Today and tomorrow more than a few Minnesota basketball fans will let their minds wander when they consider a what-if scenario that could have included North Dakota State guard Ben Woodside and Kansas center Cole Aldrich as Gophers. If former Gophers coach Dan Monson had brought those two to Dinkytown, Minnesota would be included on anyone’s list of the better teams in the NCAA tournament.
The Gophers, 22-10 overall and coming off a 9-9 regular season Big Ten Conference finish, play Texas tonight in their opening NCAA East Region game. The Longhorns, a No. 7 seed, figure to win against the Gophers, a No. 10 seed. Texas, 22-11, has more experience with a team that played four games in the tourney last year. The Longhorns also have more proven talent, featuring senior guard A.J. Abrams and swingman Damion James, both of whom were second team all-Big 12 Conference selections. No Gopher players have NCAA tournament game experience. The best Minnesota could do for post-season recognition was guard Lawrence Westbrook’s inclusion on conference honorable mention teams and forward Damian Johnson’s selection to the all-defense team.
Woodside, the former Albert Lea High School player, scored 60 points in a game earlier this season. Now a senior leader for the Bison, the Gophers reportedly said no to him and instead opted for a San Diego prep guard named Rico Tucker who had a brief career at Minnesota.
Aldrich, the 6-11 center from Bloomington Jefferson, wanted to play for Kansas coach Bill Self. Aldrich might have had a different desire, though, if the Gophers had been a winning program while he was in high school. Now a sophomore, Aldrich is a cinch first round NBA lottery pick, perhaps this year.
Ken Lien, the Mr. Basketball chair, coached Woodside in AAU basketball. Aldrich was a 2007 finalist for the Mr. Basketball award. Lien was asked about the difference Woodside and Aldrich could have made for the Gophers.
“I think it would be dynamite,” he said. “They would provide two strengths, leadership at point guard, and post play with a player who can score and defend.”
Minnesota’s starting point guard, Al Nolen, makes 34 percent of his field goals while averaging 6.6 points per game. Woodside averages 22.8 points per game, making almost 46 percent of his shots with a near 43 three point field goal average. He also had 202 assists, 64 better than any Gopher.
Aldrich averaged about 14 points and 10 rebounds while being all-conference and Big 12 co-defensive player of the year (league leader in blocked shots). Freshman centers Ralph Sampson III and Colton Iverson combined to give the Gophers about 11 points and eight rebounds per game. Both Iverson and Sampson have upside but there’s no guarantee either will be as good as Aldrich who ranks with the best three centers in the country, along with North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough and Connecticut’s Hasheem Thabeet.
Although Woodside and Aldrich will never play for the Gophers, their teams meet tomorrow morning at the Metrodome in a first round Midwest Region game. That’s the closest they’re coming to Dinkytown.