ColonelSteve
02-02-2013, 02:34 PM
Good lord
A 15-1 start, with the only loss coming against Duke, vaulted Minnesota to No. 8 in The Associated Press poll, its highest ranking since March 1997. Point guard Andre Hollins scored 41 points in a victory over Memphis, 1 short of the team record. Smith even grew a mustache for the first time in more than 20 years for two fund-raisers, as much a sign of the new-look Gophers as anything.
Now the optimism has faded, crushed by consecutive Big Ten losses to Indiana, Michigan, Northwestern and Wisconsin — the fifth time in the last three seasons that the Gophers lost at least four in a row in conference play. Minnesota (16-5, 4-4) broke the streak by beating Nebraska, 84-65, on Tuesday, but not before falling to 23rd in the latest A.P. poll. Smith’s mustache is gone, too.
“It can get pretty ugly when you’re not winning,” said Smith, who came to Minnesota after 10 seasons at Kentucky. “No one’s happy. Certainly I’m not happy, that’s for sure.
“It all comes to leadership, guys within the team. The best teams I’ve ever had, practice sort of ran itself. We’re not quite there yet with this group. We have good people in there that are capable of doing it. It’s just a matter of giving them the authority and ability to do it.”
Gophers fans expected more from Smith, who led Kentucky to the N.C.A.A. tournament’s Round of 16 six times and to the national championship in 1998. Smith’s predecessor at Minnesota, the former Gonzaga coach Dan Monson, cleaned up the program after its most recent N.C.A.A. penalties. Academic fraud discovered in 1999 cost Coach Clem Haskins his job and wiped out six seasons of results, including a Final Four run in 1997.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/sports/ncaabasketball/tubby-smith-takes-minnesota-on-a-roller-coaster-ride.html?smid=tw-nytimessports&seid=auto&_r=0
A 15-1 start, with the only loss coming against Duke, vaulted Minnesota to No. 8 in The Associated Press poll, its highest ranking since March 1997. Point guard Andre Hollins scored 41 points in a victory over Memphis, 1 short of the team record. Smith even grew a mustache for the first time in more than 20 years for two fund-raisers, as much a sign of the new-look Gophers as anything.
Now the optimism has faded, crushed by consecutive Big Ten losses to Indiana, Michigan, Northwestern and Wisconsin — the fifth time in the last three seasons that the Gophers lost at least four in a row in conference play. Minnesota (16-5, 4-4) broke the streak by beating Nebraska, 84-65, on Tuesday, but not before falling to 23rd in the latest A.P. poll. Smith’s mustache is gone, too.
“It can get pretty ugly when you’re not winning,” said Smith, who came to Minnesota after 10 seasons at Kentucky. “No one’s happy. Certainly I’m not happy, that’s for sure.
“It all comes to leadership, guys within the team. The best teams I’ve ever had, practice sort of ran itself. We’re not quite there yet with this group. We have good people in there that are capable of doing it. It’s just a matter of giving them the authority and ability to do it.”
Gophers fans expected more from Smith, who led Kentucky to the N.C.A.A. tournament’s Round of 16 six times and to the national championship in 1998. Smith’s predecessor at Minnesota, the former Gonzaga coach Dan Monson, cleaned up the program after its most recent N.C.A.A. penalties. Academic fraud discovered in 1999 cost Coach Clem Haskins his job and wiped out six seasons of results, including a Final Four run in 1997.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/sports/ncaabasketball/tubby-smith-takes-minnesota-on-a-roller-coaster-ride.html?smid=tw-nytimessports&seid=auto&_r=0