Snow and single digits graced Minneapolis on Monday. Inside Williams Arena, a boisterous 12,454 Golden Gopher fans fought though the Midwestern night and witnessed another step in the rejuvenation of their team under Tubby Smith. Working quietly in the Great North of the Big Ten, Tubby has Minnesota (5-1) playing hard and with purpose, exorcising the prior regime’s discontent in a mere six games.
A Defensive Beginning
The cornerstone of any successful basketball program is defense. Characteristic of his clubs from Tulsa, to Georgia to Kentucky, Tubby has Minnesota is playing intense defense. The contrast to last year’s team, which essentially contained the same group of core players, is striking.
On every possession against North Dakota State, the Gophers’ ten deep rotation played like a high schoolers trying to impress their girlfriends in the stands. Led by Bo Ryan disciple, coach Saul Phillips (Wis-Platteville ‘96), a well-prepared North Dakota State team twice before played Minnesota, always keeping the game competitive against a more passive and less committed Golden Gopher team.
Not so on Monday night. Diving for loose balls, pressuring the ball, cutting off passing lanes, hitting the glass, Minnesota was aggressive for forty minutes. The change in Minnesota’s demeanor was not lost on Saul Phillips who was impressed. Clearly, the gravitas of Tubby, diminished in the eyes of myopic Kentucky fans, remains strong and thusfar the results in Twin Minny are undeniable.
To Build a Future
When Tubby was jettisoned from Lexington in favor of Bill Self acolyte Billy Clyde Gillispie, many thought the Minnesota cupboard was barren. On the contrary, as Hoopraker noted in the aftermath of the 2007 Big Ten Tournament, the Golden Gophers were one competent guard away from credibility.
Where Lawrence McKenzie was a liability to team cohesion last season with an egocentric and undisciplined game, Tubby has connected with guard who’s now playing under control and within the offense. As a consequence, and with a competent freshman point guard in Al Nolen primarily running the team, Minnesota is getting the ball to its strength, the post, where the efficient Jonathan Williams, Demain Johnson, the athletic Dan Coleman and perennial Hoopraker favorite Spencer Tollackson lead an exceptionally well-balanced offense. Tollackson’s passion and keen sense of basketball fundamentals, including a deft passing ability, makes his teammates uniformly better players. With Coleman becoming more aggressive, he may at least begin to fulfill his once promising potential.
Without a doubt, the season is young and expectations should remain tempered for Minnesota. Still, one is confident the commendable effort displayed in the beginning of the season will remain through the Conference season. With a solid foundation of upperclassmen committed to becoming the pioneers of a new era in the Gopher basketball tradition, Tubby has in place the elements for a successful Season One.
Posted by TD Lawlor on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 at 12:12 am.
