Unlike their new athletic facilities, the University of Minnesota’s 2017-18 Men’s basketball team hasn’t lived up to expectations. The Gophers entered the season ranked as the 15th best team in the country. As of Thursday, Richard Pitino’s squad sits 11th overall in the Big Ten. That’s out of 14, if you didn’t know. The name of the conference doesn’t make that easy.

Drop it Dropped like it’s hot, drop it dropped like it’s hot. Both on and off the court, the program’s year has been an absolute shit show.

Positives associated with the Maroon and Gold’s campaign have been few and far between. There are PLENTY of things you can read right now on the Gopher Basketball Team (on and off the court) that are PLENTY negative. Try Google or Twitter. I’m not here for that (and I started writing this before any of today’s events unfolded).

Let’s look to the future of this basketball team because that’s something we can be positive about.

Jordan Murphy’s emergence is a good place to start. The guy has been dominant. But, I want to look even farther than that, but not quite 2018-recruit-farther. We’ve been down that road many times already.

Despite losing eight straight games, over the past five of those defeats (Jan. 30th – Feb 13th), Freshman (and VERY highly-touted) Isaiah Washington has taken his game to the next level.

Isaiah Washington has went from a guy you simply didn’t want to see shoot a three early in the year, to the second best shooter on the team right now (he’s now at 34% at the arc)

— Ryan James (@RyanJamesMN) February 14, 2018

During the past handful of contests, the Harlem native has averaged 16.6 points (47% FG), 4.4 assists, and 3.4 rebounds. Just as encouraging, despite a hiccup game (5 TOs) vs. the Hoosiers, he has only 3 total turnovers over the other eight halves of basketball.

In the Gophers’ contests on January 10th and 13th, Jelly shot a combined 5-25 from the floor. Per my Minnesota math, that’s only 20% shooting. Richard Pitino responded by holding the Freshman guard to a combined twenty minutes over the next four contests. Something appears to have clicked over that brief lapse in playing time.

Jelly’s current heater seems to have started on January 30th in Iowa when he was let out of his coach’s proverbial doghouse.

Any NCAA Tournament chances for Minnesota are dependent on what would be a miracle Big Ten Tournament championship. Since the year isn’t 1980 and this isn’t the Olympics (and we aren’t playing hockey), my mind is on the future. Our highly accoladed, aggressively confident, point guard of the future being light-years ahead of where he was just a few weeks ago, is good for my peace of brain.

To close, I want it to be known that I love me some Nate Mason. My Jelly centered mindset is no disrespect to our current starting ball-handler. With Mason being a senior and our conference record being 3-12, the situation is what is it. “On to the next one.”

With that being said, I hope the Gophers’ second leading scorer has one more thirty+ point performance before his collegiate career ends, next month. If ever there was a time for a final Mason explosion, and a much-needed Big Ten win, our next game seems like the one.

Johnny Minnesota @TheJohnnyMN
Minnesota Sports Fan MinnesotaSportsFan.com

From all accounts, it was a battle of the point guards. Nate Mason as the grizzled veteran Senior, who made the All-B1G Team last year. Isaiah Washington as the incoming freshman who was highly touted out of high school and is all but guaranteed Mason’s role (and probably more eventually) when Nate leaves. Isaiah Washington isn’t just any incoming freshman, though. Most have already heard of Washington’s “jelly” finger-roll and the following that came with it in “Jellyfam”. A following that was so big (400,000 on Isaiah’s Instagram alone), Nike couldn’t resist (they later noted the Jelly branding was for Paul George, not Washington….lol… see below for pictures). That’s not all though. Washington has the game to back up the hype. He was ranked in the national top 75 of most college recruiting sites. He dropped 20 points last night which was 2nd behind only Nate Mason.

Isaiah Washington is legit and will be fun to watch as he gets older. Watching him learn from Nate this year will be fun as well. Pitino has quietly built one of the youngest, most talented rosters in the NCAA. Last year was only the beginning and this year is just an early stepping stone. Pitino has his best class yet coming in next season (2018 – see tweet below), which will bolster their front court for the foreseeable future. There’s still 1 scholarship left too… All three 2018 commits are hometown kids and were in attendance last night next to some other local, highly touted 2019 – 2020 recruits. One 2019 recruit in-particular…

As good as the 2018 class is, 2019 could be even better. Rochester, MN is housing one of the best college basketball recruits in the country and multiple recruiting sites have him projected to stay home, easily making him the best recruit the Gophers have ever had… and his brother already plays here. Matthew Hurt is a phenom and has offers from every staple team (Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, UNC). If Hurt stays home, we will be national title favorites in 2019 and as long as he stays in college. If Richard Pitino can keep Matthew Hurt in Minnesota and bring this team to a Final Four…. maybe even a title… we are talking street names, baby names, statues, banners, etc. Legend FOREVER.

The future for Gopher Basketball is so bright. Add Matthew Hurt… it could be blinding.

Who’s who of MN prospects going to Sunday’s open Gopher scrimmage, incl. 2019s Matthew Hurt, Zeke Nnaji, Tyrell Terry & 2020 Dawson Garcia. pic.twitter.com/eyyBDFOEbK

— Marcus R. Fuller (@Marcus_R_Fuller) October 27, 2017

Minnesota committed 2018s Jarvis Thomas, Gabe Kalscheur, and Daniel Oturu will also be Gopher scrimmage guests Sunday pic.twitter.com/diMwg3uWp9

— Ryan James (@RyanJamesMN) October 27, 2017

Eric Strack
Minnesota Sports Fan
MinnesotaSportsFan.com @RealMNSportsFan

Sources: 247 Sports, Star Tribune, Isaiah Washington Social Media, NBC Sports

Photo: JERRY HOLT – STAR TRIBUNE