March Madness: Remembering the Gophers’ 1997 Final Four* Run
I remember the tournament in 1997 but not the regular season. Again, I was pretty young and did not have cable at the time so I can’t imagine I was able to watch much Gophers basketball that regular season. Sounds like I missed quite the show.
The team led by Bobby Jackson and Sam Jacobson ran up a 31-4 overall regular season record including 16-2 in Big Ten play. The team was perfect at The Barn that season, going 14-0 at Williams Arena. The Barn is one of the truly great arenas in college basketball, but it really stands out when the Gophers are good. They ended up winning the Big Ten Championship. Considering that has only happened three times since 1971-72, that’s a major accomplishment.
The Gophers finished the regular season at #3 in the Associated Press poll and earned the top seed in the Midwest Regional for the NCAA Tournament.
Next: The Tournament