2004

Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunctioned and Facebook was launched. But enough with the disasters already.

The Minnesota Timberwolves and the Minnesota Gopher women’s basketball and volleyball teams all had their best years ever.

#12 (tie) Athlete Kevin Garnett Kevin Garnett was the best decision the Minnesota Timberwolves ever made. The Wolves have flubbed a lot of personnel decisions over the years, but when they picked Garnett with the #5 pick in the first round in 1995, they gave themselves a chance. It’s not Garnett’s fault that they they never surrounded him with the players needed to optimize his incredible talent. Garnett played for the Wolves for twelve years, averaging 20 points and 11 rebounds with highs of 24 and 14 in 2004. The Timberwolves rose from the ashes with 21 wins, then 26, then 40, then their first winning season with 45 in 1998. There were 50 wins in 2002, then 51, then 58 in 2004. The Wolves made the playoffs every year from 1997 to 2004, but it was only in 2004 that they ever won a playoff series. Garnett was named NBA MVP. The Wolves regressed rapidly after that, and Garnett was traded to the Boston Celtics. He was no longer the Kevin Garnett of old, yet the Celtics put enough talent around him to win an NBA title. He retired as the #18 scorer and the #9 rebounder in NBA history. But, even with that, the Timberwolves just couldn’t get it together.

#23 (tie) Season Minnesota Timberwolves Win Their Only Two Playoff Series Ever Unable to support Kevin Garnett through the draft, in 2004 the Timberwolves went out and got Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell on the free agent market, and they clicked. Garnett scored 24 points per game, Cassell and Sprewell 37 between them. The Wolves had the best record in the Western Conference of the NBA, one game ahead of San Antonio, two games ahead of the L.A. Lakers.  In the playoffs, the Wolves defeated Denver four games to one, then the tough Sacramento Kings four games to three, winning game seven 83-80 at Target Center. Cassell scored 40 points in game one of both series. In the conference finals against the Lakers, the Wolves had the home court advantage but lost game one and never caught up. This was the Lakers of Kobe and Shaq, but Kobe was not yet Kobe and Shaq was no longer Shaq. They were ripe to be beaten, but they were not beaten by the Wolves. They were beaten, manhandled, really, by the Detroit Pistons, four games to one in the finals.  After the season, Sprewell turned down $21 million. He never again played in the NBA, and the Wolves have never contended again.

#16 Coach Flip Saunders Flip Saunders would tell you that as a player, he was small but slow. But, hey, he led Ohio in scoring his senior year, 1973, at 32 points per game. He came to Minnesota where he started 101 out of 103 games. In 1995, he jumped directly from the CBA to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Was it Flip or was it Kevin Garnett who accounted for the Wolves improvement over the next several years? Maybe both. In any event, Saunders remains today the only Timberwolves coach ever to win a playoff series. The Timberwolves win total slipped from 58 to 44 in 2005, and general manager (GM) Kevin McHale fired Saunders and took over the coaching reins himself. The Wolves slipped further, and further, and further. Saunders moved to Detroit, where he won three division titles. Not too many people know that , but Saunders’ agent said the move couldn’t be announced until the Pistons season was over. Gopher AD Joel Maturi said, no, the Gophers couldn’t be perceived as lacking a coach for that long, and the deal fell apart.

#12 (tie) Athlete Lindsay Whalen Lindsay Whalen never played in the state tournament. She never made all-state. Susan King and Holy Angels were in her section and her conference and won everything. King went to Stanford where, in the 1990s, they won 280 games and two NCAA titles. King blew out her right ACL and ended up scoring 8 points per game in 86 games, and played in two Elite Eights. Lindsay came to the University of Minnesota where, in the 1990s, they won 78 games. Lindsay scored 20 ppg in 113 and led the Gophers to a Sweet 16 and the 2004 Final Four.  Attendance at Gopher women’s basketball games grew from about 1,000 to more than 9,000 in Lindsay four years. She finished with 2,285 points, #1 among the Gophers at the time and #5 in the Big 10. She won all-America honors in three different seasons. She was drafted by the Connecticut Sun. In six years there, she scored 11 ppg and made first team all-WNBA in 2008. She played in the WNBA finals as a rookie, but the Suns fortunes faded slowly after that.  Lindsay was traded to the Minnesota Lynx in 2010. In nine seasons, she averaged about 11 ppg and 10 in eight playoff seasons. The Lynx of course won four WNBA titles in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017. She was first team all-WNBA twice more (2011, 2013), second team in 2012 and 2014, and led the league in assists three times. She played in a total of seven WNBA finals, a league record. She is among the WNBA’s official “20@20,” the 20 best players in its 20 seasons of operation.  In 2018, Lindsay played on final year with the Lynx, scoring nine ppg as the Lynx finished 18-16 and lost their only playoff game. This was also her first year as head coach at her alma mater. In two seasons, now, the Gophers are  37-26 but just 14-22 in the Big 10.

#23 (tie) Season #26 Event Gopher Women Surprise Duke  to Win a Trip to the Final Four The Gopher women had been to exactly one NCAA tournament until Lindsay Whalen arrived. In 2002, her sophomore year, the Gophers were 22-8, beat UNLV 72-54 in the NCAA tournament, then lost to North Carolina 72-69, and finished up at #18 in the rankings. In 2003, they were 25-6 and went to the Sweet 16. They won at mighty Stanford 68-56 in the second round and were rated as high as #11. In 2004, Lindsay Whalen broke her hand and missed about four weeks of action. They Gophers finished 25-9 but fell from second to sixth in the Big 10. The got a #7 seed in the NCAA tournament. With Lindsay back, they beat #10 seed UCLA, #2 Kansas State and #3 Boston College to set up an Elite Eight matchup against Duke in their back yard at Norfolk, VA. Duke was 30-3 and ranked #1 in the country. Whalen scored 27 points and Janel McCarville 20 to lead the Gophers to their first win ever over a #1 team, 82-75. But, the big star was freshman Shannon Bolden. Bolden scored 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting, and held Duke all-American Alana Beard to 10 points on 4-for-14. Still, the Gophers led just    50-49 with McCarville headed to the bench with her fourth foul. Duke tied it up at 59, but Bolden drained a three. Then, a pair of Whalen layups made in 72-68with just 56 ticks on the clock. The Gophers made 10-of-12 free throws after that. They lost to two-time defending champion Connecticut in the Final Four 67-58. UConn beat Tennessee 70-61 in the final. The Gophers returned to the Sweet 16 in 2005, but have played in just five NCAA tournaments in the 15 seasons since, winning one game each in 2018 and 2019.

#23 (tie) Leader

Mike Hebert

One of the great coups in Minnesota Gopher sports history—right up there with getting U.S. national team coach Hugh McCutcheon to coach volleyball in 2012—was getting Mike Hebert to coach volleyball in 1996. Hebert was well-established coach at Illinois, where he won four Big 10 titles, made two appearances in the Final Four, and went 323-127. The Illini were the first team east of the Mississippi ever to be rated #1. But, Hebert moved to Minnesota because he felt “a need for renewal,” he said years later. Hopefully, he found renewal; the Gophers certainly did. They had done well under the popular Stephanie Schleuder—253 wins and 173 losses, but no Big 10 titles and just two NCAA tournament appearances. 

At Minnesota, Hebert won 380 games while losing 137. He and his Gophers won their first-ever Big 10 title in 2002, and they went to the Final Four in 2003, 2004 and 2009. In 2003, they were swept by Southern California in the semis. In 2004, they again drew USC in the semis and won 30-25, 29-31, 30-26 and     30-20. They were swept by Stanford in the final 30-23, 30-27, 30-21. In 2009, they lost to Texas in the semis. The Brazilian libero Paula Gentil and also hometown girl Kelly Bowman won all-America honors in 2004. For Gentil, it was her third such honor. Meanwhile, Bowman had been a ball girl for the Gophers earlier and was the #4 rated recruit in the nation after he senior year at Osseo high school. Now she provided the Gophers with remarkable versatility, playing both setter and outside hitter.

Hebert retired in 2010 due to the effects of Parkinson’s disease, which he had already suffered for several years. He passed away in 2019 at the age of 75.

• Meanwhile, the Minnesota Twins won their third straight Central division title and Johan Santana won his second Cy Young award. But, they were bounced from the playoffs by the New York Yankees for the second straight year.

• Garrett Heath of Winona won his fourth state title: He won the cross-country title in 2002 and 2003, and the Nordic skiing title in 2003 and 2004.

Year	Athlete of the Year	Team of the Year	Fearless Leader	Event of the Year
2004	1 (tie). Garnett and Whalen 2. Johan Santana, Minnesota Twins (Central Division champion) 3. Garrett Heath, Winona cross-country and Nordic skiing (state individual champion in both)	1. Minnesota Timberwolves basketball (68-32 including playoffs) 2. Minnesota Gopher women’s basketball (25-9) 3. Minnesota Gopher volleyball (32-6)	1 (tie). Kevin McHale and Flip Saunders, Minnesota Timberwolves 2. Pam Borton, Minnesota Gopher basketball 3. Mike Hebert, Minnesota Gopher volleyball	1. The Minnesota Gophers shocked #1-ranked Duke 82-75 to advance to the NCAA women’s basketball Final Four. 2. The Timberwolves won two playoff series over Denver and Sacramento. 3. The Gopher volleyball team lost to Stanford 3-0 in the NCAA championship game.