1996–97 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1996–97 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball

Big Ten Regular Season Champions (Vacated)
NCAA tournament, Final Four (Vacated)
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 3
Record	0-4 (31–4 unadjusted) (0-2 (16–2 unadjusted) Big Ten)
Head coach	Clem Haskins (11th season)
Assistant coaches	Larry Davis Bill Brown Charles Cunningham
MVP	Bobby Jackson
Home arena	Williams Arena
Seasons← 1995–96 1997–98 →

1996–97 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Iowa	12	–	6	.667	22	–	10	.688
Purdue	12	–	6	.667	18	–	12	.600
No. 19 Illinois	11	–	7	.611	22	–	10	.688
Wisconsin	11	–	7	.611	18	–	10	.643
Indiana	9	–	9	.500	22	–	11	.667
Michigan State	9	–	9	.500	17	–	12	.586
Ohio State	5	–	13	.278	10	–	17	.370
Penn State	3	–	15	.167	10	–	17	.370
Northwestern	2	–	16	.111	7	–	22	.241
No. 3 Minnesota*	0	–	2	.000	0	–	4	.000
Michigan*	0	–	9	.000	0	–	11	.000

Rankings from AP Poll Michigan: 24 games vacated; including NIT champ. vacated due to sanctions against the program Minnesota: 5 NCAA Tournament games vacated due to sanctions against the program Disputed records: Michigan-(24–11)(9–9); Minnesota-(31–4)(16–2)

The 1996–97 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team represented the University of Minnesota during the 1996–97 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team, coached by Clem Haskins, played their home games in Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota as members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 31–4, 16–2 in Big Ten play to win the Big Ten championship. They received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region. There they defeated Southwest Texas State and Temple to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. In the Sweet Sixteen, they defeated Clemson and UCLA to advance to the Final Four for the first time in school history. There they lost to Kentucky.

In 1999, an academic fraud scandal revealed that Minnesota academic counseling office manager Jan Gangelhoff had done coursework for at least 20 Minnesota basketball players since 1993. Four players from the Minnesota basketball team were immediately suspended, pending an investigation for academic fraud. Head coach Clem Haskins, men's athletic director Mark Dienhart, and university vice president McKinley Boston all resigned. The NCAA sanctioned Minnesota by vacating all appearances in the 1994, 1995, and 1997 NCAA Tournaments and 1996 and 1998 National Invitation Tournaments, as well as individual records of those student-athletes found to have committed academic fraud. The NCAA further issued show-cause penalties for Haskins and Newby (both until October 23, 2007) and Gangelhoff (until October 23, 2005). The Gophers were also stripped of the Big Ten title due to the scandal.

Roster

1996–97 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	3	Russ Archambault	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	Sartell	Fort Yates, ND
F	4	Courtney James	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	270 lb (122 kg)	So	Ben Davis	Indianapolis, IN
G/F	5	Sam Jacobson	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	Park	Cottage Grove, MN
C	12	John Thomas	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	275 lb (125 kg)	Sr	Roosevelt	Minneapolis, MN
G	15	Aaron Stauber	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Sr	Sheboygan	Sheboygan, WI
G/F	20	Quincy Lewis	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	So	Parkview Arts and Science Magnet	Little Rock, AR
F/C	22	Kevin Loge	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Fr	Morris Area	Morris, MN
G	24	Bobby Jackson	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Sr	Western Nebraska C.C.	Salisbury, NC
G	33	Eric Harris	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Jr	St. Raymond	New York, NY
C	34	Charles Thomas	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	So	Harlan	Harlan, KY
F	42	Miles Tarver	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	So	St. Joseph Notre Dame	Oakland, CA
C	50	Trevor Winter	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	275 lb (125 kg)	Sr	Slayton	Slayton, MN
C	51	Kyle Sanden	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Fr	Lincoln	Thief River Falls, MN

Head coach

Clem Haskins (Western Kentucky)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
November 23*	No. 23	Stephen F. Austin	W 101–55	1–0	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
November 26*	No. 24	West Virginia	W 76–61	2–0	Target Center Minneapolis, MN
November 29*	No. 24	vs. Puerto Rico-Mayagüez San Juan Shootout	W 104–62	3–0	San Juan, PR
November 30*	No. 24	vs. Creighton San Juan Shootout	W 64–63	4–0	San Juan, PR
December 1*	No. 24	vs. No. 10 Clemson San Juan Shootout	W 75–65	5–0	San Juan, PR
December 5*	No. 16	at Alabama	L 67–70	5–1	Coleman Coliseum Tuscaloosa, AL
December 15*	No. 17	St. John's	W 77–39	6–1	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
December 17*	No. 16	at Rhode Island	W 82–72	7–1	Keaney Gymnasium Kingston, RI
December 21*	No. 16	at Nebraska	W 70–56	8–1	Bob Devaney Sports Center Lincoln, NE
December 23*	No. 16	Alabama State	W 114–34	9–1	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
December 28*	No. 15	Long Island University	W 104–84	10–1	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
December 31*	No. 15	Mercer	W 94–53	11–1	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
Big Ten regular season
January 2	No. 15	Wisconsin	W 65–48	12–1 (1–0)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
January 4	No. 15	at Michigan State	W 68–43	13–1 (2–0)	Breslin Center East Lansing, MI
January 8	No. 11	at No. 15 Indiana	W 96–91	14–1 (3–0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
January 11	No. 11	No. 16 Michigan	W 70–64	15–1 (4–0)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
January 14	No. 7	at Illinois	L 90–96	15–2 (4–1)	Assembly Hall Champaign, IL
January 18	No. 7	at Ohio State	W 73–67	16–2 (5–1)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
January 23	No. 8	Iowa	W 66–51	17–2 (6–1)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
January 25	No. 8	Purdue	W 91–68	18–2 (7–1)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
February 1	No. 6	at Northwestern	W 75–56	19–2 (8–1)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
February 5	No. 4	Penn State	W 85–70	20–2 (9–1)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
February 12	No. 3	at Purdue	W 70–67	21–2 (10–1)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN
February 15	No. 3	at Iowa	W 68–66	22–2 (11–1)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena Iowa City, IA
February 19	No. 2	Ohio State	W 60–48	23–2 (12–1)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
February 22	No. 2	No. 23 Illinois	W 67–66	24–2 (13–1)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
February 26	No. 2	at No. 24 Michigan	W 55–54	25–2 (14–1)	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI
March 1	No. 2	No. 22 Indiana	W 75–72	26–2 (15–1)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
March 6	No. 2	Michigan State	W 81–74	27–2 (16–1)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
March 8	No. 2	at Wisconsin	L 65–66	27–3 (16–2)	Wisconsin Field House Madison, WI
NCAA tournament
March 14* CBS Regional	(1 MW) No. 3	vs. (16 MW) Southwest Texas State First Round	W 78–46	28–3	Kemper Arena Kansas City, MO
March 16* CBS Regional	(1 MW) No. 3	vs. (9 MW) Temple Second Round	W 76–57	29–3	Kemper Arena Kansas City, MO
March 20* CBS Regional	(1 MW) No. 3	vs. (4 MW) No. 14 Clemson Sweet Sixteen	W 90–84	30–3	Alamodome San Antonio, TX
March 22* CBS	(1 MW) No. 3	vs. (2 MW) No. 7 UCLA Elite Eight	W 80–72	31–3	Alamodome San Antonio, TX
March 29* CBS	(1 MW) No. 3	vs. (1 W) No. 5 Kentucky Final Four	L 69–78	31–4	RCA Dome Indianapolis, IN
*Non-conference game. Rankings from AP Poll[. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest Source . All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

Main article: 1996–97 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Awards

Team MVP

Bobby Jackson

References

"Forfeits and Vacated Games". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved April 30, 2024.
"Big Ten Strips Minnesota of 1997 Title". ABC News.
"Golden Gophers Bury SW Texas State, 78-46". The Washington Post. March 15, 1997. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
"Minnesota Cruises Past Temple; Clemson Ousts Tulsa". The New York Times. March 17, 1997. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
"Gophers dig out 2-OT win over Clemson". The Baltimore Sun. March 21, 1997. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
"Golden Gophers Plow Into First Final Four". The Washington Post. March 23, 1997. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
"DI Men's Basketball Championship History | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com.
http://www.appollarchive.com/mbasketball/ap/seasons.cfm?appollid=747 Archived 2013-02-15 at archive.today AP Poll Archive – 97 Season
"1996-97 Minnesota Golden Gophers Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
"2019–20 Minnesota Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). University of Minnesota Athletics. Retrieved April 26, 2020.
Awards and Honors Archived January 10, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, May 4, 2006. Access date September 28, 2008.

v t e Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball
Venues	On-campus YMCA (1895–1896) UM Armory (1896–1925) Kenwood Armory (1925–1928) Williams Arena (1928–present)
Culture & lore	Goldy Gopher "Minnesota Rouser" Scandal
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearance in italics

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