Tubby's Comments In Sid's Column Today

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One of the first things Tubby Smith did after the Gophers men's basketball team lost to Texas in the first round of the NCAA tournament is to hop on a plane to California, where he watched Justin Cobbs, the recruit from Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, play in the California Interscholastic Federation Division IV championship game in Sacramento. Cobbs' team lost 65-64 on a buzzer-beater to Salesian of Richmond.

"He's going to be a good player. I never like putting a lot of pressure, because kids already have enough pressure on them to live up to expectations," Smith said of Cobbs. "He's talented. He's about 6-2. Very physical. Very strong player. Takes the ball to the basket strong. Can shoot with range.

"Once he gets acclimated to the college environment he should be fine. It's not like he has to come in and play right away. We've got Al Nolen. Devoe Joseph was a very adequate backup point guard for us last year. It's not like we don't have a point guard in the system already."

Smith said he believes the Gophers will be very good next season. They lose only two seniors from this year's NCAA tournament team, and they have four recruits coming in next year, with Cobbs joined by former St. Bernard's athlete Trevor Mbakwe, Cooper's Rodney Williams and Hopkins' Royce White, whose Royals advanced to the Class 4A state championship game Thursday night with their 30th victory in as many games this season, a 55-36 victory over St. Cloud Tech at Target Center.

"We really feel good about Trevor Mbakwe, who's having an outstanding season at Miami-Dade. He's a guy that will bring us real toughness and physical play inside," Smith said. "Ralph Sampson, Colton Iverson and Damien Johnson and Travis Busch, they all did a good job for us inside. But we also feel like we've got to get a little more physical. And we've got Paul Carter back and others back. Trevor is 245 [pounds] and a great rebounder."

Smith is very impressed with the caliber of high school basketball played around here.

"It's been outstanding. Just look at the players that are competing in programs around the country," Smith said. "Look at [former Bloomington Jefferson athlete] Cole Aldrich, a young man who is having a great career at Kansas. Look at the guys we have. The AAU program here is just tremendous. And the high school coaching they get is outstanding. ... We signed Rodney Williams and Royce White, guys that are local products who will come in and contribute and help us continue to grow this program. They know they've got to get better. We certainly want to wish all the high school coaches and teams that are competing for championships this year the best. Rodney and Cooper lost the other night. We want to congratulate Osseo on their win."

Jottings
Gophers men's basketball players Jamal Abu-Shamala, Blake Hoffarber and Busch were named academic All-Big Ten, an award given to letterwinners in the second academic year at an institution with a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher. Last month, Abu-Shamala was honored by the university as Male Scholar Athlete of the Year. ... The Gophers are No. 2 behind Stanford in the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings released Thursday. The Gophers ranked 13th after the final fall standings were released in mid-January but jumped because of their third-place finish in women's hockey, 11th-place finish in women's swimming, 12th-place finish in women's indoor track and field and 14th-place finishes in wrestling and men's indoor track and field. The latest standings didn't include the Gophers' NCAA berths in men's and women's basketball. Penn State was right behind the Gophers in third and the only other Big Ten school in the top eight.
 




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