By Chad Smith
Minnesota Gopher basketball can be a polarizing discussion among their fans. The team finished the 2018-2019 men’s campaign with a 22-14 record. While there are dozens of colleges and universities that would be thrilled with 22 wins and a victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, not all Gopher fans were pleased with the outcome. Mike Grimm is the 13-year radio voice of the Golden Gophers, who made a recent appearance on the Minnesota Sports Weekly podcast. He says it’s important to keep a little perspective when fans look at a basketball season.
“I think it’s all how you look at it,” said Grimm. “It’s hard to say it was a disappointment. I’ve seen people say that on social media and I think they’re wrong. It’s not worth getting into a disagreement with someone if they don’t have the time or patience to look at the history of Minnesota Gopher basketball. We don’t have the history here as a UCLA does.
“This program has only appeared in 14 NCAA tournament, with two of those appearances in the last three years,” he added. “Anyone who suggests they should be ashamed of a season in which they made an NCAA Tournament and won a game for the second time in 20 years is being silly. That’s just dumb.”
Grimm says if people really want to nitpick, they can. The Gophers did let leads slip away in a few games and they lost a few they probably shouldn’t have. However, they also beat Purdue twice and beat the Badgers IN Wisconsin for the first time in over a decade. They knocked off the PAC-12 champion Washington Huskies to win the Vancouver Showcase.
“There were a lot of good things that happened,” Grimm said. “Remember, this was one of the toughest Big Ten seasons, top-to-bottom. The Gophers didn’t have a bunch of easy wins anywhere on this season’s schedule. The Gophers had to play a total of nine games out of a possible ten against the top five teams in the conference.
“There’s really no reason to sit and argue about it,” he added. “If you want to call it a disappointment, then you haven’t done enough research or you’re just being lazy about it.”
He’s quick to say there were things that could have been done better. However, to say a coach should be fired after leading a team to a win in the NCAA Tournament is “ludicrous.” Grimm took it a step further, saying people who think Minnesota Gopher basketball shouldn’t be proud of this past season is “stupid, really.”
One of the bigger issues when it comes to the Gophers and social media was a sometimes-heated discussion over the contract extension given to Richard Pitino. The agreement will keep Pitino at the University of Minnesota for a total of another five years. It’s the third contract extension for the coach since joining the U back in 2013.
“There are some benefits to doing it now, especially when it comes to recruiting,” he said. “But I know it’s hard to forget the disappointment of the previous season. At one point, that team was 14-3 overall and ranked at No. 11 in the country. Then, the you-know-what hit the fan.”
That team went 2-14 the rest of the way as the wheels fell completely off the wagon. There were so many injuries to contend with, and then the suspension and expulsion of Reggie Lynch added a huge distraction to the season. “I’m not saying what’s right or what’s wrong,” Grimm added, “but there are probably schools where Reggie Lynch stays on the team.” However, there’s no question it’s a university policy and an important issue.”
The main thing about the Lynch situation Grimm wants to get across is it definitely played a role in the abysmal end to the season. Then, there were injuries to several players, including Amir Coffey, Dupree McBrayer, and Eric Curry, to deal with. That dragged everything down to a 2-14 record to end the season and any momentum from the NCAA appearance the prior season was lost.
“If he were sitting on three-straight tournament berths, which likely would have been the case if the wheels didn’t fall off last season, I don’t think too many people would be second-guessing,” Grimm said. “I know people cite the 40-70 Big Ten record, but it’s important to remember that this conference is tough every season. And, if you have two down seasons of 4-14 and 2-16 in the conference, it’s going to be hard to improve your record, even during successful seasons.
“The extension is also really good for recruiting,” Grimm said. “I know people want to dismiss it and say, ‘kids aren’t that dumb,’ but it does make a difference. Everything makes a difference.”
Grimm was frank in saying that if the school does want out of the deal with Pitino, it’ll actually cost the school less money next year than it would have without the extension. “I don’t know why people lost their minds over it,” he pointed out. “There are just some people that thrive on negativity in this market.
There are things you can nitpick when it comes to Pitino as far as in-game strategies and substitution patterns. However, that’s something fans can do with any coach. But Grimm said you can take that too far.
“To sound off about contract extensions and ask why they didn’t even have a news conference is crazy. There are certain people that love to be negative and won’t give anyone the benefit of the doubt. It’s the world we live in, and it’s an everywhere-thing, not just a Minnesota-thing. Negativity sells and people seem to love it.”