#-1: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -4). This has been one of the rare weeks where every single team in the WMNSS had something positive happen, even the last one. There weren't extenuating circumstances that separated one team from the others, so in the end I settled for ranking by number of wins ... and somehow, a team that has been a very disconcerting disappointment winds up on top because they're the only one that went undefeated while notching more than one win. They beat Ohio St. in four sets, then swept Michigan St. Can they get a run going hosting ranked Michigan Sunday afternoon? And can they somehow beat Nebraska in Lincoln Wednesday night? I have a feeling they won't be repeating their top ranking this time next week.
#-2: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -5). In a battle of #3 vs. #4 in the country, the Gophers managed to sweep UMD with last Saturday afternoon's 3-2 win. They are now 8-2 in the WCHA (in second behind Wisconsin) and are 10-2 overall. They go into this weekend's break still third in the polls.
#-3: Gopher women's basketball (Re-Entry!). This is the start of the busy season for the WMNSS. In a season that should be a referendum on whether or not Head Coach Pam Borton gets to keep her job, the Goofs begin their season beating a name school, Arkansas, 68-60 yesterday afternoon in a tournament in Daytona Beach, Fla. behind 24 forced turnovers. There are very slim hopes this season this team will make any sort of meaningful noise this postseason, so it's Borton's job to basically pull of a miracle. And if she doesn't, well, I think it's time to move on. They finish up the WBI Tip-Off playing Florida St. this afternoon and South Florida tomorrow afternoon,
#-4: Gopher men's basketball (Re-Entry!). Meanwhile, the Y version of Goofs b-ball also started their year last night at Williams Arena with a 70-58 victory over Bucknell. Trevor Mbakwe, considered by one site I saw as one of the Top 20 prospects for the NBA this year, scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half. This program's postseason hopes are scantly better than the women's ... so, should Tubby Smith be on the hot seat? Mbakwe and his other big man on the down low, Ralph Sampson III, should be leaving after this year, thereby taking Smith's to-date best recruiting class with them. But he has a freshman Point Guard in Austin Hollins. The point was the main reason a promising season last year ended with them losing ten out of their last 11 games and a complete blackball of all the postseason tourneys, even the CBI. They say Hollins is good ... but who cares if the people he can feed the ball to are on their way out? Whatever, that's a debate for next season.
Testing his squad apparently isn't something Tubby wants to do; this is the start of four home games to begin the season. They host South Dakota St. Monday and Fairfield Thursday.
#-5: Wild (Last Week: 0). Well, that was fun while it lasted. Their five-game winning streak ended Thursday, 3-1 at San Jose. They're a good team, but can you blame Nicklas Backstrom for this? He did resume control between the pipes once they began their roadtrip in Calgary Tuesday. (Josh Harding backstopped the Mild in their 2-1 win over St. Louis last Saturday.)
I'm glad that there's finally some scoring punch, even if it comes mainly from new acquisitions Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi. Mikko Koivu now has players who can finish (did you see his pass on the down low to Setoguchi [or was it Heatley?] in front against the Bastard Atlanta Flames?). And Guillaume Latendresse seems to have followed in point production as well.
They finish their five-game roadtrip going back-to-back tonight and tomorrow night at Los Angeles and Anaheim, then at Columbus on Tuesday (ouch! Random). They then begin a six-game homestand against the Bastard Quebec Nordiques Thursday.
#-6: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -1). Well, that was fun while that lasted. On the strength of a sweep of North Dakota, the Gophers reached #1 in the polls for the first time in three years. And in their first game being the team on the catbird seat, they lose their first conference game, 3-1, at Wisconsin. And the Badgers were leading 3-0 before the Goofs scored late. You can't win them all, but this team hasn't yet faced good teams on the road, with the possible exception of UMD. Tonight's rematch should provide more evidence if the bottom of this ship is leaky. The team then begin a home-and-home with St. Cloud St. Friday.
#-7: Gopher football (Last Week: -2). They put up a good fight, so I feel kind of bad putting these guys next-to-last. They were 28-point underdogs at Michigan St., but they were one final drive away from tying it. Moral victories are a lazy way of thinking you're getting better. But from the way they were getting beat by New Mexico St., North Dakota St. and Purdue, I'll take a 31-24 loss. Jerry Kill has simplified the offensive playbook for MarQueis Gray, they're playing a lot tougher on defense, and finally, this team looks like they believe they can win every game. Confidence can help you loads. Now, can it help them beat Wisconsin at TCF Bank this afternoon? Probably not. But a month ago I would've said fuck no.
#-8: Twins (Re-Entry!). Color me surprised. I tweeted after the season that there's a 20% chance the Pohlad brothers would sell the team in the next 18 months. Removing the General Manager isn't exactly a sign they're tired of owning the Twinks. Impressed.
Is it the right move? Bill Smith wasn't the one fucking up double plays, or missing the cutoff man, or grooving softballs down the heart of the plate, or out for chunks of the season for bilateral leg weakness. But I think what happened is Jim Pohlad, apparently the brother most assuming the ownership duties of his late father, Carl, saw the bad trades Smith made and, more crucially, looked at how Smith's draft picks were progressing, and was very disappointed. I really think that injuries were the main reason the Twins' season was a lost one. But the farm system is as barren as our frontyard. Development is a vital part to any Major League Baseball team's success who are not the New York Yankees, and even if the Twinks' prospects of success are still good, there is no next generation the way the organization's youngsters are (not) playing.
When confronted by this, Smith said things that were not to Jim Pohlad's liking. That's why he hired Wayne Krivsky, a man who helped ex-GM Terry Ryan when Ryan was Smith's boss. Some have speculated that Smith did not know of the hire at all, and he gave Pohlad an "either he goes or I go" ultimatum. And Smith was gone, replaced by Ryan, the man he replaced when Ryan said he was burned out and the architect of the Twins' recent success. And I thought it the change was a little more amicable than that.
In his press conference, Ryan was a lot more dire of the organization's future than I thought an incoming GM would be. He thinks this team is going to suck for the next several years. I trust his word, but we also gave this fucking team a new stadium two years ago. Do you mean to tell me the Twinks are going to fleece taxpayer money for shit? It may be Smith's fault, but given the context, he seems a very convenient scapegoat.
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