2007–08 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team

2007–08 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball

NIT First Round vs. Maryland, L 68–58
Conference	Big Ten Conference
2007–08 record	20–14 (8–10 Big Ten)
Head coach	Tubby Smith
Assistant coach	Ron Jirsa
Assistant coach	Saul Smith
Assistant coach	Vince Taylor
Home arena	Williams Arena

{{2007–08 Big Ten men's basketball standings}} The 2007–08 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team represented the University of Minnesota in the college basketball season of 2007–2008. The team's head coach, Tubby Smith began his first year at Minnesota after leaving Kentucky in March 2007. The Golden Gophers played their home games at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota and are members of the Big Ten Conference.

Season

On March 7, 2007, it was announced that Tubby Smith would be leaving Kentucky after ten years to coach at Minnesota.^[1] Smith still had 4 years left on his contract, but elected to sign on for seven years with the Golden Gophers. The season was highlighted with a run in the Big Ten Tournament, where the Gophers defeated Northwestern in the first round, then shocked Indiana with a last second, miraculous jump shot by Blake Hoffarber to advance to the semifinals. Blake's shot earned him the second ESPY nomination of his career.^[2] Minnesota would then lose to Illinois and be selected as a #4 seed in the National Invitation Tournament, where they made a first round exit on their home court.^[3]

Roster

#	Name	Height	Weight (lbs.)	Position	Class	Hometown	Previous Team(s)
0	Al Nolen	6'1"	180	G	Fr.	Minneapolis, MN, U.S.	Minneapolis Henry HS
1	Lawrence McKenzie	6'2"	180	G	RSr.	Minneapolis, MN, U.S.	Minneapolis Henry HS Oklahoma
2	Ryan Saunders	6'1"	180	G	RJr.	Medina, MN, U.S.	Wayzata HS
3	Kevin Payton	6'5"	215	G	RSo.	Camden, NJ, U.S.	Camden HS
4	Travis Busch	6'4"	220	G/F	RSo.	Mounds View, MN, U.S.	Mounds View HS Cal Poly
11	Jon Williams	6'9"	285	C	RJr.	St. Cloud, MN, U.S.	St. Cloud Apollo HS Notre Dame Prep (MA)
13	Dan Coleman	6'9"	225	F	RSr.	Minneapolis, MN, U.S.	Hopkins HS
20	Lawrence Westbrook	6'0"	195	G	So.	Chandler, AZ, U.S.	Winchendon Prep
23	Brandon Smith	6'6"	220	G/F	Jr.	Minneapolis, MN, U.S.	Minneapolis Henry HS
24	Blake Hoffarber	6'4"	200	G	Fr.	Minnetonka, MN, U.S.	Hopkins HS
33	Jamal Abu-Shamala	6'5"	210	G/F	Jr.	Shakopee, MN, U.S.	Shakopee HS
34	Damian Johnson	6'7"	195	F	RSo.	Thibodaux, LA, U.S.	Thibodaux HS
50	Spencer Tollackson	6'9"	260	C	Sr.	Chaska, MN, U.S.	Chaska HS

2007–08 Schedule and results

Date	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site
Exhibition
November 1, 2007*	Minnesota State–Mankato	W 94–68		Williams Arena
November 6, 2007*	SW Minnesota State	W 88–52		Williams Arena
Regular Season
November 10, 2007*	Army	W 84–52	1–0	Williams Arena
November 20, 2007*	at Iowa State	W 68–58	2–0	Hilton Coliseum
November 24, 2007*	Central Michigan	W 77–59	3–0	Williams Arena
November 27, 2007*	at Florida State (ACC–Big Ten Challenge)	L 75–61	3–1	Donald L. Tucker Center
December 1, 2007*	UC Riverside	W 75–38	4–1	Williams Arena
December 3, 2007*	North Dakota State	W 88–56	5–1	Williams Arena
December 8, 2007*	Colorado State	W 91–74	6–1	Williams Arena
December 12, 2007*	South Dakota State	W 78–72	7–1	William's Arena
December 22, 2007*	Santa Clara	W 68–50	8–1	William's Arena
December 28, 2007*	vs. Nicholls State (Duel in the Desert)	W 77–32	9–1	Thomas & Mack Center
December 29, 2007*	vs. Kennesaw State (Duel in the Desert)	W 83–66	10–1	Thomas & Mack Center
December 30, 2007*	vs. UNLV (Duel in the Desert)	L 81–64	10–2	Thomas & Mack Center
Big Ten Regular Season
January 5, 2008	at #6 Michigan State	L 65–59	10–3 (0–1)	Breslin Center
January 9, 2008	Northwestern	W 82–63	11–3 (1–1)	Williams Arena
January 12, 2008	at Penn State	W 76–73	12–3 (2–1)	Bryce Jordan Center
January 17, 2008	#9 Indiana	L 65–60	12–4 (2–2)	Williams Arena
January 20, 2008	#11 Michigan State	L 78–73	12–5 (2–3)	Williams Arena
January 26, 2008	at Ohio State	L 76–60	12–6 (2–4)	Jerome Schottenstein Center
January 31, 2008	at Michigan	W 77–65	13–6 (3–4)	Crisler Arena
February 3, 2008	#13 Wisconsin	L 63–47	13–7 (3–5)	Williams Arena
February 6, 2008	at Northwestern	W 92–72	14–7 (4–5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena
February 9, 2008	at Iowa	W 63–50	15–7 (5–5)	Williams Arena
February 12, 2008	Illinois	L 84–60	15–8 (5–6)	Williams Arena
February 16, 2008	at #15 Wisconsin	L 65–56	15–9 (5–7)	Kohl Center
February 21, 2008	Michigan	W 69–60	16–9 (6–7)	Williams Arena
February 24, 2008	Penn State	W 75–68	17–9 (7–7)	Williams Arena
February 27, 2008	at #16 Purdue	L 65–53	17–10 (7–8)	Mackey Arena
March 1, 2008	Ohio State	W 71–57	18–10 (8–8)	Williams Arena
March 5, 2008	at #18 Indiana	L 69–55	18–11 (8–9)	Assembly Hall
March 8, 2008	at Illinois	L 67–58	18–12 (8–10)	Assembly Hall
2008 Big Ten Tournament
March 13, 2008	vs. Northwestern (First Round)	W 55–52	19–12	Conseco Fieldhouse
March 14, 2008	vs. #22 Indiana (Quarterfinal)	W 59–58	20–12	Conseco Fieldhouse
March 15, 2008	vs. Illinois (Semifinal)	L 54–50	20–13	Conseco Fieldhouse
2008 National Invitation Tournament
March 18, 2008	Maryland (First Round)	L 68–58	20–14	Williams Arena
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. ( ) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Rankings

The 2007–08 Minnesota Golden Gophers basketball team was not ranked during the season.

References

↑ "Smith leaving Kentucky to coach Minnesota". Andy Katz (ESPN). March 22, 2007. Retrieved December 9, 2010.
↑ "Hoffarber, Vonn receive ESPY award nominations". Star Tribune. July 1, 2008. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
↑ "Maryland To Face Minnesota in 2008 MasterCard NIT". University of Maryland Athletics. March 16, 2008. Retrieved December 10, 2010.

Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball

Venues	On-campus YMCA (1895–1896) UM Armory (1896–1925) Kenwood Armory (1925–1928) Williams Arena (1928–present)

Culture & lore	History Goldy Gopher "Minnesota Rouser" Scandal

People	Head coaches

Seasons	1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

Helms national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearance in italics