Highlights from ESPN

Highlights from BTN

Did people care about strength of schedule in 1948? Is this Minnesota’s weakest non-conference schedule since 1948. I’m guessing the answer to both of those questions is no. Regardless of the Gophers’ non-conference opponents so far, they have started  the season with twelve straight wins for the first time since the birth of Prince Charles, Dewey did not defeat Truman, and the Soviet Union withdrew from North Korea. Basically, its been awhile.

Minnesota’s victory over highpoint was not impressive because of the score. A top 25 team should always beat the 3338th ranked team by at least twenty points, and the Gophers did that rather easily. The way they did it though was impressive.

The Gophers have often been downright dreadful in their half court offense. Players often have been out of place, not ommunicating, or simply standing still. There has been modest improvement since the truely tedious games in early November. Last night it all finally seemed to click, and just in time. The Gophers shot 52% from the floor and 46% from behind the line, with nearly equal scoring inside and outside the three point line. They also recorded assists on 75% of their made field goals, and if WCCO’s announcers are to be believed, they recorded assists on 16 of their first 17 field goals. In total, Minnesota had 24 assists and 13 turnovers.

The Gophers defense was once again strong if not spectacular. There were no long stretches when High Point could not get the ball in bounds or across half court. Instead, the Gophers relied more on straight up man to man half court defense in preparation for the Big Ten season. The press will be crucial to Minnesota’s success the rest of the year, but they will not be able to rely on it against more skilled and athletic teams. And they can still force turnovers. High Point committed 19 turnovers with only nine assists, and wasn’t able to crack the 34% shooting mark.

The highlight of the night was undoubtedly the individual performances by Gophers who have either struggled or been enigmatic at times during the non-conference season. Damien Johnson, Al Nolen, Lawrence Westbrook, and Blake Hoffarber are known quantities, and are more or less proved and reliable. However, an NCAA tourmant qualifier needs more than four guys to be ready to go each night. Last night we may have glimpsed the future.

Who did what?

• Devron Bostick played the most minutes of his career, and played well enough to get quite a few more. The most enigmatic of the Gophers scored eleven points including 3-4 three pointers, and showed post moves that were much better than a 6′5” player should be capable of. Bostick has struggled at times this year, and it isn’t coincidental that his best game came when he wasn’t pulled out of the game after two minutes.

• Devoe Joseph isn’t a true point guard, though he will need to play a lot of minutes at that position. Last night he was able to focus more on scoring, and it resulted in 11 points. Like Bostick, he also made 3-4 three pointers. Its been a long time since the Gophers had instant offense in the form of back up point guard.

• Ralph Sampson played his best game as a Gopher. Not only does he continue to excel at shooting around 15 feet out, but he is playing more aggressively close to the basket. Against SE Louisiana he couldn’t make up his mind whether he wanted to shoot, lay-up, or dunk about three feet from the basket, and it resulted in a humorous only because it came against SE Louisiana missed lay-up sort of thing. Last night, dunk all the way.

• Paul Carter played his most extensive minutes since his ankle injury (meaning he played more than 45 seconds) and the rust was noticeable. He just couldn’t finish. Despite not playing in several games, he was still able to get to the rim, and get himself into positions to score that no other Gopher could except Damien Johnson. With a few more practices under his belt, those shots will fall, and even if they don’t he will get his minutes. How do you keep a 6′8” forward with the ball handling skills of a guard on the bench? Carter also showed last night he is not afraid of doing the dirty work, and was more than happy to throw his body after a loose ball.

• If Kevin Payton gets any extended and meaningful minutes during the Big Ten season, the Gophers are in big trouble, but maybe not necessarily because Payton is on the floor. He played seven minutes last night, and did an adequate job of running the offense and played hard on defense. He even took two three pointers, both of which missed but could have just as easily gone in. Payton deserves every minute he gets, but I wouldn’t even try to imagine a scenario in which the Gophers  have burned through Nolen, Joseph, Westbrook, and Hoffarber at point guard.

• Damien Johnson was as steady as every with eight points, four rebounds, four steals, and two assists. Its a shame there isn’t an award for “utility” players like Johnson. I don’t think there is a player in America that fills the “other” columns in the box score like Johnson.

• Blake Hoffarber made two of four three pointers, which is no surprise. It may come as a surprise to some that Hoffarber, some how, has become one of the better finishers on the Gophers. He doesn’t get too many chances because he doesn’t beat many guys off the dribble, but he always seems to know where the basket and the defender are when he is cutting to the basket, and can the layups to fall.

• Colton Iverson played only 18 minutes, but did not commit a foul. He will need to play careful defense in the Big Ten without a suitable back up. He did do more than not foul of course, and finished with a game high 7 rebounds to go with seven points, two of which came on soaring put back dunk that may be the play of the year so far.

• Lawrence Westbrook is streaky, and may be getting hot at just the right time.  He made his first three field goal attempts, all three pointers, on his way to 13 points.

• Al Nolen didn’t score, but his seven assists and no turnovers provided plenty of offense on their own.

• Travis Busch was absolutely dreadful. Although he only officially recorded one turnover, there were at least two others that were his fault. He also uncharacteristically missed a couple of lay-ups, and could be in danger of losing his spot on the depth chart.

• Jamal Abu-Shamala has been passed on the depth chart.

• Jonathan Williams should not even be on the depth chart.  During his seven reboundless minutes, he was consistently beaten down the floor, pushed under the basket, committing unnecessary fouls, and doing a better job of boxing out his  teammates than his opponents. He is more than wide enough to get a rebound or two because of physics alone, yet he doesn’t. Those with coaching experience, what advice do you have for him? I’m seriously interested.

University of Minnesota Golden Gophers vs. North Dakota State Bison

1:00 pm (CST) at Williams Arena

Radio: WCCO 830 AM

Tv: Big Ten Network

Tickets: Row 26 behind the basket in the lower deck

Liveblog: Not this time. I’ll be at a wedding.

A few years back the Gophers decided to make a conscious effort to play “local” Division I teams. In some states this would have created rivalries, or at the very least some intriguing match-ups against well established mid-major programs. For the Gophers, it means playing teams from the Dakotas

North Dakota State comes into today’s game with some significant struggles. They beat Northern Arizona on the road, but lost at Idaho, who lost to the same Eastern Washington team that the Gophers destroyed on Wednesday. One must always be careful trying to glean great truths when comparing common opponents, but at this stage in the season there isn’t much else to go on.

The Bison play the fastest game of any Gopher opponent so far this season, averaging roughly 74 possessions per game. The Gophers have picked up the pace in recent wins over Colorado State and Eastern Washington, but they are still a full 9 possessions per game slower. Unlike most of the teams the Gophers have faced, North Dakota state makes the most out of these possessions scoring 107 points per 100 possessions. They do this, unsurprisingly, by making their shots, and they rank  90th in the country in three point field goal percentage (slightly worse than the Gophers) and 24th in two point accuracy. However, as would be expected for a team that has lost to Eastern Washington, they can give up plenty of points too, ranking close to 300th in the country in terms of field goal percentage allowed and points given up per 100 possession. They also give the ball away, which certainly does now help their defense, turning the ball over on 1 out of every 4 possessions.

Keys for the Gophers

1. Press early and often. North Dakota State gives the ball away even when they aren’t pressured.
2. Dump the ball inside. Ralph Sampson III and Colton Iverson dominated Eastern Washington. The Gophers need to make sure this was not a fluke
3. Make free throws. This game, for whatever reason, could be more competitive than it looks on paper, and missed free throws are the easiest way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Keys for the Bison

1. Hang on to the ball. Minnesota thrives on turnovers. The Bison like to commit turnovers. If they give the ball away they are giving away the game.
2. Limit the Gopher runs, and get one of their own. Their should be a sizable Bison presense in The Barn, especially with all the Christmas shopping opportunities within half an hour drive of today’s game. Their fans could be a factor.
3. Make the Gophers work on offense. Its been said before, but the Gophers are still a work in progress on the offensive end.

Key Players for the Gophers

1. Colton Iverson dismantled the short Eastern Washington interior defense. North Dakota State is even shorter.
2. Ralph Sampson has looked much better on both ends. Today should be another confidence builder.
3. Speaking of confidence, Devron Bostick played his best game of the season on Wednesday, and should have plenty of minutes to show for it today.

Key Players for the Bison

1. Ben Woodside is one of the few players the Gophers will face this season who can single-handedly keep his team in the game. He shoots an outstanding 58% from behind the three point line. If he gets going, anything can happen.
2. Brett Winkelman is the Bison’s other legitimate offensive threat, averaging 17 points per game. He can score both inside and outside.
3. Lucas Moormann doesn’t get a lot of minutes, but at 6′10” he may be called on to go after the Gophers twin towers.

Prediction: Even though it doesn’t seem warrented, this game looks like trouble, especially with the potential of Woodsidepalooza in The Barn. However, despite what could be some ridiculous numbers from the Bison sharpshooter, the Gophers should still win 78-73.

Your Prediction:

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As I walked out of Williams Arena on Wednesday night, I was thinking my first paragraph of my game review would be spent trying to convince myself that the Gophers would be ok even if Paul Carter would miss several weeks. Fortunately, I won’t have to, as what looked like a very severe ankle injury that took place when Ralph Sampson III fell into Paul Carter’s ankle is only a sprain, and Carter should probably be able to play if absolutely needed as soon as Saturday. Luckily, nothing was able to tarnish the Gophers’ dismantling of Eastern Washington.

Led by Colton Iverson’s career high (I’m not quite sure when career highs become relevant for freshman) 21 points and an err of confidence from the entire team, the Gophers defeated Eastern Washington by a score of 88-67. The team’s best game of the season came despite Lawrence Westbrook, the Gophers’ leading scorer, not playing a single minute, and their second leading scorer, Al Nolen, scoring only two points. But when five players score 11 or more points, there are plenty of people to pick up the slack.

Minnesota’s victory was their most impressive of the season by far. The offense was outstanding, and reverted the familiar stagnancy on one or two possessions. The Gophers shot 58.6% for the game, and an even more impressive 63.3% in the first half. The three point shooting was much better than against Colorado State, a respectable 43% without any poorly timed or particularly forced shots. Most impressive of all were Minnesota’s 22 assists on 34 made field goals, all while committing only 9 turnovers. The previous season high for assists was 16 against Bowling Green, and the season low for turnovers was 13 against Georgia State.

On the defensive end, the Gophers were unfortunately a bit suspect. The Gophers forced a season low number of turnovers, and gave up 53% shooting in the first half despite the Eagles losing the services of their best interior player, Brandon Moore, for most of the first half with a cut above his eyebrow that required stitches. It certainly didn’t help the Benny Valentine, an allegedly 5′7” guard who is closer to 5′3” played the best game of his life. Valentine scored a game high 29 points (on 21 shots, so it is slightly less impressive) on a series of ridiculous flailing drives, deep falling down threes, and ridiculous runners that had no business going in. Eastern Washington eventually cooled down in the second half, but it was still the second best shooting showing by a Gopher opponent this year.

As you might expect against a team that is just plain short, the Gophers out rebounded the Eagles. They pulled in ten offensive rebounds, the same number as Eastern Washington, even though the Eagles missed seven more shots, and had 5 rebound advantage on the defensive end.

When review the keys to the game, Minnesota did everything they needed to to come away with blow out win. The Gophers didn’t run, run, run, but they ran enough to keep the Eagles of balance and made good decisions on the fast break. As evidenced by the impressive assist total and low number of turnovers, the Gophers passed extremely well, and it led to plenty of points on the inside. Their free throw shooting, which had been dreadful couldn’t have been much better as they made 14 of 16.

But confidence was the deciding factor. The Gophers who have looked tentative and rattled at times as they continue to learn to play together were aggressive on both ends of the court and took the game over early on. Eastern Washington did manage a nice run in the second half getting within 10 points, were quickly repelled as the Gophers won going away. On Wednesday night we got our first glimpse of this team’s potential. In the next week, we will see if they can sustain their success.

Who did what?

• Blake Hoffarber struggled from the outside, making only 1-5 three pointers, but showing how far he has come since last year, made 4-5 two point shots. All of these came as he cut to the basket or finished on the fast break. He won’t break anyone’s ankles in the half court yet, but he is no longer a one dimensional scoring threat.
• Al Nolen got run ragged on the defensive end by Benny Valentine, but had 7 assists and no turnovers to go along with 2 points and two steals. Whether he can score and pass in the same game is still a mystery.
• Jamal Abu-Shamala continues to have his best season as Gopher, scoring 11 points on 4-5 shooting. His three point shot is there, and like Hoffarber, is much better finishing close to the basket.
• Colton Iverson was dominant. Tubby Smith mandated that the perimeter players give him the ball, and they did, and made the most of his many opportunities. He scored 20 points on 10-13 shooting. If that wasn’t enough to impress, he added 5 rebounds (4 offensive), 4 assists, a block, with no fouls and no turnovers. Don’t mess with Yankton.
• Devron Bostick may finally have his confidence back, and the Gopher might have another dangerous weapon. Bostick didn’t miss a shot, making three three-pointers along with a dunk. He also added four rebounds and two steals with only one turnover.
• Ralph Sampson III played well as well, cleaning up the garbage on the offensive end. He scored nine points, nearly all on put backs, as he collected 7 rebounds *4 offensive) and managed to stay out of foul trouble.
• Travis Busch thinks he is Michael Jordan after his first come back. With Sampson cleaning up the garbage, Busch decided it was a good opportunity to take fall away turnaround jumpers. It wasn’t pretty, but he did make 5 free throws.
• Devoe Joseph had an average game with 5 points, but added three turnovers. It would have been nice to see him have more chances with Westbrook missing the game.
• Damian Johnson is the same old Damian Johnson, and I couldn’t be happier. He scored 11 points on 5-6 shooting. He had only one rebound, but made up for that with 2 assists, 2 steals and two blocks.
• Paul Carter sprained his ankle and only played nine minutes, but he should be back soon.
• Kevin Payton, more fouls than shot attempts.

Highlights from the Big Ten Network

With about 10 minutes left in their win over Eastern Washington, Minnesota’s season almost took a turn for the terrible. Ralph Sampson took a charge, fell back against Paul Cater’s ankle, and Carter hit the deck in agony. He was down for several minutes, and was eventually carried off the court, unable to put any weight on his right ankle. It looked bad, very bad, but thankfully it was not.

According to Marcus Fuller, Carter is only day to day after what easily could have been a seson ending injury.  His injury, diagnosed as an ankle sprain of undetermined severity (so far), should allow him to be back before the Louisville game. It will also give Devron Bostick a chance to get more playing time, and more confidence.

Lawrence Westbrook dressed but did not play last night as well, due to a shin injury. He should be 100% on Saturday.

I’ll have more on last night’s game either tonight or tomorrow depending on the turkey, but until then have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Devron Bostick was supposed to be the player to put the Gophers over the top. He was the supposed to be instant offense, able to take over a game, or even a season. He was supposed to be the guy we always needed, and would be lucky to keep for more than 1 year. However, after two exhibition games, a lot of people are asking what they are supposed to think now.

Even a week ago the hype seemed to justified. Bostick, a junior college transfer from Southwestern Illinois Community College led scored 18.5 points per game last season a long with 4.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists. The previous season, his numbers were even more impressive. With statistics like that, it is not surprising that he was named the National Junior College Athletic Association Player of the Year. He has been described as a great scorer, deceptively good ball handler, and long. He is supposed to be able to get to the rim at will. And if that wasn’t enough, he is supposed to be able to shoot.

After two exhibition games, he not lived up to expectations, or even come close. In his first game against Saint Cloud State, he was outscored by Travis Busch. Against Northern State on Thursday, he was outscored and generally outplayed by Kevin Payton. It was not just the lack of scoring, it was his lack of involvement in the game. He often looked lost and confused. He played more like Kevin Nathanial than Vincent Grier, the last Junior College transfer to be an impact player on the Gophers.

So, what’s the matter with Devron? It could be nothing. It could be everything. It could last all season or be solved in one night. Among the possibilities

1. Absolutely nothing is wrong. Bostick had two bad games, two games that by the way did not count. Every junior college player needs time to adjust, and in a couple weeks we won’t even remember his early struggles.
2. Bostick needs to start. He is used to being a star, being the man, and being in the game from the opening tip. Some players have a hard time getting into the flow of the game, especially coming off the bench. Maybe Tubby Smith should start Bostick in one of the games this weekend, just to see what happens. He won’t do any worse than Travis Busch, and if he does, it won’t make the Gophers lose to Concordia-St. Paul. If he plays well, he makes the team better and deserves to start, so why not give him a shot.
3. Bostick just needs more time on the court. Exhibition games create some crazy substitution patterns as coaches try to get everyone some playing time with as many different players as possible. Just when a player gets into the flow of the game, they get taken out. Bostick played quite well on Monday against Saint Cloud State in the first half, but was taken out of the game after less than 4 minutes. He came back in later playing the final 3:41 of the first half. After that, he didn’t get in the game until there were a little more than 6 minutes left in the game, and only stayed on the court for three minutes. After so much time on the bench, he didn’t play well at all. Against Northern State, his longest stint on the court in the first half clocked in at a whopping 4 minutes. He played quite a bit more late in the second half, but the psychological damage may have already been done.
4. He is intimidated by Tubby Smith. According Bostick, via Myron Medcalf (caveat emptor). According to Medcalf, Bostick’s poor play is due to Tubby Smith’s reputation as an excellent coach, and because of that Bostick is out of position, and can’t make a jump-shot. As a once upon a time psychology major, perhaps Myron is the one who needs his head checked out.
5. The only thing that is wrong is our ridiculous expectations. Down with Goldy, girding his loins against another disappointing season (what else is a reasonable Gopher fan to do?) pointed out months ago to beware of the hype surrounding Junior College players.  The top 6 Junior College players in 2007 and 2006 respectively weren’t exactly program changers, and if they live up to expectations, they don’t stick around for their senior season. Minnesota’s good luck with Bobby Jackson and Vincent Grier could just be the exception that proves the rule that most Junior College transfers aren’t impact players

The good news is that the Gophers might not need Bostick to be competitive. There is no shortage of big guards/small forwards on the team now, or coming in next year. Paul Carter is clearly an impact player. Royce White and Rodney Williams look like they’ll be able to contribute immediately. If the best that Bostick can be is a back up, he will definitely be an upgrade, and a bad Bostick is better than a good Busch/Payton any day.

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