Jamal Abu-Shamala wishes every game could be against Northwestern. The occasional starter and moderately used reserve who has averaged about five points per game has found a way to excel against the Wildcats. During his Freshman year, he scored 15 points on 4-4 three point shooting. The following year he scored 17 points on 5-8 three point shooting. Last year, he scored another 16 points on 5-8 shooting. However, against most other teams, he rarely takes shots, and is far from the most effective player on the court.

Why you ask? It has nothing to do with playing teams that wear purple or eating some deep dish pizza before the game, and has everything to do with Northwestern’s general lack of athleticism. Abu-Shamala, who is not particularly athletic himself, has regularly been able to find open shots on the offensive end, and has generally been able to capitalize.

Although he didn’t always show it last year, Abu-Shamala is one of the better shooters in the conference. He made 47.5% of his three point shots his freshman year and 43% his sophomore year. Given the opportunity to shoot an open shot, more often than not he will make it. Last year, as the Gophers often struggled to pull down offensive rebounds and were unable to penetrate in the lane, Abu-Shamala often looked lost.

Like Travis Busch and Kevin Payton, Jamal Abu-Shamala is very one dimensional. However, there is room for his one dimension.

What we like

Four years ago, no one would have believed you if you predicted that Jamal Abu-Shamala would end his career as a scholarship player, especially after a coaching change. Even Tubby Smith acknowledged the impact that Abu-Shamala has had. Whether it is making open shots or taking charges that result in bloody noses, Abu-Shamala follows rule #1 of being a bench player: first do no harm.

What needs to improve

There is a lot of thing Jamal Abu-Shamala could do better. He could be faster and stronger. He could play better defense and jump higher. After three years though, we all know those things won’t happen, and it would be unfair to expect them to. What Abu-Shamala can do is get his shooting percentage back up. Last year was the worst shooting year of his career, making only 34% from behind the three point line and 37% from the field. The two previous years he shot three pointers better than two pointer. If he could get back to his career averages, it will make every one on the court better. And no one would complain if he created his own shot once in a while.

What to expect

Every team needs a shooter, or two. With the addition Devron Bostick, Paul Carter, and Devoe Joseph and the continued development of Lawrence Westbrook and Al Nolen, there should be many more opportunities for Abu-Shamala getting kick-out passes from penetrating guards. Colton Iverson and Ralph Sampson III should also be able to create many more opportunities with what we can only hope will be more offensive rebounds. Coupled with what should be more confidence after a very successful summer, expect Jamal Abu-Shamala to have a career year, that is, if he finds playing time. He won’t create his own shot. He won’t beat anyone off the dribble. But he will be more open, more often than last year, and his numbers should reflect that.

From what I saw of this afternoon’s win over Northwestern, the Gophers dominated. Lawrence Westbrook aggressively pushed the ball up the court, got to the free throw line, hit a plethora and hit a plethora of mid-range jumpers. Dan Coleman played solidly on both ends of the court and made his free throws. As a team the Gophers shot moderately well, and held NU to long stretches without a point thanks to an aggressive zone defense. And who can complain about a 21-8 run.

Of course, I missed the first half, and prefer to think that it never happened. For Minnesota to have a chance tomorrow, they’ll have to forget about it too.

I don’t know how to read the Gophers performance against the Wildcats in relation to how it will affect their performance against the Hoosiers Friday night. On the one hand, maybe they will realize how lucky they were to escape with a win, and it will light a fire, or at the very least start some smoldering. On the other hand, the Gophers expended a lot more energy that they should have needed to just to beat the worst major conference basketball team, maybe ever.

The Gophers  have outplayed Indiana for the vast majority of the two games they have played. Minnesota is fragile, but Indiana looks like “the glass man” from Amelie, or maybe they are already broken.  It may not matter though, especially if Spencer Tollackson misses tomorrow’s game. He can’t jump, shoot, or really do anything against D.J. White and certain other extremely wide and jiggly Hoosier big men, but he can take up space and fouls. Even with a healthy Tollackson Minnesota has looked silly in late game situations. Minnesota’s rebounding woes have continues unabated, and will tomorrow too.

Of all the upper-tier Big Ten teams, Indiana is probably the most ripe for an upset, but of all the lower-tier teams, Minnesota is the most ripe to blown out.

Prediction: Indiana 70 Minnesota 65

Post-season basketball is something that is supposed to be exciting, something to stay home from work or class, fake an illness, take a long lunch, leave early, or at the very least keep track of over the Internet. After a dismal season last year, Minnesota bailed enough water out of the bow of the ship to make it float,  and had some bubble potential until the beginning of February. We should all be looking forward to the Big Ten Tournament right?

The Gophers play Northwestern tomorrow in the opening round game. What’s that, the thought of the Gophers mopping the floor with the Wildcats doesn’t send a chill down your spine? The thought of the Gophers being the mop, at least at the end of the game when they play Indiana doesn’t inspire you to conjure up symptoms of Yellow Fever (which include ever, muscle pain (with prominent backache), headache, shivers, loss of appetite, and nausea or vomiting for those keeping track at home). Me neither.

The problem with the Gophers is that they do what they are supposed to do. Compared to the bad surprised of yesteryear, this is a good thing.  Tomorrow should be no exception.

A couple of weeks ago Northwestern finally won a game, beating Michigan 62-60. They also came up just short against the “not quite the same since the coach got the boot” Indiana Hoosiers. Other than that, this is very much the same team the Gophers beat twice.

The Gophers should roll, and it shouldn’t be close. The biggest concern for Minnesota tomorrow will making sure no one gets hurt and that they don’t expend too much mental or physical energy in what should be a blow out. The Gophers will need to at least get to the finals to have a shot at the NCAA tournament, and to do that, they will be playing a lot of basketball in a short amount of time. A bad performance against Northwestern, even if it results in a win, could make a very difficult task nearly impossible.

Talk about drastic changes, I certainly didn’t expect that to be the headline.

Led by recently under-achieving players and a new starting line-up, Minnesota beat the Wildcats in energetic and high scoring fashion. If only anyone would have been able to see it. The Evanston, Illinois area was pounded by a blizzard throughout the game which apparently interfered with the satellite signal, and  even the few hearty souls who still care about Northwestern basketball generally avoided the snowy and icy mess outside. Don’t believe me?

Like just about everyone else, I was also unable to watch the game. I did however listen to the game, and managed to not throw my radio out the window. Due to the um…lack of descriptiveness from Mike Grimm and Kevin Lynch, this won’t be the most informative game review I have ever written. Though, I can tell you that the Gopher radio announcers spoke often of throat stomping and describing a Northwestern fan they may or may not have been Ray Romano. Very useful when you can’t see what they are talking about.

On to the game, something Mike Grimm and Kevin Lynch should focus on…

Tubby Smith’s changes started on Tuesday in practice. In a typical practice, the majority of time is spent focusing on the opponent, but this time, the majority of the practice consisted of scrimmaging and working on the Gopher’s weaknesses. As Minnesota had demonstrated throughout the season, preventing an opponent from carrying out their game plan will not get you very far if you are not prepared execute your own.

For the first time this season, Tubby Smith instituted major changes in his starting line up. Previously, minor changes were made because of Lawrence McKenzie’s groin injury, and recently Damian Johnson took Jamal Abu-Shamala’s place in the starting line-up. Since the Wisconsin disaster I had been advocating that the Gophers should go small and fast, and to try to run their opponents out of the gym. Instead, Tubby went slow and moderately sized. While I would still like to see small ball, slow ball worked. It should be obvious by now why Tubby Smith is a future hall of fame coach and I write an occasionally read blog.

The new starting line-up consisted of Spencer Tollackson, Damian Johnson, Jamal Abu-Shamala, Lawrence Westbrook, and Blake Hoffarber and point guard. Eager to show that they were ready to make the most of the opportunity, the Gophers came out fast and furious, quickly jumping out to an 8-2 lead led by Blake Hoffarber from long distance and the unstoppable low-post presence of Spencer Tollackson. Northwestern was able to claw back and was within three points with three minutes left in the half, but then the wheels came off.

In the last three minutes of the half the Gophers went on a 12-2 run, led by 8 points in that stretch from Jamal Abu-Shamla to take a 14 point half time lead. Abu-Shamala, as he always seems to do at Northwestern, played his best game of the season. He finished the game with 16 points, 5 rebound, and three assists. It was by far his best game of the season, but doesn’t come close to matching his other dominating performances in Evanston, where he has made 12-16 three pointers in his career.

The hot outside shooting of Abu-Shamala and Hoffarber opened up the middle of Northwestern’s zone for Spencer Tollackson. The nearly always maligned senior center was perfect on the night scoring 19 points (7-7 from the floor and 5-5 from the free throw line). Undoubtedly Tollackson benefited from the unathletic and undersized Northwestern front court, and was probably very close to the basket on all of his field goal attempts, but regardless, he displayed tremendous improvement over his previous efforts.

The individual performances were tremendous, but the team statistics were even more impressive. The Gophers outrebounded 38-17, shot 58% from the field, 52% from the free throw line, and made 76% of their free throws. On Saturday when the Gophers take on Iowa at Williams Arena, they almost certainly will not  put up numbers like this, but for a team needing a confidence boost, a blow-out win on the road, regardless of how bad the opponent is, is a step in the right direction.

Who did what? 

• Dan Coleman was largely on non-factor on both ends of the court. He scored 10 points, one of six Gophers in double figures, and had 8 rebounds. However, he shot poorly and committed four turnovers.
• Jamal Abu-Shamala made the most of his first substantive playing time in several games. He scored 16 points and forced Northwestern to extend their zone more than they wanted to.
• Spencer Tollackson was perfect, except he still hasn’t found a way to rebound. He finished with 19 points and three rebounds, despite being the tallest player on the court.
• Lawrence Westbrook continues to get better and better. He was three rebounds short of a triple-double, and added 12 points and 10 assists with only one turnover.
• Blake Hoffarber started at point guard. While he is far from a typical point guard, he ensured that the Gophers did not simply stand around on the offensive end, and was consistently able to get the ball to Lawrence Westbrook in a position where Westbrook could make an assist. Hoffarber had 15 points, 4 assists (though he would have many more if they handed them out like in hockey) and no turnovers.
• Al Nolen as of yet has not climbed over the freshman wall. He played only 10 minutes and 2 turnovers.
• Despite not starting (has he ever really started playing before halftime?) Lawrence McKenzie scored 16 points on 5-8 shooting.
• Damian Johnson was in foul trouble most of the night.
• Travis Busch played briefly.
• Thanks to not being able to watch the game, there will be no Ryan Saunders update tonight. But I can tell you that Tubby Smith decided to dress like Bob Huggins for a night: mock turtle neck and sport coat. Thank you Kevin Lynch for this important information.

Over the last 24 hours or so, like many of you, I have been closely following the speculation, prognostication, and spin surrounding “Super Tuesday.” Instead of adding to the cacophony of pundits and talking heads, as much as I am tempted (Barack won), I think I’ll stick to basketball.

But imagine for a second, if you will, what basketball would look like if was run like “Super Tuesday.”

• Each game would be played by its own rules.
• We wouldn’t necessarily know the final score until a day or more after the game ended. (Go New Mexico! You are slower than American Samoa.)
• The final score wouldn’t matter as much as where the points were scored. One team could win by 20, but if all their points were scored in paint while the losing team made free throws, mid range jumpers, and three pointers, a tie or even a win by the “loser” could be the result.

So why all this talk about politics when there is a basketball game tonight? Because not much has changed since the Gophers beat Northwestern a few weeks ago to open the Big Ten season. Northwestern still hasn’t beaten anyone in the Big Ten, and Minnesota hasn’t lost or won in surprising.

Even though the Gophers are struggling, coming of an embarrassing home loss to the dread team from the other side of the Saint Croix River, Minnesota should be able to beat the Wildcats. In past years Minnesota has struggled in Evanston, and I even predicted a loss for the Gophers at Northwestern in my ill-fated attempt of a Big Ten preview, but not even Minnesota’s road struggles and deflated confidence can overcome the sheer ineptitude of Northwestern. They would struggle in the MAC.

The Gophers will need to watch out for Northwestern’s trifecta of not completely untalented players. Kevin Coble took awhile to get back into game shape, but back he is. He leads Northwestern in both scoring and rebounding and put up 34 points against Michigan in early January. Yes, Northwestern lost by 10. Craig Moore continues to shoot lots of threes, and occasionally even makes them. Against MSU in late January, more made 7 three pointers and finished with 28 points. Northwesten lost by 16. Michael Thompson, like most freshman in the conference, has hit the wall. But even when he was playing well, Northwestern lost. For Northwestern to have a chance, their “big 3″ will all need to have big games, and it still might not matter. (Click here for a more thorough discussion of worst case scenarios).

For the Gophers, another midweek game, another inferior opponents, more promised changes. Following the debacle last Sunday, Tubby Smith sounded like he had enough, but no one quite knows what this mean. The Gophers are simply too inconsistent for any coach to plan who will play how many minutes. He wanted to play the starters extended minutes against Wisconsin, but they would have been outclassed by a good high school team.

Tonight, given Northwestern’s lack of height, skill, rebounding, etc. I would love to see Tubby go small and try to run Northwestern out of the gym. Kevin Coble is NU’s tallest player at 6′8″ but plays on the perimeter. Neither of the Gopher centers would be able to guard him out there, and if Coble guarded Damian Johnson or Dan Coleman, both of whom I would like to see in the post, the Gophers should still be able to score inside relatively easily. Playing Spencer Tollackson and Jonathan Williams for limited minutes would also allow the Gophers to speed the game up, and not let Northwestern set up their zone defense and not control the pace of the game. Besides, if going small didn’t work, Minnesota should still be able to engineer a comeback or extend a lead against a much inferior opponent.

Minnesota should win, but the other day they looked like they were about ready to give up. Prediction: Minnesota 75- Northwestern 64.

And I must confess, tonight will be the first time that I am afflicted with BTN syndrome and I will not be able to watch the game. I’ll still review the game, but expect more criticism of bad journalism and less hard hitting insight. But the way I see it, if the Gophers win I won’t miss much, and if they lose, I don’t want to see.