We have a basketball commitment!

Paul Carter - PF/SF - has committed to Tubby and staff. Carter is an redshirted JUCO freshman and will have 3 years of eligibility for the Golden Gophers. At 6'8" he will fill a need in the paint, but at 190 lbs he won't be a banger or likely a strong post defender. Carter's JUCO coach says he will remind Gopher fans of Quincy Lewis. That is a good thing and a bad thing. We like guys who can score but we also lose all of our inside presence after this season and a thin PF/SF will only help so much.

You can watch Paul play this year as Missouri State-West Plains will be playing Mpls CC on Nov 24th. Get your tickets now.

Ultimately this is a good thing as we need size (vertically and horizontally) and help scoring beginning next season. Here is a look at what we can expect the 2008-09 roster to look like (my projected starters in bold)...

G
Jamal Abu-Shamala - Sr
Kevin Payton - Jr
Lawrence Westbrook - Jr
Blake Hoffarber - So
Nate Garth - RsFr
Al Nolen - RsFr


F
Brandon Smith - Sr
Travis Busch - Sr
Damien Johnson - Jr
Paul Carter - So

C
Jonathan Williams - Sr

Reports are that on Sept 7th we will have 2 official visits from a couple big men. Ralph Sampson III (6'11", 220) and Colton Iverson (6'9", 240) will both be on campus. This is a big date landing 1 of these young guys is a must and both would be very good. Sampson leads my recruit wish list, but Iverson will fill a need. I'd love to see these guys starting along side each other in a couple years.