A Consistent Scoring Threat

I live outside the BTN viewing area so I do not get to see the Gophers play very often. After seeing the new-look Gophers this week against Virginia, I am very excited about the future. I think Iverson is going to be in a lot of B10 coaches’ nightmares for some time to come. I also believe that Nolen will be an All-Big 10 point guard in the very near future. I do believe, however, that our ultimate downfall this year will be the lack of a consistent scoring threat. Every great team needs that guy that you can turn to when the rest of the team goes cold, i.e., the Vashon Lenards and Willie Burtons of the world. Am I off-base? Can we count on Westbrook or Hoffaber to fill this role? From what I have observed, Westbrook seems too inconsistent and Hoffaber lacks the ability to create his own shot. Down the line, will we have anybody be able to fill this role? I see that we are recruiting a lot of great power forwards, but ultimately don’t you need a triple-threat guard to make the big guys more successful?

Interesting read. I'll give you IMO and see what you think. For now I'll let the guy who wants the ball in crunch time fill that void. Westbrook is that guy. He is fearless. His teammates know it. I believe next year it could be Bostick. Bostick to me looks like a rehash of Joe Crawford from last year's UK team. Joe was highly recruited as a Freshman, left (and came back) his Sophomore season, did decent as a Junior and carried the team as a Senior. Of course if Bostick is going to be that guy he has to fast-track it, as next year he will be a Senior. Two years out - it will be an unstoppable Iverson....ala Kent Benson or Dan Issel. Whatcha think?

Charles, I think you are spot on, that is our biggest weakness at this point, we don't have a player we can throw it to on the wing or on the block with the shot clock running out and say "go score it."

College BB- I don't think Westbook is the guy we want talking these shots. He is 5'11 and not overly quick or a god ball handler, he is also far to inconsistent as a jump shooter. Yes he wants to take the shot, but that doesn't mean he is the guy who needs to be taking it.

In my opinion our go to "scorer" is not a scorer at all. When we need a bucket our best option is to put the ball in Nolen's hand and let him break down the defense (as he seems to be the only player on the team that can do it consistently) and either get to the basket or find the open man.

I know I am getting ahead of myself but I look forward to Royce being this guy for us, he has the mentality to want the ball and the skill set to score it when he has too. But untill then I think our best option is to keep th ball in Nolen's hands!

CollegeBBallFan said:

Interesting read. I'll give you IMO and see what you think. For now I'll let the guy who wants the ball in crunch time fill that void. Westbrook is that guy. He is fearless. His teammates know it. I believe next year it could be Bostick. Bostick to me looks like a rehash of Joe Crawford from last year's UK team. Joe was highly recruited as a Freshman, left (and came back) his Sophomore season, did decent as a Junior and carried the team as a Senior. Of course if Bostick is going to be that guy he has to fast-track it, as next year he will be a Senior. Two years out - it will be an unstoppable Iverson....ala Kent Benson or Dan Issel. Whatcha think?

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Actually he tried to leave a few games into his Frosh season. He started as Soph and averaged 10 ppg. The ditto as Jr averaging 14 ppg. Finally 18 ppg as Sr star.

IMO Bostick is the guy who could take this team from good to very good. But he has to learn to play with a lot more passion on both ends. If he does that and gets his confidence, he's got the ability to score consistently and to get his own shot. If not he won't see the floor much.

I keep hearing this concern and I don't think it's true. Look at the box score and you'll see a bunch of guys playing 10-22 minutes a game. We are undefeated and Tubby hasn't needed to call on someone to take over a game because we've been able to get it done with a balanced offense. We should wait and see if we lose some games because of a lack of offense before we call this a concern. I don't see it being true.

Westbrook is establishing himself as "the guy" this year. I thought he was a transfer-in-waiting/overrated/bust as a freshman, but he just keeps getting better. I don't think dismissing him because of his height is fair, because he's physically mature and stronger than most of the guys guarding him.

Hoffarber is a guy that could average 15 ppg for a team that doesn't have as many options at the 2/3 positions as this team.

Also, Iverson could struggle offensively in conference play, and I'm waiting to see if Bostick can put the ball on the floor and get to the basket.

Ultimately, if this team finishes in the top half of the conference and gets to the tournament, it will be because of the improvement it's made at the other end of the floor. Having Iverson, Sampson, and Williams in the post and Nolen, Johnson, Westbrook, and Carter patrolling the perimeter is a huge upgrade over our defensive presence last year.

This year, Westbrook is the closest thing we have to a consistant scoring threat. Do I want him with the ball in his hands with the game on the line and 8 seconds left? No, I agree with Alan Shore that Nolen is the guy we want creating something for himself or for teammates at the end of a game.

It would be nice to have some guy just be instant offense for us, but I really don't see that developing this year. Bostick has a long way to go before he is a Joe Crawford. What we do have is a lot of balance. Teams can't just key in on one guy and shut us down. We may play 5 straight games and have 5 different leading scorers. I think our ability to fast break, get up and down the court and finish will dictate how we do this year not the ability of one guy to score when we need him.

If the game is on the line, I want the ball in Nolen's hands and no one else. He is our best play-maker. In the future, I could see Joseph becoming that go to guy.

It's likely going to be Joseph in the future and maybe White in years to come. This year, in crunch time I'd expect Hoffarber to take the crucial shots, with Tubby designing plays to get him open, with Westbrook or Nolen as #2 and #3 options on the play.

You don't necessarily have to create your own shot in crunch time, you need to get a good shot.

Disclaimer: I do not believe that anyone on this board is desiring another Kris Humphries type of player to join the Gophers. These are simply my thoughts on this thread.

I disagree that we need one GUY. I want guys with "THE GUY" type of talent, but without the "THE GUY" mentality. There have been a bunch of winning teams in the past few years without THE GUY (Kansas, Florida, Ohio St.). Those teams had a lot of talented, confident and unselfish guys. Each of those teams had players capable of being THE GUY, but they won without someone taking 25 shots per game.

Besides, how good is that for the morale of a bigger group when they know that most of the plays are drawn up for the ONE GUY? (Granted, when a team wins, that covers a lot of sins and infighting.) But I, for one, would rather have a team of 8-10 guys who all fight like heck for the 15-20 minutes they are on the floor and always look for the BEST scoring opportunity each time down.

Talk about THE GUY always reminds me of the NBA. And I suppose it should. But I believe a team can still win at the NCAA level with a more balanced approach. The Humphries year was a dark one. Was it not?

Thinking about this gives me big respect for the college level coaches who get to mentor these men. To find the highest level of talent in the country and then get them to buy into a team system. Can't be easy.

I think our weak spot will be a back up pg behind Nolen.