What was the best decade for Gophers basketball?
Posted on December 12th, 2008 – 12:04 PMBy Myron Medcalf
I enjoyed Thursday’s lively debate about some of the great Gophers from the ’70s. I’m 25, so obviously, I wasn’t around when some of those guys were playing.
But since Thursday’s discussion was so interesting, I’m curious about what some of the readers have to say about other eras of Gophers basketball. Especially the ones that have been around to see some of the top Gophers compete.
For instance, my editor, Dennis Brackin, told me Lou Hudson returned from a broken arm in the ’60s and put up 20 points with his left hand. I don’t care what era he played in, that’s impressive.
Plus, I’m not convinced that today’s college basketball players are better than they were 20, 30 or 40 years ago. No one has topped Pistol Pete Maravich’s scoring average of 40 points per game. And we’ll never see a program so dominate, so deep as UCLA was during the ’60s and ’70s.
I’m also certain that the big man was more fundamentally sound in past generations. Today, the true center has disappeared from the game. Every player shorter than 7 feet thinks he’s a forward. And everyone under 6-8 wants to play on the perimeter.
Players, however, are more athletic now than they’ve ever been. Just one man’s opinion.
That said, what was best era of Gophers basketball, beginning with the 1960s?
Here are some of top payers from the ‘60 through the ’00s (Forgive me if I leave anyone out):
1960s: Ron Johnson, Lou Hudson, Archie Clark, Tom Kondla
1970s: Jim Brewer, Kevin McHale, Mychal Thompson, Ron Behagen, Ray Williams
1980s: Trent Tucker, Randy Breuer, Willie Burton
1990s: Bobby Jackson, Voshon Lenard, Sam Jacobson, Quincy Lewis
2000s: Vincent Grier, Rick Rickert, Kris Humphries, Maurice Hargrow
Let’s pretend the top players from all five of these decades could meet in a tournament. Which team would win and why?
Vote or comment based on the way players competed in their respective eras. None of the “Lou Hudson couldn’t compete with today’s players” arguments.
I’ll tally up the votes for Monday’s notebook. Have a great weekend.
48 Responses to "What was the best decade for Gophers basketball?"
The 70’s. I was a teenager then, but even looking today (and including some of those you left out as a bench..can you say Osborne Lockhart?) the 70’s team coached by Musselman or Dutcher would win.
Pryzbilla was quite the “center.” 
The list of guys who went pro in the 70’s is impressive…
http://www.gophersports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8400&SPID=3302&SPSID=38818
The 2000’s list is just weak.
There needs to be clarification here. How many players in each era would be eligible to play due to academic or off or on the court scandals?
The 1997 Final Four team (I don’t care what the NCAA says, they were there) was the best Gophers team in history, hands down.
The double overtime game against Clemson featured one of the best single-game basketball performances I’ve ever seen by Bobby Jackson. One of the biggest shames of the ensuing scandal is that his jersey isn’t hanging in the rafters.
The 70’s, Kevin McHale was a much better player than coach.
I lean towards the ’80s, but agree with Scott, in that the players in the NBA from Minny in the ’70s was something else. But I attended the U in the ’80s, so I’m partial to the team with Willie, Melvin, Hosea, big Bob Martin, Walter Bond, Lynch, and Richard Coffey. Clem assembled some great talent that year. Who can forget the game against Tech? What a wonderful NCAA run.
That being said, the ’80s also had the Madison scandal. For nostalgia’s sake… Can anybody remember or name the “Iron Five” that finished that season?
You have to know about Larry Mikan, Larry Oerskei and Ollie Shannon from the late 1960s team that had UCLA and John Wooden beaten in the Barn on a Saturday afternoon game during the Bruins run: The Gophers lost the game on an errant outof-bound pass.
What about the 1997 Final Four squad? They were quite the bunch. Are we forgetting about Kevin Clark and the 1999 team?
Definitely the 70s - Need to add Clyde Turner, Corky Taylor and Flip Suanders.
Did you forget flip saunders? Im thinking this. How about Tubby coaching the Timberwolves and Flip the Gophers? We will end up with the best entertainment in town in B ball
“Who can forget the game against Tech? What a wonderful NCAA run.”
It was, but I still haven’t forgiven Lynch for running out the clock before launching that three, leaving no chance for a rebound and a tie game.
The Thompson/ McHale team that was suspended would have had a national title. Thompson was the best college player in the country that year and Mchale was not to shabby.
Having attended games at Williams Arena for most of my life, the best teams the gophers have fielded over the past 35 years are:
1) 1977 MVP Michael Thompson
2) 1997 MVP Bobby Jackson
3) 1982 MVP Trent Tucker
Beginning in the mid-1980’s, the level of play in college begun to decline as the premier players either skipped college all together or would stay only a year or 2. Imagine having Kevin Garnett, or Kobe Bryant for 4 full seasons in college. That’s the way it used to be.
I’d go with the 1970’s, ol’ lunch pail, play hard with heart, for 4 years! Rickert and Przbylla were headcases and were not team oriented. Too bad the scandal will mar the late 90’s teams.
I definitely think the 90s was the best decade for the Gophers. Clem was shady, but he put together some good teams, culminating with the program’s only trip to the Final Four in ‘97.
Al Mcguire who won the NCAA the year the Gopher were suspended said that the Gophers would have won it all easily. So I have to believe that the 70s team was the best.
Okay, the 70’s team should at least give a mention to Dave Winfield.
I am too young to remember the squad’s from the 70’s, but the late 80’s team of Wille Burton, Melvin Newborn, Richard Coffey, etc was so fun to watch. Willie Burton was a GREAT college player. Clem was awesome with those guys.
I’d have to say the Final Four team was outstanding though. Bobby, Sam, Quincy and John Thomas saw some time in the NBA….with Bobby obviously still playing 11 years later. He was what an MVP player should be, considering how good he was defensively and how well he rebounded for being a 6′1″ guard. Sam was big-time on that team as well and Courtney James was one of the better low post players Clem ever had. That FF run was incredible to watch!!
The undefeated team of the 1918-1919 season was by far the best Gopher team ever, led by Coach L.J. Cooke.
I gotta go with the 1970s Gophers. The Gophs had some strong thems on TWO occassions. The Olberding/Landsberger team got split apart due to the NCAA sanctions vs. Coach Mussleman. Then Coach Dutcher put together a team with Mychal Thompson. Osborne Lockhart, James Jackson, Dave Winey…and a freshmen named Kevin McHale. I seem to recall that one of those teams went something like 24-3. In those days, only 1 team per conference made the NCAA tourney. That team was Indiana Hoosiers. Memory also says that Gophers team beat Marquette Warriors…the 1977 NCAA champs. Then the NCAA had a hard-on for MN, and MN refused to suspended Mychal Thompson, Dave Winey and another guy for selling their tickets for more than face value. I believe the NCAA doesn’t recognize thier 24-3 record??? Nice team!
I will never forget Trent Tucker’s comment when he was asked what his long range accuracy was: “Am I in the Arena?” And TT was a shooter. I still recognize the 24-3 year as the “Gophers best overall team ever.”
I go with the ’70s, too. McHale, Thompson, Lockhart, I wonder how many points Trent Tucker would have had if the three point rule was in effect (yes, I know he played in the ’80s, too). I also liked the mid-decade team that had Olberding, Landsberger, and Saunders. (Lingenfelter scoring).
Very tough to choose.I remember the games like they were yesterday.The year it was Saunders Thompson Whiney Lockhart and Ray Williams.That was a great team and they lost to the Louisville team that was coached by Denny Crumb.Saunders missed a 2 point shot at the buzzer to win.that team had the most talent.
Growing up in the 80s I loved the late 80’s-early 90’s teams with Newbern, Burton, Gaffney, Coffey. My favorite players in the last 20 years are Voshon Lenard, Bobby Jackson and Willie Burton. The 90’s run was amazing and packing the Barn when the returned from the Elite 8. On another note, I hate that you have Humphries listed as one of the Best players- great talent with lots of points and rebounds, but terrible teammate- avg less than 1-asst/game while getting double-teamed.
I would have to go with the 90’s. Despite Clem’s failings withn the scandal, those teams were consistently competitive and the 1997 team was without a doubt the most well rounded and dominant gopher team ever.
Miles Tarver clinches it for the 1990’s gophers.
The first Gopher’s game I ever saw on TV was probably 1960. I think it was their only TV game that year … grainy black and white. If my memory serves, Ron Johnson put up 39 that game. In later life, I got to know Ron and attended a game or two with him. He said the first team all Big Ten his senior year consisted of 5 centers … Ron, Jerry Lucas from NCAA champ Ohio State, Walt Bellamy from Purdue, and two others I don’t remember. Of course, Ron’s legend as a high schooler out of New Prague(?)is big as Paul Bunyan. I think it was about the 1956 state tourney at Wms that he set the then scoring record putting up an average of 35 in the three games.
The first game I ever saw in person was about 1965 with the three great black players who broke the Gopher’s own color barrier … Lou Hudson, Don Yates, and Archie Clark. The anecdote above about Hudson playing with his right hand in a cast and scoring 20 anyway is true — a 6′5″ shooting guard who could jump through the roof. Both Hudson and Clark went on to great NBA careers.
All time greatest team? I stick with the Thompson/McHale/Williams team that went 24-3 including the drubbing of eventual NCAA champion Marquette at Marquette. Thompson was the best college player in America two years in a row and was the NBA #1 draft choice (he would also have the been the first choice if had gone pro after his jr year — I remember his sweatshirt that he wore when he returned for his sr year “What’s a million bucks?” or something like that); McHale was the third NBA pick two years later; Williams was also a top ten NBA pick. So, in today’s parlance, that team had three high lottery picks.
It’s unfortunate that their team and the final four team of the 90’s have the stain of sanctions.
Brickinjansky
I always liked that Arriel McDonald, Jayson Walton, Townsend Orr, Voshon Leonard, Randy Carter, Chad Kolander squad.
Oh goodness…you’d have to be born late if you’d say anything but the 70s. It was a basketball awakening here! Bill Musselman’s team which included Brewer, Behagen, Taylor, Flip, Clyde, and Winfield. OMG, they took your breath away when they took the court. The warm-ups were a show unto themselves. What was the name of that guy that came out and juggled balls on a unicycle? If it weren’t for the fight with Ohio State that drew suspensions for Taylor and Behagen, they would have gone farther. They were the most physical team I’ve ever seen. They would have kicked the crap out of McHale, Thompson, and Williams on any night of the week.
I don’t know if they were the best, but the 1982 team that lost to Louisville in the second round was the most entertaining.
What ever happened to Darrel Mitchell? I always thought he was equal to TT, but he wasn’t even drafted (back when the NBA draft had around 250 rounds).
My favorite team was the “Iron Five” who finished the season after the Wisc. debacle. I can only remember Marc Wilson from that team, and they didn’t win much, but they had more heart and guts than many of the other squads.
I’ve followed the Gophers since the 1950s, and I think the 1970s, with two Top 10 teams was the best decade overall. The 1950s had Whitey Skoog, Ed Kalafat, Chuck Mencel and Dick Garmaker, all of whom played for the Lakers, and later Ron Johnson, George Kline and Eric Magdanz, but no team as good as some that came later.
As for those who remember Lou Hudson’s broken wrist, I remember seeing a TV game where Archie Clark shot a jump shot from what would have been three point range, the defender went up to block it, and Archie flipped it from his right to his left hand and swished it. But Michigan, with Cazzie Russell, Bill Buntin and Oliver Darden were better than Hudson, Clark and Yates.
To me olberding is still the best big man to come out of MN. Recruited by everyone one, stayed at home to play for muss for a year and than on to the pros. The 70s’ would win hands down. what mcguirre said was true, they would have won it all that year if they could have participated. Myron, add Olberding to the best of the 70’s team.
Did he really put Maurice Hargrow’s name up there with all those other guys?
Didn’t he quit on the team, only to change his mind and decide to come back once he realized the gophers were the only ones who would give him playing time.
The mid 70 team had Olberding, Landsberger, both went pro early. Add that to Thompson, Lockhart, Saunders, Williams, Winey and the team would have been unbeatable. With those big guys there would have been bench strength with a capital S.
Good mention on local guy Eric Magdanz who still holds some shooting records.
What about the team in the 30’s that featured Hall of Famer John Kundla who went on to coach both the gophers and the Mpls Lakers. This team won the Big Ten Championship in 1937.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Deborah
I remember ushering games with the Boy Scouts, seeing Olberding, Landsberger team..nice..all the teams listed were great. We never had a tougher team than Brewer, Behagen etc..hey it’s the last time I remember any Gopher team beating the crap out of Ohio State (even if it was a fight).
The 2000’s up til now is a sad state of affairs..here’s to Tubby having some great teams that we will a be looking back on fondly years from now.
the best college player I ever saw at MN was Bobby J, hands down the best
George Shauer (sp) was the player that led the warm ups back in the 70’s. Got to know him when I worked at Musselman’s basketball camp back in 1975 in St Peter.
Ray Williams was an offensive machine - absolute ridiculous! But no defense.
Hands down, the early to mid 70’s teams were awesome!!! Here comes Golden Gopher basketball again and maybe the best ever!
Bobby Jackson was great too but his D was first rate. . . a consummate team player and one that improved everyone around him!
“Lin-gen-felt-er scoring!!!”
I don’t think Hargrow would start on this team, I guess that means two things, how quick Tubby’s turned it around and how bad the Monson era was.
Putting Hargrow on a list of best Gophers is #1 sad you couldn’t find anyone better because of the Monson era. #2 See #1.
The day Monson got fired ranks right up there with the day that Kyle Lohse was no longer a Twin as one of the happiest days of following MN sports.
I grew up with those late 80’s teams and I loved when Burton was scoring even with the facemask. I loved Quincy Lewis but I have to say that my all-time favorite gopher b-ball player was Dusty R.! Can’t Dusty get some love? The guy was the Brad Radke of the Gophers.
I have watched the Gopher BB teams since the 50’s. Really enjoyed watching Lou Hudson put up the 20 against Cazzie Russell and Michigan with a broken arm/wrist. Dispite the fun of watching the 60’s players while attended the U, I think the best total group was during the 70’s.
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