Devoe All Growed Up

Well, Devoe Joseph ain't all growed up yet, but he's taking some big steps. His stone-cold shooting in OT was marvelous to behold; not only for the results (obviously) but just as much that someone OTHER than Larry "Don't Call Me Bryant" Westbrook had the brass tacks and cojones to take big shots with a defender in his face in crunch time. He sure doesn't seem to like our half-court sets; then again, NO ONE on our teams seems to like the half-court sets. Hope he can rectify that in the off-season. Funnily enough, I got a vmail from a buddy at the end of regulation who declared Devoe, and I quote, "Devoe Joseph is a F'n Mess. He is one of the worst point guards I've EVER SEEN on our team..." That's the sort of positivity I love from fellow Gopher fans! Personally, I'm excited to see Devoe continue to grow tonight and in the post-season (NIT or NCAA). It's gonna get real interesting when Nolen is back next year, and if we can land Devoe's little bro (and supposedly superior guard) Cory next year. That will be a stacked guard rotation.

It's been nice these first to conference tourney games seeing the Gophs morph into the team we all saw they had the potential to be earlier this year. The sheer domination of PSU was a prime example of our depth, talent, and determination (DJ especially in his FU to the moron coaches who kept him off the all D team), and last night's MSU game was a study in mental and physical toughness. Once the refs decided they'd only randomly called soft fouls, we got down to the business of banging around -- a big thanks to a guy I've been up and down on these last 2 years -- Colton Iverson. His clear out box-out (at the 0:28 mark) that led to a DJ dunk was a prime example of that. For better or worse, it appears that in big games this year, we really need a whole lotta of Iverson time (Butler earlier, MSU, etc) to win big games.

Tonight's game with the Boilers is gonna be fun. I personally hope we see a lot of RSIII as I think his game matches well with Purdue's long athletes. I really want to beat Purdue, especially since the slow, white hack that is Chris Kramer irritates the hell out of me. Defensive Player of the Year my arse.

Prediction: Gophers 73 - Purdue 68