1-2-3-4 Keys To Gopher Success Next Season

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Friend Of Tubby

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1 - Justin Cobbs and/or Bryant Allen add some scoring punch to the PG spot. I think Cobbs has a good chance to do that.

2 - Rodney Williams greatly upgrades talent and athleticism at SG spot. None of the current Gophers have his basketball skills.

3 - Royce White likewise upgrades talent and basketball skills at WF spot. He is a major upgrade over Gophers' players at that spot in 2009.

4 - Trevor Mbakwe is a Div I talent at PF spot. Nobody like him on Gophers in 2008 or 2009.

Those 4 spots offer the keys to big improvement by the Gophers in 2010.
 

A little too optimistic for my liking

We have 2 players leaving from Tubby's 29 man rotation. They are going to have to earn playing time. They will have adjustments and I don't think they will have the instant impact you are suggesting.

I could see possibly White and Mkwabe starting, but the other two will be raw and might not play a ton.
 

JimmyJamesMD said:
We have 2 players leaving from Tubby's 29 man rotation. They are going to have to earn playing time. They will have adjustments and I don't think they will have the instant impact you are suggesting.

I could see possibly White and Mkwabe starting, but the other two will be raw and might not play a ton.
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10 man rotation (maybe) like this:

F Royce White, Paul Carter
F Trevor Mbakwe, Damian Johnson
C Ralph Sampson, Colton Iverson
G Rodney Williams, Devoe Joseph
G Al Nolen, Justin Cobbs

And Lawrence Westbrook as Designated Shooter. He's just too small at SG and not enough PG skills.
 

Westbrook?

Where did Lawrence go? I think he will still be in the rotation. Unless he declares himself NBA eligible.:)
 

Friend Of Tubby said:
2 - Rodney Williams greatly upgrades talent and athleticism at SG spot. None of the current Gophers have his basketball skills.
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Wrong. Have you ever seen Rodney play? I'd say that most everyone on the current roster has superior basketball skills to Rodney. If you're talking athleticism, then that's a different story.
 


1. Better ball handling and reduce turnovers
2. Better outside shooting
3. Better D against the 3
4. Improved overall play from the Bigs
5. Improved PG play, not just scoring
 

Friend Of Tubby said:
And Lawrence Westbrook as Designated Shooter. He's just too small at SG and not enough PG skills.
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Let me get this straight: Westy will go from being our leading scorer and best offensive player to plummeting out of the rotation? As a senior co-captain? Let me get some of what you are chuffing on.
 

Westbrook will start all year next season. If Rodney plays defense like he is capable of..he will see minutes. His shooting is NOT going to improve this area of weakness for the Gophers.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
Let me get this straight: Westy will go from being our leading scorer and best offensive player to plummeting out of the rotation? As a senior co-captain? Let me get some of what you are chuffing on.
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Questioning FOT? How dare you!

Appears as though FOT has neglected Bostick, as well. Not even on the radar. Nor on the list!

Holers were sure he would lead the team in scoring 2008-2009.

Discussing recruiting him is off limits, as well.
 



YIPES !!

Friend Of Tubby said:
1 - Justin Cobbs and/or Bryant Allen add some scoring punch to the PG spot. I think Cobbs has a good chance to do that.

2 - Rodney Williams greatly upgrades talent and athleticism at SG spot. None of the current Gophers have his basketball skills.

3 - Royce White likewise upgrades talent and basketball skills at WF spot. He is a major upgrade over Gophers' players at that spot in 2009.

4 - Trevor Mbakwe is a Div I talent at PF spot. Nobody like him on Gophers in 2008 or 2009.

Those 4 spots offer the keys to big improvement by the Gophers in 2010.
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I am surprised FOT is on the RW RW super-hero train. Will they grow into big contributers? Yes, if they stay in school long enough. In watching a Cooper - Champlin Park game this week the announcer mentioned Rodney was less than 50% from the free throw line. Yipes ! Do I want a SG that cant make his frees? Seems like Rodney and Royce should spend less time with fancy power dunks and more time practicing from the charity stripe.
 

Rouser said:
Westbrook will start all year next season. If Rodney plays defense like he is capable of..he will see minutes. His shooting is NOT going to improve this area of weakness for the Gophers.
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Agree completely. I see Rodney as the guy we can use to contain an Abrams type with his length and athleticism as long as his offense is good enough to keep him on the floor for significant minutes.
 

Westbrook

The most disappointing thing about Westbrook to me is the attitude at the end of the game. A shot wouldn't drop and then the head would drop and it just appeared a bad demeanor. I think he seems like a fine young gentleman when interviewed but I wonder if his attitude is a cancer for this team?
 

Just Overall:

Improve shooting, especially beyond the arc
Get bigger, for the centers and PF types
Somebody steps as the clear leader, not just scorer, but leader, I'm looking at DJ and LW

And one special thing:
Nolen - you are not good one on one, don't ever do that again, it looks pathetic and grade school, dribble and pass it unless you have a layup, create for other people, not yourself, you aren't a walking highlight reel unless it is "worst shots of the week"
 



I hope FOT is right. I see fans getting attached to certain players over time and think they are better than they are. MN lost to Texas because they had more talented players. Two years from now, MN has a great chance to contend for Big Ten title IMO. However, they need upgrades in talent. Rodney Williams and Royce White and Mbawke are upgrades over current players talent wise. Also, this team will not contend without a better pg that can contribute offensively. I know Al is local and has improved, but he isn't Big Ten title pg caliber. Wisconsin has Vander Blue coming in next season and we better upgrade our pg to match WI because this kid can play.

Bottom line, next year I do see the same cast of contributors for the first half of the season, but I do see a change of starters during the season. We should all hope so, because the current talent will not get substantially better with the exception of the two big kids.
 

Section201 said:
I am surprised FOT is on the RW RW super-hero train. Will they grow into big contributers? Yes, if they stay in school long enough. In watching a Cooper - Champlin Park game this week the announcer mentioned Rodney was less than 50% from the free throw line. Yipes ! Do I want a SG that cant make his frees? Seems like Rodney and Royce should spend less time with fancy power dunks and more time practicing from the charity stripe.
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Rodney has talents that no 2009 Gophers have.

I think he plays a big role in 2010.
 

minngg said:
I hope FOT is right. I see fans getting attached to certain players over time and think they are better than they are. MN lost to Texas because they had more talented players. Two years from now, MN has a great chance to contend for Big Ten title IMO. However, they need upgrades in talent. Rodney Williams and Royce White and Mbawke are upgrades over current players talent wise. Also, this team will not contend without a better pg that can contribute offensively. I know Al is local and has improved, but he isn't Big Ten title pg caliber. Wisconsin has Vander Blue coming in next season and we better upgrade our pg to match WI because this kid can play.

Bottom line, next year I do see the same cast of contributors for the first half of the season, but I do see a change of starters during the season. We should all hope so, because the current talent will not get substantially better with the exception of the two big kids.
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That's what I meant.

Royce, Rodney, and Mbakwe are upgrades in talent level for the Gophers.

20 W, 22 W from current talent.

But need MORE talent, BETTER talent to get 5 or 6 more W in a season.
 

TruthTeller said:
Questioning FOT? How dare you!

Appears as though FOT has neglected Bostick, as well. Not even on the radar. Nor on the list!

Holers were sure he would lead the team in scoring 2008-2009.

Discussing recruiting him is off limits, as well.
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How's Long Beach St recruiting going?
 

bamor5229 said:
Where did Lawrence go? I think he will still be in the rotation. Unless he declares himself NBA eligible.:)
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Super shooter, 6th man, spark off the bench, zone buster - whatever name you prefer.

He's too short (6-0 or under) to compete at SG and doesn't have PG skills to play there.
 

I don't think that next year ist going to be the year we break through and win anything, it's going to be 2011. I think the problem with next year is that the upperclassmen who were starting this year, in that in an ideal situation, should all role players.

Nolen: Ideally, he would be a backup who could come off the bench and give you 12-15 min of great defense. He is limited offensively, so he would only be on the floor when several other great offensive players are on the floor with him, and maybe even not playing the PG position.

Johnson: Like Nolen, his strengths lie in defense. I do think he's a little more well rounded to possibly be a starter, but again, parts of his offensive game are weak, and he should never be counted on as "the guy" to get a basket when we need it.

Westbrook: Obviously his strength is scoring, but the problem is he's streaky. I'd like him better at the first guy off the bench who you can use in an "instant offense" role. Try to get him a lot of points while he's on the floor, but don't keep him on the floor for very long periods at a time. I can't remember the game, but when we did this late in the season he responded well to this and had a good game.

Next year, we still have the same problem we do this year, in that we don't have a legitimate offensive point guard. (Unless Nolen drastically improves, which I'm not counting on. I think he put up 2 shots yesterday, and were they both air balls?) It looks like Cobbs can eventually fill that role but he likely won't as a freshman. I expect a little bit of improvement though, considering we get nearly everyone back and do add some talent, but I don't think we're going to be challenging for a Big Ten title. I would hope for 10-11 Big Ten wins, and a 6 seed in the tourney. In my mind, that would constitute a successful season.

In my view, the real improvement in this team will occur as the current current freshmen and incoming class grow up. I really like our team when, for a group of players to be starters, we have Joseph, Sampson and Iverson as juniors, White, Williams and Cobbs as sophomores. Maybe Mbake could be in that group as well, and then we have Nolen, Carter and Hoff coming off the bench.
 




Why not condense our needs to one?

1. We need improvement at every position in our starting five.

This could mean an influx of better talent or growth from this year's freshmen or probably a combination of the two. But rest assured, we won't sniff a conference title without upgrading talent all around the court.

We needed the same upgrade this year also, but we didn't get it.
 

i know this is probably not likely but at the beginning of the year nolan looked pretty good and then his game just fell off the table...I really dont think he is as bad as a shooter as he showed down the stretch..It seemed like it was a bit in his head, i mean he was passing up wide open shots think the same thing could maybe be said with hoff.I think johnson might improve his offiense more and i think we are all forgetting about joseph who showed some potential offensive threats, i think if he could get his jump shot off a dribble drive he could be huge next year
 


Gopher4Life said:
Why not condense our needs to one?

1. We need improvement at every position in our starting five.

This could mean an influx of better talent or growth from this year's freshmen or probably a combination of the two. But rest assured, we won't sniff a conference title without upgrading talent all around the court.

We needed the same upgrade this year also, but we didn't get it.
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Like Bengals need help in 3 areas.

Offense, defense, and special teams.
 


Friend Of Tubby said:
Rodney has talents that no 2009 Gophers have.

I think he plays a big role in 2010.
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I'm sure he can outrun and outjump anybody on next year's roster, but when you have weak ball-handling skills and can't shoot at all, does any of that matter?
 

Plinnius said:
I'm sure he can outrun and outjump anybody on next year's roster, but when you have weak ball-handling skills and can't shoot at all, does any of that matter?
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You can't teach or learn athleticism. You can learn the other 2 things.
 

Rodney.....

is not going to weave in and out of traffic bringing ball up the court, but he does pass well, can make the 3 dribble power drive and dish or dunk, and will make an outside shot if it comes in the flow and is not forced. This kid is going to be a solid player in time.

Unfortunately, I don't think we'll see him in the state tourney this year. Sam Dower and Osseo may get their revenge for last year tonight in the section finals
 

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