Keeping Tabs: Devoe Dominating

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.

Canadian super prep Devoe Joseph (pictured) put up a team-high 27 points Monday night for his Pickering High Trojans, leading them to a 94-48 throttling of their opponent in the first round of the provincial boys high school playoffs.

Prior to the first tip, the Toronto Sun took a look at what to expect in the Ontario high school tournament. Our boy Devoe was prominently featured. Here's a snippet.

Pickering is led by phenom senior Devoe Joseph, a combo guard who received attention from major U.S. Division 1 schools. He saw visits by coaches from Virginia Tech, Texas, Vanderbilt, Illinois, St. John's, Kansas and USC before accepting a full scholarship to play for the University of Minnesota this fall.

While Pickering doesn't keep official stats for its games, Gordensky estimates Joseph puts up 25 points, six or seven assists and a couple of steals per contest. He lit up d'Youville for a season-high 42 points on Dec. 14.

"He is incredibly athletic and he has unlimited (shooting) range," said Gordensky of the 6-foot-3 Joseph. "He also runs the point for us sometimes because he is such a smart player."

The Gophers are going to need someone next season to pick up some of the scoring slack. With Dan Coleman, Spencer Tollackson and Lawrence McKenzie moving on, Joseph will be a key newcomer when it comes to filling the basket. If the Gophers sign another point guard, I expect Devoe to play a lot of shooting guard. If not, expect Al Nolen and Devoe to share time at the point similar to how McKenzie and Nolen do now.

Devron Bostick: Quite the accomplishment for this young man. For the second consecutive season, Bostsick has been named the Great Rivers Athletic Conference and Region 24 tournament player of the year. This Belleville News Democrat article suggests that Bostick persevered this season despite some up and down play. Here's a snippet:

Bostick is averaging 18 points for a Blue Storm team that is 26-4 and seeded first in the Region 24 Tournament.

"There was a time a few weeks ago when I didn't think he was going to do anything because Devron wasn't playing well and he was having a few problems. We even benched him for a half in two of our games," Blue Storm coach Jay Harrington said. "I'm really proud that he was able to get through that tough time and finish as strong as he has."

Bostick, who will attend the University of Minnesota next fall, enjoyed his stellar sophomore season despite being heavily guarded.

"It's been a different season because every game he's been a marked man. He's been the guy teams have tried to stop," Harrington said of Bostick. "He's been beaten on, pushed and shoved all year and even though its been difficult for him, I think he's become more comfortable with the fact that he's been a decoy.

"Sometimes when you are the one people are trying to stop, you have to learn to let your teammates take charge. Devron has done that."

It sounds like a year of maturation for Bostick. It should bode well for him when he arrives in Minnesota that he's learned how to deal with ups and downs and tough, physical play. If he's a potential NBA player as has been reported, he'll get significant attention from superior defenders once he arrives in the Big Ten.

Ralph Sampson III: The Duluth, GA product had 18 points, but his Northview team couldn't upend the heavily favored team from Norcross, the two time state champions, in a state quarterfinal last weekend. According tot he Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sampson came into the game averaging seven blocks per contest but tallied just one in the season-ending loss.

Verdell Jones: According to a thread on an Illini message board, Tubby Smith made the trip to Illinois recently to (presumably) catch point guard Verdell Jones in action. At this point, Jones is not part of the five-player class that will suit up next season, but Tubby is still looking at a handful of players (a couple point guards and a big man) for the incoming class. The Gophers seem to be in the driver's seat for Jones' services. But he also has basketball heavyweights Kentucky and Tennessee after him. Jones is a 3-star, 6'4" point guard who is said to have good ball handling skills, vision, and a good set shot from the outside. Jones' value has went up in part because there is a dearth of point guard talent left unsigned at this point. For a couple reasons--Minnesota's own point guard issues and just to steal a recruit from Kentucky is fun--it'd be great to get Jones to sign on.

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: Devoe TV Interview

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.

Four-star Minnesota recruit Devoe Joseph from Pickering, Ontario is the subject of this two-minute television sports news segment. In the segment, Joseph says he believes he'll be able to contribute right away if he's playing up to the coaching staff's expectations. The news clip can be viewed here.

The clip also has a few highlights of Devoe in action.

But perhaps the most entertaining portion of the clip is near the end when Devoe emphatically slams the ball on a breakaway and is subsequently given a technical foul. Devoe throws his hands in the air at the refs. Love it. Make us proud, Devoe.

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.

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