What happened?

Five days ago nearly everyone in town was ready to chisel the words National Invitational Tournament on the walls of Williams Arena.  Today the Gophers are one of 65 teams with invitations to the NCAA Tournament.

Before the Big Ten Tournament started last Thursday the Gophers had an 18-12 overall record.  They were 9-9 after 18 regular season conference games.  A team and a season with considerable promise had not made expectations.  The Gophers were an unlikely candidate for college basketball’s best post-season tournament, but a prime prospect for the NIT which takes the leftovers from the NCAA tournament field.

Gopher fans were feeling sorry for themselves on Thursday when their team was a few hours away from an opening Big Ten Tournament game against Penn State.  Coach Tubby Smith and his players weren’t in the dumps, though, and that’s one of the reasons why Minnesota won three of four games in the tournament, and pulled off the school’s most remarkable late season drive ever for an NCAA tournament invite.

The Gophers were wearing new warm-up apparel in Indianapolis last week that included the word “Respect.”  Smith and his players were indignant about the news earlier in the week that no Gophers made the first, second or third All-Big Ten teams selected by conference coaches and media.  They were angry, too, that senior forward Damian Johnson, who led the league in steals per game and was third in blocked shots, wasn’t named to the All-Big Ten defensive team.

The Gophers took those snubs, combined it with a desire to win enough games to make the NCAA tournament, and played with an intensity in the conference tournament that wasn’t seen enough during the regular season.  For the first three games of the Big Ten Tournament the Gophers were focused on defense and offense, shutting down driving lanes, taking charges, helping teammates defend, moving without the ball on offense and setting up one another for baskets, plus hustling for rebounds.

Senior Lawrence Westbrook was exemplary in the opening game against Penn State.  In probably the best defensive game of his career he helped hold Penn State’s leading scorer, Talor Battle, to 10 points, about eight below his average.   Westbrook was unselfish, passing to teammates including three point specialist Blake Hoffarber.

The Gophers willingness to share the basketball in wins against Penn State, Michigan State and Purdue was refreshing.  It helped open up the offense including a new found inside-outside game that featured an unlikely hero in reserve center Colton Iverson and also the team’s long distance shooters, mainly Westbrook, Hoffarber and Devoe Joseph.  Iverson was in doubles figures in the first three games (scoring 35 points on 15 of 20 shots) and came up with a lot of hustle plays.

Joseph, the mid-season replacement for Al Nolen at point guard, was a new found hero, too, and a major reason the Gophers earned the NCAA invite.  His ball handling, team direction and outside shooting have become better and more consistent in recent weeks.  In the overtime win against Michigan State he had 17 points after halftime.

Give credit to Smith and his coaches for staying with his players and coaxing contributions out of starters and subs.  The Gophers are a team with the sum greater than the parts.  In the tournament center Ralph Sampson III was both a “spectator” and participant, but Iverson made up for Sampson’s sometimes uninspired play.  Sampson had his moments, though, including a team high 13 points in the blowout 69-42 win over Purdue on Saturday.  Forward Paul Carter, like Iverson, came off the bench to make key shots and boost the rebounding when Johnson was in foul trouble or needed a rest.

The Gophers had been flirting with their best basketball even before arriving in Indianapolis.  Minnesota won four of its last six regular season conference games including an 88-53 win over Iowa.

In the tournament Minnesota, the No. 6 seed, defeated No. 11 Penn State, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 2 Purdue and lost to No. 1 Ohio State in the Gophers’ first ever Big Ten Tournament title game.  Penn State’s Battle played on an injured ankle, Michigan State’s Chris Allen, one of the team’s leading scorers, was suspended and didn’t play against the Gophers, and Purdue was without All-Big Ten forward Robbie Hummel who is out for the season after injuring his knee in the Gophers’ game in Minneapolis on February 24.

The Gophers were fortunate not having to face three teams at their best, but that’s sports. And in the 72-67 win against Michigan State the Spartans gifted the Gophers by missing 16 free throws.

Luck?  Yup, and that’s not a word often associated with Gophers basketball in recent years.  Better enjoy the good fortune while it lasts.  The Gophers play their opening NCAA tournament game in Milwaukee on Friday morning against Xavier.  The tourney is lose one and be done.  We’ll know soon if Cinderella made the trip.

Want some advice in making your NCAA tournament choices?  Sports Headliners asked for insight from Jim Dutcher, former Gophers coach and Big Ten TV analyst.

Dutcher predicts No. 1 seeds Kansas and Syracuse will make the Final Four and be joined by No. 2 seeds West Virginia and Villanova.  Then Kansas will defeat Syracuse and West Virginia beats Villanova in the semi-finals.  The Jayhawks then win the national championship against the Mountaineers.

The Jayhawks, the nation’s No. 1 team in the polls, combine consistency with talent.  “They just seem to play at a constant level,” Dutcher said.

Dutcher’s advice to everyday bracketologists is do your homework before making tournament predictions.  On the to-do list is studying styles of play, how teams are playing as of late and who is injured.  Without research, Dutcher said, picking winners is a “crap shoot.”

Dutcher thinks Texas, ranked No. 1 earlier in the season, could be a tournament sleeper.  The Longhorns, who defeated coach Tubby Smith’s Gophers in the NCAA tournament last year, are a No. 8 seed in the East  but they’re talented.  “Texas could be dangerous,” Dutcher said. …

A Timberwolves spokesman said research with season ticket holders showed that patrons were concerned about the value received from their tickets.  A problem is single game purchasers receive aggressive discounts, but now the franchise has a campaign for 2010-2011 season tickets offering savings of up to 50 percent.

In the first two weeks of the “Run with the Pack” campaign, the Timberwolves have sold more new, lower-level season tickets, 625, than all of last year. (These are tickets for the full schedule, not partial plans). The campaign runs through March and is for both new season tickets and renewals.