Searching for the kind of morale that evaded his team in recent weeks, Gophers men's basketball coach Richard Pitino treated his players to a night out at Buffalo Wild Wings after their film session on Monday night.
But as the squad downed plates of chicken wings, the Big Ten Network's conference awards show blared on big-screen televisions hanging over the players, announcing that for the second consecutive season no Gophers were honored, outside of a pair of honorable mentions for seniors Andre Hollins and Mo Walker.
One after another, some other team's player was named. Many times, the Gophers were the team shown getting scored on in that player's highlights.
" 'Can we change the channel?' " Pitino recalled joking. "It was a little depressing."
As the Big Ten tournament begins Wednesday in Chicago, the coach and his players are hoping to somehow do just that: broadcast a very different show than the one that's been playing over and over since the start of January.
Two and a half months ago, Pitino sat in front of a microphone at Williams Arena and announced he believed his team was better, "much better," than last year's squad that seized the NIT title after narrowly missing the NCAA tournament. They were capable of taking the next step, he said.
But lofty expectations wrought from a promising group of veterans plunged after an 0-5 conference start. The Gophers were buried in the standings by a cascade of close losses, ultimately dropping eight of 11 games this season decided by six points or fewer. On their home court, they managed to go just 4-5 in Big Ten games. The senior class, considered the team's strength, never lived up to its billing.
Now, after a crushing loss to Penn State on Senior Day, the tumble has amounted to this: The 11th-seeded Gophers are playing Wednesday against last-place Rutgers as one of the conference's bottom four seeds.
