The Gophers basketball team leaves for Spain next week, with the practices and games expected to improve the players and increase chances for a successful Big Ten season in 2016. When the Gophers return to campus later in the month they may have more answers, but there will still be intriguing questions about the future.
NCAA rules allow a college basketball program to schedule a foreign trip every four years. Because of the trip to Spain this summer, Minnesota has 10 extra practices and a few exhibition games to help prepare for next season. Here is a list of questions Gophers fans could be asking.
Q. What direction is the program trending?
Minnesota was a disappointing 6-12 in Big Ten Conference regular season games last season. Preseason expectations had them at 8-8 or better but the Gophers struggled in close games, losing eight league games by six points or less. Minnesota was 18-15 overall and not only missed an invite to the NCAA Tournament but also didn’t return to the NIT where the Gophers won the championship in 2014.
With key returnees a year ago including guards Andre Hollins and DeAndre Mathieu—and building off the NIT championship—the Gophers looked like a solid bet for the NCAA Tournament. Instead, they struggled through the conference season, producing a record that was better than only three other league teams.
Starters Hollins, Mathieu and forward-center Mo Walker, three of the team’s better players, have used up their college eligibilities. The returning personnel has plenty to prove, just like the team’s newcomers. That’s why the Gophers are a popular pick to finish again near the bottom of the Big Ten next season.
Head coach Richard Pitino acknowledged at his news conference yesterday that the expectations for next season by fans are low. “We try to get better everyday,” he said.
Q. Who steps up for the Gophers?
Everyone needs to but hopes start with sophomore guard Nate Mason and senior guard-forward Carlos Morris. Pitino wrote on his blog that Mason has all-conference potential. He’s also written that Morris, a very athletic but inconsistent player, will have much to do with determining the team’s success.
The 16-man roster consists of two seniors, four juniors, four sophomores and six freshmen. “We’re so young,” Pitino said.
Forward Joey King, a returning starter, is the team’s other senior and poster boy for max effort. Pitino has to hope his mostly unproven roster of players emulates King, and that they all try to take away his title as Minnesota’s best overachiever.
The Gophers will need help from newcomers including four-star freshman guard Kevin Dorsey from Waldorf, Maryland. Minnesota’s incoming recruits were rated No. 11 in the Big Ten by 247sports.com, and Rivals.com had four teams from the league in its top 30 national recruiting rankings but not the Gophers. Pitino’s incoming class has an opportunity to prove it’s better than expected.
Q. Will the roster stabilize after recent turnover?
During the last 12 months three players with remaining eligibility have left the program—Zach Lofton, Josh Martin and Daquein McNeil. Lofton and Martin transferred to other schools while McNeil has legal issues. A fourth player, incoming freshman Jarvis Johnson, was determined unfit to play because of a heart condition. All four players were once seen as either starters or key contributors. This spring the Gophers also lost assistant coach Dan McHale who became head coach at Eastern Kentucky.
Pitino and his staff have brought in two important transfers from other college programs, center Reggie Lynch and forward Davonte Fitzgerald. They will be eligible for the 2016-2017 season when the Gophers, with more experience and probably proven talent, could have their best team in four seasons under Pitino. With only two seniors on the roster now, the 2016-2017 team will be a veteran group.
Q. Will the Gophers receive commitments from top in-state high school talent like Amir Coffey and Gary Trent Jr.?
Coffey, who will be a senior guard-forward this fall at Hopkins High School, and Trent, a junior guard at Apple Valley High School, are nationally-recruited players. In recent years the Gophers have flopped in efforts to convince the state’s best prep players to stay home and play in Dinkytown.
Minnesota has homegrown talent that can compete with the better high school players in the country. Not every year will offer a prep group like 2014 with Tyus Jones, Rashad Vaughn and Reid Travis, but there are exceptional high school players in this state each season.
The Gophers have a 2016 commitment from Rochester John Marshall forward Michael Hurt. That’s a step forward in closing the recruiting borders but the Gophers will have to do a lot more lockdown in coming years with players like Coffey and Trent and their successors. Minnesota’s potential to contend for Big Ten championships depends on it.
Q. Can Pitino answer the critics?
Pitino impressed with his coaching in his first season at Minnesota. His 2013-2014 team was 8-10 in the Big Ten and surprisingly won the NIT championship. The league record was the same as coach Tubby Smith’s last Minnesota team, a group with more talent than Pitino worked with.
The disappointment of last season has been documented but the last several months have triggered controversy, too. During the offseason Pitino’s name was rumored with job openings at St. John’s and Alabama. He was too slow in countering speculation and declaring his commitment to Minnesota, according to critics.
Does the 32-year-old Pitino want to coach here long-term? An East Coast guy, he had no connection to the state before leaving his head coaching job at Florida International in 2013. Gophers athletic director Norwood Teague has been all in on Pitino—giving him an opportunity in big time college coaching, and, according to recent media reports, he is boosting the coach’s pay by a reported $400,000 to $1.6 million.
Media and fans ask what Pitino did to earn the $400,000? If you read his contract, though, it calls for annual increases, even though the $400,000 amount is much more than the University is obligated to provide. Advocates for the pay boost argue it’s the cost of doing business in the “arms race” to retain coaches (see Alabama rumors).
Pitino’s popularity, as with any coach, will be tied to winning games but he could become more engaged with the public and media. If he wants a role model, there’s a guy named Jerry Kill who offices within several hundred feet of the basketball office.
Q. When will the Gophers upgrade the nonconference home schedule?
For years now—long before Pitino arrived—Williams Arena has been the state’s largest “bakery” in November and December when the Gophers serve up a schedule of “cupcake” opponents. Yes, it’s understood all Big Ten teams do a lot of this “bakery” stuff to win enough games to make the NCAA Tournament. But the Gophers nonconference scheduling annually ranks with the most unappealing in the Big Ten and is a deterrent to buying season tickets.
In a competitive sports market, the Gophers need to upgrade the pre-Big Ten home schedule with a couple of big-time opponents that are in addition to those provided by the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. This December the Gophers play Oklahoma State in Sioux Falls in a neutral court nonconference game. Minnesota fans are being encouraged to make “the short drive” to Sioux Falls to see the game against the Big 12’s Cowboys. Sorry, that doesn’t count as an upgrade, critics respond.
Q. How much decline in fan interest could be ahead?
For years the Gophers program was among the most popular and lucrative in college basketball. Decades ago Minnesota led the nation in average attendance per game. But interest and attendance is trending downward. The Gophers sold out only one game last season at Williams Arena (14,625 capacity) after selling out four the previous year. The program has an aging season ticket base and younger basketball fans are drawn to the Timberwolves.
The Gophers and Timberwolves once had a sort of stand-off in competition for basketball fans in this market. But the Gophers haven’t had a winning season in the Big Ten for 10 years and while the Wolves’ losing ways have sometimes been even more abysmal, fan excitement surrounds the pro franchise that has a roster loaded with former first round draft choices. It’s a marketing mismatch for Gophers basketball right now when the Wolves can advertise players like last year’s NBA Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins, hometown hero Tyus Jones and Karl-Anthony Towns, the No. 1 overall pick in last June’s NBA Draft.
It’s easy to see why Wolves fans are anticipating a bright future during the winters ahead. The Gophers’ future is less clear.
The Gophers basketball team didn’t sell out any games last year? Good luck this year. Their most interesting non-conference game got moved to South Dakota.
Hey Gophers fans, you’re not important enough. We need donations from T Denny Sanford, so we’re taking the Okla St. game and moving it to Sanford’s backyard. If you can come up with a matching donation, maybe we’ll bring a Power 5 team to the barn. But until then, we’ll move those games closer to someone with deeper pockets.