There didn't appear to be an actual gamethread so here is this. The Gophers head into Lincoln for the first time in conference play. After losing a tough game at Iowa, Tubby's team is once again back in a must win situation if it wants to keep it hopes alive for an NCAA tournament at large build.

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I'm sure everyone has seen them already, but for those of you who haven't here they are. I like them! They kept it simple which I like. I would have been ok with something crazier, but I'm glad they decided to go clean, simple, and modern. There are several elements that were based on Minnesota history, including the brick pattern on the maroon numbers (that's the old Memorial Stadium brick pattern) and the font/numbering which is based off the #4 from the 1940 National Championship team. And of course, more Ski-U-Mah!

Here's the unveiling video and the main wallpaper. More wallpapers, links to the full size versions/other photos, and the behind the scenes video below the jump.

via grfx.cstv.com

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In case you missed it, the B1G and Pac 12 are teaming up to add some fun to the scheduling for Football and Basketball. What was missed was that the initial match-ups were released, showing that the conferences have the same sense of humor that the U.S. Open golf tournament usually has.

Minnesota vs. UCLA: Both of these schools were once football powers, the same way the Ottoman Empire was once a power (Long before most of us were born).

USC vs. tOSU: To be efficient, this game will be played at the NCAA Headquarters in Indianapolis, and the winner will be put on probation with a scholarship reduction.

Oregon St. vs. Michigan St.: There’s nothing more entertaining than two little brothers fighting for the right to not sit bitch in the back of the station wagon. Have at it, little fellas.

Colorado vs. Nebraska: At halftime everybody faces north and drops trou to moon Texas.

Cal vs. Chicago: The Clark Shaughnessy Bowl.

Michigan vs. Arizona: Rich Rodriguez gets fired twice at halftime.

Washington St. vs. Indiana: This game has will not actually be played, as The International War Crimes tribunal has declared it a crime against football.

Penn St. vs. Oregon: This matchup was made simply because of the class, dignity, and tradition of PSU’s uniforms, and the complete lack of those things associated with Oregon’s.

Arizona St. vs. Illinois: Two programs that spectacularly under-perform on a regular basis will be paired to create a game that will be surprisingly good.

Iowa vs. Utah: “In heaven there is no beer, that’s why we drink it…hey, where does a guy go to get a beer here in Utah?”

Washington vs. Wisconsin: Remember that time these schools won a national title? Well, at least Washington had one for a few years.

Northwestern vs. Stanford: Teams will dress up as either storm troopers or rebels, the coin toss will be replaced with a game of Chess, and kickers will be required to prove their extra points. Q.E.D., bitches.

via images.sportsnetwork.com

Is it too early to start talking about 2012? Since people are already starting to do it, I thought I might as well chip in and give my two cents. Besides, GopherNation said this:

When you end the season on a high note it is natural to start looking ahead to next season with renewed home and optimism (at least it is natural for me). So why wait till spring football or July positional previews to start looking at the 2012 Gopher football team?

Exactly.

What I'm going to do in this post is take a very quick glance at Minnesota's 2012 schedule and try to hypothesize if they can make it to a bowl game. You can obviously share your thoughts in the comments below.

This isn't going to discuss the Gophers overall as a team, and who's going to be on the roster. If you're interested in that, GopherNation does a fantastic run-down of Minnesota's offensive and defensive positions. It's definitely worth checking out before you read this.

Here's Minnesota's 2012 schedule:

at UNLV
New Hampshire
Western Michigan
Syracuse
at Iowa
Northwestern
at Wisconsin
Purdue
Michigan
at Illinois
at Nebraska
Michigan State

First, some preliminary overall thoughts. Is the schedule that tough? Well, for a rebuilding team, yes. The Gophers luckily miss Penn State and Ohio State (again), but they also don't get to go up against the Big Ten's other cellar-dweller, Indiana. Yet Minnesota still has to go up against Wisconsin, and of course all the teams from the Legends Division. No breaks from those guys, ever.

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You can argue somewhere else about whether Alabama or Oklahoma State more deserves to play LSU for the national championship. But if you want to argue about whether there are really 70 teams out of 120 whose records are deserving of post-season play in one of 35 bowl games, you have come to the right place.

I'll get the football rolling by suggesting that there should only be enough bowl games to allow the top 25 and 15 honorable mention teams to play in the postseason. That's 20 bowls, featuring 40 teams. The remaining bowls would be eliminated, and the mediocre teams that would otherwise play in them would stay home during the holidays and watch better and more deserving teams play. Maybe they'd learn a thing or two.

First, let's admit why there are so many bowl games to begin with: GREED. The bowl sponsors, the communities in which bowls take place, the TV networks, advertisers, and merchandisers of junk with school names and mascots emblazoned all over it, the conferences and teams, even the coaches, whose contracts provide bonuses for bowl invitations -- all of them want to make some money off of gullible fans. It is obvious that there are many teams participating in bowl games whose seasons were a source of frustration and embarrassment to their fans. Those fans want to make the best of a disappointing season, to be rewarded for sticking with their teams, to be deluded that mediocrity is really just another word for success after all.

Second, I must admit to a personal bias against teams with losing or .500 records. Obviously, teams like UCLA (6-7), with more losses than wins, have not earned the right to a bowl invitation. But why on earth should 6-6 teams be accorded that honor, or any honor, other than a pat on the back for at least not losing any more games than they won? I will even go so far as to propose that teams with 7-5 records, which are just one game better than 6-6, should also not be invited to bowls. I mean, really, since those "winning" records are the result of cynically scheduling a couple of patsies from lesser conferences to make up for expected losses to more worthy opponents, are they really post-season material? What exactly have they proven, other than that they know how to manipulate their schedules to misrepresent their athletic achievements?

Okay, enough of the pontificating. Here's my list of 29 unbowlworthy teams this season, in no particular order, followed by a list of the bowl games that are promoting and profiting from mediocre postseason play:

* UCLA (6-7)

* Utah State (7-5)

* Marshall (6-6)

* Arizona State (6-6) Note: This team collapses and fires its coach, but still gets to play Boise State (11-1)?

* Nevada (7-5) Note: This underperforming team gets to play Southern Mississippi (11-2)?

* North Carolina (7-5)

* Missouri (7-5)

* Western Michigan (7-5)

* Purdue (6-6)

* Louisville (7-5)

* North Carolina State (7-5)

* Air Force (7-5)

* California (7-5)

* Texas (7-5)

* Washington (7-5) Note: Ah come on. This uninspiring team deserves to play high-flying Baylor (9-3)?

* Iowa State (6-6)

* Mississippi State (6-6)

* Wake Forest (6-6)

* Iowa (7-5)

* Texas A&M (6-6)

* Northwestern (6-6)

* Utah (7-5)

* Vanderbilt (6-6) Note: Improvement from abysmal to mediocre in 2011 earns them the right to play Cincinnati (9-3)?

* Illinois (6-6)

* Auburn (7-5)

* Ohio State (6-6)

* Florida (6-6)

* SMU (7-5)

* Pittsburgh (6-6)


Now for the 15 worthless bowl games that wouldn't be missed. Unless you're a fan of a participating team, you'd be better off catching a re-run of "Miracle on 34th Street," or taking a long walk in the fresh air than wasting your time watching these games. You have to pace yourself this holiday season, so you have enough energy and attention left to watch the remaining 20 bowl games. Avoid these, and you'll thank me.


* New Mexico Bowl

* Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

* Beef O'Brady's Bowl

* Little Caesars Pizza Bowl

* Independence Bowl

* Belk Bowl

* Holiday Bowl

* Music City Bowl

* MAACO Bowl

* Pinstripe Bowl

* Meinke Car Care Bowl

* Fight Hunger Bowl

* Chick-fil-A Bowl

* Gator Bowl

* BBVA Compass Bowl


The few worthy teams playing in the above bowls could be redistributed among the remaining 20 bowls, if undeserving teams in those bowls were disinvited.

Okay, yeah, yeah, I know, there's no chance that the proliferation of worthless bowl games featuring mediocre teams can be stopped, given fundamental flaws in human nature that are hardwired into our genes. I must have suffered a random mutation to even think such thoughts. Any other mutants out there?

I took over first place on the Big Ten Championship game with Buckeye Blog mistakingly taking Michigan State and surrendering his lead.

Now is when it gets interesting. The Bowl games are worth 5 points apiece which means there are five bloggers within one game of 1st place and two more withing two games.

	Standings	Pts
1	The Daily Gopher - GN	146
2	Maize and Blue Nation	144
3	The Buckeye Blog	144
4	Hammer and Rails	143
4	Big Red Network	141
6	Black Shoe Diaries	136
7	Bucky's 5th Qtr	136
8	Lake the Posts	135
9	Sparty MSU	135
9	Boiled Sports	132
9	High Porch Picnic	129
9	Lake the Posts - Phil	120
9	Buckeye Battle Cry - Eric	119
14	Hail to the Orange	117

2011 looks a bit like the Order 66 of Coaches. After the sheer amount of coaching vacancies, Gopher fans should be happy that they snagged onto Jerry Kill before better offers came around.

Here's a quick list of some of the schools that fired their coaches this year, or whose coaches had to step down or leave:

• New Mexico
• Arizona
• North Carolina
• Ohio State
• Tulane
• Penn State
• Ole Miss
• UCLA
• Arizona State
• Illinois
• Washington State
• Kansas
• Akron

New Mexico and Arizona fired their coaches mid-season. Jim Tressel resigned at Ohio State, and Bob Toledo stepped down in the middle of Tulane's schedule. The Penn State scandal cost Joe Paterno his job. Only North Carolina fired its coach before the season started. The rest came at season's end.

Of the vacancies, only four are currently filled—as of December 1, 2011. New Mexico and Arizona had a head-start on everybody except North Carolina and Ohio State, and they managed to pick up Bob Davie and Rich Rodriguez, respectively. Ohio State's dreams came true by hiring Urban Meyer, and Washington State hired Mike Leach the day after they fired Paul Wulff.*

All of these jobs except Akron and New Mexico are more appealing or more attractive than Minnesota. Tulane is debatable, but I would argue that for recruits and fans New Orleans beats Minneapolis-St. Paul every day.

In 2010, the only elite programs looking for a coach were Michigan, Miami, Maryland, and Florida. (Depending on your definition of "elite," Minnesota could be listed here as well.) All the other jobs were low-level MAC or rebuilding projects, or the non-AQ conference equivalent. The competition of Michigan cost Minnesota Brady Hoke, many Gopher fans No. 1 to No. 3 choice, and Miami cost Minnesota Al Golden. (Leach was available, but he was never going to fit in at Minnesota.) Maturi wisely snatched up Jerry Kill from Northern Illinois, who is starting to look more and more like a steal.

Kill would be one of 2011's hottest coaching commodities if he were still at NIU. His record with the Huskies was 10-2 and a bid for the MAC championship when he left, and Dave Doeren has maintained Kill's momentum, going 9-3 and making a run at the conference championship. Doeren is being praised for his first-year efforts, but it's largely based on what Kill established. If Kill was still there, he'd be talked about quite a bit.

Instead, Maturi snatched Kill up when he was still very much under the radar. He was a capable coach who had done a lot, and who had rebuilt and won everywhere he had coached, and not many people knew it. The people on this blog give Maturi a lot of crap for hiring Tim Brewster and for making the "promise" of hiring a Tubby Smith, but I'd say he's rectified any mistake because he got Kill before anybody else could. Maturi could not have possibly known that 2011 would see so many coaches fired, but hindsight is 20/20, and Maturi made the right call by firing Brewster and hiring Kill when he did.

If you don't think Kill would be hired somewhere else by now, you'd be wrong. Kill is a born-and-raised Kansas man, and Kansas football just fired Turner Gill. With Kill's roots he'd have been a prime target for the job. There is also Illinois. Kill had already established a good recruiting base in the area, and the appeal of a Big Ten job in which he wouldn't have to move far might have been very tempting to consider.

While I'm not a fan of the Illini, I'm a little peeved at Illinois for making the mistake of firing Ron Zook this year, when this year is starting to look like the worst possible time to fire somebody. Not only that, but Zook's record in 2011 matches his record for 2010, assuming the Illini win their bowl game. So, in a sense, Zook broke even. Yes, he hardly made what Illinois fans would consider "progress," and his overall Big Ten record is atrocious, but he did just well enough to buy himself another year. Zook also took Illinois to the Rose Bowl in 2007. The Illinois fan base and administration really need to take a hard look at themselves if they think they can get somebody better when there are so many better jobs available for the better candidates.

Had Maturi held onto Brewster for another year, Minnesota would have to compete with all the open jobs like Illinois is foolishly having to do now. Ole Miss is in the SEC and in serious need of rebuilding. Kill wouldn't be a hot name but they'd certainly welcome a proven coach over Houston Nutt. Penn State and Ohio State would probably not consider Kill's name, but North Carolina might, and UCLA is desperate for anybody remotely competent. All of these programs are reeling from the coaching search. Yet Minnesota and Jerry Kill don't have to worry, because they got their man, and he can go to work.

Gopher fans might not have been excited when Kill was hired, and they might not be excited about his first season. But if you look outside, you might just realize that you have it pretty good. Kill is on his way to making Minnesota better every day. Other programs are just looking for a light at the end of the tunnel.

*I can only assume the Leach to Washington State was possible because no AD in their right mind would offer Leach a job with the amount of baggage he brings, i.e. lawsuits. WSU's AD had a bad track record already for the Wulff hire, and at this point probably figured he had nothing to lose. It was also likely that Washington State was the only program that ever talked to Leach, which is why he accepted the job immediately.

With credit to the Barn Yard's bovine inhabitant (and Chik-fil-a) for the title, here's my overdue review of player performance in the first real game of the year.

GopherNation provided a good summary based on what he heard on the radio, so I'm not going to recap the game and instead will tell you what my lying eyes saw from the guys in person.  I'll also give my guess on the minutes I think we should expect from these guys in the B1G season.  As alluded to in the comments on GN's post, I don't think Tubby is going to be able to use his usual substitution patterns this year and still win conference games. (Note, these minutes probably don't add up as I haven't made any attempt to make them do so)

The Starting Six: I'm going to keep it brief when it comes to Ralph, Trevor, Austin, Rodney, Andre Hollins and Welch.  These six can play, and we're pretty familiar with the foibles of four of them.  I'll just say that Ralph had a nice game and his ability to knock down mid-range jumpers from just outside the foul line was absolutely key to the offense in the first half, which otherwise struggled.  He punished Bucknell for packing the lane, and he's going to have to do that regularly this season.  Rodney was himself, but he managed to step on the sideline before blowing past his man for what would have been his most spectacular play of the day.  I was told he was a good elbow-length over the rim and had to wait to come down about before finishing, but sadly I missed it as I was too busy preparing to get mad at the ref for what I thought was going to be an incorrect travelling call.  Austin does what he's supposed to do, even if he struggled to get his threes to drop in the first half, and played lock down defense on the ball.  As to the two new comers, Andre had a quiet game.  I don't really recall him making any particularly noteworthy plays, bad or good, on either side of the floor.  He was among those who couldn't knock down the three in the first half, but so was everyone else.  Welch, on the other hand, impressed me.  He had two clean steals in one-on-one perimeter defense that both resulted in layups.  The young man has very quick hands.  He was also out there playing point at the end, which I think is telling.  Andre starts, but Julian finishes.  Each of these guys will play 20 minutes plus, and significantly more than that for Ralph and Trevor unless and until Mo Walker is back.

Maverick Ahanmisi: Mav was the 11th guy off the bench, as he was against Augustana, but he also got to stay on the floor as the starters rotated back in,  I read that as the coaches trying to reassure him a little.  He shouldn't get too comfortable.  Again, he was a liability on defense, and didn't add much on offense.  His day can be summed up in two plays.  In the first half, he took the outlet pass and rushed ahead of his teammates, only to try to push the break into 1-on-3 defense and drawing the charge.  Tubby pulled him immediately.  In the second half, he's on the break again, this time 2-on-1 with Chip Armelin.  Rather than give it up after the defender committed to the ball, Mav went to the rim himself and missed.  These were easy decisions, or they should have been, and he got them wrong.  Conference playing time should be five minutes or less.

Chip Armelin:  There wasn't much new about his performance.  He's aggressive with the ball and can hit a runner off the dribble.  He also can't play defense.  I still think his role will be limited to instant offense off the bench.  Max playing time in conference games will be ten minutes, probably less in most games.

Oto Osenieks:  Oto got minutes at both 3 and 4, and did admirably if not spectacularly.  For a guy who is expected to be a shooter, he didn't seem particularly eager to launch threes, but that's probably a good thing for a redshirt freshman.  His head is on a swivel on defense, and I like that.  He also showed real hustle, diving for loose balls and running around the floor.  I don't particularly like seeing him on the low block in the high/low power forward position, but without Mo, we don't have much depth in the bigs.  His hustle and his defense will earn him minutes, I'd say 7-10 per game.

Joe Coleman: Coleman showed me more than I expected based on the Augustana game, but there still isn't that much to say.  He's going to need hustle and defense to earn more minutes, but I think his primary role is going to be rest for the guys ahead of him at 2 and 3.  I'd project him at 5 minutes a game, but maybe more if he works hard.

Eliott Eliason: It pains me to say it, as I had expectations for him this year, but Eliot was a liability in this game.  He was out of position a lot, and had trouble moving his feet on both ends of the floor.  He's got a lot of improving to do to get any meaningful playing time.  He only had 9 minutes in this game, and I think that's significantly too much for the B1G season.  I think Oto's time at 4 probably reflects Tubby's reaction to Eliot's struggles.  I'd project him at five minutes or less, but the absence Mo might give him more opportunities.

Andre Ingram: He barely played (four minutes) and didn't do much notable.  As I said after the Augustana game, he looks like he has a body of an athlete, but it's hard to expect that he's going to get more time in the B1G unless something drastic happens.

And now I'll head back to agonizing over whether to head to Williams Arena tonight or watch the Vikings on TV.

I just finished watching the replay on the BTN of this game because I wanted to see how the young freshmen played and get a feel for this season. The BTN analysts did not have the Gophers in their top 5, so that isn't encouraging. Augustana was a veteran group and a very good division II school and they played a style similar to a lot of Big Ten teams, except they didn't have the height to match up with the Gophers. They shot a lot of 3's and were making them in the first half as our perimeter defense struggled. Welch in particular, was torched by their PG when he came in. Andre Hollins clearly looked like our best option at PG to me. His defense on the ball was very good. He is strong and can drive to the basket and pushes the tempo of the game. He looks to have a nice shot, but was limited in his minutes. I think Tubby wanted to see what he had in Welch, who also played the last 6 minutes of the game. Welch struggled in the first half, especially with his 3 pt defense. He was much better in the 2nd half, so I wonder how much of this was first game jitters since he was injured in the first exhibition game. He didn't make great decisions passing the ball, but hit a few shots in the 2nd half. Ahamnisi looks about like where he was at last year. If he gets significant minutes this year, it is going to be a long season. At SG Austin Hollins played solidly, hitting some outside shots during our 15-4 run to start the 2nd half, which hleped open it up down low for Trevor. Chip Armelin didn't get a lot of minutes, but looked really good with some nice quick drive and pull ups, he also hit at least one 3. Coleman could have been a little more aggressive on defense, he has a good looking shot but it wasn't falling for him so he didn't take many shots. Osenieks also saw limited time and other than hitting a 3 you wouldn't have noticed him. At 6'8" it will be hard for teams to stop his shot if he can he the 3. Sampson looked very soft and I didnt see any improvement from last year in that regard. We still have a face-up center with a good shooting touch. Williams looked pretty good taking the ball to the hole and rebounding. Still can't shoot from the outside though. He does look bigger this year, so that is a good thing I thnk. Mbakwe will be one of the 5 best players in the Big Ten this year, need I say more. Elliason saw limited time too, looks like he has a decent touch. He is not as physical as Iverson so maybe he won't foul as much. Looks like a decent rebounder, but he is not overly athletic. Walker- They said he didn't have his surgery until January of this year, which is why there is talk of him not playing at all this year. Too bad, we could use him to spell Mbakwe, especially if he gets in foul trouble. I realize it is early, but I didn't see anything that made me think the Big Ten analysts were wrong unfortunately. Andre Hollins should win the starting PG job, then I think you will see Austin Hollins at 2, Williams at 3, Mbakwe at PF, and Sampson the Center. Armelin could also be a starter and should see a lot of minutes. The rest of them did not seem ready for Big Ten play yet, but it is early in the season and I still have hopes for Coleman, Osenieks, and Welch.

I thought I'd give a quick rundown on my evaluation of our young Gopher Hoops squad after a rather lackluster performance against Augustana in the final exhibition before they start playing for real.  And lacking in luster it was.  The Gophers looked confused and almost completely without an offense in the first half.  While Augastana did what teams like this seem always to do -- move people and the ball around until they find an open look -- we did what we seem always to do -- swing the ball around the perimeter until forced to put up a jumper in desparation.  In the first half, it was ugly.

But let me talk about the guys instead.  A word of warning, all of this is based on my impressions of watching the game in person.  I did not see the first game.  

I'll start with the bad and end with the good, but they are in no particular order in between.

Ralph Sampson III - I won't sugar coat it.  Ralphie was terrible.  It's no exaggeration to say that it's hard to imagine how he could have been worse.  He got pushed around by guys who were a lot smaller than him, again.  Not only did he not score, he seemed to turn it over nearly every time he got the ball on the block (the box score says 7 turnovers, but it felt like even more).  Most disappointing to me is that he didn't seem to figure out that they were collapsing on him and Augastana's guards were going to get their hands on the ball if he brought it down below his shoulders.  The only upside for Ralph was two blocked shots, but given his size advantage, that isn't much.  By now we know it's a head thing for Ralph, and in this game, his head wasn't there.  

Rodney Williams - At this point, I'm calling it on Rodney.  He's not the guy who was a preseason projected lottery pick last year.  He's Rodney, and that's all we're going to get from him.  He plays decent defense, has a ton of athleticism, and will make the occasional highlight play, but he is never going to be able to hit jumpers or regularly create his own shot.  The reports were that he reworked his shooting form at Lebron James's camp this summer, and he did look smoother both on his jumper and at the stripe.  But looks aside, he was four of nine on free throws.  I think that pretty much sums him up.

Elliot Eliason - I saw him play in the exhibition games up in Canada last year and thought he had some skills but needed to develop his body before he could contribute.  Now his body looks more developed, but I didn't really see the skills I thought were there.  Based on last night, I think he's still a medium to long term project and he may need another year of maturity to develop the coordination to be able to contribute.  

Maverick Ahanmisi - There was  nothing in last night's game to change my view that Mav is unlikely to finish his career with the Gophers.  He's got some skills, but to me they are better suited to playing somewhere less competitive than the B1G, and I don't think he's going to be a big part of the rotation this year.

Chip Armelin - Chip was the only offensive spark in the first half.  He was the last veteran to get into the game, but when he did, he hit a few jumpers, made a few plays and got the offense moving.  Of course, he also played lackluster defense.  To me, he was more under control that last year and looks more comfortable shooting the three, but was largely the same guy.   Contrary to the guy sitting next to me, who declared when Chip was on the floor that we were watching this year's starting five, I think he has a role as instant offense off the bench, but I don't think he will see big minutes this year. 

Joe Coleman - It's hard to have much to say.  He was there.  He played.  He didn't make any major noticeable mistakes, nor any major noticeable good plays.  I think he will see limited minutes this year, and I'm not sure he has the body to ever be a real player in the B1G, but it's way too early to have much of a view.

Andre Ingram - Speaking of body, he has the build of a guy who is a player.  He also showed a little athleticism, got a couple of boards and if memory serves, a nice tip in.  I think he'll be fine as a guy who can spell Trevor for some brief rest and get a few minutes as a back up at the 3 position as well.  Based on the little I've seen so far, I'm not expecting much else from him this year.

Oto Osenieks - The best news for him from this game is that they got the right accent mark on his name on the back of his jersey (or I assume it's right anyway).  Otherwise, he was one of two from three point range, but didn't look as smooth shooting it as I would have hoped.  I liked his energy and his alertness on defense, but I need to see more before I decide if he can play.

Chris Halvorsen - He played.  That's not something we are going to say too often.

Andre Hollins - Andre got the start at point, and my guess is that is going to be the case more often than not.  I was excited to see him after reading reports of the first game (which I did not see), but this effort wasn't particularly impressive.  He seemed to play decent defense, and looked reasonably comfortable for a true freshman.  He handled the ball well and didn't turn it over.  I think he will develop into a very nice player for this team.   He didn't particularly do anything outstanding yesterday, but like Al Nolan, I think his role is going to be setting the table and playing D.

Julian Welch - I was of two minds on young Mr. Welch.  In the first half, my thought was that maybe he isn't really B1G materials, but I can't say exactly why.  In the second half, I started to get a little excited about him.  In terms of offense, he had a better game than Andre, and made a case for himself as the starting point.  But I particularly liked his muscular defense and his build had me thinking thoughts of a Mateen Cleaves-style guard who can use his strength to contribute on both ends of the floor.  By the end, I believed that this kid can be a player.

Austin Hollins - It's hard not to like Austin.  He looked improved from last year, and if he can keep improving on this pace, he might well be legitimately great as a senior.  Last night he played tough defense and was  only guy who seemed to be able to stay with lighting-quick Drae Murray.  He also looked more comfortable shooting the ball than last year and knocked down a couple of threes in the second half.  Perimeter shooting is still a question mark for this team, and Hollins hitting the open jumper is absolutely key this season.  To my eyes, Hollins has put himself in position to be the starting shooting guard all year.

Trevor Mbakwe -  He's a beast and showed it again last night.  The surprise was that he now seems to be a beast who can make his free throws.  That's huge for a guys whose game will put him on the line frequently.  Trevor seems poised to make a case for being the best big man in the B1G, and he's clearly our best player.