STrib: Dream up a Gophers lineup

Donate To GopherHole
BleedGopher

BleedGopher

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 11, 2008
Messages
62,744
Reaction score
20,093
Points
113
per STrib:

TO CELEBRATE THE FINAL FOUR coming to Minnesota, the Star Tribune is asking readers to create three “dream teams”: an all-time Gophers team, an all-time Final Four team and a dream team made from the best players in Minnesota history, from any level, from any era. We’ll start with the Gophers, and watch for the other two Dream Team Machines later this month.

Dream Team Machine directions: Star Tribune reporters created a list of players and coaches to pick from. Now it’s your turn: Select a player for each position on the team and choose a coach. Once you've created your dream team, click "CHOOSE YOUR TEAM." If you need to change any of your choices, click "CHANGE MY PICKS" button. Voting remains open until Friday, March 22. We'll publish these results on Tuesday, March 26.

Here is the team I chose:

Starters:
Bobby Jackson (captain)
Lou Hudson
Willie Burton
Jim Brewer
Mychal Thompson

Reserves:
Kevin McHale
Trent Tucker
Ray Williams
Randy Bruer
Quincy Lewis

Coach:
Bill Musselman

http://www.startribune.com/dream-up-a-gophers-lineup/506842621/

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
per STrib:

TO CELEBRATE THE FINAL FOUR coming to Minnesota, the Star Tribune is asking readers to create three “dream teams”: an all-time Gophers team, an all-time Final Four team and a dream team made from the best players in Minnesota history, from any level, from any era. We’ll start with the Gophers, and watch for the other two Dream Team Machines later this month.

Dream Team Machine directions: Star Tribune reporters created a list of players and coaches to pick from. Now it’s your turn: Select a player for each position on the team and choose a coach. Once you've created your dream team, click "CHOOSE YOUR TEAM." If you need to change any of your choices, click "CHANGE MY PICKS" button. Voting remains open until Friday, March 22. We'll publish these results on Tuesday, March 26.

Here is the team I chose:

Starters:
Bobby Jackson (captain)
Lou Hudson
Willie Burton
Jim Brewer
Mychal Thompson

Reserves:
Kevin McHale
Trent Tucker
Ray Williams
Randy Bruer
Quincy Lewis

Coach:
Bill Musselman

http://www.startribune.com/dream-up-a-gophers-lineup/506842621/

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

Interesting list and a pretty good one. We really have had 6 players over the past 45 years that were impact players in the NBA:

Thompson, Hudson, McHale, Williams- terrific careers Jackson and Tucker- good solid ones. I'm not sure how other programs compare but it seems for a power conference team this is a real shortage of NBA level players.

Brewer was amazing at the college level- one of the best defensive players I've ever seen.

Guys who could have made the list with longer careers:

Rickert, Pryz, Humphries, Olberding
 

Here's mine:

Starters:
Mychal Thompson (captain) - Best Gopher ever.
Kevin McHale - Unstoppable shot.
Willie Burton
Bobby Jackson - Mr. Go to at the end of the game.
Ray Williams - Really think his Gopher stats were diminished because of the other players he played with.

6th man: Voshon Leonard (Minnesota's version of the microwave)

Bench:
Lou Hudson
Trent Tucker - Just another day in the office for Trent shooting threes.
Jim Brewer
Randy Breuer (end of the bench)

Coach:
Clem Haskins

The NCAAs are all about guard play, so I made sure to pick the highest scoring guards I could think of. Hoffarber would have been end of the bench if he was available!
 
Last edited:

bga1 said:
Interesting list and a pretty good one. We really have had 6 players over the past 45 years that were impact players in the NBA:

Thompson, Hudson, McHale, Williams- terrific careers Jackson and Tucker- good solid ones.
Click to expand...

Willie Burton would have had a much more productive NBA career without his anxiety issues.
 



I'd put Jordan Murphy on this team. His production is hard to beat and he'd be a monster off the bench as a high energy guy.
 

Pretty sad All-time team considering:

UNC had Jordan Worthy and Perkins all at the same time.

Michigan had Rose, Webber and Howard at the same time.

UNLV had Larry Johnson, Stacey Augman at the same time.

Duke had Laettner, Hill and Hurley at the same time.

Georgetown had Sleepy and Ewing at the same time.

And don't even get me started with UCLA.

These are just off the top of my head.

Would any of these guys not crack our all-time list with ease and the Blue Bloods fielded them naturally.
 

I would put my favorite Gopher Townsend Orr on the list, somehow. :)
 

Otis said:
Pretty sad All-time team considering:

UNC had Jordan Worthy and Perkins all at the same time.

Michigan had Rose, Webber and Howard at the same time.

UNLV had Larry Johnson, Stacey Augman at the same time.

Duke had Laettner, Hill and Hurley at the same time.

Georgetown had Sleepy and Ewing at the same time.

And don't even get me started with UCLA.

These are just off the top of my head.

Would any of these guys not crack our all-time list with ease and the Blue Bloods fielded them naturally.
Click to expand...


I see what you're saying, but remember we had Mychal Thompson, Kevin McHale and Ray Williams at the same time. That's not too shabby -- three top 10 NBA draft choices. Thompson was a number one overall NBA pick and had a 15-year career, Williams had a 13-year NBA career and McHale is in the hall of fame.

That team wasn't bad.
 



Hates Monikers said:
I see what you're saying, but remember we had Mychal Thompson, Kevin McHale and Ray Williams at the same time. That's not too shabby -- three top 10 NBA draft choices. Thompson was a number one overall NBA pick and had a 15-year career, Williams had a 13-year NBA career and McHale is in the hall of fame.

That team wasn't bad.
Click to expand...


Exactly. This team was loaded and was one of the best in the country. They finished the year 24-3. Not only did they have these three studs they also had Osborne Lockhart and flip Saunders. And a solid bench guy in Dave winey. Anyone who doesn’t think these three stack up to the others is too young and didnt watch them.
 

man some of you guys are ancient.

looking at these players has me wondering why klay thompson didn't play for the gophers.
 

bigtenchamps1899 said:
man some of you guys are ancient.

looking at these players has me wondering why klay thompson didn't play for the gophers.
Click to expand...

Yeah that would have been great. Also his son Mychael Thinpason Jr played D1 college ball and spent some time in the NBA. And he has a younger son who plays pro baseball and was with the White Sox the last I heard.
 

McHale as a Reserve? Didn’t he have the most productive NBA career? Realizing that is not college though.
 



Starters...
Bobby Jackson
Voshon Leonard
Sam Jacobson
Trevor Mbakwe
Randy Brewer

Bench...
Andre Hollins
Blake Hoffarber
Quincy Lewis
Kevin McHale
Reggie Lynch (Defensive substitution)
 

Jordan Murphy should at least be a reserve on this team. He's the best Gopher of the past 20 years in terms of impact while he's here.

Should Kris Humphries make the team? Based on his Gopher impact...certainly not. But he is probably one of the 10-12 best basketball players ever to wear a Gopher jersey.
 


Randy Breuer deserves a mention. Zebedee Howell for his name alone. Tucker has to be on the team iIMO. Imagine him with the 3. I loved that '82 team.

It is a shame the '78 team could not play in the tournament. That was a hell of a team. I was too young to understand what the hell happened and why. It is a shame they never had the chance.
 

It was the 76-77 team that went 24-3 with losses to Purdue and twice to Michigan. Thompson averaged 22pts, Williams 18pts, Lockhart 14, and McHale 12 as a freshman. Flip was also on the team.

Denied participation in the NCAA tourney due to NCAA violations stemming from Thompson selling tickets he received for free while Musselman was coach. Seems pretty minor on the violation scale now.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom