Best Gophers of the Tubby Era: #26-30

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.

30.  JUSTIN COBBS (2009-2010).
-  He had a completely acceptable freshman year backing up Al Nolen, averaging 2 pts and 1 assist per game in about 11 minutes, and he looked like he'd end up being a quality player.  He did, ending his playing days with career averages of 11.3 points and 4.2 assists per game including points per game averages over 15 each of his last two seasons.  The only problem is his last three years all happened at Cal after Cobbs transferred out following his first season here.  His overall career would rank him significantly higher on this list, but with only 363 of his career minutes coming as a Gopher he has to land here.

29.  KENDAL SHELL (2011-2015).
-  Significantly less minutes in his Gopher career than even Cobbs with just 86 in his four years, I put Shell here because he's just been a good Gopher - no not playing wise but you know what I mean.  There's something endearing about a guy willing to walk-on for four straight years (I know he got a stray scholarship or something at some point but the point stands).  Did you know he wore three different jersey numbers in his time as a Gopher?  Basketball Reference says, and Google Images confirms, that he wore 34, 2, and 12.  Like, last season Nate Mason came in and wanted 2, so Shell shifted to 12.  I assume the same thing happened with the switch from 34 to 2, though I can't come up with who wore 34 recently.  Probably because I'm a little drunk.  Anyway, Kendal Shell was a good soldier for four years, and I'd love to put him higher.  With 17 career points, however, I cannot.

28.  JONATHAN WILLIAMS (2004-2009).  
-  The longest tenured of anybody on this list with 5 years spent in the maroon and gold, he actually has better total numbers than a lot of people who will be ranked above him but that's a product of those five years.  He played in 107 games but never averaged more than 3 points or rebounds per game.  Basketball Reference doesn't have his minutes stats for some reason, but he finished his career with under two field goal attempts per game so it's safe to say he didn't get a lot of run (I'm struggling to clearly remember him at all).  I went back in my archives to see what I said about him and he's been tagged five times in posts.  They're, uh, not good.  I found this:

The Ugly: Jon Williams. Forced to play a lot of minutes by Tollackson's foul trouble and Wisconsin's size, and now has me praying Sampson and Iverson can play immediately. Williams was 0-5 shooting, and somehow it was even uglier than that. All five misses were from inside 3 feet, including a missed dunk. He's completely overmatched in the Big Ten, and I don't know if he's fixable at this point. 

So there you go.  

27.  KEVIN PAYTON (2006-2009).
-  He just never developed.  I remember he was a 3-star, and at 6-6 when he was forced to play point he did it well and I was optimistic.  That was silly.  He never averaged more than the 2.2 points and 2.5 assists per game that he did as a freshman, and his numbers just kind of, trend down until he did nothing his junior year and then flat out quit playing basketball.  Still have no idea what happened here.

26.   ANDRE INGRAM (2011-2013).
-  A Minnesota kid who came to the Gophers after two years at JuCo I always liked Ingram (to be clear, it has nothing to do with him being a Minnesota kid who came home because I'm not one of those types).  He just seemed like he was trying really hard.  Unfortunately he just wasn't very good, ending up with career averages of 1.8 points and 1.7 rebounds per game. I've wrote on this blog many times that Andre Ingram was a really intriguing sophomore.  Unfortunately he was a senior.  And the NCAA has pretty strict rules around eligibility.  Fascists.

We are not the Champions, my Friend

Well that was anticlimactic. At least it doesn't really matter though, it's still just the NIT.  I know getting your doors blown off by a bunch of poindexters isn't exactly the ideal way to end your season, but at least we aren't getting cheated out of another game - I mean they're done either way.  I think I know the answer to the eternal question "Win the NIT or lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament" if I didn't already, and it's emphatically losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  Even if the Gophers had won this game I wouldn't look back on this season fondly as a team who won the NIT, I'd look back on it as a wasted season when a team with enough talent to make the NCAA Tournament squandered it, blew several games it should have won, and end up in the yucky tournament instead.  That's not to say there aren't good things about the NIT, however.

Think about what we know now that we wouldn't have if the Gophers didn't get these five games.  At the end of the season I felt pretty good about Dre Hollins future.  Post-NIT I feel absolutely great about it, and it wouldn't surprise me to see him make an All-Big 10 First Team at some point in the future.  Throwing out the Stanford game (and we're going to ignore that for pretty much everything from here on down) he was dominant.  He has an ability to get to the rim that nobody else has on this squad which is especially handy when you're a 92% free throw shooter and has an outstanding mid-range jumper.  He's not the best three-point shooter but he's not bad at all for a freshman, and his percentages should get even better as he gets more experience and figures out how to get and when to take better shots.  As long as he can get a handle on those turnovers (and tonight was simply awful) he's going to be a star.

At the end of the regular season, I thought Rodney Williams had taken a small step forward in his game and at least had a chance at realizing some of that potential we've heard so much about going back to his high school days.  Now, post-NIT, I've come to realize that instead of hoping he takes a step forward we should be more concerned about him taking a step back, because this NIT version of Williams is exactly what we've been waiting for.  It's like something suddenly clicked and the flashes he'd shown all season suddenly became one great big shining supernova of dunkatronation.  When he's on and feeling confident he's unstoppable.  Any time he gets the ball inside the 3-point line, even on the perimeter, his athleticism means he can get to the rim any time he wants and it looks like he's figuring that out.  Hell, he even added a little bit of a perimeter game which can only help as long as he doesn't go all Rickert on the bit and fall in love with the jumper.  If he works all off season on making his jumper more reliable - even out to 15 feet, say - and learns when to go all the way to the rim on the drive and when to pull up (and how to hit) a floater or short jumper he's a guaranteed all Big 10er.  I honestly believe he's got player of the year potential, but of course that's the poisoned word with Rodney - "potential."  But we've seen it now, hopefully he can put it together for a full season.

Those obviously are the big two, but Austin Hollins and Joe Coleman have thrived on the wing as well.  Neither are the best at getting their own shot (at least not yet at this level) so playing in a more wide open offense like the one the Gophers have adopted in this tournament can only help them score since both are good athletes who can score in transition.  Hollins also continues to hit that elbow jumper curling off a screen at a high percentage, and I've gone from meh on him to pretty happy he's here.  Same with Elliott Eliason, who I was convinced was going to be a waste of a scholarship and never develop into a Big 10 caliber player, but in this post-NIT world I've decided I like him.  He must have a serious confidence problem because when he knows the post is his for the game (any time Sampson has been injured) he plays with confidence and enthusiasm and a kind of reckless abandon that is missing when he's looking over his should ever 30 seconds, terrified to make a mistake and get pulled from the game.  And the post is pretty much his next year, so they'll need to the good version.  Hell, even Andre Ingram went from "worthless other than his five fouls" to "quality back-up."  In the five NIT games he scored 8+ points three times and grabbed at least four rebounds in four of them.  I never would have guessed he had it in him.

So yeah, I don't care about the loss other than how sloppy they played, but getting these five extra games were huge for this team and showed the value of the NIT to a young team who takes this tournament seriously, and Tubby seemed to be having fun (and thus was fully engaged) for this run, which can only help next year.  Add in the possibility of Trevor Mbakwe coming back and the chance that Trent Lockett transferring in and there is a lot of reason for optimism, something that's been missing from Gopherland since, what, Tubby's second year?

Now that being said, keep a couple of things in mind.  First, and most importantly, don't forget that the teams the Gophers beat during this run, as well as the team that beat them, are thoroughly mediocre teams.  Washington, Middle Tennessee, and Miami were all bubble teams for the NCAA Tournament who didn't make the cut, while Stanford and LaSalle had no shot.  Some of the teams these guys lost to this year were embarrassing - Fordham, Arkansas State, Robert Morris, Oregon State, Maryland, etc.  Then there's the real problem where the first time this team ran into a real defense (Stanford was the only top 50 defensive efficiency team) their previously clicking on all cylinders offense suddenly turned into a garbage factory.  Not a great sign.  Additionally as great as the addition of Mbakwe for next year would be there's always the chance it causes Rodney to go back into his shell and disappear too often again when he's not a focal point of the attack.

So yeah, there are plenty of reasons for optimism going into next season, but just make sure you temper it and don't start declaring them a Sweet 16 team just yet.  I mean come on, this is still Minnesota - I can't wait to see what goes wrong first.

Well that's a Shocker, Gophers beat Hokies

As should have been obvious from my preview, I thought the Gophers were dead against Virginia Tech.  I thought Tech's athletic guards who drive and kick the Gophers to death, while their defense would shut down a Gopher team without an offensive identity thanks to their two big men being down with injuries.  Clearly, and joyfully, I was mistaken.

This version of this year's version of the Gopher hoops team was unrecognizable in a lot of ways.  First of all, swarming defense with an intensity I can't recall seeing at any point this year (not that it was without flaws, which I'll get to).  The defense forced Va Tech into 12-36 shooting on 2-pointers (the Hokies hit 46% on the season), came up with 9 steals (the most anyone has had against Tech this season), and managed to block five shots despite missing their two biggest shot blockers.  I don't think this necessarily means the team defense has turned a corner since the Hokies hit 50% of their three-point tries outside Green's semi-heave at the end, but it's a start.  It didn't hurt that Tech, one of the better team's in the country on assists per basket made, seemed a little selfish and passed up numerous opportunities to kick once they started penetrating in favor of shooting questionable jump shots, but I'm not going to let that worry me.  The intensity and effort was there in a way that was missing in Orlando, and that's the first step towards fixing things.  Whether this was a "Win One for Trevor" one moment in time remains to be seen, but I'm encouraged.

Individual player thoughts:

-  Rodney Williams looks sooooooo much more comfortable in the paint than he ever did on the perimeter.  I suppose that shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but it was all the more striking last night because he finally had the opportunity to do some posting up and took to it like that stupid little girl in Interview with a Vampire took to killing.  Each time he got the ball on the perimeter last night he looked a mite petrified, as many power forwards do, even going so far as to pass up an 18-foot jumper.  When they got him the ball in the paint, however, he immediately went for the score like your sister's prom date.  It's clear now, and really has been for some time, that he's got a power forward's game (right down to the sub-50% free throw percentage) in a small forward's body.  That can work, and has before, in college but I think the NBA dreams might be fading a bit.  Still, he's impressed me in this game and the team was able to go to him down low for a couple of big plays down the stretch.  If he (and the team and the coach) can all embrace this new role things might be pretty fun.

-  I'm still not 100% on the Julian Welch train, but I think I'm getting closer.  His lateral quickness on defense is miserably slow, but he can make up for some of that by having that E. Honda hand quickness.  And, more importantly, I'm starting to realize that while he looks slow on offense he sort of has that Evan Turner type thing going on where he doesn't look like he's quick or fast but ends up getting to wherever he's trying to get without issue.  His demeanor is also comforting as he always just seems to be in complete control at all times and a cool customer who won't panic or make major mistakes, as seen by his four clutch FTs last night.  Interesting, you could say he and Ralph have the same demeanor and I find one comforting and one enraging.  I guess I want my ball-handlers cool, calm, and collected and my big men to be raging balls of anger and rage and death who are just as likely to rip your face off with an axe handle as dunk on your stupid face.  Interesting.

- What can you say about Chip Armelin?  I mean really, he's a unique player in Tubby's tenure here because he's the only player I can remember who was supremely confident he could make any shot at any time, outside of Hoffarber but Blake really could make any shot at any time.  Don't get me wrong, I love Chip, but I think he's a guy you either love or hate.  He's going to single handedly win a game for this team this year, and probably shoot them out of one or two as well, but you take the good with the bad.  Every team should have a guy like Chipper, and I'm damn glad he's here. 

- Tubby opted to go with a smaller lineup most of the game, so Andre Ingram will have to wait at least one more game for his big breakthrough.  He only got 8 minutes against Va Tech and made his only shot (which for the life of me I can't remember).  It's slightly disheartening that he didn't grab a single rebound in those 8 minutes, but not nearly as disheartening in having it confirmed that he is indeed a junior and not a freshman as ESPN lists him.  I was pretty sure he was a Juco guy, but then I saw the freshman thing on ESPN and figured I was just dumb, and got excited at his potential.  Now it turns out I really am dumb, but in a sort of different way than I thought.

-He definitely has potential as an athletic scorer type (where have we heard that before), but Joe Coleman's defense at this stage of his career is going to give me a heart attack at some point.  In general he's like a less-disciplined Chip Armelin (yeah, that's right) where he just kind of runs around like a toddler who a red bull.  In just seven minutes last night he put up two shots (both misses), grabbed two rebounds and got a steal.  I'm having all kinds of trouble wrapping my head around this kid right now.  I just don't know.  He's like Snape, you just aren't sure if he's a good guy or a bad guy. 

- Oto Osenieks took two good three-pointers last night in his two minutes of play, missed them both, then was yanked by the quick Tubby hook and never saw the floor again.  Yep, nothing like taken the guy who is purported to be your best shooter and damn near only shooter and sabotaging his confidence.  I'm pretty sure Nurse Ratched was more forgiving with her charges. 

-  The Hollins cousins played a total of 60 minutes between the two of them and I can't tell you a single thing about either of them last night.  The boxscore says they scored a total of 10 points on 4-16 shooting, but had 5 assists vs. just 1 turnover.  So really they didn't stand out in any way, good or bad.  Not a big deal last night because Chip and Welch were the story in the back court, but those two are basically the future of this team so let's get it together, boys.

- I saved the best for last, because Elliott Eliason impressed the hell out of me last night.  He was a completely different player.  I think knowing he was the only big guy the team had last night, and knowing that even if he made mistakes he would have to worry about Nurse Ratched sitting him on the bench, he was able to stop worrying about mistakes and just play.  He was aggressive, he was confident, he played in the flow of the game, the guy basically transformed from Kevin Loge to Eric Montross (college version).  I don't want to go overboard and be accused of wanting to bare his children or anything, but I never thought he'd be capable of playing like this.  I thought his best case scenario was going to be Jeff Hagen, but he showed more potential last night than Hagen did in his four years.  Yes I'm probably way overreacting to one game.  Let me have this.  I need it.

So yeah, that was a pretty impressive win, especially considering I didn't think they were even going to keep this one within single digits.  I'm still worried that this basically came about because of channeling the emotion of losing Trevor, but we won't find out for about a month now.  The next five games should all be cake walks, so barring a major letdown the Gophers will be sitting at 12-1 when they start conference play by traveling to Champaign to take on the Illini.  Hold on to your butts.

There goes the Season

I don't exactly know the best way to articulate this so I'll just go with fucking hell.  Trevor Mbakwe's MRI today revealed a tear of both the ACL and MCL, obviously ending his season and basically the Gophers' as well.  I will preface this by saying this obviously sucks way worse for Trevor than it does for me, of that there is no question.  That being said, FML.  Mbakwe wasn't just the best player on the team, he was it's heart and soul, it's leader, and the only player capable of taking over a game - it's no coincidence nearly ever preview I've written for games this year has ended by referencing a way that he could single-handedly win the game.  He's certainly the best player the Gophers have had in a long time, since Bobby Jackson I'd guess, and the best post player I can ever remember watching, besides maybe Willie Burton.  His injury takes the season from "hey you never know, sweet 16, maybe" to "hopefully they can scrounge up an NIT bid."  Yes, he's that good.  This blows.

Not only does it suck because of Mbakwe's ability, but he was a big reason why this is one of the most likable teams I can remember.  When is the last time you saw a player work so hard and improve their biggest weakness?  Trevor adding a jump shot and completely revamping his free throw technique and going from a 60% to a 70-75% shooter is one of the more impressive offseason changes I've ever seen from a player who had already established themselves as "good."  Voshon Lenard got worse.  Sam Jacobson got worse.  Michael Bauer got worse.  The only thing I've seen even close to it was Eric Harris going from a terrible outside shooter to a dead-eye 3-point specialist.  Just an awesome showing of dedication, and coming from a guy who had a difficult past (how much of that you want to blame on him is up to you), combined with his obvious effort and work ethic on the floor made him very easy to root for.  This just sucks on every level.

How much is this going to affect the team?  I think that's obvious.  Kenpom.com doesn't have individual player stats up yet, so I can't tell you Mbakwe's rebounding rates, but I can tell you that with 27 offensive rebounds and 64 total rebounds on the year he's grabbed 28% of the team's O-boards and 25% of their total rebounds - and that's total total, not just when he's on the floor, numbers that would be significantly higher. 

Minnesota's team strength this year has been their offensive efficiency, which ranks 32nd in the country.  The main reason for that is the team has been extremely strong in 2P Field Goal percentage, offensive rebounding, and getting to and converting free throws.  Oy.  Defensively, the team's strengths thus far have been blocking shots and getting steals.  So I guess that's the good news.  Mbakwe out won't affect getting steals all that much - he's only fourth on the team. 

It's going to take something major for this team to be able to even compete to be on the NCAA bubble without him, but there are some signs of hope.  Maybe it's because I actually like this team that my usual pessimism seems to be lacking this season, but I can see some signs of hope.  Starting with:

-  Ralph Sampson shifts immediately from #2 guy to #1 in the post, something he needs to get comfortable with.  This is the #1 thing that has to happen for the team to have any chance at any success.  Ralph's role as second banana in the paint to Trevor, where he could roam the high post/perimeter, feed Mbakwe down low, post up from time to time and grab the leftover rebounds suited him well - both his skills and his demeanor.  Now he has to become the #1 low post option, something he can either embrace as his last chance to make a mark in his unremarkable college career, or he can shrink from the responsibility and ensure this season goes nowhere.  I fear the latter is more likely, but hold out hope for the former. 

-  The second biggest key to the year is whether or not Rodney can break out.  And I know it seems like a silly question we've been asking for three years now and the answer has always been an emphatic no.  His game against DePaul showed flashes of his potential, even if it was mostly just rebounding and putback dunks, but maybe that's what he needs to turn into and this is the biggest chance he's going to get because there are suddenly going to be a lot more rebounds and put back chances available.  It's clear that he's not going to develop into a perimeter player without a minor miracle, but maybe this is what he's meant to be - an athletic, undersized four.  If he can turn himself into a 10 & 8 guy this year - and I think he can - maybe he puts his offseason efforts into bulking up a bit and becomes a legit college 4.  It could happen.

- The development of Andre Ingram.  The Gophers really only have three options to play the post, and Elliason isn't nearly skilled enough to grab anything more than spot time, and although Osenieks has shown to be a pretty skilled player he doesn't have to size to bang in the Big 10, leaving Ingram as the guy who needs to step in for Mbakwe - as far as anybody can.  I've liked what I've seen from him so far, and although mostly a raw athlete he does have some skill and I think he's going to end up being a quality Big 10 player at some point - whether or not that happens this season is key #3 for the Gophers to have some kind of success this year.


- Finally, and maybe most obviously, the guard play needs to get better, and all these other little flights of fancy might be a bunch of mute points unless this one happens.  They all have skills with the ball that I like and little things that can develop further and I think each of Austin Hollins, Andre Hollins, and Julian Welch will end up being quality ball players, but that perimeter defense is just brutal.  Their opponents shot 42% from three in the Old Spice Classic (and if you take out the brick factory that is DePaul it was 46%) and it was the same in each game - guard drives, either off a hand off or a pick, Gopher defender can't keep up, help side defense collapse towards the penetrating guard, kick out for the open three.  Again and again and again.  And if that isn't fixed, nothing else matters.

I hope Trevor can somehow get a sixth year of eligibility due to medical hardship.  I hope Ralph Sampson seizes his chance to make his senior year something more memorable than as a side kick.  I hope Rodney takes what may be his best and last chance to turn into something more than an athletic freak who never lives up to his potential.  I hope the rest of thing shows signs of improvement and of true development and can turn this year into something less than a lost season, and at least compete to be on the bubble.  I hope I can make it across the border.  I hope I can see my friend and shake his hand.  I hope the pacific is as blue as it is in my dreams.  I hope.

 

 

I hope.

Shane Schilling's brother is the biggest baby ever

Honest to god, I've never seen a player whine and cry to the refs as much as Cody Schilling with the possible exceptions of Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, and Bogart in intramurals (also "Who are three people who have never been in my kitchen).  I mean it was just sad.  Even on shots where he was clearly not touched he would toss his arms in the air like, "Dude wtf?"  I bet when he plays pick-up he's that guy who calls every ticky-tack foul and then gets jumped in the parking lot after the game because everybody is sick of him.  My favorite moment, however, was when the defense got all switched up and he ended up with Ralph Sampson guarding him and he waved everyone away like, "I got this" for an isolation play and then jacked up a three.  What a douche.

As I said after the last exhibition game I'm not going to pay too much attention to team stuff here because it's just impossible to get a read.  It was clear Tubby wanted to work on some things that didn't exactly help the team in the micro, game sense such as avoiding getting the ball to Mbakwe in the first half (it was clear they weren't making any effort to get him the ball, which I assume was coach dictated or at least I freaking hope so) and switching into a zone defense when it was clear that the only thing Augustana could do at all was shoot from the outside and they had no inside presence.  And, once again, the competition was just not there.  The only reason this wasn't a complete blowout was because Drae Murray put on an exhibition in red-hot shooting in the first half which was just fun as hell to watch.  But 5-6 point guards aren't built to score against Big 10 teams, and so that's what happened. 

Instead, once again, I'll just focus on a couple of thoughts on some of the players that I noticed (that is a terrible sentence) but I'm going to have to keep this short because it's late, I'm tired, and it's extra late because I got lost driving home tonight.  Less than 2 miles from my house.  Don't ask.

TREVOR MBAKWE:  As I mentioned they pretty much avoided him in the first half, but in the second half it became clear that he was basically unstoppable which makes since I'm pretty sure he could have bench pressed any one of their players a dozen times.  None of that really matters, obviously, but if you're looking for a positive look at his free throw shooting.  He said he'd improve it and he did, going 12-13 tonight and showing a really nice high arching shot with excellent touch.  He's going to get fouled a ton and if he can shoot 75% or so?  He's going to put up some monster numbers.

RALPH SAMPSON:  Ok so when the gameplan in the first half is clearly to pound the ball to Ralphy and then he sucks donkey balls that's not good.  It's double not good when he's taller, more athletic, and far blacker than anybody who is trying to guard him, but Ralph ended up with more turnovers (7) than points (4) and shot 1-5 against a bunch of nobodies.  One of the most pathetic things I've ever seen, and I'd be far more upset about it if I wasn't so accustomed to it.  Ralph is the keystone guy this year that will decide how good this team is.  I'm not liking their chances.

RODNEY WILLIAMS:  Ended up with 10 points but they all happened because he ended up just accidentally scoring because he was 300x more athletic than anybody Augustana had.  The were effortless baskets which makes sense since Rodney seems to be all like meh with regards to effort on the offensive end.  You're probably going to hear about what a great defensive job he did on Schilling too, who was 6-21 shooting (lol), but keep in mind he was guarding a slow white kid whose only d-1 offer coming out of high school was from Green Bay.  I do think Williams has the potential to be a defensive stopper, but I think we should maybe not crown him just yet.  Twice tonight had the baseline for a drive and didn't even make the effort.  Pretty sure I'm done here.

AUSTIN HOLLINS:  More likely to end up this team's defensive ace simply because he's already the team's best perimeter defender, Hollins also knocked down a couple of threes that really got the team going in the second half.  Then he missed one and got sad and embarrassed and didn't shoot again the rest of the game.

ANDRE HOLLINS:  A bit of a rough game for Lionel's kid, which is to be expected for a freshman point guard even against a team like Augustana.  There was, however, once possession where he took the ball into the lane and just took it right at three defenders, completely fearlessly.  I wouldn't recommend that approach on every possession, but it was a good look at the kind of player he is, and really reminded me quite a bit of Russell Westbrook which is definitely a good thing.  It did not remind me of Lawrence Westbrook, but that's because I like Andre a lot and now that I think about it that's exactly what L-Dub would do.  Moving along quickly.

JOE COLEMAN:  I didn't notice Coleman being a terrible off-the-ball defender tonight and that's a considerable improvement from the last game.  I didn't notice him much at all actually, but I have a renewed faith in him that he'll be good some day.  Well, goodish.

CHIP ARMELIN:  This is the Chip Armelin (new nickname:  Heat Check) I'm in love with.  Came in the game, put up 4 shots in about 3 minutes, made 3 of them, and gave the offense the boost it needed.  The last couple of shots were probably ill advised, but that's what makes Heat Check, Heat Check.  Of course Tubby seemingly was less charmed by this than I was because after his last shot (and his only miss) Heat Check sat out the rest of the first half and then played about 40 seconds in the second half.  I'm pretty sure Tubby hates fun.

JULIAN WELCH:  Slow slow slow slow.  Snacks had the point tonight that maybe he's the kind of guy who just looks slow but it's because he's always in control (like Evan Turner) but then I saw him get blown by twice by Augustana's guards.  I know expectations/hope runs high for him, but let's not forget he came from UC-Davis, and I don't think this is a case of all the big schools just missing on him.  Temper expectations.

MAVERICK AHANMISI:  For the second consecutive game I can't tell you one thing he did or didn't do, good or bad, tonight.  And for the second consecutive game I consider this a bad thing.

ANDRE INGRAM:  I don't know why but I like this guy.  Sure, he had a play tonight where he nearly broke the backboard on a missed lay-up, but I like to think he's just showing initiative.  Since Shaq/Jerome Lane made them re-engineer the backboards you can break them by dunking anymore (unless you're Tiny Gallon) and so he's just trying to see if he can break one by throwing the ball hard at it.  He's like a freaking scientist.  Recognize.

OTO OSENIEKS:  Hit a 3-pointer, and hit it like a mofo, but also passed up a couple of opportunities to shoot that he, and any true "shooter" should have taken.   Then again, I'm probably expecting too much of him because I'm used to Blake and I always fall for shooters.  On the other hand, that hair.

ELLIOTT ELIASON:  I just...I don't care.  Wake me up in 2 years when he might be more than 5 fouls and an accidental rebound or two.  I will say his entertainment factor is through the roof considering I heard him yelling "dead dead dead dead" as loud as he could in the first game after his man picked up his dribble.  Epic.


Done.  These first two games were like watching a puppy who just learned about fish.  Friday we find out if that dog can track sasquatch in the rain.  Bucknell is no joke.  I'm planning on writing a preview of the game so there's at least a 60% chance that actually happens.  You should keep checking all week.  How exciting.

A solid Meh.

It's always tough to really get a read on a team after their first exhibition game.  It's their first time working together in a true competition, there's a lot of jitters on behalf of the young players, the competition is terrifyingly sub-par, and the coach might be trying out some new shtick.  In short, it's a terrible time to evaluate a team's prospects.   Which is why I'm going to ignore that.  Yes, I'm going to ignore a second unit that looked like it might be the worst in Gopher history (sans Mo Walker and Julian Welch, of course).  I'm going to ignore that a team we were told was a great shooting team not only didn't shoot great, but didn't really look to shoot.  I'm going to ignore some truly atrocious free-throw shooting and I'm going to ignore the fact that they blocked just one shot despite being probably 6 inches taller than Bemidji at ever position (of course, Bemidji's refusal to go inside at all also had something to do with it.)

What I do think you can learn from games like tonight's is tendencies about individual players, so that's what I'm going to focus on with three caveats:

1.  It's early.  I'm not projecting out to the season here, just what I saw tonight.
2.  The competition was terrible.
3.  We left with 9 minutes to go because Snacks and the Old Man are gigantic whiny babies.

So with that said, here's what I noticed tonight in the order that I think of it:

TREVOR MBAKWE:   Very tough to judge him in this kind of game against this kind of team because he's stronger, faster, quicker, and any other adjective you want to use than everybody and anybody on the other team and could score and rebound at will, but he did do a couple of things that standout and bode well for the future.  The first was that he hit a 17-footer in the first half, and the second was that his free-throws looked good with a nice touch and high arch.  If both of those continue (and he doesn't fall in love with the perimeter game which I'm not worried about) he could easily add 5+ points on his per game average.  He's lining up for a monster year, considering there's nobody else to grab rebounds.

RALPH SAMPSON:  Once a tease always a tease?  I have empirical proof that this isn't true, but what about in Ralph's case?  Stop me if you've heard this before:  Sampson, against a team which couldn't match up with him physically, came out full of confidence and aggressiveness and lit 'em up.  Still, he showcased a running hook going right and a step back jumper, both of which would be unblockable against nearly any opponent thanks to his height and wingspan.  Those moves and that aggressiveness combined with his outside touch would make him a real force this year if he keeps it up.  Key part of that sentence being "combined with his outside touch" rather than "abandoning any semblance of an inside game" that we've seen too many times before.  Cautiously optimistic.

ANDRE HOLLINS:  Extremely impressed.  Every time I hear "high-school combo guard" I immediately cringe and prepare for the worst, but Hollins looked like a point guard tonight.  His shooting numbers tonight weren't good by any means, but that seemed to be more of a function of shots not falling rather than being a poor shooter, but I'm more focused on his assists (8) vs. turnovers (0), and more importantly the way he just seemed completely in control of the offense - impressive for a freshman and probably the most impressive part of his night.  He also had no issue pushing tempo and firing the ball ahead in transition, something Tubby has said he wants to integrate into the team more this year.  Very impressed, but I guess that's to be expected considering he's the son of an NBA coach.

AUSTIN HOLLINS:  I actually didn't notice him all that much, but I have a feeling that's the kind of player he's going to be - quiet, not flashy, and then suddenly you read the box score and he put up 13 points with 6 rebs, 5 assists, and 3 steals.  He did hit a very nice elbow jumper curling off a screen and a nice 3-pointer off a kick from the block from I think Mbakwe.  Starting to think he's going to be a very solid player, and him and his cousin are going to be a very solid back court this year.  Unfortunately this is pretty much where the happy fun good news stops.

RODNEY WILLIAMS:  I'm off the bandwagon, folks.  He's now in Year 3 and still not showing anything resembling an offensive game, a jump shot, a perimeter game, ball-handling skills, or any kind of defensive or rebounding presence other than being a freak athlete.  He's still the best athlete on the team and that will get him a couple of highlight plays each night, but his fundamentals are all out of whack, he's completely passive on offense, and his average defensive play is only because his natural ability cancels out his lack of effort and focus.  I just can't do it anymore.  Andy Dufresne lied.  Hope isn't a good thing.  It's a cancer.  At least he made his free throws, so that's something.

JOE COLEMAN:  A lot of struggles tonight, and I don't know how much of that to chalk up to first game jitters.  Despite familial traits I'll chalk up his horrendous free throw shooting to nerves, and I'll even give him the benefit of the doubt on his apparent inability to handle the basketball.  If it was just those two things I'd go ahead and pass off today as a nothing event and wait for next game to get a better handle on him.  Unfortunately, however, I happen to notice things like terrible terrible terrible off-the-ball defense, and Coleman has a big ole case of it.  You watch, by the end of the year he's either going to be straight benchwarmer or have his minutes severely slashed if he doesn't get this figured out.  Do you think he's more of a Missouri Valley guy or a MAC guy?

CHIP ARMELIN:  This guy was one of the most disappointing of the night for me, simply because he seemed neutered.   Chip is not, and should not be, a rotation player.  He is the guy who should either play 4 minutes per game or 20 minutes per game - much like these weirdos who were on TV at the bar before the game who were going for the world's deepest free dive and the world's longest mile-high tightrope - thrive or die.  Here's what you do, you put Chipper in, let him do his crazy, Rico Tucker-lite, undisciplined but highly athletic thing, and if it's working you run with it and if it's a disaster you just sit him down next to whoever that midget was in the suit who kept wiping up sweat tonight.  But tonight's version of Chip was trying to be this respectable, ball-swinging, patient, disciplined player and it was just sad and wrong.  More Deshaun Thomas or Newman from Seinfeld, less boring normal guy like Chris Klein or, I don't know, David Grim?

ELLIOTT ELIASON:  I fear this is more of a Kyle Sanden thing than a Jeff Hagen thing.  I also think I just said his upside is Jeff Hagen.  Prove me wrong, prove me wrong.  There has to be more coordination there than what I saw, right?  Right?

OTO OSENIEKS:   For a guy who is supposed to be a shooter he turned down a couple of open looks.  I don't mean he passed up a wide open three-pointer with nobody on him, but he had some space where a true shooter should have put it up - and maybe I'm comparing him to Blake Hoffarber and that's not fair obviously, but he definitely deferred too much in this game.  Unless that's him, in which case he and his perm aren't going to do this team much good.

MAVERICK AHANMISI:  I didn't notice him at all, and that's a bad thing in this case.

ANDRE INGRAM:  I guess we'll end on a semi-positive note, because Ingram did look pretty athletic and I'm a retard for athletic players so I'm on board here.   He didn't get much time since he was pretty much #11, but he did seem to make a non-negative impact when he was in, other than missing a lay-up which could happen to anybody.  Like I remember when I was playing 6th grade traveling and we were playing Coon Rapids and I took the throw-in to start the second half and bolted towards the hoop and went in for a wide open lay-up and missed it and man, I was stressin'.  But then it turns out I was not only bad but also dumb because I took that pass and went towards the wrong hoop and if I had made that shot it would have been two points for Coony, not us.  So it's good I missed.  This is a fascinating story and totally relevant to Andre Ingram and you know it.

In conclusion, this game was stupid.