Friday Randomness

First of all, if you missed it below, all signs indicate Verdell Jones will commit to the Gophers on Monday, giving Tubby Smith a six-man 2008 recruiting class. We can debate whether the Gophers would have been better off signing a big man or a point guard with this scholarship, but either way Tubby is doing what he needed to do--drastically improve the talent level on Minnesota's roster. More on this next week if indeed Jones does pick the Gophers.

*** Minnesota recruit Colton Iverson was named the South Dakota Class AA Player of the Year this week. Good for Colt. Of the incoming players, however, it's Iverson who I worry might have a lengthy adjustment period in the Big Ten. We'll see.

*** In this letter to the editor in the Minnesota Daily, writer Kevin Wendt begins by making a logical, coherent cry for more attention to be paid to scholastic achievements than to athletics. I agree. He writes this in the context of the Royce White verbal, and goes on to state that he's happy to bring Royce White on campus with "conditions." Kevin's conditions? "I say he can attend, but he has to select a major without the word "sports" in it. I say we place him in IT and let his academic potential grow as much as his athletics. Or how about CSOM and an economics program?"

This is where I think Kevin's argument is lost in bitterness.

*** Congratulations to Tubby Smith for being inducted to the University of Kentucky Hall of Fame. Back in the commonwealth for the induction, Smith said "I call it my old Kentucky home. Once you're a Kentuckian, you're always a Kentuckian."

Very statesmanlike of you to say that, Tubby. That said, 10 years from now the Gophers are going to build a new arena named after you. Heck, we might even add a statute once you win back to back national championships. At that point, I imagine Minnesota will be your one and only home.

*** For two other takes on how wrong Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse was in this column this week, check out Twin Cities Boys Hoops and Down with Goldy. Reusse criticized Tubby Smith, Joel Maturi and the UofM brass for allowing Royce White to verbally commit to the Gophers because Reusse posits there are some academic issues with White, who was booted from private school DeLaSalle for an admitted "academic mistake." I disagreed with Reusse here, arguing that the columnist has no way of knowing what has transpired between Tubby and Royce, considering Tubby can't talk about recruits until they actually sign.

*** First we dealt with rumors that Gophers assistant and recruiting whiz Vince Taylor might take a head coaching gig at Western Kentucky, an obvious place for him to get his first head man job considering his ties to Kentucky. That job went to a University of Texas assistant and former WKU assistant. Now, in Charley Walters' column this week, he suggests that "There's buzz that Gophers men's basketball assistant Vince Taylor might be able to nearly double his salary by joining alma mater Duke, which lost top assistant Johnny Dawkins to Stanford as head coach last weekend."

It's no wonder Taylor's name would surface to fill a position at Duke. He played there. And he's coached for Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith. He's considered one of the better recruiters in the country. Unless he is offered a head coaching position somewhere, the Gophers should do everything they can to keep him on board. In fact, and I know this is early, but Taylor should be considered the heir apparent to Tubby Smith. If Tubby is to be here another six years, it would be a good idea to make sure Taylor knows he is the likely successor.

Verdell Jones' father has also credited Taylor just as much as Tubby Smith, for Jones' likely commitment to Minnesota.

*** Now for your random movie selection of the week, but with a disclaimer. I have an unhealthy obsession with all movies that star Philip Seymour Hoffman. I think I first thought he was great when he played the snotty butler in The Big Lebowski. But since then I've found his portrayal of characters to be better than any actor of my generation. So, I see every movie he makes. My friends don't understand this strange fascination of mine, but whatever.

I saw The Savages and Charlie Wilson's War in the movie theatre but could never find his work in Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead in a theatre near me. So, I rented the selection on a slow day this week and found that of the three movies he was in this year, this one, which also features some nice shots of Marisa Tomei's wonderful chest, was his best of the year. Basically, Hoffman and Hawke are in desperate need for cash. Hoffman has been stealing money from his employer which is about to get audited (never mind a drug addiction) and Hawke is just a typical burnout with no prospects. Hoffman hatches a plan to rob their parents' suburban jewelry store, a plan that was great in theory but didn't really work out that way.

Not the best movie you'll ever see. And certainly not uplifting or comical in any way. But if you're having a PSH marathon anytime soon, I recommend this over his other two pictures from this year.

Keeping Tabs On The Future: RSIII Making Waves

PJS Note: Periodically over the remainder of the basketball season I will post updates of Tubby Smith's incoming five-man 2008 class. The group has been ranked as high as 10th nationally and it is part of the hopefully golden future of Minnesota basketball.

There is no player I'm more excited about than Ralph Sampson III. And I don't even think it's because of his name. Last week, per this Scout note, RSIII had two triple-doubles to give him five games this season where he's dominated the stat sheet in that manner. In the two games, both wins, Sampson 11 points, 12 rebounds and 10 blocked shots and 18 points, 10 rebounds and 11 blocked shots. Other reports continue to indicate that Sampson is becoming more aggressive offensively. And his ability to thorughly own the paint certainly bodes well for his tenure at Minnesota. Along with Damian Johnson's length, we could see a very nice shot-blocking tandem for the next two years.

But Sampson last week also received the type of attention our local periodicals shower on players like Michael Floyd or Seantrel Henderson. The Atlanta Journal-Counsitution profiled Sampson in this piece titled "A quiet force inside." It's a very interesting read, and the writer quites Sampson as saying one reason he came to Minnesota was because he'd have an opportunity to bulild something with Tubby, but also because at schools like Georgia Tech or Clemson he'd have to work his way into a spot. The article also discusses how playing with two Wake Forest recruits on an AAU team helped Sampson learn to be assertive on the floor.

** We will learn a little about Devoe Joseph this weekend when his Pickering High team plays host to some of the best teams in Canada this weekend. We'll try and follow Devoe's progress.

** One that got away: Jackson, Miss., product Scottie Haralson, a 6-4 shooting guard has decided to attend Connecticut. Haralson is the same type of player that Devoe Joseph is, so Haralson likely had to look outside of Minnesota after the Canadian product picked Tubby and the Gophers.

** Devron Bostick (pictured) led a "sluggish" SWIC Blue Storm team with 22 points last weekend. Earlier in the week, Bostick put up 18 points during a win when Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie was watching from the crowd. Bostick's Blue Storm team is ranked fifth in the latest NJCAA Division I poll.

** It's difficult at times to tell what we are getting with Colton Iverson. My guess would be he might be more of a work in progress. But with the departures of Dan Coleman and Spencer Tollackson, Iverson will likely be forced into significant action as a freshman. After scoring just five points and seeing his team held to just 28 points last Thursday, Iverson responded the next night with 23 points and nine rebouds to help his team upset a highly ranked team from Sioux Falls. Iverson was 9-11 from the floor and 5-7 from the stripe. I think that should be considered a good bounceback night.

Keeping Tabs On The Future

PJS Note: Periodically over the remainder of the basketball season I will post updates of Tubby Smith's incoming five-man 2008 class. The group has been ranked as high as 10th nationally and it is part of the hopefully golden future of Minnesota basketball.

Devron Bostick: The junior college guard led his Southwestern Illinois College Blue Storm on a 12-point second half comeback last Wednesday, making a Blake Hoffarber-like five three pointers down the stretch to finish with 25 points. Bostick scored just 10 points in a Saturday matinee. Bostick's Blue Storm are 14-1, but in that lone loss, Bostick played an unfortunate roll. From this Jan. 6 Belleview News Democrat article: "Tied at 70, SWIC (12-1) had a chance to take the lead with 20 seconds, left but sophomore Devron Bostick missed two free throws."

Devoe Joseph: Pickings are slim in terms of clips for Joseph's highlights. But this Windsor Star feature on Joseph from December is highly encouraging. After touting Devoe's potential, the paper quotes a coach who is preparing to play his Pickering Trojans.

St. Anne coach Larry Loebach joked he'll play a couple of extra defenders and hope the refs don't notice.

"We are also having a special school mass with our team as the main theme. Hopefully, that will help us as well," he said.

Seriously, Loebach said the Saints' Mackenzie Devin gets the dubious honour of shadowing Joseph whenever his team is not employing a matchup zone.

Colton Iverson: The 6'8"-6'10" (it varies depending on who you read) senior from Yankton, SD had a double-double during a victory this weekend over a highly ranked (by South Dakota standards) Brandon Valley team. This article tells us Iverson had 19 points and 14 rebounds. And this piece, covering the same game, tells us Iverson had 19 points, 11 reboudns and five blocks. Either way, from tracking Iverson at during the course of the year, this performance last weekend seems to be his best of the year. Having not seen the Bucks play, I get the sense that Iverson is a one-man show. His Yankton high school team is, as of Saturday, 4-4.

Paul Carter: After missing a handful of games due to injury, Missouri State University-West Plains freshman Paul Carter has seen his playing time go up and down. In his last four games (all boxscores are available via this link) Carter has played 16, 17, 17 and 30 minutes. There is no word on why his playing time has dwindled. In his most recent outing, Carter put up 11 points, grabbed seven rebounds, blocked two shots and shot 4-5 from the free throw line and 1-2 from three point land. Aside from the injury, Carter's floor time seems to be limited at times by a tendency to get himself in foul trouble. Despite missing four games, Carter easily leads the Grizzlies with 41 personal fouls. On the brigher side, Carter also easily leads the Grizzlies in reounding. Also standing out from this season stat sheet is his relatively low shooting percentage (38 percent) and three point percentage (28 percent)

And finally, the Pioneer Press' Charley Walters tells us that Tubby Smith has no plans to redshirt Sampson or Iverson. This should have been obvious because of the pending graudations of Dan Coleman and Spencer Tollackson. That leaves the Gophers with only two returning big men in Damian Johnson and Jonathan Williams.

** I'll have more on these four youngsters and RSIII in weeks to come.

Reports Indicate Iverson Commits To Tubby

The Pioneer Press' Marcus Fuller is reporting on his blog here that Colton Iverson, who was also offered a scholarship by Florida, among others, is likely going to be a Gopher.

Rivals indicates that Iverson has given the Gophers a solid verbal.

This would be good news for Tubby's 2008 recruiting class. The locals from Yankton, SD, apparently liked the fact Tubby made a visit on Wednesday. Here's a story from the local rag.

The photo is of Iverson on his AAU team South Dakota Heat driving the lane

Iverson is a 6-9 lanky forward who was being recruited by two-time defending national champion Florida, Nebraska and Iowa, among others. He's ranked by Rivals as the #39 power forward in the country and is #140 overall in the country.

Here's another story from the Yankton Press & Dakotan highlighting Iverson's workouts with college coaches. It suggests that Kentucky and UCLA at least had a look at Iverson as well.

I'll update this as more comes in.

Mole Rats And FAU's Dance Team

I'd like to start a series of random tidbits today with my new favorite blogger. His name is Ted Hutton and he blogs on Florida Atlantic football for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. I've previously stated that this little jaunt to Florida was kinda, well, weird. But I'm really beginning to like the idea of an annual trip to face the FAU Owls. I think it's fair to state that Hutton is enjoying the Minnesota game as well. He's even come up with a new nickname for our lads.

OK, since Minnesota is 1-1, they lose the right to their nickname, and are at the mercy of yours truly. I have a good friend who lives in Minnesota, and have done made two trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in the far north of the state, so I hold no grudge.

But, I couldn’t overlook the resemblance between gopher and its smaller version, the naked mole rat. So, the Burrowing Birds will be taking on the Mole Rats this Saturday at Dolphin Stadium.

Mole Rats. That's cool. Here's a Mole Rat in case anyone hadn't seen one before:

Attractive son of a bitch, isn't it?

While I found the nickname kinda funny, it was something else that has drawn me to Hutton's writing. Coverage of the Dance Team! In two separate Hutton posts on the Gophers, he's kindly included some eye-candy to offset the Mole Rat imagery. Here's a sampling:

Ahh, if only Chip Scoggins could be so kind to use his access to the Gophers to produce such, um, meaningful coverage.

Now on to less eye-pleasing matters.

** This letter to the editor from the Rochester Post-Bulletin makes a succinct point: "Why would a blue-chip recruit stay here to play? Both Oklahoma schools are televised in Minnesota but not the Gophers?" Oh, that darned BTN. Working great so far isn't it?

** Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber has been named Big Ten co-Big Ten offensive player of the week. Congratulations are in order for Weber, who struggled in his first half of college football but has recovered to post six consecutive quarters of solid football. This Star Tribune article tells us that Weber leads the Big Ten in total offense through two weeks. In other Weber/Star Tribune news, curmudgeony columnist Sid Hartman has compared Weber to Fran Tarkenton. Um, sure, Sid. I like the Weber kid and all too, but let's not go suggesting Weber is a future Hall of Famer. Here's Sid:

"Yes, I'll be ridiculed for this comparison. I am not saying that Weber is close to Tarkenton yet, or ever will be. But on Saturday, in his second college start, Weber rushed 16 times for 97 yards and one touchdown and completed 26 of 40 passes for 271 yards and four touchdowns, including two to sophomore Eric Decker, who also has a great future in football. Like Tarkenton, Weber can run the ball, and he is running a tough offense."

Being fast and on a Minnesota team doesn't mean that Weber is the next Tarkenton. Amazingly, Sid goes on to compare Weber to Vince Young. You're right, Sid, you deserve to be ridiculued for that.

** Week three of Brewster-ball brings more changes to the depth chart. Thankfully, Jason Giannini will no longer be kicking field goals. His three missed chances last week earned a demotion. And senior safety Duron Cooley, who was thorougly embarrassed on a couple occassions last week will be replaced in the starting lineup by true freshman Curtis Thomas. That means 13 freshman are now playing in our secondary.

** I know most Gopher fans probably can't stand Patrick Reusse of the Star Tribune. But I happen to believe that, lately at least, Reusse is telling it like it is. Last week he essentially told Brewster to shut up and coach. This week, Reusse tells Brewster to win a meaningful game before yapping. Like last week, I agree. Here's Reusse on Brewster dedicating Saturday's win to the state of Minnesota:

That's it? After Brewster's nine months of blowing hard, what the citizens and the diligent football coaches of this great state have dedicated to them is a triple-overtime, official-assisted victory over a MAC team?

Mr. Brewster, in the name of all Minnesotans blessed with reason, and particularly for all the high school coaches who work endless hours for short money, I reject this dedication.

We've endured Gopher Nation, Rose Bowl, blah, blah, blah, and we certainly deserve more than our state university's 22nd victory in 26 all-time games against the MAC.

Listen, coach, if you're going to dedicate a victory to me, it has to be at least a Big Ten victory, and not against Northwestern or Indiana.

** While most of the attention lately has been focused on Brewster's team, Minnesota's other new coach has been busy on the recruiting trail. Last week, Ralph Sampson III, who is 7'4" and growing, joined South Dakota big man Colton Iverson on a tour of campus. Both, according to separate Rivals accounts (Iverson, Sampson), enjoyed their visits. Iverson's father told Rivals he could be making a decision within weeks and Sampson spoke glowingly of the campus, Tubby Smith and the players. And this weekend two JUCO athletes will be making visits to campus, according to Rivals. Devron Bostick, a 6'5 wing from Southwestern Illinois Community College, will visit along with Orlando Allen, a 6-10 big man from Paris Junior College in Paris, Tx. Allen would certainly be a project type. At 285 pounds, the big man averaged under 2 points per game and under 3 reboudns per game as a freshman. He's received offers already from the Gophers, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Bowling Green.

** I love Florida Atlantic week.