Rodney Williams

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JDGopher

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This may have been posted, but on the news today, they said "I just heard Rodney Williams has officially qualified academically, so we will see him on the court next year." They didn't mention a source or whatever, but I guess I'll take it as fact unless I hear differently. Ha.

Just passin' it along.
 

JDGopher said:
This may have been posted, but on the news today, they said "I just heard Rodney Williams has officially qualified academically, so we will see him on the court next year." They didn't mention a source or whatever, but I guess I'll take it as fact unless I hear differently. Ha.

Just passin' it along.
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Great news! This may be the most athletic Gopher team in history. Certainly the most athletic in the past 10 or so years.
 

Well I don't know if this help much or not..but he Graduated today...I was at the Cooper Graduation....And yes he got a Standing Ovation even before his name was called to get his diplomas...
 

Nice to put this issue to rest. It's good to know that we'll have our full roster of players now heading into next season.

Here's hoping Rodney and the rest of the guys have great summers in preparation for the start of practices next winter!!!
 

I never really thought that he wouldn't qualify but its still good news
 


He will still have to get past the clearing house and right now they are busy with checking the football players .

Still its good new for Minny bad news for the rest of the B10.
 


RWJR is and will be the most athletic player in gopher history; the post says nothing about how good of a basketball player he is or is going to be...but based on athletic ability alone, he is the most athletic kid ever to come into the program.
 

stroms7 said:
RWJR is and will be the most athletic player in gopher history; the post says nothing about how good of a basketball player he is or is going to be...but based on athletic ability alone, he is the most athletic kid ever to come into the program.
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Other than Rico Tucker, of course.
 



Weisbrod said:
How could you call him the most athletic Gopher in team history when he hasn't played a single game yet? These are the kinds of outlandish statements that foster outrageous expectations of these 18-year-old kids. Don't get me wrong, I hope he has a successful college career, but lets be careful with statements like that.
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Hey, Guy. Read it again. He said most athletic gopher team in history. Not most athletic gopher in team history.
 


the funny thing is that in losign JAS, Busch, Williams and Payton, we not only dropped arguably our least talented guys but those were definitely our 4 least athletic players
 




stroms7 said:
RWJR is and will be the most athletic player in gopher history; the post says nothing about how good of a basketball player he is or is going to be...but based on athletic ability alone, he is the most athletic kid ever to come into the program.
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I'll say simply that Rodney Williams, Jr. is the most athletic player that we have had since Sam Jacobson. Sam didn't always use it in college but he had amazing leaping ability and he could explode off the ground. RWJr may be more athletic but I'm not ready to give him the crown yet and I never saw guys like Winfield play.
 

I thought I'd do the easy thing, and check if Rodney is enrolled for summer, and he is not yet. Which isn't bad news, Royce and Trevor are not enrolled either. Justin Cobbs is the only one listed in OneStop. So, he's for sure a qualifier!
 

stroms7 said:
wick you still have your man crush on rico i see...
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How dare you. Not a crush. I'm just a better evaluator of talent than everyone else.

How. Dare. You.

There will be a little Rico talk tonight (or tomorrow).
 

grunkiejr said:
I'll say simply that Rodney Williams, Jr. is the most athletic player that we have had since Sam Jacobson. Sam didn't always use it in college but he had amazing leaping ability and he could explode off the ground. RWJr may be more athletic but I'm not ready to give him the crown yet and I never saw guys like Winfield play.
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I would have to put Bobby Jackson ahead of Sam Jacobson as far as athleticism goes. Sam could jump no doubt but he was pretty slow laterally which is one of the reasons he wasn't the greatest defender.
 

Rodney is an athletic freak, but I don't know if people appreciate how truly raw his basketball skills are. He has a LONG way to go. I expect him to get little playing time this year, and his sophomore year will be the first year we can actually judge him.
 


34 ??

Friend Of Tubby said:
http://www.hoopmasters.com/classranking.php?class=2009

Royce #31 - Justin Cobbs #173 - and Trevor Mbakwe #3 JuCo.
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Rodney is #34 and Royce is only 3 slots in front of him? Wow!

From what I saw of these two last year they are NUTS.

I hope Rodney is a great success at the U but I cant believe he is top 100 in his class.

Royce will probably start during his freshman year while Rodney will rarely remove his sweats, IMHO.
 


recruiting services look at a player in a vacuum.. in a vacuum, Rodney is very talented. Quite a ways off from where he will hopefully get to, but still, very talented. Put him on the right team and he could produce right away.

I've got no doubts that Rodney will develop into a very good player for the gophers, but our lack of outside shooting was our biggest weakness last year, and between Royce and Mbakwe coming in, and Ralph and Colton improving in the paint, I think it'll be a bit tough to put Rodney in the game for long period of time, at least this coming year.

I wouldn't want to see Nolen and Rodney on the floor at the same time, but if Cobbs' jumpshot is more reliable, or if Devoe improves his PG skills, we can run more sets where there are other shooters around Rodney to stretch the floor and allow him to better utilize his athleticism.

While there's no denying Rodney's talent or physical abilities, our team is just in a position right now that puts a premium on the ability of our players to hit their jumpshots.

In a perfect world, Devoe improves his ball handling and finds the right balance of looking for his shot and looking for his teammates, Nolen at least starts to hit the wide open 3's, Cobbs' scoring abilities are as good as I think they are, Westbrook reigns himself in a bit, Damian continues to work on his midrange game cutting to the hoop, Ralph starts hitting that elbow jumper and Hoffarber finds his mojo.

Any and all of those things would allow us more room to play Rodney, but the fact of the matter is that with Nolen unable to hit a shot outside of the paint and unable to finish inside the paint, Westbrook shut down by larger defender, Damian playing passively on the offensive end and Ralph unable to hit those elbow jumpers despite his consistency at the free throw line, we just don't have much for floor spacing sometimes. Play a zone and we're toast, and Rodney only adds to that, except for it opening lanes for him to offensively rebound.

But our guys will improve, and some of the guys I mentioned will be leaving after this coming season. I expect to see Rodney play much more as a sophomore, and in the meantime, I hope he will have developed his skills. He's got all the potential in the world and Tubby is a great coach to help him realize that potential.
 



Somehow, I cannot shake this feeling that Rodney resembles Morris Peterson, a former Spartan, in many ways sans a redshirt year. More knowledgeable ppl here can make an informative comparison on the fluency in jump shot and ball handling. But, I think Rodney will follow the path of development Peterson did -- without having to be redshirted. Peterson was very raw in shooting and ball handling off highschool. He had an attitude issue in the beginning resulting in skipping classes and whatnot. The squad was too talented for him to see much minutes, and he had a broken finger. There went redshirt. In his first full season, he was more or less to learn to move without the ball and play defense. In the second season, he emerged as a defense specialist. The rest is history.

MoPete's profile without the senior season: http://www.msuspartans.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/peterson_morris00.html

MoPete's stats: http://www.ibiblio.org/craig/draft/2000_draft/Players/peterson.htm
 

I really hope Rodney proves everyone wrong on here. Yeah, he has raw offensive skills. Everyone knows that. That doesn't mean he can't get playing time for all of the other stuff he does. I wouldn't exactly say DJ has a great offensive skills set but he has gotten significant playing time the last two years because of all of the other stuff he can do. I know we have a much better and deeper team than we've had in a while, but Rodney can get playing time for things other than outside shooting. Don't forget how Hoffarber shot last year either. Who knows which player we'll see this year.
 

Assuming that I am one of "everyone here," I think you misunderstood me, Underground. MoPete clocked 19 minutes per game in his redshirt freshman season. Considering the talent they had, it was not a small achievement. His shots were below average at that point, but that doesn't mean he didn't contribute. He did. I didn't mention it in my barebone characterization of his development because it was not the most noteworthy. I am sure it is very possible for Rodney to surpass MoPete in playing time and contribution at the same stage of development. If he does, Rodney will be a first round pick after the sophomore season as he is more athletic than MoPete. If he just takes a similar path, Rodney will be a first round pick after the junior season. That is hardly a knock on Rodney. The fact that I didn't use flowery rhetoric doesn't suggest any negative view. My apology if I did offend you with my wording. But, my intention probably was opposite of what you might have perceived it was.
 

Oops.. Peterson averaged 18 minutes per game in his firs full season. Sorry..
 

Oh no I wasn't talking to you in that comment and I didn't mean to sound defensive or anything either. I was just responding to all the people who have been saying he's overrated and won't get any pt at a freshman because of his raw skills. I just think people should wait and see. I don't have a problem with predictions but I hate to see so many people already doubting what he'll do as a freshman. It just makes me think of the whole Vander Blue thing. Not saying it's likely, but if Rodney were to come on here and see all of the die-hard gopher fans doubting him he probably wouldn't feel too great.
 

underground629 said:
I really hope Rodney proves everyone wrong on here. Yeah, he has raw offensive skills. Everyone knows that. That doesn't mean he can't get playing time for all of the other stuff he does. I wouldn't exactly say DJ has a great offensive skills set but he has gotten significant playing time the last two years because of all of the other stuff he can do. I know we have a much better and deeper team than we've had in a while, but Rodney can get playing time for things other than outside shooting. Don't forget how Hoffarber shot last year either. Who knows which player we'll see this year.
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This is where I come down in this as well. Scouts have noted that he is capable of playing shutdown defense and that he gets out in transition and finishes on the break better than most other wings because of his athleticism. College basketball is not simply about scoring tons of points on the offensive end. If he adds to the defensive situation as he's been projected (at least by some scouts) and finishes well in transition, he'll garner some playing time. He's definitely got a ways to go on the offensive end, but that'll come with extra reps with the coaching staff. But he does other things that I think will lead to him seeing some court time as a freshman.
 

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