In the AP poll the Gophers were ranked #23 going in to the NCAA Tournament in Clem's final year (side note, they certainly beat Gonzaga and change history significantly if that "scandal" was reported a week later)
If there is not a "final" poll, Tubby's last team actually finished the year #20 in Ken Pom.
If you want an idea for just how pathetic the Richard Pitino era has been, we've been ranked for a TOTAL of 5 weeks in the AP poll during his his entire tenure (6 if you count a preseason poll). That's 1 week in his 4th season, and the first 4 weeks of his 5th season ( the preseason poll that 5th year is the 6th week).
In just Tubby Smith's final season, the Gophers were ranked for 11 weeks in the AP poll.
Obviously for a program like Minnesota to have such pathetic results post-Clem we've had abysmal luck, but I'd argue that Tubby's luck was worse than Pitino's. In his 4th season, Tubby was ranked for 9 weeks ending on 1/31. That year he lost both Devoe Joseph and Al Nolen and played Blake at PG with BOTH Iverson and Sampson on the floor at the same time (they had to play zone). That team would win only one of it's last 9 conference games from that 1/31 date despite playing only 1 ranked team. They were 5-4 in conference play and ended 6-12. The next year Trevor Mbakwe would go down early in the year. The year prior was the year that neither Royce or Trevor was allowed to play. Now Tubby has to own his recruiting failures for his own lack of depth to overcome the injuries and departures.
If you go back to Monson you can look at the Bauer injury during a promising season, and the devastating Burleson ending against Illinois as two seasons that end differently with just average luck.
