Colton Iverson

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dpodoll68 said:
I have family who are very close to Colton. I've found out a lot of things about him over the years, but I've not shared out of respect for his privacy. They are telling me the schools of most interest to him are Nebraska, Iowa, USD, and SDSU.
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He's a party machine, correct?
 

I honestly don't know how any of these guys make it sometimes. Between class and practice, D1 basketball, and most D1 sports, are 60 to 70 hour a week jobs or more for these kids.

I'll miss Colt. The guy was tough as nails and even though the result always wasn't the best his effort was and that counts a lot in my book.
 

millions2spare said:
We wish the absolute best for Colt.

He was a D2 or low D1 player from the beginning and will flourish at a different conference . Obviously, Colt did not develop. Unfortunately it is impossible
to teach quickness, soft hands, and an ability to finish around the rim. Some gifts are God Given, all Colt really had was size and aggressiveness. We sincerely wish him the best and this is clearly Addition by subtraction for the Gophers. I look at it as a Win win for both Colt and the U of M.
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Couldn't diagree more with the bold part. You severely underestimate the difference between a D2 and a D1 center.
 

I was going to post a similar comment. I'm also a SD native -- well, a Nebraska native but grew up in SD -- so I was always a big fan of Colton.

No doubt, it was a disappointing year for him, especially after he played so well late last year and early this season. But like you said, it's the timing that's surprising. Even with the possibility of limited playing time, I would have never expected him to transfer before his final year.

I'm interested now, though, to see where he ends up playing next year. His dad and sister played at USD, but I doubt he would end up there. Rather, I wouldn't be surprised if he transfers to NDSU or SDSU.



Seany said:
Interesting. To me it seems like a pretty drastic step to transfer to another school entering your senior season of play, but maybe that's just me. I don't know, but I wonder why he would choose to do that and if we will ever really know the reason why? :confused:

At any rate, I wish him the best wherever he goes. I feel a special affinity for fellow South Dakota natives (probably because there are so few of us), so Colton was always one of my favorites on this team. Good luck, Colt!
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Remember - Colton had guards before. Having no point changed the way the big men in the middle played this year. Including the way Colton played.
 


How bad is it over at the U with these juniors leaving? I would think a junior would stick it out one more year rather than transferring and sitting out a year before finishing their college careers. Just suprising.
 

By him going to SDSU it would be a huge get for SDSU. Wolters who is a great point guard and would have been the difference in the gophs going to the tournament or not if they would have had them on their team. Wolters and Colt combined and also Dykstra would be a dangerous team. I wouldnt want to play them if I were the gophs
 

Dr.Don said:
Wrong, Plinnius. USD in Vermillion is only 20 miles or so from Yankton.
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And I believe dad played for the Yotes. As a State alum, would love to see him at SDSU with Wolters as Seniors. SDSU has improved considerably, but the big hurdle for mid-major teams seems to be size, and they've not had any serviceable bigs since moving up.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I have family who are very close to Colton. I've found out a lot of things about him over the years, but I've not shared out of respect for his privacy. They are telling me the schools of most interest to him are Nebraska, Iowa, USD, and SDSU.
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Terms of release would seem to eliminate Nebraska and Iowa. Not sure if USD or SDSU are on the schedule. If so, that would seem to preclude them as well. A transfer to DII Augie, USF or even hometown NAIA Mt Marty would allow him to play immediately.
 



Swede said:
Terms of release would seem to eliminate Nebraska and Iowa.
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Not to mention, he would have to pay for 2 years of school, since you cannot transfer within the Big Ten and receive a scholarship; isn't this correct?
 

GopherJake said:
Not to mention, he would have to pay for 2 years of school, since you cannot transfer within the Big Ten and receive a scholarship; isn't this correct?
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I don't know how it would work but Nebraska is technically not a member of the Big Ten until July 1st. I would be curious what the Big Ten would say if he transferred there prior to July 1st.
 

Colt is better than Ralph, and actually could play strong and physical in the paint (unlike Ralph). Definitely didn't get enough minutes on this team. I wish him luck.
 




I'm sure that there were many factors that contributed to the decision, most of which we'll never know. Regardless of circumstances, it doesn't reflect well on Tubby. It's his program and it's his third junior loss in two years.
However, I'd suggest that at least part of it had to do with the B10 refs. I've never seen a player singled out by the refs like Colton was this year. Never. He's a big, physical player but the refs picked on him constantly. It didn't help that Tubby didn't protect him. I never saw Tubby work the refs on his behalf. By February it had reached a level of near comic absurdity. You knew as soon as Colton got off the bench the refs were going to blow the whistle and it wasn't going to go his way. The kid couldn't play his game, he lost his confidence and a lot of it was due to blatantly unfair treatment by the refs.
 

I would like to start out with a big thanks to Colt for being a Gopher. I enjoyed his play and always wanted to see him get more playing time. His smirk after he knocked someone to the floor was always a highlight of the game. We will miss him.

Now onto the transfers. We all hate to see someone transfer away from our team, but I guess it is more a part of the game then we are use to seeing. I was just traveling in South Carolina and on the news they mentioned that two sophomores are leaving and now I see another player is transfering out: http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=14321619
 

Swede said:
Terms of release would seem to eliminate Nebraska and Iowa. Not sure if USD or SDSU are on the schedule. If so, that would seem to preclude them as well. A transfer to DII Augie, USF or even hometown NAIA Mt Marty would allow him to play immediately.
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Well, I'll miss watching Colt on the Big 10 Network. I think this is a loss for the Gophers. He was a hard worker and always contributed some good minutes.

It's reported the terms of release are: 1) No Big 10; and 2) no school on Gopher's schedule. People are assuming the second limit takes out NDSU and SDSU. Since Iverson would have to sit a year if he goes to a DI program, is the second limit applicable to schools on the 2012-13 schedule?

I could not locate confirmed schedules for 2011-12 or 2012-13 for the Gophers, SDSU or NDSU. Any posters aware of whether those have been published?

In my view (just opinion), NDSU and SDSU are not in the plans for Iverson and never have been. As other posters have noted, Iverson has deep roots at USD in Vermillion. USD is in transition to DI and joins the Summit League for the 2011-2012 but cannot compete in the league tourney until the following season, 2012-13, when it has completed the five-year transition. Iverson's dad was an outstanding big man on USD's teams in very late 60s, very early 70s and was drafted by the NBA. I think Iverson had a sister who played for USD.

I saw one "guess" about Iverson that was interesting: Creighton.
Another pure guess: DII Mankato. Seems counterintuitive but then think about: top DII program, excellent coach....
 

alchemy2u said:
Now onto the transfers. We all hate to see someone transfer away from our team, but I guess it is more a part of the game then we are use to seeing. I was just traveling in South Carolina and on the news they mentioned that two sophomores are leaving and now I see another player is transfering out: http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=14321619
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So true. Every elite program has transfers. These guys want playing time. Some coaches seem to have fewer transfers and it amazes me some very talented players are willing to sit on benches. In some cases, it seems the coach has the right balance of great players who can get playing time and very good role players who are willing to ride the pine to be in the program and get some playing time. In the end, if a coach is recruiting a lot of talent, he's going to have transfers.
 

I think it will be good for Iverson, Tubby's offense didn't fit him at all. They just didn't feed him the ball in the post very often, getting the ball on the high post did him no good. Walkers skill set is a much better match. He should have transferred last year, he can be a good college basketball player.
 

Another bad day to be a Gopher fan. Things might turn out for the best with Colton leaving as others have written, but this is not good news right now. Tubby's biggest influence since he has been here is with the mass number of transfers. No matter how much blame can be put on the players themselves...it does not look good for Tubby. Something is wrong!!

Good luck to Colton (I liked the kid). I thought he had a chance to be a difference maker inside for us, but it just didn't work out. Imagine if we had a coaching staff that helped make players better!
 

If Sampson and Mbakwe are back, this is great news. Mo Walker is far superior to Colton "I swing my elbows and get fouls" Iverson. He was so incredibly inconsistent, and often times a dead end when moving the basketball on offense. I understand that he's a good dude, but he's completely replaceable.
 

jovs said:
I think it will be good for Iverson, Tubby's offense didn't fit him at all. They just didn't feed him the ball in the post very often, getting the ball on the high post did him no good. Walkers skill set is a much better match. He should have transferred last year, he can be a good college basketball player.
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The arrival of Mbakwe -as good as he was for the Gophers this past year- was bad for Iverson. You are right, he needed to be posted up near the basket. That became Mbakwe's role.
 

As a qualifier, I just want to make it clear I didn't watch much Gopher basketball this season due to my hectic work schedule, but these consistent defections are starting to bug me and I wonder what is going on in the basketball program. Some of this has to fall on Tubby.

As for Iverson, good kid who played hard. It was like the refs were calling fouls on him during warm-ups. Good luck to him wherever he ends up playing.
 

Colt "The Yankton Hammer" Iverson will be missed. I wish him the best in whatever is next!
 

Swede said:
Terms of release would seem to eliminate Nebraska and Iowa. Not sure if USD or SDSU are on the schedule. If so, that would seem to preclude them as well. .
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Swede, you hit it on the button. He can't transfer to a B10 school, SDSU, or NDSU because the Gophers play them in the next two years. Don't count out Colorado State on this one.

But I would like to thank Colton for his years at the U, and wish him all the best wherever he lands. Once a Gopher, always a Gopher!
 

not good enough?

I've read all these posts about how Iverson is such a good kid, and we should all blame Tubby for another defection. Others complain that refs had it in for him by calling too many fouls.

I don't have any basis to support or dispute Iverson's personality. He probably is the nicest kid in the world. The reality is that maybe he isn't good enough to play B10 basketball. Here are my observations and insight on his skills.

A) He just simply is not quick enough to play high level basketball. Lack of quickness leads to lots of fouls, simply because you are consistenly out of position.

B) Lack of agressiveness. Many times I would watch him play soft and shoot some cute little shot, instead of drop-step and dunk. It made me scream

C) He has no game outside of 5ft. When did you ever see him shoot a 10ft jumper? Compounding it was him shooting less than 50% on FTs.

Remember Trevor Winter? As soft of a big man you would ever see, but he could hit the 10ft baseline jumper, take up space in the lane, block some shots and not draw fouls. Much more valuable. So much so, he got a few years in the NBA.

While Iverson was a valuable contributor to the team this past season, I think we would have seen his PT drop off the map had Walker not gotten hurt. He continued to play this year simply because they had no better option.

I think Myron's blog is pretty insightful that he is probably looking at playing time next season and needs to position himself for a future pro-career. His future ball career won't look good with another season of coming off the bench and scoring less than 5pts/game. Besides, with Walker, Elliason, Sampson and (hopefully) Mbakwe, he was looking at being the odd-man out next year.

I wish him the best of luck wherever he lands.
 

I understand the desire to keep Iverson from playing for another Big Ten team. But what's the deal with keeping him away from all the other teams on our schedule ? Other than teams in pre-season tournaments and the ACC Challenge,the rest of the schedule are mid-major one bid conference teams or lower. Is Tubby that worried that an Iverson-led team will come into Williams and beat the Gophers ?
 

Iverson Rumors

Unregistered User said:
I heard that a bag of weed spilled out of a stolen laptop after he hit a security guard with it.
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I heard that he refused to stop going to class, wouldn't join the laptop theft ring or the "girlfriend physical abuse club." These behaviors and the fact that his father wasn't the former college player of the year and that he WAS physical on the court, left him the odd man out. If only he would have been willing to get drunk and disorderly (occasionally) and be arrested by the Minneapolis police dept. he would still be here!
 

remember last winter when the rumors of mass transfers from the gophers we're coming from everywhere, well, the four guys who we're seriously considering leaving last year we're Devoe, Trevor, Cobbs, and Colton.
What changed, we'll basically when Nolen went out and Devoe stepped in and the Gophers went on the big run to the tourney. That kept Devoe around for another 9 months with the expectations that he would be the starting lead guard this year, not Nolen, and when practice started and it was the same situation as the previous year, devoe's attitude was in the tank and we know how that worked out. Cobbs was mad that he didn't get an increased role when Nolen went out and was frustrated by Tubby style and homesick, Trevor obviously was a special case of not being allowed to play, and Colton was pretty similiar to Devoe in that his strong play in the last 3-4 weeks of the season and BTT helped give him confidence that he could play at this level. I have no doubt that had Colt not had that little run of strong play that he would of left after last season, same goes for Devoe.
 

KyGopherfan said:
I concur. I really wish him well and don't blame him. He needs to go somewhere we he can start and play the most he can. We just have too many bodies in the paint as is.

However, if losing Colton means we can get Henry Brooks, I think it'll be an overall plus for the team. It'll increase our athleticism quite a bit.
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Agreed 100%. We need to start all over. Best of luck to Colt.

Go Gophers
 

JohnnyGopher said:
remember last winter when the rumors of mass transfers from the gophers we're coming from everywhere, well, the four guys who we're seriously considering leaving last year we're Devoe, Trevor, Cobbs, and Colton.
What changed, we'll basically when Nolen went out and Devoe stepped in and the Gophers went on the big run to the tourney. That kept Devoe around for another 9 months with the expectations that he would be the starting lead guard this year, not Nolen, and when practice started and it was the same situation as the previous year, devoe's attitude was in the tank and we know how that worked out. Cobbs was mad that he didn't get an increased role when Nolen went out and was frustrated by Tubby style and homesick, Trevor obviously was a special case of not being allowed to play, and Colton was pretty similiar to Devoe in that his strong play in the last 3-4 weeks of the season and BTT helped give him confidence that he could play at this level. I have no doubt that had Colt not had that little run of strong play that he would of left after last season, same goes for Devoe.
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I won't put words in your mouth, Johnny, but it sounds like we had a case of three guys who had inflated perceptions of how good they were, with two of them being fed by nice, but brief, runs of success. A few good games does not make a guy a future pro. Harder to tell with Joseph because of limited playing time before he bolted, but Colt had lots of opportunities and really struggled this year. I felt bad for him, and thought he got jobbed by the refs, but the refs didn't miss all the bunnies he did this year. Something just wasn't right with him most of the season.

What you leave out is an assessment of the cause of the departures. If you care to opine, many will listen.
 

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