76 Classic Preview: No Love for the Gophs

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Tater

Tater

f.k.a. "Tubtastic"
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I tend to agree that the Gophers don't necessarily warrant much consideration yet, but a passing shout out would have been nice. I'm not sure how good WV's defense is, but I have a hard time believing it could be hands down better than the Gophers' defense:

From SI.com:

2. 76 Classic
Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, Calif.

Nov. 26: West Virginia vs. Long Beach State (2 p.m.); Clemson vs. Texas A&M (4:30 p.m.); Butler vs. Minnesota (8:30 p.m.); UCLA vs. Portland (10:30 p.m.); Nov. 27: Semifinals (2:30 p.m./9:30 p.m.); Nov. 29: Finals (10 p.m.)

Why You Should Care:

It's your introduction to Casey Mitchell.

Who's he? Only the X-factor to the Mountaineers' Big East title run. The 6-4 juco transfer from Chipola College is replacing departed shooting guard Alex Ruoff, who was both West Virginia's long-range gunner (he attempted a team-high 236 treys) and its most efficient scorer (with an Offensive Rating of 117.4). Mitchell is off to a decent start: In the team's exhibition against Mountain State on Nov. 8, he scored 19 points, making 3 of 8 threes, and in their opener against Loyola-Maryland on Sunday, he had 13 points on two-of-seven long-range shooting. The bulk of WVU's offense is likely to be in the hands of forward duo Da'Sean Butler and Devin Evanks, but it's vital that Mitchell is a threat on the wing.

This will be an early indication if Butler deserves the hype.

The Bulldogs received an unprecedented No. 11 ranking in the AP preseason poll, and in Anaheim, they could be facing three fellow NCAA tournament teams (Minnesota, UCLA and West Virginia) in a four-day span. If Butler is going to win this tournament, and advance deep in the NCAAs, at least one of its starting guards (Shelvin Mack, Willie Veasley and Shawn Vanzant) needs to develop as a real shooting threat alongside star forward Gordon Hayward. None of those guards shot higher than 32.7 percent from long range last year, and the Bulldogs ranked 117th in the country in overall three-point shooting percentage.

The Pick: West Virginia over Butler -- as long as the Ebanks saga (he was absent from the Nov. 15 win due to "personal reasons") has been resolved.

In Ebanks and Butler, the Mountaineers have two wing players who can score like Hayward does, and Bob Huggins' club plays the best team defense of anyone in Anaheim. (One early-round warning: Portland could knock off UCLA on Nov. 26. The Pilots are the second-best team in the West Coast Conference, and have a shot at the NCAA tournament.)

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/luke_winn/11/16/preseason.tournaments/index.html
 

I guess we'll just have to see if SI is correct. ;)
 

I was going to take a swipe at Bob Huggins: Crook, never graduates anyone, etc. But after our recent issues and the graduation rate at the U, I guess I should shut up.....
 

No press kudos = Go get 'em Gophers. Show them where the bear $hit in the buckwheat.

Go Gophers!
 

Sota1 said:
I was going to take a swipe at Bob Huggins: Crook, never graduates anyone, etc. But after our recent issues and the graduation rate at the U, I guess I should shut up.....
Click to expand...

I think you can go ahead and take a swipe at Huggins regardless. As I recall (and I may be incorrect), he went four years without graduating even one player at one point. In other words, he had a 0% graduation rate or something like that. And even with our graduation problems over the years, we've at least graduated some athletes versus none.
 


My comments were a bit tongue in cheeck, MRJ. I'm not sure how they let they guy continue to coach NCAA teams with his history. I guess there are schools that will sell their soul for a few W's.
 

Realistically, 5 of the 8 have a chance to win this tournament. The Gophers are one of those 5. Can't see any scenario where UCLA (too banged up, retooling), Portland or Long Beach State wins this thing. The Gophers are in the softer bracket; the winner of the Gopher/Butler game should make the finals.
 

Sota1 said:
I was going to take a swipe at Bob Huggins: Crook, never graduates anyone, etc. But after our recent issues and the graduation rate at the U, I guess I should shut up.....
Click to expand...

And FALSE too:

Here are the (36) UC graduates/basketball lettermen from the Huggins era. And (12) were 4-year scholarship players from HS. Asterisk * 4 year scholarship player

*Levertis Robinson
*Keith Starks
Andre Tate – JuCo
Steve Sanders – football scholarship, basketball walk-on
(1989 recruit) BJ Ward – JuCo
(1989 transfer) Jeff Scott – Div I transfer
(1990 recruit) *Curtis Bostic
(1990 transfer) Anthony Buford – Div I transfer
(1990 recruit) Mike Reicheneker – JuCo
(1991 recruit) Erik Martin – JuCo
(1991 recruit) Terry Nelson – JuCo
(1991 recruit) Corie Blount – JuCo
(1992 recruit) *Keith Gregor
(1993 recruit) *Jackson Julson
(1994 transfer) Keith LeGree – Div I transfer
Brent Petrus – football scholarship, basketball walk-on
(1995 recruit) *Ryan Fletcher
(1995 recruit) *Melvin Levett
(1995 recruit) Rod Monroe – JuCo
(1995 recruit) Terrence Davis – JuCo
(1997) Alex Meacham – walk-on
(1998 recruit)*Donald Little
(1999 recruit) *Lenny Stokes (2 degrees)
(2000 recruit) *Field Williams
(2000 recruit) *Rod Flowers
(2000) Rodney Crawford – JuCo walk-on, earned scholarship
(2001 recruit) *Jason Maxiell
(2001 recruit) Taron Barker – JuCo
(2001 recruit) Jimmy Hubbard (2 degrees) – JuCo
(2001 recruit) Derek Hollman – JuCo
(2001) Jamaal Lucas – walk-on, earned scholarship
(2001) John Meeker – walk-on, earned scholarship

(2002 recruit) *Eric Hicks – 2006
(2002 recruit)*Chadd Moore – 2006
(2002 recruit)*Armein Kirkland – 2006
(1996 recruit) D’Juan Baker – JuCo (2006)

Totals = 36 graduates

(15) HS recruits
(13) JuCo recruits
(3) Div I transfers
(5) walk-ons

(28) blacks
(8) whites
 

MRJ said:
I think you can go ahead and take a swipe at Huggins regardless. As I recall (and I may be incorrect), he went four years without graduating even one player at one point. In other words, he had a 0% graduation rate or something like that. And even with our graduation problems over the years, we've at least graduated some athletes versus none.
Click to expand...

UTTERLY FALSE:

Here are the (36) UC graduates/basketball lettermen from the Huggins era. And (12) were 4-year scholarship players from HS. Asterisk * 4 year scholarship player

But only 9 counted as UC graduate by NCAA method = HS recruits entering UC on scholarship and graduating within (6) years.

*Levertis Robinson
*Keith Starks
Andre Tate – JuCo
Steve Sanders – football scholarship, basketball walk-on
(1989 recruit) BJ Ward – JuCo
(1989 transfer) Jeff Scott – Div I transfer
(1990 recruit) *Curtis Bostic
(1990 transfer) Anthony Buford – Div I transfer
(1990 recruit) Mike Reicheneker – JuCo
(1991 recruit) Erik Martin – JuCo
(1991 recruit) Terry Nelson – JuCo
(1991 recruit) Corie Blount – JuCo
(1992 recruit) *Keith Gregor
(1993 recruit) *Jackson Julson
(1994 transfer) Keith LeGree – Div I transfer
Brent Petrus – football scholarship, basketball walk-on
(1995 recruit) *Ryan Fletcher
(1995 recruit) *Melvin Levett
(1995 recruit) Rod Monroe – JuCo
(1995 recruit) Terrence Davis – JuCo
(1997) Alex Meacham – walk-on
(1998 recruit)*Donald Little
(1999 recruit) *Lenny Stokes (2 degrees)
(2000 recruit) *Field Williams
(2000 recruit) *Rod Flowers
(2000) Rodney Crawford – JuCo walk-on, earned scholarship
(2001 recruit) *Jason Maxiell
(2001 recruit) Taron Barker – JuCo
(2001 recruit) Jimmy Hubbard (2 degrees) – JuCo
(2001 recruit) Derek Hollman – JuCo
(2001) Jamaal Lucas – walk-on, earned scholarship
(2001) John Meeker – walk-on, earned scholarship

(2002 recruit) *Eric Hicks – 2006
(2002 recruit)*Chadd Moore – 2006
(2002 recruit)*Armein Kirkland – 2006
(1996 recruit) D’Juan Baker – JuCo (2006)

Totals = 36 graduates

(15) HS recruits
(13) JuCo recruits
(3) Div I transfers
(5) walk-ons

(28) blacks
(8) whites
 



Sota1 said:
My comments were a bit tongue in cheeck, MRJ. I'm not sure how they let they guy continue to coach NCAA teams with his history. I guess there are schools that will sell their soul for a few W's.
Click to expand...

You lied about Huggins. He graduated every senior on his K-St team in 2007 plus most of the seniors at West Virginia in 2008 and 2009.

He graduated 92% of his players at Walsh College and Akron U prior to UC.

You simply lied.
 


Friend Of Tubby said:
You lied about Huggins. He graduated every senior on his K-St team in 2007 plus most of the seniors at West Virginia in 2008 and 2009.

He graduated 92% of his players at Walsh College and Akron U prior to UC.

You simply lied.
Click to expand...

Huggins runs gangster programs. Whether or not his guys manage to graduate is irrelevant. And further, there are a multitude of published reports on how poor Huggins' graduation rates were at Cincinnati. The fact that he's now powerful enough to get his players to walk on graduation day does not mean that he's cleaned up his act.
 

Tubtastic said:
The Pick: West Virginia over Butler -- as long as the Ebanks saga (he was absent from the Nov. 15 win due to "personal reasons") has been resolved.
Click to expand...

If he is picking the Gophers to lose in the first round, why talk too much about them.

On that note, I think the Gophers will win in the first round.
 




FOT, Is Bob Huggins your uncle? Not sure why you are defending this guy's academic record so vehemently. It has been documented in the past that his programs are questionable.....
 

jmag21 said:
Huggins runs gangster programs. Whether or not his guys manage to graduate is irrelevant. And further, there are a multitude of published reports on how poor Huggins' graduation rates were at Cincinnati. The fact that he's now powerful enough to get his players to walk on graduation day does not mean that he's cleaned up his act.
Click to expand...

Exactly. And I'm with everyone else in wondering why FOT is so vehemently defending Huggins. From my stand point, all I'm pointing out is what I remember reading regarding how bad his graduation rates were while at Cincinnati. And apparently, that leads to being called a liar. Oh well. I think I can handle that.
 

FOT hasn't been able to go on and on about how great our non-conference schedule is, so he had to let off a little steam.
 

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