Say, the Gophers might make the tournament

And by "might" I mean, if they finish .500 the rest of the season, they almost certainly will. Despite knuckleheads like Jim Souhan complaining that Tubby Smith hasn't done anything (you know, besides getting 4 star recruits to sign with the team and increasing the season win total threefold since he's been here), the Gophers, without star inside presence Trevor Mbakwe are destined to make the tournament.
The team is 16-6, with a 10-5 record since Mbakwe went down (on top of a more difficult schedule), and only two of those games can be considered embarrassing. Sure, losing to Iowa is tough, but the Hawkeyes also beat Wisconsin in Madison and Michigan at home. The Gophers also only lost that game by two.
Minnesota's two worst losses, really, are at home to Purdue and a blowout loss at Michigan State. The non conference loss to Dayton coincided with Mbakwe's injury, and they took Illinois to two overtimes and made Michigan play all 40 minutes.
The schedule the rest of the way for Minnesota is tough, certainly, but I believe they shouldn't have a problem hitting 20 wins (at least) and earning a ticket to the Big Dance. I'm not the only one, either. ESPN, CBS and NBC have Minnesota in their projected brackets. Not only that, but CBS has the Gophers as a 9 seed.
It might not be what Souhan wants to hear, but Tubby Smith has done a good job coaching this team through serious adversity. See you in March

OH, good, people ARE calling for Tubby Smith's head

People are, in fact, clamoring for a change in Minnesota. The local papers and some pundits are talking about Tubby Smith being on the hot seat. For his part, Tubby seems to think he will be getting an extension, which makes sense, given that this team, a disappointment for many, would have been vastly better than most of the teams Dan Monson put together. Still, there are calls for his head.
I continue to assert that Minnesota is not a big enough program that they can do much better than Tubby Smith. I decided to get someone else's opinion on the matter.

There you go. The Star Tribune's Michael Rand recognizes that the calls for Tubby Smith's axing are fairly aimless. I gladly call for a coach's head when he deserves it (Ron Gardenhire, Danny Hope), but Tubby Smith doesn't deserve to lose his job.

Tubby Smith is a good coach

I was stunned.... STUNNED to see the reaction on Twitter the other day after the Gophers had the audacity to ONLY defeat South Dakota State by 16. People calling for Tubby Smith's head, like he is some sort of failure. Seriously?
All right, let me spell something out. As a native Minnesotan, and a Gophers fan from my youth, I have to say that Minnesota is not an elite program. It is not the type of place that will attract talent because of it's history. The Twin Cities are not the type of place young people with a choice will ever voluntarily choose to live, unless they are from here originally. This is the type of team that needs a big name coach, and Tubby Smith has been that coach.
Oh, you disagree? Never minding his reputation from Kentucky, where after winning a title, the team went kaput, look at what happened when Smith took over for Dan Monson. In 7 years as the Gophers coach, Monson took the team to 1 NCAA tournament, which occurred in the same year that they won over 20 games... the only year they won that many. Almost immediately, Smith turned the Gophers around. Last year was the first under his purview that the team DIDN'T finish with 20+ wins, and was only the 2nd time he didn't reach the NCAA Tournament,. Most of this was due to some devastating injuries, particularly to point guard Al Nolen.
And don't say the improvement is because anyone is better than Monson, or something like that. Monson turned Gonzaga into a household name, taking them to the Elite 8 in 1999, and since he left the Gophers, he has turned Long Beach State around in 4 years. The Gopher program needs Tubby Smith, and you are mistaken if you feel otherwise.

Why is Jim Souhan such a dickbag?

I had to use that term, as my friend used it several times in conversation today. But really, what IS Jim Souhan's problem? Since baseball season hasn't started yet, he hasn't had an opportunity to mention how much he hates Delmon Young, so he has, instead, turned his attention to Tubby Smith and the Gophers.
In yesterday's paper, he drafted this work of journalistic brilliance: Uh, Kentucky, y'all were right about Tubby.
He spent the first 5 paragraphs calling Kentucky fans racist idiots (the gall!) before turning his attention to Tubby, labeling him a disappointment in his 4 seasons in Minnesota. In one season, the Gophers went from 8 wins to 20 under Smith, and haven't dipped below 20 wins since. He also alleged that Tubby has done a poor job of recruiting and doesn't have a discernable offense.
Well, the Gophers are being rebuilt from the scandalous years at the turn of the decade, and he managed to bring in a top 25 recruiting class in 2007-08. The issue was, with the increased light on the academic responsibilities of the team, his fuse was shorter and players were held to a higher standard, leading to the departure of some players like Devoe Joseph. Then Al Nolen gets hurt a couple of times, and a pair of elite prospects, both point guards, are done, taking away the offense that he would otherwise have. And the Gophers STILL have 17 wins, on pace for another 20.
Sure, he hasn't won in the postseason, but when has Souhan ever spoke ill of Ron Gardenhire, who has had more chances and a longer postseason drought? The rest of the article was a petty jab at a lot of Tubby's unspoken motivation. He is just in it for the money, he is a whiner, and he doesn't get along with his players.
If I didn't know any better, that sounds more like Jim Souhan than Tubby Smith.