Best Gopher by position so far ...

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Mikie S

Mikie S

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... in Big Ten play through six games:

C Ralph Sampson III ... I still don't like him so much at PF, but his recent play in the middle has been better than Colt Iverson (who's been struggling in conference play).

F Damian Johnson ... He is the Gopher MVP.

F Paul Carter ... Paul may be the Gophers best rebounder, plays good defense and handles the ball well. He can almost get his shot at will and if he can ever get that shot to consistently drop he will be an all-conference type.

SG Laurence Westbrook. LW was merely good at NU, when the Gophers needed another Wisky type performance.

PG Devoe Joseph. Al Nolan has been out-of-sync since the Big Ten season started. In about half of those six games, the offense has simply looked better with Devoe at point with a couple where neither looked all that good (At the end at Wisky, the offense looked best without either).
 

Mikie S said:
... in Big Ten play through six games:

C Ralph Sampson III ... I still don't like him so much at PF, but his recent play in the middle has been better than Colt Iverson (who's been struggling in conference play).

F Damian Johnson ... He is the Gopher MVP.

F Paul Carter ... Paul may be the Gophers best rebounder, plays good defense and handles the ball well. He can almost get his shot at will and if he can ever get that shot to consistently drop he will be an all-conference type.

SG Laurence Westbrook. LW was merely good at NU, when the Gophers needed another Wisky type performance.

PG Devoe Joseph. Al Nolan has been out-of-sync since the Big Ten season started. In about half of those six games, the offense has simply looked better with Devoe at point with a couple where neither looked all that good (At the end at Wisky, the offense looked best without either).
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Agree on DJ. He plays either F spot very well.
 

I also agree with the DJ as team MVP. I haven't been able to watch a lot of games yet this year, but after watching the Wisco game it was clearly evident that we were a much better team whenever he was on the court. His versatility helps us some much, especially on the defensive side. Without a dominate scorer on offense we're going to have to rely on our defense to win games for us. I like that DJ can guard a variety of positions, and he really makes our press work to it's full potential.
 

Mikie S said:
... in Big Ten play through six games:

C Ralph Sampson III ... I still don't like him so much at PF, but his recent play in the middle has been better than Colt Iverson (who's been struggling in conference play).

F Damian Johnson ... He is the Gopher MVP.

F Paul Carter ... Paul may be the Gophers best rebounder, plays good defense and handles the ball well. He can almost get his shot at will and if he can ever get that shot to consistently drop he will be an all-conference type.

SG Laurence Westbrook. LW was merely good at NU, when the Gophers needed another Wisky type performance.

PG Devoe Joseph. Al Nolan has been out-of-sync since the Big Ten season started. In about half of those six games, the offense has simply looked better with Devoe at point with a couple where neither looked all that good (At the end at Wisky, the offense looked best without either).
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Paul Carter reminds me a lot of Vince Grier, except he's a lot taller.
 




Too soon to judge, with only one-third of the Big Ten season done, Gottlieb. After another six (or more) games, try again.
 

Agree DJ team MVP thus far. I'd like to see Colt45 have a solid game on Thursday, we will need it.
 

Nolen vs. Joseph

I think Joseph is good and he will be a great player, but I don't think he is our best point guard at all. I'll agree that Nolen had a terrible game against Northwestern and got into foul trouble against Bucky, but Al is still the better defender athlete, and all around player.

This team has a lot of really athletic players, but for some reason only 3 of them start. I think if Al had more scorers/athletes on the floor with him out of the gate, it would be a lot easier for him to take over a game. Its pretty hard to get in the lane and dish when only 1 guy can hit a jumpshot outside of 10 feet. Johnson may be the team MVP right now, but he isn't exactly a prolific scorer. Neither is Colt or Ralph. Joseph is almost never on the floor at the same time as Colt (and even Ralph) and he seems to play with a lot more guys that can score.

I know that Nolen leads the team in minutes and gets to play with everybody, but I think it would be interesting if Tubby changed the starting lineup.

Sampson
DJ
Carter/Bostick
Westbrook
Nolen

This would give Al one more great athlete, and if Bostick is on the floor there is another guy that can shoot or take it to the basket.
 




I think if Joseph started the other players would get upset at how many 3's he jacks up early in the shot clock. He is not a pure point guard. Nolen is in a slump, he will return. Almost everyone agrees that playing sampson at the 4 is dumb, maybe later in his career it will pay off.
 

Carter

While Carter brings a lot of things to the table, good ballhandling isn't one of them. He is horrible with the ball in his hands. If he was getting 30 or more minutes a game right now, he would be turning the ball over 3-5 times every game.
 

Nolen

Lets not forget that Al put the team on his back during the last few minutes of the Louisville game.
 



SonOfMoonlight said:
Lets not forget that Al put the team on his back during the last few minutes of the Louisville game.
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With out a doubt Al is an outstanding player, but you had to go back to a non-conference game for an example of that, which sort of makes my point: Al has been out-of-sync since the Big Ten season started.
 


Sampson - C
DJ - F
Carter - F
Westbrook - SG
Nolan - PG
 

I like XMan's starting lineup. Not real "big" on starting both of our freshman bigs. Bring one of 'em off the bench, both will still get plenty of minutes. Would like to see Carter play more.
 

SelectionSunday said:
I like XMan's starting lineup. Not real "big" on starting both of our freshman bigs. Bring one of 'em off the bench, both will still get plenty of minutes. Would like to see Carter play more.
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Agreed... At this point in his career I dont think sampson is equipped defensively to handle the quickness of the PF's in the Big ten. Start one of the two freshmen and play which ever is having a better game.
 

dingo said:
Agreed... At this point in his career I dont think sampson is equipped defensively to handle the quickness of the PF's in the Big ten. Start one of the two freshmen and play which ever is having a better game.
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And start Nolan, but if Joseph comes in and is on a roll ... Leave him in!
 

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