2011-2012 Minnesota Basketball Predictions

2010-11 Results

Overall: 17-14 (Home 11-6 Road 3-7 Neutral 3-1 Postseason 0-1)
Big Ten: 6-12
Conference Tournament: Lost in the first round of the Big Ten tournament to Northwestern.
Postseason: None

Tubby Smith’s team is coming off a disappointing season. It was the first time in three years that they did not qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Gophers finished 17-14 and did not play in any postseason tournament. They will try to change that this season. Minnesota got off to an 11-1 start in non-conference play. They even beat West Virginia and North Carolina as well as nine teams from non-major conferences. The team looked ready for a solid Big Ten campaign but unreeled with the Golden Gophers finish the conference slate with a 6-12 record. Probably the biggest disappointment was that the team lost their final six games.

Minnesota played well at home going 11-6 but struggled on the road with a final record of 3-7. The team was sixth in the Big Ten averaging 68.9 points a game and seventh in defense allowing 67.0 points per game.

Roster

Returning Starters
Trevor Mbakwe
Ralph Sampson III
Rodney Williams

Other Returning Players
Julian Welch
Maverick Ahanmisi
Maurice Walker
Austin Hollins
Chris Halvorson
Chip Armelin

Newcomers
Andre Hollins
Oto Osenieks
Joe Coleman
Andre Ingram
Elliot Eliason
Kendal Shell

Coach
Tubby Smith

Key Losses

Colt Iverson was a force under the basket averaging 5 rebounds a game and 5.4 points last season. He did most of the dirty work for the Golden Gophers. Devoe Joseph and Al Nolen will also be gone but due to the face that they only played 8 and 14 games respectively, they will not be missed. In the backcourt it will be difficult from the team to replace Blake Hoffarber. He averaged 13.6 points a game last year while leading the team with 4.1 assist per outing.

Schedule

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/minn-m-baskbl-sched.html

2011-12 Preview

Minnesota would love to make it back to the NCAA Tournament and finish with at least a .500 record in conference play. The Golden Gophers ability to get back to the tournament will depend heavily on inexperienced guards Julian Welch and Austin Hollins. The frontcourt should be one of the best in the Big Ten. Trevor Mbakwe was an outstanding rebounder a year ago. Sampson is already the schools fourth all time lead in blocks with 166.

Backcourt

Julian Welch and Maverick Ahanmisi will fight for the job as point guard. Welch transferred from UC-Davis where he averaged 7.8 points per game and 1.3 assist. Ahanmisi saw limited playing time last year averaging 2.1 points a game. He is an excellent ball handler that will help the Golden Gophers no matter if he is the starter or top guard off the bench.

Austin Hollins will be the starting shooting guard and is an excellent all around player. He averaged 4.5 points a game and 1.5 rebounds a game a year ago. As a freshman he played in every game and averaged 17 minutes. One bright area for him was his 1.2 steals per game which ranked seventh in the conference.

Rodney Williams will start as the wingman. A year ago he started 28 games and averaged 6.8 points per game. He is 6-foot-7 and an excellent athlete that needs to work on his shot.

Frontcourt

Ralph Sampson III returns for another season. He will team up with Mbwake to form an outstanding frontcourt giving the Gophers an advantage over many opponents. A year ago Sampson scored 10.2 points per game and 5.4 rebounds.

Mbwake lead the team in scoring with 13.9 points per game and 10.5 rebounds. He should improve on those monster numbers this year. Mbwake is an above average defender.

Oto Osenieks a 6-foot-8, 205 pound freshman will add depth to the backcourt. Osenieks is a good shooter and an average defender. He will need to hit the boards hard.

More Big Ten Basketball Predictions

Ohio State Buckeyes	Michigan State Spartans	Michigan Wolverines
Wisconsin Badgers	Indiana Hoosiers	Purdue Boilermakers
Northwestern Wildcats	Iowa Hawkeyes	Minnesota Golden Gophers
Illinois Fighting Illini	Nebraska Cornhuskers	Penn State Nittany Lions

Comments

One Response to “2011-2012 Minnesota Basketball Predictions”

Trey D. on February 26th, 2012 4:20 PM

Tubby Smith although he won one NCAA championship (with Rick Patino’s team) ruined Kentucky basketball for the most part of his tenure at UK. I respect him as a coach for a team such as the golden gophers but not as a coach for a high caliber team such as UK. I mean they are the winningest team in NCAA basketball. Thank God Coach Cal is here now. 51-0 at home since his coaching staff has came into Kentucky.

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