOSEPH (2008-2011).
- One of the most disappointing players of the era for me, I really thought Joseph was going to be a lights out scorer. There were times where he looked so good, but he and Tubby clearly didn't get along, both on the court (Joseph could get lost out there at times) and off (weed). Then, 8 games into his junior year he bolted after being suspended twice for an undisclosed reason (weed), apparently complaining about not getting enough playing time and shot attempts which was ridiculous. Al Nolen would get hurt later that season, which would have given Joseph all the playing time he could handle. By then he was already at Oregon, and, rather than sit out a full year to maximize his playing time, he joined the ducks for the second semester of the 2011-2012 year, which meant that in his final two years he played a grand total of just 36 games. Yeah, he ended up developing into that scorer I thought he would (averaged 16.7 points per game), but a series of poor decisions cost him a lot.
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