2007–08 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team

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.

2007–08 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball
NIT First Round vs. Maryland, L 68–58
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	20–14 (8–10 Big Ten)
Head coach	Tubby Smith
Assistant coaches	Ron Jirsa Saul Smith Vince Taylor
Home arena	Williams Arena
Seasons ← 2006–07 2008–09 →

2007–08 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 6 Wisconsin†	16	–	2		.889			31	–	5		.861
No. 20 Purdue	15	–	3		.833			25	–	9		.735
Indiana	14	–	4		.778			25	–	8		.758
No. 18 Michigan State	12	–	6		.667			27	–	9		.750
Ohio State	10	–	8		.556			24	–	13		.649
Minnesota	8	–	10		.444			20	–	14		.588
Penn State	7	–	11		.389			15	–	16		.484
Iowa	6	–	12		.333			13	–	19		.406
Illinois	5	–	13		.278			16	–	19		.457
Michigan	5	–	13		.278			10	–	22		.313
Northwestern	1	–	17		.056			8	–	22		.267
† 2008 Big Ten tournament winner As of March 23, 2008 Rankings from AP poll[1]

Season

On March 7, 2007, it was announced that Tubby Smith would be leaving Kentucky after ten years to coach at Minnesota.^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

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 time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Exhibition
November 1, 2007* 7:00 pm		Minnesota State	W 94–68	–	Williams Arena (11,508) Minneapolis, MN
November 6, 2007* 6:00 pm, BTN		Southwest Minnesota State	W 88–52	–	Williams Arena (11,197) Minneapolis, MN
Regular Season
November 10, 2007* 2:00 pm		Army	W 84–52	1–0	Williams Arena (11,529) Minneapolis, MN
November 20, 2007* 7:00 pm, Mediacom		at Iowa State	W 68–58	2–0	Hilton Coliseum (13,709) Ames, IA
November 24, 2007* no, ESPN360		Central Michigan	W 77–59	3–0	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
November 27, 2007* no, ESPN2		at Florida State ACC–Big Ten Challenge	L 75–61	3–1	Donald L. Tucker Center  Tallahassee, FL
December 1, 2007* no, BTN		UC Riverside	W 75–38	4–1	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
December 3, 2007* no, BTN		North Dakota State	W 88–56	5–1	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
December 8, 2007* no, ESPN360		Colorado State	W 91–74	6–1	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
December 12, 2007* no, BTN		South Dakota State	W 78–72	7–1	William's Arena  Minneapolis, MN
December 22, 2007* no, ESPNU		Santa Clara	W 68–50	8–1	William's Arena  Minneapolis, MN
December 28, 2007* no, no		vs. Nicholls State Duel in the Desert	W 77–32	9–1	Thomas & Mack Center  Paradise, NV
December 29, 2007* no, no		vs. Kennesaw State Duel in the Desert	W 83–66	10–1	Thomas & Mack Center  Las Vegas, NV
December 30, 2007* no, no		vs. UNLV Duel in the Desert	L 81–64	10–2	Thomas & Mack Center  Las Vegas, NV
Big Ten Regular Season
January 5, 2008 no, BTN		at No. 6 Michigan State	L 65–59	10–3 (0–1)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
January 9, 2008 no, BTN		Northwestern	W 82–63	11–3 (1–1)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
January 12, 2008 no, BTN		at Penn State	W 76–73	12–3 (2–1)	Bryce Jordan Center  University Park, PA
January 17, 2008 no, ESPN		No. 9 Indiana	L 65–60	12–4 (2–2)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
January 20, 2008 no, BTN		No. 11 Michigan State	L 78–73	12–5 (2–3)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
January 26, 2008 no, BTN		at Ohio State	L 76–60	12–6 (2–4)	Jerome Schottenstein Center  Columbus, OH
January 31, 2008 no, BTN		at Michigan	W 77–65	13–6 (3–4)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
February 3, 2008 no, BTN		No. 13 Wisconsin	L 63–47	13–7 (3–5)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
February 6, 2008 no, BTN		at Northwestern	W 92–72	14–7 (4–5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, IL
February 9, 2008 no, ESPN		at Iowa	W 63–50	15–7 (5–5)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
February 12, 2008 no, BTN		Illinois	L 84–60	15–8 (5–6)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
February 16, 2008 no, BTN		at No. 15 Wisconsin	L 65–56	15–9 (5–7)	Kohl Center  Madison, WI
February 21, 2008 no, ESPN2		Michigan	W 69–60	16–9 (6–7)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
February 24, 2008 no, BTN		Penn State	W 75–68	17–9 (7–7)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
February 27, 2008 no, BTN		at No. 16 Purdue	L 65–53	17–10 (7–8)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, IN
March 1, 2008 no, ESPN		Ohio State	W 71–57	18–10 (8–8)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
March 5, 2008 no, BTN		at No. 18 Indiana	L 69–55	18–11 (8–9)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
March 8, 2008 no, BTN		at Illinois	L 67–58	18–12 (8–10)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, IL
2008 Big Ten tournament
March 13, 2008 no, ESPN2	(6)	vs. (11) Northwestern First Round	W 55–52	19–12	Conseco Fieldhouse  Indianapolis, IN
March 14, 2008 no, BTN	(6)	vs. (3) No. 22 Indiana Quarterfinals	W 59–58	20–12	Conseco Fieldhouse  Indianapolis, IN
March 15, 2008 no, CBS	(6)	vs. (10) Illinois Semifinals	L 50–54	20–13	Conseco Fieldhouse  Indianapolis, IN
2008 National Invitation tournament
March 18, 2008 no, ESPN	(4)	(5) Maryland First Round	L 68–58	20–14	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
*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.

See also: 2007–08 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

References

1. "2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings - Postseason (Mar. 23)". ESPN. March 23, 2008.
2. "Smith leaving Kentucky to coach Minnesota". Andy Katz. ESPN. March 22, 2007. Retrieved December 9, 2010.
3. "Hoffarber, Vonn receive ESPY award nominations". Star Tribune. July 1, 2008. Retrieved December 10, 2010.^{[permanent dead link]}
4. "Maryland To Face Minnesota in 2008 MasterCard NIT". University of Maryland Athletics. March 16, 2008. Archived from the original on May 15, 2012. Retrieved December 10, 2010.