University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Earn First NCAA Bid Since 2005
3/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
After recording a 22-win season, Minnesota was rewarded with a No. 10 seed in the 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. The Gophers (22-10) will face No. 7 seed Texas (22-11) on Thursday at 7:10 EST in Greensboro, N.C. The Gophers will make their first NCAA appearance since 2005 and its sixth overall.
The Gophers are the No. 10 seed in the East Regional. Should the Gophers defeat Texas, they will face the winner of No. 2 seed Duke and No. 15 Binghamton. The No. 1 seed in the Regional is Pittsburgh.
"First, I want to thank the NCAA selection committee and say how excited we are to be in the Tournament. It's one of the greatest sporting events in our culture and our country. I am excited for our players," Smith said following the selection. "We only have one kid that has participated in the Tournament, in 2005 (Jon Williams). To be going there in just two years, I am very happy with the direction of our program. I want to thank Joel Maturi and President Bruininks for giving me the opportunity to lead this program and hopefully we will build on this. Being a No. 10 seed, we are just excited to be playing. Rick Barnes and the Texas Longhorns are from a very tough conference. He is an outstanding coach and they have outstanding players so we know we will have to be at our best to give them a good game."
"For me, it's going back to an area I went to college. It's just 20-30 minutes away but Rick Barnes is from North Carolina. We played against each other in college. He was a freshman at Lenoir-Rhyne and I was senior at High Point. I taught school in North Carolina for two years and went to college there for four years. I have a lot of friends in that region."Minnesota has never faced Texas in its history. The Longhorns are 22-11 and finished tied for fourth in the Big 12 with a 9-7 conference mark. They lost to Baylor in the Big Ten 12 Tournament semifinals.
Minnesota has enjoyed a stellar season, finishing with 22 wins, which ranks as the fourth-highest total in school history. The Gophers' 21 regular season wins is also the second-most in school history. Head Coach Tubby Smith earned his 16th straight 20-win season as well, the longest active streak in the country.
