Tubby Time!

I know there is all this excitement about Gopher Football, and for great reasons, but lets not forget that Basketball Season is right around the corner, and its going to be a GREAT one!

The last time I was this excited about Gopher Basketball (other than when I heard we got Tubby) was March 18, 2005. That was the last time the Gophers were in the NCAA tournament. I still carry the ticket with me in my wallet. College basketball is the BEST sport in the land, hands down. And once again we have one of the best teams in the country!

I know we still have a lot to figure out, but so does every team. What we do not have to figure out is whether or not our coach can get the most of his players. Tubby has proved year in and year out that he can coach. He proved it here in Minnesota, even without top talent. Now we have added one of the best players in the country in Royce White, one of the most exciting freshman in country in Rodney Williams (if you haven't watched him dunk a basketball you are missing out) and we have added a promising point guard and a Big Ten ready power forward who is ready to prove his doubters wrong! For those of you who don't know much about Trevor Mbakwe I can tell you from watching him play and coaching against him in that he wants to, he can play with ANYONE. Playing for Tubby, he will want to, I guarantee it.

Looking at our lineup the one thing I worry about is getting guys enough playing time.

Point guard will be our biggest question. We have seen Al Nolen play at an All-Conference level, but have also seen him struggle against weaker competition. Hopefully Cobbs can push him to play his best.

At shooting guard we have an explosive scorer in Westbrook. Devoe Joseph proved that he can play with back to back great games against Penn State and Michigan. He also has shown at times he can play a little point guard if needed.

We are STACKED with small forwards. I don't even know where to start. Damien Johnson is one of the best all around players int eh country. He plays defense, he can score, and he can pass. Paul Carter and Devron Bostick both struggled at times, but both have the talent to play at a high level, its just a matter of them flipping the switch to "On". Rodney Williams won't be a star his first year, but he will bring the kind of excitement to games that can change the momentum in our favor with a big dunk or swat.

Oh, and then there is a guy you might have heard of named Blake Hoffarber. You may remember a few big shots he has made in his career. He struggled a little last year with his shot, but with less pressure on him this year look for him to get hot when we need him.

Royce White is for real. So is T Bak. These two will play together at times, and will dominate when they do, but they also will split some time depending on whether or not we need more power or finesse. This is our strongest position because of the raw talent we have, I'm guessing Tubby will get the most out of it too.

Ralph Sampson and Colton Iverson made our team what it was last year. Colt 45 started out great. He is hard worker, has good foot work and is smart. Ralph came on stronger in the second half and showed us why he was our best recruit in last years class. He is going to be a force on defense, should continue to improve on offense, and with the two of them working together gives us one of the better front courts in the Big Ten.

Overall I think we are set to finish in the top 4 in the conference. Mich St. and Purdue are going to be hard to top. Otherwise I think we are in a fight with Illinois for the 3rd spot. It won't be easy to stay ahead of Michigan, but I think our coaching advantage and depth will help us.

I see the Big Ten going like this:
Purdue 14-4
Mich St. 13-5
GOPHERS 12-6
Illinois 11-7
OSU/Mich 10-8
Wisc9-9
PS 8-10

NW got lucky last year....too many times
Indiana is still way too young
Iowa sucks. Period