Blake Hoffarber is not likely an NBA prospect despite a respectable four seasons as a guard on the Minnesota Golden Gophers basketball team, but he'll be taking his first step at showing NBA talent evaluators exactly what he's capable of later this week at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.
Hoffarber, a 6-foot-4 guard from Minnetonka, finished his career as a Golden Gopher as the school's all-time leader in career three-pointers with 279 while shooting an impressive 41 percent from beyond the arc. As a senior, he averaged 13.6 points 4.1 assists and and 3.5 rebounds.
According to the tournament's website, the Porthsmouth Invitational has invited 64 of the best college basketball seniors from across the nation to participate in a four-day, 12-game tournament in front of representatives from every NBA team. Scouts from the NBA and numerous international leagues have joined in on the annual April pilgrimage to Portsmouth.
Recent players that have attended the Portsmouth tournament to go on to NBA success include New York Knicks rookie Landry Fields, Portland Trail Blazers guard Wesley Matthews and Reggie Williams of the Golden State Warriors. Current Wolves Anthony Tolliver and Lazar Hayward both participated in the Portsmouth Invitational in previous seasons as well.
While in Portsmouth, Hoffarber will be playing on the team called K&D Rounds Landscaping and will be coached by Jim Markey and Patrick Dulin. His teammates will include Marquette's Jimmy Butler, Frank Hassell from Old Dominion, Syracuse big man Rick Jackson, Vlad Moldoveanu from American University, Chaisson Allen out of Northeastern, San Jose State guard Adrian Oliver and Mississippi's Chris Warren.