Isaiah Washington, 'pushed every day' by Gophers this season, eager for sophomore yr

per Marcus:

A few minutes into Wednesday night’s game, Gophers coach Richard Pitino called a timeout with his team scoreless in the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament opener against Rutgers.

Fans a few rows behind the basket at Madison Square Garden started to yell, “We want Jelly Fam! We want Jelly Fam! We want Jelly Fam!”

Not that he heard them, but Pitino signaled guard Isaiah Washington to check into the game for the first time that night in front of his home state crowd.

Washington, a Harlem native, was the top recruit in Minnesota’s 2017 class out of St. Raymond’s High School in the Bronx. The expectations, fair or not, were higher than any U incoming freshman in recent memory.

There was a time this season when Washington was looked at as a potential bust, but he has finished the season strong. The 6-1 former New York Mr. Basketball averaged 12.8 points and nearly three assists for the last nine games of the season, including a team-best 18 points Wednesday.

“I definitely learned a lot this year playing with an older group of guys,” Washington said in the locker room after the game. “They pushed me every day in practice, trying to make me get better. Now we got to just look forward to next season.”

http://www.startribune.com/gophers-...-in-front-of-home-fans-in-new-york/475489513/

Go Gophers!!

You can make the argument that IW EXCEEDED expectations during Big Ten play. I think he has been fantastic and really excited to see him get the reigns next year. He still has much to learn and I have no doubt he will still push the envelope with shot selection next year; however, he has an unique ability to get to his shot under just about any circumstance. I also feel he will facilitate a much-improved inside game (can it be worse?) by breaking down defenses and dropping passes to Murphy, Curry, Oturu, Coffey, etc.

IW and Murphy the bright spots from this terrible season.

I'm a lot more excited about his future than I was 2 months ago. I think he's got a ton of potential, hopefully he works very hard in the off-season to better himself.

MaBrayer shot 1000 shots a day last summer, at least that was the report. Washington needs to join him. How many big ten guards can drive as well as IW? Probably not many. If he can develop his floater and outside shot he should be deadly. And both of those can be mastered thru time in the gym.

If IW stays healthy and keeps developing like he did this year he will go down as one of the better PGs in Gopher history. His ceiling is much higher than Mason's in my opinion.

Frank Grimey Grimes said:

If IW stays healthy and keeps developing like he did this year he will go down as one of the better PGs in Gopher history. His ceiling is much higher than Mason's in my opinion.

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I agree that IW has a higher ceiling than NM who will go down as one of my all-time fave PGs in maroon and gold.

IW has the exceptional handle and body control that the elite PGs have. He needs to shoot, shoot, shoot this summer.

Block M said:

I agree that IW has a higher ceiling than NM who will go down as one of my all-time fave PGs in maroon and gold.

IW has the exceptional handle and body control that the elite PGs have. He needs to shoot, shoot, shoot this summer.

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His final 10 games have me really excited about his future...Over the last ten games(Including Rutgers)...
-12.9ppg on 44% shooting
-49% percent on 2p shots! He shot 33% from downtown(where he needs to work), 78% from the line.
-He averaged 2.5 rebounds a game and 2.8 assists.
-He did all of this while only averaging 1.5 turnovers a game.

Those numbers are phenomenal and if he can play like that next year he will be one of the best PGs in the B10. Given, it will be hard to replicate all of those numbers as teams adjust to his play. I think a lot of people are not giving him credit for how fantastic he has been down the stretch.

Frank Grimey Grimes said:

His final 10 games have me really excited about his future...Over the last ten games(Including Rutgers)...
-12.9ppg on 44% shooting
-49% percent on 2p shots! He shot 33% from downtown(where he needs to work), 78% from the line.
-He averaged 2.5 rebounds a game and 2.8 assists.
-He did all of this while only averaging 1.5 turnovers a game.

Those numbers are phenomenal and if he can play like that next year he will be one of the best PGs in the B10. Given, it will be hard to replicate all of those numbers as teams adjust to his play. I think a lot of people are not giving him credit for how fantastic he has been down the stretch.

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Good post. Pitino should get credit for bringing him along as well.

I'm sure he will get plenty of shots at earning plenty of playing time on the returning team. Good luck to him.

meh, he was the number one issue. He was terrible.

ltf said:

MaBrayer shot 1000 shots a day last summer, at least that was the report. Washington needs to join him. How many big ten guards can drive as well as IW? Probably not many. If he can develop his floater and outside shot he should be deadly. And both of those can be mastered thru time in the gym.

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I saw everyday on the Instagram story, Washington definitely puts up just as many shots. He keeps putting in the work, and the sky is the limit for him!

ltf said:

MaBrayer shot 1000 shots a day last summer, at least that was the report. Washington needs to join him. How many big ten guards can drive as well as IW? Probably not many. If he can develop his floater and outside shot he should be deadly. And both of those can be mastered thru time in the gym.

Click to expand...

Those two should hang out of they don't already. Put Jelly on the Magruber plan.