2006–07 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team

The 2006–07 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team represented the University of Minnesota in the college basketball season of 2006–2007. The team's head coach, Dan Monson, began his eighth season with the Gophers only to resign after a 2 win, 5 loss start. Assistant coach Jim Molinari took over for the remainder of the season on an interim basis. The Golden Gophers played their home games at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota and are members of the Big Ten Conference.

2006–07 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	9–22 (3–13 Big Ten)
Head coach	Dan Monson/Jim Molinari
Assistant coach	Niko Medved
Home arena	Williams Arena

2006–07 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 1 Ohio State†	15	–	1		.938			35	–	4		.897
No. 6 Wisconsin	13	–	3		.813			30	–	6		.833
Indiana	10	–	6		.625			21	–	11		.656
Iowa	9	–	7		.563			17	–	14		.548
Purdue	9	–	7		.563			22	–	12		.647
Illinois	9	–	7		.563			23	–	12		.657
Michigan State	8	–	8		.500			23	–	12		.657
Michigan	8	–	8		.500			22	–	13		.629
Minnesota	3	–	13		.188			9	–	22		.290
Penn State	2	–	14		.125			13	–	18		.419
Northwestern	2	–	14		.125			11	–	19		.367
† 2007 Big Ten tournament winner As of March 13, 2007 Rankings from AP Poll

Season

Coming off of a short NIT run at the end of the previous season, the Gophers, with no seniors on the roster, began 2006 in a slump. After losing 4 straight games, the final 3 at the inaugural Old Spice Classic in Orlando to take last place, the Gophers were beaten badly at home by Clemson on November 29. Head coach Dan Monson announced the next day that he would resign from his coaching duties, stating, "It's time for somebody else to make the next step and that's to have more success on the court than I had." Assistant coach Jim Molinari was appointed as interim head coach, but the Gophers could never quite get their season started, finishing with a disappointing 9 wins and 22 losses.

Roster

#	Name	Height	Weight (lbs.)	Position	Class	Hometown	Previous Team(s)
1	Lawrence McKenzie	6'2"	180	G	RJr.	Minneapolis, MN, U.S.	Minneapolis Henry HS Oklahoma
2	Ryan Saunders	6'1"	180	G	Jr.	Medina, MN, U.S.	Wayzata HS
3	Kevin Payton	6'5"	200	G/F	RFr.	Camden, NJ, U.S.	Camden HS
4	Travis Busch	6'4"	220	G/F	So.	Mounds View, MN, U.S.	Mounds View HS Cal Poly
5	Limar Wilson	5'11"	160	G	Jr.	Orlando, FL, U.S.	Lyman HS NE CC
12	Engen Nurumbi	6'7"	230	F	Jr.	Kinshasa, DR Congo	Arizona Western
13	Dan Coleman	6'9"	225	F	RJr.	Minneapolis, MN, U.S.	Hopkins HS
20	Lawrence Westbrook	6'0"	190	G	Fr.	Chandler, AZ, U.S.	Winchendon Prep
23	Brandon Smith	6'6"	205	G/F	So.	Minneapolis, MN, U.S.	Minneapolis Henry HS
30	Jon Williams	6'9"	285	F	RSo.	St. Cloud, MN, U.S.	St. Cloud Apollo HS Notre Dame Prep (MA)
33	Jamal Abu-Shamala	6'5"	200	G	So.	Shakopee, MN, U.S.	Shakopee HS
34	Damian Johnson	6'7"	192	F	RFr.	Thibodaux, LA, U.S.	Thibodaux HS
50	Spencer Tollackson	6'9"	267	C	Jr.	Chaska, MN, U.S.	Chaska HS
54	Bryce Webster	6'9"	240	F/C	Fr.	St. Paul, MN, U.S.	St. Thomas Academy

2006–07 Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Exhibition
November 3, 2006* 7 p.m., no		Bemidji State	W 88–32		Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
November 8, 2006* 7 p.m., no		Winona State	L 69–64		Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
Regular Season
November 13, 2006* 7 p.m., ESPN Plus/FSN North		North Dakota State	W 63–49	1–0	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
November 17, 2006* 7 p.m., no		Long Island	W 70–54	2–0	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
November 21, 2006* 7 p.m., ESPN Plus/FSN North		Iowa State	L 68–63	2–1	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
November 23, 2006* 1 p.m., ESPN2		vs. Marist Old Spice Classic – Quarterfinal	L 63–56	2–2	HP Field House  Orlando, FL
November 24, 2006* 11:30 a.m., ESPN2		vs. Southern Illinois Old Spice Classic – Consolation round	L 69–53	2–3	HP Field House  Orlando, FL
November 26, 2006* no, ESPNU		vs. Montana Old Spice Classic – 7th place	L 72–65	2–4	HP Field House  Orlando, FL
November 29, 2006* 8:30 p.m., ESPN2		Clemson ACC – Big Ten Challenge	L 90–68	2–5	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
December 2, 2006* 1 p.m., ESPN Plus/FSN North		Arizona State	W 66–63	3–5	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
December 5, 2006* 7 p.m., no		at Alabama–Birmingham	L 88–81 2OT	3–6	Bartow Arena  Birmingham, AL
December 7, 2006* 1 p.m., no		South Dakota State	W 77–53	4–6	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
December 9, 2006* 1 p.m., ESPN Plus/FSN North		Arkansas–Little Rock	L 67–66	4–7	William's Arena  Minneapolis, MN
December 12, 2006* 7 p.m., no		Central Florida	W 74–63	5–7	William's Arena  Minneapolis, MN
December 22, 2006* 9 p.m., ESPN Plus/Mtn network		at UNLV	L 62–58	5–8	Thomas & Mack Center  Paradise, NV
December 30, 2006* no, no		SE Louisiana	W 63–61	6–8	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
Big Ten Regular Season
January 3, 2007 7 p.m., ESPN Plus/KSTC-45		Purdue	W 65–59	7–8 (1–0)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
January 6, 2007 3:37 p.m., ESPN Plus/KSTC-45		at No. 4 Wisconsin	L 68–45	7–9 (1–1)	Kohl Center  Madison, WI
January 13, 2007 3:37 p.m., ESPN Plus/KSTC-45		at Iowa	L 60–49	7–10 (1–2)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, IA
January 17, 2007 6 p.m., ESPN2		Illinois	L 64–52	7–11 (1–3)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
January 20, 2007 1:30 p.m., ESPN Plus/KSTC-45		Northwestern	L 55–40	7–12 (1–4)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
January 24, 2007 6 p.m., ESPN Plus/FSN North		at No. 6 Michigan State	L 70–46	7–13 (1–5)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
January 27, 2007 11:15 a.m., ESPN Plus/KSTC-45		Penn State	W 65–60	8–13 (2–5)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
January 31, 2007 7 p.m., ESPN Plus/KSTC-45		at Northwestern	W 62–55	9–13 (3–5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, IL
February 3, 2007 7 p.m., ESPN Plus/FSN North Tape-Delay		at Illinois	L 59–49	9–14 (3–6)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, IL
February 7, 2007 7 p.m., ESPN Plus/FSN North		Iowa	L 91–78	9–15 (3–7)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
February 10, 2007 7 p.m., ESPN Plus/FSN North		at Michigan	L 82–80	9–16 (3–8)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
February 14, 2007 7 p.m., ESPN Plus/FSN North Tape-Delay		No. 3 Wisconsin	L 75–62	9–17 (3–9)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
February 18, 2007 12 p.m., CBS		No. 2 Ohio State	L 85–67	9–18 (3–10)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
February 21, 2007 6 p.m., ESPN Plus/KSTC-45		at Indiana	L 71–59	9–19 (3–11)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
February 24, 2007 1:32 p.m., ESPN Plus/KSTC-45		Michigan	L 62–51	9–20 (3–12)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
February 28, 2007 8 p.m., ESPN Plus/FSN North		at Purdue	L 66–47	9–21 (3–13)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, IN
2007 Big Ten tournament
March 8, 2007 11 a.m., ESPN2	(9)	vs. (8) Michigan First Round	L 49–40	9–22	Conseco Fieldhouse  Indianapolis, IN
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Rankings

The 2006–07 Minnesota Golden Gophers basketball team was not ranked during the season.