on the heels of several disappointing seasons for the Gophers, who had made the NCAA Tournament only once since Monson's hiring in 1999. In the first season, the team improved from 8–22 in 2006–07 to 20–14 in 2007–08, and reached the Big Ten Tournament semifinals after defeating second-seeded Indiana. In the 2008–09 season, Minnesota had a record of 22–11 and a bid to the NCAA tournament, where the team was eliminated in the opening round. In the 2009–10 season, Smith's team struggled throughout the year, However in the Big Ten Tournament, the team won three games in three days to advance to Minnesota's first ever appearance in the Big Ten championship game. Though it lost that game, the team's run vaulted it into the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year. The 2010–11 the Gophers struggled to maintain the program's momentum, however, finishing 17–14. The 2011–12 Gophers were 19–14 overall. After earning a bid to play in the NIT, the Gophers won four consecutive games before losing in the NIT championship game to Stanford. They concluded the season with a 23–15 overall record, which tied for the most wins in a season in school history. 2013 the Golden Gopher finished the season in the third round of the NCAA Tournament losing to The University of Florida. Texas Tech University On April 6, 2013, Texas Tech Tubby Smith announced the hiring of Joe Esposito as an Assistant Basketball Coach. Texas Tech had failed to make the NCAA tournament in the 7 years prior to Smith's hire at the school. The first season (2013–2014) proved to be a challenge. The Red Raiders led by Jaye Crockett started the season 8–5 in non conference only to fade during Big 12 play finishing with a 6–12 conference mark. Although the team faded down the stretch, it showed that it could compete with the upper teams in the Big 12 as the Red Raiders won two games against ranked competition and lost many close games. The team finished with a 14–18 record overall and 9th in the 10 team Big 12. This season marked Smith's first losing season as a head coach in his career and proved that the rebuilding job in Lubbock was massive. The second season started with an incredible recruiting class as they attempted to improve the Red Raiders talent level. They added Keenan Evans, Justin Gray, Norense Odiase, and Zach Smith