Oh, Its a Great Time to be a Gopher

That is what college basketball is all about. I'm struggling to write this because I at a loss for words to describe how awesome that game was. I think this finalizes any complaints or naysayers saying "well they didn't play anybody". We have beaten Louisville, Ohio State and Wisconsin. That is three NCAA teams and our only loss is to an elite Michigan State team. Now to the game. It goes without saying that the MVP of the game is Lawrence Westbrook. He scored a career high 29 points including the clutch three to send it into overtime. He then preceded to score 9 points in OT including clutch free throws to seal the deal. I have been less than overwhelmed with Westbrook over his career but he was clutch and put up one of the best single game performances by a Gopher in a long time. Grier against Wisconsin and Pryzbilla against Indiana come to mind.

The other bright spot is the continued development of the Junior College transfer players. They may have scored more against Penn State but I was more impressed with their performance today. Paul Carter pulled in a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebs. He also had a clutch block down the stretch and did a great job defending Landry down the stretch. Bostick continued to showcase his offensive game. He scored 11 points with some impressive drives to the lane in the second half. When he gets aggressive on the offensive end he is quite the force.

A sign that I'm still used to Monson ball. Who thought that the Gophers were done at halftime and when they didn't cut the lead early in the second half? A Monson team would have packed it in and looked forward to the Northwestern game. Not a Tubby team. They will never stop playing hard. In all three road games they have come back from double digit deficits to win the game. This win is due to Westbrook and the work ethic and drive that Tubby has installed in the team.

Other Thoughts

• What is with the Purdue team? They seem to be the definition of inconsistent. They get crushed by Duke, crush Davidson, soundly beat Wisconsin, and they should have lost tonight to Northwestern. With the Gophers win and their lack of consistency I think the Gophers can finish second in the conference this year. Michigan State is still the runaway favorite but I see no team that is significantly better than the Gophers in the conference.
• The Don Lucia saga seems to have a happy ending. It has been diagnosed that a twinged nerve caused by infection or inflammation caused the headaches and numbness on the left side of his face. I think this great news should move the Gophers hockey team to a great second half of the season starting this weekend with St. Cloud State.
  

Stats of the Day

• 4: The number of Big Ten home losses by Bo Ryan including the loss to the Gophers.
• 20.8: The 3-pt shooting percentage of the Badgers. They went 5 -24.
• February 2nd, 2005: Last time a Gopher scored at least 29 points. Vincent Grier did it scoring 32 points against Northwestern.