Can the Gophers take care of business at home against the Wolverines tonight?  Ralph Sampson III is going to have play well for the home team to win.  Let’s hope the Gophers don’t try to make this a three point contest because Michigan is deceptively good from outside.  Let’s give’em the full-court press and outwork the Wolerines for the entire length of the court.

Live Blogging

1. Bob Knight calling the game on ESPN HD tonight.  Sweet!
2. Gophers are looking to use their height inside but they aren’t finding much inside to start the game.  Let’s hope they stick with this though
3. Michigan is hitting from outside early with two quick 3′s
4. Gophers are cold
5. Not playing tough inside yet
6. Sampson is playing weak inside
7. Paul Carter comes in for Damien Johnson
8. The Gophers first basket via a sweet inside play from Hoffarber
9. Sampson got to the line and only hit one of two
10. Second unit is in now
11. Iverson is playing tough inside but not consistent
12. The Gophers are going inside but they aren’t getting points
13. 16-10 Michigan and the Gophers are already giving up the inside game and are looking more perimeter pick & pop
14. Westbrook isn’t playing that great
15. Carter/Johnson/Sampson/Hoffarber/Joseph is our best line-up.  They don’t get time together but that’s out best unit right now
16. The Gophers don’t have any fire tonight.
17. Down by a point at half-time and we don’t look like we care
18. Second half is opening worse then the first ended
19. Michigan is just getting shots
20. The press isn’t working
21. The pressure on the ball isn’t intense and the off-ball man isn’t reacting to the play
22. Gophs are really missing Nolen right now
23. Joseph/Cobbs on the floor together with Joseph playing off ball
24. I think Joseph is going to be a better off-ball guard but he needs more size
25. Plus Hoffarber is our best off-ball guard right now.  Westbrook is just too inconsitent during crunch time
26. If Hoffarber wasn’t hitting three’s this game would already be over, if it isn’t already
27. The Wolverines are just killing us inside/outside with Harris/Sims
28. Sims might be NBA quality but assuredly he can play overseas.  I bet he’ll go D-League before he goes EuroLeague
29. Harris also is looking NBA ready against the Gophers tonight.  Probably more due to the Gophers lack of energy
30. If the Gophers lose this game they are NIT bound and they don’t seem to give a shit
31. Let’s hope Iverson transfers he’s not a Big Ten quality player
32. Sampson needs to take over, this needs to be his team and maybe if Iverson leaves that’ll force him to become a leader?
33. If we had White or Trevor M playing Iverson wouldn’t leave the pine
34. We need inside scoring, Tubby needs to get that figured out
35. Carter is very interesting I wish he had two more years and not just one.  In two years he’d have a lot of stuff figured out and be a monster on the court.  With this season pretty much gone I think we need to give tons of time to him, Joseph, Sampson, Hoffarber and Cobbs.
36. I hope that Westbrook has played himself into the 6th man role, he’d be way better coming off the bench giving us that fire then what he’s doing now.
37. Coming off the bench Westbrook would have to be focused or he’d sit back down.  Now, he gets 5-8 minutes to start every game and half the time he’s just running around not involved in the game.
38. Westbrook’s defense isn’t that good now that Nolen is gone.
39. Nolen made it a lot easier on the whole team
40. Nolen/Cory Joseph at the 1 with Hoffarber/Devoe Joseph at the 2.  Paul Carter/Rodney Williams at the 3.  ? at the 4. Sampson at the 5 with possible Iverson backing him up.  Not a Final Four team next year but assuredly a tournament team.  Add White or Mbakwe at the 4/5 and you could have a pretty decent team.
41. The 4 needs to be addressed.  If we lose any players via transfer we need to use the scholarships to bring in a 4.  Whether that’s via JC or high school but we need someone that can come in and play.  I’d rather see a JC player with a little seasoning then a green high schooler get worked.
42. Tubby I’ll do some of the leg work for you.  C.J. Leslie would be perfect.  He’s still undecided and would be an immediate starter.  Would match-up well with Sampson III.  Would make out transition game that much more interesting.  You can’t tell me that with our decent outside shooting this guy wouldn’t help draw defenders inside, giving Hoffarber that extra split second to pull the trigger.  Also, think about Leslie and Rodney Williams on the court at the same time.  Amazing!
43. Alright so let’s say we don’t have a chance with Leslie, which we probably don’t, what about Ricardo Ratliffe?  This guy would be the scoring machine we need to partner with Sampson III.  My pitch would be starting minutes and time on ESPN.  Whether or not we deserve it the Gophers get time on ESPN and other major networks if anything due to the competition we play against and the man we have coaching the team.  Ratliffe would be a great addition.
44. Jonathan Graham would be more then quality depth at the 4.  Graham might not be an immediate starter but he’d work in a pinch if say your top two 4′s were suspended.
45. Don’t think we can get this guy Luke Cothron but he’d be a better 3 then 4.  We’d be better with him then without him.
46. Next on my list Jon Horford.  To me this is a no brainer, you might have lost him last night with the loss to Michigan but I’d still try to get him.  Al Horford rocks and they say Jon is just a younger version of his big brother.
47. One last outstate guy, Tyler Olander.  This guy can run, he’s not a bruiser inside but he’d still be an asset the way he’d help stretch the court.
48. Combo-plater on the two instate guys that are probably long-shots/bench depth kinds of guys but I still think they have higher talent ceilings then Iverson does.  Calvin Godfrey and Mike Rostampour not only are they instate kids but they’d add to the team we’ve got right now.  Godfrey is an athelete and I’m not sure why we aren’t already going after him.  Rostampour is probably a red-shirt type guy but if we lose White and Mbakwe we’ll need players.

The loss tonight was frustrating because we are in a do or die situation.  Now, we are going to have to go perfect here on out or win the Big Ten tournament to make the NCAA tournament so bluntly NIT here we come.  That’s not acceptable for a Tubby Smith team.  I know that we’ve had a rough year with player suspensions, but its Tubby’s job to navigate these waters.  I spent less then an hour on the internet and found over half a dozen players that would re-energize this team next season.  Let’s hope Tubby’s got a similar thought process too.

Tags: Blake Hoff, C.J. Leslie, Calvin Godfrey, Cory Joseph, Devoe Joseph, Jon Horford, Jonathan Graham, Luke Cothron, Michigan Wolverine, Mike Rostampour, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Ricardo Ratliffe, Tubby Smith

This entry was posted on 02/11/2010 at 6:54 pm and is filed under College Sports, Gophers Basketball, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.