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Foxsports.com: Walker to MN
- Thread starter Doogie
- Start date
You can go back further than that. Started following Gopher basketball in the 50's. I think Chuck Mencel was my first basketball hero. The team was up and down through the mid to late 50's but I seem to recall a game with Iowa at Williams that drew over 20,000. Iowa won sending them to the NCAA instead of us. With Kundla as coach in the early 60's we really had great basketball. Ron Johnson was a great player. A bit later there were Eric Magdanz, Terry Kunze, Mel Northway, Dennis Dvorocek. Best of all, as I became a student at the U, Lou Hudson, Don Yates, and Archie Clark arrived. Williams was generally packed. Hate to be an old-timer and I love Tubby, but if you think games are fun now, you ain't seen anything. There was a 1 point loss to NCAA champion UCLA at the end of the 60's that was as tense and exciting as it gets.
People don't realize what a strong program we had because only the conference champion went to the NCAA tournament. Early, Ohio State had their super teams with Jerry Lucas and later it was Michigan with Cazzie Russell. We could never quite get over the hump. It also hurt that things kept happening like Lou Hudson breaking his hand one year and Terry Kunze flunking out another year. As a matter of fact, the tradition of raised expectations followed by bad luck or plain stupidity ruining them, goes back a lot further than the younger crowd realizes. Certainly, way before Clem and Royce White.
Love the response. Thanks! There is a rich history that people don't realize. I don't go backthat far, but remember Mychal Thompson, Ray Williams, Ozzy Lockhart well. Played on my nerf hoop all the time pretending to be players from that team, and a favorite gift was a Mychal Thompson like necklace. Also remember them playing North Carolina and UCLA in the regular season.
There was some great basketball. Getting great recruits nationally isn't new - just was a long lapse.