#-1: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -4). Come Tournament Time, where most programs come face-to-face with the ceiling of their talent and postseason fortunes, this is a week where the top spot goes to a program that won't confront that reality for a couple of months and therefore can enjoy the spoils of going 2-1 without drilling too deep into the meaning of the wins and losses. But I will: The Gophs' loss was to a pretty good program, Oklahoma St. -- by a score of 16-2. Their two wins were over two schools that aren't close to sniffing the College World Series, Washington St. and Gonzaga.
They stay in Northern California as part of their forced road trip to begin the season (and which lasts all this month) by finishing their three-game set with the Zags, then playing a midweek pair against Sacramento St., and then starting a series versus Santa Clara.
#-2: Timberwolves (Last Week: -5). The Woofie Dogs, second in the WMNSS? After a week where they go .500?? And where they're coming off back-to-back blowouts???
I didn't plan on going to Wednesday's win over Indiana. But like I mentioned on a previous post, I was told to buy a microwave. Add that to the fact that I didn't have to stay at home to shovel, and that my friend had a complimentary ticket to the game, I decided to go.
I had incentive: Kevin Love had the opportunity to break Moses Malone's record for most consecutive double-doubles in the Modern Age of the NBA (since 1976, the time of the Association's merger with the American Basketball Association). There was a possibility that Love wouldn't suit up because he was injured, which made me question if I should change my mind about going after I changed my mind about not going. But I decided to go out.
And I'm glad I did. Love decided to play. And about halfway through the second quarter, he stepped up to the line for a free throw, and the ball bounced on the rim a few times before dropping in, giving him the record. I'm glad I was there to see the record, because clearly, that's the only thing this team has going for them at this point.
(It's funny: They did a "special" post-game interview with K-Love, which turned out to be the exact same length as any other post-game interview with anyone who didn't set a record, with the exact same softball questions. Well, except for one that Love made a tad more difficult: When the on-court "host"/hype man [former B96.3 DJ B-Right -- I like him, and I'm glad he still has work!] asked him whether the pressure's off now that he broke the record, Love paused. I remember seeing, hearing and reading how Cal Ripken, Jr. was laboring in the last few years of his record for most consecutive games played. There's a line somewhere about that that seems apt for Love: "When does The Streak become The Burden?" And I saw that when he paused after being asked a simple question from an employee of the Timberwolves. He so does not have a po-po-poker face.)
Is it shocking that the Wolves have won by margins of 26 and 21? Kind of, yes. But, this is March, where teams that have decided they can't compete for the title -- which, this year, is about 25 -- have started their rebuilding process in earnest, playing their youngsters and just seeing if they're going to amount to anything. And that helps the Timberwolves, who are farther along in their rebuilding ... even though they've been rebuilding for half a decade now.
After finishing up a three-game homestand (partially necessitated because other NBA teams had to flee their arenas because college basketball conference tournaments have been played there the past two weeks), they have a trio on the road this week: Golden State, the Bastard New Orleans Jazz, and The Basketball Team That Was Stolen From Us.
#-3: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -1). Well, this is it. They are where I thought they would be from the start of the season, where we all thought they should be from the start of the season, but this is where the rubber meets the road.
They were going to lose to Wisconsin, who's been #1 in the country the whole season (I think) and had not lost in 24 games, even if the championship of the WCHA Final Faceoff was at Ridder Saturday. It is heartbreaking, however, to see that they gave up a 4-2 lead and lost in overtime, 5-4.
So they go on the road to face Boston College, the fourth-seed in the eight-team tournament (only the top four teams are seeded) in Beantown today (Saturday) at noon. The teams are tied in the PairWise, but the Gophs are better than the Eagles in the RPI and this poll/sabremetric called the KRACH. So they can notch what would nominally be an "upset." However, because the NCAA wants to make sure there's a representative in the championship game not from the WCHA, which dominates the talent in top-flight women's college hockey, guess who Minnesota would face in the semifinals of Women's Frozen Four in Erie, Pa. Friday? Overall #1 seed Wisconsin. Time to earn your sand, ladies.
#-4: Wild (Last Week: -6). Michael Russo of Minneapolis's Star Tribune said this should be a playoff team. Really? After a 1-3 week that saw them fall all the way to 11th in the Western Conference? I understand things are always close in the race of a playoff spot in the NHL. But they are now four points out of the final spot in the West ... which is tied amongst four teams, so technically, the Wild are four points out of fifth place, too.
Still, they are in no playoff form right now. I saw the Colorado dismantling at the gym, and it's very dispiriting to see them follow that rousing victory with back-to-back 4-0 shoutouts at the road against Nashville and Dallas. Thus this makes the Wild the anti-Timberwolves for the screening week. They finish their four-game road trip with potentially bad stops in Vancouver and San Jose. Two more losses, and this team might be in a hole they will not be able to dig themselves out of.
(By the way, I was watching the sports on the news last [Friday] night. When they referred to the ass-kicking the Wild got in Dallas, they made no mention of the fact that the Dallas Stars once were, and should still be, the Minnesota North Stars. Not one single mention. I find that odd. Does no one else feel that way? I would've liked it if there was at least an acknowledgment that this was The Team That Was Stolen From Us. And if one of the sports anchors called them The Bastard North Stars, I would watch them forever. Just because they were taken from us almost 20 years ago doesn't mean it didn't happen, guys.)
#-5: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -3). You can't help but laugh, can you? They finish the regular season Saturday with a 3-2 overtime win at Bemidji St., giving the icers a seven-game unbeaten streak.
And I will be goddamn that they promptly lose Game 1 of the WCHA Tournament -- at home! -- last (Friday) night to Alaska-Anchorage. Alaska is so far away that even if the team flew in last week, they should still be suffering jetlag. And yet the Seawolves have now won two of three games played at Mariucci.
Right now, they are just on the outside of the PairWise Rankings; I'd say you have to be at least tied for 13th or so, and right now the Gophs are tied for 16th. That means they have some seriously climbing to do; after this series they play the second round of the tournament on Thursday and the semifinals on Friday. If they're still alive at that point, they have a case of making it into the NCAA Tournament. But first they have to come back from a 1-0 deficit and beat UAA this weekend. If they lose this series ... Don Lucia, Joel Maturi and the whole fucking team and program will be catching hell. And they should.
Oh yeah; Kent Patterson made the All-WCHA Second Team. Some good that did last (Friday) night. He's the only Gopher honored by the conference on Thursday.
#-6: Gopher wrestling (Re-Entry!). They were about the third-best team in the Big Ten, and in the conference championships last weekend, third is where they started on Saturday, and third is where they finished on Sunday. What is particularly disappointing is to see that no single Gopher won a conference title. Not one. Has that ever happened in the J Robinson Era?
NCAA Championships begin Thursday. Great timing; it's the same day of the "real" start of the men's basketball tournament. Piggybacking for synergy purposes, I guess. As for the Gopher grapplers, well, you guys ain't winning the title, so y'all are playing for yourselves.
#-7: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -7). And the collapse is complete. All hope of going to the Big Dance is dead after Thursday's loss to Northwestern, where, once again, they had a lead in the second half and allowed the opponent to make a huge run to win.
Did they quit? Yes, they did. But I heard one "expert" say that that's on the coach. No -- quitting should be blamed on everybody. Tubby Smith probably has lost this team, but the players still have the duty to play, and play hard. I cannot believe that lack of talent, and the injury to Al Nolen, are the reasons the Gophers finished the regular season losing 10 of 11. Everybody quit.
You know, I thought about throwing this team out of the WMNSS after this week. I mean, who cares about the NIT, or even worse, the fuckin' CBI? But I guess I'll wait. Besides, I don't even know if this team will play in a postseason tournament.
No comments:
Post a Comment