Thursday, November 22, 2007

Tubby's 2008 Class Takes Another Big Step

Four-star guard Devoe Joseph has picked the Gophers over Vanerbilt and Texas. GopherNation has more on this here.

This is excellent news for the Gophers and it catapults Tubby's 2008 class up to the top of the Big 10. Some had already considered it a top 15-30 class nationally.

In Marcus Fuller's blog report for the PiPress, Joseph's AAU coach indicated that one of the reasons Joseph picked Minnesota was because Tubby was after him the longest. The same can be said for fellow recruit Ralph Samspon III. Tubby was after him long before other college coaches, at least according to the recruiting Web sites, began to take notice. Kudos to Tubby for finding the guys he wanted and sticking with them.

Oh, and Joseph's coach also mentioned to Fuller that Joseph was impressed by how warmly the student section at Williams Arena embraced him during the Army game. Kudos to the drunk students!

Joseph, who I think can play both the point and two-guard spot, joins four-star forward/center Ralph Sampson III and three-star forward/center Colton Iverson as freshman in next year's class. Paul Carter, a JUCO transfer, will have three years of eligibility. He's a 6-8 scoring forward who experts say will be able to have an immediate impact and can start right away. The fifth commit is Devron Bostic, another JUCO transfer who will have two years of eligibility. I'll try to have a thorough roundup of each of these new commits in the next week or two.

Until then, how about a little 2008 lineup speculation? Listed first is my predicted starter at that position followed by their first subsitute. Johnson is going to have to earn that spot, but for now I'm liking what I'm seeing.

PG: Al Nolen/Devoe Joseph
SG: Devoe Joseph/Lawrence Westbrook/
SF: Damian Johnson/Devron Bostick/Blake Hoffarber/Jamal Abu-Shamala
PF: Paul Carter/Jon Williams/ Colton Iverson
C: Ralph Sampson III/Colton Iverson

10 comments:

snyde043 said...

There are no drunk students at Williams Arena because there's no beer sales. The warm reception Joseph received was from students being energized by Tubby after years of watching the failures of Dan Monson

Anonymous said...

I believe that was a Glen Mason reference.

Anonymous said...

It appears that I was right and the UK "fans" were not.

Tubby CAN coach. Tubby CAN recruit.

He's THAT good.

PJS said...

Good to see you make an appearance, Friend of Tubby.

I'd play devil's advocate with you like I have before, but it's Thanksgiving and I'm not in the mood.

So, I hope you are having a Happy T'Day anon, 742/Friend of Tubby.

Anonymous said...

Just stating facts upon which to base an opinion.

Tubby's DAMN good.

Anonymous said...

I am sorry but the golden rats will probably win no more than 14 games this year.

Anonymous said...

no, no, no, noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Anonymous said...

Yess Yessss Yessss

Not even the NIT. Next year maybe 16 games.

PJS said...

anon 512/529, the Gophers are set up to win a lot of games in the nonconference portion of the schedule. The two remaining tough games are at Florida State and UNLV. That's the same FSU that has lost to Cleveland State?

Let's just say the Gophers split those two games, and take care of the remaining non conference cupcakes. That would be 11 wins right there. Now, they might not be plust .500 in the Big Ten, but I think it's safe to assume they can grab a handful of wins (5-7) to get to 18 wins on the year.

Anonymous said...

Gophers can win 20+ games in 2008.

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