The Lost Season

It's been almost a month since my last post, which I owe to the fact that I was studying for and subsequently taking the bar exam during that stretch of time. Now that the exam is behind me, I'll be bat at it on here two or three times a week. The 13 people who read this blog can thank me later. I know Tubby (pictured) looks happy.

Under Tubby Smith, the Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s basketball team has enjoyed quite a lot of success. In Tubby’s first season in Dinkytown, the Gophers won 20 games just one season removed from the schools most dismal season in recent memory. While the Gophers failed to make the NCAA Tournament, they certainly made big strides under Smith’s tutelage. Last year, Minnesota won 22 games en route to their first Tourney appearance since 2004-05, showing yet another sign of improving as a program. Understandably, coming into this year, there were a lot of expectations being placed on the team to continue this pattern of progress. Not only was the team returning every important player from last year’s Tournament squad (depending on how you feel about Jamal Abu-Shamala), but it was adding a highly-touted recruiting class that included California point guard Justin Cobbs, powerful junior college transfer Trevor Mbakwe, and one of the best recruits in the nation, Hopkins’ Royce White. White was considered by most pundits to be a top 5 recruit heading into the season, but more importantly, he was everything the Gophers lacked; someone who could create their own shot, someone who could turn a busted offensive possession into a basket, and someone that would have the Gophers leading SportsCenter with highlight reel plays on a regular basis. With the bulk and athleticism provided by Mbakwe and White and the backcourt depth added by Cobbs, the Gophers were sure to improve upon last year’s mark while hopefully challenging for a Big Ten Championship. Things were looking good for the Maroon and Gold, and the season had yet to even start. Unfortunately, things unraveled as quickly as they came together, causing the Gophers postseason candidacy to go from a sure thing to a long shot.

First, we learned that Trevor Mbakwe was going to be suspended for the foreseeable future in early November after being charged with assault in Dade County, Florida. What was expected to be a month-long suspension turned into a season-long ban, as Miami-Dade prosecutors bumble around with a dead-end case, perpetually pushing back court dates a case that seems to have little chance of being successful. Regardless of the potential fruitfulness of the county’s case against the Gopher forward, the arrest and subsequent investigation have stolen Mbakwe’s season, hurting Minnesota’s depth in the process. What makes Mbakwe’s suspension especially troublesome for the Gophers are reports out of Minnesota practices that Trevor has dominated both Colton Iverson and Ralph Sampson III during drills and scrimmages, leading Gopher Nation to believe that the inclusion of Mbakwe on this year’s squad could have lead to a few of the many close losses Minnesota has endured going the other way. Still, If the loss of Mbakwe was the Gopher’s only hurdle to clear this season, it’s possible they could have survived. Unfortunately, the loss of Mbakwe was only the beginning.

Just a couple of weeks after the Mbakwe suspension became official, we learned that not only was crown jewel recruit Royce White being charged with a number of offenses stemming from a shoplifting incident at a local store, but he was also a suspect in an on-campus laptop theft. White’s multiple alleged indiscretions led to a rollercoaster winter for the former Minnesota prep star. White eventually pled to a lesser charge in the shoplifting case while maintaining his innocence in the laptop caper. Rumors arose in early December that White would be leaving school despite his reportedly exemplary academic record. These rumors proved false for the time being, as not only did Royce remain in school, but rejoined the team for practices, as well. Things were going fine for White until it became clear that Minnesota Athletic Director Joel Maturi was not going to allow White to participate in any games until the issue regarding the laptop was completely resolved. White ultimately decided to leave to leave the University amid rumors that he may try his hand in Europe for the rest of the year before entering the NBA draft next summer. Even more rumors have his grandfather, Frank White, advising him and the University to get together to come to some arrangement that would allow Royce to rejoin the program for next season. One would hope that Royce would listen to Grandpa Frank, if this is indeed his advice, as going to the NBA now would, in my opinion, be a disastrous decision at this point in White’s career. Either way, Royce will not play one minute for the Gophers this year, meaning that the top two recruits of this nationally ranked class will not participate in any University of Minnesota games this season. That’s not exactly an ideal situation for a team hoping to take the next step towards becoming a national contender.

Even with White and Mbakwe being ineligible for the entire season, one recruit remained available to the Gophers. Point guard Justin Cobbs was highly regarded coming out of Torrence, California, and is projected to be a solid contributor for the Gophers down the road. The initial plan for Cobbs was to allow him to mature while backing up junior PG Al Nolen and keeping his minutes down. Unfortunately, that plan went by the wayside a few weeks ago when 18 games into the season Nolen was ruled academically ineligible for the rest of the season by the NCAA. Devoe Joseph has taken over the starting point guard duties in Nolan’s absence, but he’s not really a true PG. Cobbs is the only real PG on the roster, and as a result, his minutes have increased both in quantity and in importance. Against pressure defensive teams, Cobbs has been forced into duty in order to sure up the ball handling. Justin has played about as well as one could expect a freshman to play, but offensively, his ability to score the ball has yet to develop. The Gophers are a team without a real go-to scorer, and on such a team, the responsibility often falls on the PG to create some offense at the end of the shot clock. Cobbs has not proven to be capable of handling this task yet and as a result of this, the offense tends to get stagnant when he’s on the floor. Some of that offensive sluggishness may be a result of Cobbs getting most of his minutes with the less experienced second group, but none the less, there is a discernable difference between the team with Joseph or Nolan at the helm as opposed to when Cobbs has the reigns. Since Nolan was ruled in eligible, the Gophers are 5-6, with all eleven of the games being played within the conference. Prior to his departure, Minnesota appeared to be at least capable of making a run to the NCAA Tournament. But, now? Such a run seems more than a little unlikely as the Gophers, following an embarrassing loss to the hapless Michigan Wolverines, can only watch as their season spirals away from them.

Despite all of the personnel issues surrounding the squad, the story could have played out differently for the U of M. The Gophers have lost five of their twelve games this season by one point or in overtime. Two of those games have come against conference front-runners Michigan State and Purdue. A win against either of those squads would have represented a victory that could have propelled the Gophers into the postseason. With their only good wins comings against Ohio State early in the Big Ten season and Wisconsin late in the season, there are way too many fluff teams comprising the rest of the team’s wins. The Gophers are going to finish the season in Big Ten no-man’s-land. The top five teams in the conference have identified themselves as being Purdue, MSU, Wisconsin, OSU, and Illinois, in no specific order. The bottom five have equally identified themselves as being Penn State, Iowa, Indiana, Northwestern, and Michigan. Minnesota is currently smack dab in the middle of these two groups. Wins against top half teams Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Illinois (in Champaign), as well as close losses against Michigan State (both at home and on the road) and Purdue, have displayed the team’s ability to play with the upper-echelon teams in the conference. At the same time, losses to Indiana, Northwestern and Michigan (twice), along with uncomfortably close wins against Northwestern and Penn State have shown a propensity to play down to the level of inferior opponents. After everything is considered, it’s pretty clear that Minnesota belongs right where it is within the conference. Some years, being the sixth best team in the Big Ten has been enough to get a team into the tournament, but in this new era of college basketball, where mid-major programs get enough overflow talent from the big schools to compete on a national level, those days are quickly coming to a close.

(This theory of newfound parity, of course, excludes the Big East, which we are all lead to believe by the national media is the be-all, end-all of college basketball. The worst team in the Big East is better than the best team anywhere else. I’m sure this perception I’ve got from watching ESPN’s experts analyze the sport has nothing to do with the fact that ESPN’s main campus falls directly in the middle of Big East territory. Did I lay that on thick enough? OK, then…moving on.)

Short of a miraculous run in the Big Ten Tournament that gives the Gophers an automatic bid to the Big Dance, the Gophers’ season will end with an appearance in the NIT, which might as well be an acronym for “non-ideal turnout.” With 17 wins, Tubby’s streak of consecutive seasons with 20 victories is in serious jeopardy, with the team probably needing at least one win in the NIT to reach the mark. A win in the conference finale against Iowa would give Minnesota a .500 season in conference, which is always better than being sub-.500, but ultimately, it won’t be enough to get this team where it needs to go.

So what does all of this mean? Should Tubby be fired for his indescresions? Of course not. Tubby Smith has taken a floundering program and turned it into a competitive one, at the very least. If Royce White, Trevor Mbakwe, and Al Nolen can all return to the team next year, the losses of senior leaders Lawrence Westbrook and Damien Johnson won’t sting quite as much. With signed recruits Austin Hollins (son of former NBA player and current Memphis Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins) and Elliott Eliason, as well as the potential signing of Devoe Joseph’s brother, Corey, there is a lot to be optimistic about regarding the future of this program.

Minnesota sports fans are used to repeating the “maybe next year” mantra. Unless the Tubby Smith and the Gophers can perform a miracle in Indianapolis in two weeks, it appears as though we’ll all be repeating that familiar phrase one more time.

Big Ten Basketball at Its Worst

I'm a huge Big Ten guy. I love Big Ten football. I love Big Ten basketball. I even love the "Big Ten" bar on the University of Minnesota campus. Their Thursday Night Trivia got me through many a week of law school over the past three years. What I don't love about the Big Ten Conference is the way inter-conference games are allowed to be played. I'm writing this on the heels of a particularly ugly game between the Michigan State Spartans and the U of M Gophers last night; a game "Sparty" won, 60-53. The Spartans and Gophers were #1 and #2 in scoring average entering the game, with each team averaging right around 80 points per game. On the surface, this scoring average would seem to indicate that viewers would be in for a high scoring, excitingly played game. Instead, those of us who found the time to view for the odd 5:30 pm CT starting time saw a game where Michigan State was allowed to do what they are seemingly always allowed to do at home. They were allowed to grab, clutch and shove the Gophers all over the floor. To be fair, the Gophers were given the same allowances throughout most of the game, but certainly such tactics were used out of desperation, as the Gophers are much more successful as a team when they spread the floor and use their athleticism to wear teams out. You may be asking yourself, what's the harm with letting teams play freely as opposed to calling countless touch fouls? I'll tell what's wrong with it! When referees "let the kids play," all it really does is bog the game down and create a slow, plodding, half court game. The beauty of basketball is in the athleticism and grace the players display on the floor, but when grabbing and pushing is allowed to the extent that it is allowed in the Big Ten, none of what makes the game great is allowed to shine through. This epidemic of rough play is not specific to the game I watched last night, either. This has been an ongoing problem in the conference since I was a kid.

Many people blame the type of player that is most available to Big Ten schools. Being that the Big Ten is a Midwestern conference, there are a good number of strong, thick, slow-footed big men playing in the conference. This type of player is more likely to enjoy a slow style of play and be guilty of doing things like grabbing and bumping more athletic players in an effort to slow them down to their speed. While this is a fair critique of the problem, the real issue remains that officials allow the big bodies to get away with their tactics. Using the MSU/Minnesota game as an example, referees continually allowed MSU players to grab and bump Minnesota sharp-shooter Blake Hoffarber as he came around screens intended to get him open. Hoffarber is second in the nation in 3-point %, and in the team's last game against a tough Ohio State team he made 7-9 3-point field goals en route to a career high 27 points. Last night, Hoffarber attempted just two three point shots, having one blocked and missing another short. He managed just four points in the game. Everybody has off nights that cause them to play below their normal level, but we never got to see whether that was the case for Hoffarber last night. Michigan State continually held and bumped him to the point that it was impossible for Blake to get a shot off. Calling fouls away from the ball on such activities are what most fans consider to be cheap calls, but as a high school basketball ref, nothing could be further from the truth. Off-the-ball motion is vital to good basketball. Especially at the college level, if teams are forced to play one-on-one basketball because their cutters are unable to run the offense freely, things will invariably bog down and become boring. The Big Ten's motto on most night could easily be "The Big Ten Conference: Where Stagnant Offense Happens." This reality causes conference outsiders to view the Big Ten as a second-class conference that lacks the athleticism to compete. Those of us who are diligent followers of the conference know this perception to be but a product of the style of play imposed on these teams. Looking only at the Gophers' roster, players like Damien Johnson, Paul Carter, Rodney Williams, and Lawrence Westbrook have enough athleticism to compete against any school in any conference. Other players around the conference like Ohio State's Evan Turner, Michigan State's Durrell Summers, and Michigan's Manny Harris illustrate the type of athlete that does exist in the conference. What's most disappointing to me is that when Big Ten teams get to play out of conference with non-Big Ten referees working the game, the athleticism that all of these team possess is put on display. Each year when the NCAA Tournament rolls around, Big Ten schools are typically under-seeded due to a perceived lack of quality in the conference and are often not expected to be successful in the Big Dance. Despite this, Big Ten teams are usually among the toughest outs in the tournament and continually reach the Final Four. Since 1979, the Big Ten has had 21 teams earn spots in the Final Four (second only to the ACC's 28) and won five national championships (behind only the ACC's nine). What this record under the bright lights of the tournament proves is that the Big Ten has comparable, if not superior talent to the other conferences (outside of the clearly better ACC). Equally clear is the fact that during conference games, that talent is not put on full display due to the way Big Ten games are called (or not called).

Some of this may sound like sour grapes stemming from watching my favorite 5 get knocked around like crash test dummies for 2 hours before coming up short in a game that would have provided an important conference victory, but quite the contrary is the case. Despite the Gophers having lost the game, I was pleased with their effort against a team with, quite frankly, a little more talent in a building that is no treat for opposing teams to play in. My only regret is that the game was turned into more of a football game than a high level basketball contest. Such is life in the Big Ten Conference. Unfortunately for the fans, there doesn't appear to be anything on the horizon that is going to stop this trend from perpetuating itself.

So what is the solution? New referees? No. The referees the Big Ten has are more than capable of calling a good game. Many of them work games in other conferences, as well, and a quick view of a Monday night Big East game on ESPN will show that their conference doesn't suffer from the same affliction. Do member teams have to change the way they play stylistically? Maybe. Teams like Wisconsin and MSU are notorious for this rugged style of play, but overall, I don't think the teams are the problem. Indiana's coach, Tom Creen, came from Marquette, which is a Big East school. Minnesota's coach, Tubby Smith, has coached at Georgia and Kentucky, which are both SEC schools. Brett Beilein, the coach of the Michigan Wolverines, was coach of West Virginia when that team employed a wide-open, three-pointer oriented offense that utilized skill and athleticism over brute strength. The coaches of the conference have the ability to play multiple styles, so that can't be the only issue. I think the main thing that needs to change is the direction given to officials by the conference itself. If the quality of play produced during conference games is going to approve, it's going to be because Conference Commissioner Jim Delaney and Associate Commissioner for Men's Basketball Rick Boyages directs the officials to force cleaner play during the conference season. Players are going to play whatever way the referees allow them to play. If the refs force the players to stop with the clutching and grabbing nonsense that is running rampant through the league like an epidemic, then after a short period of adjustment and a few more foul-outs than usual, the players will change their style to accommodate the new enforcement and the game will be better for it.

The Big Ten has to view their current situation as a serious problem. The eventual result of continued rough play during conference games is that the member teams are going to start relying too heavily on such tactics and won't be able to change their style when tournament officials keep them honest. There's nothing worse than watching your favorite conference fall short time after time in big spots, and the Big Ten is getting tenuously close to such a reality. Here's hoping the conference big wigs realize what may lay ahead before it's too late.

In the meantime, Tubby would do well to ask Gopher football coach Tim Brewster if he can borrow a few of his players. The style of play may be a bit rough for them at first, but eventually they'll get the hang of it.