2007–08 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team

2007–08 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	† 2008 Big Ten Tournament winner; As of March 23, 2008; Rankings from AP Poll

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

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.

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	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site City, State
Exhibition
November 1, 2007* no, no	Minnesota State–Mankato	W 94–68		Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
November 6, 2007* no, no	SW Minnesota State	W 88–52		Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
Regular Season
November 10, 2007* no, no	Army	W 84–52	1–0	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
November 20, 2007* no, no	at Iowa State	W 68–58	2–0	Hilton Coliseum Ames, IA
November 24, 2007* no, no	Central Michigan	W 77–59	3–0	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
November 27, 2007* no, no	at Florida State ACC–Big Ten Challenge	L 75–61	3–1	Donald L. Tucker Center Tallahassee, FL
December 1, 2007* no, no	UC Riverside	W 75–38	4–1	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
December 3, 2007* no, no	North Dakota State	W 88–56	5–1	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
December 8, 2007* no, no	Colorado State	W 91–74	6–1	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
December 12, 2007* no, no	South Dakota State	W 78–72	7–1	William's Arena Minneapolis, MN
December 22, 2007* no, no	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, no	at #6 Michigan State	L 65–59	10–3 (0–1)	Breslin Center East Lansing, MI
January 9, 2008 no, no	Northwestern	W 82–63	11–3 (1–1)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
January 12, 2008 no, no	at Penn State	W 76–73	12–3 (2–1)	Bryce Jordan Center University Park, PA
January 17, 2008 no, no	#9 Indiana	L 65–60	12–4 (2–2)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
January 20, 2008 no, no	#11 Michigan State	L 78–73	12–5 (2–3)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
January 26, 2008 no, no	at Ohio State	L 76–60	12–6 (2–4)	Jerome Schottenstein Center Columbus, OH
January 31, 2008 no, no	at Michigan	W 77–65	13–6 (3–4)	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI
February 3, 2008 no, no	#13 Wisconsin	L 63–47	13–7 (3–5)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
February 6, 2008 no, no	at Northwestern	W 92–72	14–7 (4–5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
February 9, 2008 no, no	at Iowa	W 63–50	15–7 (5–5)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
February 12, 2008 no, no	Illinois	L 84–60	15–8 (5–6)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
February 16, 2008 no, no	at #15 Wisconsin	L 65–56	15–9 (5–7)	Kohl Center Madison, WI
February 21, 2008 no, no	Michigan	W 69–60	16–9 (6–7)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
February 24, 2008 no, no	Penn State	W 75–68	17–9 (7–7)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
February 27, 2008 no, no	at #16 Purdue	L 65–53	17–10 (7–8)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN
March 1, 2008 no, no	Ohio State	W 71–57	18–10 (8–8)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
March 5, 2008 no, no	at #18 Indiana	L 69–55	18–11 (8–9)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
March 8, 2008 no, no	at Illinois	L 67–58	18–12 (8–10)	Assembly Hall Champaign, IL
2008 Big Ten Tournament
March 13, 2008 no, no	vs. Northwestern First Round	W 55–52	19–12	Conseco Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN
March 14, 2008 no, no	vs. #22 Indiana Quarterfinal	W 59–58	20–12	Conseco Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN
March 15, 2008 no, no	vs. Illinois Semifinal	L 54–50	20–13	Conseco Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN
2008 National Invitation Tournament
March 18, 2008 no, no	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.

References

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v t e Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball
Venues	On-campus YMCA (1895–1896) UM Armory (1896–1925) Kenwood Armory (1925–1928) Williams Arena (1928–present)
Culture & lore	History Goldy Gopher "Minnesota Rouser" Scandal
People	Head coaches
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Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearance in italics

2007–08 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team

Contents

Season

Roster

2007–08 Schedule and results

Rankings

References

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2007–08 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#6 Wisconsin†	16	–	2	.889	31	–	5	.861
#20 Purdue	15	–	3	.833	25	–	9	.735
Indiana	14	–	4	.778	25	–	8	.758
#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]