Preseason college basketball polls have been giving the Gophers “sniffs,” but Minnesota hasn’t been included in the top 25 men’s basketball rankings of polls by the Associated Press, USA Today Sports, Sports Illustrated, and AthlonSports.com. Gophers forward Rodney Williams told Sports Headliners he believes Minnesota should be ranked with the nation’s better teams.
“I definitely think we deserve to be in the top 25,” he said. “I think we’re a team with a lot of depth, a lot of experience now. I think we can give a lot of teams trouble.”
After two exhibition wins, Minnesota opens the regular season tonight at home against American University and can begin to make its case with the pollsters. The Gophers return all five starters from last season’s NIT finals team. The regulars consist of Williams, a senior, and junior guard Austin Hollins, and sophomores Joe Coleman (forward), Andre Hollins (guard) and Elliott Eliason (center). Off the bench are two players who could become starters, senior forward Trevor Mbakwe and sophomore center Maurice Walker.
Coach Tubby Smith told Sports Headliners earlier this fall his team has three potential NBA draft choices in Andre Hollins, Mbakwe and Williams. But despite the talent and depth, there are doubts about the Gophers including whether the team can effectively close out games and avoid the injuries that have contributed to consecutive 6-12 regular season finishes in the Big Ten.
Williams thinks the Gophers are ready for a successful season in his last year at Minnesota. “It would definitely mean a lot because these past years we’ve been so close,” he said. “We lost a lot of games that we could have won with little turnovers at the end, or not getting that big rebound, but I think with the team we’ve got now we’ll be able to get over that hump and make some noise in the Big Ten Tournament, in the conference play and the NCAA Tournament.”
Mbakwe, who missed most of last season because of his injured ACL, has played limited minutes in the two exhibition games. He said his leg strength isn’t 100 percent but he expects to be at that level in a month or so.
But Williams already sees the physical, explosive power player that could impact games blocking shots, rebounding and scoring inside like Mbakwe did last year before the injury.
“You haven’t been able to see much of him out there in exhibition games because they are exhibition games and you don’t want to risk anything with him being back a little earlier than a lot of people thought,” Williams said. “I definitely think Trev is back to his old self and you’ll be able to see that a lot more on Friday.”
American University is a Washington, D.C.-based school and member of the Patriot League. The Eagles, who were 20-12 last season, placed third in their conference last year and could push for a similar finish in 2013.