I agree with most of what has just been said. They're showing more enthusiasm than in the recent past. Last year's senior class really was a downer, no offense to anybody, but the lack of apparent enjoyment of what they were doing surely reflected in the results.
And absolutely, Cotton, Mastey and Dockery represent big big improvements not only over their former selves but over AEM, Ohm and McCoy.
And yet they're obviously not a very good team with 3 losses now to non-BCS teams, only one of whom (W-GB) has a winning record. They have had the same terrible spells on offense that they had last year, 10-15 possessions, 5-10 minutes without a score. Last night they turned the ball over on 5 of 7 possessions from 8:00 to 4:00. Extending it a couple more minutes, they got out-scored 16-2 and went from ahead 23-22 to behind 39-25. They were the better team for 35 minutes, but they were so horrid for 5 that they couldn't overcome it. What's with that?
As for Noga, I like her but, yeah, you're never gonna hear me say, Wow, she's quick! I think she has a better nose for the game than Ohm had but, yeah, the comparison is apt enough. I see her as a back-up who is smart enough to stay in position and not hurt you too bad with her lack of quickness, and then she can hit the 3. All of which sounds like Ohm, but Noga is a better rebounder (again, it's that nose) and a better passer. She will score like Ohm but much out-rebound and out-assist her. Just so she doesn't get burned on defense too often.
Still I am deathly afraid that 3 years from now we're going to find 3 or 4 guards from the class of 2012 playing D1 ball someplace, reminding us of Wahlin and Alyssa Karel, and the Gophers, regardless of how good Banham is, will still be short of depth in the back court and of ball handlers. The inability to keep the ball moving is perhaps the #1 problem with Borton's style year after year after year.
