I have been a Gophers fan since before kindergarten. SO I have been a Gopher fan for roughly 50 years. I have seen 4 teams in basketball that I thought had ability to compete with any team nationally. The late 70s team that had a 24-3 record, the early 80s team that won the Big Ten, the late 80s-early 90s team that should have went to the Final Four, and the late 90s team that did go to the Final Four.. I wont get into the reasons the win totals were taken off as most of us know our history of transgressions, off the court. But those teams were GOOD!!!
I want to examine where the players come from, during those years.
Late 70s team
Mychal Thompson and Osbourne Lockhart from Bahamas
Ray WIlliams from New York
Flip Saunders from outside of Cleveland, Ohio
Dave Winey from New Hampshire
Fillers and backups from Minnesota but the top scorer off the bench was Steve Lingenfelter, who scored less than 2 points a game
Early 80s team
Cookie Holmes and Darryl Mitchell from Florida
Trent Tucker from Michigan
Mark Hall from Massachusetts
Randy Breuer and Kevin McHale from Minnesota
Late 80s early 90s team
Willie Burton from Michigan
Richard Coffey from North Carolina
Melvin Newbern from Toledo, Ohio
Kevin Lynch from Minnesota
Jim Shikenjanski from Illinois
Bob Martin off the bench from Minnesota
Late 1990s Final Four team
Sam Jacobson and John Thomas from Minnesota
Eric Harris from New York City
Bobby Jackson from North Carolina
Courtney James from Indiana
Trevor Winter was a center from Minnesota, off the bench but most of our key reserves were from other states.
So it is safe to say that every one of our winning teams have had at least one player from Minnesota on it. But NONE had majority of the players from Minnesota.
I want to examine where the players come from, during those years.
Late 70s team
Mychal Thompson and Osbourne Lockhart from Bahamas
Ray WIlliams from New York
Flip Saunders from outside of Cleveland, Ohio
Dave Winey from New Hampshire
Fillers and backups from Minnesota but the top scorer off the bench was Steve Lingenfelter, who scored less than 2 points a game
Early 80s team
Cookie Holmes and Darryl Mitchell from Florida
Trent Tucker from Michigan
Mark Hall from Massachusetts
Randy Breuer and Kevin McHale from Minnesota
Late 80s early 90s team
Willie Burton from Michigan
Richard Coffey from North Carolina
Melvin Newbern from Toledo, Ohio
Kevin Lynch from Minnesota
Jim Shikenjanski from Illinois
Bob Martin off the bench from Minnesota
Late 1990s Final Four team
Sam Jacobson and John Thomas from Minnesota
Eric Harris from New York City
Bobby Jackson from North Carolina
Courtney James from Indiana
Trevor Winter was a center from Minnesota, off the bench but most of our key reserves were from other states.
So it is safe to say that every one of our winning teams have had at least one player from Minnesota on it. But NONE had majority of the players from Minnesota.
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