The Gophers search for a point guard appears to be over, possibly. We have of course been here before, when Verdell Jones committed, then didn’t then went to Indiana in the search of more playing time.
This time, Marcus Fuller of the Pioneer Press along with other websites are reporting that Justin Cobbs, a 6′1” 185 lb true point guard out of California has verbally committed to play for the Gophers starting with the 2009-2010 season.
Cobbs avereaged 17 ppg with 8 assists per game last year. His biggest upside, especially considering the last few years, is that he is a 90% free throw shooter. He was ranked an 85 by ESPN, and was reportedly being recruited by San Diego State, Iowa, California, Washington State, and USC.
No word yet on how this would affect Darius Smith, another Gopher point guard target, but with limited scholarships, one can only assume Darius Smith will be playing elsewhere.
Skeeter, if you are wondering, is the esteemed band director at Gopher Basketball games, and Zombie Nation is not the slightly less esteemed Penn State blog, but the over-used, over-played and overly-annoying technoeurotrash song that you have heard if you have been anywhere near a sporting event in the last few years. It is “Who Let the Dogs Out” and The Macarena” rolled into one with more Ecstasy laced synthesizers than should ever be used on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Just how common are jumping students drunkenly yelling OhhhhhhhhOhhhOhOh you ask?
They love it during college football games at:
Penn State
Iowa
Central Florida
Clemson
Speaking of Clemson, they use it at their basketball games
along with Florida,
Wake Forest, where technically Demon Deacons and zombies are rather similar
and the Arizona State Sun Devils have similar qualities,
but what about Gonzaga,
and every,
freaking,
high school in the country.
Skeeter, change isn’t just John McCain’s attempt to help us forget that he has a 1 in 3 chance of dying in the next 8 years, it is desperately needed in Williams Arena. This year is Minnesota’s sesquicentennial, and what better way to celebrate this great state’s 150th year in existence by playing a bit of music that originated here. There are more great bands with great songs than there are schools using Zombie Nation, but you would be hard pressed to hear them at a Gopher basketball game. Let’s change this now. A few suggestion:
Just about anything by this man.
After all, he is pansexual. I’d recommend “Let’s Go Crazy.” It is what the crowd is supposed to do.
The Replacements “I Will Dare”
or maybe something from Husker Du,
Bob Dylan,
and even though they wouldn’t be at the top of my list, Lipps Inc.
or even Yanni would be better. Yes, Yanni is one of our own, and how epic would this be?
So Skeeter, be the change we want to see in the world. Zombie Nation has been undead for far too long.
Considering that I have never seen any members of the Gophers’ heralded recruiting class play more than a half of basketball, and that what I did see was either on youtube or during an allstar game, I really have no idea of what to expect this year. Will the Gophers be this years “Baby Boilers” and be better than everyone thought (if this is the case, I hearby claim “juvenile Geomyidae.” Thank you wikipedia.) or will the Gophers play like almost the team has never played major college basketbball? I think it will be somewhere in between, with meaningful wins the likes of which we haven’t seen in years, and a few head scratching losses that can only be explained by youth.
As for the schedule and the predictions:
Exhibitions: both wins
Concordia-St. Paul: Win
Bowling Green: Win
Georgia State: Win
Colorado State: Win but barely
Eastern Washington: WIn
North Dakota State: Win
Virginia: Win
Cornell: Loss (with a schedule like this they will be ready)
South Dakota State: Win
Louisville: Loss, but much closer than you think
Southeastern Louisiana: Win
High Point: Win
Michigan State: Win
Ohio State: Loss
At Iowa: Win
Penn State: Win
At Wisconsin:Loss
At Northwestern: Loss
Purdue: Loss
At Indiana: Win (Sorry Verdell!)
Illinois: Win (Streak ends, much rejoicing)
At Michigan State: Loss
Indiana: Win
At Penn State: Win
At Michigan: Win
Northwestern: Win
At Illinois: Loss
Wisconsin: Win
Michigan: Win
21-9 overall, 11-7 in the conference, and right on the bubble, but if the bubble pops, don’t blame the non-conference schedule, blame Northwestern.
The Gopher schedule has been released, and it shouldn’t strike fear into the hearts of anyone. The toughest nonconference game is against Louisville on a neutral court, and the easiest, and yes it does count in the standings, is against barely Division II Concordia of Saint Paul.
On the Internet of all places, where senseless whining and constant clamoring are unheard of, there are complaints about the soft schedule, high ticket prices, possibly higher ticket prices in the future, and a lack of milk and honey flowing freely from that unbuilt and unproposed shiny new practice facility that will inevitably create untold glories of national championships, cheaper tickets, and the Gophers playing the other three teams in the final four at home year after year. I wouldn’t mind a game or two against a team with a chance to make it to their conference tournament quarterfinals, but I refuse to lose perspective.
We are only two years removed from losing more than our fair share of games against the weakest of opponents. We are only one year away from losing two games nonconference games against NCAA bubble teams, and beating a plainly bad South Dakota team that really should have won. The Gopher have 5 players that have never played a major college basketball game, and a starting center that has never played a major role in a college basketball game. The Gophers might be ready for prime time, but they need to play together first.
The most outspoken critics cite the Gophers poor strength of schedule and its alleged likelihood of making the NCAA tournament almost impossible. They cite last year, and claim that the Gophers didn’t make the tournament because they did not play enough quality competition. While losing to Florida State and UNLV didn’t help the teams chances, and blowing out several schools with several hyphens each didn’t help either, the nonconference season didn’t ruin things for the Gophers. Losing very winnable games against Michigan State twice, Indiana, and Wisconsin lost the Gophers the chance to go to the dance. I don’t even want to mention any of the three Illinois games.
To put it bluntly, good teams win no matter who they are playing. If Minnesota had done its job during the conference season, even winning one regular season game against an upper echelon team from the conference, the Gophers would have made the NCAA tournament. If Minnesota had played more quality teams, all they would gain are more quality losses. Neither an 18-12 record against moderately good teams nor a 20 and 10 record against moderately bad teams are enough to play games that matter at the end of March.
This year’s Gopher schedule should let the Gophers grow their confidence and allow them to learn without fear of losing multiple games because of single mistakes that new players in new situations will inevitably make. The Concordia game, by far the easiest on the schedule, is also the first game that counts. If this was the last nonconference game, I would be wondering whether if Tubby decided that winning was more important than keeping the program in Division I. But it is the first game, and it will be ugly, and they’ll need someone to beat up on.
The Louisville game will be a test, the Virginia game will be a mystery (has any other team so consistently won so many games in the nonconference season, gotten a top 15 ranking, and immediately tanked), and the rest of the games aren’t anything too special at the moment. But this won’t cost the Gophers an NCAA tournament appearance.
If the Gophers are really good enough to make the big dance, and they very well might be, they will show it during the conference season. If they can’t go 11-7 in the not as down but still not up Big Ten, why would we believe they would automatically beat mid-level teams from better conferences? Good teams can beat good teams in meaningful games, regardless of the conference.
If the Gophers want to dance, they need to win, and until they do, wait on the whining.
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