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.
Showing posts with label Joe Coleman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joe Coleman. Show all posts
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Monday, July 1, 2013
Twins/Gophers/Wolves Pre-July 4th Round-Up
Before the Super-long holiday weekend when everyone disappears for five days, I figured I should do a quick round-up of the three Minnesota sports teams I know about and touch on the biggest story right now. See, I know (and love) both Gopher Hoops and the Twins, and I'm pretty knowledgeable about the Wolves and the NBA. I watch the Vikings every Sunday and play fantasy football, but I don't really cover them because I don't consider myself an expert unlike the others I mentioned. See, unlike some local folks who actually get paid around here, I stick to what I know so I don't end up saying things like whenever Paul Allen and Paul Charchian get together to talk baseball. Actually that'd be a pretty sweet live blog each week. I might quit my job and do just that. Soon I'll be richer than astronauts.
- Most importantly, and keep in mind we're still very early in the rumor stage here, but Rich Pitino may already have the wheels turning in a big way on some very good recruits for 2014. First, there was this:
For those who don't know, the Tweeter is Isaiah Whitehead, a 6-4 shooting guard out of Brooklyn who ranks as the #10 SG and #35 overall player by ESPN. He has offers from Minnesota, Arizona, Kansas, Louisville, Maryland, St. John's, Syracuse, and UCLA. The re-Tweeter is Ja'Quan Newton, a 6-2 point guard from Philly who ranks as the #13 PG and #67 overall. He holds offers from Georgetown, Miami, Minnesota, Oregon State, Rutgers, St. Joe's, Syracuse, Temple, Xavier, and Villanova.
If you notice, the only two schools to have offered both are Minnesota and Syracuse. That would probably be enough to spazz everybody out (myself included), but next came this tweet:
From recruiting expert Jerry Meyer who has gotten 13 of 14 commits for 2014 correct, and if you click on the link you'd see he had updated his predictions page to forecast Whitehead and Newton heading to Minnesota.
To add a little more fuel to the fire, Newton and Gopher target Reid Travis were on the Celtics together at the NBPA Top 100 Camp (no, I have no idea what this is) this year, and Newton then sent Travis this tweet
Does this mean the Gophers should be expected a trio of big-time commits soon? Yes of course.
- In the most anticipated arrival of a Twins' pitcher since Les Straker, Kyle Gibson made his debut on Saturday and was inevitably called Gibby by Gardenhire. He was also pretty solid, going 6 innings and allowing 8 hits, no walks, 2 runs, and striking out 5 while picking up the win which we all know is the real key to evaluating a pitcher so way to go Gibby. It's super exciting for all us Twins fans because we've been hearing about Gibson forever, he truly has #1-#2 stuff which looks even more better when your team is full of #4 guys, and he struck out five which is actually more than any other Twin on the staff averages in nine innings so yeah and stuff.
Just remember, one start does not a career make. Using Game Score, Gibson's debut was on par with Liam Hendriks and Pat Mahomes when they made their first starts, and we know how that turned out (ok Hendriks isn't done yet, probably, but the train isn't currently pointed towards Cooperstown or even Decentville. Actually the best debut by a Twins pitcher since 1970 belongs to Anthony Swarzak in 2009 when he went seven innings and allowed just 5 hits and zero runs. Do I think Gibson will go the way of Hendriks or Mahomes or Swarzak? No, not at all. He put up a good game and has the pedigree and scouting reports behind him that none of those other guys did. Then again, so did Rick Ankiel, Ben McDonald, and a whole mess of Met's prospects. This year alone Cardinals stud prospect Michael Wacha pitched a gem his first time out, then got bombed the next time and is back in the minors. Dan Straily had an awesome debut for the A's last season, but has jumped back and forth from the rotation and AAA since.
Ok, now I'm just depressing myself and realizing I'm preparing myself for disappointment because being a fan of Minnesota sports means being disappointed. Let's just agree to stop now.
- When the T-Wolves chose Shabazz Muhammad I wrote on the Twitter, "Yes! Shabazz!" and I was immediately and almost completely savaged (JB of Late Night Hoops was one of the few who agreed with me). Frankly I was stunned people would hate the pick. Who else are you going to take at 14? The afro dude? There wasn't a single other player available who was remotely interesting. And looking at the draft there were only a handful of guys with the potential to be all-stars some day: Bennett, Oladipo, Porter, McLemore, Caldwell-Pope, Carter-Williams (if he learns to shoot), Shabazz (with the right coach), and maybe Shane Larkin. Once Pope went at 8 the entire draft was in shambles already, trading back and getting a possible future star in Muhammad and an immediate defensive presence in Dieng was a great move. Seriously, who would you have taken at 14? If it's anybody other than Shabazz you're really dumb, FYI.
Oh, I get it, you wanted them to keep Burke. I get it, I really do. I mean he's so smooth out there. He looks like he's moving at half speed but is just as fast as everybody else, and he's just got such a good head for the game he's mentally a step ahead. I know there are some questions about his athleticism and his jump shot, but he's battle tested in the best conference in the land, I'm sure he'll be fine in the NBA. That's what you're telling yourself, right? That's what you think? Well guess what? Guess who else that describes?
EVAN TURNER!
Hello exactly. You could have written the exact same thing about Turner before he was drafted #2 overall by the Sixers three years ago and he's been bust city. He's been so bad Philly tried to trade him to Phoenix before the draft for the Suns late 1st rounder AND THEY WERE DENIED even though the Suns wing players right now are Jared Dudley, Wes Johnson, P.J. Tucker, and Shannon Brown. Oh my! Burke is such a sure thing that a team in desperate need of a PG, the Pistons whose current PGs are Jose Calderon and Brandon Knight and Knight is so bad they're moving him to the 2 next year, who also had a significant home town angle with him chose a shooting guard over him instead.
I'm sorry, but when Caldwell-Pope was taken (over Burke) by the Pistons the Wolves' draft was all fucked up. Literally the only acceptable answer to the question, "what could have better than what the Wolves did" was "draft C.J. McCollum." I don't like him as an NBAer and Flip has come out and said that he and the team viewed McCollum as a point guard so they weren't all that interested but I can see where somebody would think he could be a Steph Curry type with less gay. That's your only answer. If you have a different one feel free to leave it in the comments but just know that chances are you're a pretty big moron.
- Lastly, Joe Coleman announced he's transferring to St. Mary's. Other than the Gaels total reliance on the three and commitment to defense it's a perfect marriage.
- Most importantly, and keep in mind we're still very early in the rumor stage here, but Rich Pitino may already have the wheels turning in a big way on some very good recruits for 2014. First, there was this:
Me & My Bro @J_Newton20 Thinking Of A Master Plan All Imma Say Is #StayTuned 👌😎
— Isaiah Whitehead (@Isaiah_W15) June 28, 2013
For those who don't know, the Tweeter is Isaiah Whitehead, a 6-4 shooting guard out of Brooklyn who ranks as the #10 SG and #35 overall player by ESPN. He has offers from Minnesota, Arizona, Kansas, Louisville, Maryland, St. John's, Syracuse, and UCLA. The re-Tweeter is Ja'Quan Newton, a 6-2 point guard from Philly who ranks as the #13 PG and #67 overall. He holds offers from Georgetown, Miami, Minnesota, Oregon State, Rutgers, St. Joe's, Syracuse, Temple, Xavier, and Villanova.
If you notice, the only two schools to have offered both are Minnesota and Syracuse. That would probably be enough to spazz everybody out (myself included), but next came this tweet:
Based on a tweet, a hunch and a little more, changed Crystal Ball picks for JaQuan Newton & Isaiah Whitehead. http://t.co/9AYj29zATo
— Jerry Meyer (@jerrymeyer247) June 28, 2013
From recruiting expert Jerry Meyer who has gotten 13 of 14 commits for 2014 correct, and if you click on the link you'd see he had updated his predictions page to forecast Whitehead and Newton heading to Minnesota.
To add a little more fuel to the fire, Newton and Gopher target Reid Travis were on the Celtics together at the NBPA Top 100 Camp (no, I have no idea what this is) this year, and Newton then sent Travis this tweet
@Reid_Travis_22 follow back Bro
— Ja'Quan Newton (@J_Newton20) June 29, 2013
Does this mean the Gophers should be expected a trio of big-time commits soon? Yes of course.
- In the most anticipated arrival of a Twins' pitcher since Les Straker, Kyle Gibson made his debut on Saturday and was inevitably called Gibby by Gardenhire. He was also pretty solid, going 6 innings and allowing 8 hits, no walks, 2 runs, and striking out 5 while picking up the win which we all know is the real key to evaluating a pitcher so way to go Gibby. It's super exciting for all us Twins fans because we've been hearing about Gibson forever, he truly has #1-#2 stuff which looks even more better when your team is full of #4 guys, and he struck out five which is actually more than any other Twin on the staff averages in nine innings so yeah and stuff.
Just remember, one start does not a career make. Using Game Score, Gibson's debut was on par with Liam Hendriks and Pat Mahomes when they made their first starts, and we know how that turned out (ok Hendriks isn't done yet, probably, but the train isn't currently pointed towards Cooperstown or even Decentville. Actually the best debut by a Twins pitcher since 1970 belongs to Anthony Swarzak in 2009 when he went seven innings and allowed just 5 hits and zero runs. Do I think Gibson will go the way of Hendriks or Mahomes or Swarzak? No, not at all. He put up a good game and has the pedigree and scouting reports behind him that none of those other guys did. Then again, so did Rick Ankiel, Ben McDonald, and a whole mess of Met's prospects. This year alone Cardinals stud prospect Michael Wacha pitched a gem his first time out, then got bombed the next time and is back in the minors. Dan Straily had an awesome debut for the A's last season, but has jumped back and forth from the rotation and AAA since.
Ok, now I'm just depressing myself and realizing I'm preparing myself for disappointment because being a fan of Minnesota sports means being disappointed. Let's just agree to stop now.
- When the T-Wolves chose Shabazz Muhammad I wrote on the Twitter, "Yes! Shabazz!" and I was immediately and almost completely savaged (JB of Late Night Hoops was one of the few who agreed with me). Frankly I was stunned people would hate the pick. Who else are you going to take at 14? The afro dude? There wasn't a single other player available who was remotely interesting. And looking at the draft there were only a handful of guys with the potential to be all-stars some day: Bennett, Oladipo, Porter, McLemore, Caldwell-Pope, Carter-Williams (if he learns to shoot), Shabazz (with the right coach), and maybe Shane Larkin. Once Pope went at 8 the entire draft was in shambles already, trading back and getting a possible future star in Muhammad and an immediate defensive presence in Dieng was a great move. Seriously, who would you have taken at 14? If it's anybody other than Shabazz you're really dumb, FYI.
Oh, I get it, you wanted them to keep Burke. I get it, I really do. I mean he's so smooth out there. He looks like he's moving at half speed but is just as fast as everybody else, and he's just got such a good head for the game he's mentally a step ahead. I know there are some questions about his athleticism and his jump shot, but he's battle tested in the best conference in the land, I'm sure he'll be fine in the NBA. That's what you're telling yourself, right? That's what you think? Well guess what? Guess who else that describes?
EVAN TURNER!
Hello exactly. You could have written the exact same thing about Turner before he was drafted #2 overall by the Sixers three years ago and he's been bust city. He's been so bad Philly tried to trade him to Phoenix before the draft for the Suns late 1st rounder AND THEY WERE DENIED even though the Suns wing players right now are Jared Dudley, Wes Johnson, P.J. Tucker, and Shannon Brown. Oh my! Burke is such a sure thing that a team in desperate need of a PG, the Pistons whose current PGs are Jose Calderon and Brandon Knight and Knight is so bad they're moving him to the 2 next year, who also had a significant home town angle with him chose a shooting guard over him instead.
I'm sorry, but when Caldwell-Pope was taken (over Burke) by the Pistons the Wolves' draft was all fucked up. Literally the only acceptable answer to the question, "what could have better than what the Wolves did" was "draft C.J. McCollum." I don't like him as an NBAer and Flip has come out and said that he and the team viewed McCollum as a point guard so they weren't all that interested but I can see where somebody would think he could be a Steph Curry type with less gay. That's your only answer. If you have a different one feel free to leave it in the comments but just know that chances are you're a pretty big moron.
- Lastly, Joe Coleman announced he's transferring to St. Mary's. Other than the Gaels total reliance on the three and commitment to defense it's a perfect marriage.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Welcome aboard, Malik Smith
Because apparently Coach Pitino doesn't believe in every slowing down, there's even more Gopher news to report in this weird last 24 hours with Malik Smith transferring from FIU to join his former coach with the Gophers. Smith is a true chucker who does very little else, but is a good athlete and is familiar with the system Pitino runs in which he did manage to average 14 points per game last year while shooting 36%.
The hope is that Smith's game will be able to fit next to the other pieces the Gophers have so that rather than be the guy who has to carry the entire team's offense he's merely another cog in the great magnificent machine and his percentages and efficiency should go up, and hopefully he'll consider an assist here and there and maybe even grab a rebound if it bounces right to him. One would think he could at least play some defense considering FIU was one of the best in the country at forcing turnovers last year, but he had the 2nd worst steal percentage on the team, a number that was only higher than Mo Walker and Elliot Eliason among Gophers last year.
I realize this probably makes me sound like I'm pretty down on this, and maybe I am a bit, but not completely. Smith is a scorer, pure and simple, and those don't grow on trees (I don't believe) so picking up a guy who can put the ball in the basket and is aggressive with it to join a team who was an offensive mess last year is probably a positive move. His efficiency wasn't terrible last year despite the poor shooting percentage, and if he can take on a more complimentary role both of those should go up since in theory he won't be needed to jack up a ton of shots. I do have concerns that he can't modify his behavior, as well as wondering if he'll be effective against better competition (FIU played Louisville and nobody else at all last year), but those things are for the coach to figure out.
Since Smith is a senior he only has one year left to play and he is supposed to be eligible right away so there's no waiting involved and another scholarship will be open for 2014. Basically Pitino traded Joe Coleman for Smith and an additional scholarship that year. He's clearly come in and decided to rebrand this team as his own and obviously his guy Smith fits his vision better than Coleman so he made the swap (no, I haven't seen anything definitive but the pieces and timing fit). No doubt this move will probably rub some people the wrong way, just as letting Coleman go (meaning no more Minnesota born players are on the roster) will rub some the wrong way. Me? I was a fan of the hire from the get go and so naturally I believe in Pitino and generally support what he's done thus far, including jettisoning Tubby's recruits for next season and bringing in his own guys (by the way, Alex Foster is following Tubby to Texas Tech). This move - the Coleman for Smith swap - however, has me feeling a bit unsure. I liked Coleman's potential within the system Pitino was going to install. Hopefully I love Smith.
The hope is that Smith's game will be able to fit next to the other pieces the Gophers have so that rather than be the guy who has to carry the entire team's offense he's merely another cog in the great magnificent machine and his percentages and efficiency should go up, and hopefully he'll consider an assist here and there and maybe even grab a rebound if it bounces right to him. One would think he could at least play some defense considering FIU was one of the best in the country at forcing turnovers last year, but he had the 2nd worst steal percentage on the team, a number that was only higher than Mo Walker and Elliot Eliason among Gophers last year.
I realize this probably makes me sound like I'm pretty down on this, and maybe I am a bit, but not completely. Smith is a scorer, pure and simple, and those don't grow on trees (I don't believe) so picking up a guy who can put the ball in the basket and is aggressive with it to join a team who was an offensive mess last year is probably a positive move. His efficiency wasn't terrible last year despite the poor shooting percentage, and if he can take on a more complimentary role both of those should go up since in theory he won't be needed to jack up a ton of shots. I do have concerns that he can't modify his behavior, as well as wondering if he'll be effective against better competition (FIU played Louisville and nobody else at all last year), but those things are for the coach to figure out.
Since Smith is a senior he only has one year left to play and he is supposed to be eligible right away so there's no waiting involved and another scholarship will be open for 2014. Basically Pitino traded Joe Coleman for Smith and an additional scholarship that year. He's clearly come in and decided to rebrand this team as his own and obviously his guy Smith fits his vision better than Coleman so he made the swap (no, I haven't seen anything definitive but the pieces and timing fit). No doubt this move will probably rub some people the wrong way, just as letting Coleman go (meaning no more Minnesota born players are on the roster) will rub some the wrong way. Me? I was a fan of the hire from the get go and so naturally I believe in Pitino and generally support what he's done thus far, including jettisoning Tubby's recruits for next season and bringing in his own guys (by the way, Alex Foster is following Tubby to Texas Tech). This move - the Coleman for Smith swap - however, has me feeling a bit unsure. I liked Coleman's potential within the system Pitino was going to install. Hopefully I love Smith.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Joe Coleman to Transfer? (and some other stuff)
- The big news tonight is that Joe Coleman is considering transferring from the Gopher hoops squad with a meeting planned with Coach Pitino Wednesday to discuss his future, a meeting I'd wager was initiated by Coleman after seeing this giant influx of perimeter players. This, in my not remotely humble opinion, would be a mistake by both parties.
Although Coleman may have a rough outside shot and is the worst defender on the team (particularly off the ball) and has the game of a 4 in the body of a 2, he's still a valuable player and should fit in with Pitino's system quite well. Coleman seems to excel when he can get out and run and use his almost unreal ability to score in the paint for a little guy. In the half court his weaknesses (and we might as well throw sub-par ball handling and decision making in there as well) are magnified, but in a more free flowing game he can excel with his athleticism, which allows him to gamble on defense for steals (which he could do more easily with Pitino than Tubby). It would be hard for Coleman to find a better system for his skill set, and it would be hard for the Gophers to replace his production for next year at this late date so it really doesn't make any sense for him to leave. Though if he does it makes a lot more sense to go after Malik Smith (referenced below in a bullet point I wrote before all this Coleman shit broke out)
And now that I glance at Twitter in order to make a comment about Harrison Barnes looking good I see everyone is now suddenly reporting that Coleman has asked for his release. Unless Pitino was like "Hey Joe why don't you go" with the intention of bringing Smith in this is just a baffling decision by Coleman. And, frankly, it sucks. No matter what you think about Coleman (and he clearly had his faults) I really think he would have thrived under Pitino. I guess we'll see by tomorrow what's true and what isn't. All of this is a little bit baffling. I think pretty much every transfer during the Tubby era made some sense (maybe with the exception of Iverson) but this one has me confused. I'll be interested to see what leaks in the next few days (if it turns out to be true).
- With Wednesday being the last day to sign recruits for the 2013-2014 season and nobody on the Gophers radar it appears the Gophers will be looking at snagging a transfer in order to fill out the roster. Right now Malik Smith, formerly of FIU, Tarik Black, formerly of Memphis, Rakeem Buckles, formerly of Louisville, and Joey King, formerly of Drake, look to be the candidates. Black is the definite prize of the group, but he's being chased by teams like Duke and Kansas which makes him a pretty big longshot. Smith averaged 14 points per game last season at FIU as a junior, but he's yet another guard and after signing Daquean McNeil and Dre Mathieu a big man would seem to be a better option which is why, among other reasons, the most likely new Gopher will be either Buckles, King, or both.
Buckles, who was with Pitino at Louisville before following him to FIU, is looking to transfer from FIU and Minnesota makes the most sense. He's a power forward who has been injury prone but talented and he's a senior which means he'd not only (most likely) be eligible right way but also would only take up a scholarship for one season, both of which are attractive to a new coach trying to build a program using his players. King, a 6-9 PF with a nice outside shot, is from Eagan and is looking to transfer closer to home due to some personal issues of some sort, meaning he'd likely get a waiver and be eligible this year just like Buckles, but he still has three years of playing eligibility. It sounds like his game would fit what Pitino wants, it's just a matter of if he's good enough (7pts & 3rebs in 19 minutes per game for Drake last year with outbursts of 21 pts twice including vs. Xavier). There are conflicting reports on whether or not he's been contacted by the Gophers or contacted the Gophers with some reports he's been asked to come in as a walk-on. So who knows, but the team probably needs at least one of those two for next season seeing as a front court of Eliason, Walker, Oto, and Buggsy is what some might call really pretty bad.
- I'm sure most people who would be interested have already checked out this Hicks catch, but here it is again.
I don't think it beats Revere's from last season, but that's a pretty damn good play.
- Also, Glen Perkins really likes nerd stats.
- Congrats to stryker, who wins a DVD/Blu-ray copy of the Sandlot by being chosen at random from those who left a comment below the post about The Sandlot. Just think, it could have been you if you weren't so damn lazy.
- I think, seeing as how we're a cynical and sarcastic society and bloggers seem to lead the league in both, that I'm supposed to hate the new Vikings Stadium but I actually like it. Retractable roof wasn't feasible due to budget and keeping in mind they had a limited space to build and couldn't turn it into a giant corporate like campus area, I think the design looks pretty good. I understand how somebody could hate it with all the glass and what not, but I dig the look.
- Andrew Wiggins, the #1 prospect for the 2013 college basketball season, is taking his talents to Kansas for next year, ending speculation that he was heading for Florida State (both his parents were athletes at FSU) and pretty much guaranteeing that the Florida State/Gopher game at the barn is going to be so boring I'm going to want to die. Remember when Georgia Tech came here when they had Bosh? The Jackets sucked, the Gophers sucked, but it didn't matter because Bosh was fun to watch. And Wiggins is supposed to be way, way better than Bosh ever was in college.
- One of the things I said would be good about this Twins' season is that they'd be in a full rebuilding period which would mean we'd get extended looks at some guys and be able to get a handle on who has a future with the team and who doesn't. Although the jury is still out on pretty much all the young players I've made my decision on one of them: Chris Parmelee is freaking terrible. After this year he'll probably spend a year or two bouncing between the bigs and AAA and eventually be waived and end up doing the same thing for another team. In reality a pretty nice living that I would kill for, but it's over as far as him being the future of anything -other than like, really good softball player.
- Lastly, I got my Ontario Fishing License today. I don't think I've mentioned this before, but a week from Thursday I'd heading off to Canada for a week long fishing trip to Lac Seul which is a 9 hour drive and 3 hour boat ride away with Dawger, Bear, Bogart, Bogart's dad, and a bunch of old people. We will have no internet access and very little cell service which frankly sounds kind of awesome so you'll have to be in TRE's capable hands for a week so hopefully he can post some stuff that doesn't suck. Why would you drive that far just to fish, you may ask if you're some kind of gay. This is why:
Although Coleman may have a rough outside shot and is the worst defender on the team (particularly off the ball) and has the game of a 4 in the body of a 2, he's still a valuable player and should fit in with Pitino's system quite well. Coleman seems to excel when he can get out and run and use his almost unreal ability to score in the paint for a little guy. In the half court his weaknesses (and we might as well throw sub-par ball handling and decision making in there as well) are magnified, but in a more free flowing game he can excel with his athleticism, which allows him to gamble on defense for steals (which he could do more easily with Pitino than Tubby). It would be hard for Coleman to find a better system for his skill set, and it would be hard for the Gophers to replace his production for next year at this late date so it really doesn't make any sense for him to leave. Though if he does it makes a lot more sense to go after Malik Smith (referenced below in a bullet point I wrote before all this Coleman shit broke out)
And now that I glance at Twitter in order to make a comment about Harrison Barnes looking good I see everyone is now suddenly reporting that Coleman has asked for his release. Unless Pitino was like "Hey Joe why don't you go" with the intention of bringing Smith in this is just a baffling decision by Coleman. And, frankly, it sucks. No matter what you think about Coleman (and he clearly had his faults) I really think he would have thrived under Pitino. I guess we'll see by tomorrow what's true and what isn't. All of this is a little bit baffling. I think pretty much every transfer during the Tubby era made some sense (maybe with the exception of Iverson) but this one has me confused. I'll be interested to see what leaks in the next few days (if it turns out to be true).
- With Wednesday being the last day to sign recruits for the 2013-2014 season and nobody on the Gophers radar it appears the Gophers will be looking at snagging a transfer in order to fill out the roster. Right now Malik Smith, formerly of FIU, Tarik Black, formerly of Memphis, Rakeem Buckles, formerly of Louisville, and Joey King, formerly of Drake, look to be the candidates. Black is the definite prize of the group, but he's being chased by teams like Duke and Kansas which makes him a pretty big longshot. Smith averaged 14 points per game last season at FIU as a junior, but he's yet another guard and after signing Daquean McNeil and Dre Mathieu a big man would seem to be a better option which is why, among other reasons, the most likely new Gopher will be either Buckles, King, or both.
Buckles, who was with Pitino at Louisville before following him to FIU, is looking to transfer from FIU and Minnesota makes the most sense. He's a power forward who has been injury prone but talented and he's a senior which means he'd not only (most likely) be eligible right way but also would only take up a scholarship for one season, both of which are attractive to a new coach trying to build a program using his players. King, a 6-9 PF with a nice outside shot, is from Eagan and is looking to transfer closer to home due to some personal issues of some sort, meaning he'd likely get a waiver and be eligible this year just like Buckles, but he still has three years of playing eligibility. It sounds like his game would fit what Pitino wants, it's just a matter of if he's good enough (7pts & 3rebs in 19 minutes per game for Drake last year with outbursts of 21 pts twice including vs. Xavier). There are conflicting reports on whether or not he's been contacted by the Gophers or contacted the Gophers with some reports he's been asked to come in as a walk-on. So who knows, but the team probably needs at least one of those two for next season seeing as a front court of Eliason, Walker, Oto, and Buggsy is what some might call really pretty bad.
- I'm sure most people who would be interested have already checked out this Hicks catch, but here it is again.
I don't think it beats Revere's from last season, but that's a pretty damn good play.
- Also, Glen Perkins really likes nerd stats.
- Congrats to stryker, who wins a DVD/Blu-ray copy of the Sandlot by being chosen at random from those who left a comment below the post about The Sandlot. Just think, it could have been you if you weren't so damn lazy.
- I think, seeing as how we're a cynical and sarcastic society and bloggers seem to lead the league in both, that I'm supposed to hate the new Vikings Stadium but I actually like it. Retractable roof wasn't feasible due to budget and keeping in mind they had a limited space to build and couldn't turn it into a giant corporate like campus area, I think the design looks pretty good. I understand how somebody could hate it with all the glass and what not, but I dig the look.
- Andrew Wiggins, the #1 prospect for the 2013 college basketball season, is taking his talents to Kansas for next year, ending speculation that he was heading for Florida State (both his parents were athletes at FSU) and pretty much guaranteeing that the Florida State/Gopher game at the barn is going to be so boring I'm going to want to die. Remember when Georgia Tech came here when they had Bosh? The Jackets sucked, the Gophers sucked, but it didn't matter because Bosh was fun to watch. And Wiggins is supposed to be way, way better than Bosh ever was in college.
- One of the things I said would be good about this Twins' season is that they'd be in a full rebuilding period which would mean we'd get extended looks at some guys and be able to get a handle on who has a future with the team and who doesn't. Although the jury is still out on pretty much all the young players I've made my decision on one of them: Chris Parmelee is freaking terrible. After this year he'll probably spend a year or two bouncing between the bigs and AAA and eventually be waived and end up doing the same thing for another team. In reality a pretty nice living that I would kill for, but it's over as far as him being the future of anything -other than like, really good softball player.
- Lastly, I got my Ontario Fishing License today. I don't think I've mentioned this before, but a week from Thursday I'd heading off to Canada for a week long fishing trip to Lac Seul which is a 9 hour drive and 3 hour boat ride away with Dawger, Bear, Bogart, Bogart's dad, and a bunch of old people. We will have no internet access and very little cell service which frankly sounds kind of awesome so you'll have to be in TRE's capable hands for a week so hopefully he can post some stuff that doesn't suck. Why would you drive that far just to fish, you may ask if you're some kind of gay. This is why:
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| This is Bogart from a prior trip, by the way. Yes, I know it's hard to believe he's a super rich and powerful attorney. |
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Wait, what? Gophers beat who?
Wow. That was unexpected. I'm pretty sure I can't write anything too intelligent or insightful right now since I was pretty much watching that game on pure emotion, but I can throw down a few thoughts because if you're like me you are just going to spend all day at work reading everything you can find about the game. So I'll sit here with my celebratory cognac (fine, vodka and coke) and write a couple of thoughts. Also, it's not coke, it's R.C. *hangs head in shame
[NOTE: This formatting is horrendous. I'd fix it but I have no idea how.]
[NOTE: This formatting is horrendous. I'd fix it but I have no idea how.]
- This was the Gopher team we saw in the early season. If they can play like this to close out the year they're a sweet 16 contender again.
- This wasn't a case of Indiana playing poorly, the Gophers simply outplayed them.
- I thought Dre Hollins would be the one to step up and carry the team if anybody did, but no question it was Mbakwe setting the tone in the first half. Remember last year at the beginning of the season when the Gophers would spend three quarters of the game struggling against crappy teams and then Mbakwe would be all like "ok, I'm getting every missed shot now" and carry them back to a win? Yeah, that's what he was again tonight. Was amazing.
- Really, nobody played poorly though. Even those who didn't play well overall made huge plays at some point. Hollins, Hollins, and Rodney all shot poorly, but Dre hit some huge shots down the stretch (including that monster three down the stretch which, right before, I told the Bear (who came to the game with me) that if the Gophers hit a 3 on that possession I'd do something unspeakable to him so well, there's that), Austin had a couple of huge plays, and Rodney had that big Hakim Warrick style block on an Oladipo three as time was running out. Everybody came up with a big play at some point. Everybody. Even the 5 second call on Indiana came when Mo Walker was in the game. He had nothing to do with it, but he was there.
- Some will say this is enough to guarantee the Gophers a tournament berth no matter what happens the rest of the way. I'm not quite that certain, but at this point I'm confident if they can beat either Penn State at home OR Nebraska on the road that will do it. Obviously the more wins they can get the better the seed, but as long as the Gophers don't go 0-4 to finish up (including the B10 tournament) it should be the easiest Selection Sunday in years. Decades, really.
- I've gone on record as saying I'm terrified of a Mo Walker/Elliott Elliason starting front court next season. No longer. I'm not exactly fired up about it, but Elliason has done enough go convince me at worst he can be a Trevor Winter type, and he has two years to get better. Walker has shown enough flashes of potential to at least temper my scaredness. With Hollins, Hollins, and Coleman still going to be around those two just have to be not terrible for the team to at least be in contention for an NCAA bid. Still hoping and believing in a Chuck Buggs breakout. Believe with me.
- Speaking of believing, man did whoever is in charge of music botch the "Don't Stop Believing" music in the final minute or so of the game. Started it too late and never even got to the chorus. Horrible.
- Cody Zeller is every bit as good as advertised. He is smooth in the paint and has a bunch of really good moves he can go to on the block. He's also a bit soft, however, and disappeared after Mbakwe, Elliason, and Williams reminded him that this is the Big Ten and pushing people and elbows and what not is the norm. I heard someone mention that Indiana stopped looking for Zeller, but really Zeller stopped posting up hard in the second half. Sorry, but it's true.
- Also Victor Oladipo is ridiculous. If I had any criticism of Indiana tonight it's that they didn't just iso Oladipo every single time they had the ball, because Joe Coleman was the primary defender on him tonight and I'm sorry I like Coleman but he is a horrendous defender. Oladipo beat him to the paint every time he tried, and there were a couple of times I watched Coleman stand still as if rooted to the ground when he should have been providing some weak side help. Again, I like the guy a lot, but he's a horrific defender.
- That being said, overall the defense was outstanding tonight. Holding both Watford and Zeller to single digit scoring was huge, especially because Watford picked up six of his eight on shitty late threes that were half luck. Plus shutting down Hulls after his huge first half was big, and it happened because of more awareness of where he was and just a swarming defense that refused to give up good looks. We saw that kind of defense earlier in the year but it has since bailed, good to see it again.
- I haven't seen video of the play but Will Sheehey should be ashamed of himself if he really flopped there in the last 30 seconds or so, looking for a cheap flagrant against Dre Hollins. Crean should be even more ashamed if he encouraged him to do it. It's a rule that makes sense if common sense was applied, but it's not and it's reared it's ugly head too much this year in stupid places. To try to take advantage of it is embarrassing. I'd like to say you're better than that Crean, but I know you're not. ASS.
- 10 turnovers. That's it for the Gophers. Despite everything else I've written, which as usual is way more than I intended, that was really the key. Well that and the 17 offensive rebounds, but that's to be expected. This team is good enough to beat anyone in the country if they don't turn it over and actually play defense. This may be hyperbole but this R.C. is going to my head.
- I'm willfully ignoring the stretch of possessions where the Gophers offense seemed clueless and got nothing but terrible shots as the shot clock expired as well as the fact that this sets up the Gophers perfectly to lose their last 3 games and make everybody nervous. I will deal with all that later, for tonight, we party.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Gophers vs. Illinois L ive Blog
-11 minutes - So why not drink some booze and live blog, am I right? Watching the Iowa State vs. Kansas game right now. Great game.
-9 minutes - On a scale of 1-think the Big Bang Theory isn't nerdy enough, how nerdy is it that I just watched this:
-7 minutes - So real quick since we have some time let me just mention how ridiculous the Hall of Fame voting crap was this year with nobody getting in. Are you guys kidding me? The worst part is you know they think they're taking some kind of stand or making a statement, when in reality they're just being a bunch of pussies. The worst part? As pointed out by Loretta8 from Sippin' on Purple - Bonds and Clemens finished with a different amount of votes. One is the all-time home run leader, the other won 7 Cy Young Awards. They're both no-brainer first ballot inductees - unless you are against voting in steroid guys (aka completely ignoring the 90s) in which case they both are at the same level of guilt and should both stay out. One way or the other. This means somebody voted for one, but not the other guy. Makes zero sense. They need to revamp the whole system, and I hate saying that because I really don't know how to make it better. To start, how about kicking out all the idiots.
-4 minutes - Seriously, even if you don't want to vote in anybody you remotely suspect of steriods (and, by the way, I've never heard Piazza linked to roids) how do you not elect Craig Biggio? The stats are there and I'm pretty sure nobody suspects him of steroid use. Or elect Tim Raines for christ's sake. He's the second best leadoff hitter of all-time. At some point I may have to do a post on Raines - or at least link to one - because the guy absolutely has the numbers to be in Cooperstown. And you know he wasn't on steroids because he was too busy being high on cocaine.
-2 minutes - This Iowa State game needs to end before the Gopher game starts. Hurry up already.
20:00 - A banked in three for Kansas? You gotta be joshing me. Welp, on to the Gopher game.
20:00 - Being good kind of sucks. It was much easier watching these games when I knew they were going to lose.
20:00 - What's Egwu doing in there, he doesn't even shoot threes?
19:48 - Paul with a very tough three point attempt (and missed). You can have that all game, guys.
19:04 - Another bad three early in the shot clock. Please keep doing this, Illini.
17:41 - Illinois doing a good job keeping the Gophers off the offensive glass, which we can tell already because they've missed like, a billion shots already.
16:53 - Announcer guy FYI - D.J. Richardson is not a "sharp shooter." Gopher offense is so bad right now I'm afraid Tubby might go with the line change offense.
16:18 - Brandon Paul called for the charge after dunking over Mbakwe - announcers don't seem to realize that is, indeed, an offensive foul so who cares about the dunk part. I feel like these guys might be the death of me. Gophers down 4-3, but there have been as many shots already as there were in the entire first half of the Northwestern game.
15:44 - Wait a minute. How can a basket count on a made dunk with a charge called? By definition the ball was still in Paul's hand, which by definition means the basket doesn't count. Jesus this is like re-writing the rules of math. It's not like you can just change PI to be equal to 3.14158. My god people.
14:29 - Gopher defense has been good, forcing Illinois into tough shots, other than the two dunks that is, and doing a good job on the boards. Gophers just not converting opportunities except for just now with Coleman on a dunk in transition. More transition please.
13:25 - Rodney for 3? I guess if they aren't going to challenge it he's going to have to prove he can hit it. Big shot as far as rest of the game implications go.
12:12 - Dre hits a three to answer a Richardson three. Richardson's came early in the shot clock with a hand in his face, Dre's came mid-shot clock and was wide open. Gophers are going to win this game, you guys.
11:29 - Complete second unit in for the Gophers. Great. And Elliason travels 35 feet from the bucket. I know why he does this, so he can play the good players the entire second half, but I still don't like it. Gophers down 13-11 right now, let's hope it stays close to that number while these clowns run down the shot clock again and again.
10:18 - Gopher turnover, Illinois three, Gopher turnover.
9:52 - Welch guarding Paul. God save us all.
9:32 - Offensive foul on Elliason. That's three straight turnovers by him. Effing brilliant.
9:00 - Is there anything more terrifying than Maverick in transition? For Gopher fans, I mean.
7:56 - TV timeout coming with Illinois up 16-15. Good job by the second unit. And by good job, I mean good job on defense (for real) with absolutely brutal offense until Mbakwe came in for Elliason, with Trevor scoring all four points.
7:42 - Wow. Mbakwe with the drive from the top of the key, makes a lefty layup and is fouled. That was an NBA second round draft pick play right there. Free throw to tie? Good.
6:45 - Coleman goes for a monster dunk and gets fouled but it's not called, good job attacking the rim though. Pretty sure Dan just pulls up for a 16 footer there.
5:47 - Great defensive rotations forcing the Illini into bad shots, leading to transition opportunities leading to back-to-back dunks by Coleman and Mbakwe. Gophers up four.
4:53 - More bad shots, more transition opportunities, more Gopher dunks.
4:17 - Good one-on-one move by Bertand to hit a jumper, answered by a three-pointer by Austin Hollins off a good pass by Andre in transition.
3:57 - D.J. Richardson has got to be one of the more disappointing big 10 players I can remember. Tons of fan fare and hype and in four years he's become nothing more than a jump shooter. Of course, it's tough when you have to play for the worst couch in the world.
2:08 - Illinois getting (and hitting) a shit ton of free throws, keeping this close at 31-27 Gophers. Illinois just terrible from three right now, but a lot of it is the Gopher defense. In general the Illini aren't missing open shots, but contested ones.
1:25 - Hollins (Austin) for three, followed by an Illini miss, followed by Andre Ingram throwing a pass into the 8th row. I really think Andre Ingram is very promising for a sophomore.
0:47 - Paul actually gets an open look and drains it. Then Ingram travels. We're going to have to go Iron Five.
0:00 - 34-30 Gophers at the half. Excellent job. Gopher defense is playing awesome, and as long as they keep that up and keep getting transition opportunities they're going to win this game.
0:00 - Holy crap the Lakers are a mess. Spurs up 101-85 with seven minutes left.
19:13 - Illinois still taking dumb shots as Paul goes for the contested running floater (and misses).
18:33 - Paul swatted by Rodney on a contested turnaround jumper, which leads to a wide open three for Austin Hollins (who misses) which leads to an offensive rebound which leads to a lay-up (and foul) for Mbakwe. Free throw good. That sequence was a microcosm of this game.
17:53 - Richardson step back 18 footer early in the shot clock. So dumb.
16:54 - Gopher ball up 39-30. Looking for a dagger. Looking at you, Austin.
16:17 - How about a 40 footer with teh shot clock at two that banks in for Dre who I'm not even sure looked at the hoop? How about that?
14:52 - Illinois with a couple buckets in the paint to cut it to 44-36 Gophers. I hope they haven't figured out this "get good shots" thing.
14:11 - Another lay-up for Illinois, time-out Gophers. Gotta keep 'em out of the paint and keep making them take those contested jumpers they love so much.
12:33 - Illini cut it to 2 with like their fourth straight basket in the paint. I liked it better when they were stupid. Also Mo Walker in the game is killing everything.
11:54 - Austin Hollins steal leads to a dunk for Coleman, and then a Dre Hollins steal leads to an intentional foul by Illinois. Also, I'm having a heart attack.
11:54 - I think I'm supposed to try to be funny but I'm just way too into the game. If you want to laugh just listen to Nickelback or Coldplay or something.
11:41 - Dre hits both free throws and then nails a three. Thank god for Dre. Like Eminem said, you can't forget about Dre. *streetcred*
11:09 - Shit, Paul into the lane, fouled and hits the shot. STOP PLAYING SMART ILLINOIS.
10:50 - "Ahanmisi getting ready to check-in." Cry.
10:28 - Another Illinois lay-up, defense has gone to shit.
9:38 - Coleman for three? Great play by Rodney to find him. And again Illinois gets to the lane and draws a foul. This needs to stop.
9:12 - Time for Welch to shine here with four fouls on Andre Hollins already. I'm fine with him on offense, but very scared on defense.
8:38 - Gophers switch to a zone leading to an absolutely terrible three point miss by Paul, leading to a dunk by Rodney and a 58-47 Gopher lead. I love dumb teams.
7:09 - Paul into the lane and misses when he could have kicked it out to a teammate for an open three, leads to a transition lay-up for Coleman and a 60-49 lead. I feel like I'm typing the same thing over and over again. Also fearing this is a pretty worthless live blog for the reader, but what do you care it's saving you from having to think about actually doing work.
6:42 - Bertand goes one-on-one for about 10 dribbles then misses a contested turnaround. I know I keep pointing it out but I can't get over how dumb this team is.
5:43 - Could have done without the easy dunk. On Coleman, naturally.
5:24 - He pays it back by blowing by his defender for a lay-up. Incredible game for Coleman.
4:45 - Coleman with ANOTHER three. And Dre Hollins just checked in and picked up his fourth foul, which means earlier when I thought he had four he only had three which means I have no idea why he was ever taken out of the game.
3:33 - Gophers up 13 (another Coleman dunk) and I can still barely breathe.
3:04 - Sloppy turnover. Oh yeah, that's why.
2:52 - Richardson airballs a three (contested, of course) which reminds me why I probably CAN breathe.
2:30 - I know the game isn't over yet (Gophers up 72-59) but man is this team good. Their defense is incredible. Watching their rotations on defense was the most impressive part of the game, and that's a game when Coleman scored 25 (as of now). Those who didn't watch or didn't pay attention may call this a fluky bad shooting night by the Illini, but the Gophers had everything to do with that. Then look at the offense where they have five guys who could put up 20 on any given night? This team is for real, kids.
1:48 - I can't believe Illinois missed another contested three-pointer, you guys.
1:16 - Brandon Paul lay-up. Basically uncontested since the Gophers are up by 12 (after that).
0:30 - Coleman playing some serious suckhole, now up to 29 points after a couple easy dunks.
0:09 - Dre with a three as the shot clock winds down becasue why not. 84-67 Final. Crazy, dudes. I'll maybe have more on this game tomorrow if I don't get lazy
-9 minutes - On a scale of 1-think the Big Bang Theory isn't nerdy enough, how nerdy is it that I just watched this:
-7 minutes - So real quick since we have some time let me just mention how ridiculous the Hall of Fame voting crap was this year with nobody getting in. Are you guys kidding me? The worst part is you know they think they're taking some kind of stand or making a statement, when in reality they're just being a bunch of pussies. The worst part? As pointed out by Loretta8 from Sippin' on Purple - Bonds and Clemens finished with a different amount of votes. One is the all-time home run leader, the other won 7 Cy Young Awards. They're both no-brainer first ballot inductees - unless you are against voting in steroid guys (aka completely ignoring the 90s) in which case they both are at the same level of guilt and should both stay out. One way or the other. This means somebody voted for one, but not the other guy. Makes zero sense. They need to revamp the whole system, and I hate saying that because I really don't know how to make it better. To start, how about kicking out all the idiots.
-4 minutes - Seriously, even if you don't want to vote in anybody you remotely suspect of steriods (and, by the way, I've never heard Piazza linked to roids) how do you not elect Craig Biggio? The stats are there and I'm pretty sure nobody suspects him of steroid use. Or elect Tim Raines for christ's sake. He's the second best leadoff hitter of all-time. At some point I may have to do a post on Raines - or at least link to one - because the guy absolutely has the numbers to be in Cooperstown. And you know he wasn't on steroids because he was too busy being high on cocaine.
-2 minutes - This Iowa State game needs to end before the Gopher game starts. Hurry up already.
20:00 - A banked in three for Kansas? You gotta be joshing me. Welp, on to the Gopher game.
20:00 - Being good kind of sucks. It was much easier watching these games when I knew they were going to lose.
20:00 - What's Egwu doing in there, he doesn't even shoot threes?
19:48 - Paul with a very tough three point attempt (and missed). You can have that all game, guys.
19:04 - Another bad three early in the shot clock. Please keep doing this, Illini.
17:41 - Illinois doing a good job keeping the Gophers off the offensive glass, which we can tell already because they've missed like, a billion shots already.
16:53 - Announcer guy FYI - D.J. Richardson is not a "sharp shooter." Gopher offense is so bad right now I'm afraid Tubby might go with the line change offense.
16:18 - Brandon Paul called for the charge after dunking over Mbakwe - announcers don't seem to realize that is, indeed, an offensive foul so who cares about the dunk part. I feel like these guys might be the death of me. Gophers down 4-3, but there have been as many shots already as there were in the entire first half of the Northwestern game.
15:44 - Wait a minute. How can a basket count on a made dunk with a charge called? By definition the ball was still in Paul's hand, which by definition means the basket doesn't count. Jesus this is like re-writing the rules of math. It's not like you can just change PI to be equal to 3.14158. My god people.
14:29 - Gopher defense has been good, forcing Illinois into tough shots, other than the two dunks that is, and doing a good job on the boards. Gophers just not converting opportunities except for just now with Coleman on a dunk in transition. More transition please.
13:25 - Rodney for 3? I guess if they aren't going to challenge it he's going to have to prove he can hit it. Big shot as far as rest of the game implications go.
12:12 - Dre hits a three to answer a Richardson three. Richardson's came early in the shot clock with a hand in his face, Dre's came mid-shot clock and was wide open. Gophers are going to win this game, you guys.
11:29 - Complete second unit in for the Gophers. Great. And Elliason travels 35 feet from the bucket. I know why he does this, so he can play the good players the entire second half, but I still don't like it. Gophers down 13-11 right now, let's hope it stays close to that number while these clowns run down the shot clock again and again.
10:18 - Gopher turnover, Illinois three, Gopher turnover.
9:52 - Welch guarding Paul. God save us all.
9:32 - Offensive foul on Elliason. That's three straight turnovers by him. Effing brilliant.
9:00 - Is there anything more terrifying than Maverick in transition? For Gopher fans, I mean.
7:56 - TV timeout coming with Illinois up 16-15. Good job by the second unit. And by good job, I mean good job on defense (for real) with absolutely brutal offense until Mbakwe came in for Elliason, with Trevor scoring all four points.
7:42 - Wow. Mbakwe with the drive from the top of the key, makes a lefty layup and is fouled. That was an NBA second round draft pick play right there. Free throw to tie? Good.
6:45 - Coleman goes for a monster dunk and gets fouled but it's not called, good job attacking the rim though. Pretty sure Dan just pulls up for a 16 footer there.
5:47 - Great defensive rotations forcing the Illini into bad shots, leading to transition opportunities leading to back-to-back dunks by Coleman and Mbakwe. Gophers up four.
4:53 - More bad shots, more transition opportunities, more Gopher dunks.
4:17 - Good one-on-one move by Bertand to hit a jumper, answered by a three-pointer by Austin Hollins off a good pass by Andre in transition.
3:57 - D.J. Richardson has got to be one of the more disappointing big 10 players I can remember. Tons of fan fare and hype and in four years he's become nothing more than a jump shooter. Of course, it's tough when you have to play for the worst couch in the world.
2:08 - Illinois getting (and hitting) a shit ton of free throws, keeping this close at 31-27 Gophers. Illinois just terrible from three right now, but a lot of it is the Gopher defense. In general the Illini aren't missing open shots, but contested ones.
1:25 - Hollins (Austin) for three, followed by an Illini miss, followed by Andre Ingram throwing a pass into the 8th row. I really think Andre Ingram is very promising for a sophomore.
0:47 - Paul actually gets an open look and drains it. Then Ingram travels. We're going to have to go Iron Five.
0:00 - 34-30 Gophers at the half. Excellent job. Gopher defense is playing awesome, and as long as they keep that up and keep getting transition opportunities they're going to win this game.
0:00 - Holy crap the Lakers are a mess. Spurs up 101-85 with seven minutes left.
19:13 - Illinois still taking dumb shots as Paul goes for the contested running floater (and misses).
18:33 - Paul swatted by Rodney on a contested turnaround jumper, which leads to a wide open three for Austin Hollins (who misses) which leads to an offensive rebound which leads to a lay-up (and foul) for Mbakwe. Free throw good. That sequence was a microcosm of this game.
17:53 - Richardson step back 18 footer early in the shot clock. So dumb.
16:54 - Gopher ball up 39-30. Looking for a dagger. Looking at you, Austin.
16:17 - How about a 40 footer with teh shot clock at two that banks in for Dre who I'm not even sure looked at the hoop? How about that?
14:52 - Illinois with a couple buckets in the paint to cut it to 44-36 Gophers. I hope they haven't figured out this "get good shots" thing.
14:11 - Another lay-up for Illinois, time-out Gophers. Gotta keep 'em out of the paint and keep making them take those contested jumpers they love so much.
12:33 - Illini cut it to 2 with like their fourth straight basket in the paint. I liked it better when they were stupid. Also Mo Walker in the game is killing everything.
11:54 - Austin Hollins steal leads to a dunk for Coleman, and then a Dre Hollins steal leads to an intentional foul by Illinois. Also, I'm having a heart attack.
11:54 - I think I'm supposed to try to be funny but I'm just way too into the game. If you want to laugh just listen to Nickelback or Coldplay or something.
11:41 - Dre hits both free throws and then nails a three. Thank god for Dre. Like Eminem said, you can't forget about Dre. *streetcred*
11:09 - Shit, Paul into the lane, fouled and hits the shot. STOP PLAYING SMART ILLINOIS.
10:50 - "Ahanmisi getting ready to check-in." Cry.
10:28 - Another Illinois lay-up, defense has gone to shit.
9:38 - Coleman for three? Great play by Rodney to find him. And again Illinois gets to the lane and draws a foul. This needs to stop.
9:12 - Time for Welch to shine here with four fouls on Andre Hollins already. I'm fine with him on offense, but very scared on defense.
8:38 - Gophers switch to a zone leading to an absolutely terrible three point miss by Paul, leading to a dunk by Rodney and a 58-47 Gopher lead. I love dumb teams.
7:09 - Paul into the lane and misses when he could have kicked it out to a teammate for an open three, leads to a transition lay-up for Coleman and a 60-49 lead. I feel like I'm typing the same thing over and over again. Also fearing this is a pretty worthless live blog for the reader, but what do you care it's saving you from having to think about actually doing work.
6:42 - Bertand goes one-on-one for about 10 dribbles then misses a contested turnaround. I know I keep pointing it out but I can't get over how dumb this team is.
5:43 - Could have done without the easy dunk. On Coleman, naturally.
5:24 - He pays it back by blowing by his defender for a lay-up. Incredible game for Coleman.
4:45 - Coleman with ANOTHER three. And Dre Hollins just checked in and picked up his fourth foul, which means earlier when I thought he had four he only had three which means I have no idea why he was ever taken out of the game.
3:33 - Gophers up 13 (another Coleman dunk) and I can still barely breathe.
3:04 - Sloppy turnover. Oh yeah, that's why.
2:52 - Richardson airballs a three (contested, of course) which reminds me why I probably CAN breathe.
2:30 - I know the game isn't over yet (Gophers up 72-59) but man is this team good. Their defense is incredible. Watching their rotations on defense was the most impressive part of the game, and that's a game when Coleman scored 25 (as of now). Those who didn't watch or didn't pay attention may call this a fluky bad shooting night by the Illini, but the Gophers had everything to do with that. Then look at the offense where they have five guys who could put up 20 on any given night? This team is for real, kids.
1:48 - I can't believe Illinois missed another contested three-pointer, you guys.
1:16 - Brandon Paul lay-up. Basically uncontested since the Gophers are up by 12 (after that).
0:30 - Coleman playing some serious suckhole, now up to 29 points after a couple easy dunks.
0:09 - Dre with a three as the shot clock winds down becasue why not. 84-67 Final. Crazy, dudes. I'll maybe have more on this game tomorrow if I don't get lazy
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Minnesota 88, South Dakota State 64
Well that was a pretty thrilling Gopher win, huh? Not because they beat a Nate Wolters-less Jackrabbits team, but because sportsbooks didn't factor in the fact that the team was going to be Wolters-less.
See, the spread on the game opened with the Gophers as 14.5 point favorites. Mid-day there were some tweets going around that Wolters sprained his ankle, didn't participate in the team's shoot-around that day, and was questionable to play. The spread only moved to 15, so at that point I jumped on it figuring he'd be limited at best. Then, about a half-hour before game time, more tweets came out that he wasn't looking good or very confident about playing on it. The spread still only moved to 15.5, so I doubled up. Then, maybe 10 minutes or so before the game, it because official he wasn't playing. Spread stayed at 15.5, so I tripled up on my double up. Easy win. SDSU would have been a 25 point underdog at least if Wolters was known to not be playing, and the books clearly didn't pay much attention to this game, don't know who Wolters is, or simply didn't care. In any case it was a nice payday and an easy one, and those are the best kind. I feel pretty bad I didn't give Bogart or TRE the heads-up on this, but I was too wrapped up in it myself. Oh well.
As for the game, the Gophers continue to do what they've done all year - play great defense and efficient offense. I mean you can't get more efficient than Andre Hollins. 22 points on 8-9 shooting and 6-7 on threes? And his only miss was an absolute ridiculous heat check that nobody could ever make ever? You gotta be kidding me. Add that performance to his 41 points on 16 shots versus Memphis and that has to be two of most efficient 20 points games this year. I'm sure that info is out there somewhere (ranking these) but I don't know where to find it.
He was far from the only stud last night though, as Joe Coleman and Austin Hollins continue to develop into really, really good players. One big thing I noticed last night about Austin is how much more assertive and confident he is with his jump shot. Where the last two years he'd catch the ball on the wing and kind of size up if he was open enough to shoot and then maybe shoot, but this year he's already able to determine if he's going to be open enough to shoot before he gets the pass and just catches, rises, and fires. And I'm not just talking short shots, he's doing it on three-pointers. Take that with his always there but suddenly really emerging athleticism and he's a hell of a player. As for Coleman he does incredible things considering he has a forward's game in a guard's body. He's tough, strong, and determined and an amazing inside scorer for someone who is just 6-4. He's just fearless - basically the complete opposite player of his brother. I mean does anyone get more of his own misses in the paint than Joe? He's like, a genius at it. Dan and Joe must have switched bodies like Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds in that movie with that chick from 40-year-old Virgin who pukes in the car at some point because each's abilities are the exact opposite of what you'd want from someone in their bodies. Can you imagine Dan with Joe's game? Whoa.
Maybe the craziest part of this team is I've now droned on for 500+ words about them and still haven't mentioned either of their two best players from last season. Trevor Mbakwe, who nearly had a double double, who mainly seems to have settled into his sixth man/big-time rebounder. The only problem with that is he still has NBA aspirations, and I don't think he's going to get there averaging 7 pts and 8 rebounds per game. That would also be why he unveiled that absolutely god awful turnaround fade-away jumper last night that he should never, ever take again under any circumstances. I still think he's easing his way into being a force, so I'll reserve more judgement on him until later in the year. Then Rodney Williams, whose stats made it look like he was kind of invisible last night but he wasn't because he blocked two shots nearly back to half court, was trying to prove he can shoot from the perimeter (note: he still can't) and then later when he decided "this shit sucks when I don't score" he dunked all over some poor ginger bastard. Basically they didn't need him, and that was pretty awesome, actually.
Excellent, if easy, game, from a very good team. The first five are outstanding if you sub Mbakwe in for Eliason (who isn't terrible anymore). Welch, Osenieks, Ingram, Walker, and Ahanmisi are a good bench that isn't great but can fill in some gaps, and with a starting 6 this good they aren't needed in games that are going to be close for more than 3-8 minutes each, but they're also capable enough to fill in for 12-15 if that situation should arise at some point this year or at least that's what I keep telling myself. Simply put, I believe in this year's squad and I'm in love with them and I don't care who knows it. Also, how sweet would it be for Wolters to get back, the Jackrabbits to go on a huge run, and this ends up loooking like a super easy win over a top 100 team? Pretty cool, right? Right.
Back tomorrow with a preview of the USC game, the only losable game left. As long as they win that one they should cruise to home wins against NDSU and Lafayette and most likely will be ranked in the top 10 going into the big Dec. 31 game versus Michigan State. And that, my friends, is where we are going to learn an awfully, awfully thought about our favorite team. In the immortal words of that one guy, "NO WHAMMIES NO WHAMMIES NO WHAMMIES!"
See, the spread on the game opened with the Gophers as 14.5 point favorites. Mid-day there were some tweets going around that Wolters sprained his ankle, didn't participate in the team's shoot-around that day, and was questionable to play. The spread only moved to 15, so at that point I jumped on it figuring he'd be limited at best. Then, about a half-hour before game time, more tweets came out that he wasn't looking good or very confident about playing on it. The spread still only moved to 15.5, so I doubled up. Then, maybe 10 minutes or so before the game, it because official he wasn't playing. Spread stayed at 15.5, so I tripled up on my double up. Easy win. SDSU would have been a 25 point underdog at least if Wolters was known to not be playing, and the books clearly didn't pay much attention to this game, don't know who Wolters is, or simply didn't care. In any case it was a nice payday and an easy one, and those are the best kind. I feel pretty bad I didn't give Bogart or TRE the heads-up on this, but I was too wrapped up in it myself. Oh well.
As for the game, the Gophers continue to do what they've done all year - play great defense and efficient offense. I mean you can't get more efficient than Andre Hollins. 22 points on 8-9 shooting and 6-7 on threes? And his only miss was an absolute ridiculous heat check that nobody could ever make ever? You gotta be kidding me. Add that performance to his 41 points on 16 shots versus Memphis and that has to be two of most efficient 20 points games this year. I'm sure that info is out there somewhere (ranking these) but I don't know where to find it.
He was far from the only stud last night though, as Joe Coleman and Austin Hollins continue to develop into really, really good players. One big thing I noticed last night about Austin is how much more assertive and confident he is with his jump shot. Where the last two years he'd catch the ball on the wing and kind of size up if he was open enough to shoot and then maybe shoot, but this year he's already able to determine if he's going to be open enough to shoot before he gets the pass and just catches, rises, and fires. And I'm not just talking short shots, he's doing it on three-pointers. Take that with his always there but suddenly really emerging athleticism and he's a hell of a player. As for Coleman he does incredible things considering he has a forward's game in a guard's body. He's tough, strong, and determined and an amazing inside scorer for someone who is just 6-4. He's just fearless - basically the complete opposite player of his brother. I mean does anyone get more of his own misses in the paint than Joe? He's like, a genius at it. Dan and Joe must have switched bodies like Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds in that movie with that chick from 40-year-old Virgin who pukes in the car at some point because each's abilities are the exact opposite of what you'd want from someone in their bodies. Can you imagine Dan with Joe's game? Whoa.
Maybe the craziest part of this team is I've now droned on for 500+ words about them and still haven't mentioned either of their two best players from last season. Trevor Mbakwe, who nearly had a double double, who mainly seems to have settled into his sixth man/big-time rebounder. The only problem with that is he still has NBA aspirations, and I don't think he's going to get there averaging 7 pts and 8 rebounds per game. That would also be why he unveiled that absolutely god awful turnaround fade-away jumper last night that he should never, ever take again under any circumstances. I still think he's easing his way into being a force, so I'll reserve more judgement on him until later in the year. Then Rodney Williams, whose stats made it look like he was kind of invisible last night but he wasn't because he blocked two shots nearly back to half court, was trying to prove he can shoot from the perimeter (note: he still can't) and then later when he decided "this shit sucks when I don't score" he dunked all over some poor ginger bastard. Basically they didn't need him, and that was pretty awesome, actually.
Excellent, if easy, game, from a very good team. The first five are outstanding if you sub Mbakwe in for Eliason (who isn't terrible anymore). Welch, Osenieks, Ingram, Walker, and Ahanmisi are a good bench that isn't great but can fill in some gaps, and with a starting 6 this good they aren't needed in games that are going to be close for more than 3-8 minutes each, but they're also capable enough to fill in for 12-15 if that situation should arise at some point this year or at least that's what I keep telling myself. Simply put, I believe in this year's squad and I'm in love with them and I don't care who knows it. Also, how sweet would it be for Wolters to get back, the Jackrabbits to go on a huge run, and this ends up loooking like a super easy win over a top 100 team? Pretty cool, right? Right.
Back tomorrow with a preview of the USC game, the only losable game left. As long as they win that one they should cruise to home wins against NDSU and Lafayette and most likely will be ranked in the top 10 going into the big Dec. 31 game versus Michigan State. And that, my friends, is where we are going to learn an awfully, awfully thought about our favorite team. In the immortal words of that one guy, "NO WHAMMIES NO WHAMMIES NO WHAMMIES!"
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Gophers 77, Florida State 68
Well that was a pretty impressive victory, and one I did not expect. I'm not surprised the Gophers knocked off Florida State, I figured they had a decent change, but I definitely wasn't expected them to take control of the entire game and win by 9 in a game that wasn't remotely that close.
Sure, Florida State might be down a bit this year, what with the loss to South Alabama and all, but they also scored wins over BYU and St. Joe's in route to winning the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic and those teams are likely to at least be in the mix for an NCAA bid this season. Their RPI isn't very good right now (136) but a loss to USA will do that and by the time the conference season gets going this is going to end up being at least a top 100 win for the Gophers, and you can never have too many of those. Not to mention that doing it in Tallahassee, the place where top ranked UNC and Duke teams have lost multiple times, makes it that much better.
Florida State certainly didn't help themselves out by missing a lot of the open looks they managed to get, but give a lot of credit to the Gophers for forcing FSU out on the perimeter taking jumpers rather than getting to the rim. Other than a few very nice drives by Snaer and Terrance Shannon grabbing 8 offensive rebounds the interior defense was incredible. The Gophers somehow finished with just six blocked shots but I think 3-4 of them came in the first ten minutes and did a good job pushing the Seminole offense outside - not a strength of theirs. I'm starting to believe this is the best Gopher defensive team I can remember.
Offensively they were impressive as well, moving the ball quickly and crisply and knocking down open shots. The three guards all are showing they can score when needed, with Austin Hollins the jump-shooter, Joe Coleman the pure scorer, and Andre Hollins the streaky hot guy. Take those three and add in Rodney Williams and this offense is humming. I can't get over Rodney transformation. It started last year, hit a stride at the end of the season, and has continued into this year. He just looks and plays so confidently. When he gets the ball on the perimeter now instead of quickly passing it on to a guard he's always looking for that lane to get to the hoop, as if he has finally figured out nobody who is big enough to guard him is quick enough to guard him. I'd still like to see him posting up a little bit more, but FSU did a good job of taking away the post up game from the Gophers last night, luckily it didn't matter because the guard play was still good. Twelve total turnovers for the team was an improvement as well. Clearly it's an area that still needs to get better, but that was a step in the right direction.
As good as the team looked and as solid as they've been this year I am still concerned about Trevor Mbakwe. I just don't get what's going on there. It's not just the numbers, it's that he just doesn't seem like the same player and I don't mean physically. He doesn't seem into the game. Last night he made a lay-up and got fouled in a big spot and showed absolutely no emotion (the Ralph Sampson plan, apparently). I don't know if it was more of a "been here before" or a "I'm bored" but he was an emotional leader last season and I would have thought he'd have a bigger reaction in that spot. Hopefully I'm over-complicating the issue and he's just still working himself all the way back, but he's going to be the difference for this team and how far they can go. With him playing the sixth man, bench big guy this is a very good team. If he can get back to even close to what he was last year and take Elliason's spot in the lineup (although he played quite well last night) that could elevate this team to "great" status. Yeah, I said it. I didn't get to see the Stanford game but I had heard that he looked like his old self in that one, which is even more of a concern then that he didn't seem up for this game. Maybe he was tired (he is super old, after all). Maybe he's frustrated coming off the bench. I don't know. Turn him loose Tubby. Let him start and play 30 minutes and let's see what happens.
All-in-all, a really good win. How FSU plays in the ACC this season will determine just how good, but I'd be pretty shocked if this didn't end up as an RPI Top 100 victory. The team played really well and Tubby showed, as he did against Memphis, that he knows how to shorten the bench when it's needed, something I can't recall seeing in past years. Maybe he senses what I do, that this is the team he can really do something special with. That's my feeling, and I'm not optimistic by nature. With only two meaningful games left before the B10 season starts (vs. SDSU, @USC) the Gophers have a real shot to enter Big Ten play at 12-1 (not uncommon for them) but with three likely Top 100 wins (FSU, Stanford, Memphis) and three others that could get there (SDSU, USC, Richmond). Not a bad start. However this isn't the first time a Tubby Smith led Gopher squad has gotten out to a fantastic start in November. Hopefully this one ends up a little differently.
Sure, Florida State might be down a bit this year, what with the loss to South Alabama and all, but they also scored wins over BYU and St. Joe's in route to winning the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic and those teams are likely to at least be in the mix for an NCAA bid this season. Their RPI isn't very good right now (136) but a loss to USA will do that and by the time the conference season gets going this is going to end up being at least a top 100 win for the Gophers, and you can never have too many of those. Not to mention that doing it in Tallahassee, the place where top ranked UNC and Duke teams have lost multiple times, makes it that much better.
Florida State certainly didn't help themselves out by missing a lot of the open looks they managed to get, but give a lot of credit to the Gophers for forcing FSU out on the perimeter taking jumpers rather than getting to the rim. Other than a few very nice drives by Snaer and Terrance Shannon grabbing 8 offensive rebounds the interior defense was incredible. The Gophers somehow finished with just six blocked shots but I think 3-4 of them came in the first ten minutes and did a good job pushing the Seminole offense outside - not a strength of theirs. I'm starting to believe this is the best Gopher defensive team I can remember.
Offensively they were impressive as well, moving the ball quickly and crisply and knocking down open shots. The three guards all are showing they can score when needed, with Austin Hollins the jump-shooter, Joe Coleman the pure scorer, and Andre Hollins the streaky hot guy. Take those three and add in Rodney Williams and this offense is humming. I can't get over Rodney transformation. It started last year, hit a stride at the end of the season, and has continued into this year. He just looks and plays so confidently. When he gets the ball on the perimeter now instead of quickly passing it on to a guard he's always looking for that lane to get to the hoop, as if he has finally figured out nobody who is big enough to guard him is quick enough to guard him. I'd still like to see him posting up a little bit more, but FSU did a good job of taking away the post up game from the Gophers last night, luckily it didn't matter because the guard play was still good. Twelve total turnovers for the team was an improvement as well. Clearly it's an area that still needs to get better, but that was a step in the right direction.
As good as the team looked and as solid as they've been this year I am still concerned about Trevor Mbakwe. I just don't get what's going on there. It's not just the numbers, it's that he just doesn't seem like the same player and I don't mean physically. He doesn't seem into the game. Last night he made a lay-up and got fouled in a big spot and showed absolutely no emotion (the Ralph Sampson plan, apparently). I don't know if it was more of a "been here before" or a "I'm bored" but he was an emotional leader last season and I would have thought he'd have a bigger reaction in that spot. Hopefully I'm over-complicating the issue and he's just still working himself all the way back, but he's going to be the difference for this team and how far they can go. With him playing the sixth man, bench big guy this is a very good team. If he can get back to even close to what he was last year and take Elliason's spot in the lineup (although he played quite well last night) that could elevate this team to "great" status. Yeah, I said it. I didn't get to see the Stanford game but I had heard that he looked like his old self in that one, which is even more of a concern then that he didn't seem up for this game. Maybe he was tired (he is super old, after all). Maybe he's frustrated coming off the bench. I don't know. Turn him loose Tubby. Let him start and play 30 minutes and let's see what happens.
All-in-all, a really good win. How FSU plays in the ACC this season will determine just how good, but I'd be pretty shocked if this didn't end up as an RPI Top 100 victory. The team played really well and Tubby showed, as he did against Memphis, that he knows how to shorten the bench when it's needed, something I can't recall seeing in past years. Maybe he senses what I do, that this is the team he can really do something special with. That's my feeling, and I'm not optimistic by nature. With only two meaningful games left before the B10 season starts (vs. SDSU, @USC) the Gophers have a real shot to enter Big Ten play at 12-1 (not uncommon for them) but with three likely Top 100 wins (FSU, Stanford, Memphis) and three others that could get there (SDSU, USC, Richmond). Not a bad start. However this isn't the first time a Tubby Smith led Gopher squad has gotten out to a fantastic start in November. Hopefully this one ends up a little differently.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
DWG NCAA Preview: Team #19 Minnesota Gophers
Because above all else - including the Twins, gambling, shitty predictions, and shark movies - this is a Gopher basketball blog I'm giving them their own post rather than just lumping them in with a bunch of other teams like I've been doing. And since I know things will go better this way, I'm going to do this in random points style.
- Is #19 a little bit too high? Yeah, maybe. Based on votes the Coaches poll has them 34th, while the AP poll puts them at #30. CBS Sports has them at #22 and most of the other polls/previews I've found put them anywhere between twenty and fifty, so yes, nineteenth is a bit optimistic, but only a bit. I'm also making some assumptions about the Gophers this year, which brings me to a few more points.
- I'm assuming Trevor Mbakwe is healthy. Let's put aside any legal questions regarding Mbakwe because it's reportedly all behind both him and the team at this point and also who really gives a crap? I don't care what the players do off the court (as long as they stay eligible) and couldn't care less if they graduate (as long as the program doesn't get hit like UCONN and others just did) I just want my teams to win. Given that as my starting point, I only care about if Mbakwe can play the way he could when healthy, and I'm thinking it's a yes.
See, because this isn't the dark ages of medicine anywhere. When my dad blew out his knee when he was playing minor league baseball ages ago they practically had to slice the knee off to work on it. In more recent times, it was said you needed anywhere from a year and a half to two years to fully recover, but luckily modern medicine continues to get better and that's not necessarily the case anymore. Adrian Peterson blew out his knee Christmas Eve of 2011 and is now one of the leading rushers in the NFL in a season that started just 9 months later. A more relevant example is Michigan State's forward Branden Dawson, who blew out his knee in early March of 2012 and has already resumed full basketball activities just 7 months later. Mbakwe has a full 3 months on that dude recovery wise, so I expect him to be the same guy who was attacking the glass and practically winning games for the Gophers single handedly early last season.
- I'm assuming Rodney Williams has learned how to play and won't shrink back into Mbakwe's shadow. Probably the biggest key to last year's little bit of success was Williams blossoming after Mbakwe's injury into a legitimate forward. He learned to play a little bit of PF, taking smaller defenders down into the paint even if Tubby called an agonizing small amount of plays that called for this, and he learned how to play SF, figuring out that a mid-range jumper wasn't his game and that when he had slower defenders on him to take that shit to the rack. He was a smashing success, nearly doubling his scoring and increasing basically all stats across the board. My hope is that he can continue to play this way, and maybe work in an little high post/low post (come on, you know Tubby loves it) with Mbakwe depending on match-ups and see what happens.
The fear, of course, is that with Mbakwe back as the main big man - and make no mistake that's his paint - Rodney will decide he's a perimeter-oriented small forward once again. He'll start the year settling for threes and taking long-range 2s rather than posting up or getting to the rim, and when he starts missing (and unless something has drastically changed he will be missing) he will lose confidence, get pulled from games, and revert back to his sophomore year level of play. I am choosing to believe that this will not happen. Williams looked happy last season for once of the first times I can recall, and I think he really enjoyed being "the guy in the paint", the guy who exploited mis-matches, and the guy who could crash the boards. He can still be all this, and if he does, he's going to be one of the best small forwards in the conference. It is on Tubby to make sure he finds a way to make Mbakwe and Williams' co-exist. Their skill sets do overlap in some ways, but they complement each other in may ways as well. Make it happen, Tubby. This is easily the most important piece to this year's puzzle.
- I'm assuming Andre Hollins is as good as he was at the end of last season. If you're a Gopher fan you know how Hollins closed out the season (at least until the Stanford game): 8 straight games scoring double figures with half of those over 20, incredible free throw shooting (40-42 in those 8 games; 90% for the year), 16-40 from 3, and 26 assists - incredible numbers if he could keep it up for the season. He showed flashes of that kind of scoring ability earlier in the year, and an 8-game stretch is too long to be a total fluke. He brings an incredible ability to get into the paint to the table (shades of Russell Westbrook) and obviously can finish at the line. He may not be the best pure distributor a point guard could be, but he got better as the year went on and finished out looking awfully good for a freshman. His shooting is only so-so from the outside, but a 38% 3-point percentage in his first year is a good indicator of success. All signs point to an absolute breakout year.
My one fear is that Tubby may end up neutering him. Yeah he's a little reckless at times and can be out of control, but that's what I want in my point guard. I want a point guard who, every single time he gets an outlet pass, streaks up the floor immediately to see if anything looks good, and then pulls it back. I don't mind forcing the ball where it maybe shouldn't go sometimes because if the point guard is good enough (and I think he is) that's going to work as often as it doesn't. You show me a point guard at this level and at that age who is always under control and I'll show you a point guard who can't make anything happen. With Mbakwe and Williams already there to take care of the paint someone has to be the guy on the perimeter, and there is no reason for it not to be Dre Hollins.
- Put those three assumptions together, and you can see why I'm so optimistic this season. Think about it. If all those assumptions break correctly, how many better big men are there in the league than Mbakwe? I'll tell you: 1 - Tyler Zeller. Whichever you prefer, those two are clearly #1A and #1B in the Big 10. Then, what is a better combo of forwards than Mbakwe and Williams? Again, Indiana with Zeller and Watford. Unless the two freshmen at Michigan (McGary and Robinson) are through the roof (very possible), Basabe stops sucking and Aaron White improves immensely at Iowa and/or Adam Woodbury is ready to be a stud now (unlikely), or some combination of the Spartan freshmen and Branden Dawson's knee are studs (possible), the Gophers will have a top-2 forward combo, and at worst will be top-5 if all those things I just wrote happen. Then, how many PGs are going to be better than Andre Hollins? Trey Burke, obviously. Tim Frazier, probably but kind of irrelevant. Aaron Craft? Maybe, but what about on offense? Keith Appling? No. Jordan Hulls? No. There are two freshmen who could be huge in Yogi Ferrell (Indiana) and Gary Harris (Michigan State), but in any case you're looking at one of the top players at three different positions for the Gophers this year. Fill in the rest with capable role players (and I'm not quite ready to relegate Austin Hollins or Joe Coleman to "role player" being their upside this year) and you're looking at a very, very good team.
HOWEVER.
I can absolutely see this going to shit as well, even if Mbakwe is 100%, and that's due to Mr. Tubby Smith. The way this team is built, with Mbakwe and Williams, they should be grabbing damn near every defensive rebound and then they should be outletting to Hollins and go. This team should be fast enough and athletic enough to have an excellent transition game. Unfortunately the Gophers have never ranked higher than #192 in tempo under Tubby. The highest Kentucky ever ranked under Tubby was #147, so I'm guessing we aren't going to see a more uptempo squad. This worries me that he's going to beat on Hollins' that he needs to slow it down, walk it up, make 3-passes before a shot and all that other Norman Dale bullshit. I also worry about the Mbakwe/Williams dynamic, because Tubby has never gotten a 2-big man system to really work. Now, Williams isn't a true big man but he also doesn't shoot well, so that's going to be on Tubby to figure that out, but if he can make it work Austin Hollins and Julian Welch (and Oto Osenieks) should have many, many chances to knock down open jumpers.
I've never been one to irrationally call for Tubby's head, and I'm not doing it now, but this is absolutely a make-or-break year for him. For one, as outlined above, he has the most talented team he's had here yet and has a chance to develop into something special. Perhaps even more important is the wealth of basketball talent in Minnesota in 2014, and while a successful year might convince some of that talent to stay home, another missed NCAA Tournament will almost certainly drive them away.
ESPN ranks Tyus Jones (Apple Valley) #1 for the class, Rashad Vaughn (Cooper) #10, and Reid Travis (De La Salle) #29. Jones is almost certainly not going to stay home, but Vaughn and Travis are the kind of kids who can make a school like Minnesota. Tubby's overall record with highly ranked Minnesota kids is very good, but these guys are ranked way ahead of where Royce White, Rodney Williams, and Joe Coleman were. This season needs to go well to have a chance to get these guys. I don't know if Tubby's job depends on it, but it should.
Oh, right. Picture:
Previous:
Teams #68-60
Teams #59-53
Teams #52-47
Teams #46-39
Teams #38-34
Teams #33-26
Teams #25-20
- Is #19 a little bit too high? Yeah, maybe. Based on votes the Coaches poll has them 34th, while the AP poll puts them at #30. CBS Sports has them at #22 and most of the other polls/previews I've found put them anywhere between twenty and fifty, so yes, nineteenth is a bit optimistic, but only a bit. I'm also making some assumptions about the Gophers this year, which brings me to a few more points.
- I'm assuming Trevor Mbakwe is healthy. Let's put aside any legal questions regarding Mbakwe because it's reportedly all behind both him and the team at this point and also who really gives a crap? I don't care what the players do off the court (as long as they stay eligible) and couldn't care less if they graduate (as long as the program doesn't get hit like UCONN and others just did) I just want my teams to win. Given that as my starting point, I only care about if Mbakwe can play the way he could when healthy, and I'm thinking it's a yes.
See, because this isn't the dark ages of medicine anywhere. When my dad blew out his knee when he was playing minor league baseball ages ago they practically had to slice the knee off to work on it. In more recent times, it was said you needed anywhere from a year and a half to two years to fully recover, but luckily modern medicine continues to get better and that's not necessarily the case anymore. Adrian Peterson blew out his knee Christmas Eve of 2011 and is now one of the leading rushers in the NFL in a season that started just 9 months later. A more relevant example is Michigan State's forward Branden Dawson, who blew out his knee in early March of 2012 and has already resumed full basketball activities just 7 months later. Mbakwe has a full 3 months on that dude recovery wise, so I expect him to be the same guy who was attacking the glass and practically winning games for the Gophers single handedly early last season.
- I'm assuming Rodney Williams has learned how to play and won't shrink back into Mbakwe's shadow. Probably the biggest key to last year's little bit of success was Williams blossoming after Mbakwe's injury into a legitimate forward. He learned to play a little bit of PF, taking smaller defenders down into the paint even if Tubby called an agonizing small amount of plays that called for this, and he learned how to play SF, figuring out that a mid-range jumper wasn't his game and that when he had slower defenders on him to take that shit to the rack. He was a smashing success, nearly doubling his scoring and increasing basically all stats across the board. My hope is that he can continue to play this way, and maybe work in an little high post/low post (come on, you know Tubby loves it) with Mbakwe depending on match-ups and see what happens.
The fear, of course, is that with Mbakwe back as the main big man - and make no mistake that's his paint - Rodney will decide he's a perimeter-oriented small forward once again. He'll start the year settling for threes and taking long-range 2s rather than posting up or getting to the rim, and when he starts missing (and unless something has drastically changed he will be missing) he will lose confidence, get pulled from games, and revert back to his sophomore year level of play. I am choosing to believe that this will not happen. Williams looked happy last season for once of the first times I can recall, and I think he really enjoyed being "the guy in the paint", the guy who exploited mis-matches, and the guy who could crash the boards. He can still be all this, and if he does, he's going to be one of the best small forwards in the conference. It is on Tubby to make sure he finds a way to make Mbakwe and Williams' co-exist. Their skill sets do overlap in some ways, but they complement each other in may ways as well. Make it happen, Tubby. This is easily the most important piece to this year's puzzle.
- I'm assuming Andre Hollins is as good as he was at the end of last season. If you're a Gopher fan you know how Hollins closed out the season (at least until the Stanford game): 8 straight games scoring double figures with half of those over 20, incredible free throw shooting (40-42 in those 8 games; 90% for the year), 16-40 from 3, and 26 assists - incredible numbers if he could keep it up for the season. He showed flashes of that kind of scoring ability earlier in the year, and an 8-game stretch is too long to be a total fluke. He brings an incredible ability to get into the paint to the table (shades of Russell Westbrook) and obviously can finish at the line. He may not be the best pure distributor a point guard could be, but he got better as the year went on and finished out looking awfully good for a freshman. His shooting is only so-so from the outside, but a 38% 3-point percentage in his first year is a good indicator of success. All signs point to an absolute breakout year.
My one fear is that Tubby may end up neutering him. Yeah he's a little reckless at times and can be out of control, but that's what I want in my point guard. I want a point guard who, every single time he gets an outlet pass, streaks up the floor immediately to see if anything looks good, and then pulls it back. I don't mind forcing the ball where it maybe shouldn't go sometimes because if the point guard is good enough (and I think he is) that's going to work as often as it doesn't. You show me a point guard at this level and at that age who is always under control and I'll show you a point guard who can't make anything happen. With Mbakwe and Williams already there to take care of the paint someone has to be the guy on the perimeter, and there is no reason for it not to be Dre Hollins.
- Put those three assumptions together, and you can see why I'm so optimistic this season. Think about it. If all those assumptions break correctly, how many better big men are there in the league than Mbakwe? I'll tell you: 1 - Tyler Zeller. Whichever you prefer, those two are clearly #1A and #1B in the Big 10. Then, what is a better combo of forwards than Mbakwe and Williams? Again, Indiana with Zeller and Watford. Unless the two freshmen at Michigan (McGary and Robinson) are through the roof (very possible), Basabe stops sucking and Aaron White improves immensely at Iowa and/or Adam Woodbury is ready to be a stud now (unlikely), or some combination of the Spartan freshmen and Branden Dawson's knee are studs (possible), the Gophers will have a top-2 forward combo, and at worst will be top-5 if all those things I just wrote happen. Then, how many PGs are going to be better than Andre Hollins? Trey Burke, obviously. Tim Frazier, probably but kind of irrelevant. Aaron Craft? Maybe, but what about on offense? Keith Appling? No. Jordan Hulls? No. There are two freshmen who could be huge in Yogi Ferrell (Indiana) and Gary Harris (Michigan State), but in any case you're looking at one of the top players at three different positions for the Gophers this year. Fill in the rest with capable role players (and I'm not quite ready to relegate Austin Hollins or Joe Coleman to "role player" being their upside this year) and you're looking at a very, very good team.
HOWEVER.
I can absolutely see this going to shit as well, even if Mbakwe is 100%, and that's due to Mr. Tubby Smith. The way this team is built, with Mbakwe and Williams, they should be grabbing damn near every defensive rebound and then they should be outletting to Hollins and go. This team should be fast enough and athletic enough to have an excellent transition game. Unfortunately the Gophers have never ranked higher than #192 in tempo under Tubby. The highest Kentucky ever ranked under Tubby was #147, so I'm guessing we aren't going to see a more uptempo squad. This worries me that he's going to beat on Hollins' that he needs to slow it down, walk it up, make 3-passes before a shot and all that other Norman Dale bullshit. I also worry about the Mbakwe/Williams dynamic, because Tubby has never gotten a 2-big man system to really work. Now, Williams isn't a true big man but he also doesn't shoot well, so that's going to be on Tubby to figure that out, but if he can make it work Austin Hollins and Julian Welch (and Oto Osenieks) should have many, many chances to knock down open jumpers.
I've never been one to irrationally call for Tubby's head, and I'm not doing it now, but this is absolutely a make-or-break year for him. For one, as outlined above, he has the most talented team he's had here yet and has a chance to develop into something special. Perhaps even more important is the wealth of basketball talent in Minnesota in 2014, and while a successful year might convince some of that talent to stay home, another missed NCAA Tournament will almost certainly drive them away.
ESPN ranks Tyus Jones (Apple Valley) #1 for the class, Rashad Vaughn (Cooper) #10, and Reid Travis (De La Salle) #29. Jones is almost certainly not going to stay home, but Vaughn and Travis are the kind of kids who can make a school like Minnesota. Tubby's overall record with highly ranked Minnesota kids is very good, but these guys are ranked way ahead of where Royce White, Rodney Williams, and Joe Coleman were. This season needs to go well to have a chance to get these guys. I don't know if Tubby's job depends on it, but it should.
Oh, right. Picture:
Previous:
Teams #68-60
Teams #59-53
Teams #52-47
Teams #46-39
Teams #38-34
Teams #33-26
Teams #25-20
Monday, January 23, 2012
Week in Review - 1/18/2012
So do you think we'll hear a little bit of talk about a rematch, revenge, redemption, etc. the next couple of weeks? Hey, at least David Tyree will probably get to be interviewed on TV again.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Joe Coleman. No, I'm not actually giving all the credit to Coleman for the 3-game winning streak, but it's easy to notice that the streak started when he was put in the lineup. Coleman has an aggressiveness and a fearless streak to him that's pretty unique on this team (although I think Andre Hollins has some of it too, but just doesn't have the skill level to pull it off just yet), and it seems to be rubbing off a bit, particularly on Austin Hollins, but on pretty much the entire back court - even Maverick, although I'm not sure if that's a good thing. I'm not sure if it was that more aggressive attitude or betting coaching by Tubby (who did, by the way, seem very engaged in the game for the first time in far too long), but when Northwestern went into that 1-3-1 I was ready for all kinds of collapse, but they handled it well. I'm not saying they carved it up like a Thanksgiving taco buffet, but they were definitely more aggressive going into the gaps than the last several hundred years (and seriously, it's not a "trap at half court" 1-3-1, so you don't need to treat it that way). Add in the defensive effort and this was one of the team's best games of the year. The latest bracketology is out on ESPN.com and they currently have the Gophers in as an 11 seed. I'm not sure they're there yet and there's plenty of work to do, but make no mistake, the Gophers are all set-up to disappoint. Prove me wrong. Please.
2. Timberwolves. I didn't even know I missed the Timberwolves. The wife and I watched the end of their big win against the Clippers, and when Kevin Love took that shot I put both arms in the air and when he hit it I turned to Mrs. W and said "Hell Yeah" or something similarly stupid, but the point isn't that I said something stupid, it's that I said anything at all (plus that arms in the air thing). When is the last time I reacted to anything the T-Wolves did with anything other than laughter or indifference? I have no idea. I can't even remember the last time I got irritated. Hell I can't really even remember the last time I watched an entire game and I've watched all or nearly all of three or four this year already. I hate to jump on the Rubio bandwagon and give all the credit to one guy, but he makes them fun to watch, even in a loss, and he's made them a much better team than last year. Even if the upside is an 8 seed an an early exit (and that might be pushing it), they're relevant, they're talked about, and they're entertaining. What more could you ask for after the hell that team has been?
3. Missouri Tigers. After Saturday's win over Baylor I have now narrowed my possible National Champ pick to Kentucky or Missouri (Ohio State and Baylor are my other 2 Final Four picks right now) because that win answered every possible question I could have about the Tigers. And really there weren't many questions, just two: could they win against a tough team on the road (only road wins this year are Iowa State and Old Dominion with neutral court wins over Illinois, Notre Dame, and Cal) and how would they handle a team that could match there athleticism but with more size like Baylor (Ratliffe is Mizzou's only contributor over 6-6). Just an awesome team. And I'm trying to think of anybody else, but Phil Pressey has to be the best point guard in the country right? I know you can get into the scoring point vs. pure point and Pressey probably isn't as good in either category as guys like Ashton Gibbs (scorer) or Kendall Marshall (pure), but combine the two and add in his elite level defense and I think he's gotta be the guy.
4. Florida State. Wow. So after a last second three knocked off Duke in Cameron on Saturday, Florida State's last four games are the win at Duke, a win over Maryland, a win over North Carolina, and a win on the road at Va Tech. All four impressive in their own way, but the win at Duke and the thrashing they gave UNC (remember they won 90-57) are two of the more impressive wins by anybody this year (although I'd give the nod to the Mizzou win referenced above). What's even better for the Noles is that they've always been a great defensive squad (top 5 in defensive efficiency the last 3 years), but in their last few games the offense has shown up. 90 points vs. UNC? 84 vs. Maryland? 75 vs. Duke? In all three cases that's a top 2 score against, put up by what was supposed to be a pretty crappy offense. And since I don't really watch many FSU games I can't really pin it down, but it seems like a different Seminole is stepping up offensively in each game. With that defense and there pretty good guards the Seminoles have March sleeper written all over them. With a sharpie. One of those cool glittery ones.
5. Victor Cruz. Yes, El Juegito finally gets a mention. See, I'm a huge Hakeem Nicks fan, so I could easily convince myself that everything Cruz did was fluky. Like when he burst onto the scene in Week 3 with 2 long touchdowns he only had one other catch and so obviously that was just a fluky lucky day. Then after an 8 catch, 161 yard day he followed it up with a 2 for 12 day, so yeah, no worries, clearly just a fluke. Then, and I'm just realizing this right now by looking at his game log, Cruz went the final 10 games of the season with at least five catches 9 times and at least 90 yards seven times with a 5-44 game in week 16 his only clunker. He ended up 5th amongst wideouts in receptions this year and third in yards, not to mention tied for fourth in touchdowns. Crazy. And after his 10 catch, 152 yard game this weekend against 49ers where he was basically their only offensive weapon I'm finally ready to admit that he's pretty damn good. He's no Hakeem Nicks, but he's a lot better than I've given him credit for.
WHO SUCKED
1. Billy Cundiff. So let's get this straight - your defense manages to keep one of the best offensive teams in the league under control, your much maligned QB keeps you in the game and then, miraculously, manages to drive your team all the way down the field and into chip shot field goal range to tie the game and you shank it worse than Dobby got shanked? It was practically an extra point and I think Cundiff missed it further to the left than how far away the spot he kicked from was. But, I guess that's what happens when you trust a kicker from the Missouri Valley Conference, because everyone knows that other than UNI's upset of Kansas a couple of years ago the MVC has never produced anything that didn't suck. Plus this guy was Dawger's kicker on his fantasy team, so between the curse of Dawger (which is a real thing, just ask Darren McFadden, Josh Freeman, Rodney Williams last year, or basically any Twin) and the Drake thing this guy was pretty much screwed.
2. UCONN Huskies. Add the Huskies to the list of team's in free fall. The warning signs were there after UCONN lost to both Seton Hall and Rutgers earlier in the month, but since Ryan Boatright was shut down by the NCAA they beat Notre Dame, but have now lost their last two - a home game vs. Cincy and on the road at Tennessee who is terrible. What's funny is Boatright, who I desperately wanted to be a Gopher, plays the fourth most minutes on the team while the two starting guards, Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier, play the most minutes. So basically this team is three guards + Andre Drummond and that's it (actually the rest of their guys would beat the Gophers, but you get my point). So what do you get if you take something with four legs and chop one off? A Def Leppard drummer, the guy who killed Indiana Jones's wife, or a really funny looking dog, that's what.
3. New York Knicks. Wow, what a shocker that Knicks are 6-9. See, getting two superstars (or more) on one team is definitely a good way to build a winner in a hurry, but you can't just slap any superstars together or you end up with a broccoli and poop sandwich. Lebron and Wade don't necessarily make sense, but Bosh does with either and those two are so good and so special it works. If Deron Williams and Dwight Howard end up together it makes sense, and if both end up with Nowitzki it makes even more sense. Outside of the ball-hogging, bitching, and raping Kobe and Shaq made a ton of sense. Pierce, Allen, and KG, the first of the superteams, made sense. But Amare and Carmelo? No. Chris Paul and Amare, yes. But not this. Two guys who need the ball at all times and are terrible defenders who also take up almost all your cap room and reduce you to using Landry Fields and Toney Douglas as your back court. I thought the Tyson Chandler signing was genius, but not even he can save this defensive wasteland. God the Knicks are just worthless. The only city in America who puts NBA as their #1 sport and this is the crap they get. It would be sad if so many New Yorkers weren't abrasive A-holes. Or at least that's what TV has led me to believe.
4. Michigan Wolverines. Thanks a lot, assholes. So all the talk about how the Big 10 is the best conference in the land and how it's not only good it's deep and that's why things like Indiana losing to the Gophers and Illinois losing to Penn State and Nebraska beating Indiana happen, and then one of the supposed better teams in the conference has a rare chance to prove how good they are in mid-season and the Wolverines lay and egg and lose to Arkansas, a bottom third SEC team with no chance at an NCAA bid. Actually, I was starting to kind of believe the hype so really this just did me a huge favor by reminding me that outside of Ohio State and Michigan State the big 10 always sucks in the tournament so now maybe I can win the bracket pool instead of tearing my stupid bracket up by 6pm Thursday night for the 10th straight year.
5. Northwestern Wildcats. Pardon my french, but what the deuce was that? I can't even decide the most perplexing part between John Shurna's suddenly inability to even come close to hitting a free throw, Luka Mirkovich only playing 10 minutes and most of it in garbage time, or why Dawger was terrified of Dave Sobolewski (as he wrote in the comments of my game preview) when they guy is some kind of cross between a ball boy and a lesbian with a game more on par with Maverick Ahanmisi than somebody anyone needs to be afraid of. Give the Gopher defense plenty of credit because they did a great job, particularly in taking Drew Crawford basically completely out of the game, but Northwestern surely didn't do themselves any favors. Not to mention that now gives them four losses in their last five games, and although they can't quite be counted out of getting their first ever NCAA bid, it's not looking super duper likely at this point.
Of course, all this pales in comparison to the real story of the game, which was that I was selected to do that thing where you pick between the four kinds of lotteries and then whichever one you pick has a certain amount of Gopher 5 tickets behind it and then you win them and stuff. So they come get me at half-time right after the alumni came out there for what I swear was the 4th time this year, and bring me over down by the baseline where we sit in the second row and they tell me we're going up on the floor at the first TV timeout of the half, which is the first clock stoppage under 16 minutes. Ok, fine.
Then, after explaining the bit, they bring over this hideous orange Gopher 5 shirt and tell me that I have to wear this because the sponsor is there and well, that's the bit. Ok, fine. So I look at it and it's a Large, which usually either means it will fit fine or be way too tight, depending on the brand. Of course, this doesn't stop somebody from behind me from yelling "better get that guy a double-XL!" and when I turn around it's some old dude who had to have been at least 90, and he's giving me this big smile and so I laugh and I'm like, "good one, old dude." So whatever, I put it on and it's super tight but I'll live.
I was at the game with Bear and Snake and they kept telling me I had to shtick it up and be funny and they kept saying that when it was my turn to talk I needed to say something like "I'll take the scratch-offs" which was ok I thought but I couldn't think of anything else until right before they called me up there I had an inspiration. So when it was my turn and they're like, "what's your choice?", I said, "In honor of my personal hero, Luka Mirkovich, I select Northstar Cash" and then I looked over and he was looking around so he definitely heard his name. It was awesome.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Joe Coleman. No, I'm not actually giving all the credit to Coleman for the 3-game winning streak, but it's easy to notice that the streak started when he was put in the lineup. Coleman has an aggressiveness and a fearless streak to him that's pretty unique on this team (although I think Andre Hollins has some of it too, but just doesn't have the skill level to pull it off just yet), and it seems to be rubbing off a bit, particularly on Austin Hollins, but on pretty much the entire back court - even Maverick, although I'm not sure if that's a good thing. I'm not sure if it was that more aggressive attitude or betting coaching by Tubby (who did, by the way, seem very engaged in the game for the first time in far too long), but when Northwestern went into that 1-3-1 I was ready for all kinds of collapse, but they handled it well. I'm not saying they carved it up like a Thanksgiving taco buffet, but they were definitely more aggressive going into the gaps than the last several hundred years (and seriously, it's not a "trap at half court" 1-3-1, so you don't need to treat it that way). Add in the defensive effort and this was one of the team's best games of the year. The latest bracketology is out on ESPN.com and they currently have the Gophers in as an 11 seed. I'm not sure they're there yet and there's plenty of work to do, but make no mistake, the Gophers are all set-up to disappoint. Prove me wrong. Please.
2. Timberwolves. I didn't even know I missed the Timberwolves. The wife and I watched the end of their big win against the Clippers, and when Kevin Love took that shot I put both arms in the air and when he hit it I turned to Mrs. W and said "Hell Yeah" or something similarly stupid, but the point isn't that I said something stupid, it's that I said anything at all (plus that arms in the air thing). When is the last time I reacted to anything the T-Wolves did with anything other than laughter or indifference? I have no idea. I can't even remember the last time I got irritated. Hell I can't really even remember the last time I watched an entire game and I've watched all or nearly all of three or four this year already. I hate to jump on the Rubio bandwagon and give all the credit to one guy, but he makes them fun to watch, even in a loss, and he's made them a much better team than last year. Even if the upside is an 8 seed an an early exit (and that might be pushing it), they're relevant, they're talked about, and they're entertaining. What more could you ask for after the hell that team has been?
3. Missouri Tigers. After Saturday's win over Baylor I have now narrowed my possible National Champ pick to Kentucky or Missouri (Ohio State and Baylor are my other 2 Final Four picks right now) because that win answered every possible question I could have about the Tigers. And really there weren't many questions, just two: could they win against a tough team on the road (only road wins this year are Iowa State and Old Dominion with neutral court wins over Illinois, Notre Dame, and Cal) and how would they handle a team that could match there athleticism but with more size like Baylor (Ratliffe is Mizzou's only contributor over 6-6). Just an awesome team. And I'm trying to think of anybody else, but Phil Pressey has to be the best point guard in the country right? I know you can get into the scoring point vs. pure point and Pressey probably isn't as good in either category as guys like Ashton Gibbs (scorer) or Kendall Marshall (pure), but combine the two and add in his elite level defense and I think he's gotta be the guy.
4. Florida State. Wow. So after a last second three knocked off Duke in Cameron on Saturday, Florida State's last four games are the win at Duke, a win over Maryland, a win over North Carolina, and a win on the road at Va Tech. All four impressive in their own way, but the win at Duke and the thrashing they gave UNC (remember they won 90-57) are two of the more impressive wins by anybody this year (although I'd give the nod to the Mizzou win referenced above). What's even better for the Noles is that they've always been a great defensive squad (top 5 in defensive efficiency the last 3 years), but in their last few games the offense has shown up. 90 points vs. UNC? 84 vs. Maryland? 75 vs. Duke? In all three cases that's a top 2 score against, put up by what was supposed to be a pretty crappy offense. And since I don't really watch many FSU games I can't really pin it down, but it seems like a different Seminole is stepping up offensively in each game. With that defense and there pretty good guards the Seminoles have March sleeper written all over them. With a sharpie. One of those cool glittery ones.
5. Victor Cruz. Yes, El Juegito finally gets a mention. See, I'm a huge Hakeem Nicks fan, so I could easily convince myself that everything Cruz did was fluky. Like when he burst onto the scene in Week 3 with 2 long touchdowns he only had one other catch and so obviously that was just a fluky lucky day. Then after an 8 catch, 161 yard day he followed it up with a 2 for 12 day, so yeah, no worries, clearly just a fluke. Then, and I'm just realizing this right now by looking at his game log, Cruz went the final 10 games of the season with at least five catches 9 times and at least 90 yards seven times with a 5-44 game in week 16 his only clunker. He ended up 5th amongst wideouts in receptions this year and third in yards, not to mention tied for fourth in touchdowns. Crazy. And after his 10 catch, 152 yard game this weekend against 49ers where he was basically their only offensive weapon I'm finally ready to admit that he's pretty damn good. He's no Hakeem Nicks, but he's a lot better than I've given him credit for.
WHO SUCKED
1. Billy Cundiff. So let's get this straight - your defense manages to keep one of the best offensive teams in the league under control, your much maligned QB keeps you in the game and then, miraculously, manages to drive your team all the way down the field and into chip shot field goal range to tie the game and you shank it worse than Dobby got shanked? It was practically an extra point and I think Cundiff missed it further to the left than how far away the spot he kicked from was. But, I guess that's what happens when you trust a kicker from the Missouri Valley Conference, because everyone knows that other than UNI's upset of Kansas a couple of years ago the MVC has never produced anything that didn't suck. Plus this guy was Dawger's kicker on his fantasy team, so between the curse of Dawger (which is a real thing, just ask Darren McFadden, Josh Freeman, Rodney Williams last year, or basically any Twin) and the Drake thing this guy was pretty much screwed.
2. UCONN Huskies. Add the Huskies to the list of team's in free fall. The warning signs were there after UCONN lost to both Seton Hall and Rutgers earlier in the month, but since Ryan Boatright was shut down by the NCAA they beat Notre Dame, but have now lost their last two - a home game vs. Cincy and on the road at Tennessee who is terrible. What's funny is Boatright, who I desperately wanted to be a Gopher, plays the fourth most minutes on the team while the two starting guards, Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier, play the most minutes. So basically this team is three guards + Andre Drummond and that's it (actually the rest of their guys would beat the Gophers, but you get my point). So what do you get if you take something with four legs and chop one off? A Def Leppard drummer, the guy who killed Indiana Jones's wife, or a really funny looking dog, that's what.
3. New York Knicks. Wow, what a shocker that Knicks are 6-9. See, getting two superstars (or more) on one team is definitely a good way to build a winner in a hurry, but you can't just slap any superstars together or you end up with a broccoli and poop sandwich. Lebron and Wade don't necessarily make sense, but Bosh does with either and those two are so good and so special it works. If Deron Williams and Dwight Howard end up together it makes sense, and if both end up with Nowitzki it makes even more sense. Outside of the ball-hogging, bitching, and raping Kobe and Shaq made a ton of sense. Pierce, Allen, and KG, the first of the superteams, made sense. But Amare and Carmelo? No. Chris Paul and Amare, yes. But not this. Two guys who need the ball at all times and are terrible defenders who also take up almost all your cap room and reduce you to using Landry Fields and Toney Douglas as your back court. I thought the Tyson Chandler signing was genius, but not even he can save this defensive wasteland. God the Knicks are just worthless. The only city in America who puts NBA as their #1 sport and this is the crap they get. It would be sad if so many New Yorkers weren't abrasive A-holes. Or at least that's what TV has led me to believe.
4. Michigan Wolverines. Thanks a lot, assholes. So all the talk about how the Big 10 is the best conference in the land and how it's not only good it's deep and that's why things like Indiana losing to the Gophers and Illinois losing to Penn State and Nebraska beating Indiana happen, and then one of the supposed better teams in the conference has a rare chance to prove how good they are in mid-season and the Wolverines lay and egg and lose to Arkansas, a bottom third SEC team with no chance at an NCAA bid. Actually, I was starting to kind of believe the hype so really this just did me a huge favor by reminding me that outside of Ohio State and Michigan State the big 10 always sucks in the tournament so now maybe I can win the bracket pool instead of tearing my stupid bracket up by 6pm Thursday night for the 10th straight year.
5. Northwestern Wildcats. Pardon my french, but what the deuce was that? I can't even decide the most perplexing part between John Shurna's suddenly inability to even come close to hitting a free throw, Luka Mirkovich only playing 10 minutes and most of it in garbage time, or why Dawger was terrified of Dave Sobolewski (as he wrote in the comments of my game preview) when they guy is some kind of cross between a ball boy and a lesbian with a game more on par with Maverick Ahanmisi than somebody anyone needs to be afraid of. Give the Gopher defense plenty of credit because they did a great job, particularly in taking Drew Crawford basically completely out of the game, but Northwestern surely didn't do themselves any favors. Not to mention that now gives them four losses in their last five games, and although they can't quite be counted out of getting their first ever NCAA bid, it's not looking super duper likely at this point.
Of course, all this pales in comparison to the real story of the game, which was that I was selected to do that thing where you pick between the four kinds of lotteries and then whichever one you pick has a certain amount of Gopher 5 tickets behind it and then you win them and stuff. So they come get me at half-time right after the alumni came out there for what I swear was the 4th time this year, and bring me over down by the baseline where we sit in the second row and they tell me we're going up on the floor at the first TV timeout of the half, which is the first clock stoppage under 16 minutes. Ok, fine.
Then, after explaining the bit, they bring over this hideous orange Gopher 5 shirt and tell me that I have to wear this because the sponsor is there and well, that's the bit. Ok, fine. So I look at it and it's a Large, which usually either means it will fit fine or be way too tight, depending on the brand. Of course, this doesn't stop somebody from behind me from yelling "better get that guy a double-XL!" and when I turn around it's some old dude who had to have been at least 90, and he's giving me this big smile and so I laugh and I'm like, "good one, old dude." So whatever, I put it on and it's super tight but I'll live.
I was at the game with Bear and Snake and they kept telling me I had to shtick it up and be funny and they kept saying that when it was my turn to talk I needed to say something like "I'll take the scratch-offs" which was ok I thought but I couldn't think of anything else until right before they called me up there I had an inspiration. So when it was my turn and they're like, "what's your choice?", I said, "In honor of my personal hero, Luka Mirkovich, I select Northstar Cash" and then I looked over and he was looking around so he definitely heard his name. It was awesome.
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| Look how loved this guy is. And now he knows for sure who his #1 fan is. |
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Gophers vs. Hoosiers Live Blog
I'm not exactly certain why, but I'm going to live blog this game. I'm a bit nervous because I fully expect that three-eighths of my body will be covered in vomit by the end of this and let's face it I'm not 28 anymore so that's not cool, but I'm going to do it anyway. I had a work sponsored happy hour earlier and am now armed with five Coors Light silos and a giant vat of Mrs. W's delicious vinegar dill cucumbers so I'm feeling confident. Confident I'll be done with this post in less than an hour, but I'm now committed so let's see I guess.
20:00 - Ahanmisi not in the starting lineup tonight. It's like we've already won.
20:00 - I love how everyone is so confused about Tubby being 0-4 in conference and how it's a miracle. It's not a miracle when you don't care. It's like, it's not a miracle that I have no Wild pennants in my house. It's just that hockey is for idiots and I don't give a crap. Kind of like how I imagine Tubby feels about this job.
19:38 - Welch's slow feet commit a foul. He's now officially slower than small white dudes.
19:34 - Rodney bringing the aggressive getting his own board off a miss and converting it into a 3-point play. I'm feeling like it might be a Rodney night. Not sure if Indiana really has anybody outside Oladipo who can handle him.
18:48 - Indiana attacking the paint early. What a weird concept. Speaking of such, what percentage of Mbakwe's shot attempts were off of offensive rebounds? Gotta be like 80, no?
18:16 - 8 seconds on the shot clock and the Gophers hadn't crossed the 3-point line yet. Austy Hollins takes it to the rack and gets a lay-up. MORE OF THIS MORE EARLIER PLZ!
17:40 - Coleman gets it in the paint and makes the lay-up. 7-4 Gophers. What's will all this paint action? I haven't seen anything like this since Bear and I were firing paintball guns out our windows at each other at 2am back in high school. Ok, they were staple guns, but same thing.
16:58 - Zeller finds himself in a breakaway situation and Ralph chases him down and gives him a good hard, clean foul to prevent the lay-in. The exact kind of foul he needed to throw Lewis Jackson's way against Purdue. I don't know if I should be more frustrated or encouraged. Maybe this is like when Zack learns he's native american and half-asses his assignment and the professor is all like "dude" and then he goes to talk to Chief Henry and gets all serious and is all like "I'm running Zack." Now that I look at it, I'm not really sure how that relates but Saved by the Bell references are always a hit.
15:38 - Ralph scores in the paint to make it 11-8 Gophers. Yes, in the paint. I assume he got lost.
15:15 - #1 for Indiana isn't Jordan Hulls is it? Cuz #1 is freaking terrible.
14:35 - Zellar lay-up, Ralph grabs it to throw it in to the guard guy, half-ass lobs it without paying any attention and Zeller steals it and scores again. 12-11 Indiana. Time-out Gophers. Uh oh, Rexy, I don't think this one has the distance.
13:17 - I should mention I'm watching this on tape delay on account of my stupid kids, and it's 9:02 right now and my phone just buzzed with a text. I'm too scared to check it, seeing as this is about the time the game would have ended. I know, I'm stupid. But what if?
12:33 - Will Sheehey checks in. I had no idea he was white. Kind of a Lew Ford moment for me here.
12:12 - Joe Coleman to the rack. Blocked by Zellar, but at least he's got the stones to take it inside. I dislike an awful lot about Coleman's game, but for a freshman there is a ton I like. I can't wait to watch him not develop at all over the next 3+ years and/or transfer after year two.
11:44 - Christian Watford goes down with an apparent ankle injury. Not to sound like a callous dick, but I hope he's out for the game. Just the game, nothing serious or anything, just maybe take the night off. You've had a good year, you deserve some rest. Maybe bring a cheerleader or team booster back with you. Crack open a nice bottle of wine and maybe eat some grapes or whatever. Have a nice relaxing evening.
10:36 - Holy fuck. Zellar just dream shaked Ralph resulting in an uncontested hammer dunk and I'm not sure Ralph's figured out where the ball is yet. Wow. Seriously that's gonna be a sportscenter thingy. Which means the Gophers will show up on the plays of the day for the second time this year. Huzzah!
9:45 - Chip for 3 (Gophers 19, Indiana 18). guess how much room he had and how much time he took to take the shot: wrong. The answer is zero.
9:02 - Ahanmisi to the rack for a lay-up. Where the shit was all this against Iowa and Purdue? I swear to god if they win this game I'm going to be more pissed than happy.
8:02 - Wide open three for Indiana and he goes clang city. Got to assume those will fall eventually. Just like the 3 Maverick just hit to open up a 26-20 lead for the Gophers. Then Verdell Jones missed an open 8-foot jumper. And just now as I'm typing Chip hits another three. It's 29-20. I hate this team for what they do to me. I hate them so much. I should be in bed right now.
7:04 - I forgot to pause it when I went upstairs to get a beer and it's 29-23 now. That is all.
6:34 - Couple more text messages trickling in. Perhaps this one is closer than I thought in the end. No chance Gophers can win. None. God I hope I'm wrong I think. I'm so tempted to read them. What if they aren't even about basketball? Maybe it's some hot chick texting me pictures of her boobs and I'm ignoring it? I think I'll resist for now, but it's close.
6:04 - Fucking awful charge call. And another text comes in. Interesting.
5:21 - Indiana continues to clang open threes like a wrestling team an open gym. If that continues and never mind because Jordan Hulls (who is indeed #1) just buried a 25 footer in Chip's face. Nine point lead now down to one. Waaah waah.
4:24 - Joe Coleman either lost an eye or a contact. I'd write more but I was trying to fast-forward to half-time and this made me stop so I'm kind of annoyed.
3:52 - Fast forwarded to far. Indiana now winning, mainly because the Hoosiers switched to a zone and the Gophers are all like oh my god I'm so confused until just now when Austy hits a 3 to give them back the lead so that was good.
3:01 - Rodney dunk. Nice to see you again, sir.
1:49 - Watford's back and just missed a really stupid shot. Keep it up.
0:12 - Oto, while the team has the shot clock off and is playing for one shot, puts up a three with 12 seconds left and airballs it. Yikes. There is so much wrong about that play I'd actually be a little bit stunned if he gets off the bench in the second half.
0:00 - Gophers lead 37-34 and my phone is absolutely blowing up (and I'm still ignoring it). This is either going to be a heartbreaking loss or a heartbreaking win, if you know what I mean. And if you don't you're stupid.
0:00 - Am I drunk or is that Gary Williams as part of the Big 10 Network half-time show? Gary Williams? The Maryland guy? What the hell? That doesn't even remotely make sense. Maybe they should pull in John Chaney and Rollie Mossimino are available.
19:18 - Well this will shock you, but Julian Welch missed another lay-up (he did get fouled but it was one of those sissy fouls where you're supposed to make the shot). If you take Welch and a 3rd grader and have them do a lay-up contest who wins? Welch of course, but it's probably a little too close.
18:32 - Zeller gets it on the block against Sampson and for some reason goes for the fade-away jump hook instead of doing anything remotely aggressive - and misses. Welch takes it to the rack and makes it on the other end and Gophers now lead 43-34. The amount of rim attacking in this game has now convinced me that Tubby (well, probably whichever assistant he gets to do the actual gameplanning) reads this blog. I'm definitely the only one who had that idea ever.
17:00 - Rodney misses a weird off-balance lay-up kind of thing badly and scarily, but he took it to the rim from the top of the key. This is definitely a concerted effort by the Gophers to get to the rack. Nicely done. I try to get to the rack as often as possible as well.
16:42 - Verdell Jones just hit all backboard on a wide open 3-point attempt. That kind of night so far for Indiana. This is going to be crushing when the Gophers lose.
16:32 - Will Sheehey has a little bit of Punto to 'em.
15:51 - The announcers point out that Jordan Hulls hasn't played this half and wonder what his status is. I'll tell you his status - he sucks. Been a long time since I've been this unimpressed by somebody who was supposed to be awesome. Jordan Hulls, the Dave Matthews of Indiana basketball.
14:30 - Zeller dream shakes Ralph again, less effectively but still makes the shot, then Oladipo steals the inbounds pass and gets fouled. Misses both free throws. I can't decide if this is an omen that it's the Gophers night or a sign that they're falling apart.
14:01 - Wow, Austin Hollins is having a hell of a game after taking it right at Zeller and making the lay-up to make it a 47-40 Gopher lead. Must be rough for Lionel to have to watch his kid sit on the bench while his nephew lights it up. And he just hit a real nice pull-up J to make it a NINE point Gopher lead. I'm starting to think unthinkable things. Can't wait to have my heart ripped out.
12:25 - Rodney lay-up. 51-40 Gophers. I don't know who this team is that I'm watching. All they do is attack the rim/paint. It's a whole different team.
11:50 - Hey there's Hulls! Watford just missed a jumper off a Hulls' pass. Pretty sure it was Hulls fault.
10:54 - Coleman drives and draws the help in the paint so even thought he missed the shot nobody was there to block out Rodney for an easy tip in. Gophers 53-45 (Indiana scored while I was typing). I'm going to be honest here, if the Gophers lose this it's going to break my heart even though I thought they already broke it. They're playing exactly how I want them to play (on offense) and Indiana is missing shots. This has to be it. It has to be.
9:22 - Moving pick called on Indiana (John Thompson would be so proud). I happened while Hulls had the ball. Pretty sure he fucked up and Watford was trying to fix it when he got called for the foul.
9:00 - Williams with a lay-up (again) and a made free throw for kicks. They are just slaughtering Indiana in the paint which is exactly what they should do since Zeller is their only inside presence of note. I have no idea who this team is. It's like that movie where who you think somebody is isn't because they're someone else. The Hot Chick.
8:43 - Look at these cucumbers. You want these. If you tasted these you would punch your wife or boyfriend in the face for not making them:
8:18 - Eliason just hit a 16-footer to make it 58-51 Gophers. This was after like four straight Indiana points. I repeat: Eliason just hit a 16-foot jump shot. Like, he made it. This is not the Hoosiers night. Until it is, of course.
8:00 - Jordan Hulls just missed a three. He's 90% of the reason they're losing. He's like a white Russ Archambeau who plays the whole game. Also Julian Welch is really, really good when he gets in the lane not counting those times when he blew the game. You know how Ralph is really a fancy pants nancy boy perimeter player in a 7-footer's body? I think Welch is the opposite. If they could swap bodies like Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan in that movie or whoever else in those 4000 other movies based on that same basic premise I think everybody would be happy. Plus they'd get to sleep with each other's girlfriends and wouldn't really be cheating.
6:10 - Jordan Hulls just tried to take a dive on a lay-up to draw the charge, but it wasn't called and the gopher guy who I think was Chip missed the lay-up but because Hulls was on the floor the Gophers got the offensive rebound and scored. Hulls, single-handedly ruining the Hoosiers' season.
4:11 - Trade Oto.
3:22 - Sampson misses a hook shot, naturally (did you notice that Sampson is almost an acronym for tampon?) but Coleman gets not one but two shots at a tip-in and makes the second to put the Gophers up 66-59. They're up 7 with 3 minutes to go. I'm semi-hyperventilating.
3:11 - Rodney just fouled out. So that's pretty shitty. I've always said this whole "foul limit" thing was pretty fascist.
2:42 - Not to hammer this point home too much like I was Sid Hartman or jesus's dad, but I have no idea what team I'm watching tonight. Welch misses a lay-up (naturally) and Osenieks, filling in for Godney, gets not one but two chances at a tip-in, making the second one. It's like they somehow get how close the season is to slipping away. Maybe should've figured that out a game (or two) earlier, but this is the team I had been expecting to see this year.
Please don't blow this.
2:19 - Welch misses another lay-up which, and I'm not joking, makes four in the second half alone. Serioulsy. Remember that joke about how he'd beat third grader in a lay-up contest? Not so sure he wins anymore. This is an epidemic. If they lose this that will make three games he's blown this year. He's like the Jenna Jameson of basketball. Because of the blows thing. Get it? Whatever shut up. I'm semi-drunk and a little bit delirious.
1:42 - Sampson knocks down a 17 footer to make it 70-62 Gophers. They can't blow this, right? Right?
1:27 - Hulls misses a three. What an anchor. Terrance Simmons like.
0:50 - Mav misses a free throw but Colmean ends up grabbing the board. Probably Hulls' fault.
0:40 - Gophers turn it over on the inbounds play giving Indiana a lay-up and the foul. This is the kind of shit I don't need. Gophers up 71-68.
0:39 - Indiana fouls and the announcers are debating whether they should have, which is stupid because if you don't foul you might not get the ball back until there are only 4 seconds left in the game. Announcers are all dumb. All of them. Might as well just let women do it.
0:30 - Coleman hits both FTs (I love you) then Indiana hits a three (not Jordan Hulls) to cut it to 73-71. Blood pressure rising.
0:29 - Hulls fouls Coleman who makes both free throws. That's on you, Hullsy.
0:17 - Zeller goes for the lay-up and Hollins's's fouls him. What. The. Fuck. Once he gets inside the three-point line just let him go. Good god. Talk to Uncle Lionel one of these days about making smart plays.
0:02 - Hollins makes two, Hulls passes to the wrong guy who misses, and Welch is at the line for two. Make one and we're looking at ball game and a very serious how the hell did that happen situation. Like when Pam Beasley got boobs all of a sudden.
0:01 - Did that mother fucker miss both? Of course he did. Jesus H christ Julian Welch makes Lebron look like Larry Bird with this clutch shit. He needs to be nowhere near the court in the last 3 minutes of any close game.
0:00 - Gophers win, . Perfect storm my friends. Gophers finally learned they need to attack the basket the same night Indiana stopped making jump shots. Not taking anything away from it, it was a great win for the home town team and a great feather in their cap, but I don't think we can start talking NCAA Tournament yet because they dug themselves such a huge hole, but wow. Just wow. I didn't remotely see this coming. If they play like this the rest of the way they can win a ton of games. Don't forget Indiana beat both Kentucky and Ohio State in this same building. I think I'll have more thoughts later or next week or tomorrow or something, need some time to fully process this. I can't remember being this stunned. They led this game pretty much wire-to-wire. Obviously they need to do a whole hell of a lot more, but this win saved the season.
I'm gonna go to bed. Joe Coleman is my hero.
Also suck it Sidler.
20:00 - Ahanmisi not in the starting lineup tonight. It's like we've already won.
20:00 - I love how everyone is so confused about Tubby being 0-4 in conference and how it's a miracle. It's not a miracle when you don't care. It's like, it's not a miracle that I have no Wild pennants in my house. It's just that hockey is for idiots and I don't give a crap. Kind of like how I imagine Tubby feels about this job.
19:38 - Welch's slow feet commit a foul. He's now officially slower than small white dudes.
19:34 - Rodney bringing the aggressive getting his own board off a miss and converting it into a 3-point play. I'm feeling like it might be a Rodney night. Not sure if Indiana really has anybody outside Oladipo who can handle him.
18:48 - Indiana attacking the paint early. What a weird concept. Speaking of such, what percentage of Mbakwe's shot attempts were off of offensive rebounds? Gotta be like 80, no?
18:16 - 8 seconds on the shot clock and the Gophers hadn't crossed the 3-point line yet. Austy Hollins takes it to the rack and gets a lay-up. MORE OF THIS MORE EARLIER PLZ!
17:40 - Coleman gets it in the paint and makes the lay-up. 7-4 Gophers. What's will all this paint action? I haven't seen anything like this since Bear and I were firing paintball guns out our windows at each other at 2am back in high school. Ok, they were staple guns, but same thing.
16:58 - Zeller finds himself in a breakaway situation and Ralph chases him down and gives him a good hard, clean foul to prevent the lay-in. The exact kind of foul he needed to throw Lewis Jackson's way against Purdue. I don't know if I should be more frustrated or encouraged. Maybe this is like when Zack learns he's native american and half-asses his assignment and the professor is all like "dude" and then he goes to talk to Chief Henry and gets all serious and is all like "I'm running Zack." Now that I look at it, I'm not really sure how that relates but Saved by the Bell references are always a hit.
15:38 - Ralph scores in the paint to make it 11-8 Gophers. Yes, in the paint. I assume he got lost.
15:15 - #1 for Indiana isn't Jordan Hulls is it? Cuz #1 is freaking terrible.
14:35 - Zellar lay-up, Ralph grabs it to throw it in to the guard guy, half-ass lobs it without paying any attention and Zeller steals it and scores again. 12-11 Indiana. Time-out Gophers. Uh oh, Rexy, I don't think this one has the distance.
13:17 - I should mention I'm watching this on tape delay on account of my stupid kids, and it's 9:02 right now and my phone just buzzed with a text. I'm too scared to check it, seeing as this is about the time the game would have ended. I know, I'm stupid. But what if?
12:33 - Will Sheehey checks in. I had no idea he was white. Kind of a Lew Ford moment for me here.
12:12 - Joe Coleman to the rack. Blocked by Zellar, but at least he's got the stones to take it inside. I dislike an awful lot about Coleman's game, but for a freshman there is a ton I like. I can't wait to watch him not develop at all over the next 3+ years and/or transfer after year two.
11:44 - Christian Watford goes down with an apparent ankle injury. Not to sound like a callous dick, but I hope he's out for the game. Just the game, nothing serious or anything, just maybe take the night off. You've had a good year, you deserve some rest. Maybe bring a cheerleader or team booster back with you. Crack open a nice bottle of wine and maybe eat some grapes or whatever. Have a nice relaxing evening.
10:36 - Holy fuck. Zellar just dream shaked Ralph resulting in an uncontested hammer dunk and I'm not sure Ralph's figured out where the ball is yet. Wow. Seriously that's gonna be a sportscenter thingy. Which means the Gophers will show up on the plays of the day for the second time this year. Huzzah!
9:45 - Chip for 3 (Gophers 19, Indiana 18). guess how much room he had and how much time he took to take the shot: wrong. The answer is zero.
9:02 - Ahanmisi to the rack for a lay-up. Where the shit was all this against Iowa and Purdue? I swear to god if they win this game I'm going to be more pissed than happy.
8:02 - Wide open three for Indiana and he goes clang city. Got to assume those will fall eventually. Just like the 3 Maverick just hit to open up a 26-20 lead for the Gophers. Then Verdell Jones missed an open 8-foot jumper. And just now as I'm typing Chip hits another three. It's 29-20. I hate this team for what they do to me. I hate them so much. I should be in bed right now.
7:04 - I forgot to pause it when I went upstairs to get a beer and it's 29-23 now. That is all.
6:34 - Couple more text messages trickling in. Perhaps this one is closer than I thought in the end. No chance Gophers can win. None. God I hope I'm wrong I think. I'm so tempted to read them. What if they aren't even about basketball? Maybe it's some hot chick texting me pictures of her boobs and I'm ignoring it? I think I'll resist for now, but it's close.
6:04 - Fucking awful charge call. And another text comes in. Interesting.
5:21 - Indiana continues to clang open threes like a wrestling team an open gym. If that continues and never mind because Jordan Hulls (who is indeed #1) just buried a 25 footer in Chip's face. Nine point lead now down to one. Waaah waah.
4:24 - Joe Coleman either lost an eye or a contact. I'd write more but I was trying to fast-forward to half-time and this made me stop so I'm kind of annoyed.
3:52 - Fast forwarded to far. Indiana now winning, mainly because the Hoosiers switched to a zone and the Gophers are all like oh my god I'm so confused until just now when Austy hits a 3 to give them back the lead so that was good.
3:01 - Rodney dunk. Nice to see you again, sir.
1:49 - Watford's back and just missed a really stupid shot. Keep it up.
0:12 - Oto, while the team has the shot clock off and is playing for one shot, puts up a three with 12 seconds left and airballs it. Yikes. There is so much wrong about that play I'd actually be a little bit stunned if he gets off the bench in the second half.
0:00 - Gophers lead 37-34 and my phone is absolutely blowing up (and I'm still ignoring it). This is either going to be a heartbreaking loss or a heartbreaking win, if you know what I mean. And if you don't you're stupid.
0:00 - Am I drunk or is that Gary Williams as part of the Big 10 Network half-time show? Gary Williams? The Maryland guy? What the hell? That doesn't even remotely make sense. Maybe they should pull in John Chaney and Rollie Mossimino are available.
19:18 - Well this will shock you, but Julian Welch missed another lay-up (he did get fouled but it was one of those sissy fouls where you're supposed to make the shot). If you take Welch and a 3rd grader and have them do a lay-up contest who wins? Welch of course, but it's probably a little too close.
18:32 - Zeller gets it on the block against Sampson and for some reason goes for the fade-away jump hook instead of doing anything remotely aggressive - and misses. Welch takes it to the rack and makes it on the other end and Gophers now lead 43-34. The amount of rim attacking in this game has now convinced me that Tubby (well, probably whichever assistant he gets to do the actual gameplanning) reads this blog. I'm definitely the only one who had that idea ever.
17:00 - Rodney misses a weird off-balance lay-up kind of thing badly and scarily, but he took it to the rim from the top of the key. This is definitely a concerted effort by the Gophers to get to the rack. Nicely done. I try to get to the rack as often as possible as well.
16:42 - Verdell Jones just hit all backboard on a wide open 3-point attempt. That kind of night so far for Indiana. This is going to be crushing when the Gophers lose.
16:32 - Will Sheehey has a little bit of Punto to 'em.
15:51 - The announcers point out that Jordan Hulls hasn't played this half and wonder what his status is. I'll tell you his status - he sucks. Been a long time since I've been this unimpressed by somebody who was supposed to be awesome. Jordan Hulls, the Dave Matthews of Indiana basketball.
14:30 - Zeller dream shakes Ralph again, less effectively but still makes the shot, then Oladipo steals the inbounds pass and gets fouled. Misses both free throws. I can't decide if this is an omen that it's the Gophers night or a sign that they're falling apart.
14:01 - Wow, Austin Hollins is having a hell of a game after taking it right at Zeller and making the lay-up to make it a 47-40 Gopher lead. Must be rough for Lionel to have to watch his kid sit on the bench while his nephew lights it up. And he just hit a real nice pull-up J to make it a NINE point Gopher lead. I'm starting to think unthinkable things. Can't wait to have my heart ripped out.
12:25 - Rodney lay-up. 51-40 Gophers. I don't know who this team is that I'm watching. All they do is attack the rim/paint. It's a whole different team.
11:50 - Hey there's Hulls! Watford just missed a jumper off a Hulls' pass. Pretty sure it was Hulls fault.
10:54 - Coleman drives and draws the help in the paint so even thought he missed the shot nobody was there to block out Rodney for an easy tip in. Gophers 53-45 (Indiana scored while I was typing). I'm going to be honest here, if the Gophers lose this it's going to break my heart even though I thought they already broke it. They're playing exactly how I want them to play (on offense) and Indiana is missing shots. This has to be it. It has to be.
9:22 - Moving pick called on Indiana (John Thompson would be so proud). I happened while Hulls had the ball. Pretty sure he fucked up and Watford was trying to fix it when he got called for the foul.
9:00 - Williams with a lay-up (again) and a made free throw for kicks. They are just slaughtering Indiana in the paint which is exactly what they should do since Zeller is their only inside presence of note. I have no idea who this team is. It's like that movie where who you think somebody is isn't because they're someone else. The Hot Chick.
8:43 - Look at these cucumbers. You want these. If you tasted these you would punch your wife or boyfriend in the face for not making them:
8:18 - Eliason just hit a 16-footer to make it 58-51 Gophers. This was after like four straight Indiana points. I repeat: Eliason just hit a 16-foot jump shot. Like, he made it. This is not the Hoosiers night. Until it is, of course.
8:00 - Jordan Hulls just missed a three. He's 90% of the reason they're losing. He's like a white Russ Archambeau who plays the whole game. Also Julian Welch is really, really good when he gets in the lane not counting those times when he blew the game. You know how Ralph is really a fancy pants nancy boy perimeter player in a 7-footer's body? I think Welch is the opposite. If they could swap bodies like Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan in that movie or whoever else in those 4000 other movies based on that same basic premise I think everybody would be happy. Plus they'd get to sleep with each other's girlfriends and wouldn't really be cheating.
6:10 - Jordan Hulls just tried to take a dive on a lay-up to draw the charge, but it wasn't called and the gopher guy who I think was Chip missed the lay-up but because Hulls was on the floor the Gophers got the offensive rebound and scored. Hulls, single-handedly ruining the Hoosiers' season.
4:11 - Trade Oto.
3:22 - Sampson misses a hook shot, naturally (did you notice that Sampson is almost an acronym for tampon?) but Coleman gets not one but two shots at a tip-in and makes the second to put the Gophers up 66-59. They're up 7 with 3 minutes to go. I'm semi-hyperventilating.
3:11 - Rodney just fouled out. So that's pretty shitty. I've always said this whole "foul limit" thing was pretty fascist.
2:42 - Not to hammer this point home too much like I was Sid Hartman or jesus's dad, but I have no idea what team I'm watching tonight. Welch misses a lay-up (naturally) and Osenieks, filling in for Godney, gets not one but two chances at a tip-in, making the second one. It's like they somehow get how close the season is to slipping away. Maybe should've figured that out a game (or two) earlier, but this is the team I had been expecting to see this year.
Please don't blow this.
2:19 - Welch misses another lay-up which, and I'm not joking, makes four in the second half alone. Serioulsy. Remember that joke about how he'd beat third grader in a lay-up contest? Not so sure he wins anymore. This is an epidemic. If they lose this that will make three games he's blown this year. He's like the Jenna Jameson of basketball. Because of the blows thing. Get it? Whatever shut up. I'm semi-drunk and a little bit delirious.
1:42 - Sampson knocks down a 17 footer to make it 70-62 Gophers. They can't blow this, right? Right?
1:27 - Hulls misses a three. What an anchor. Terrance Simmons like.
0:50 - Mav misses a free throw but Colmean ends up grabbing the board. Probably Hulls' fault.
0:40 - Gophers turn it over on the inbounds play giving Indiana a lay-up and the foul. This is the kind of shit I don't need. Gophers up 71-68.
0:39 - Indiana fouls and the announcers are debating whether they should have, which is stupid because if you don't foul you might not get the ball back until there are only 4 seconds left in the game. Announcers are all dumb. All of them. Might as well just let women do it.
0:30 - Coleman hits both FTs (I love you) then Indiana hits a three (not Jordan Hulls) to cut it to 73-71. Blood pressure rising.
0:29 - Hulls fouls Coleman who makes both free throws. That's on you, Hullsy.
0:17 - Zeller goes for the lay-up and Hollins's's fouls him. What. The. Fuck. Once he gets inside the three-point line just let him go. Good god. Talk to Uncle Lionel one of these days about making smart plays.
0:02 - Hollins makes two, Hulls passes to the wrong guy who misses, and Welch is at the line for two. Make one and we're looking at ball game and a very serious how the hell did that happen situation. Like when Pam Beasley got boobs all of a sudden.
0:01 - Did that mother fucker miss both? Of course he did. Jesus H christ Julian Welch makes Lebron look like Larry Bird with this clutch shit. He needs to be nowhere near the court in the last 3 minutes of any close game.
0:00 - Gophers win, . Perfect storm my friends. Gophers finally learned they need to attack the basket the same night Indiana stopped making jump shots. Not taking anything away from it, it was a great win for the home town team and a great feather in their cap, but I don't think we can start talking NCAA Tournament yet because they dug themselves such a huge hole, but wow. Just wow. I didn't remotely see this coming. If they play like this the rest of the way they can win a ton of games. Don't forget Indiana beat both Kentucky and Ohio State in this same building. I think I'll have more thoughts later or next week or tomorrow or something, need some time to fully process this. I can't remember being this stunned. They led this game pretty much wire-to-wire. Obviously they need to do a whole hell of a lot more, but this win saved the season.
I'm gonna go to bed. Joe Coleman is my hero.
Also suck it Sidler.
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