The Minnesota Golden Gophers started March deep in the NCAA Tournament Bubble. They went on a mini-streak in the Big Ten Tournament and earned a #11 seed in the NCAA West Region. The Golden Gophers ended the season with a 21-13 overall record and were 9-9 in Big Ten Play. Key wins for Minnesota this season were over Ohio State, Purdue, and Butler. Despite beating Ohio State and Purdue, they lost to Indiana, Michigan ,and Northwestern. Coach Tubby Smith is 29-14 in 15 overall NCAA Tournament appearances and won the 1998 NCAA Championship when he was coach at Kentucky. The Golden Gophers lost in the first round to Texas in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
Minnesota has had a rocky year this year with their roster. They started the season with a few freshmen recruits that were expected to play who didn’t for one reason or another. They are led by Ralph Sampson III (8.3 ppg, 5.9 rpg,1.5 bpg), Blake Hoffarber, guard, 10.2 ppg, and Lawrence Westbrook, guard, 12.7 ppg, 2.2 apg). Al Nolen had been running the point guard position until January when he was declared academically ineligible. Devoe Joseph (9.6 ppg) became the point guard at that point in the season for the Golden Gophers.
Minnesota blew out Purdue in the Big Ten tournament semi-finals only to have the favor returned by Ohio State in the championship game. They score 73.4 ppg as a team and give up 64.1 defensively. The Golden Gophers shoot 47.4 % from the field and hold opponents to 40% shooting. They also average 7 3 pointers a game and shoot 40% from beyond the arc. Minnesota shoots 70% from the free throw line and have a 1.4 assist-to-turnover margin per game.
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