Gophers have difficult task ahead of them

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Conseco Field House, Indianapolis

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(8) Iowa vs. (9) Michigan

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The Gophers men's basketball team held its annual season-ending banquet Monday night. Tubby Smith took part in the event with an uneasy feeling.

The first-year Minnesota coach hasn't missed participating in an NCAA tournament since the 1992-93 season when he was at Tulsa, and he's never held a team banquet that early. He doesn't want his team to get the subliminal impression that its season is over before the Big Ten tournament begins today at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

"We had our banquet the other night, and I've never really had that at that juncture ... because I don't want them thinking that this is the end," he said. "To me, this is the beginning of another season."

Not necessarily.

Even if the Gophers play well, anything short of a title in Indianapolis wouldn't be enough to earn them a bid to the NCAA tournament. And there's the distinct possibility that a loss to Northwestern this afternoon could keep Minnesota out of the NIT.

The reality is evident. As guard Lawrence Westbrook put it Wednesday: "We've got to win out to get into the [NCAA] tournament."

Their postseason destination -- the NCAA, the NIT, the CBI or their favorite couch at home -- won't be known until Sunday.

But they know the reason for their perilous status: inconsistency. The Gophers were outrebounded at Illinois by 26 in their regular-season finale Saturday.

After that dreadful outing, Smith rounded up shoulder pads and football helmets for Monday's practice to teach the Gophers a lesson about toughness. He's also decided to use some of the team's younger players -- Al Nolen, Blake Hoffarber, Jon Williams and Damian Johnson in particular -- in the game's final minutes, when the Gophers have deviated from the game plan in close contests.

Smith said "certain players" haven't performed well in tough games. Translation: He's not going to go to his seniors anymore just because they're veterans.

While most teams enter the Big Ten tournament with a stability developed over an 18-game conference schedule, Smith continues to make changes to give Minnesota a better chance of winning.

"I think I see now who needs to be in the game at that particular time because we've tried it with certain people in the game down the stretch and it hasn't worked, so maybe we'll have different personnel in there that can make those plays at the end," he said. "I think that's been the biggest challenge we've had. I've gone with experience at that juncture, but it hasn't seemed to pay off."

Even though Minnesota defeated Northwestern twice this season -- 82-63 at home on Jan. 9 and 92-72 at Evanston, Ill., on Feb. 6 -- Smith said the Gophers can't look beyond Thursday's game.

"They're a team that's very capable of getting hot," he said.

That's what Gophers players hope happens to them during the tournament. They say they have the energy needed to play four games in four games. It's clear Minnesota's practices haven't eased up much.

As Johnson talked to reporters Wednesday about the importance of the Big Ten tournament, streams of sweat traveled down his cheek and his stringy left arm trembled from exhaustion. He said this week's practices and film sessions served as a reminder of what the Gophers must do to beat the odds and finish strong.

"Everybody has the same goal right now," Johnson said. "Everybody wants to stay until Sunday. Everybody packed clothes for four days. I think a lot of guys are just hungry."