’26 Gophers ‘Iron Five’ Preceded by 1986 & 1972 ‘Iron’ Teams

 

The Golden Gophers basketball team closed its regular season last night with a 67-66 win over Northwestern. The Gophers compiled a 15-16 overall record, and 8-12  in Big Ten games. Minnesota’s resting spot in the final Big Ten standings was ahead of six other teams in the 18-team league

The Gophers won’t qualify for the NCAA Tournament unless they beat the longest of odds by winning all of their games in this week’s Big Ten Tournament in Chicago.  Don’t hold your breath, but get this: the hoops outfit had a better year than the vaunted University of Minnesota men’s hockey program that went 7-15-2 in Big Ten games and 11-21-3.

Forget the losing record by the basketballers.  Niko Medved’s first season as head coach has been an indisputable success with results that include surprising home wins over three top 25 ranked teams.  He’s extracted the max out of the talent he’s working with.

And that talent wasn’t overwhelming when the season began and was considerably lessened by injured starters unable to play. Starting point guard Chansey Willis Jr. and center Robert Vaihola played in seven and five games respectively, none in the Big Ten.  Starting forward-center Jaylen Crocker-Johnson was lost from the lineup after 24 games.

Medved turned to an “Iron Five” of Isaac Asuma, Bobby Durkin, Grayson Grove, Langston Reynolds and Cade Tyson.   Off the bench to provide occasional rest for starters was Kai Shinholster.  The “Iron Five” workaholics regularly saw their minutes in the 30s and sometimes a Gopher like leading scorer Tyson played all 40 minutes.

When Medved agreed to the Gopher job last winter he faced a massive rebuild.  As it turned out, only Asuma and Grove returned among scholarship players from coach Ben Johnson’s final team.  Faced with a late recruiting start and limited NIL budget, Medved and his staff pieced together the best roster they could.

The bluebloods of college basketball weren’t fighting Minnesota for the transfers that came to Dinkytown.  The guys who became Gophers though, were high character players willing to be coached and play team basketball.

With willing students, Medved and his staff were able to maximize player development.  The improvement of Asuma, for example, as the team’s point guard has been noticeable. So, too, has the defensive improvement of three point shooting specialist Durkin at the forward position.  And Tyson, who averaged 2.6 points last season playing for North Carolina, regained his confidence and averaged 19.5 points, seventh best overall in the Big Ten.  He’s deserving of all-Big Ten honors.

Medved has consistently shown his coaching chops.  Among his best moves has been implementing a zone defense to keep his “Iron Five” out of foul trouble.  The result has often been textbook zone with his players properly positioned and giving maximum effort.

Medved, the former Gopher student manager under head coach Clem Haskins in the 1990s and native Minnesotan, is deserving of Big Ten Coach of the Year consideration.  He won’t win that honor because of Minnesota’s losing record.  Coach of the Year recipients almost always are title winners or top contenders in all sports.  That policy, however, doesn’t acknowledge the fact sometimes teams with .500 records or less achieved what they did because of the best coaching in the league.

Interestingly, Medved’s “Iron Five” had predecessors at Minnesota.  The 1986 team and  1972 teams both gained a place in Gopher history with that description.

Suspensions, not injuries, forced the circumstances of those teams.

In 1986 starters Mitch Lee and Kevin Smith, and reserve George Williams Jr. were accused of rape in Madison after the Wisconsin game.  Emotions were intense surrounding the allegations including at the U where the administration decided the Gophers should forfeit their next game.

The three players were suspended by the University for the remainder of the season and never played again for Minnesota after that January 23 Wisconsin game.  Yet a Dane County jury found the players innocent on all charges in July of that year.

Coach Jim Dutcher didn’t like the decision to forfeit the Northwester game on January 26. He resigned and assistant coach Jimmy Williams, playing with an “Iron Five,” led the Gophers to an upset win over Ohio State on January 30.

The five players forced to play nearly most of the minutes each game were: Tim Hanson, Ray Gaffney, John Shasky, Kelvin Smith, and Marc Wilson.  In 11 games, they won twice, also defeating Iowa at home.

The 1972 story had an ugly side mixed with the glory of a Big Ten championship.  Minnesota coach Bill Musselman was working toward his first season in the summer of 1971 when the 30-year-old told the fanbase the Gophers would win the Big Ten title. It was a lot to promise considering the team’s record the season prior was 11-13 overall and 5-9 in Big Ten games. And Minnesota had last won the conference championship in 1937.

Musselman, though, was no ordinary coach.  He was a fiery competitor who left observers with the impression he might believe defeat was worth than death.  Before his team began practice in October of 1971, he spoke fervently to his players about beating Big Ten favorite Ohio State.

When Ohio State came to Minneapolis on January 25, 1972 it was clear the Buckeyes and the Gophers, with a core of key new players and a talented returnee in center Jim Brewer, were competing for a title.  A frenzied capacity crowd screamed their support for the Gophers in a physical and emotional game that turned into a brawl on the court involving players and fans.

The Gophers were frustrated late in the game.  Ohio State’s star center Luke Witte was knocked to the floor on a hard foul by both starter Clyde Turner and reserve Corky Taylor.  What happened next was a matter of who you believe.  Taylor reached down to help Witte to his feet, and per Taylor, Witte spit at him.  Then Taylor put a knee in Witte’s groin.  Witte denied spitting at Taylor.

The hard foul and resulting chaos included lots of punches being thrown and Buckeye players needing to be hospitalized including Witte whose head was stomped on by star Gopher forward Ron Behagen.  The riot prompted officials to end the game with 36 seconds left, resulting in Ohio State winning 50-44.

While historians generally judge the Gophers as the villains in the infamous and bloody game, Witte had thrown an elbow at Minnesota guard Bobby Nix as the teams left the court at halftime.  The elbow missed Nix and the referees didn’t see it but the incident fueled emotions on the Gopher side.

Taylor and Behagen were suspended for the rest of the season.  The Gophers played with a “Iron Five of Brewer, Nix, Turner, Dave Winfield, and Keith Young. Winfield, who would go on to superstardom in MLB, had been an offseason find in intramural basketball.  The rabid Musselman didn’t like to play many players even before the suspensions and Winfield was initially an afterthought for playing time early in the season, but he and his four teammates had more than a heavy work load after the riot.

Although Taylor never achieved stardom with the Gophers, he was a valued reserved and at 6-9 fit in with Musselman’s penchant for long players who could cover space in his nationally known matchup zone defense.  Behagen, also 6-9, was uber talented and later became a first round NBA draft choice.

With the “Iron Five” Musselman slowed tempo and emphasized ball control and defense even more than before the brawl. He had talent including the super athletic and high jumping Winfield.  Brewer was a swat blocking defensive gem and rebounder who was the second player taken in the 1973 NBA Draft.  Turner was known as “Clyde from the side” for his deadly corner jumper shot and led the team in scoring.  Nix and Young were steady and Big Ten caliber guards.

Musselman made good on his championship promise.  The Gophers, 11-3 in the Big Ten and 18-7 overall, won the conference title finishing a win better than 10-4 Ohio State.  “The Iron Five” won its opening NCAA Tournament game but lost to a great Marquette team that ended their for the ages year.