No DaShonte

Gopher Target DaShonte Riley, a 6-11 center out of Michigan has gone the way of Verdell Jones and Krys Faber, spurning Tubby's advances in favor of another school. This time it's Georgetown, as Riley will head there in 2009, and fits in with the school's tradition of top flight defensive centers.

Losing Riley hurts a bit more than Faber or Jones, since he's 2009 whereas they were 2008, which is an already loaded class. On the other hand, Riley has been in pretty much a free fall in the rankins all season, bottoming out at #111 on Rivals most recent list after being in the top 10 at one point. #111 is still good, obviously, but that kind of a fall is a definite warning sign.

Riley was targetted early by the schools and recruiting services based on his size and natural defensive ability. He was given a lofty ranking, with the assumption his offensive game would develop. Well, it seems it didn't, as seen in a scoreless outing he had vs. Howard Pulley. He is still considering one of, if not the, top defensive big man in the '09 class, but his offensive game is weak enough to drop him to #111 overall. Whether he's a Dikembe Mutombo-type or an Antoine Broxsie-type remains to be seen, but I'm guessing he won't see much floor time for a year at least with the Hoyas, as he's now seen as a bit of a project. This may be a "good" miss for Tubby and staff.

Fear and Loathing in New Jersey

Sorry I've been away for so long, but I've been between jobs and essentially computerless. If I had been able to post, I was going to pick Trevor Immelman to win the masters. I still don't know who won, so maybe I was right, who knows? The important thing is I'm stuck in New Jersey with a twelve pack (well, eleven now) of Coors Light on ice in the sink. I had a couple with dinner as well (Ruby Tuesday - not good but it was close) so I'm ready to post deep into the night. It's 7:20 right now, I have 12 (11) beers, and I have to be up at 8:00. What will the night bring? Insightful posting? Drunken rambling? Neither? Both? Only time will tell.

- Let's start by taking a look at the future Gophers (maybe) since this is primarily a Gopher blog. Although perhaps it should be a Gopher/Twin blog. I don't know. I'm just typing man.

* Royce White and Rodney Williams played together on the Howard Pulley AAU team in the Boo Williams Invitational (wasn't that that one TE for the Saints that one year?) along with Hopkins's's Mike Broghammer (offers from Purdue and Iowa). They went 3-1 in the tournament before falling in the quarterfinals, scoring over 100 points twice. White was called one of the "standout players" in the tournament by Scout.com. Royce scored 10, 12, 10, and 20 in the four games, and had highs of 10 and 7 rebounds in two of the games. Williams chipped in with 8, 17, 10, and 16.

* Scout.com's Evan Daniels had this to say about White: "Royce White, PF, Howard Pulley – The skilled face up four man showed off his full game on Saturday. Against Team Texas Elite he hit a spot up three, made a bunch of moves to the basket and hit at least four jumpers from 15 to 18 feet. White is equipped with good balls skills and impressive footwork." No comments on White or Broghammer, but Howard Pulley faced DaShonte Riley, a big-time Gopher target, in the first game and held him to zero points. He'll fit right in with the Gopher big men of the past. He's practically a lock now.

* Ralph Sampson III played in the Capital Classic on the 13th of April. I know it already happened, but my source doesn't have a recap, just a preview so deal. There are a good deal of top recruits playing, and could give an insight into just how good Sampson could be. Among the big man signees involved are Olek Czyz (Duke), Henry Sims (GTown), Ty Walker (Wake), Roscoe Davis (WVU), Maurice Sutton (undecided), and Kris Joseph (Cuse).

* Verdell Jones visited Indiana's campus on Friday, although why anybody would want to go to that mess is beyond me. Kentucky, Georgetown, and Texas have all gotten involved with recruiting perhaps the best unsigned point guard available, and I have to say the Gophers' chances are dwindling at this point. Jones would be perfect for Minnesota, with Joseph and Hoff as shooters and Sampson, DJ, and Iverson on the block, his penetrating style would work well and hide his perimeter shooting deficiency (hit only 32 threes last season).

- Sheesh, enough of all that serious crap, I'm just happy the Red Sox/Indians are on TV. I was worried I wouldn't get to see the Sox this year since they're never on.

- We need more Dawg movie reviews around here. Srslsy.

- So I watched about 20 minutes of that one movie about gambling with that guy who I don't know who he is and Drew Barrymore. Partially to see just how accurate the poker scenes were, but mainly because it was 12:30 and I was in a hotel in New Jersey with no alcohol and no hope of alcohol - stone cold sober. I know, i was scared too. Anyway, the overall poker scenes weren't bad, but right at the end he's in the world series of poker and it's him, some dude from some other movie, and his dad played by the guy from the godfather. Anyway, he has his dad beat after the river, and his dad goes all in, and he calls, and then when he sees what his dad's hand was he mucks his cards even though he had him beat, basically taking of a dive. I turned it off right there. That guy who I don't know who he is is a pussy. If I ever took a dive against my old man, I'm pretty sure he'd knock me out.

- That was a lot to write about a shitty movie. And I spoiled it for you. Oh no. Rent Superbad instead.

- GopherLady and that other guy need to email me their addresses so they can claim their awesome prizes in the DWG Tourny bracket. Come on people. I've stuff here to get rid of. And it's awesome. Although I should probably just send the Baseball Prospectus book to Dawg. That dude has a lot to learn.

- Is there anything less exciting that people get retarded for than the NFL draft? And I'm even a football fan. Not like basketball or baseball, but I dig the game, and it's nice to have an excuse to get all liquored up on Sundays. But people lose their minds for this stuff. It's on like 9 hours on day one and 6 hours on day two, and people will sit in front of their TVs all day on both days and watch the whole thing. It's like the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, except take out the drama, excitement, and fun. It's for retards. Although let me give you a sleeper QB: Jonathan Moxon, West Texas High. He got a scholarship to Brown, and I haven't seen his stats in college, but in high school he was a true double threat. He could sling the ball like QB Eagles and run like QB Eagles. Whoever takes him is hitting the absolute goldmine.

- Princeton is the UMD of the Ivy League.

- By the way, if you watch the 1997 One Shining Moment (search Youtube, ass) the Gophers you see are Goldy, Quincy Lewis after a Toby Bailey dunk, Eric Harris getting schooled by Ron Mercer, and a couple guys in the background after a Kentucky celebration. That's it. The whole tournament. For a final four team. It's like the One Shining Moment producers knew they were crooked and would get wiped off the books. There might be a Charles Thomas in there at the beginning too. I don't know, all black people look the same to me.

- Granted it's early, but let's look at my predictions:

1. Mauer will have less than 80 rbi. If he plays all 162 games, he'd be on pace for 68. Considering he's going to play more like 140, this may as well be a win already.

2. Delmon Young will show more power. Wow. I am a completely idiot. He's a slap hitter.

3. Morneau and Cuddyer slip. Cuddyer can't be judged, even as we look at such a small sample. Morneau has 3 dingers, but is hitting only .225 with an OPS of only .808. Undecided.

4. Twins Pitching will not be good. Clearly wrong so far, but may come back into line. I hope not, but young pitchers and old pitchers can both fade in a hurry.

5. Twins will suck. Undecided. 6-6 is ok, but it's still early. I did say they'd score less runs than last year, and they're on pace for 581, over a hundred worse than last season.

6. Torii Hunter will be average. OPS+ of 151. Fine. He's good now. I get it. Shut up, mom.

7. Johan will dominate the NL. Despite being 1-2, a WHIP of 0.97 is outstanding. an OAVG of .258 with a HR/9 of 1.75 is not. Undecided. Oh, and a K/9 of 8 is pretty stellar.

8. Yankees collapse. Last place in the NL east. 26th in runs scored, 22nd in OPS, 17th in earned runs allowed. Yeah. It's over.

9. The Indians will miss the playoffs. 4th in the AL central, 18th in runs, 26th in batting average, 23rd in OPS, 25th in ERA, 21st in WHIP. Oh, and remember how I said Sabathia/Carmona would get hurt/suck? Sabathia ERA 11.57/WHIP 2.35 and Carmona somehow has a 2.20 ERA with a 1.65 WHIP, so expect the ERA to balloon in a hurry.

10. Other predictions about players and teams, my favorite of which was the Blue Jays would make the playoffs, for which I was called an idiot. Yeah, they're leading the AL east.

11. I know it's really early, shut up I'm bored. And drunk.

- I just figured out you can sponsor a page on www.baseball-reference.com for only $5 a year for the vast majority of players. I want to sponsor somebody. Any ideas?

- Oh, and for those of you gays who hate walks, the current division leaders rank 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 16 in walks. But you're right, it's not important.

- I'm starting to get drunk. So Twins talk though. As Sidler mentioned below, I'm getting sick of Go Go Gomez and the constant bunting. Sure, it worked a time or two. Hell, on MLB 08 for PS2 I bunted with Gomez his first time up and he got a hit. Since then I've gotten out the last six times. Much like Gomez. I love the guy, I do, and he's showing plate discipline and an understanding of being a leadoff hitter I never expected, but you can't bunt every single game. You just can't. If Vincy Coleman couldn't pull it off, you can't. It should be a weapon, but not such a predictable weapon. Give it a rest for a game or two, then bring it back out. It's not rocket science. Jesus Gardy sucks.

- Do you realize Chris Paul averaged 21 points and 11.6 assists per game this year? That's insane. The internet is being a dick right now, so I can't find any useful info, but I'd bet that's one of the better seasons for a point guard in history. And it turns out Wake has a pretty awesome all time team with Paul, Randolph Childress, Josh Howard, Rodney Rogers, and Tim Duncan. Not to mention Rusty LaRue, the greatest three sport athlete of all-time. It would certainly kick the piss out of any Gopher team you could put together.

- According to my yahoo.com gametracker, it appears Guerrier and Neshek have combined to destroy the game and let the Tigers back into what was a Twins' killing. I only have two questions, 1) Is it over for Neshek and 2) why the hell was some chick wearing a Twins jersey with Guerrier on the back the last game I went to? Even worse, her boyfriend had a Twins jersey with the number 96 and his own name on the back. Seriously, if you have a team jersey and put your own name on the back you might as well kill yourself now.

- This is going to shock you, but Joe Borowski just blew a save for the Indians here. Amazing that guys like this keep getting closer jobs. Let's see, prior to tonight, this season he has an ERA of 4.19 with a WHIP of 2.19. Last year, 5.07 and 1.43. Previous season, 4.75 and 1.38. Those are three out of his four seasons being a closer. He had one good year in 2003 with the Cubs where we went 2.63 and 1.05, which he followed up with 8.02 and 1.97. No way in hell should this douche be a closer. It's like the Tigers and Todd Jones. In his past two years as a full-time closer (before this year) he's put up ERAs of 3.94 and 4.26 and WHIPs of 1.27 and 1.42. These are not closer numbers. He, like Borowski, had one good year, and he continues to get paid and treated like an elite closer. Hell, watch either of these two girls pitch and it's the least impressive thing ever. It's like me hitting off Timdogg's wife's supposed pitching. They are basically like that middle reliever guy (JC Romero) who has that one fluke year. Except they had that one fluke year as a closer and for some reason everyone decides they are a good closer. The good news is that as I was posting that Borowski gave up a homerun to Manny and now Papelbon is in for the save and he's on my fantasy team. Now Papalbon comes on and shuts down the Indians like a real closer, three batters, two strikeouts. Seriously, some guys are closers. Papelbon, Rivera, Nathan, Hoffman (hells bells). Guys like Jones and Borowski are not, and I don't get these retards who don't see it. And the tigers refuse to use Zumaya, who is a complete closer type, in that role. He's hurt this year, so it's kind of irrelevant here, but even when he wasn't they made him be a setup guy. And do you know why this keeps happening? It's because of you morons who refuse to look at stats they way you should. The guys who don't understand why walks are so important, even from three and four hitters. Who don't look at WHIP and think that "this guy seems tough." Who continue to think of "statheads" as guys who live in their mother's basements crunching numbers. Baseball is the most easily quantifiable of all sports. It's essentially one on one, pitcher versus batter. So please, stop being stupid and look at the numbers, just once. I'm pretty sure all managers other than Sparky Anderson and Earl Weaver are idiots. I could do that job. I'm applying.

- Holy christ is family guy stupid.

- oh, and the picture up there, I just thought it was funny.

- Good news, I managed to snag two Amstel Lights from the bar lady downstairs, even though they've been closed for over an hour. Probably because she wants me. I just hope I can think of something intersting to type now.

- In case you're curious, the most recent info I can find on former Georgia Tech forward James Forrest is that he played in Europe in 2002 and averaged 12.5 points per game. But he made this shot that one time:



So he's beter than you.

- A link from there goes to here, which is one of the most fun games I've ever watched. Funny story about this game, is that I was with my dad and my uncle all afternoon that day, and my dad hates beer but loves vodka, and he decided to try to keep up with me and my uncle as we drank beer and he drank vodka. Well, predictably, he couldn't handle it, so, even though the three of us watched the whole game together, he has no memory of this game at all. One of the best games i can ever remember watching. Unfortunately the douchebag who recoreded this won't let me embed it, so you'll have to click on the link. How amateur.

- By the way, there's no way I could have opened these Amstel Lights without the bottle opener on my key chain. So those of you who think only rednecks have bottle openers on their keychains can eat a dick. Mine is a basketball.

- Christ, on Letterman tonight is Trevor Immelman and David Wright. Yet somehow when I went it was Dr. Phil and Roger federer. My kharma is all messed up.

- I'm very proud to announce that if you put "suck my crank" into google we come up as the second site. We're also second if you put in "goldy is a fag". I've never been so proud.

- Well, this is coool:



- Here are your officially announced 2008 NBA drafttes:
Joe Alexander - meh. ok. probably a dcent palyer
Ryan anderson - awesome. will be a great late pick if he says in
Nicolus Batum - I have no idea who this is
Jerryd Bayless - 8 million times better than Eric Gordon
Michael Beasley- superstar. sick good
Chase Budinger - dude, really? Like Laettner, has no NBA skills.
Derrick Caracter - stay. seriously stay.
EArl Clark - seriously, why? Better than Caracter ,but no reason to go
Eric Gordon - go ahead and draft him, I dare you
Donte Green - guy is seriously flawed, but those flaws will work for the NBA
richard hendrix - No
JJ Hickson - one more year and he'd be a star
Lester Hudson - just keep ripping up the OVC, it's all you got
DeAndre Jordan - if you're tall and not retarded, you can get drafted now
Brook Lopez - I thought he was a queer, but is actually quite good
Robin Lopez - stay for a year and try to prove yourself without your brother around. worst decision out of anybody so far. Needs to take another year to prove himself.
OJ Mayo - Proved me wrong this year. Still think he's overrated. If the Wolves take him i quit more than I already did.
Javale McGee - I don't know who this is
Trent Plaisted - you have to be kidding
Anthony Randolph - I should know this guy, but I don't.
Marrese Speights - if this dude gets drafted I quit the NBA. Just a tall stupid idiot.
Ronald Steele - he's Eric Harris. Not a chance in hell.
Robert Vaden - shouldn't be drafted. Could be signed as a free agent as a shooter, or could end up ripping up the Australian league.
Shawn James - No idea. Probably not even real.

- Rico Tucker had a knee injury that ended up knocking him out of the WCC tournament and likely affected his play all season long. yet he still ended up finishing third in scoring and tops in both assists and steals for Pepperdine. The knee was clearly bothering him all year, as he only shot 42% from the field and 29% from three. Expect Rico to dominate next year after he's healthy.

- I'd drunk and tired. Oh, and if you read all this you probably need to get a life or a better job. I'm going to bed. go f yourself.

Twins = World Series Bound (and some Basketball)

First off, I added three new blogs to the link list over on the right. The National Anthem before a Cubs Game (TNABACG), a general Minnesota sports blog, and Aaron Gleeman and Stick and Ball Guy - two Twins blogs. Check them out. Additionally, I'm going to try to recap as many Twins games as I can, and certainly which ever ones I get a chance to watch - although with a kid on the way in the next few weeks and a new job, who knows if I'll have time. Hopefully Dawg and Sidler will post plenty of Twins related material for your amusement.

Livan Hernandez: According to Bert, "Livan Hernandez isn't like Johan Santana, he has to change speeds to be successful." Wasn't Santana's out pitch his changeup? Thanks again for all your wisdom, Bert. That's probably why you aren't in the hall of fame, jackass. Anyway, Hernandez was beautiful last night. Kept the ball down, didn't walk anybody, pretty much made the Angels hit his pitches on the ground, and gave up just two runs in his seven innings. I doubt he can keep this up all year, but nice start to be sure.

Carlos Gomez: Granted it's just one game, but he really impressed me. And I'm not even talking about the double, the bunt hit (holy crap is this kid fast), or the two steals. He showed a lot of patience at the plate, not only by drawing a walk but even in his strikeout at bat he drew the count out to 3-2. That was my big knock on the kid, but if he's figured out how to be a little more patient (not quite Rickey Henderson, which was another Bert comment last night) he could be deadly up there already. He's going to be a fan favorite in a hurry.

Pat Neshek and Joe Nathan: Good to know that if the Twins can get to the eighth with a lead, they have a very good chance of winning as these two were lights out once again. They each gave up a hit (Neshek's was a bloop that will be caught in the future as the left side of the defense gets used to each other and the dome) and struck out four between them, including a big Neshek K of Vlad Guerrero.

Torii Hunter: It was nice to see Hunter get a standing ovation. For all about him that drove me crazy, I can't deny his heart, effort, leadership, or charisma and what he meant to this franchise over the years. Of course, it was even nicer to see him strikeout in a close game in the ninth.

Johan Santana: Naturally, Santana rolled through his first NL start, going seven and giving up 3 hits with 8 K's. He's really good.


A couple quick basketball items:

1. There is a new ESPN Top 100 out. In it, Rodney Williams comes in at 66 and Royce White at 71. Fellow Gopher target DaShonte Riley is ranked #54.

2. Speaking of Royce, in case you missed it, he's transferring to Hopkins. He'll be joining top recruits Raymond Cowles, Trent Locket, and Mike Broghammer on a loaded Royals team that will surely be the top team in the State. Hopefully Royce can pull his act together and make the most of this opportunity.

3. Former UCLA Bruin J.R. Henderson is dominating in the Japanese league, and has become a full-fledged Japanese citizen, including changing his name to J.R. Sakuragi. His real first name is Milton. So he's now Milton Sakuragi. Must be odd to walk around Japan being 6-9, what with all the 5-2 people and ninjas and all.

Future Gophers?

With the whole Royce White hub-bub dominating Gopher recruiting thoughts, I thought I'd take a minute to look at some possible Targets who are still out there for the team

2008:
PG Verdell Jones, Illinois, 30th ranked PG by Scout, Rivals #123 overall: Probably the best known of the names out there other than the two Minnesota kids for 2009, Verdell Jones has an offer from the Gophers. According to Scout, his choices are between Minnesota, Tennessee, and Kentucky - but his only offer is from the Gophers at this point. They also top his list. Jones is the second best point guard still available for 2008, and has taken visits to both the Gophers and Kentucky. The Volunteers just signed PG Daniel West, so that has to take them down a peg for Jones. All signs point to the Gophers leading to get his services.

C Krys Faber, Los Angeles, 23rd ranked C by Scout: Faber also has an offer from the Gophers, and is a big 6-10, 245 physical player. As of now, Scout has Minnesota at the top of his list along with Northern Illinois. He has visited both schools, and has an offer from each. Faber was well under the radar, but had a tremendous senior season and interest has picked up, with Notre Dame, St Johns, Baylor, Iowa, and even UCLA starting to show some interest.

C Steven Toyloy, Miami-Dade CC, 16th ranked Juco player by JuCo Junction: One other name for 2008 that I hadn't heard before is JuCo center Steven Toyloy, who led all junior college players in rebounding last year as a freshman with 13 per game at Miami-Dade. I was surprised to see that Minnesota has an offer out to him according to scout, along with West Virginia, Clemson, and Baylor - with UCONN in the mix as well. He is the 16th ranked JuCo player, but as referenced in this post, who the hell knows what that means. He sounds like a bit of a project, as his coach said, "He needs to continue to improve his footwork. His free throw shooting needs to get a little better and his overall skill development," Eisele said. "He has made great strides since high school and he is getting better day by day. He plays extremely hard and he has got a little bit of a mean streak in his game, which is always helpful with big kids" which sounds very projecty to me. apparently he's a great defender and rebounder, however.

2009
PF Royce White, Minneapolis, four stars from Scout, #32 overall from Rivals: If you're reading this, you probably already know about Royce so I'm not going to say much. I will say that I'm backing off a little from my whole "you are all idiots for saying we shouldn't recruit him anymore" stance, mainly because I was ignorant and ill-informed. I was unaware that this was White's second suspension, and I didn't know he had been a behavior problem all season. I'll trust in Tubby, but if he chooses to no longer go after Royce, I won't have a problem.

C DaShonte Riley, Detroit, #4 center by Scout, #13 overall by Rivals: Riley would absolutely be the best recruit the Gophers have gotten in a while. A 6-10 center who is a defensive monster. Averaged nine points, 12 rebounds, and 7 blocks per game as a junior. Needs to work on his offense a bit, but is a good enough player that besides the Gophers he also has offers from Florida, Georgetown, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, UCLA, and USC. If Tubby can pull Riley out of that group and get him to Minneapolis, a new era will truly have dawned at Williams Arena.

SG/SF Rodney Williams, Robbinsdale, #8 SF from Scout, #43 overall from Rivals: Williams is another guy you probably know about. He's been shooting up the charts and has offers from Minnesota, Iowa State, Kansas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Miami, and Purdue. Williams can flat out score, and if he qualifies academically - which my source indicates is no longer much of a concern - he would be a great signing for Minnesota.

One other interesting name out there for 2009 is Johnnie Lacy, a point guard from Milwaukee the Gophers have shown interest in, along with Wisconsin, Marquette, Cincinnati, and Tennessee. Not only is that just a sweet name, but to steal a Badger target and get him in Maroon and Gold would be a huge step in the right direction. Lacy is the #10 PG by Scout and is #88 overall by Rivals.

DaShonte Riley highlights below: