Minnesota finds success in last year's failures

MILWAUKEE — Minnesota’s trip to the NCAA tournament began long before the Golden Gophers boarded a plane in Minneapolis on Tuesday evening.

Before the Big Ten tournament. Even before that pivotal, eight-game winning streak last month.

To see how Minnesota got here, its first tournament appearance in four years, you have to go back to last season. To locker rooms that were as quiet as they were disappointed, where turmoil seemed to be the only constant.

“As hard as last year was,” coach Richard Pitino said Wednesday, “it helped us.”

Easy to say that now, with the Gophers a No. 5 seed — their highest since they were a No. 1 seed in 1997, an appearance that was later vacated — and Pitino’s star on the rise again as the Big Ten coach of the year.

But the foundation for this year’s success was laid in last year’s misery.

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Pitino and the Gophers had about as bad a season as a team could have last year. After winning 25 games Pitino’s first year and 18 his second, the bottom fell out with an 8-23 record. Worse was a 14-game losing streak to start the Big Ten season.

That’s two months for those who don’t have a calendar handy. Almost half the season.

Add to that the suspension of three key players for the last four games after a sex video was posted accidentally on social media, and it’s no wonder people were wondering if the Gophers could turn it around. And if Pitino, the onetime wunderkind and son of Hall of Famer Rick Pitino, would be around when they did.

Tough as all that was to endure, however, it hardened Pitino and the Gophers. So when they found themselves on a five-game skid early in the Big Ten season, they didn’t panic.

“Losing five games in a row after last year, that was nothing. I could handle that one,” Pitino joked.

Turning serious, he said, “I think last year definitely equipped us for this year, you know, because we had lost a bunch of close games last year. And I think with Nate Mason, Dupree McBrayer, Jordan Murphy — they were on the court for a lot of those games last year.”

Minnesota wasn’t playing poorly, Pitino said. With the exception of the first loss, to Michigan State, all were by seven points or fewer. Two were by two points, including a 78-76 overtime loss to then-No. 17 Wisconsin.

It was discouraging, sure. But it didn’t feel like a tailspin.

“We had to look back mentality-wise,” Murphy said. “We had to get tougher and better and get back in practice and work even harder than we were to get back to what we were doing.”

The Gophers got a much-needed break from the schedule makers, beating a reeling Illinois to stop the slump. Then Murphy took off.

He scored a career-high 25 points in the next game, a double-overtime win against Iowa, and would average 15.6 points and 12.4 rebounds as the Gophers won eight in a row to put themselves in NCAA contention.

Minnesota lost the regular-season finale to Wisconsin — Murphy had only six points in 14 minutes — then beat Michigan State in the Big Ten quarterfinals to clinch a tournament bid.

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“I think last year helped everybody stay pretty composed and poised and believing that we could go on a run,” Pitino said. “I'm not sure I anticipated an eight-game winning streak. I did think we would break through.”

The Gophers will have their resolve tested again Thursday afternoon against Middle Tennessee. Though Minnesota is the better seed — No. 5 to the Blue Raiders’ 12 — anyone who follows the tournament know this is the matchup that’s the equivalent of a trap door.

Or a pie in the face.

Middle Tennessee isn’t your typical 12th seed, either. It returns its two highest scorers from the team that stunned second-seeded Michigan State last year, and got even more dangerous with the addition of JaCorey Williams, who is averaging 17.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.

“We’re excited about being the underdog,” Pitino said. “We’ve been the underdog all year. It will be another great opportunity.”

An opportunity created from of the ashes of last season.

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Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour

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