ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 28, 1997 TAG: 9703280061
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
In Bob Knight's backyard, where some of the doghouses obviously are empty now, the NCAA Final Four has a geographic favorite.
It's Minnesota, from the land of 10,000 lakes, where since George Mikan retired and the Lakers went Hollywood, the basketball reputation has become a lot like the NBA Timberwolves.
There's improvement, but still a long way to go.
You would think in such a cold place, an indoor sport would be huge. And it is. The Twin Cities, despite losing the NHL North Stars a few years ago, love hockey. Hey, the Whalers might be moving there.
Anyway, Minnesota dribbles into the 59th Final Four for a first visit. The Golden Gophers have been one of only two Big Ten teams never to go this far in the NCAA basketball bracket. The other is Northwestern.
Knight's last three Indiana teams have left the tournament 0-1, so the Gophers (31-3) are what's left of the Big Ten this year - and that's saying more than in most recent seasons, and not just because coach Clem Haskins' team is impressive.
Since the Hoosiers beat North Carolina for the 1981 NCAA title, Minnesota is only the seventh Big Ten team to reach the Final Four. The league has been represented in only five of the past 16 national semifinals (two teams in '89 and '92).
The Gophers are the first Big Ten team in the Final Four since Michigan's Fab Five called one too many timeouts and lost to UNC in 1993.
Minnesota was the first of this year's Final Foursome to arrive in Indy, and the Gophers didn't come because they thought their ticket might be revoked - although they haven't forgotten last year's 18-12 club being snubbed by the selection committee.
"We just had to get out of town,'' Haskins said. "Back home, everyone was patting [his players] on the back. the phones were ringing ... We had bands playing outside the dorm. It was unbelieveable.''
What won't be so unbelieveable is if the Gophers go home Tuesday with their first NCAA title. They are underdogs to Kentucky in Saturday's semifinal nightcap. They also are the deepest team here, the most experienced team here.
Haskins is a no-nonsense sort whose deepest run in the tournament came in 1990, when the Gophers lost to Georgia Tech in the Southeast Regional final. He spent most of that regional talking a no-respect game.
Maybe that's changed this season. The Gophers had the same team back that was left out of the NCAA a year ago, but wasn't picked to win the Big Ten. Minnesota was No.22 in the AP preseason poll.
Haskins' third-ranked team didn't crack the top 10 until mid-January. The Gophers are 9-0 against ranked teams. He's blended talent and experience, and recruited from diverse geography stretching from Califronia to star guard Bobby Jackson's Salisbury, N.C., background, by way of a Nebraska junior college.
"He's turned us around,'' Gophers forward Courtney James - who is having a personal homecoming in Indianapolis - said of Haskins. "We're the same team that was 18-12 last year, but we're better. We're older, but he's taught us how to win the close games.''
The Gophers have displayed a toughness that marks Haskins, who less than two years ago survived emergency surgery after a heart attack, who starred as a player at Western Kentucky as one of the first blacks in famed coach Ed Diddle's program in the mid-'60s.
"If you've watched us play, we won't panic,'' Haskins said. "You may beat us, but we're not going to beat ourselves down the stretch.''
After six year as the hoops head at his alma mater, Haskins' 11 seasons at Minnesota have included a last five in which the Gophers have an NIT title, an average of 22 victories and now a Final Four trip.
With a victory Saturday, Minnesota would tie the Big Ten record of 32 wins in a season, owned by Indiana's 1976 NCAA champs, the last national title club to finished undefeated.
"Who would have ever thought Minnesota would be where we are?'' Jackson asked.
It is a good question.
LENGTH: Medium: 78 linesby CNB