TGFI

I know it is only Wednesday and I'm not dyslexic. It is Thank God For Indiana. Only Indiana would let us get away with playing the sloppy disinterested game we played on Wednesday. The Gophers gave the ball away 19 times. Indiana responded by turning the ball over 26 times. It was an absolutely brutal game and the Gophers looked nothing like a tournament team outside a run in the second half.

The player of the game is obviously Paul Carter. He put up 22 points, 6 rebs, 1 block and 2 steals. I've remarked before about his lack of shooting and this was evidence of what he can accomplish with his skills given a decent shot. He went 7-13 from the field and more impressively went 7-8 from the line. Until he develops an outside shot he needs to force the issue down low and get to the free throw line. He is actually a 72% free throw shooter.

The other player that needs to be mentioned is Devoe Joseph. He was the only player who played with any effort on both ends in the first half. He ended up with 9 points and 4 rebounds. He played alot as the off-guard with Nolen at the point and I think that is where he is at his best. He still struggles to run the half-court offense, but can play up-tempo, has a good shot and also has the ability to create his own shot. I would like to see him get 20+ minutes a game with half of it as the 2 guard. The next game is an important one at Penn State.

Other News

• Royce White has been named to the Jordan Brand Classic which will be at the Madison Square Garden on April 18th on ESPN2. This game is not as big as the McDonald's All-American Game but this is a good indicator that he might be a McDonald's All-Star. Only one player (Lance Stephenson) out of the top 10 players on Rivals will not be attending. Even if he doesn't make the McDonald's Game it will be great to see him against the nation's best on national tv.
• Brett Farve has retired again. I will believe he is truly retired when it is September and he is not on a team. I think it is more that he doesn't want to play for the Jets than he doesn't want to play. I think if the right team came along he would put on the uniform because he has to feed his almighty ego that took a hit by his sup-standard play in New York.

Stats of the Day

• 14: Steals by the Gophers against Indiana. Nolen lead the team with 4 steals.
• 24: Points off turnovers by the Gophers. That needs to be better off of 26 turnovers.
• 8: Points scored by the 3 leading scorers (Westbrook 4, Nolen 4, Johnson 0). They average a combined 29.4 ppg. They shot a combined 2-16. The biggest problem with the team is a lack of a superstar who can put us on his back consistently.
  

Not the Best Weekend

The Gophers basketball team has lost back to back games and the hockey team has lost 4 in a row and is tumbling down the standings. That said the two teams have very different outlooks from here on.

The basketball team is now 6-5 in the conference in 5th place and will not be ranked next week. It doesn't look good but it isn't that significant. Both games they lost are not upsets. It would have been nice to win one but before the season looking at the schedule you would pick them to lose both games and I did pick them to lose both games. The good news is the schedule sets up very favorably. Only one game (at Illinois) looks hard to win but the rest are very winnable. It looks like they should be able to get to 11-7 fairly easily. They will get a nice bounce back game with 6-16 Indiana coming to the Barn.

The hockey team is in a free fall and needs to turn it around or they might miss the NCAA's. They have lost 4 in a row and have fallen from 1st place in the conference to 6th. I would say the schedule sets up favorably also but they were swept by Mankato so the opponent isn't an issue. The problem is very easy to point to - Alex Kangas. He has a save percentage on the year of 89.8% down from 93% last year. He is 9th in the WCHA in save percentage. The Gophers outplayed Wisconsin in both games and outshot Wisconsin 82-53 on the weekend yet lost both games. I can not remember him stopping a decent scoring chance all weekend. The difference was the Badgers scored on every decent and sometimes not even decent chances. I would look for Kent Patterson to start on Friday and might play both games next weekend. The need the goaltending if they are going to turn it around.

Stats of the Day

• 6-10: Blake Hoffarber from 3 in the Ohio State game. I would like to see him do it in back to back games before I declare him back in business. It was good to see and remember what he can provide for this team.
  
• 84% : Alex Kangas' save percentage in the last four games, all losses
• 36.3%: Paul Carter's shooting percentage for the season second worst on the team. That is not good for someone who plays down low and doesn't even shoot from the outside. He is very athletic and plays with great energy but he needs to improve his shot if he is going to make a serious contribution to this team. We give Damian Johnson a hard time for his ability to shoot but he is shooting 49.4%.
  

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.
  

Weekend Recap

This week we saw a lot from the Gophers Basketball team. At Iowa, we saw what it looks like when they win ugly, and against Penn State we saw what it looks like when they win pretty with everything clicking. They shot almost doubled their shooting percentage from the Iowa game with 34% to 62.5% against Penn State. Devron Bostick was easily the star of the game with 19 points. Paul Carter also busted out the offense with 14 points. They both had made noticeable improvements in the games leading up to this getting more minutes and looking more comfortable, but no one would have predicted this type of breakout. I agree with the statement made by Myron Medcalf that the development of the two JUCO players is the difference between the Gophers making the tournament and making some noise in the tournament. The lastest AP Poll has the Gophers ranked 18th one spot ahead of Purdue. They have a big test heading to the Kohl Center to take on the Badgers.

I would like to know what Paul Carter's actual height is. He is listed at 6-8 and there is no way that is true. He is defintely smaller than DJ Swat. I think he is likely more around 6-5 than 6-8. Just like it was discovered that Colton Iverson is taller than 6-10 and at least 6-11 maybe 7-0.

If anyone wondered the affect Don Lucia has on the Gophers hockey team those questions were answered this weekend. That was one of the worst weekends of Gophers hockey ever as they were lambasted by North Dakota 6-3 and 6-1. They dropped to #8 in the USA Today Hockey Poll. They looked flat and seemed to have no interest in even competing or playing hockey this weekend. This team still has the talent and time to do some big things this year but they need to discover the fire and drive again and soon. One big problem is when the top line of Schroeder-Stoa-Barriball is in tact the rest of the team takes the game off. Schroeder or Stoa was involved in all four Gopher goals this weekend. Players like Carman, Hoeffel and White are going to need to start pulling their offensive weight if the Gophers are going to be a contender. On a positive note Lucia will be on the ice at practice today and plans to be their all week.

Bert Blyleven missed out on a trip to Cooperstown once again today. He finished fourth with 62.7% of the votes slightly up from 61.9% the previous year. The inductees are Ricky Henderson and Jim Rice. It is only a matter of time before he gets in but it might end up coming down to the Veterans Committee. Twinkie Town makes a good point in that the focus this year was on Ricky Henderson, and that next year with no stellar additions it might be a year they really push for Bert and get him elected to the Hall of Fame. He absoultely deserves to be in the Hall and it is a shame that he is not their already. Anyone who has ever watched a Twins game knows how much it would mean to him to be elected.

Stats of the Day

• 11-15: Devron Bostick shooting in the last three games. That is 73.3%.
• 9.0: Average steals per game for the Gophers. Purdue is second in conference with 7.8.
• 0: The highest +/- for a Gopher forward who has not played on the first line. It belongs to Mike Carman. Stoa is +12, Schroeder is +9 and Barriball is +3.