Another Legend Leaves Minn

Kevin Garnett. Torii Hunter. Randy Moss. Johan Santana. And now, it looks like Troy Williamson is about to be traded. It seems the Jaguars, current home of Mike Tice, are willing to give a second day pick (rounds 4-7) to get him from the Vikings.

I have to imagine the Vikes couldn't say yes to that one fast enough. Second day pick? I'm thinking they'd jump at the chance to trade Williamson for a bag of balls or an empty beehive at this point. Remember how he said he'd caught something like 10,000 balls last off season to help his inability to catch the ball? Didn't work.

Essentially, the Vikings traded Randy Moss for whomever they take with this pick they're getting from Jacksonville. It better be good.

As a nice parting farewell, here are some of Williamson's career highlights:









Farewell. We are accustomed to losing our legendary players, having them plucked one by one away from our great state, ripping a little of our soul out each time. Just add Williamson to the list of heartbreakers and move on.


Virginia Tech -5 vs. Boston College
Ohio State +8 @ Indiana
Tennessee -3 @ Vanderbilt
BYU +4.5 @ New Mexico
So Illinois +1 @ Bradley
Drake -2 @ Missouri State

Yesterday: 3-2
Season: 359-332

Jumper

Let me first start by saying that this movie is not one that I would generally tell people about. Its too risky. Its a sci-fi/action flick that appeals to a relatively small group of people. Plus the opinions will be polarized. Either love it or hate it.

My movie recommendations have been flawless since college (in college I couldn't believe that everybody didn't think Woody Allen was funny). I've learned from my mistakes and have steered clear of recommending sci-fi's and comedies in general.

For the record I really enjoyed this movie. It stars Darth Vader (Hayden Christenson),Summer "Sweet Bottom" Roberts (Rachel Bilson) and Mace Windu (Samuel Jackson). Eveybody knows this much but they may not realize that its directed by Doug Liman (Swingers, Go, Bourne Identity). In college I think Bogart once told WWW this elaborate lie about how there was going to be a Swingers Sequel. WWWW bit on it hook, line and sinker. Bogart was/is a jackass.

This may be hard to imagine but Darth (Hayden) and Mace Windu(Samuel) turn out to be enemies once again. Darth is a Jumper which means he can appear any place that he can imagine. Mace Windu is whats called a Palladin. Jumpers and Palladins are sworn enemies. Like me and Dane Cook/Family Guy. Which is fine but the Jumpers don't know why Palladins are always up in their business like Glen Close from Fatal Attraction. Mace (Sam) is always saying some religious bull spit right before he attempts to kill a Jumper. This easiest way to explain this is Jumpers are like free spirited Americans and Palladins are like Muslims on a Jihad trying to suck the fun out of everything. There is simply no good explanation for this conflict.

I am a big fan of the action, the original concept, sweet bottom Summer Roberts, Darth and the promise of more Jumpers to come. This was just the beginning of what one can only hope will be at least a trilogy.



The slams on this movie is that there wasn't enough background provided, Hayden can't act (we know we've all seen Star Wars) Rachel can't act (we know we've all seen The OC, right guys?) and Samuel Jackson is quoting scripture again and weilding what appears to be a light saber. This movie seems very familiar because of the people in their type casted roles but the concept is unique. I'm going out on the limb to say that I fall in the camp that loves this movie. The theater was packed with 13 year olds that were cheering which was a little obnoxious (I mean awesome) but I loved the movie anyways.


In conclusion if you are able to get past the lack of any background, some horrible acting you will be entertained. Just to be safe maby catch the matinee to save a couple bucks.


Final thought, I had to drag Momma Dawger to this movie kicking and screaming. She complained all the way through the movie. Then told me the movie was alright. I later find out from her friend at work that she loved it. Nuff said.

Devron Bostick

I ended up being unable to attend yesterday's game and was also unable to watch it. I do have it on Tivo, but I'm pretty sure I don't need that aggravation and will just delete it. Instead, let's talk about something more interesting.

Gopher signee Devron Bostick is ranked #4 on rivals list for Junior College players for 2008. If you're like me, you figure that all sounds good, but what does it really mean? Rivals has bank rankings for 2007 and 2006, so let's look at some similarly ranked JuCo players from those years to get an idea of what we can expect from Mr. Bostick.

First, we'll look at the 2007 list. These are players in their first year of D-I ball, which is what Bostick will be next season. The top 6 look like this:

1. Dustin Scott - College of Charleston
2. Nemanja Calasan - Purdue
3. JaMarcus Ellis - Indiana
4. Charlie Coley - Charlotte
5. Steve Harley - Nebraska
6. DeAndre Thomas - Indiana

Looking at the three big ten guys, Ellis is having the greatest impact, playing 31 minutes per game and averaging 7 points and 7 rebounds. The other two are filling roles for their team, Thomas averaging 11 minutes and 4 points and Calasan 18 minutes and 7 points. Indiana and Purdue are top teams, and with more talent it may be more difficult for a JuCo to make a true impact. Let's look at the other three guys in the top 6.

Dustin Scott is interesting, as he was recruited by Florida, Louisville, and Tennessee (among others) coming out of Juco and chose to go to C of C. He has made a big impact for the Cougars, averaging 10 points and 7 rebounds per game, and leading the team in both steals and blocked shots. He has a good chance to help lead Charleston into the tournament - but probably not until next season as they are very young.

Charlie Coley is helping Charlotte out, averaging 8.5 points and leading the 49ers with 6.2 rebounds per game. And Steve Harley is vital to Nebraska, third on the team in scoring with 8.4 points and contributing a handful of rebounds, assists, and steals as well.

Going back to 2006, the top 7 look like this:

1. Sonny Weems - Arkansas
2. Jerome Habel - San Diego St
3. Hernol Hall - Cincinnati
4. Takais Brown - Georgia
5. James Davis - Lamar
6. Carlos Williams - Charlotte
7. Blake Young - Kansas State

I've actually written about Davis before, and yes, he is the former Gopher recruit. After averaging 16 points and 8 rebounds per game two years ago, he's no longer on Lamar. I don't know if he only had the one year of eligibility left due to bouncing around schools so much, or if he got kicked off again, but I'd certainly take those stats from Bostick.

I don't know what happened to Hernol Hall, as he never played a game for Cincy, and the guy ranked 3rd at the time, Albert Weber, never signed with anyone but the rest of the guys seem to have had at least one good year. Sonny Weems is leading the Razorbacks in scoring with 15.3 ppg and chipping in 4.6 rebounds. Takais Brown is no longer with Georgia, but, similarly to Davis, he led the Bulldogs with 14.2 points per game and 5.7 rebounds. Jerome Habel of SDSU is in the same boat, where he isn't on the Aztecs this year but had a good year season, averaging 11 points and leading the team in rebounding with 6.2 rebounds per game. Carlos Williams was a role player on Charlotte last year, and, you guessed it, isn't on the team this year. Finally, Blake Young is a major contributor to a very good K State team this year, having started every game, after being a role player last season.

Looking down the 2006 list, there are plenty of other solid guys on there, such as Mike White (#9), Othello Hunter (#13), Cyrus Tate (#15), Abdullai Kuso (#20), Stefhon Hannah (#25), and Mike Taylor (#55). Of course, the list also includes Limar Wilson at #23, Miles Webb at #87 and Engen Nurumbi at #100. So...yeah.

So what does that mean? Well, as long as Bostick gets here, and I haven't heard anything to lead me to believe he won't, he should be anywhere from a rotation double-digit minutes type guy to a leading scorer type. Hopefully, leading scorer type.


Marquette -2 @ Villanova
Texas/Kansas State OVER 148.5
San Diego +11.5 @ St. Mary's
Portland +17 vs. Gonzaga
Texas +3 @ Kansas State

Yesterday: 8-2
Season: 356-329

Take A Bit Of That Bucky

After Saturday nights 4-4 tie it is clear Jeff Frazee needs to be removed from the Gophers roster immediately. It was obvious that he is clearly sabotaging Kangas. That is the only way you can explain the game Kangas played Saturday night. Not even Frazee on his worst night would have let in the 3 turds Kangas let in Saturday. Just for the Bear, Kangas was going to get hammered with a couple "You Stupid F'ing C*nt" calls after the 4th goal, but luckily for him Jr. Snake was in attendance. Clearly Kangas is still only Jesus and has yet to turn into god.

Once again the Gophers scored 4 goals on Saturday night and two of those where PP goals. Some of that had to do with Wisconsin's goalie eating a piece of Kansas's shite pie, but the Gophers actually looked like they had a clue on the power play. It was also nice to see Jay Barriball score a pair of goals this weekend. His two goal explosion now gives him as many goals as WWWWWWW guy RJ Anderson (5). That is really sad. Hopefully Barriball can mop up a little on the gimps from Alaska and get himself on a bit of a roll.

Derek Peltier really needs to hurry up and graduate. Not only can he not play at a high level, now he thinks he's some type of enforcer. Peltier is constantly taking cheap shots at players as they skate away and taking stupid penalties. His penalty on Saturday night in the 2nd period was a classic example. Some badger throws a clean check into a Gopher player next to the Gophers bench and for some reason Peltier skates over and takes a roughing penalty? Nice captain. This kid is just plain awful and the worst captain I can remember in my 25 years of following the team. Next to Kangas playing like Jeff Frazee and the Gophers trouble clearing the puck out of their end, Peltier was a true black eye on the weekend. Ya he scored a nice goal Friday, but even a blind Squirell finds a nut once in a while. The only good thing about Dawg showing up to the bar at 6:45 was being late to the game and not having to applaud Peltiers goal.

A message to the guy who sat in front of me during saturdays game. I get Jesus is cool and he is your savor, but you can't make your entire family (wife and 2 kids) say grace before eating hotdogs at a sporting event. Your kids already look like they have no shot in life unless Dungeons and Dragons becomes a professional sport. Making them say grace at sporting events is just going to get them heckled which will lead to them hating you even more than they already will.

Overall the weekend was a success for the Gophers. Some how the Gophers are sitting at #14 in the Pairwise Rankings and need to move up one more spot to make the field of 16 for the NCAA tournament. Currently UMD is in 13th, but they are in complete free fall mode. Duluth hoists UND this weekend at the DECC while the Gophers travel to play the ever mighty Seawolves of Alaska Anchorage. If the Gophers do not take a minimum of 4 points out of this weekend they can piss off. Alaska wouldn't win the MN High School tournament so there are no excuses for not sweeping this series. Especially when they know a sweep will put them into position for the NCAA and give them a first round opponent much easier than Denver, UND or CC.

Lastly, I was told about this "great" band called Four Letter Lie. I have been making fun of said person for a couple days about how this band sucks and a monkey banging on two empty soup cans sounds better. So yesterday I decided to check them out on the internet and give them a shot. Lets just say that is 15 minutes of my life I will never get back. First of all, their website has not been updated since 2/12/07, but they do have a myspace page???? Unless you want everyone of your fans to be 16 years old or younger get a regular website. For everyone else on this blog, please do not tell me a band is the greatest band ever when their upcoming concerts are going to be played at venues such as Jerry's Pizza and Bulldog Pizza. Also, Four Letter Lie is going to be rocking in "Rogers", MN on April 3rd at Showcase Skate Park???? That is 10 minutes from my house if anyone wants to have a pre concert party at my place! Actually, they could move the concert to my basement and the only reason I would go down there would be to shut off the power to my house. These guys seriously suck and whichever band member is trying to look like Jon Bon needs his ass kicked.

P.S. WWWWWWW, Carman is mine, so back off my man bitch!

Minnesota vs. Penn State

I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on a preview for this crap game. Penn State has been garbage on the road since Claxton went down, losing all five road games including a fifteen point loss at Iowa. The Gophers are an eleven point favorite, and that seems about right. Minnesota 72, Penn State 60.

How awesome was that Tennessee 66, Memphis 62 win for the Vols. You don't get to watch a #1 vs. #2 that often, and this was truly a classic with former Hawkeye Tyler Smith hitting a nice turnaround in the lane with 28 seconds left to give Tennessee the victory. After getting out to a huge start, Memphis cooled off and let Tennessee back into it. The Tigers biggest weakness didn't help them hear, as they shot 8-17 from the free throw line. Awesome, awesome game, and it really got me all fired up for March. Tennessee is truly a contender for the title, and I'm very happy to have them at 30-1 to win it all.

Almost as interesting was the BracketBuster matchup between Drake and Butler, with Drake coming out on top. I wasn't sure what to make of either of these teams, but Butler was a veteran squad with sweet sixteen experience and some very good wins this season, so I figured they were for real. This means Drake is better than I thought, and could scare somebody in March.

Oklahoma State knocked off Kansas, in a game the Jayhawks usually save until the tournament, a bunch of cheaters and cry babies from Indiana managed to rally to beat Northwestern in a tough game, and Texas A&M somehow managed to lose at home to a shitty Nebraska team. A&M is a fraud. First round exit.

As far as good wins, a bunch of bubble teams go huge victories yesterday. Villanova followed up a win earlier in the week over WVU with an upset over UCONN. Baylor beat Kansas State in a high flying offensive shootout, and Arizona won at extremely overrated Washington State. The biggest win may have been Kent State beating St. Mary's. That win may be enough to get Kent State in the tournament even if it doesn't win the MAC tournament, as the win over the Gaels joins wins over George Mason and Illinois State.


Wisconsin PK @ Ohio State (W)
Louisville PK @ Pittsburgh (W)
Xavier -4 @ Dayton (W)
North Carolina -15.5 vs. Wake Forest (W)
Minnesota -11 vs. Penn State (L)
Notre Dame -6.5 vs. Syracuse (W)
California +10 @ Stanford
Wright State +9 @ Illinois State (W)
Wisconsin/Ohio State UNDER 120.5 (W)
LaSalle/Duquesne OVER 165.5(L)
Wake/North Carolina OVER 159 (W)
Yesterday: 8-12
Season: 348-327

Shocking News: Sampson a Cheater

Wow, Kelvin Sampson resigned because he's a cheater. What a shock. Basically Indiana gave him a ton of money, knowing he's a cheater, and said "Hey, don't cheat." Stupid. Reminds me of a story by wise old Aesop:

'One day, a scorpion looked around at the mountain where he lived and decided that he wanted a change. So he set out on a journey through the forests and hills. He climbed over rocks and under vines and kept going until he reached a river.

The river was wide and swift, and the scorpion stopped to reconsider the situation. He couldn't see any way across. So he ran upriver and then checked downriver, all the while thinking that he might have to turn back.

Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes by the bank of the stream on the other side of the river. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.

"Hellooo Mr. Frog!" called the scorpion across the water, "Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?"

"Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you wont try to kill me?" asked the frog hesitantly.

"Because," the scorpion replied, "If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!"

Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. "What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!"

"This is true," agreed the scorpion, "But then I wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the river!"

"Alright then...how do I know you wont just wait till we get to the other side and THEN kill me?" said the frog.

"Ahh...," crooned the scorpion, "Because you see, once you've taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!"

So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog's back, his sharp claws prickling into the frog's soft hide, and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.

Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog's back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.

"You fool!" croaked the frog, "Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?"

The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drownings frog's back.

"I could not help myself. It is my nature."

Then they both sank into the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river. '

Eerily similar to the Indiana/Sampson situation, no?


Nebraska/Texas A&M UNDER 125 (W)
Princeton/Dartmouth UNDER 118 (L)
K State/Baylor OVER 158.5 (W)
Arkansas +4 @ Kentucky (L)
Oregon +14 @ UCLA (W)
Kansas -11 @ Oklahoma State (L)
Michigan State -16 vs. Iowa (L)
Oral Roberts -2.5 vs. Creighton (L)
Arizona +6.5 @ Washington State (W)
VCU +2.5 @ Akron (W)
George Mason +1 @ Ohio (L)
UW-Milwaukee +10.5 @ Bradley
St Johns +22 @ Duke (L)
UNLV -6 @ Wyoming (W)
Michigan +1.5 vs. Illinois (W)
UCONN +1.5 @ Villanova (L)
Cincinnati +14 @ Georgetown (L)
Maryland +3 @ Miami (L)
Washington -4.5 vs. Arizona State (L)
Tennessee +6 @ Memphis (W)
Butler -5.5 vs. Drake (L)

Season: 340-315

Gophers 4, Badgers 2

Despite me giving Mrs. W every opportunity to tell me not to go to the hockey game tonight, she never took the bait and I ended up attending. It was my first ever Gopher hockey game, and I have to say I enjoyed myself quite a bit. Thoughts:

1. We ended up getting there about 3/4 through the first period, because Dawger for some stupid reason couldn't show up at Sally's until 6:45. I will say the whole crowd at Sally's was extremely irritating, and it was almost enough to make me root for the Badgers. That whole table in the corner, with your "Let's Go Gophers" and "Jesus hates the Badgers" chants - really not funny. You're kind of a bunch of idiots.

2. Whilst waiting for Dawger to show, me, $nake, and The Guy who once punched Goldy had a few drinks and spent the time talking about their kids and my kid on the way. Apparently we're forty years old now (although Snake actually might be, not sure).

3. Mariucci Arena is really not all that impressive. It reminds me of several smaller basketball arenas (Utah State, Illinois-Chicago, North Texas) and that's not saying much. Maybe that's how hockey arenas are, I really don't know, because I pretty much hate hockey. Dawger told me that the UND arena is really awesome, and they serve beer there, so that's a definite plus. The atmosphere however was pretty outstanding. A lot of spirit, and not the kind that is annoying and gay, the good kind. Good fans, and when the Gophers scored a goal it got very loud, Williams Arena levels. High marks for the fans there.

4. I'm on record as saying that hockey fights are really, really, really stupid, and I stand by that. However it turns out that the chippy little shoves, pushes, and checks and what not after the whistle I am a big fan of. Maybe it's the primal man instincts or something, but that was really fun to watch. Hockey is a physical game, and I see where that is important and part of the sport. Not fights though. I will still never, ever get a boner from a hockey fight, unlike the average Minnesota bar patron watching a Wild game.

5. Although I missed the first goal because Dawger was late for some stupid reason, I still got to see three Gopher scores and two from the faggy Badgers. Since Snake said there'd probably be only four goals scored all weekend, I figure I'm pretty lucky to see some action. The 8 minutes I watched on TV that one time was like watching soccer, so I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe I'm some sort of catalyst for excitement. Wouldn't be the first time.

6. I know I don't understand hockey, other than from NHL 93-99 for Genesis and Playstation, but there was a penalty tonight that I totally don't get. Some homo from the Badgers passed it around the blue line, and the Gopher guy got his stick on it and knocked it towards the Badgers end. He started skating after it, and the Badger guy leveled him and that is apparently some kind of penalty. I thought you could just skate around and knock people on their asses indiscriminately as long as you don't "cross check" or "slash." Not so. Hockey is kind of a girly sport I guess, where you can't check or it's "interference." Incidentally, video games led me to believe interference is when you run into the goalie when he has the puck. Not so.

7. We were unfortunate to have a group of Badger fans sitting directly behind us. I have to say, they whine more than Gopher basketball fans. Every single thing and every play they were yelling for things to be called, most of which I've never heard of, but I assume it was how Gopher hoop fans generally want all contact to be a foul on the other team, and are pretty sure no Gopher in the history of the world has ever traveled. I also heard one of them ask another how to spell "valentine", but I'm pretty sure that's par for the course for Wisconsonians.

8. I asked Dawger who the best players on the Gophers were, and he told me Wheeler and Barriball. The fourth Gopher goal of the night was a very pretty pass and shoot between those two, so that was cool. Also it sucked that Wisconsin didn't pull their goalie so I could see more scoring.

9. My first favorite Gopher hockey player is, without question, Mike Carman. He not only scored a goal, but after a play was whistled dead and some Badger dude was getting chippy, he actually leaped at him, leaving his feet and taking him down with a nice flying tackle reminiscent of Tito Santana. Let's just say, it moved. Then, with about 9 seconds left in the game or less, he knocked some doof Badger guy into the boards just to rub it in. I didn't expect to like a guy who was chippy and fighty like that, but he also proved he can score. Mike Carman is clearly the man.

10. Lastly, a big thank you to $nake for taking me to the game, in exchange for a Miller Lite. I had a really excellent time. I can see myself attending as many as one hockey game each year going forward. Plus, anytime I can watch the Gophers kick the piss out of Bucky in anything is a good time. And I can say that hockey is less gay than I thought. It's now less gay than fanny packs.

P.S. Guys. When you go to the bar, take your tie off. Seriously. There's no reason to keep a tie on at the bar. The only reason you're still wearing it is to try to impress people, but everybody knows you're only wearing it to impress people so you look like a douche. Nobody wears a tie when they don't have to, and we all know it. Just trying to help.

P.P.S. When I was typing Mike Carman as a label, it showed up as having been used already. Apparently, $nake is a big Carman fan as well. All I can say is back off man, he's mine.

Badger Hunting

Sadly the Gopher hockey team is back in action this weekend after mercifully getting a bye last weekend. Bucky Badger comes to Mariucci for this weekends series. This series could have less scoring than the Gophers vs Sioux series 2 weeks ago. Right now I am putting the over/under for total goals in the series at 3.5 and putting my entire pay check on the under.

The most exciting thing about this coming weekend is WWWWWWW will be taking in his first ever Gopher hockey game. I received a voicemail from WWWWW while he was in New Jersey telling me how much he was looking forward to the game. For a guy who claims to hate hockey WWWWWWW sure was excited. Keep it in your pants WWWWWW only 10 hours until the puck drops.

Wisconsin heads into this series on a bit of a hot streak. The have moved up to #10 in the polls, are in the top half of the WCHA and have worked their way into NCAA consideration. The biggest reason for Wisconsin’s resurgence is their improved play on Defense. Wisconsin is back to its old ways of playing tight D and relying on counter attacks for goals. This is the reason I am predicting a 3 to 4 goal explosion for the entire weekend. Wisconsin is still led by Freshmen Kyle Turris who now has 29 points in 28 games. Turris was drafted 3rd overall by the Coyotes in last summers NHL draft. Junior Ben Street leads Wisconsin in goals with 12 and Turris’s line mate Patrick Johnson is third on the team in scoring with 19 points.

I really have no interest in breaking down what the gophers need to do this weekend. Basically score more than 1 goal per game and continue playing good defense. It looks like Jay Barriball will not be playing this weekend because of the ankle injury he sustained in the Friday night game in Denver. There is an outside chance he could play, but all signs are he will rest another week. If you want more of a preview just read one of the previous hockey posts.

Edit 10:31 AM. Lucia just said Barriball should play this weekend. With only three goals this year I am not sure if that is good news or not? I guess anything is better than watching The Todd's guy Schack play.

How pathetic are the Gophers at scoring goals this season??? This all but sums things up. The Gophers are currently tied for last in the WCHA in scoring with Alaska F'ing Anchorage???? How is that possible??? The Gophers power play has dropped to last in the league and they are now scoring at below a 10% clip on said power play. To make things worse "if that is possible" the Gophers now sit in 9th place in the league. Maybe Garth Snow was right? "Bring back Woog!"

My prediction for the weekend is actually a Gopher sweep. They have everything to play for and if they want any chance of making the NCAA tournament they need to get two wins this weekend. Gophers win 2-1 Friday night and 1-0 Saturday and hockey Jesus (Kangas) takes 1 more step towards becoming hockey god.

P.S. WWWWWW, the question Moma W should have asked is "why do they call it the barn yard and 8 racists dress up like Gorilla’s for every game?" I now want to beat the Gorillas more than flag guy. Nice fans!

Can it be next year now?

Can nine good minutes wipe out 31 minutes of crap? I say no.

The Gophers won, but it was ugly, and not a good game. Plus, it was Michigan. Yes, Michigan had won three straight, including a win over Ohio State, but they're still the Wolverines. The only bright spot I can even think of was Lawrence McKenzie, who essentially won the game for the Gophers. He ended up with 26 points on 9-13 shooting, including 7-10 from three, and really played an excellent all around game, despite four turnovers. And it's a damn good thing he was there, because every other part of the game last night was crap. Really, really ugly.

Turnovers: Some of the most absurdly stupid decisions ever, as well as some piss poor execution. Dan Coleman continues to baffle me. He let yet another easy pass slip through his hands which would have led to an easy layup. Damian Johnson had a rebound bounce off his hands and go out of bounds. Seventeen total turnovers against a team that is terrible at turning people over, ranking 233rd in the country in that stat. Just a horrible job taking care of the ball.

Rebounding: Offensive rebounds for Michigan kept them in the game, as the Gophers didn't have the hustle, effort, or fundamentals to keep them off the boards. Ekpe Udoh did a hell of a Rodman impersonation, coming away with 7 offensive boards and only 4 points. The Wolverines ended up with 18 offensive rebounds, coming away with one on 38% of their missed shots.

Offense: Essentially consisted of everyone standing around watching the guards launch three pointers. They ended up with 24 three point attempts and 23 two point attmepts. Now, it worked this time, as they shot 51% overall and 42% from three, but this is not the way to go about your business. Thank God for McKenzie, because without him the rest of the team went only 3-14 from the arc. The sad thing is, I don't even know if I can complain about this, because what the hell else are they going to do. Coleman was once again nowhere to be found, hiding in a hole somewhere. Spencer continues to be Spencer. Bursts of energy and scoring mixed into a mostly pedestrian game. When he knocked down that miracle three pointer, the guy announcing the game said, "That's his game, he's a face up shooter." Um. No he's not. Not even a little bit. The scariest part of the night was when Tubby threw out a lineup of DJ, Hoffbauer, Shamala, J-Williams, and Payton. That's completely terrifying. Who wins in a scrimmage: Those five, or a team of Archambeau, Ryan Wolf, Jim Shikenjanski, Bob Martin, and Kevin Nathaniel? Someone should set that up.

Defense: The numbers end up looking ok here, but that's basically due to the fact that Michigan shoots like your average half-time contestant from the student section. They seriously had open shot after open shot and were just tossing bricks up there. It was like a high school wrestling team at open gym (it's a known fact wrestlers can't shoot). Michigan ended up shooting only 32% and 19% from three (this was deflated by end of game desperation heaves), but if you saw the game, you couldn't help but notice how open Michigan was nearly the entire game. Add in a completely ineffective press that was mercifully pulled off before the game got out of hand, and this was not the team's best defensive effort.

Seriously, this game was brutal. Against a good team, the Gophers lose by 30.

Oh, and Mrs. W had a good question. If Williams Arena is the Barn, how can the stupid section be the Barnyard? It's in the Barn. Not outside. In her words, "That's really stupid."

Lastly, a quick non-Gopher topic is that Arizona has gone ahead and gotten themselves right in a bad place after losing at Washington last night. A very good team, they have now fallen to 16-9 overall, and 6-7 in the Pac 10. They still have the #1 strength of schedule and are 18th in the RPI, but can't keep losing winnable games. They have five games left, but two of those are at Washington State and at UCLA. Arizona might end up being left out of the tournament, and that would be a shame.

Boring

I'll write something entertaining tomorrow. Promise. Well, probably not entertaining, but at least full of words. Probably Gopher related.

South Alabama +6 @ Western Kentucky (W)
Duquesne +10.5 @ Xavier (L)
Notre Dame -5 vs. Pitt (W)
Dayton -1 @ LaSalle (L)
UMass +6 @ Rhode Island (W)
Arizona PK @ Washington
Mid Tenn St/Denver UNDER 114.5
Arizona St/Washington St UNDER 118 (W)
Duquesne/Xavier OVER 157(L)
UMass/Rhode Island OVER 166 (W)

Yesterday: 7-8
Season: 336-313