Theo Zahn's Golden Gophers

[squidpants]

After three winning seasons at Army, including 2 NCAA appearances, one Elite 8, two Patriot League championships, and two Patriot League Coach of the Year awards, the Minnesota Golden Gophers have offered Coach Theo Zahn their head coach position. We now join the legacy already in progress.

[vandnbyriver5]

these are popping up even as i load back to the Legacy board!
the Gophers will be fun, good luck

[squidpants]

Thanks man. I figured I've been reading them long enough, time to do mine. I'll give a little history on my career to bring it up to date.

[elprez98]

Thanks man. I figured I've been reading them long enough, time to do mine. I'll give a little history on my career to bring it up to date.

Army? :shock: Good luck man....and welcome to the club!

[K Bomber]

All I can say is "Be all that you can be"..........

I don't suppose you have Bill Murray and Harold Ramis as players?

[squidpants]

I don't suppose you have Bill Murray and Harold Ramis as players?


LOL, nice. I should have called my legacy "Theo Zahn Earns His Stripes." However, I've already moved on from Army to Minnesota, but I'll give a little recap.

My first year I played on All-Conference. Army is actually a good 3 pt shooting team, I think they have 5 guys over 30 in 3pt, but they are VERY small and bad at rebounding, only two or three guys over 6'6, and my backup center was hurt for most of the year, so I had SFs as my backup center and backup PF, which made for some interesting shuffling. So I did a lot of running and three point shooting and shot my way to the Elite 8 (which is of course a lot easier on All-Conference) and got Patriot League coach of the year, but no job offers.

Army also has 8 seniors, which is why I picked them, and since so many guys graduated, including my pretty good starting PG and most of the good three point shooters, I went for all my needs, big guys, rebounders, defenders and a couple who I thought would be good 3 pt shooters, but the switch to All-American proved I was wrong on that last one! That 2nd year at Army I started the season ranked #24, but I lost my first 5 games and could not shoot threes to save my life. My new PGs were not very good, but I still managed to win 18 games thanks to my manchild center and dunk machine freshman SF and winning about 12 in a row to end the year. I lost in the conference championship to Bucknell, who was my main rival each year. I used to hate playing them, they'd always be really tough. It was pretty cool though to have a rival like that. I didn't make the tourney that year, which was too bad.

Then my third year I got a good 3 star PG and a good 2 star SG who became my leading scorer, won 18 again and won the conference championship over Bucknell. I was a 16 seed in the tourney and lost by 2 to UNC in the first round, which was a great game, I missed a last second shot. Then I got offers from Northwestern State, Penn, and Minnesota, which I took. Next I'll post a bit about the Golden Gophers team.

[squidpants]

Announcer: Welcome to Minnesota Sportsnight, I'm your host Pete Fredriksen here with Theo Zahn, head coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers. After 3 successful seasons at Army, Coach Zahn has inherited a Golden Gopher team that has been near the bottom of the Big 10 for the past few years.

Coach Zahn has done well so far, through 18 games his Gophers are 13-5 and rated in the top 50 in RPI thanks to a tough conference schedule and some wins over ranked teams. So tell us about your team, coach:

Zahn: Thank you for having me, Pete. My starters are

6'1 SO PG Sam Matera, a good distributor and three point threat, averaging 7.4 ppg 2.9 apg

6'3 JR SG Howard Radziejewski (pr rad-za-shev-ski), a great scorer who can drive and shoot midrange jumpers and can dish the ball with the best of them. He currently leads the nation in scoring, 19.9 ppg, 2.1 apg

6'7 SR SF Jabahri Gray, a slashing scorer who can pull off all kinds of acrobatic dunks, 8 ppg 2.7 rpg

6'9 JR RF Howie Shavies, a good rebounder and defender but not much of an offensive threat, 4.1 ppg, 7.1 rpg

6'9 SR C Delvon Padgett, a big time dunker and good rebounder, 11 ppg, 7.8 rpg

We usually go about 9 or 10 deep, since we run a lot. My bench guys are

6'3 SO PG John Sampson, a solid pass-first point guard, plays in control but not is as much of a scorer as Matera, 4.5 ppg, 2.8 apg

6'3 SO SG Paul Jackson, a streaky scorer who has had some huge games off the bench, 10.3 ppg

6'7 FR SF Jason Edwards, a very good defender but needs a little work on his offensive game, 3.3 ppg, 1.7 rpg

6'8 SO PF Will Jones, a solid defender and rebounder, 2.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg

6'10 SO C Alec Peters, a big time rebounder off the bench, he has gotten a few double doubles, 3.8 pgg, 5.6 rpg

Reserves
6'7 SO SG Delbert Perkins, a big guard and can drive well, but doesn't get a lot of minutes. He's the best free throw shooter on the team.

6'8 FR PF Wesley Miller, a freshman who we are letting develop, he should see more playing time next year

So far, Radziejewski has been my go-to guy, he leads the nation in scoring and has really not had a bad game. We're not shooting well from behind the arc, but luckily our free throw shooting has been great, around 75% as a team, which leads the conference. We're an uptempo team and we average the most assists and points in the conference, which I'm happy to see, since it means we're getting easy baskets. We've been turning the ball over more recently, which we need to work on and we're not the best rebounding team, but we can usually hold our own, then push it down the floor quickly and look for the layup. When we're in the half court, we go to Delvon or kick it out for an open jumper, or try to drive the lane with Howard or give it to Jabahri to drive the baseline.

Fredriksen: You've had a tough schedule so far, with close losses against #10 North Carolina, #11 Michigan State, which went to OT, #26 Tennessee, and wins against #25 Iowa and #21 Wisconsin.

Zahn: Yeah, we were fortunate to play some good teams before the conference schedule to toughen us up and give us some confidence. The Big Ten is very tough this year, right now there are 4 ranked teams in our conference, and we hope to make it 5 by the end of the year. We play a lot of these teams again and we have yet to play Michigan, who is also ranked.

Fredriksen: Well coach, thank you for joining us, but that's all the time we have for now. Stay tuned for lots of hockey and a special message from Jesse Ventura.

[squidpants]

Sportscaster: I'm Pete Fredriksen here with Minnesota Coach Theo Zahn. So, tell us about your last game against Michigan.

Zahn: Basically, we got destroyed. We couldn't penetrate their 2-3 zone, we were killed on the defensive boards, and we got into foul trouble. I would say it was the refs, but we were playing at home.

Fredriksen: Yes, Michigan made 21 of 25 free throws against your team's 5 of 9 and both [starting SG] Radziejewski and [starting PF] Shavies fouled out.

Zahn: We played terribly. I mean, we had 6 assists and we could not stop them on offense. They shot, what, over 50%? And we shot around 30? Howard [Radziejewski] had his worst game of the season [6/18 shooting, 15 points]. Their defense was just tough.

Fredriksen: Michigan shot 54.5% from the floor, Minnesota 37.3. So, any changes for next game?

Zahn: Yeah, we may add a press defense if nothing else is working out. We really need to stop shooting threes if we're getting outrebounded too.

Fredriksen: Ok, thanks coach. Final score, 82-57, back to you in the studio.

[baitman]

Go...Go...Gophers!!!!!!!

Great to hear from ya again Squid......good luck with the Big 10...that should be a very challenging conference.

later,
baitman

[squidpants]

Thanks Bait, I'm liking the Big Ten, but I'm not used to my conference schedule being harder than my non-conference schedule!

[baitman]

I hear ya' bro.........The Big 10 is definitly a brutal conference.

But, you'll do just fine.....once again best of success in your rise to glory at the reins of the Golden Gophers.

later,
baitman

[squidpants]

Gophers Drop Close One to #11 Michigan State, 88-84

A missed free throw and missed putback killed the Golden Gophers' hopes of knocking off conference foes Michigan State. Down by 4 with 7 seconds left, senior SF Jabahri Gray made his only basket of the game on a layup, narrowing the Michigan State lead to two and drawing a foul in the process. Gray then missed the free throw, which was rebounded by senior C Delvon Padgett, who had a huge game, 12 points and 13 rebounds. However, Padgett missed the putback and Michigan State grabbed the rebound and took in the length of the floor for the buzzer beater.

"We just lost to the better team," said Minnesota coach Theo Zahn. "We played nearly flawlessly, just a few little things at the end kept it out of our grasp. I'm hopeful though, we're really gelling."

Zahn's Gophers, mired in a 3-game losing streak, shot over 50% from the field and were 5-13 from behind the arc, the best percentage of the year. They blocked 10 shots, had 5 steals, and had 15 assists versus only 10 turnovers.

For much of the first half the teams traded baskets until Minnesota built and quickly lost a 10 point lead, dwindling to 2 at halftime. The second half was back and forth until the last few minutes when the Spartans pulled away, draining open threes and getting production from SG Mike Slattery, who scored all 19 of his points in the second half.

Some Gophers had good games, like senior C Padgett's double-double and junior SG Howard Radziejewski, who ended with 29 points on 11-21 shooting, 3-7 behind the arc. Backup SG Paul Jackson scored 13 and was 2 for 5 from three point range. Backup C Alec Peters had 10 rebounds in 8 minutes, making up for the Gophers' anemic PF play, which amounted to 2 points and 5 rebounds between starter Howie Shavies and backup Will Jones.

Rarely used freshman PF Wesley Miller played SF for 8 minutes after neither starter Jabahri Gray and backup Jason Edwards, a freshman, scored a point or grabbed a rebound. Miller answered the call, playing well in his brief time on the floor, posting up smaller defenders and driving the lane, ending with 6 points on 3-4 shooting as well as 2 rebounds.

"We usually don't get many rebounds from our SF position, and lately Jabahri and Jason have had trouble getting shots," said Zahn. "I think Wesley will definetly see more playing time at SF."

[Martin Dihigo]

cool start Squidman

i like the strategy when u started w/Army and took advantage of them having many seniors :idea: . Sounds like you found a good mix of challenge and fun too - going to the tourny and battling tough games. Whats your record so far this year with Minnesota?
all i can say bout the Michigan game is ouch!

[squidpants]

Thanks MD, that game was tough. Fun though, I like close ones. After that loss I was 12-8, 5-5 in conference (I think).

[squidpants]

Minnesota Recruiting Update from the U-M Gazette.

The following is a transcript from our recent interview with first-year men's basketball coach Theo Zahn about next year's recruiting.

Gazette: So coach, how does recruiting here differ from Army?

Zahn: For one, a lot more players are interested in the school, which is great, and there are a lot of good players from Minnesota and the surrounding area. There was a lot more competition at Army, since there were probably 20 schools at least the NYC metro area. Unfortunately, I have to travel a lot farther here. North Dakota is a long way away!

G: What are your needs for this season?

Z: Well, Delvon [Padgett] is graduating, and he's our leading rebounder and second-leading scorer. I'd like a widebody center who can score and rebound like he can. Alec [Peters, sophomore C] is a great rebounder, but he needs to work on his offense in the offseason. We also need some more production out of our SF position, especially since Jabahri [Gray, senior] is graduating. I'd like to see more rebounding from there, but maybe Wesley [Miller, sophomore PF/SF] can provide it. Jason [Edwards, freshman SF] is a great defender but needs to work on his all around game.

G: Anything else?

Z: I'd like a big power forward, but we are pretty set. Maybe a shooter we can redshirt. Radzi [Howard Radziejewski] and Paul [Jackson, both shooting guards] will have us set for awhile.

G: Do you think Radziejewski will go pro? He leads the nation in scoring at over 20 a game.

Z: I sure hope not. He'll be a great, great college player. I'm going to encourage him to score.

G: What about recruits who have committed to other schools?

Z: Well, that always happens. We've had a couple local big men who were interested is us verbal elsewhere. We've just got to keep trying with other players. If you win, they will come.

G: Thanks coach. Good luck.

Z: Thanks.

[squidpants]

Golden Gophers Drop Another, Lose to Indiana 66-61

Coach Zahn's Gophers could not get through Indiana's defense, shooting 38% from the floor in their fourth loss in a row. The Hoosiers (11-11) slow-down style of play hampered the usually high-tempo Gophers (13-9), with star SG Howard Radziejewski leading the team with 12 points, his second-lowest total of the season.

"Basically we couldn't penetrate their zone and we couldn't hit outside shots," said Zahn. "We didn't get a lot of good looks." The Gophers ended with 10 assists, the second-lowest total of the year. The Gophers turned the ball over 14 times as well.

While the game was fairly close at half time, 28-24 in favor of the Hoosiers, poor shooting in the second half allowed Indiana to pull away. The Gophers were outrebounded again, the third time in a row, 25-34.

"If we're going to get beat on the boards like that, we need to block shots, get turnovers, and get easy baskets," said Zahn. "We forced 20-some odd turnovers, but we couldn't capitalize."

In the few bright spots for the Gophers, senior C Delvon Padgett grabbed 10 rebounds, and rarely used sophomore F Wesley Miller scored 8 points as the backup SF. Miller's minutes have increased a lot recently, as he has gotten most of the minutes of backup SF Jason Edwards, who has been doing little offensively recently.

"He's been in a bit of a slump, but Wesley's really stepped up. I'm glad we tried him out there. Solid defender too."

The Gophers face Purdue (10-11) in their next game.

[squidpants]

Minnesota Ends Losing Skid, Beats Purdue 87-62

Minnesota stopped its losing streak in a big way this Sunday at home against Purdue. The Golden Gophers led for nearly the entire game, cruising to a 25 point victory. Junior SG Howard Radziejewski led the team with 24 points on 11/16 shooting, 2/3 from three point range, and added 5 assists.

"it's good to be home," said head coach Theo Zahn. "We played three tough road games, and this game we just played a lot looser. "We didn't force things and we got our running game going well. We shot well from three, and we had a lot of well-executed fast breaks."

While the team was outrebounded again, the Gophers shot 60.6 percent from the floor and handed out 17 assists, including some specatcular alley-oops. Sophomore PG Sam Matera added 12 points and 2 assists, and surging sophomore forward Wesley Miller added 12 points and 2 boards. The Gophers' next opponent is Illinois, at home.

[vandnbyriver5]

Squid
dont worry about the losses man, the Big Ten is tougher than a 50 cent steak in ESPNCH.
BTW, the reason there are no big guys on army is that a prerequisite is being able to fit in a tank! :D

[squidpants]

BTW, the reason there are no big guys on army is that a prerequisite is being able to fit in a tank! :D

Haha, I hadn't thought of that! I guess they are good three point shooters because they do lots of target practice. :lol:

[squidpants]

Gophers Lose One, Win One to End Season

In a busy weekend, coach Theo Zahn's Golden Gophers split two games, ending the regular season at 16-10, 8-8 in conference. The Gophers lost a tough one to 13-13 Ohio State, then turned around and clobbered 10-18 Penn State.

At Ohio State, rebounds were the difference, with the Gophers getting outrebounded by 15, 48-33, including 15-3 on the offensive glass.

"Basically, we couldn't get position," said Zahn. "They came away with everything."

Despite shooting 48% from the floor, including 21 by the nation's leading scorer, junior SG Howard Radziejewski and getting 18 assists, the Gophers could not overcome the Buckeyes, falling 75-64.

The Gophers' return home for their last game turned out a lot better, keyed by junior SG Howard Radzijewski's 29 points and 6 assists in the Gophers' 86-61 win over the Penn State Nittany Lions.

"We played alot more open," said Zahn. "We worked the ball around, got open looks, and pushed it down the court when we could." Minnesota shot 68% from the game, including 18 on fast breaks, and held the Nittany Lions to 37% from the floor.

Senior C Delvon Padgett scored 14 and added 10 rebounds, sophomore F Wesley Miller added 12, and senior SF Jabahri Gray added 10, all of his points coming in the first half.

Two of the Gophers' main recruiting targets, C Quentin Perkins and SF Jacob Wethers were at the game and came away pleased.

"It was great to have them here for the last game," said Zahn. "They got to see the intensity and a well-played game by us. I think both Quentin and Jacob will see that rely on those two positions."

[squidpants]

Golden Gophers Lose in Conference Tournament, Miss NCAAs

Coach Theo Zahn's Minnesota Golden Gophers, who finished the season in fifth place in the Big Ten, lost their second round game in the conference tourney to Illinois 73-66. The Gophers, who grabbed a first round bye, shot over 50% from the floor, but under 40% in the second half.

"We didn't have good shots and we didn't get to the line," said Zahn. The Gophers had only 4 foul shots all game. "For us to win, we need to drive the lane and not settle for long jumpers. We also settled for threes when we should have passed it around a few times."

Junior SG Howard Radziejewski scored 24, including 15 in the first half, to lift his NCAA-leading scoring average to 20.9 points a game. Delvon Padgett had a bad game, scoring only 4 and grabbing 3 rebounds, while Illinois had 6 players in double figures, and shot 55%. Freshman F Wesley Miller, who played a lot more as backup SF towards the end of the year, was the only other Gopher to score in double figures, adding 10.

"I think Wesley will get a lot more time next year," said Zahn.

Finishing at 16-11, the Gophers did not make the NCAA tournament, watching all four Big 10 teams with better records make it. Despite the loss, coach Zahn was pleased with his team.

"Of course I would have liked to have won this game," said Zahn. "Who knows if we had made it. We were on the Bubble Watch, and this popped it. But we did well, we improved a lot and we've got a good core coming back." Last year, Minnesota's record was 6-19. Zahn's former team, Army, made the NCAAs this year as a 16 seed, winning the Patriot League tournament.

Luckily for Zahn, star SG Radziejewski decided not to go pro and will return for his senior season. The Gophers lose two players, both of whom were starters: SF Jabahri Gray, who averaged 7.5 ppg and 2.3 rpg, and C Delvon Padgett, who averaged 11.3 ppg and 8.0 rpg. Padgett was the team's leading rebounder and led the nation in field goal percentage, at 66.4%

"I'll miss these guys, they were both great guys and could really take over a team. It'll be hard replacing them."

Soon we will publish a review of post-season awards and a recruiting recap for the Gophers.

[squidpants]

Golden Gophers Preseason Report

The Minnesota Golden Gophers had a good offseason for recruiting, finding a freshman starter and other talented youngsters. In total, the Gophers snagged two centers (one who will start) a power forward, a big shooting guard, and a good shooting small forward who will battle to start.


This Year's Roster
(seniors in orange, freshman in brown)

Starters:

PG Sam Matera 6'1 170 Junior 82 overall
7.0 ppg, 3.1 apg last season

SG Howard Radziejewski 6'3 187 Senior 84 overall
20.9 ppg (#1 NCAA), 2.0 apg

PF Wesley Miller 6'8 239 Soph. 79 overall
4.2 ppg, 1.8 rpg in limited minutes

PF Howie Shavies 6'11 229 Senior 82 overall
4.3 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 1.3 rpg

C Duncan Marshall 6'11 231 Fresh. 76 overall
Good shooter with long range, good rebounder

Bench:

PG John Sampson 6'3 193 Junior 77 overall
4.4 ppg, 2.3 apg

SG Paul Jackson 6'5 193 Junior 78 overall
10.6 ppg (#3 on team)

SG Craig Hunter 6'7 214 Fresh. 74 overall
Good shooter, decent defender

SF Mike Hart 6'6 195 Fresh. 69 overall
Good shooter

SF Jason Edwards 6'7 228 Soph. 76 overall
2.6 ppg, 1.7 rpg, solid defender

PF Will Jones 6'8 224 Soph. 77 overall
2.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg

C Alec Peters 6'10 253 Junior 76 overall
3.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg

Redshirts

C Jibrahn Shaw 6'10 229 Fresh. 75 overall
Good defender, rebounder

SG Delbert Perkins 6'7 225 Junior 77 overall
Little used SG, good defender

PF Bryant Brown 6'8 248 Fresh. 74 overall
Widebody, needs some polishing

[nickm]

Just to let you know, I'm looking foward to the next season. I think your first season was done great, and hopefully you may be able to sneak into the NCAA's next year.

[squidpants]

Just to let you know, I'm looking foward to the next season. I think your first season was done great, and hopefully you may be able to sneak into the NCAA's next year.

Thanks man, I'm glad to know people are reading it and interested. I've got a tough schedule, maybe too tough, but we'll see how my freshmen can handle it.

[squidpants]

Freshmen Come Up Big as Gophers Roll Over Quakers

Two Golden Gophers freshmen scored 15 as Minnesota beat Penn 88-63 in the first round of the Kush Preseason Invitational. In all, four Gophers scored in double figures as the team shot over 65% from the floor.

"We played a great game," said second year coach Theo Zahn. "We made good passes, got everyone involved, and hit the boards well."

Freshman C Duncan Marshall and SF Mike Hart both scored 15 for the Gophers, with Marshall adding 9 rebounds and a three pointer. Hart was 6-7 from the floor and scored his points off the bench, including two three-pointers.

Zahn said he was happy to see the freshmen produce so early.

"It was great to see. We definitely made the right choices with our recruiting. Hart was on fire and Duncan was solid all game."

The Gophers outrebounded the Quakers 28-21 and held them to 38% shooting. Penn offered Zahn their head coaching position two years ago after reaching the NCAA tournament with Army, but Zahn chose Minnesota instead.

Senior PF Howie Shavies added 12 points and 8 rebounds and senior SG Howard Radziejewski scored 15 and dished out 5 assists.

The Gophers next face the Arkansas Razorbacks, who were ranked ninth in the preseason ESPN poll.

[squidpants]

Gophers Run Over by Razorbacks

The Arkansas Razorbacks soundly defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers, 80-64, in the second round of the Kush Preseason Invitational.

The Gophers struggled early, shooting 32% from the floor in the first half and rarely getting to the foul line. By halftime, the Gophers had taken 1 foul shot to the Razorbacks 13. By the end of the game, the Gophers had committed 22 fouls to Arkansas' 7.

"Referees don't lose teams the game, but they certainly didn't help us," said coach Theo Zahn. "They called everything, the tiniest touches, and they called a lot of blocks that I would said were charges." Both senior SG Howard Radziejewski and junior PG Sam Matera fouled out, and many others were in foul trouble for the game.

The Gophers played uncharacteristically sloppy ball, with 17 turnovers to go with only 9 assists. Radziejewski led the Gophers with 13 and freshman C Duncan Marshall added 10 and 7 rebounds.

The Gophers next face the Clemson Tigers in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.[/b]

[K Bomber]

A promising start to the new season, the Gophers are digging a hole for their competition. Are you running with Roleplay Sliders?

Have fun............

[squidpants]

the Gophers are digging a hole for their competition.


Haha, yah, I'm all about the puns so far. "Gophers roll the Quakers," get it. Rolled Quaker Oats. :roll:

Anyway, I'm using the El Prez 2.55 sliders, with some tweaks to make three pointers a little easier to make. I'm still shooting about 25% though.

[squidpants]

Gophers beat Clemson 93-77

Coach Theo Zahn's Minnesota Golden Gophers beat the Clemson Tigers today in a high-scoring Big 10-ACC Challenge game. The Gophers shot 67.5% from the floor, including over 80% in the second half. The Tigers shot 51.6% for the game.

"They shot a little too well for me, but we played great," said Zahn. "We passed the ball well and got a lot of fast break points, which we're always looking to do." The Gophers scored 22 points on fast break, their highest total since last year's game against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Junior PG Sam Matera scored a career high 16 points to go with 4 assists, and senior SG Howard Radziejewski scored 20. Freshman C Duncan Marshall had another good game, adding 12 points and 6 boards.

The Gophers also came out on top on the boards, with 36 rebounds to Clemson's 23. Their next game is against (i forget), their second game in their first four against a ranked team. So far the Gophers have played all four 4 games against teams that made the NCAA tournament last year.

"We were going for another tough schedule," said Zahn. "I wanted to toughen up everybody for the conference season, which if it's like last year, is going to be very difficult."