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Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s basketball

Minnesota Golden Gophers
2016–17 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team
Minnesota Golden Gophers logo.svg
University University of Minnesota
First season 1896
Conference Big Ten
Location Minneapolis, Minnesota
Head coach Richard Pitino (4th year)
Arena Williams Arena
(Capacity: 14,625)
Nickname Golden Gophers
Student section The Barnyard
Colors Maroon and Gold
         
Uniforms
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Home jersey
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Team colours
Home
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Away jersey
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Team colours
Away
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Alternate jersey
Team colours
Team colours
Alternate
Pre-tournament Premo-Porretta champions
1902, 1903
Pre-tournament Helms champions
1902, 1919
NCAA Tournament Final Four
1997*
NCAA Tournament Elite Eight
1990, 1997*
NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen
1982, 1989, 1990, 1997*
NCAA Tournament appearances
1972*, 1982, 1989, 1990, 1994*, 1995*, 1997*, 1999*, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2017
*vacated by NCAA
Conference regular season champions
1906, 1907, 1911, 1917, 1919, 1937, 1972, 1982, 1997*

The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team represents the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus. The Golden Gophers have played in the Big Ten since the conference began sponsoring basketball in 1905 and play their home games in Williams Arena.

The Gophers had great success in the early years of basketball, but have been largely overshadowed by other programs since the end of World War I. In total, the Gophers have won nine Big Ten championships, but only four since 1919. College basketball research organizations have retroactively awarded Minnesota national championships in 1902, 1903, and 1919.

The team has also had several instances of NCAA sanctions on the program that have affected performance and recruiting. In the 1970s, the Gophers were in a violent brawl with the Ohio State Buckeyes and were barred from post-season appearances for two seasons after an incident involving the illegal resale of tickets. Still more severe was the mid-1990s academic scandal under then-coach Clem Haskins that resulted in the forfeit of a Final Four appearance.

Initially, the Gophers team formed without any organized coach. L. J. Cooke took over the team in 1897. Cooke was put on the University payroll on a part-time basis in early 1897 and full-time by the fall; this made him one of the earliest professional coaches.

Cooke remained the coach of the Gophers for 28 seasons, and his .649 winning percentage is the second highest in school history.Dave MacMillan, who coached the team from 1927 to 1942 and 1945 to 1948, had the second longest tenure as coach at 18 seasons. John Wooden almost succeeded McMillan as Gophers head coach; Wooden claims that a dispute over retaining McMillan as an assistant coach and a delayed phone call led him to accept the job at UCLA instead.


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Wikipedia

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