Nate Mason calls his Gophers career ‘lovely’ despite so many setbacks

[BleedGopher]

per Greder:

Mason will take center stage on Minnesota’s senior night against Iowa on Wednesday at Williams Arena, but even that could be tinged with the pain of a sprained ankle he suffered late in Monday’s 73-63 overtime loss at Wisconsin.

In the twilight of his what-could-have-been college career, Mason said Tuesday his four years at Minnesota were “lovely” and “probably the best decision I’ve made in my life so far.”

His 1,668 points rank seventh in program history, right behind Kevin McHale. His 501 assists are second only to Arriel McDonald’s 547. But it’s Mason’s perseverance that Gophers coach Richard Pitino will remember most.

“He has dealt with adversity in a great way and hasn’t run from it like a lot of young people do,” Pitino said. “Never had a day where he didn’t practice hard. That is the thing more than the other stuff that I’ve always loved about him; he is very business like in his approach, just on a day-to-day basis. So we are going to miss that.”

https://www.twincities.com/2018/02/...phers-career-lovely-despite-so-many-setbacks/

Go Gophers!!

 

[MissouriGopher]

I'm going to miss him. I remember during the summer of 2016, I ran into him while at Blarney, only a few months after I had attended every game of the 8 win season. He was sitting by himself near the dance floor - reserved and quiet as you'd expect from him - and (being the drunk motherf*cker that I was) I sat down and introduced myself. It was a short conversation but before I left I told him, "You guys are going to be great next year." He laughed and responded, "We'll have to play some games first."

That's the attitude he had throughout his career. He didn't look ahead and always worked to get to the next stage. It wasn't a surprise that we had a great season last year. Nate and his teammates put in the work to grow and become cohesive. I had seen that in 2015-16 which prompted me to say something. That 2016-17 schoolyear will go down as one of the best years of my life - for many more reasons than basketball, but the fun of that season won't leave my memories any time soon. He's an all-time kind of gopher and will be remembered as a key part to our resurgence. I'm sure of it.

 

[macgopher]

I'm going to miss him. I remember during the summer of 2016, I ran into him while at Blarney, only a few months after I had attended every game of the 8 win season. He was sitting by himself near the dance floor - reserved and quiet as you'd expect from him - and (being the drunk motherf*cker that I was) I sat down and introduced myself. It was a short conversation but before I left I told him, "You guys are going to be great next year." He laughed and responded, "We'll have to play some games ....

A true basketball warrior. I will miss him as well.