Athlon preview hits newstands

[SelectionSunday]

Athlon picks Gophers to finish 6th in Big Ten with first-round NCAA tourney loss (as #10 seed) to San Diego State.

Project Big Ten as follows:
1. Purdue (national runner-up)
2. Michigan State (Final 4)
3. Ohio State (Elite 8)
4. Illinois (2 & out)
5. Wisconsin (2 & out)
6. Gophers (1 & done)
7. Northwestern (First 4 winner)
8. Indiana (NIT)
9. Penn State
10. Michigan
11. Iowa

No Gophers picked for 1st, 2nd or 3rd teams. 1st team All-Big Ten of Robbie Hummel, JaJuan Johnson, Kalin Lucas, Demetri McCamey and E'Twaun Moore. Johnson selected as POY, Juice Thompson most underrated and Jared Sullinger NOY.

Ralph III tabbed as Big Ten's best defensive player.

Final Four of Duke, Kansas, Michigan State & Purdue, with Duke repeating.

 

[Friend Of Tubby]

Sporting News Out Last Week

I read that TSN had Gophers 8th in B10.

I think 3rd or 4th is possible?

 

[bga1]

Athlon picks Gophers to finish 6th in Big Ten with first-round NCAA tourney loss (as #10 seed) to San Diego State.

Project Big Ten as follows:
1. Purdue (national runner-up)
2. Michigan State (Final 4)
3. Ohio State (Elite 8)
4. Illinois (2 & out)
5. Wisconsin (2 & out)
6. Gophers (1 & done)
7. Northwestern (First 4 winner)
8. Indiana (NIT)
9. Penn State
10. Michigan
11. Iowa

No Gophers picked for 1st, 2nd or 3rd teams. 1st team All-Big Ten of Robbie Hummel, JaJuan Johnson, Kalin Lucas, Demetri McCamey and E'Twaun Moore. Johnson selected as POY, Juice Thompson most underrated and Jared Sullinger NOY.

Ralph III tabbed as Big Ten's best defensive player.

Final Four of Duke, Kansas, Michigan State & Purdue, with Duke repeating.

Do they have Mbakwe factored in??

 

[underground629]

Unless this is a completely new Ralph, he'd be very lucky to be tabbed the best defender on his own team.

Athlon picks Gophers to finish 6th in Big Ten with first-round NCAA tourney loss (as #10 seed) to San Diego State.

Project Big Ten as follows:
1. Purdue (national runner-up)
2. Michigan State (Final 4)
3. Ohio State (Elite 8)
4. Illinois (2 & out)
5. Wisconsin (2 & out)
6. Gophers (1 & done)
7. Northwestern (First 4 winner)
8. Indiana (NIT)
9. Penn State
10. Michigan
11. Iowa

No Gophers picked for 1st, 2nd or 3rd teams. 1st team All-Big Ten of Robbie Hummel, JaJuan Johnson, Kalin Lucas, Demetri McCamey and E'Twaun Moore. Johnson selected as POY, Juice Thompson most underrated and Jared Sullinger NOY.

Ralph III tabbed as Big Ten's best defensive player.

Final Four of Duke, Kansas, Michigan State & Purdue, with Duke repeating.

 

[SelectionSunday]

BGA, Mbakwe is not factored in. I should have mentioned that. Certainly, we're hopeful that Trevor could be worth at least a couple "places" in the final Big Ten standings.

Anyhow, when it comes to preseason prognostications, it's the "Bible" (Blue Ribbon) that I trust the most. Comes out in early October and always has the latest developments (i.e. Trevor) for all the teams. No sane person can read the whole thing.

 

[Friend Of Tubby]

BGA, Mbakwe is not factored in. I should have mentioned that. Certainly, we're hopeful that Trevor could be worth at least a couple "places" in the final Big Ten standings.

Anyhow, when it comes to preseason prognostications, it's the "Bible" (Blue Ribbon) that I trust the most. Comes out in early October and always has the latest developments (i.e. Trevor) for all the teams. No sane person can read the whole thing.

BR is good but I prefer Street & Smith. They merged with another magazine not too long ago so not quite the same. But S&S was the bible of college basketball in my youth.

 

[KyGopherfan]

I read that TSN had Gophers 8th in B10.

I think 3rd or 4th is possible?

TSN is DeCourcey's mag, and that man doesn't like Tubby and never has. So that doesn't surprised me about him placing the Gophers so low. He definitely has a beef with Tubby, so you have to be cautious packing anything around he says or writes concerning the Gophers.

 

[The-Real-Truth]

TSN is DeCourcey's mag, and that man doesn't like Tubby and never has. So that doesn't surprised me about him placing the Gophers so low. He definitely has a beef with Tubby, so you have to be cautious packing anything around he says or writes concerning the Gophers.

KyGopherfan, Is this guy the same as "The Truth" who comes here and bashes Tubby when he gets a chance?

Go Gophers

 

[NurumbiCongo]

Ralph III tabbed as Big Ten's best defensive player.

What??? I wouldn't even consider RS3 in the running for that honor. If he can becomes the Big Ten's best defensive player he will be a joy to watch.

 

[MRJ]

TSN is DeCourcey's mag, and that man doesn't like Tubby and never has. So that doesn't surprised me about him placing the Gophers so low. He definitely has a beef with Tubby, so you have to be cautious packing anything around he says or writes concerning the Gophers.

I'm not sure how much of the pick had to do with DeCourcey himself, but I'll say this, I definitely smirked when I saw Penn State and Northwestern ahead of us...

 

[Go Gophs eh?]

lol penn state ahead of us, same as wisconsin i think we can finish 6, 7th, or 5th, but we could just as easily take a place in the top 4. Illinois, Purdue, and Michigan state are beatable, osu isnt gonna be a juggernaut in the b10 either.

 

[eker0016]

What??? I wouldn't even consider RS3 in the running for that honor. If he can becomes the Big Ten's best defensive player he will be a joy to watch.

Agreed...blocking shots does not make you a good defender. Unless you actually watch the games (which I doubt they do much of) it's difficult to figure out who a good defender is from a box score.

 

[omniscient]

Sampson is a very good defender and has been a key cog on one of the best defensive teams in Big Ten. Over 100 blocked shots first two years and fourth in Big Ten last year.

 

[Friend Of Tubby]

TSN is DeCourcey's mag, and that man doesn't like Tubby and never has. So that doesn't surprised me about him placing the Gophers so low. He definitely has a beef with Tubby, so you have to be cautious packing anything around he says or writes concerning the Gophers.

Step further, he HATES him for no apparent reason. Decourcy is a complete idiot. Little smarmy SOB if you've ever seen in person. Utterly clueless about sports.

 

[MN1nAZ]

What??? I wouldn't even consider RS3 in the running for that honor. If he can becomes the Big Ten's best defensive player he will be a joy to watch.

Maybe it has something to do with the diss that DJ got from the BT last season?

 

[OSUfan]

I wouldn't put Northwestern (sans Coble), PSU or Wisconsin ahead of the Gophers, and most publications/"experts" are not. The Sporting News is an outlier re: Minnesota.

I don't think Blue Ribbon is vastly superior to the others - they have more content, but I wouldn't call their publication a "bible" at all. They make many of the same mistakes that these other preseason magazines make as far as misjudging teams (I'm pretty sure they rated Notre Dame heading into the '09 season as a top-10 team, but they wound up in the NIT without any injury issues or suspensions) and making inaccurate predictions.

 

[Calgoph]

......No Gophers picked for 1st, 2nd or 3rd teams......Ralph III tabbed as Big Ten's best defensive player.

IMO there seems to be a disconnect when the guy chosen as the best defender in the league can't even make the 3-deep on the All Big Ten team.

 

[Friend Of Tubby]

Read Athlon On The Train Ride Into Work Today

They named the Big 10 as the best basketball conference in 2010-11 season.

They predict both Purdue and Mich St as Final 4 particpants in 2011.

Completely ignored Trevor Mbakwe in their Gopher preview. They did make favorable comments about 4 Gopher frosh - Mo Walker, Elliott Eliason, Austin Hollins, and (surprise 2 me) Oto Osenieks.

 

[Pewterschmidt]

Athlon picks Gophers to finish 6th in Big Ten with first-round NCAA tourney loss (as #10 seed) to San Diego State.

Project Big Ten as follows:
1. Purdue (national runner-up)
2. Michigan State (Final 4)
3. Ohio State (Elite 8)
4. Illinois (2 & out)
5. Wisconsin (2 & out)
6. Gophers (1 & done)
7. Northwestern (First 4 winner)
8. Indiana (NIT)
9. Penn State
10. Michigan
11. Iowa

No Gophers picked for 1st, 2nd or 3rd teams. 1st team All-Big Ten of Robbie Hummel, JaJuan Johnson, Kalin Lucas, Demetri McCamey and E'Twaun Moore. Johnson selected as POY, Juice Thompson most underrated and Jared Sullinger NOY.

Ralph III tabbed as Big Ten's best defensive player.

Final Four of Duke, Kansas, Michigan State & Purdue, with Duke repeating.

 

[march madness]

Athlon

I agree the big ten is the best basketball conference this year. I'd say with Trevor we will finish better than Wisconsin. I think Illinois is pretty young and not that physical, but they have crazy atheticism and depth this year.

If any gopher will make an all-conference team, I would say Devoe. Defense doesnt seem to account for as much to making that team or Nolen would have a shot.

I'd put Buford on the 1st team over McCamey.

Final four darkhorse is Florida.

 

[underground629]

Can you give a little summary of what they said about the freshmen? Thanks in advance.

They named the Big 10 as the best basketball conference in 2010-11 season.

They predict both Purdue and Mich St as Final 4 particpants in 2011.

Completely ignored Trevor Mbakwe in their Gopher preview. They did make favorable comments about 4 Gopher frosh - Mo Walker, Elliott Eliason, Austin Hollins, and (surprise 2 me) Oto Osenieks.

 

[Friend Of Tubby]

Can you give a little summary of what they said about the freshmen? Thanks in advance.

Snippets:

Eliason and Walker add to Gophers' front court depth. Both have skills to give Sampson and Iverson a breather. Smith would probably like to RS either Walker or Eliason. Eliason has the length to contribute but could use a year (RS) in weight room to prepare for B10 play. Walker's conditioning is a concern but he has the size to help (in B10 play).

Osenieks can help immediately and may play 10-15 mins PT if he passes NCAA clearinghouse (he hasn't, yet).

Ahanmisi will play (limited, if any) reserve mins PT behind Nolen and Joseph at PG.

No mention of Armelin as late signee. The article didn't mention Hollins at all. They forgot him?

 

[underground629]

Thanks for posting. It's a little weird that they didn't say anything about Hollins when he'll likely play the most this year.

Snippets:

Eliason and Walker add to Gophers' front court depth. Both have skills to give Sampson and Iverson a breather. Smith would probably like to RS either Walker or Eliason. Eliason has the length to contribute but could use a year (RS) in weight room to prepare for B10 play. Walker's conditioning is a concern but he has the size to help (in B10 play).

Osenieks can help immediately and may play 10-15 mins PT if he passes NCAA clearinghouse (he hasn't, yet).

Ahanmisi will play (limited, if any) reserve mins PT behind Nolen and Joseph at PG.

No mention of Armelin as late signee. The article didn't mention Hollins at all. They forgot him?