#-1: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -3). Marauding through the Big Ten with wins at Ohio St. and 10th-ranked Michigan. They may not be at the top of the conference or the standings, but for the first time in several years, thinking that this team can win the NCAA title isn't a laughable idea.
The end of the regular season sets up as well as can be. They've got the two Big Ten teams that are ranked higher than the Gophs, but they get them both at home. First up for the fifth- or sixth-ranked grapplers (depending on which poll you look at): 3rd-ranked Penn St. and Head Coach/Fuckin' Rasslin' Godhead Cael Sanderson this Sunday afternoon. Lose this, J Robinson, and you know your team's ceiling.
#-2: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -5). Like the wrestlers, this team is still superior than most despite knowing in the back of their heads they are not true contenders. Still, you take a pair of 4-1 wins over St. Cloud St. (nobody important) and Bemidji St. (one of those "Also Receiving Votes" teams) whenever you can. They have won three in a row after losing at top-ranked Wisconsin by a combined score of 16-2. Also, congratulations to Forward Amanda Kessel. She was named WCHA Offensive Player Of The Week for her performance in the sweep vs. St. Cloud St.
This week: Finishing the series against Bemidji St. at Ridder Saturday afternoon, then starting the final series of the regular season Friday at North Dakota, a team ranked eighth in both women's college hockey polls. Wins these last two weeks could/should push them past UMD as the second-best team in the conference behind top-ranked Wisconsin.
#-3: Gopher volleyball (Re-Entry!). The retirement of Head Coach Dr. Mike Hebert was buried, figuratively, because the Metrodome was buried, literally, after that huge blizzard in December. The departure of a legend deserves more pub, even if it is in a minor sport.
And the announcement of who replaces Hebert also is being underreported. It shouldn't; despite having big shoes to fill, and despite the danger that the program will backslide if they don't find the right replacement, Athletic Director Joel Maturi hit a fucking home run. Assistant Laura Bush, who coached Marquette and Auburn, will be interim Head Coach, and she will help hand off the job to ... Hugh McCutcheon.
Never heard of Hugh McCutcheon? You saw him if you watched the Summer Olympics three years ago. He's the guy who led the United States men's team to the gold medal after his father-in-law was murdered in Beijing. He currently is running the U.S. women's team, and there will be a point at which he gives up his duties, which will be no later than the 2012 Summer Games.
How come McCutcheon is heading up the U.? His wife is from here. And, hopefully, he believes that Minnesota is one of the premier college programs in women's volleyball. Ballbusting, bullying former Women's Athletic Director Chris Voelz turned out to be visionary in putting volleyball onto the university's frontburner by stealing Dr. Hebert away from Illinois in 1996. Maturi has ensured that this sport will remain a priority by getting McCutcheon.
The only thing hesitation I have is whether McCutcheon can recruit. He has never coached at a college before, so he might lean on his wife, who is from the state, for help. But any incoming high school senior picking a place to go to will know who he is, and more importantly, they know he's a winner. That has to be enough to convince a blue-chipper to come to the U. If you are a fan of all college sports and the U., you have to give Maturi major credit for this stunning coup.
#-4: Wild (Last Week: -1). A 1-0 blip in Phoenix Saturday, but they followed that up with wins over Colorado and (in a nine-man shootout) St. Louis. They came back to tie the Blues (and remember that this is a road game) four times. And they have now won five out of their last six games. But yet they are still on the outside looking in on the playoff picture because, apparently, all the teams they're fighting with for playoff spots have won just as much as the Wild have during their hot streak.
I'm encouraged by the strength up the middle. Like in baseball, the players positioned in the center of the ice are believed to be the most important ones in hockey. For the Wild, Goalies Niklas Backstrom and Jose Theodore have been solid and at times stellar, Defenseman Brent Burns is becoming a star, and Matt Cullen has become a good second Center behind Mikko Koivu. This is a good team that can cause a ruckus in the totally random Stanley Cup Playoffs. Now they just have to make the playoffs. They have three home games the next screening week (St. Louis, Vancouver and Anaheim) with a quick trip to Chicago inbetween.
(As an aside, I will be going to the X Sunday afternoon, but not for a Wild game. Their AAA affiliate, the Houston Aeros, are once again playing a game in the arena of their parent club. They host the Peoria Rivermen in an American Hockey League game. I think it'll be cool, and I've never done it before, so I'm going to check it out!)
#-5: Timberwolves (Last Week: -6). An encouraging 2-2 week. Yeah, they lost to Denver, but the Nugz are clearly better. And then they win two straight on the road against New Orleans and Houston. In the Rockets win, Kevin Love collected his 38th consecutive double-double, passing Kevin Garnett for most double-doubles in a row in Minnesota professional basketball history. They won back-to-back road games for the first time in about 22 months. And the Woofie Dogs beat Houston for the first time in over four years. Finally, a frustrating loss at Indiana when they led by 7 entering the fourth quarter before having one of their patented collapses.
Heard that the Wolves were thinking about getting in on a three-team trade that would've sent Corey Brewer away and landed them Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry. OK, I think I have to stop defending Brewer. He seems like a nice guy, but his potential in the Associaton may have reached its peak because he makes bad decisions when shooting and can't guard real well. But why does a team that has decent-to-good Forwards and Centers trade for one of each? Is David Kahn divesting himself of all veteran guards because he thinks he has Ricky Rubio coming in?
They have three games before the All-Star Game, which is next weekend. Luckily for the Timberwolves, they're all at home: Philadelphia, Portland and the L.A. Clippers.
#-6: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -8). They're not coming back. They're not going to reach the Final Five, which St. Paul always hosts. And they sure as fuck won't be in this year's NCAA Tournament either. Not after dropping games against both teams ranked fourth for this screening week, UMD (6-4) and Denver (2-1). In the Bulldogs loss, Mike Connolly scored all but one of his team's goals. How the fuck do the Gophs allow one guy to go off like that?
Let Lucia Watch begin. This week: hosting Denver this (Saturday) afternoon (as part of Fox Sports North's "Hockey Day Minnesota"), then at Wisconsin Friday.
#-7: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -2). This program ain't gonna go to the NCAAs neither. After ripping off three wins in a row to stir talk that the team might make a late charge for a berth, they lost at Iowa Thursday in excruciating fashion: They let a girl named Kachine Alexander to drive to the hoop and score with 5 seconds left, and then a girl named Kamille Wahlin stole the ball off the dribble from Kiara Buford to seal the 64-62 victory.
Besides the ending, this was a hell of a game. The Gophs led by four points at halftime and there were six ties in the second half, the last of which was a China Antoine three-pointer. But Alexander seemingly had the ball from the inbounds and just managed to drive to the rim. Pathetic.
Well, there is always the Women's NIT, right? Naw! Oh, when does Borton Watch begin -- after Don Lucia is fired as coach of the U.'s men's hockey team? Well, at least their two games this week are at home -- Ohio St. Sunday afternoon, Purdue Thursday night.
#-8: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -9). Has Tubby Smith reached a turning point? No, not the Gophs' loss at home to top-ranked Ohio St. Super Bowl Sunday; that 13-point loss proved more than anything that the Buckeyes are one of four or five teams that are very, very good in this season of stultifying parity.
No, it's the next loss, their fourth in a row, at home to Illinois Thursday night. Well, no, actually; the turning point was Tubby's press conference after that loss to the Illini. The frustration is understandable: Here you have a team that is treading water alongside the Gophers in the middle of the Big Ten and just fell out of the rankings, and you have them in the Barn. This is a prime chance to break the losing streak, and yet you lose by nine???
And so Smith took it out on his players. Like, throwing them under the but, specifically Blake Hoffarber ("I thought Blake took some bad shots. I just told him, 'Why don't you shot-fake and get a foul one time, please, during a game?'") and Rodney Williams ("He's standing around. I don't know what it is."). Followers of the team counter that he's bitching about a 1 and a 2 who are playing out of position; Hoffarber should be a shooting guard and Williams needs to play at small forward.
What happens to the team now? Will they knuckle under Smith's renewed focus on fundamentals, or tune him out for good? And what does this loss do to Smith's untarnished halo on campus? There's a chance that this loss was one too many. It's right to think that this program should have progressed to the point where they can beat teams just as good as they are at home. I liken this defeat to the much-anticipated game for the U. football team against Michigan at the Metrodome a long time ago, the one where they had a huge lead at halftime but choked and lost. I think that was the beginning of the end for Glen Mason, and I'm afraid that unless he can conjure lightning from a bottle, the violinist is stringing up for Tubby.
This week: Two winnable games, but both on the road -- Iowa Sunday, Penn St. Thursday.
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