Kathlyn HotynskiA year ago on spring break, I found myself on a beach in South Padre Island, Texas. This year, I took it a bit easier and only spent a weekend in Las Vegas and then spent the majority of time in my parents’ basement bumming around, doing pretty much nothing. It was fantastic. I knew my break would have plenty of time to watch and talk college basketball but I had no idea the Minnesota Gophers would be part of any discussion during a time when all people really care about is their NCAA bracket.
I recently went to a Gophers basketball game at Williams Arena with a friend. Keep in mind, my friend has season tickets so I do not pay a penny except for parking or any food that I might want to enjoy during the game. I knew once I got into my seat it would be a frustrating game and to think of just 10 years ago, the Gophers were headed to the Final Four. Has it already been 10 years? I look around Williams Arena, or as locals know it, “the Barn,” and I can’t help but remember when all those seats were actually filled. I don’t really want to spend much time discussing the past ten years of Gopher basketball because what happened is in the past. The future is all I care about now.
A miracle, if I may call it that, happened last week. Tubby Smith, the coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, decided to switch gears and come to Minnesota to coach the Gophers. Now how in the hell did that all work out?
First off, let’s get all this negativity from Kentucky out of the way. After all, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out Smith hadn’t gotten the Wildcats another national championship since his team won in 1998, a team that was mostly recruited by Rick Pitino.
So Smith had a lot of critics in the bluegrass state but that’s because year after year, Kentucky fans expect their team to be competing for a national championship. And in this day in age, that doesn’t always happen.
Look at Duke and Connecticut for example. Duke got bounced in the first round and UConn didn’t even make the tournament. This isn’t the 60s or 70s when national powerhouses were unstoppable and won national championships multiple years in a row. That’s also why we haven’t seen a team since Duke in 1991 and 1992 win back-to-back championships. That could change this year with Florida, but the Gators could lose a majority of their key players after this season. Would they ever win a third in a row? No chance.
The Minnesota program hasn’t had a lot to cheer for since the ’97 run to the Final Four. Smith was the name, the face, that the program coveted. Smith’s experience is going to help the Gophers tremendously. The first of many differences between the Wildcats and Gophers is Minnesota is the only Div. 1 program in the state. This is critical when it comes to recruiting because Smith must keep the Minnesota kids at home playing for him.
While players like Kammron Taylor left for Wisconsin and never came back, plenty of players who have even ended up playing in Minnesota originally committed elsewhere. The immediate goal for Smith is to make sure every kid from Minnesota has a No. 1 choice – the Gophers. Two of the top high school juniors in the state already committed to Wisconsin, which is something Smith has to change. Maybe it’s something the program has gotten away from because when I was younger, we were raised to be Gophers.
I’ll admit I’m a jealous sports fan. I’m jealous that I have gone to school in the state of Wisconsin that had great college football and basketball this year. There’s still that kid in me who was glued to the television in 1997 watching as the local television stations followed a coach bus carrying the Gopher basketball team as they went from the airport to a packed Williams Arena just so the fans could greet them after they defeated UCLA in the Elite Eight. That excitement came back when Smith was announced as the new Gophers basketball coach. In my opinion, it’s a great thing for the university, the state and for college basketball.
I dusted off the VCR on Saturday night and popped in the old Gophers tape when the crowd greeted the players and coaching staff 10 years ago. It’s hard to put into words the events that have happened over time, but one thing I know for sure is there is definitely something to look forward to now.
It might take some time for Smith to rebuild the Minnesota basketball program, but what a great step in the right direction to take. Smith brings the experience of five SEC regular season championships, five SEC tournament titles, six Sweet 16 finishes and three Elite Eight finishes. The past 14 seasons he has coached (for Kentucky and Georgia) have produced at least 20 wins each season.
And this guy picked Minnesota? Maybe I will be able to forget the past ten years a lot easier than I thought. In Tubby, I trust.
Weise is a senior broadcast journalism major and staff writer of The Spectator.
