I feel bad for Damien

[TheHofferette]

I agree w/ gopherbadgerman....too many variables to assume we are automatically SO much better w/ our full roster. if Trevor, Royce, and Al play all season, other players may not have developed. the 1st 2 that come into mind are Ralph and The Hoff. I came into this year doubting Ralph's heart (did he get roped into playing bball because of his dad?) but he has turned into a go-to inside player w/ real potential to get all B10 by Senior year. Blake got his shot back and the confidence to be THE shooter on the team (I don't think he handled that role well last year and may not have this year either).

 

[GophersOnTheRise]

I agree w/ gopherbadgerman....too many variables to assume we are automatically SO much better w/ our full roster. if Trevor, Royce, and Al play all season, other players may not have developed. the 1st 2 that come into mind are Ralph and The Hoff. I came into this year doubting Ralph's heart (did he get roped into playing bball because of his dad?) but he has turned into a go-to inside player w/ real potential to get all B10 by Senior year. Blake got his shot back and the confidence to be THE shooter on the team (I don't think he handled that role well last year and may not have this year either).

They wouldn't have had to be "SO" much better with those guys on the team, all they would have to do was turn a couple one point losses into wins. There is a very fine line between winning and losing and I think the addition of Royce and/or Mbakwe would make up for enough to turn at least two of those close losses into close wins. You can argue that Ralph might not have done as well with those guys playing, but it's possible he could have done better too with less defense focused on him. As far has Hoff goes, if Royce and Mbakwe were playing, defenses would have to account for them in the post and it would pull defenses closer to the basket and open up things for Hoffarber to get more shots off. It's not like we run a bunch of plays to get Hoffarber open anyways, so I doubt it would take shots away from him With better players for defenses to focus their attention on I think Hoff would have done at least as good as he's done without them, if not better. I really don't see how people have a hard time believing that the team might have done a little bit better with a physical presence in the post that adds rebounding, defense, and a scoring option in the halfcourt offense.

 

[Section201]

andy

Since when are people's all time "favorite" players supposed to be the "best" players?

Agreed.

+1

 

[gopherbadgerman]

Do you think they wouldn't have made enough impact for us to be a sure tournament team? That would likely mean winning one or two games out of the following losses...
5 point loss to Portland
1 point loss to Texas A&M
5 point loss to Miami
7 point loss to Mich St
3 point loss to Indiana in OT
1 point loss to Mich St
8 point loss to Michigan
3 point loss to Northern in OT
1 point loss to Purdue

Whether or not they're "large impact players" may be speculation, but I think it's pretty safe to say that having those two play would've assured us a tournament spot. Can you honestly say you don't think we would've won a few of those close games if they had played?

I agree, but who is to say they might not have lost a game for us as well? One of them could have blown the game at ILL last weekend or the 1st home game against PSU...

My point was that many people seem to think that adding two unproven D1 players would have turned us into some unstoppable force. I just think the impact RW and TM could have had is blown up on this board many times. I would love to have them on the team, but we don't.

And to add to the original post - my favorite player all time was Randy Carter. I loved how he slapped the backboards after seemingly every shot.

 

[skoolvikes]

This kid poured his heart out tonight. He left everything on the floor and I really appreciated the fact that he wouldn't give up. While everyone else was standing around and flat out throwing in the towel, he was diving for lose balls, boxing out, etc. I personally felt bad for him tonight and have now for a while because I can see how much he wants to get into the NCAA Tourney and finish his senior season strong, unlike his senior co-captain. I for one will miss DJ and I hope he is very successful after college basketball. I'll take that kind of player any day.

 

[millions2spare]

white would have got us 5 more wins and he would have been frosh of the year in the big ten...