STrib: Can Gophers guard Nate Mason build on an impressive freshman year?

per the STrib:

With all four seniors gone – including leading scorers Hollins and Walker – the pressure on Mason is great and provokes several big questions.

Can Mason build on an impressive freshman year?

Can he do so without the support of veteran complement?

Can he do so enough to drive Minnesota to a decent or even a good season?

Unlike last year, Mason will no longer sneak up on opponents. The 6-1 Georgia native wasn’t named to the Big Ten’s All-Freshman team at the end of the year (it looked like he would be for a while), but he ultimately replaced Mathieu in the starting lineup and put together very nice first-year numbers – hitting 40.9 percent of his shots from the field, 38.9 percent of his three-pointers and averaging 9.8 points, 1.8 steals, 2.8 assists and 2.8 rebounds with a 2.49-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. He displayed a good touch at the basket and a knack for getting others involved; perhaps his most valuable quality was his energy, focus and precision on defense –rare for a first-year player.

http://www.startribune.com/can-nate...115241/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=dlvr.it

Go Gophers!!

One of the toughest things to do, is to judge a good player on a bad team. I thought Mason played very well, but I see McBrayer and then Coffey passing him up at the 2, and Dorsey at PG. I believe Mason will be primarily a backup PG.