Clem Haskins, Gophers stung by U's silence 20 years after Final Four run

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That was the best season of Gopher basketball ever, within a great ten year run. So much fun. That team was awesome - four first round draft choices, and Court he probably could have been.


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Is it possible to petition the NCAA and reverse their decision to strike our records from history?
 





The Banners

I don't buy it for a second that no one at the U knows where the trophies and championship banners are. Plenty of people know exactly where they are. Someday they'll be back on display, but probably still going to be quite awhile.
 

I've seen the big ten banners before. About ten years ago they were in a hallway in Mariucci. Don't know where they are now though.


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They will never be on display. It is not something the school is proud of and have moved on from the stench of cheating. Schools that vacated final fours and conference titles do not display anything representing those periods of time.
 





builtbadgers said:
They will never be on display. It is not something the school is proud of and have moved on from the stench of cheating. Schools that vacated final fours and conference titles do not display anything representing those periods of time.
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This is the way it has to be. But there is something irrational and ridiculous about pretending something didn't happen when it did.

As for the question of whether Minnesota or North Carolina is worse, it's not even in the same galaxy. Minnesota had been doing things the right way, then got lazy and frustrated and started doing the things that other programs were doing and getting away with. North Carolina sought to out-crook everyone else using innovative methods and unprecedented scope and did so over the course of decades.
 

Clem is lucky he isn't outright persona non grata on University property.

Mark Rotenberg probably blew a gasket when Tubby was talking with him right after he got hired.
 

I think the nail in the coffin for Clem was the Fab Five and Chris Webber specifically. I think their success and feeling he was in the running on Webber (whether he really was or not) broke his resolve. He ended up compromising his principles on how he ran the program in order to keep up with the Joneses and got caught cheating the system. I'll remember many of Clem's years fondly, but can't make myself feel good about what he did just because he has rationalizations about why he did it and that other people did it and got away with it or are getting away with it.
 

I hope we don't forget the mistakes of the past, but if the NCAA chooses to continue turning a blind eye toward UNC's infractions, would it be within the realm of possibilities to sue the NCAA for reinstatement of the U of M's records? We still dealt with the punishment of loss of scholarships and reputation. I think we may have a case...
 


It's funny, I was only a child when this went down. I don't have a single memory of this season. But it still hurts....
 

LakerFan said:
I think the nail in the coffin for Clem was the Fab Five and Chris Webber specifically. I think their success and feeling he was in the running on Webber (whether he really was or not) broke his resolve. He ended up compromising his principles on how he ran the program in order to keep up with the Joneses and got caught cheating the system. I'll remember many of Clem's years fondly, but can't make myself feel good about what he did just because he has rationalizations about why he did it and that other people did it and got away with it or are getting away with it.
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Well stated. I'll never forget one of the years they Gophers were just on the edge of making the tournament, maybe 93 or 94 and had the same record as Purdue with Glenn Robinson. Boilers made it and Gophers didn't and Clem said as clear as day in his disappointment, "Maybe I'll have to sell my soul for a superstar." It was a grim foreshadowing of what would happen.

I'm not forgetting the shame of the scandal, but I'm not forgetting the basketball either. Pitino must have seen the story as last night he made reference to the 97 team at the banquet, saying that "even though we're not supposed to talk about it, the 97 Final Four team was the best ever, but this team is certainly one of the best ever at Minnesota." I thought it was nice of him to give a hat tip to 97.
 


Dan Barreiro‏ @DanBarreiroKFAN: Clem, having owned up to nothing, as self-appointed martyr 20 years after: As credible as a Gangelhoff term paper.
 

SelectionSunday said:
I don't buy it for a second that no one at the U knows where the trophies and championship banners are. Plenty of people know exactly where they are. Someday they'll be back on display, but probably still going to be quite awhile.
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jmag21 said:
I've seen the big ten banners before. About ten years ago they were in a hallway in Mariucci. Don't know where they are now though.


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Asked in another thread but seems more applicable here.

Those banners have to be somewhere, right? Maybe in a Regents man-cave?

I'm pretty confident it wouldn't happen for a variety of reasons (political - Dayton would probably open an investigation, media, NCAA sanctions) but I'd love it if the U just said F it and hung them. (again this is what I'd like to see....not saying it's a good idea or anything)
 

GophersFan101 said:

Dan Barreiro‏ @DanBarreiroKFAN: Clem, having owned up to nothing, as self-appointed martyr 20 years after: As credible as a Gangelhoff term paper.
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Unfortunately, I have to agree with this. :(
 


SelectionSunday said:
Yep, Clem playing the martyr card not a good look.
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For sure. I mean, I would respect him a little bit if he actually owned up and took a little responsibility for what transpired. That will probably never happen though as his "The U needs to give me a hug and love me again" comments certainly don't indicate that.
 

While the NCAA's cowardice in refusing to engage in any of its revisionist history based on what happened at North Carolina, which was basically the same as what happened here except that it was about one hundred times larger in scope, is maddening, Clem Haskins would have a hard time being a less sympathetic "victim". The guy who spent 15 years bragging and telling everybody how he stood for all the right things and was a paragon of virtue never, to my recollection, gave a full accounting of what happened - either a defense/justification of his program, an apology for what happened, or some combination thereof. In fact, the buyout agreement had a clause requiring him to hold a press conference, but that never happened. Instead he just took his money and ran back to Kentucky.
 

I think they should display the banners and trophies in a large circular trophy case outlined in red with a slash through it!

It could say, "Oh what could have been if not for a few people willing to do what UNC continues to do."
 

Despite what happened still doesn't take away what happened on the court. Best Gopher bball team ever assembled.
 

FWIW - best Gopher hoops team ever - 1976-77. Not able to play in NCAA due to penalties from violations during Musselman era. Beat NCAA champion Marquette during regular season. Lineup: Flip Saunders, Ray Williams, Goose Lockhart, Kevin McHale, Mychal Thompson, Dave Winey and Steve Lingenfelter. Would have had Mark Olberding, but he left school and played for Musselman in the ABA.

With all due respect to the Final four team, the 76-77 team would have killed their front line. The guard court would have been a great matchup - Bobby J vs Ray Williams - I'd pay good money to watch that.
 

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