If the Big Ten is looking for a fourth team worthy of an NCAA tournament invitation, it might have found one in Minnesota.
The Gophers, 12-18, 3-13 last season, take a 16-6, 6-3 record into Wednesday’s game against Northwestern in Minneapolis. Last week, led by Big Ten player of the week Vincent Grier, Minnesota won at Michigan and at home over Wisconsin. The Gophers start this week tied with the Badgers for third place in the league.
“We feel good, but we’ve got a long way to go,” Minnesota coach Dan Monson said. “It’s important for our guys to feel good today that they had a successful week.
“As I told them after the [Wisconsin] game, the thing I’m most pleased with is February is a time with basketball teams that are either not caring or staying stagnant. Very few of them are getting better. I just feel that we made some progress last week and are getting better. We have to because we have a small margin for error.”
Monson came to Minneapolis in 1999 to take over a scandal-scarred program from Clem Haskins. Monson had winning teams in three of his first four seasons but the Gophers faltered last season. To make matters worse, freshman Kris Humphries, the leading scorer and rebounder in the conference last season, left for the NBA just as Joel Przybilla did in 2000 and Rick Rickert did in 2003. If Monson’s seat at Williams Arena wasn’t hot, it was getting warmer.
The forecast for the Gophers this season was a lower-division finish without Humphries, the 14th pick in the NBA draft by the Utah Jazz. Monson recruited Grier, a 6-foot-5-inch guard, from Dixie State Junior College in Utah, and he has had a big impact. Grier is the Gophers’ leading scorer at 17 points per game and scored 32 points against Wisconsin with his teammates feeding him the ball.
“These guys didn’t care,” said Monson. “We were drawing stuff up for Vincent that we’ve never run before. It was like a sandlot. It was like Jimmy Chitwood (from the movie `Hoosiers’).”
Grier has blended well with returnees Jeff Hagen, the team’s center, and Aaron Robinson, the point guard. The Gophers have played well on both ends of the court, but Monson isn’t allowing them to start thinking about the NCAA tournament.
“I’m not concerned about it,” said Monson, whose team plays four of its last seven games on the road. “I told the team you’re going to walk out of this locker room and the talk is going to start. If you believe that, you’re really being hypocritical because it’s the same people that said you’re not going to win a game at the start of the year. You’re not going to believe them then and you’re not going to believe them now. You’re going to believe me. Six Big Ten wins is not going to get you in the tournament.”
Keady feeling better
Purdue coach Gene Keady missed last week’s 75-65 loss at Ohio State with the flu. “I hurt so bad, my hair even hurt,” he said. Keady returned for Saturday’s loss at Northwestern, and will be on the bench Wednesday for the Boilermakers’ game against Penn State.
Keady not only didn’t attend the Ohio State game, he didn’t watch it on television or listen to it on the radio.
“I did nothing but lay there and hope I would die,” he said. “I don’t know if you’ve ever been that sick. You don’t want to [die], but if you did, you didn’t care. I’ve never had anything like that.”
We’re No. 10!
Penn State’s visit to Purdue could determine 10th and 11th place in the conference. Penn State is 1-7 in league play, Purdue 1-8. The Nittany Lions, who start freshmen Mike Walker and Geary Claxton and bring two more freshmen off the bench, were off last weekend and are rested. Coach Ed DeChellis, who has no senior starters, is trying to build from the bottom up with young players.
“You have to eat an elephant one bite at a time,” he said.
Tucker returns
Lockport’s Alando Tucker was in the Wisconsin starting lineup in Saturday’s loss after missing two games with a foot injury. The Badgers’ leading scorer at 14.5 points per game played 31 minutes and scored 10 points.
“Riding a bike or swimming in a pool is OK for cardiovascular, but there is nothing like basketball shape,” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. “He’s just gotten a little bit behind.”
