Well, yeah, clearly they have my respect and admiration on a personal level. But as far as the sport of basketball and more importantly the Gophers team next year, I think it will be better than this year, not worse.
Damien Johnson really has grown into a good player. He only had 1 foul going into the last few minutes of the game against Maryland (with a double double) and he was our most physical player. You gotta tip your hat to Tubby on molding a guy to play stellar defense without fouling. Offensively, he really came around those last few games. He'll step up big time next year. I think Sampson will start at center, and be better than Tollackson in every aspect from day 1. Throw in Paul Carter and Colton Iverson for depth and you have 4 quality big men to build a team around.
For the guards, we really will miss McKenzie....Devoe Joseph is our only hope at replacing his playmaking ability, but that's near impossible for a freshman to do. I guess I'm hoping Westbrook might put all the pieces together and fill the void out of necessity as the senior leader. If that happens and if Nolan develops any shooting game whatsoever and if Hoffarber learns to make something happen off the dribble, we will definitely be better than last year. That all seems very tangible, too, especially with coach Smith as their teacher.
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