I know I'm a HUGE college hoops geek...

GopherLady

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But man, did that little preview get me fired up for the season. Yes, it's UBC and it's September, but I saw a lot of nice things. I'm probably looking into this way too much, because I just needed my fix of hoops, as it's been weeks since Pulley - but I'm going to comment anyways ;)

I honestly think Trevor is the difference maker from us being an NIT team, to a team capable of a run in the tourney. He had 10 pts, and 9 boards. He also had some nice blocks. I loved one particular run, he had a huge one handed dunk, and got back on D for the block. That's what I like, a well-rounded player!

Having Nolen back is huge - frees up Devoe to shoot, and he did, had 18 points. Nolen was solid with 8 pts, 6 assists and I want to say 2-3 steals.

I am going off memory, since I closed the box score - but I believe Mo Walker had 10pts as well. Sampson hit some nice shots, CI looked solid - our lineup is just so big now.

Hollins also looked good, and am excited to see more from him. I think Mav was the only one not to score today - and Elliot didn't play a whole lot, but I don't expect him to if he's redshirting.

I only saw the 2nd half, after the football game was over, but they looked good for Septmber. It's hard to tell against a team that isn't that good, but it looks more promising than I thought they would 2 months ago when it looked like Trevor wouldn't be back, and Royce was gone...along with DJ and Westbrook.

Like I said, you can make fun of me for being a huge geek, but that was fun to watch!

P.S. There were two mini-scares - right before the half, it appeared that Mbakwe had injured his hand/finger, had a towel over it and Roger was checking him out. He came back in in the 2nd half - so it appears to be nothing. Sampson rolled his ankle, and left the game. He was able to walk off the court, and Roger didn't even really attend to him, so that appeared to be fine too. Let's just hope for this team to stay healthy!
 

But man, did that little preview get me fired up for the season. Yes, it's UBC and it's September, but I saw a lot of nice things. I'm probably looking into this way too much, because I just needed my fix of hoops, as it's been weeks since Pulley - but I'm going to comment anyways ;)

I honestly think Trevor is the difference maker from us being an NIT team, to a team capable of a run in the tourney. He had 10 pts, and 9 boards. He also had some nice blocks. I loved one particular run, he had a huge one handed dunk, and got back on D for the block. That's what I like, a well-rounded player!

Having Nolen back is huge - frees up Devoe to shoot, and he did, had 18 points. Nolen was solid with 8 pts, 6 assists and I want to say 2-3 steals.

I am going off memory, since I closed the box score - but I believe Mo Walker had 10pts as well. Sampson hit some nice shots, CI looked solid - our lineup is just so big now.

Hollins also looked good, and am excited to see more from him. I think Mav was the only one not to score today - and Elliot didn't play a whole lot, but I don't expect him to if he's redshirting.

I only saw the 2nd half, after the football game was over, but they looked good for Septmber. It's hard to tell against a team that isn't that good, but it looks more promising than I thought they would 2 months ago when it looked like Trevor wouldn't be back, and Royce was gone...along with DJ and Westbrook.

Like I said, you can make fun of me for being a huge geek, but that was fun to watch!

P.S. There were two mini-scares - right before the half, it appeared that Mbakwe had injured his hand/finger, had a towel over it and Roger was checking him out. He came back in in the 2nd half - so it appears to be nothing. Sampson rolled his ankle, and left the game. He was able to walk off the court, and Roger didn't even really attend to him, so that appeared to be fine too. Let's just hope for this team to stay healthy!

I watched bits-n-pieces of 1Q, 2Q, and 4Q. Hardly enough to judge overall but I saw some encouraging differences compared to 2009-10 Gophers.

1. Mbakwe and Walker will add rebounding and size in the post (defined as PF or C). Big flaw missing from Gophers last year.

2. Hollins will add outside shooting skills from "3" spot. DJ could do that, but Hollins is better shooter from 3-pt FG range than him.

3. Nolen makes a big difference at PG. He allows Devoe to play his natural SG position and is a better PG than most/many in Big 10.

In a close game, minutes of PT might look like this:

F Rodney 20-25, Trevor 25-20, Austin 10-15.
C Ralph 20-25, Colt 20-25, Big Mo 10-15.
G Blake 25-30, Devoe 25-30, Nolen 25-30.

Taking the midpoints, that's 200+ minutes.
 

You could just

remove the part about the huge college basketball and be totally acurate as well.
 





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