Most Surprising Gopher BB Careers in History - Taking Nominations

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Of course, if my memory hasn't failed me too much after all these years, he was instrumental in the OSU brawl too.
 

Dusty hands down. One of our best players in recent history.
 

Dusty--although if you take it into the pros then I'd say Jim Peterson. Who would have thought with that horrible shot of his that he would develop into a decent PF.
 

Eric Harris transformation from Junior to Senior year

It seems that concensus so far is Dusty Rychart... I don't think anyone can argue with that. Was Dusty a walk-on his freshman year?

I'm going to give Eric Harris another vote. The progress leap that he took from his Junior to Senior season was absolutely staggering.

Blake has been a very pleasant surprise... for a long time I thought that his ESPY in high school would be the pinnacle for him. He had a good freshman season shooting the 3, followed by a disappointing sophomore season, I fully expected him to fade into nothingness. His performance this year against Purdue at the barn will go down as one of the best performances that I've seen in a long time... unbelievable. Here's to hoping he'll bring it again tomorrow.

Love the thread topic. Maybe a follow-up thread should be most memorable individual game performance in gopher history. My votes.... 1. Vincent Grier here at the barn vs. Wisconsin. 2 and 3 Lawrence Westbrook twice vs. Wisconsin in his junior season. 4. Blake vs. Purdue here at the Barn.
 

Dusty is the easy answer.

But I also was extremely surprised at Aaron Robinson. He started his career as an afterthought (even more so than Dusty) and ended his career as a vital piece of the 2005 NCAA Tournament team.

2nd Team All-Decade

2nd Team PG - Aaron Robinson - 2001-05Robinson

Many may not remember the tiny point guard out of Rockford, Ill. Robinson was an effective and hard working guard for Dan Monson and was a key player in the run to the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Monson was often criticized for "not improving players" over their career but Robinson is one case that disproves this notion. His scoring improved by 66%, 40% and then 72% each season. His assists improved by 41%, 32% and 54% as well. Overall numbers are not that great and as far as the list of great Gopher point guards go, you won't hear his name whispered. Solid player and part of the winningest class of this decade.
Games Starts Points Reb Ast Blk Stl 3s Made
Aaron Robinson 110 35 614 162 182 11 101
Click to expand...

Find the rest of the all decade team here:
http://www.thedailygopher.com/2010/1/4/1223990/gopher-basketball-all-decade-team
 


Devron Bostick- came in as the national juco player of the year, lit up the Howard Pulley league, and just looked like he was going to take over the league- then in one of his first interviews after the season started he said he was intimidated by Tubby and never seemed to get his mojo back.
Nice guy and friendly through it all
 

I think Dusty is the answer for my frame of reference (twenty years or so), since he's been discussed quite a bit, I'll throw out a couple other ones.

Miles Tarver- Went from a guy I never wanted to see in a game to a guy who's toughness I loved. I don't think he every became great at layups, but he at least occasionally was able to put back some of those offensive boards he grabbed later in his career.

Trevor Winter- Did not get much time on the Final Four team, but I was shocked at how much more coordinated he looked as a Senior. Who would have thought that he would actually play a few games in the NBA?

Unfortunately, recently there have been far more guys who failed to live up to expectations as opposed to exceeding them.
 


kindofgreen said:
Dusty--although if you take it into the pros then I'd say Jim Peterson. Who would have thought with that horrible shot of his that he would develop into a decent PF.
Click to expand...

Yup. Couldn't stand the guy when he was here. One of the most frustrating Gophers. Drafted in the 3rd round by Houston and comes up big in their playoff win over the Lakers, nearly sending Coop to the hospital with a pick at half-court. Best pick in basketball history.
 



11-23-2009, 08:33 PM
Caravan Shaker
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The answer in my mind is Hosea Crittenden. The fact that he ended up playing meaningful minutes in games his senior year is astounding.


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#3 11-23-2009, 09:53 PM
USTGopher
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My first thought when I read this thread was Hosea as well. He is one on those players that does whatever it takes just to get on the court. I still remember watching games and the Barn just coming alive when he would get up and head to check-in with the clock running out. I really don't remember him doing much at all in his 4 years but he's the kind of player that fans would stay to watch during blowouts. I can still picture the entire student section chanting his name to get Haskins to put him in.

PLAY HOSEA

:cool02:
 

Jamal Abu-Shamala or Travis Busch both were key players in Tubby's second year they weren't great players but they did things well and had some big plays down the stretch.
 


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