Where Are They Now?
When Jim Shikenjanski (Shik) chose to play for the Gophers over offers from Wisconsin and Michigan, the Rockton, Illinois native thought he was coming to play for former Big Ten Coach of the Year, Jim Dutcher. But midway through his senior year of high school, the scandal in Madison rocked the Gopher program as the team forfeited a game, lost numerous players to suspension, Dutcher quit and a black cloud surrounded the program. But a loaded recruiting class that included Shik, Willie Burton, Richard Coffey and Melvin Newborn (he had to sit out his freshman year) restored the pride of the Gopher program and put together back-to-back seasons that resulted in two of the most prolific post-season runs in Gopher history.
Shik remains a popular figure in Gopher sports in part because of his hair, in part because of the memory of hearing Dick Jankowski enthusiastically saying “œSHIKENJANSKI” and in large part for putting Gopher basketball back on the map in March of 1989 and 1990.
After playing a couple of years of pro ball overseas, Shik returned to the Twin Cities where he now resides with his wife and three sons. He recently took time out of his schedule to chat with GopherHole about his decision to play for The U, having to deal with the aftermath of the Madison scandal, the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 runs and his excitement on the addition of Tubby Smith to Dinkytown.
GH: Where has your post Gopher career taken you?
Shik: After I finished up at The U I played two years of professional basketball overseas. I played in Germany, Brussels, Stockholm and Hong Kong. I enjoyed playing but I had a job opportunity back here in Minneapolis and it was just time to go that route, but before I did I played for one of the Marathon Oil exhibition teams, which was a blast. We played 21 games in 30 days at some of the best college basketball venues in the nation including Clemson, South Carolina, Texas, Arizona, Arizona State, Boston College, Illinois and on and on. For a guy that played a non-conference schedule that usually got some heat for not being difficult, playing a month long for Marathon Oil sure put a different perspective on things.
More importantly in my post-Gopher career is that I have a beautiful wife and three great sons who are 2, 4 and 6 years old. Hopefully all three are future Gophers. Two of the three already love basketball and the other thinks he is going to be a golfer.
I also work for Crown Imports which is a beverage distributor where I manage a team in a multiple state region.
GH: Thinking back to your playing days, why did you choose Minnesota for college?
Shik: I grew up in a pretty small town in Illinois and when I came to the Twin Cities on my recruiting visit I fell in love with the city. I loved how big the city was and everything it had to offer in post-college career opportunities and I loved being in a city that had professional sports. Jim Dutcher and Jimmy Williams did a great job of selling the city. I also grew up wanting to play in the Big Ten and after the visit I knew this is where I wanted to be.
GH: As a high school player and future Gopher, how did the incident in Madison impact you?
Shik: I was actually at the game in Madison that night when Todd Alexander hit the winning basket at the buzzer to win. It was an awesome experience and I was so fired up that night. Then the next day one of my high school teachers asked me if I heard what happened after the game and I was shocked. Then the school president forced the team to forfeit a game and Coach Dutcher quit. But Dutcher and Jimmy Williams recommended I stick with my commitment and to be honest, I never considered going anywhere else. I chose Minnesota for the school and the city and that didn’t change after what happened in Madison. Then when Coach Haskins came in he immediately contacted us recruits and we remained committed.
GH: What were your first impressions of Coach Haskins?
Shik: I knew Clem a little bit because he recruited me while he was at Western Kentucky. But he did a great job of selling his vision for the program and I felt really comfortable with him, although I knew we’d have to come to play hard every day.
GH: Your first two years were pretty tough at Minnesota, how did you guys remain focused after so many loses?
Shik: Well my freshman year we started out 9-3 including 2-0 in the Big Ten and we kind of looked at each other and said “˜maybe we aren’t so bad after all.’ Well, that didn’t last long as we went on to lose 18 straight Big Ten games and suffered an incredible road losing streak that felt like it never would end. But to be honest, Coach Haskins never let our confidence waver. He had a vision for our group and he believed in us even when we didn’t always know if we could turn it around. But he made us work so hard in practice every day that we couldn’t do anything but improve. And as we entered our junior season I think we all kind of felt like we had paid our dues enough that our fortunes would turn.
And to top it off, our fan support was incredible. Even though we were losing, we rarely got blown out at home and that was a huge factor in our crowd. We believed we would win every game at The Barn and we felt it was our responsibility to never lose at home. We played our tails off and I think the crowd appreciated it and it was a great relationship we had with our fans.
GH: At what point did you realize that you were turning the corner?
Shik: My junior year we beat a highly ranked Iowa Hawkeye team at The Barn and at that point I think we all realized we could really compete with a lot of teams in the nation.
GH: Heading into the 1989 NCAA Tournament, how far did you think you could go?
Shik: Well when the pairings came out we saw we were matched up against Kansas State. We were the underdogs as the 11 seed against a 6, but we beat Kansas State earlier in the year and we were feeling pretty good. Willie had the face mask on and we played very well. Then in the second round we got some good fortune as Siena was a 14 seed who pulled off a big upset the round prior. Then against Duke in the Sweet 16, well they had a front line of Danny Ferry, Christian Laettner and Alaa Abdelnaby. We played them tough but in the end they were just too good and too big for us.
GH: What were your goals heading into the 1990 season?
Shik: We wanted to prove that our Sweet 16 run was not a fluke the season prior so we had a lot to prove. By that point we had a very balanced and pretty deep and experienced team so we knew we had a chance to have a great season. We wanted to at least match our Sweet 16 result of the year before.
GH: What do you remember most about the Elite 8 run?
Shik: To be honest, our first game against UTEP was probably our toughest game of the entire tournament. They had a front line of Antonio Davis, Greg Foster and former Gopher and NBA player, Marlon Maxey. That was a tough game and I think we had to go to OT to win it and they had like 15 blocks or something crazy. Heading into the Syracuse game I think we had an odd sense of confidence despite the fact that they were one of the top teams in the nation all year and had three stars in Billy Owens, Derrick Coleman and Sherman Douglas, but we were really playing well. I remember that both Willie and Bob Martin had big games and we pulled the upset.
Heading into the Georgia Tech game I think we all expected to win. We were playing so well at that time and Coach Haskins had us so fired up. Dennis Scott was on fire and we just couldn’t stop him. They were a perimeter team and we were a pound it down low team yet they shot like 25 more free throws than us and we still only lost by two points. That was a great run. Both of those seasons were so much fun and people still want to come up to me and talk about those games.
GH: Who was the best teammate you played with?
Shik: Willie was definitely the most talented player. He had so much natural ability and he would do some amazing things in practice and the games. Richard Coffey was our most fearless player and the heart and soul of the program. He was a tremendous competitor. But to be honest, we were so balanced. We had great size at guard with Kevin Lynch and Melvin Newborn and Martin and Bond off the bench rounded out a deep and talented team.
GH: Who was the best opponent you played against?
Shik: The best player I ever played against was definitely Glen Rice. He seemed to own us during his college career. The best athlete I ever faced was Nick Anderson.
GH: What former players and coaches do you still keep in contact with?
Shik: Most of the guys on that team stayed in the Twin Cities after their playing days so we see each other a decent amount. We’ll still play pick up ball and we’ll run into each other at Gopher games. It’s also nice that so many players from different eras stay in the area as well. That’s a tremendous asset here, whereas not as many former players stay in Bloomington, Ann Arbor or Iowa City like they do here.
I also keep in touch with Coach Haskins. He was in town a few weeks back and I had what was supposed to be a quick lunch with Coach and his wife Yvette. That quick lunch lasted for more than three hours as the three of us just shared old memories, caught up on what’s going on in their lives and just had a great time laughing and catching up. Coach Haskins is a special man. I can’t speak for what happened in the program after I left, but we were 100% clean and ran a program that we can take pride in. Coach Haskins is a mentor and friend to me and he is the first person I would list for a personal reference. Our group of players came in as boys and we left as men and that is because of Coach Haskins.
GH: Were you surprised that the Gophers were able to land a coach like Tubby Smith and what will it take for him to turn things around?
Shik: That was a heck of a hire. Tubby is about as reputable as you can get. I do hope that Gopher fans are patient because he has a lot of rebuilding to do. It could easily take a couple of years to get beyond the level that Coach Monson left the program in. It’s been a really bleak last few years and it will not happen overnight. There are two things that Coach Smith needs to do and first and foremost is pack The Barn again. That place can be the hardest place in the nation to play in when it is packed, but when it’s half full, it’s a vastly different facility. That is a big problem about Coach Monson as there wasn’t the pride in The Barn like we had under Haskins and hopefully what Tubby can bring. From there he obviously needs to recruit better players, but that will not be as easy as it seems as a lot of these guys, even the local guys, don’t know much about Gopher basketball anymore because we haven’t been relevant in a long time.
GH: Do you still go to Gopher games?
Shik: I do. I am a member of the Dunkers and as my sons get older its fun to take them to the games. I hope to be more involved and I’d like to see Tubby reach out the former players more. Coach Monson didn’t do that, but when I was getting recruited, Dutcher had Kevin McHale and Jim Peterson give me a phone call to talk about the program. When Michigan recruited me President Gerald Ford hand wrote me a letter. I know a lot of recruiting rules are in place now, but having former players show an interest is a great thing for the program.
GH: What does it mean to you be an integral part of one of the best Gopher teams of all time?
Shik: I think as I get older I appreciate it more. Our group accomplished a tremendous amount and I take a lot of pride in seeing those banners hanging at The Barn. It’s fun to share the memories with my wife and kids.
GH: Are you aware that there is a Gopher related blog entitled Paging Jim Shikenjanski?
Shik:(laughs out loud) Yea, my wife is big into the Internet and I think she found it and told me about it. I haven’t seen it yet, but maybe I’ll take a look some day. Hopefully it talks good about the Gophers.
Talk about Jim Shikenjanski and Gopher Basketball memories on Tubby’s Barn message board.