If the Gophers keep this up, they should be this year’s Purdue. Powered by an aggressive Ralph Sampson III, Minnesota overcame their now traditional second hand swoon to bury the Bison 90-76. Sampson scored all 10 of his points in the second half, many in impressive fashion to help the Gophers maintain an early lead.

Minnesota jumped out to an early lead, thanks to Jamal Abu-Shamala must have thought he was playing Northwestern. Whether he was driving to the basket with authority (no dunks, he still is Jamal, hitting open jumpers, still his bread an butter, or knocking down pull ups in the lane, Abu-Shamala continued to display increased confidence that should keep in high in the rotation even if he doesn’t keep his starting spot once the conference season starts and the injury bug slows. The senior Gopher captain scored 9 of his 20 points in a 14-1 run to start the game. Even though the Bison played competitively for the entire afternoon, the game was essentially over by the first TV time out. When it did look in doubt, as the Bison closed within 10 in the second half, Sampson put the game away. The highly touted freshman scored from everywhere, with low post moves that betrayed his lineage, an amazing put back where he could hardly see the basket, and a high arching 15 foot bank shot that was undefendable. The diversity of his offensive repertoire will be the envy of many other Big Ten centers.

Sampson and Abu-Shamala weren’t the only Gophers who came ready to play as the Gophers played their third consecutive best game of the season. In fact, the basket must have looked as big as a hula hoop to the entire team. The Gophers shot 58% in the first half, and out did themselves in the second half shooting 65%. These were Minnesota’s best and third-best shooting halves of the season. Minnesota’s accuracy wasn’t just limited to the interior either, as they made 8-13 three pointers and shot a respectable 78% from the free throw line.

Defensively, Saturday’s win was a mixed bag. The turnover total was up, as the Bison had 15 turnovers, including 9 steal and 8 blocks for the Gophers, but NDSU still had plenty of open shots, and made many of them.  Mike Nelson was able to score 21 points on 5-10 three pointers, as the Gophers spent most of their time concentrating on Been Woodside. When the Gophers face better teams, with more scoring threats, the Gophers will not be able to get away with 20 points from a tertiary at best scorer.

The Gophers needed to play well to beat North Dakota State, a team known for knocking off Big Ten teams who has had their eye on a win at Williams Arena since they moved to Divsion 1 a few years ago. North Dakota State has 10 players from Minnesota, and more than a few feel jilted that they were passed over by the Gophers. Among those is Senior guard Ben Woodside, who has more than a passing resemblance to Drew Neitzl. Woodside, who was the nation’s leading scorer for much of last season, came into the game with gaudy three point statistics and was his team’s leading scorer. On Saturday he had what for him was a below average game, but it is hard to complain about 16 points including a three pointer from around 35 feet out and 7 assists. The prolific scorer never got his win at The Barn, but he definitely showed that he should not have been passed over in favor of Rico Tucker.

Rebounding was also a mixed bag. Like most Gopher opponents this year, the Bison got more than their fare share of offensive rebounds. Minnesota’s aggressive defense is great, but it continues to come at the expense of rebounding positioning. This should be obvious by now, but we can get way with this now. When Minnesota faces an opponent with size comparable to ours, these offensive rebounds could cost us the game. The Gopher guards continue their prolific rebounding, and Al Nolen once again led the team with 7. Team rebounding is great, and guard rebounding may be a sign that the Gopher interior players are boxing out the other big men allowing the guards to swoop in, but it remains to be seen whether this will continue when the Gophers face other quick guards with a rebounding mindset.

Despite the work that still needs to be done, and alarm bells would be going off if the Gophers peaked before December, the Gophers are still on track to sneak into the NCAA tournament. With continued improvement, the Gophers will continue to be ahead of schedule.

Who did what?

• Jamal Abu-Shamala, if he keeps this up, will be more than just a place-filler when he comes off the bench. He had his best game of the season with 20 points and three rebounds.  I might have been on to something.
• Damian Johnson keeps doing what needs to be done. Yesterday 11 points on 5-6 shooting with 6 assists, three blocks, and 4 steals. If he could improve on anything, it is his rebounding, which has cratered in recent weeks. He had none yesterday 2 rebounds per game for the season. He may be a little tentative when rebounding as a result of his hand injury.
• Colton Iverson got a bit of a break yesterday, scoring only 6 points on 2-3 shooting in 17 minutes.
• Blake Hoffarber was little blah. Nothing great, nothing horrible, but he can’t score 20 every night either. He had 5 points and 4 assists.
• Al Nolen’d offense is still on vacation, scoring only 5 points including 3-6 from the free throw line. Luckily, he still finds a way to contribute. This time he led the team in rebounding with 7 and 4 assists while helping to force Ben Woodside into 5 turnovers.
• Travis Busch hit a nice open jumper and finished with 4 points. He can be a valuable role player, as long as he doesn’t try to do more than fill his role.
• Ralph Sampson did it all, and he did it all while only committing one turnover and one foul. Fouls will be his worst enemy, and the longer he stays on the court the better.
• Devron Bostick was solid, albeit in limited action with 5 points and 2 rebounds. The statistics don’t show how much more comfortable he looks. He no longer cringes the second the ball leaves his hand.
• Lawrence Westbrook is back in a big way, scoring 17 off the bench. With Abu-Shamala’s strong start to the season, Tubby Smith is in the enviable position of using Westbrook in an instant offense role. Could Westbrook be the next Townsend Orr?
• Devoe Joseph hit another three, and finished with 5 points.
• Kevin Payton averaged a rebound a minute, though he only played 1 minute.
• Spencer Tollackson, moon lighting as an announcer for the Big Ten Network, criticized Ralph Sampson III’s athleticism. Um, yeah.

Live chat? Think live blog without me chiming in with monosyllabic reactions to the game. I’ll be reacting to the game at the game, but if you want a place to discuss the tonight’s goings on, I will have a chat room up and running about 2 hours before tip off. If you have any suggestions, or something breaks, kindly leave a reply below this post, and I will try to make it better next time.

The chat is now closed. You can click here to see what you missed.

…after a pleasantly uneventful signing day.

The press release:

The Minnesota men’s basketball program today announced the signings of Justin Cobbs, Royce White and Rodney Williams to National Letters of Intent. All three players will be eligible to compete during the 2009-10 season.

“We are pleased with the number of young men we were able to sign. We believe that we have improved our talent level with this class and have fulfilled our needs,”" said head coach Tubby Smith. “”This group has a lot of local flavor which stimulates a lot of excitement for our local fan base. One of the things we wanted to do when we came here was to give all of the young men that want to play at the University of Minnesota the opportunity to do so and I feel like we are doing that. We are excited to have Royce, Rodney, and Justin joining the Golden Gopher family.”"

Cobbs, a 6-3 senior guard at Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, Calif., led the Knights to a 26-7 record in 2007-08. He was named the Co-Player of the Year in the CIF Conference as a junior and is a three-time CIF selection.

“”One of the things we needed was a point guard, because right now Al Nolen is the only true point guard in the program,”" said Smith. “”Justin a physical point guard who can score as well as defend and pass.”"

White, a senior at Hopkins High School, has scored in double figures in every game the past two seasons and scored 20 or more points 11 times last season as a junior. The Minneapolis native has averaged 21.2 and 21.8 points per game the past two seasons, respectively, and scored a career-high 33 points against Minneapolis Patrick Henry in 2007-08. White, a 6′8″” forward, was a member of Team USA at the Nike Global Challenge last summer and also participated in the Vince Carter Skills Academy.

“”Royce has a chance to really be something special here at Minnesota,”" said Smith. He is a talented young man who is capable of playing multiple positions and doing a lot of different things on the basketball court.”"

Williams, a native of Minneapolis, Minn. is a senior at Cooper High School in Robbinsdale, Minn. He led the Hawks to a record of 23-9 and a fourth place finish at the Minnesota State High School tournament last season while averaging 23.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.1 blocks and 2.4 assists per game. As a sophomore in 2006-07, Williams averaged 17.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 2.3 assists.

“”Rodney is probably as athletic as any player we have here at Minnesota,”" said Smith. “”He is a young man who is still growing and he will have a chance to take his high school team (Robbinsdale Cooper) to a State Championship. He is a local player who will awe our fans with his athleticism.”"

The Gophers open the regular season at Williams Arena on Friday, Nov. 14, against Concordia-St. Paul in the first game of the NABC Classic, a four-team round-robin tournament hosted by the University of Minnesota. Game two will pit the Gophers against Bowling Green on Saturday, Nov. 15 with game three taking place on Sunday, Nov. 16 against Georgia State.

Single-game and season tickets are still available for the 2008-09 season. Fans interested in purchasing tickets may call the ticket office at 612-624-8080, or toll free at 1-800-U-GOPHER. Tickets may also be purchased through Minnesota’s official athletics department website, www.gophersports.com.

Mbakwe is scheduled to sign tomorrow.

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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Its summer, its Minnesota, regardless or the hail, the rain, the tornadoes, and inevitable mosquito induced mayhem, it is better to be outside than in front of a computer. Though I am barely able to muster enough anguish and regret, I do apologize for the lack of updates, though nothing newsworthy has really taken place.

To make up for it, and in the spirit of the political season, and in the spirit of that, I present to you all the news you may or may not care about, but you may have missed. But unlike a certain document dump, I’ll give you more than an hour to sort through it all.

It may not be the Friday before a holiday weekend, but it is a slow day at work. 

Now with categories!

 Recruiting