Saw Wally Ellenson's Opening Game Tonight

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XMan

XMan

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Golden boy and I went to see Rice Lake play Amery tonight. Schoniegopher was there too. Rice Lake is a very good team and won by about 30 points. Wally was very aggressive and up at the rim all night. He had a few great rebound type slam dunks that he just took and out muscled guys. Wally also has a very nice touch however his 3 point shot was a little off tonight. I don't have all the stats but he was probably about 2 for 6 or 7 from the three point line. He had a nice mid range jumper too from about seven feet out. I do think that he will develop I to a good player for Tubby down the line.
 

I agree with this. He's a great athlete, but the competition was inferior tonight. He's agressive and a great leaper. In the mold of Jacobson, but not as good tonight. It was his first game. You can see he can shoot but had a bit of an off night.

Some really impressive dunks and put backs. He's a great athlete. Tubby can work with him. We'll see how it plays out. I'd like to see him against better competition and really be challenged. I'm guessing he'd step up. Still an impressive first game.
 

Scoring for the Ellenson boys:

Wally 14 points
Elwood 12 points
Henry 17 points

Henry is absolutely a great player. 6'7" freshman who runs the floor well, has great hands and court sense. He also has a nice touch from the outside and from behind the arc. He isn't a skinny kid either with some pretty broad shoulders. He looks like he could put on about 3 or 4 more inches as he grows and develops. I have seen Wally play before but not Henry. Tubby was at the game and if I was Tubby I would keep working on Henry. Henry will definitely be one of the top players in WI or MN in three years.
 


Golden boy and I were talking with Wally's dad about the excitement of having all three of his kids playing together on varsity this year. He said Wally is excited for this season and to be a Gopher. Tubby was there and we talked to him too for about 10 minutes. He was really approachable and friendly. I told Tubby I heard he was coming to the game tonight (we all stood out as there were no other people wearing gopher garb) and he asked how I knew. I told him from the gopher hole and he chuckled.
 


XMan said:
Golden boy and I were talking with Wally's dad about the excitement of having all three of his kids playing together on varsity this year. He said Wally is excited for this season and to be a Gopher. Tubby was there and we talked to him too for about 10 minutes. He was really approachable and friendly. I told Tubby I heard he was coming to the game tonight (we all stood out as there were no other people wearing gopher garb) and he asked how I knew. I told him from the gopher hole and he chuckled.
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Shoulda told him to sign up!
 


I was greatly impressed

Rice Lake could have kept pouring it on if they had kept the pressure on and really taken it to paint a lot more. I thought the RL coach did a nice job of getting his team to run offense and share the ball. Wally (and the entire team, for that matter) really passed well and found open shooters. I was surprised that almost everyone on the team seemed to have the green light to put it up from beyond the arc. Wally had a few lip out, but his shot looks smooth and you can see where he could go on a hot streak.
One dunk by Wally stood out to me in particular: he caught the ball down low on the block and went up off two feet without a dribble or a step and, even though a defender undercut him, he powered up through the contact and crammed it down. Great strength and the kid has some serious hops.
All three Ellenson boys were impressive. Good athletes. Elwood is an good alround player that was, perhaps, the most unselfish of the three. Seemed to enjoy passing the ball to teammates. Henry is already a load as a 9th grader. Big shoulders, good court sense and a pretty fair handle for a young frontcourt player. He was a quick trigger from 3 and had the best shooting night of the three brothers. He'll likely end up 6-9 or 6-10 as he grows up, but he's nowhere near as athletic as Wally. Wally isn't freaky athletic like Jacobsen was, but he's got good legs.
 

Rice Lake went deep into the bench early and did some of the five for five subbing at times. We laughed that Tubby probably loved to see that. I will give the Rice Lake coach credit that he did play a lot of his guys as they were up by a lot for most of the second half.
 



Meeting Tubby -

Tubby was very approachable and chatted with the whole family for about ten minutes. Asked my two nephews about playing youth hoops, etc. I was a little taken back that he had no entourage. He was all by himself. No other coaches or staff. He was really relaxed and fun to chat with.
 

Assistant coach Ron Jirka (sp) was there with him in the stands. Xman probably scared him off, doubtful it would be the first time that happened. But he was definitely there.
 


sconniegopher said:
Assistant coach Ron Jirka (sp) was there with him in the stands. Xman probably scared him off, doubtful it would be the first time that happened. But he was definitely there.
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I didn't see Jirka there when we talked with Tubby. He was amazingly nice. Asked where we were from and what we did for a living. Talked about his days as a teacher.
 



He was there with a Minnesota sweater on. He was sitting with Tubby and mom and dad.
 

Good to hear Tubby was so cool. I'm excited to see what Ellenson can bring. Hopefully his little brother comes to Minnesota as well.
 

That is exactly who he is. I first met him 7 years ago in a Delta Sky Club room in Atlanta. I told him i was a fan of his. I talked about our current situation with Monson and our moderate expectations. It was just like talking to one of my buddies.
 



Thanks for the updates guys - great stuff and fun to read.

I look forward to watching Wally at the Timberwolves Shootout in Jan. but until then, these first hand reports are much appreciated!

Go Gophers!!
 

Chatting basketball with Tubby would make my life feel a lot more complete.
 

zambam said:
Chatting basketball with Tubby would make my life feel a lot more complete.
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As others have said, he is very approachable. At the Thanksgiving tournament in LA a couple of years ago, my brother and I talked to him for a half hour after the last game. Felt like we had known him all of our lives.
 

Thanks for all the info guys...always fun to hear from someone who has seen these guys in person, rather than just ESPN or Rivals.
 

Mass MD said:
Thanks for all the info guys...always fun to hear from someone who has seen these guys in person, rather than just ESPN or Rivals.
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Or opinionated GopherHolers who don't know squat!!!!
 

Lincoln gopher said:
As others have said, he is very approachable. At the Thanksgiving tournament in LA a couple of years ago, my brother and I talked to him for a half hour after the last game. Felt like we had known him all of our lives.
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I've never been in a situation where I've even seen Tubby in person :(
 

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