Category: Golden Gophers

After yesterday’s embarrassing 72-51 loss to Iowa, there’s no doubt Gophers athletic director Norwood Teague is receiving more intense criticism about Minnesota coach Tubby Smith.

After a 15-1 start, the Gophers are 18-8 overall, 6-7 in the Big Ten, and losers in three of the last four games.  The conference losses include a defeat against vastly inferior Northwestern and to an Iowa team that is not 21 points better than Minnesota.

Fans are so worked up there are even messages on the Gophers own website suggesting a coaching change should be made.  In recent weeks I haven’t heard from a single fan who is supportive of Smith, and that includes boosters with influence in Gophers sports who are very upset with University of Minnesota men’s basketball.

Teague has known since taking over as athletic director last summer that there has been a lot of criticism directed at Smith during his tenure at Minnesota.  Now Teague may have to decide if he wants the University to pay $2.5 million to buy out Smith’s contract.

And he might because this is a very negative and festering situation.  Hardcore fans are tuning out this team, and that’s a way of saying supporters have lost hope in the program.  Yes, $2.5 million is a lot of money, but how much momentum for generating revenues does a Smith-led program carry into the offseason and next year when much of the public and some media have soured on Gophers basketball?  Hire the right coach and revenues from tickets, corporate partnerships and donations will increase significantly within six to 24 months.

The athletic department has invested millions of dollars in Smith for almost six years, making him one of the better paid college coaches in the country.  The results?  Not a single season finishing higher than sixth in the Big Ten.  A regular season conference record of 44 wins and 59 losses.   No wins in two NCAA Tournament appearances.

Complaints from fans this winter go beyond Smith’s illogical platoon substitutions and often ineffective offense.  The barbs are targeted at the players, too.  “They aren’t good enough fundamentally.  They can’t shoot consistently, and make too many ball handling mistakes.”

Okay, the Gophers have their weaknesses even among the athletic and experienced starting five of Trevor Mbakwe, Rodney Williams, Joe Coleman, Austin Hollins and Andre Hollins.  But after six seasons who is responsible for the personnel including a subpar bench?

Hint: it’s not Norwood Teague.

Michigan State, 7-2 in Big Ten games and chasing a conference title, has lost only to the Gophers and national power Indiana.  In the conference opener for both teams on December 31, the Gophers defeated the Spartans 76-63, winning for the first time since 2006 against MSU in Williams Arena.

Wednesday night MSU, 17-3 against Minnesota in the last 20 games, gets a second chance.  “I know they want their revenge.  …It’s going to be a dog fight,” said Gophers senior center Trevor Mbakwe.

Coach Tom Izzo’s MSU program has built its reputation on toughness but in the game in Minneapolis the Gophers matched the Spartans’ aggression, including in rebounding where the home team had a 39-32 advantage.  But the Gophers, 5-4 in conference games, struggled to match the physical play of Iowa yesterday, needing a three-point game winner from junior guard Austin Hollins in the last minute to win, 62-59.

After the game at Williams Arena the Gophers described Iowa, 3-6, as a “scrappy” team, and sophomore center Elliott Eliason acknowledged the Spartans will be more physical than the Hawkeyes.  “They’re definitely going to be out to get us back.  The Breslin Center is a very tough place to play.”

The Gophers, who have never won at the Breslin Center under coach Tubby Smith,  were often outhustled by Iowa yesterday including in pursuit of loose balls.  “You gotta beat’em to the floor,” Eliason said.  “That’s the whole thing.  Usually the first guy to the floor is going to get the ball.”

“They’re a very physical team (Iowa),” said junior Gophers guard Maverick Ahanmisi.  “They were bumping, pushing.  We weren’t getting that many calls so we just tried to play through it.”

Minnesota sophomore forward Joe Coleman said there was one surprise for him in the game.  “They rebounded probably better than we expected.”

The two teams each had 35 rebounds, and Iowa had 18 offensive rebounds.

At MSU Wednesday night the Gophers won’t be surprised by MSU’s rebounding because the Spartans are one of the Big Ten’s better teams in rebounding margin.  Izzo no doubt will remind his players which team had the most rebounds in Minneapolis.  Count on that.

And perhaps talk about revenge.