Gopher Basketball
General observations
““ The crowd was much better than last year, including about four times as many students. Overall a relatively good turnout, given the fact that there was very little given no promotion for the event. If they put more effort into the promotion next year they could easily get The Barn over half full.
““ The Pep Band was there. This really helped the atmosphere.
““ Some recruits present: Trevor Mbakwe, Chad Calcaterra, Royce White, Rodney Williams, Jake Kreuser, and Mike Rostampour. Royce was working on Trevor pretty hard.
““ Damian Johnson has a minor knee injury, and Tubby had asked Damian to explain his injury to the crowd. After he did this, it was apparent not many people were following what he was saying. Tubby then told Damian to “œSpeak English!”. That got a good chuckle from the crowd.
““ Kevin Love said that The Barn is one of the most unique stadiums he’d ever seen, he was jealous because they never had a midnight madness at UCLA. He chatted with Tubby for a while, and was swarmed by kids after the dunk contest and signed a lot of autographs.
““ Flip Saunders was present.
3-point contest results
First round
Blake Hoffarber ““ 9
Devron Bostick ““ 5
Jamal Abu-Shamala ““ 4
Travis Busch ““ 6
Ralph Sampson III ““ 3
Devoe Joseph ““ 5
Al Nolen ““ 7
Lawrence Westbrook ““ 10
Paul Carter ““ 6
Kevin Payton ““ 7
Championship
Lawrence Westbrook ““ 7
Blake Hoffarber ““ 5
Highlights
– In the first round, Westbrook hit his first 10 3’s and finished 10-11.
Dunk contest
Judges:
““ J.B. Bickerstaff
““ Mark Madsen
““ Kevin Love
““ Jim Peterson
Highlights
““ Devoe Joseph threw a pass to Paul Carter from the 2nd deck of the Barn, but it was unsuccessful.
““ After a Carter dunk, Tubby gave him flack because “œit looked like it was in slow motion”.
““ Devron Bostick brought the house down with perfect 10 in first round. Bostick won the dunk contest.
Impressions of the team
Our biggest impression was that overnight, the Gopher basketball program got athletic and became a long team. Paul Carter was impressive. This team has a lot more scoring power that we did last year, and we do not expect as many scoring droughts like we’ve had the last few seasons. We think that the Gophers will create a lot of turnovers this year because of our quickness, athletic ability, and length. Here some quick impressions on each player from the scrimmage:
Maroon:
Jonathan Williams ““ (2 pts, 0 reb) Looked to be in a good shape, a little slimmer than last year. Did not play very much. Showed a few post moves, scored one basket. We think he’ll be used in spurts, he doesn’t seem to be able to play for long periods at a time. He did drop an easy pass in the lane.
Lawrence Westbrook ““ (12 pts, 2 reb) Looked very strong, and seemed to be 100% healed from his surgery. Played good defense. Both Westbrook & Nolen looked like they were in mid-season defensive form. Finished with 12 points, shot the ball well.
Travis Busch ““ (4 pts, 2 reb) Had a couple baskets, showed good intangibles.
Jamal Abu-Shamala ““ (5-5 FG’s, 12 pts) Played like a confident senior, had at least 12 points. Took the ball to the basket a few times and was not afraid to shoot.
Kevin Payton ““ (5 pts) Hit one three point shot, otherwise didn’t do very much to stand out.
Al Nolen ““ (11 pts) Along with Westbrook, played like he was in mid-season defensive form. He hit 3 three-point shots, and played great defense against Devoe Joseph.
Damian Johnson ““ Was dressed, but did not play because of a minor knee injury.
Gold:
Colton Iverson ““ (2 pts, 3 reb) You can tell Colton loves to rebound. He does a good job of getting in position and boxing out. Had one big dunk. Not afraid to run the floor. Has good size, needs to put on some more weight. He has the frame to support it. Has the potential to be very good in the high-low offense. Could start many games this year.
Ralph. Sampson ““ (10 pts, 5 reb) Had at least 10 points. He has a nice mid-range game for a big man. He’s a finesse big man right now. Runs the floor well. He’ll cause a lot of havoc on the defense end with his ability block shots. Also needs to put some more weight on. Will be an immediate contributor.
Devron Bostick ““ (0 pts, 3 reb, 3 asst) Looked very athletic in warm-ups, but was almost non-existent in the scrimmage. For those that saw him in the Pulley League you know he can score.
Blake Hoffarber ““ (13 pts) Blake looked his usual self, but his legs weren’t quite underneath him tonight. He missed some shots he normally wouldn’t. He did still make a couple 3’s though. Blake’s already-quick release looks even quicker this year. We’d like to see him try to create his own shot and put the ball on the floor a little more. With the other Gophers guards increasingly able to penetrate, this should bode well for Hoff.
Devoe Joseph ““ (7 pts, 3 asst) Very confident player, not afraid to shoot. He can play at both guard positions. He made a couple very nice passes, but struggled a bit on defense. Devoe will probably be a little turnover prone early, because he tries to make things happen.
Paul Carter ““ (7 pts, 2 reb) Carter will be match up problems for a lot of teams, because he’s got great length, he’s very athletic, he has solid range from the outside, and is able to put the ball on the floor. He looks like he has fun on the court, which could make him a fan favorite.
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