In many ways, the 2009-10 Minnesota Golden Gophers were exactly what the Northwestern Wildcats are hoping to be this season. Minnesota was tall (13th nationally), blocked shots (8th), and held opponents to a low percentage on twos (26th). They didn't rebound particularly well, but they were still adequate enough defensively to post a positive efficiency margin in Big Ten play and sneak into the NCAA Tournament. This storyline is exactly what Northwestern should be hoping for this season, although I'm sure they'd rather not have to make an unlikely run to the Big Ten title game for it to come true.

The Golden Gophers rode something of a roller coaster all season, and we should have seen the omens very early. Over Thanksgiving weekend, Minnesota knocked off the Butler Bulldogs, a great win by any measure, and then went out the next day and lost to Portland. This up and down play was visible in the conference season as well, where the Gophers beat Ohio State and Wisconsin but lost to Indiana, Northwestern, and Michigan. This type of profile just screams .500, and that's exactly where Minnesota ended up in Big Ten play.

The big story, of course, was the run as a six seed to the Big Ten championship game, including an overtime upset of Michigan State and a total de-pantsing of a Hummel-less Purdue. Ohio State would be the ones administering the de-pantsing in the championship on Selection Sunday, but the strong finish still proved to be enough for the Gophers to reach the NCAA Tournament. Even with a first-round Tournament loss to Xavier, it left a much better flavor in the mouths of Minnesota fans than an NIT bid would have.

Offensively, this team's strengths were not what you'd expect of such a tall lineup. The perimeter was where Minnesota really shined, with Blake Hoffarber, Lawrence Westbrook, and Devoe Joseph combining to make over five treys a game at a 43 percent clip. Twin towers Ralph Sampson and Colton Iverson were both excellent rebounders and shotblockers, but their combined presence was rather small on the offensive end. Westbrook was unquestionably the team's offensive leader, and he handled the role with solid efficiency. Damian Johnson's versatility was important on both ends, distributing and stealing the ball like a guard and blocking shots and making twos like a center. This was easily the best offensive team Tubby Smith has had at Minnesota, and a fair chunk of it is now gone. The defensive identity figures to remain somewhat intact, despite the loss of Johnson's steals and blocks, but there are suddenly a lot of shots available for the taking. We'll look at the candidates to take those extra shots in our next post.

- Posted by Mike Portscheller