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Defending champs in town to face depleted Minnesota basketball team
John R. Carter
- Staff Reporter
Like his teammates on the Minnesota men's basketball team, John-Blair Bickerstaff expected to suit up against Michigan State on Saturday night.
Heck, the fourth-ranked Spartans are the defending NCAA national champions. Who wouldn't want to go out and try to beat last year's top team?
Unfortunately for Bickerstaff, he'll only be a spectator Saturday night at Williams Arena.
The senior forward broke his right leg in Tuesday's win over Northwestern, ending his career at Minnesota.
"Those are always the games you look forward to," Bickerstaff said about the showdown against Michigan State. "You want to challenge the best.
"It will be hard (sitting on the bench) knowing you want to help, but you can't."
After two seasons with the Gophers, in which he finished both years prematurely with broken legs, Bickerstaff can only offer moral support the rest of this season.
Although he's only been sidelined for a couple of days, Bickerstaff's on-court absence is already being felt in Gophers camp.
"We sensed (something was missing) when we played the other day," Minnesota coach Dan Monson said. "But that's athletics. When it's all said and done, it's about trying to achieve goals and win basketball games. You have to persevere through."
Without Bickerstaff and Michael Bauer (broken arm), the Spartans will be even more of a challenge.
"You take away weapon after weapon and are still expected to go to war," Bickerstaff said. "We'll have to find creative ways to get things done."
What that way will be is still undecided by Monson.
The Gophers will likely need to slow the pace of the game in order to stay fresh physically, and stay close on the scoreboard.
"As I told the kids, if we played Michigan State 10 times, they'd probably win nine of them," Monson said.
"But we don't have to play them 10 times on Saturday. We have to figure out one of the 10 we can win."
The Spartans game is the present for Bickerstaff -- and will be painful to watch knowing he can't check in at the scorer's table.
The future for Bickerstaff, however, is bright.
After surgery, and a long recovery from the injury, Bickerstaff anticipates returning to the court -- either as a player, or a coach.
"Coaching is what I want to do ultimately," Bickerstaff said. "But obviously I want to play for a longer period of time. If I'm able to come back at 100 percent, I will. But I'm not going to play if I'm only at 85 percent."
Although strict NCAA rules will likely prevent Bickerstaff from becoming a graduate assistant for Minnesota, Monson could see Bickerstaff on the bench for Minnesota in the future.
"Would I love to have J.B. as part of our staff? Absolutely," Monson said. "He's a tremendous leader and understands the game of basketball."
But that's assuming the son former NBA coach Bernie Bickerstaff doesn't return to full strength from the injury -- his top goal right now.
As well as Monson's.
"I hope he continues to try and play next year," Monson said, "because I hate to see him end like he did."
Petersen hospitalized
Gophers associate coach Mike Petersen has been hospitalized for two days due to pneumonia in both lungs, Monson said.
Petersen, who is in his second season at Minnesota, was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday.
Monson said Petersen is improving and he expects him to be on the bench Saturday night, although nothing is certain.
"He's like a player," Monson said. "His health is more important than a basketball game."
John R. Carter covers men's basketball and welcomes comments at jcarter@daily.umn.edu.
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