Gophers Dancing!

Mark this down as the most improbable one-week turnaround in MN sports since...well...the 2009 Twins winning the AL Central! A week ago, Tubby and the Gophers were barely even a bubble team. Today, they are an 11-seed in the NCAA tournament. I am generally very anti conference tournaments, as I feel that most teams have nothing to really play for...but this year, the tournament saved the season for Minnesota. That, and the road win at Illinois, which may have nudged us into the field over the Illini.

I caught both the MSU and Purdue games...and I really think the team is better off without Al Nolen, as Devoe Joseph is really coming into his own and the offense just seems to run more smoothly with him at the point. Also, Colton Iverson finally decided to man up and start throwing his 6' 11" frame around in the lane. He played GREAT in Indy...and I loved that he scrapped with that fat albert (D. Green) from Michigan State.

Finally, while Xavier is a tough draw, the location in Milwaukee could NOT any more favorable. Wow...there may be 8,000+ Gopher fans at the Bradley Center on Friday.

Gopher Hoops - headed back to the barn

Guys,

I noticed that one of you voted for "Tubby takes the Gophers back to the dance" as your Christmas wish (it actually wasn't me, despite my Dad's obsession with the team). Anyway, since I'm headed to the game on Saturday at Williams Arena, I figured I'd get everyone fired up about the FUTURE of the squad. As you probably heard, Tubby hauled in a pretty solid recruiting class (consensus top 20-30 in the nation). This Youtube video is a highlight reel of the most high-profile among them, Ralph Sampson III. I'm sure it was edited carefully to showcase every facet of his game, but I got pretty excited when I saw him actually use a few low post moves, hit the mid-range bank shot (a la Tim Duncan) and knock down a couple of threes. Very encouraging, especially after watching Dan Coleman and Spencer Tollackson underachieve for the last three years. This kid could be absolutely ruling the paint in the Big Ten in a couple years. I can't wait to watch him stuff all those goonish, crew-cutted clones at Wisconsin.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g330I1FIZY

Breakfast with Tubby

This morning I attended the Dunker's meeting with my father-in-law and Tubby Smith was the guest speaker. Let's just start out by saying that we won the lottery with this guy. He was kind of all over the place with his comments (talked about his family, his wife, old coaching days) but overall you can tell that this guy is a winner and knows how to coach kids. What was really surprising was how funny he was. He talked about how he is in the process of setting goals with all of his players. He mentioned that forward Jonathan Williams goal is to lead the Big Ten in rebounds. Tubby then went on to say that after the Army game on Saturday Williams had 1 rebound and Tubby told Williams that "well, you got more rebounds today than a dead guy so you're gonna need to work on that goal of yours." Might have been funnier at the time.

Overall Tubby said his team is gonna surprise some people this year. I sat next to a season ticket holder who went to the game and said that Tollickson has dropped 30 pounds and looks great and Dan Coleman put on 30 pounds and is a player now. This guy also said that from the first minute of the game there was a different feel - the hustle never ended with guys going all out for loose balls and we actually played defense.

What was hilarious was that Sid was there and has been apparently seething over the fact that Tubby has not come on his radio show since being named coach 6 months ago. Tubby ribbed Sid a bit saying he would most definitely be on his show soon and that he knew Sid wasn't too mad because Tubby was still being called "his close personal friend."

As for the Army game, Gauck got it right, Monson's team would have lost that one whereas Tubby's team stepped on their neck. BTW - see Monson's new team Long Beach State put up 34 points in a 74 - 34 loss to BYU?

This Blog is Fucking Bad-ASS!

Unlike the state of affairs for our teams. Honestly, does it get much worse? Yesterday's drubbing was the first time EVER that the Vikes have been skunked by the fudgepackers. How does Childress explain this? How does he keep his job? He took a fucking 9-7 team and ran them into the ground! Thank goodness for the Purple Jesus - oh wait - he's now out indefinitely (not season-ending? I have my doubts). Would Donavan McNabb consider signing with us? BTW, sorry for the profanity, but a) I'm bitter about the Vikes and the injury, and b) most of the good bloggers out there seem to effortlessly integrate the f-bomb (and words like "cockgobbler") into their prose.

Oh yeah...the Twins are about to trade away the best pitcher in baseball and not re-sign the most popular player of the decade.

Thank goodness for Tubby Smith. Yes, I know it was only Army, but how many times did that mannequin Dan Monson squeeze 80+ points out of the squad in his miserable 7 years?