Golden Nugz - 03.01.13

How about a little in-house, TDG news (bragging). Now that the calendar has officially moved to March I can announce that February had the highest traffic numbers in TDG history. The previous record was November of 2010 when Tim Brewster was fired and you all (y'all for our large Texas contingent) flocked to TDG to talk about it. There have been a few months recently where we flirted with breaking the 11/2010 record but we finally broke through in February.

Part of what makes February unique is that there are only 28 days. In total we only beat the old record by 1.7%, but when you look at a daily average we smashed it by 8.3%. I am attributing the big month to three things.

1. National Signing Day - always a huge traffic day or three.
2. The Gophers being terrible - people love to complain (it is how the Star Tribune makes a living)
3. Quality AND Quantity of content - the additions of Matt and GoAUpher have dramatically helped to increase both. I really like our staff of 5 and those guys, as much as anything else, help to keep people coming back.

I am a traffic junkie and watch our numbers like a hawk, the only thing that gets me more excited is community interaction...comments from you guys. This is where things come full-circle because as much as I appreciate the other writers here, it is all about you guys. It wasn't very long ago that even the best TDG post would generate anywhere from 20-50 comments. The mendoza line around her was 10 comments, if an author fell short we would make fun of each other. But NOW? Now we are regularly getting 100+ comments on posts that are not open threads. THIS is what makes TDG so much fun and I appreciate you guys coming here to be your on-line water cooler.

Let's throw out some numbers. SB Nation at the end of 2012 sent me the top commenters for the year.

Congrats to amiller92 for dominating the comments in 2012. I'm sure he is pushing the lead for 2013 so far along with myself, GoAUpher and DACgold. The rest of you need to pick up the pace!

On to some actual Gopher news.

• Not to be outdone the Gopher women's basketball team had a massive upset of their own. Pam Borton's team has struggled this year but got a huge win over #7 and Big Ten leading Penn State. Maybe Coach Borton was feeling the pressure of living up to the contract extension she got from Joel Maturi before Teague took over the athletic department.
• Tubby Smith and staff are showing more interest in forward Isaiah Ellis ($ link) out of Antelope, CA. We do like recruiting unrelated players with the same last name so based on that I would say we have a great shot at landing do everything forward. Based on quotes from his high school coach Ellis is a versatile defender who leads his team in rebounding, assists, steals, blocks and charges taken. New to the radar, but I'm liking what I've read so far.
• ESPN ranks the top 25 high school basketball players, regardless of class. Tyus Jones makes the list, Rashad Vaugn received votes.
  
• Alvin Ellis is the Ellis that is actually committed. His De La Salle team won another playoff game the other night, but up next is the #1 team in the state. Best of luck to Ellis as he tries to extend his high school career.
• Did you guys know that Paul Carter is playing in the D-League? So is Ralph Sampson but not as much.
• 1500ESPN's Nate Sandell has an article up on Teague's decision to hold off on judging Tubby Smith until the season is over.
  
• Doogi's scoops talks a lot about potential donor money and the amount of time Teague is spending with some big names.