Andrew Doughty: For Minnesota, NCAA Tournament Berth Eliminates Final Stench of 1999

per Doughty:

To recap: In 14 post-scandal seasons, Minnesota basketball was a never legitimate Big Ten contender, won one tourney game, and was about to hire a third coach. Oh, and their facilities were still among the worst of any high-major program.

Richard Pitino arrived in April 2013. Though fans were still pessimistic, basketball fundraising was still down and they were largely an afterthought in the national conversation, the Gophers were far removed from the scandal. Nonetheless, as the losses racked up (26-38 overall and 8-28 in the Big Ten in his second and third seasons), the cloud still hovered. Or at least, the perception was that it still hovered.

On March 12, 2017, the Minneapolis sky was snow-filled and cloudy. But oddly it was clear, at least figuratively. Eighteen years after the program was dismantled by pathetic decision-making by Haskins and his staff, the Gophers are back.

They went 24-9 during the regular season and Big Ten Tournament, finishing above .500 (11-7) in the Big Ten for the first time 2004-05 and just the third time since 1996-97, to secure an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. On Friday, they'll face Middle Tennessee State as the No. 5 seed in the South Region. It's the first time they're seeded higher than No. 8 since 1999.

The optimism, wins, and tourney appearances have returned. Not to mention they'll soon have some of the best facilities in the country. Minnesota basketball is finally back.

http://herosports.com/news/minnesota-basketball-ncaa-tournament-academic-scandal-ahah

Go Gophers!!

I'm going to wait until we start making consecutive tourney appearances before I declare we're back. Just like you look for consecutive bowl appearances for the football team to say they are relevant. I don't see any reason we should be a strong contender for the tournament next year, but that's to be seen. All that said, I've enjoyed this year and am excited for Thursday.

Sparlimb said:

I don't see any reason we should be a strong contender for the tournament next year, but that's to be seen.

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Huh? Did you a word?

Unregistered User said:

Huh? Did you a word?

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Nice play!

In the end, what happened with Dorsey last year may have been the best thing that could have happened to Pitino / program. Reading and hearing about how Pitino made "respect" the main focus of this season, bringing in speakers to educate on issues of sexual misconduct, etc - none of that happens without the Dorsey episode and helped Pitino solidify cultural standards that he might not have had opportunity to otherwise. I think it puts program on a much more stable trajectory moving forward and there's an understanding that culture is everything and can be discarded at a moments notice if players lose site of the big picture.

Also, moving forward I presume Pitino will refrain from going after kids whose twitter handle background pic is just a large pair of breasts. I get it, he's a teenager, but something definitely seemed off from the beginning with him.

Maybe a little over dramatic on the writer's part, but it's a nice thought. Still, to me, the stench lifted when Tubby took the job, re-legitimizing the program, and had the program on an upward trajectory before the series of misfortunes and inconsistencies plateaued us.

And really, the program is not "back" until it's achieved the Big Ten championship that was vacated. You do that with players, and that's the part to be excited about: Richard is recruiting well.

It never felt like Tubby truly saw the potential of the program. When people questioned why he hadn't contended for a title or even had a winning conference record, his answer was always along the lines of hey, this is Minnesota; what do you expect? That's corrosive, both internally and externally with recruits. Richard may or may not still get it done, but he's never once even hinted that it can't get done here.

Bad Gopher said:

Maybe a little over dramatic on the writer's part, but it's a nice thought. Still, to me, the stench lifted when Tubby took the job, re-legitimizing the program, and had the program on an upward trajectory before the series of misfortunes and inconsistencies plateaued us.

And really, the program is not "back" until it's achieved the Big Ten championship that was vacated. You do that with players, and that's the part to be excited about: Richard is recruiting well.

It never felt like Tubby truly saw the potential of the program. When people questioned why he hadn't contended for a title or even had a winning conference record, his answer was always along the lines of hey, this is Minnesota; what do you expect? That's corrosive, both internally and externally with recruits. Richard may or may not still get it done, but he's never once even hinted that it can't get done here.

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Well stated