Rodney Williams video

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Thanks so much for putting those together, and posting them. To say Rodney is athletic, is an understatement. I also loved the end - welcoming him to the Gophers...I'd like to 2nd that!
 

glad you liked it....if possible I'm going to try to get more footage before the season is over.
 

Sam Jacobson video

Thanks for posting. It brings back memories of another Gopher with hops, Sam Jacobson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrOMlIgHKS4

IMHO while Sam may have had a better shot coming in Rodney is an even better athlete. If he can keep up his grades Tubby is going to turn him into a star.
 



He's got some other stuff on you tube from the summer that is also eye popping. I was down at the Sal this summer during warm ups when he was doing that flying down the lane one hander.....can't wait to see it at the barn.
 

Hey, they can all dunk.

Can he fit in to a system? Will he defend? Will he attend classes and do the work? Will he stay in school for at least three years?
 

We need some HS videos of Sam, since I was too young to see it.
 

Gopher4Life said:
Hey, they can all dunk.

Can he fit in to a system? Will he defend? Will he attend classes and do the work? Will he stay in school for at least three years?
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Valid questions. I hear he's a good defender. As far as the other stuff, I feel confident that Tubby is the perfect kind of coach for him to become a better man and basketball player. If Rodney can't succeed here, I don't know where he would.

As far as the videos though.....can't wait for the dunk competition at Tubby's Tipoff next season!
 



He's the next Raymor Morgan

Raymor can't shoot paticular well either, but I would guess that Rodney will be every bit as athletic and even more. The Gophers are going to be well positioned with Rodney and my guess is he will be twice the player as DJ will ever be. Hopefully Rodney will be as basketball smart as DJ.

And no, they can't all dunk (at least 360 as shown in a game setting) and they can't all shoot like Blake, but it takes athletes to win at the highest levels. The game is played above the rim and I have seen none higher than Rodney. I am very excited to have him as a Gopher.
 

Scouts have said Rodney is already a top notch defender. That will get him minutes as a freshman under Tubby. I've heard and read that he needs to work on his shot and his ball handling most. From what I've seen, the former is true but the latter is overblown.
 

Highlight video

sitting around depressed after the vikings game last night, i decided to put together a highlight reel of rodney's clips on youtube. here it is:

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used some of your stuff ontherise... i haven't had the chance of seeing rodney play live yet but i'm looking forward to it. february 2 v. royce white and hopkins
 

hopkins vs cooper

is there a way to reserve tickets ahead of time to that game? or do you just have to get there early and hope for the best
 



correction Robbinsdale Cooper v. Hopkins February 3

my mistake, looks like the game is on Tuesday, February 3

http://www.classiclake.org/g5-bin/client.cgi

i have no idea about reserved tickets, might have to head over there real early. i've heard some others mention the game on here before so maybe someone has some good info for us.
 

After you look at the you video - would you want him on the other team? I think Rodney take the gophers to the next level - IMO, he's better for the gophers than Royce.
 

13 striped squirrel said:
After you look at the you video - would you want him on the other team? I think Rodney take the gophers to the next level - IMO, he's better for the gophers than Royce.
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This is part of the problem with And1-type fans. I'm not calling out 13 striped squirrel personally, it's just a common thing that I've heard with some fans around these parts. What I saw in that video was an extremely skinny kid dunking in warm-ups and in AAU summer league with practically zero defense being played. I didn't see any of his defense, no shooting, nor anything else. There is a reason that street legends are legends only on the street; they can't compete in real basketball games (with a few exceptions, a la Skip to my Lou).

Now, I recognize that the video was created to highlight Rodney's dunking and athletic ability. And I think he is a HUGE get for the Gophers. He could be something great not only for the team but our state if he turns out to be a great player for the U.

However, crowning him king and fawning over him because he can jump higher and dunk the ball better than anyone else is the wrong move for Gopher fans. You think he'll be able to jump like that with the defenses of Michigan State, Illinois, and Wisconsin hitting him on every single cut, throwing his skeleton frame off his block when attempting to hit the boards or get to the hoop for an alley-oop?

Rodney is a freak athlete; no one denies that. He has a ways to go, especially offensively (there was a reason he dropped 60 spots on the Rivals150), before he will be able to single-handedly carry us "to the next level," before even mentioning dealing with the rigors of D1 basketball with 6 am practices, weights, more difficult school work, etc.

I'm sorry for the rant, but I think so many people see a high-flyer and automatically think that he'll be the second coming before realizing how vastly different the collegiate level is from high school.

I want the kid to succeed and cheer him on more than anyone, but I think we need to be realistic about the limitations of not only his game today, but the changes he will experience in the next year.
 

ShowinGoldyLove said:
This is part of the problem with And1-type fans. I'm not calling out 13 striped squirrel personally, it's just a common thing that I've heard with some fans around these parts. What I saw in that video was an extremely skinny kid dunking in warm-ups and in AAU summer league with practically zero defense being played. I didn't see any of his defense, no shooting, nor anything else. There is a reason that street legends are legends only on the street; they can't compete in real basketball games (with a few exceptions, a la Skip to my Lou).

Now, I recognize that the video was created to highlight Rodney's dunking and athletic ability. And I think he is a HUGE get for the Gophers. He could be something great not only for the team but our state if he turns out to be a great player for the U.

However, crowning him king and fawning over him because he can jump higher and dunk the ball better than anyone else is the wrong move for Gopher fans. You think he'll be able to jump like that with the defenses of Michigan State, Illinois, and Wisconsin hitting him on every single cut, throwing his skeleton frame off his block when attempting to hit the boards or get to the hoop for an alley-oop?

Rodney is a freak athlete; no one denies that. He has a ways to go, especially offensively (there was a reason he dropped 60 spots on the Rivals150), before he will be able to single-handedly carry us "to the next level," before even mentioning dealing with the rigors of D1 basketball with 6 am practices, weights, more difficult school work, etc.

I'm sorry for the rant, but I think so many people see a high-flyer and automatically think that he'll be the second coming before realizing how vastly different the collegiate level is from high school.

I want the kid to succeed and cheer him on more than anyone, but I think we need to be realistic about the limitations of not only his game today, but the changes he will experience in the next year.
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All good points and realistic concerns, but I think Rodney is going to be great for the Gophers. Just for the record these dunks were against Eden Praire who clearly spent a lot of practice time preparing to stop Rodney from dunking, and although high school teams don't compare to Michigan State, I still think he'll get his share of dunks as a Gopher. I don't think he's going to single handedly take our team to the next level, but I think he's going to help our team a lot. Not only will he provide entertainment to the fans and help gain exposure for the team by having top 10 plays on espn, he will fit Tubby's system perfectly and has the potential to be an amazing defender(ESPN rated him the best defender in the country for small forwards). He will serve as a great defender and a guy that gives us a spark when he gets the opportunity. I'll take Rodney on our team any day. And Royce is going to be huge for our half court offense, which could use some help.
 

I think Rodney will have less of an impact his freshman year then Joseph has had for us this year. Rodney just needs some time in the wieght room and on the practice court perfecting his outside stroke and the sky is the limit for him. Minutes are not going to be easy to come by next year, this team will be loaded.
 

sanowai said:
I think Rodney will have less of an impact his freshman year then Joseph has had for us this year. Rodney just needs some time in the wieght room and on the practice court perfecting his outside stroke and the sky is the limit for him. Minutes are not going to be easy to come by next year, this team will be loaded.
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Interesting point. What do you foresee for pt from the rest of the newcomers?
 

I think Rodney will have a big impact next year. This team has a real lack of athletic guards that can run right now. He's a combo 2/3 guy and he'll see the floor plenty. We all see the effect Damian Johnson can have with his long arms when we're pressing and trapping and I think Rodney will be used in a similar way (though of course he won't be as good as a frosh as DJ is now). Rodney has a nice shot and is crazy athletic so he'll contribute. Imagine Nolen, Joseph/Westbrook, Rodney, DJ and Mbakwe running, pressing and trapping out there
 

Nolen, Westbrook, Hoff, Joseph, Cobbs, Bostick, DJ, Carter, Williams and if Tubby wanted to go with a big lineup he could throw Royce or Trevor in at SF. With all these guys competing for minutes I cant see him averaging much more than 10 minutes per game as a freshman. I think its safe to assume Williams will not play a single minute at the point next year. I would also find it hard to believe he will ever see any minutes at the PF position. That would leave an available 40 minutes per game each at the SG or SF position. I havent looked up the stats but i will take a stab at what I think these guys are getting per game this year. I will start with SG, I would say Westbrook averages a little over 20 minutes a game. Blake averages about 25, Joseph averages about 15 split between pg and SG,Bostick about 6-7, Nolen plays around 30 a game, most at PG so that would mean 5 of josephs minutes would have to overlap and send him to SG. Now at SF we have DJ who eats up about 28 minutes, Carter takes up about 15 per game. Then you add more quality players into that mix next year and I just personally dont see Williams getting much more then 10 minutes per game on a nightly basis. Saying I think he wont have as big of an impact as Joseph isnt a slam, I think Devo has been great as a back up to Nolen so far this season as a true freshman. We have had a couple games while Nolen was in foul trouble and running the team was thrown on Devos back. Without Devo on those nights we would of been in a world of hurt without him. I dont think we will ever be that situation next year where Tubby will have no other option then putting Williams into the game as he has had with Devo on a few occasions this year.
 

GophersOnTheRise said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDKhR3X_DWk

A few of Rodney's dunks from the Timberwolves Shootout. Unfortunately the camera went into sleep mode right before his best dunk of the night so I wasn't able to put it on there, but still an impressive video nontheless.
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Dunks are fun to watch.

Can he shoot the ball? Well? Driblle? How is his passing skills? Rbounding?
 

His shot can be effective at times, but still definitely needs work on his consistency. Mechanics wise he gets good elevation on his shot, but has somewhat of a low release point. His dribbling is okay but he still needs to work on creating his own shot and getting to the basket in the half court offense, although he seems to have gotten a little better at that since I saw him last year. If he developes a pullup jumper it could be unstoppable. With his length and jumping ability I can see him being an effective rebounder. I'm very excited about his defense as his length and athleticism can cause nightmares for opposing players and will allow him to fit perfectly in our system, not to mention allow him to block shots that shouldn't be humanly possible. There's no doubt that he is somewhat raw, but with some extra practice and added aggressiveness he could be scary in a few years.
 

This kid is amazing

After watching some more video's of him on the YouTube I am convinced he is the best player in next years class. The video from the Jayhawk invitational showed him playing some lock down D. Every other video shows him jumping out of the gym. It is going to be so tough for Tubby to not give him minutes. The best players will play and he is the best. We are going to have so many good players next year. I can't even begin to think about the possible starting line-ups and subs. Next years talent might be some of the best we have had in a very long time around here with the new kids and the maturation of the new class we have this year.
 

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