Hey all, first time poster here, but fairly long time observer of the board.
Two years ago, Monson's last year, I attended the game where Iowa was the visitor. I loved the Barn immediately, but the team was a different story. In fact, by the end of the first half I felt like I had seen enough futility on behalf of our over-matched Gophers, but stayed until the end. Now, even though our team is sometimes frustrating (as is discussed here often), I am amazed at our progress. If you had told me at this time two years ago that we would have Tubby, two straight top 25 recruiting classes, and have just been in the NCAA tournament, I would have laughed in your face. But that is what we're looking at, and I love it.
That being said, I have one question. I hope this does not make me seem a pessimist, but is there anyone else who gets very frustrated with Westbrook? I admire his heart and realize that on this team, he was our best option for creating offense (maybe our only option, aside from brief flashes by others), but there are many times where I find myself wishing he would take a smaller role. It seems that he knows he is our only guy late in the shot clock or game, and he tries to do too much. I often feel like there are three or four times a game where he tries to split two defenders and loses it on the floor, or something like that. As much as I hate to say it, I almost expect something like that to happen when I know he is about to try to take over.
Regardless of that, I realize he is an important part of our team, and hopefully another year of growth by everyone will result in him having to forces things less. I look forward to great things from this team, particularly in 2011.
Sorry so long.
Two years ago, Monson's last year, I attended the game where Iowa was the visitor. I loved the Barn immediately, but the team was a different story. In fact, by the end of the first half I felt like I had seen enough futility on behalf of our over-matched Gophers, but stayed until the end. Now, even though our team is sometimes frustrating (as is discussed here often), I am amazed at our progress. If you had told me at this time two years ago that we would have Tubby, two straight top 25 recruiting classes, and have just been in the NCAA tournament, I would have laughed in your face. But that is what we're looking at, and I love it.
That being said, I have one question. I hope this does not make me seem a pessimist, but is there anyone else who gets very frustrated with Westbrook? I admire his heart and realize that on this team, he was our best option for creating offense (maybe our only option, aside from brief flashes by others), but there are many times where I find myself wishing he would take a smaller role. It seems that he knows he is our only guy late in the shot clock or game, and he tries to do too much. I often feel like there are three or four times a game where he tries to split two defenders and loses it on the floor, or something like that. As much as I hate to say it, I almost expect something like that to happen when I know he is about to try to take over.
Regardless of that, I realize he is an important part of our team, and hopefully another year of growth by everyone will result in him having to forces things less. I look forward to great things from this team, particularly in 2011.
Sorry so long.
