Are Gophers NCAA-worthy? Test begins as Big Ten opens

Draped from the Williams Arena rafters is a modest procession of maroon-and-gold banners. Among them is one that lists every year the Gophers men's basketball team has made an NCAA tournament appearance. There is plenty of room remaining for additions to that one.

Minnesota has only been to the Big Dance 12 times in its history, and four of those years were ultimately vacated — and removed from the banner — after the crushing academic scandal in 1999. On the other end of the arena, the conference championship banners haven't budged to include a newcomer in nearly two decades: the Gophers' last title was in 1997, a championship also since vacated.

Since then, the program has finished higher than sixth in the Big Ten only three times, fired three head coaches and has planted itself firmly in middle-of-the-pack territory. For 17 years, the Gophers and their fans have watched promising seasons abruptly veer off the tracks.

Also hanging in Williams is a banner that lists NIT appearances, highlighted most recently by the 2014 tournament championship.

What Williams banner will feature "2015" after the season? Everyone inside hopes it's the NCAA drape, not the NIT.

That was the plan when athletic director Norwood Teague dismissed Tubby Smith, who won a national title with Kentucky in 1997-98, and hired youngster Richard Pitino in April of 2013. The message was unspoken but clear: Change. Growth. Pitino would be expected to improve the program to relevancy once again.

"We don't have apathy in our fan base — that's something that really drives the whole basketball program," Pitino said. "We've got great fan support, and they're waiting for something great to happen.

Now in his second season, the 32-year-old coach has constructed an unlikely bunch that is showing hints it could be the team to break out of mediocrity.

The defense has been stifling. The offense has been dynamic. These Gophers are flawed, but as intriguing as any team in recent memory in a season that has featured as much interleague chaos and instability as any.

November and December games mean little when it comes to competing for championships and adding to banners. But could talent and chemistry mixed with circumstance be the right recipe?

"The Gophers are certainly ready," Big Ten Network analyst Brent Yarina said, noting the team's powerful offense, a capable leader in senior guard Andre Hollins and legitimate big man in senior Mo Walker, something of a rarity in the Big Ten this year.

On the BTN broadcast of Minnesota's last nonconference game against UNC Wilmington, analyst Shon Morris declared the Gophers "one of the best three teams in the Big Ten."

"The thing with the Big Ten this year is everyone outside of Wisconsin is sort of in that middle of the pack," he said. "There's nothing really holding Minnesota back from being fourth in the Big Ten, and this year, that would be more than enough to make the [NCAA] tournament."

Asked whether he believes his team had improved in a way that would translate to taking the next steps, Pitino himself didn't hesitate.

In scouting for Wednesday's Big Ten opener at Purdue, the coach watched a tape of his team against the Boilermakers last year and was struck by the difference.

"We're better now than we were last year," Pitino said. "We're much better."

At the news conference announcing his hire, Pitino promised a speedy pace and suffocating defense. As the games played out, the Gophers finished dead last in the Big Ten in defensive efficiency.

"Pitino is playing the way he wants to now," Borzello said. "They're getting more steals. They're getting more points off their defense. And that's what they need because they're not a big team."

But improved as it is, the defense is still not the highlight. The offense can claim its own No. 1 ranking: most assists in the country. Point guard DeAndre Mathieu leads the charge, and the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.9-to-1). But despite losing veteran guard Austin Hollins and three-point specialist Malik Smith, the Gophers offense looks varied and dynamic.

Freshman guard Nate Mason aptly fills in for Mathieu and Hollins off the bench and has been stellar in his own regard. JUCO transfer Carlos Morris has been better than advertised, with his slippery drives to the basket. Walker, starting for the first time, has developed more post moves and gotten stronger in imposing his will under the hoop.

In a wacky early season in which seven Big Ten teams — Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Purdue, Indiana, Rutgers and Northwestern — have all suffered head-scratching upsets in guarantee games at home, reshuffling power rankings everywhere, those improvements might mean more than usual.

But Minnesota will also have to patch its weaknesses. The Gophers have threatened to undo their feisty defensive work with too many turnovers. Their free-throw percentage still lingers below 70 percent. And with a short rotation, small power forwards and only one true rebounder (reserve center Elliott Eliason) on the roster, the Gophers are tied for second-to-last in rebounding in the league.

After games, Mathieu hears echoes of the same messages he sees on Twitter and Facebook.

"This could be the year," followers tell him.

"You guys are looking good."

"I just hope you guys play to your potential."

"I hear a lot of that," Mathieu said. "Especially this year."

"We can fulfill that," Mathieu said of the fans' dreams. "We're definitely going to try to give them what they want."