University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Open Exhibition Season Against St. Cloud State
10/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
GOPHERS/HUSKIES PREVIEW: The Gophers open the exhibition season against the St. Cloud State Huskies of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The Huskies, coached by Kevin Schlagel, return three starters and nine total letterwinners from a team that finished 17-11 overall and 5-7 in conference play last season. Schlagel has a career record of 215-103 in 11 seasons, all at SCSU.
NEW LOOK GOPHERS Minnesota welcomes five new players to Gold Country for the 2008-09 season. Tubby Smith’s first recruiting class comes to Minneapolis as one of the best classes in the country. The class includes the following players:
Devron Bostick - reigning NJCAA Player of the Year... led Southwestern Illinois Community College to a 28-5 record and a second place finish in the league last season... averaged a team-high 18.2 ppg while grabbing 4.1 rebounds and dishing out 3.2 assists per contest.
Paul Carter - played one season at Missouri State-West Plains... led MSWP to a 27-5 record and a second place finish in the Region 16 regular season and post-season tournament... averaged 11.7 points, a team-high 8.7 rebounds and 24.3 minutes per game for the Grizzlies... named to All-Region 16 team.
Colton Iverson - Attended Yankton (S.D.) High School ... averaged 17.9 points, 12.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game as a senior... led Yankton to a fifth place finish in the South Dakota State AA Tournament as a senior... averaged a double-double in 20 of the 26 games played during senior season.
Devoe Joseph - Attended Pickering High School in Ajax, Ontario, Canada... averaged 24.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists as a senior to lead Pickering to a 70-2 record... three-time Canadian High School Player of the Year... a two-time member of the Canadian World Junior National Team... invited to the Canadian Men’s National Team training camp leading up to the 2008 Olympics.
Ralph Sampson III - Attended Northview High School in Duluth, Ga.... averaged 19.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 7.0 blocks as a senior in leading Northview to its first state tournament appearance and a 21-9 record... played in the Capital Classic All-Star game following senior season.
KEY LOSSES: The Gophers have five new faces in part because the club had to say goodbye to four seniors, Dan Coleman, Lawrence McKenzie, Spencer Tollackson and Ryan Saunders.
Coleman left the U as the 15th highest scorer in school history and is one of only 17 players in school history to amass 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds. He finished with 1,317 points and 614 rebounds.
McKenzie played two season at the U after transferring from Oklahoma. He left Minneapolis with the third most three-point field goals made with 157 and is sixth all-time with a .402 (157-391) three-point field goal percentage.
Tollackson finished his Gopher career in sixth place on the school’s all-time field goal percentage list at .525 (390-743). He played in 119 career games in his four years, which is tied for the eight most in Gopher history.
Saunders technically hasn’t left the U of M, as he joined Tubby Smith’s staff as a Graduate Manager following his graduation last spring.
2007-08 WRAPUP: The Tubby Smith effect was felt early in the 2007-08 season as the Gophers completed the non-conference portion of the schedule with a 10-2 record. Minnesota would go on to record eight victories during the Big Ten Conference schedule and earn the No. 6 seed for the Big Ten Tournament. A pair of victories in the tournament put the Gophers at 20-13 on the season and the NIT folks rewarded the team with a bid to the prestigious tournament.
Minnesota dropped the opening round NIT game to Maryland but the end result was a 20-14 overall record, which is an 11-game improvement over the 2006-07 Gophers and is a tie for the second biggest turnaround in Division I this season.
The 2007-08 Gophers were only the eighth team in school history to win 20 games and the first to do so since the 2004-05 team finished 21-11.
TWENTY FOR TUBBY: With the win over Indiana in the 2008 Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals, Tubby Smith secured his 15th straight 20-win season, the longest active streak in the nation and the third longest streak in NCAA history. Smith’s streak began in 1994 and has stretched across four institutions (Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota). Smith has never had a losing season and his teams have reached the postseason every year since 1994.
THE TUBBY EFFECT: Coaching apparently makes a difference. Tubby Smith took over a club that finished the 2006-07 season with a record of 9-22, including 3-13 within the Big Ten Conference. The 11-game change is the largest season turnaround in school history and is tied for the second-best turnaround in Division I this season. With eight wins in conference play, the Gophers tied Purdue for the biggest conference turnaround.
