Thoughts

[coolhandgopher]

* Dexter Pittman was a beast. I underestimated him in my preview, I thought the Gopher bigs might be able to get him in foul trouble or frustrate him with their height. Man amongst our two freshman boys out there tonight. Should give Sampson and Iverson a good recognition of how they need to develop to play with the big boys.

* I was hoping to see more DJ on Abrams tonight; who knows, maybe Abrams would have been too quick for him, but it wasn't working with Westbrook guarding.

* I was really disappointed with Nolen tonight. I thought if he had a solid game, both on offense and defense, it would have given the Gophers a great shot to win. It was frustrating to see Balbay and Ward drive at will and dice up the Gopher D.

* As others have said, it was great to see the Gophers playing again in March Madness, especially in year 2 of the Tubby regime. I think the additions next year (particularly Mbawke, White, and maybe Cobbs) can add quite a bit of what's missing from this year's team.

* It'll really be interesting to see how Tubby divvies the minutes next year and keeps everyone happy and everyone effective. I think the blending of the team might be a big challenge for him and the coaching staff.

 

[walter]

DJ's worst game of the year - he could not make a 5 foot shot

Did he have Texas -4?

I am kidding here - just in case the gopher fan police are watching

 

[USTGopher]

I agree with the comment on Nolen. It was tough watching Balbay drive past him even though he was sagging 5 or 6 feet off of him, though that does make it tougher to guard to a point since Balbay was getting a head of steam before encountering Nolen and caused him to play on his heels. We needed the Louisville Nolen tonight.

 

[bga1]

I haven't seen Williams play. However, soemthing gives me the idea that Tubby will take this great athlete and attempt to make him a defensive stopper who also gets some scrap points off runouts. I can imagine him taking on guys like Abrams and Harris and Turner of Illinois. That's a lot to ask of a frosh but based on his reputed quickness and athletcism he could fill a great need while developing the rest of his game.

 

[EG#9]

I think Nolen and Hoffarber are the biggest question marks heading in to next year. It seems like ages ago that Nolen was rightfully in the conversation of the Big Ten's best point guard, but that was just 2 months ago. Blake simply has to make shots. It was such a backbreaker to see him get open looks and not be able to knock them down.

In addition to seeing DJ on Abrams, I would have liked to have seen more of Iverson against Pittman. My highlight of the night was probably the drop step/up and under Colt45 put on the big man (either that or Jamal's acrobatic layup early in the game).

 

[jags1998]

I haven't seen Williams play. However, soemthing gives me the idea that Tubby will take this great athlete and attempt to make him a defensive stopper who also gets some scrap points off runouts. I can imagine him taking on guys like Abrams and Harris and Turner of Illinois. That's a lot to ask of a frosh but based on his reputed quickness and athletcism he could fill a great need while developing the rest of his game.

Imo, Rodney has some work to do on and off the court before challenging the above mentioned names.