Instead of stretching to find something to lead this with today--and becahse I'm damn exhausted--I want to instead issue a challenge.

The 173 Twins bloggers have a knack of creating interesting lame nicknames for players (think Go-Go), I'm wondering if The Daily Gopher community can put its collective mind together and give a few of our key basketball players a nickname they can be proud of.

Throw out your thoughts below. We absolutely need a way to build up Damian Johnson. Big Ten country and the nation needs to know about him. Heck, the damn local paper didn't mention his superb game against UVA becuase he did things that show up in columns of the stat sheet that don't tabulate scoring production.

So, let's brand DJ, and perhaps Al Nolen and Colt Iverson?

• From Scout, four of Brewster's 2009 commits have been named to the AP All-State team. They are tight end Ra'Shede Hageman, tackle Ed Olson, tackle Josh Campion and defensive lineman Matt Garin. Two tackles. Nice.
• FoxSports.com has good things to say about Colton Iverson.
• Does anyone else enjoy reading Down with Goldy but you're not exactly sure why? After 6W told me I was wrong about Miami v. Ohio State, to which I now respond that  6W was wrong about Minnesota v. Colorado State, I did enjoy this line: "Busch = one catch, one shot." Clear, crisp, accurate and understandable prose at its absolute finest.
• There was a reason why I haven't published my picks for the Big ten basketball regular season. Before the season started I would have quickly tapped Purdue to win the conference. I've loved them since before it was cool to love them. But they didn't impress me against Oklahoma and if you read Purdue blog Off the Tracks, you'll see that Duke exposed quite a few weaknesses. Then again, maybe it was just Duke. 
• I link to anyone who says I made "keen observations," but in this case there is the added benefit of a unbiased and positive view of Tubby's Gophers. From Hoopraker:

  The Damian Johnson Fan Club: PJS runs down some keen observations from last night UVA game at The Daily Gopher. Suffuce it to say, in year two, Tubby Smith has the makings of something special in Minnesota. Led by the talented and, as of today, under the radar players Damian Johnson and Al Nolen, the Gophers controlled Virgina in Williams Arena last night. Johnson, in particular, is a pure joy to watch, effecting shots and passes on defense on seemingly every possession. Add to the equation the highly skilled freshman post player Colton Iverson and the development of Blake Hoffarber as a reliable jump shooter, Minnesota is poised to challenge Illinois as the most improved team in the Big Ten. It’ll be fun to see the Gophers run through the league this year.