BleedGopher
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per Morken:
Losing senior guard Akeem Springs to injury after the Michigan State win hurt this team greatly down the stretch. He was their most consistent shooter on a team that didn't have great shooters. He opened things for other guys offensively and was a big, strong guard who was a willing defender. The Gophers just didn't have the depth to withstand his loss against good teams.
That depth will get a boost next season with the additions of guards Isaiah Washington and Jamir Harris. Washington is a top-100 player in the nation out of New York.
He and Nate Mason will form quite a duo of point guards, whether they play alongside each other or Washington serves as Mason's primary backup. What a difference that will make after not really having a backup point guard this season. Harris will add another shooter to this group after helping his high school team with five players who have signed to Division I schools win the New Jersey Tournament of Champions recently.
There might be others coming too. There always seems to be a transfer or two in college basketball, and Minnesota has already been mentioned as a possible landing spot for former Indiana signee Clifton Moore, a 6-foot, 9-inch forward from Pennsylvania who got out of his letter of intent from the Hoosiers after the firing of Tom Crean.
There's no guarantees that the Gophers will improve on a fourth-place finish in the Big Ten next year. The league is perennially one of the best in the country, but for the first time in a long time there is legitimate reason to believe in the staying power of this program.
This isn't just blind hope. This was a good team this year with the potential to be even better in the next couple years.
http://www.echopress.com/sports/4239538-morkens-musings-reason-believe-gophers-future
Go Gophers!!
Losing senior guard Akeem Springs to injury after the Michigan State win hurt this team greatly down the stretch. He was their most consistent shooter on a team that didn't have great shooters. He opened things for other guys offensively and was a big, strong guard who was a willing defender. The Gophers just didn't have the depth to withstand his loss against good teams.
That depth will get a boost next season with the additions of guards Isaiah Washington and Jamir Harris. Washington is a top-100 player in the nation out of New York.
He and Nate Mason will form quite a duo of point guards, whether they play alongside each other or Washington serves as Mason's primary backup. What a difference that will make after not really having a backup point guard this season. Harris will add another shooter to this group after helping his high school team with five players who have signed to Division I schools win the New Jersey Tournament of Champions recently.
There might be others coming too. There always seems to be a transfer or two in college basketball, and Minnesota has already been mentioned as a possible landing spot for former Indiana signee Clifton Moore, a 6-foot, 9-inch forward from Pennsylvania who got out of his letter of intent from the Hoosiers after the firing of Tom Crean.
There's no guarantees that the Gophers will improve on a fourth-place finish in the Big Ten next year. The league is perennially one of the best in the country, but for the first time in a long time there is legitimate reason to believe in the staying power of this program.
This isn't just blind hope. This was a good team this year with the potential to be even better in the next couple years.
http://www.echopress.com/sports/4239538-morkens-musings-reason-believe-gophers-future
Go Gophers!!
