Five tidbits while I recover from the weird night of podcasting that was:
1. If you haven't checked it out yet, in today's Star Tribune: in a year where the defense has been up and down, the Gophers' offense has carried them.
2. Since Sunday's win over Penn State, the Gophers effective field goal percentage has gone from 94th in the country (51.4) to 79th nationwide (51.7) and their two-point field goal percentage, from 84th (50.6) to 68th (51.2), according to kenpom.com.
3. The Big Ten announced its season-end awards last night, and both Andre Hollins and DeAndre Mathieu received honorable mentions -- the former from both the coaches and the media, and the later from just the media. Although Hollins has been struggling through an ankle injury sustained in January, he remains the team's leading scorer, ranking 12th in the Big Ten with 14.6 points per game. Mathieu, who transferred from Central Arizona College before the season, lands at fourth in the Big Ten in assists with 4.4 per game. He is the Gophers' second leading scorer, averaging 11.9 points. The full All-Big Ten teams and awards, here. On that note, I dug up my preseason predictions ... oy. First team is prety much in shambles, as are the rankings. (I'm sorry I didn't believe in you, Tim Miles.)
4. As you start watching the conference tournaments, this tracker is a useful tool.
5. Recruiting update: Good Q&A with 2016 recruit Amir Coffey (Hopkins) by Gopherhole.
Tweeted:
"Junior center Mo Walker led the league in field goal percentage this year in Big Ten games at 62.6 percent." -- @GophersNow
"#gophers finish season as worst defensive team in the #B1G by .001 per possession. Steady improvement recently though." -- @FromTheBarn
"The Big Ten will only get better next year w addition of Maryland. Terps return everyone, add Romelo Trimble, Dion Wiley, Jared Nickens." -- @JonRothstein
Random Rankings: 1990s sitcoms:
1. Seinfeld: If anyone disagrees, we're no longer friends.
2. Sports Night: It was Newsroom before Newsroom. About my dream career! Perfect.
3. Sex and the City: For some reason I feel a little bit of shame here, but it's a really good show, y'all.
4. Friends: I'll be there for you too, any time the Embryos-Miss Chanandler Bong episode is on re-run.
5. Boy Meets World: 1500's Nate Sandell will take great exception to the lowness of this ranking.
