Gophers will be just fine

[Rouser]

Wow...tough week.

That said..its nice to see this board is in classic mid-season form. Its like logging on after a bad loss to Northwestern mid year. Sky is falling, we suck, etc.

Mbawke missing the year will hurt..but last I checked, we are still pretty good. Lets rewind the tape if you will. We just finished a year in which the team made its return to the big dance. We lost key players in Jamal and Jonathon.. (tongue in cheek). We have pretty much the entire squad back from a tourney team. A team that had 4 key newbies (sorry Devron). Those new players will be much better (history tells us they should). Improved sophmores with key veterans. Even if we had zero recruits..this team would be a tough out. Folks, people were talking about Rodney Williams redshirting! Obviously, this won't happen..but the mere thought of it should highlight our depth.

Lets not forget Rodney and Cobbs are playing day 1...two valuable bodies to get into the mix. Assuming Royce limits his steals to the court when he gets back..we should be fine come BT play. Relax folks...gopher hoops will be just fine.

 

[Section201]

YES.

Wow...tough week.

That said..its nice to see this board is in classic mid-season form. Its like logging on after a bad loss to Northwestern mid year. Sky is falling, we suck, etc.

Mbawke missing the year will hurt..but last I checked, we are still pretty good. Lets rewind the tape if you will. We just finished a year in which the team made its return to the big dance. We lost key players in Jamal and Jonathon.. (tongue in cheek). We have pretty much the entire squad back from a tourney team. A team that had 4 key newbies (sorry Devron). Those new players will be much better (history tells us they should). Improved sophmores with key veterans. Even if we had zero recruits..this team would be a tough out. Folks, people were talking about Rodney Williams redshirting! Obviously, this won't happen..but the mere thought of it should highlight our depth.

Lets not forget Rodney and Cobbs are playing day 1...two valuable bodies to get into the mix. Assuming Royce limits his steals to the court when he gets back..we should be fine come BT play. Relax folks...gopher hoops will be just fine.

I agree completely. I love the guys we have coming back. They will be bigger, stronger, and smarter. They did the U proud last year and this year will still be another step forward IMHO.

I cant wait to see them take the floor.

And STILL Head Coach of the Golden Gophers, Tubby Smith

 

[freshtrout]

My take is that this team will rebound from this past week and be motivated and even stronger and tighter because of this adversity. With the current obstacles thown at them, it's human nature to 'circle the wagons' and dig down deeper and focus even more to become a really good team. This team is still very talented. Optimistic? Yes, but we'll be just fine... It can (and probably will) be a great season with a decent chance at the Big Ten title and doing well in March. Yes, at this point, it's a downer, but let's see what shakes out ..

 

[Slim Tubby]

Rouser...damn you, the eternal optimist spreading cheer on a message board filled with folks just praying for another reason to promote their doom and gloom.

I salute you, sir, for reminding us that we still have a fun season awaiting us...with or without a couple of kids that just can't seem to pull their head out of their....!

 

[Holy Man]

Rouser

I am with you, Rouser. And I will not play any "what if?" games with guys who should be suspended. This is a good basketball team with or without the suspended players. Ralph and Colt on the floor together more often. I like it.

 

[Slim Tubby]

6'11" and 6'11" has a nice ring to it!

 

[Rouser]

Lets not forget that our non conference slate (with the exception of the Disney tourney) is not too difficult. Perhaps Mr. Smith knew what he was doing all along..

 

[Blizzard]

I'm a bit anxious to see how Sampson and Iverson will do. I remember in Al and Blake's freshman year the questions that surrounded them going into their sophomore years was would they go into a sophomore slump. It could argued pretty well that they did.

Will Iverson and Sampson have a similar slump?

With White and Mbakwe's status being uncertain we need these two more than ever this year.

 

[SelectionSunday]

On the assumption White & Mbakwe (our two PF's) are out for a long time, or out for the season. ...

I agree the Gophers will be fine (read: competitive) but not as convinced as some of you are. Yes, we have a lot of good players back from last season, but so do most of the other Big 10 teams. The Big 10 is expected to be much better, and I'm not convinced losing your two stud recruits is conducive to assuming the Gophers will get at least the same results as last year. Hope I'm wrong, but it's certainly going to be a dog-eat-dog world in the Big 10 this season.

 

[Frink]

Thanks Rouser. Here's hoping the team is thinking the same way. Holy Man that's some good advice. It will be tough but it's time to try and separate out what's going on off court from the season. Obviously we can't ignore the situation with the suspended players but come game time it will be time to focus on the guys we do have.

 

[sal]

I agree. The B10 is going to be tough night in and night out and to play without your two projected top power forwards will be a challenge. I'm guessing that RW will be back by conf. play...only a guess. If he is out of the picture, someone else has to step up and be a bit of a surprise. Carter, Devoe, RSIII? Maybe DJ takes his game to the next level? It will be hard to finish in the top 5 without a bona fide STAR on this team. A first or second team All B10 player. We did it last year but to be better and be relevent in the upper tier of the B10, someone needs to be a STAR...or at least a star. Trevor and RW were likely candidates so it will be interesting to see who steps up.