Positive Numbers: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -2). Have a Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. Today, I give thanks for Tubby Smith's team, who surprised everyone by upsetting heralded freshman Harrison Barnes and the eighth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels, then beat West Virginia, to win the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Along with a defeat of North Dakota St. Wednesday, the Gophers, now ranked 15th or 17th, are an undefeated 6-0. There is a lot of season left, but it is a holiday, and they look really good right now, so I'm going to lift them into the highest rank possible on the WMNSS. Congratulations!
This team looks really good. Touranment MVP and co-Big Ten Player Of The Week Trevor Mbakwe looks like a beast inside, and he has wingmen in Colton Iverson and Ralph Sampson III to dominate in the frontcourt. Blake Hoffarber is the prime gunner on the squad, and so far he's shooting lights-out. What's even more remarkable is that they did this without Devoe Joseph, who was suspended and didn't make the trip to the 51st state. Once he gets back on the team to bolster the backcourt, watch out -- hopefully.
They have only one game this week: Home to Virginia, as part of the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
#0: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -3). Could this team be peaking at the right time? A 2-0 sweep on the road, which includes a five-set defeat at long-time conference leader and ninth-ranked team in the nation Illinois, extends their active winning streak to five, and they're 7-1 in its last eight matches.
The win at the Illini was awesome. They were down 24-20 in the fourth set before ripping off the last six points of the set to win 26-24, then claiming the fifth set 15-9 over an emotionally depleted Illinois squad. That's four straight match points, then cashing in on its own set point, to tie the match. For a team that has had trouble finishing a match, it feels good to be the opponent against which a team, especially one as good as the Fighting Illini, fails to finish a match.
This weekend ends the regular season for the now-15th-ranked Gophers, and they're pretty huge: Home games against Ohio St. and Penn St., the latter of which has regained its spot atop the Big Ten lead. I hope to get to see the game against the Buckeyes tomorrow (Friday) -- and a win.
#-1: Gopher men's hockey (Re-Entry!). A sweep at Michigan Tech. Everybody sweeps Michigan Tech -- they have now beaten the Huskies fight consecutive times in Houghton, Mich. -- but it nonetheless is a welcome couple of wins for a team that still has suspect talent and the ability to fall apart in a weekend. It shouldn't be too much of a coincidence that these two wins were with Kent Patterson, not Alex Kangas, between the pipes. And Right Winger Mike Hoeffel was named WCHA Offensive Player Of The Week for tallying four points and an assist in the Gophers' combined 10-5 goals scored versus Michigan Tech.
This week is the 18th annual College Hockey Showcase, where four Big Ten schools play each other. The Gophers host this year -- Michigan St. tomorrow (Friday), Michigan Sunday.
#-2: Gopher women's hockey (Re-Entry!). They also swept on the road, at MSU-Mankato, by scores of 1-0 and 6-2. For her 54 combined saves over the weekend, Goalie Noora Räty was named WCHA Defensive Player Of The Week. So why am I putting this team behind the men's hockey team? Uh ... don't know. Maybe because I think the men's team will wind up with a worse record, so for fairness' sake I'll put them ahead of the women's team. Thanksgiving Weekend they host ninth-ranked Harvard.
#-3: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -6). A 1-1 weekend where they lost the other tournament they host, the Subway Classic, to Dayton by 16 Sunday afternoon. I still insist all the equity they built from their Final Four year is long gone, and they have to avoid the irrelevance of the Cheryl Littlejohn days. But I don't really know what to make of their record so far -- a win over Pittsburgh, losses to Green Bay and the Flyers, and all the games at home. They finally do the right thing and play road games this weekend. They are in Reno, Nev. for the Nugget Classic; they play San Diego St. tomorrow (Friday), then either host Nevada or North Carolina St. Saturday.
#-4: Wild (Last Week: -4). A 1-2 week, highlighted by bad, bad losses at home to Atlantic Division teams the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers. This is a sign that the Wild aren't even close to competing.
But I do want to indulge in the win, a 4-3 win overtime win at the Detroit Red Wings, that I watched while working out at the community activity center. They were down 3-2 late in the third period when they scored the tying goal, then I saw them score the game-winning goal. I have never been happier exercising.
This week: A Black Friday matinee at the X against Nashville followed by a Saturday game against the Bastard Quebec Nordiques, then at Calgary Monday and home to the Bastard Winnipeg Jets Wednesday.
Oh, by the way, apparently the Wild have this promotion where the team is growing moustaches for prostate cancer research. I'm sorry to rain on charity, but I think this is a cheap way to promote this cause. This is something the Swarm would do, not the Wild. But for an organization that actively runs away from this state's rich history with the North Stars, inappropriate and oblivious campaign drives like this should not be a shock.
#-5: Timberwolves (Last Week: -5). A promising past couple of weeks are now completely gone: They went 0-3 for the week.
There are excuses for them. The Lakers are the Lakers, and I think their 17-point loss covered the spread. And they were winning their game against the Bastard Seattle SuperSonics until, I think, they double-teamed Darko Milicic in the fourth quarter.
But the loss last (Wednesday) night was the killer. I was at Hooters watching that game (as well as the Wild's blowout loss, which I quickly lost attention because I watched the Woofie Dogs instead). The San Antonio Spurs led for only the last, like, 40.7 seconds of the game. They were leading by as much as 21. But like many times this young season, this young team didn't have the poise or the killer instinct to finish off this team, who now have an NBA-best record of 12-1. Do you take these as moral victories or growing pains, or do you remain as incredibly angry for these losses like a winning team?
Only two games this week: home to Golden State Saturday, at Dallas Wednesday.
#-6: Vikings (Last Week: -7). And so the nadir of the season has become, and the aspirations of a Super Bowl title are now officially over. It was a maddeningly pathetic, lifeloss 34-3 loss to Green Bay, at home, last Sunday. I don't care what anyone says: The players quit.
That shouldn't totally be laid at the feet of Brad Childress, but like they say, you can't fire the whole team, and it was obvious the players hate him, so Owner Zygi Wilf had no other choice but to fire Childress and elevate Defensive Coordinator Leslie Frazier to the top spot. Oftentimes he looked way over his head, yet I feel sorry that Childress had to pay for Brett Favre's ineptitude, the lack of a pass rush, the absent secondary, the sucky wide receivers, and the losses of Sidney Rice, Chester Taylor and Cedric Griffin.
So I have no idea what to look for when they face Washington this Sunday. The result of the game will be reason to bemoan the depths to which this team has rapidly sunk after the NFC Championship Game last year. Win, and there's good reason to question this team's professionalism; if you want to win under Frazier, why wouldn't you win under Childress? Lose, and it's obvious that this team was going to suck no matter who is coach.
#-Infinity: Gopher women's soccer (Last Week: 0). They had their chance; they really did. I was at Saturday's game, out in the bitter cold. It was so cold I couldn't feel my feet, and I accidentally kicked over my Coke; once I realized I did, the spilt Coke froze into a small, icy puddle. But it was cool because, even though this was a tougher group to win individual matchups against (and that includes the seeded and ninth-ranked Texas A&M Aggies), Minnesota had their chances but also kept Georgetown off the scoreboard.
Until 44 seconds left in the game. Off a corner kick, a bunch of Hoya players swarmed the goalmouth, and then they all raised their arms and cheered. I don't know what happened, I was too far away. Apparently, though, Hoya Samantha Baker's corner actually went in. I guess. And I wasted two hours of freezing my ass off outside for this.
OK, that's a tad harsh. The Gophers should be proud of having gone to their second Sweet 16 in three years. But like I said last week, they will never have a better chance of making their first Elite 8 appearance. They were playing an unseeded team at home. You cannot get a better scenario than that. And if the Gophs win this, they would be facing Ohio St. (albeit at their place), a team they pushed into overtime before losing Oct. 17. Plus, it's soccer, so who knows? This could have been the year Minnesota goes to its first Final Four. But I guess that's the way the ball bounces, or is corner-kicked. And they are upset at home by another unseeded (and unheralded) Georgetown squad that has already made history.
I personally witnessed Minnesota lose the Michigan game in the last minute as well. There, the Wolverines scored with 27 seconds left in double overtime to beat the Gophers. And it happened again, only this time it ended their season. Forty-four seconds. They needed to hold on for 44 more seconds. ...
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