#0: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -1). They only played one meet this screening week, and there are many other teams that were good enough to take the top spot (in fact, all seven teams won at least one game this week). It's not that the opponent, unranked Purdue, was a worthy opponent. I am still impressed that the Gophers shut out the Boilermakers 40-0. This may occur with more frequency than I give it credit for. But it is the 24th time Minnesota has shut out an opponent since J Robinson became coach. And Robinson doesn't usually schedule cupcakes, like Jerry Kill and Tubby Smith do.
They'll continue to maraud through the Big Ten Conference this week against Wisconsin this (Sunday) afternoon and Michigan Friday. Added bonus: Both games are at home.
#-1: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -4). Their first winning streak of the New Year? Are they turning the corner on their season? Well, actually, I still don't think so. Nevertheless, their one game this week, an 80-66 victory at Penn St., has lifted the Goofs out of the basement. Joe Coleman -- who? -- has been a revelation of late, and the local freshman scored a career-high 23 points in downing the Nittany Lions.
They have three games this week: home to Northwestern this (Sunday) afternoon, at Michigan St. Wednesday, then back home to face Illinois Saturday.
#-2: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -2). A sweep of Bemidji St., although the second game last (Saturday) night should not have gone to a shootout (which the team won) because they coughed up a 3-2 lead with 49 seconds left in regulation. I differ on where to place the program because of it; it is a win, but via shootout, so it's kind of not a win, you know? So, even though they did have an unbeaten week -- nothing none of the teams below this team can say -- it's not completely clean, and certainly not a 40-0 whitewashing like the U. grapplers had.
This team has to watch themselves; they play on the road the next three weekends, starting with a two-game series at MSU-Mankato.
#-3: Timberwolves (Last Week: -5). A 3-1 week, the last of those wins in dramatic fashion over the Clippers on Friday:
I think this is taken from a phone of a Clippers fan. That's why I chose it.
I've never seen Kevin Love so brash after a buzzer-beater. But I don't think I've ever seen Love hit a buzzer-beater. In any case, this cements him as a big-time NBA personality, even though his status as a Top 20 player may or may not have been established already.
So why in the fuck hasn't he signed his max extension yet? We all know what the numbers are going to be. We all know he's worth it. What's the holdup? The only reason I can think that he's balking at signing, like, yesterday is that he doesn't want to re-sign here. Which is bullshit; for the first time in a long time, everybody can see this team can be real good. Love is a cornerstone of that team. Why would he want to leave? He doesn't have to live here if he doesn't want to.
I am seeing a good spot for this team; beating opponents they should beat (Sacramento and Detroit earlier in the week) and having enough talent and a gameplan to steal a game against a team they shouldn't beat (the Clippers). Yes, they lost by 10 at Utah last (Saturday) night, but it was the second game of a back-to-back. This team is now 7-6. They're still last in the Northwest Division, but they're above .500!!!
A Texas three-step this week, although they host Houston and San Antonio inbetween a trip to Dallas and the defending NBA Champion Mavericks.
#-4: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -3). Did you know that the Gopher men's hockey team is a perfect 10-0-0 on Saturdays? That continued last night when they matched Colorado College's 2-1 over the Goofs the previous night with a 2-1 win of their own. And they did it in come-from-behind fashion, too. The fourth-ranked program have now split their last three WCHA series. Could that continue next week against St. Cloud St., which will be different since they host the first game but travel to St. Cloud the second?
#-5: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -8). I had very little idea Rachel Banham is considered to be the best player the program has had since the Whalen/McCarville years, but apparently it is so. The Freshman Point Guard played all 40 minutes in the 71-65 win over Michigan St. Thursday, scoring 16 points, getting six rebounds and notching three steals. She's like a female Ricky Rubio!
That win helps salve the close 61-57 defeat at Michigan last Sunday. I still don't know if this squad is going to a mount to a pillar of salt, but at 3-3 in the B1G, they're not a complete embarrassment. They have a Sunday-Thursday schedule for a second consecutive week: at ranked Nebraska playing the Cornhuskers as a conference opponent for the first time ever this (Sunday) evening, then home to Wisconsin Thursday night.
#-6: Wild (Last Week: -6). The freefall continues ... and yet I don't feel so bad.
Sure, they were throttled earlier this week on the road against Philadelphia and Toronto, scoring only one goal both games. But let's focus on the one win: A 5-2 shit-kicking of the Bastard North Stars, The Team That Was Stolen From Us! It's like a college football team: You can go 1-11, but if that one win was against your rival, it's a good year. And right now, I feel that way about the Mild sodomizing the Tin Stars. (They needed to; Saturday was Hockey Day In Minnesota, and earlier in the evening both the Minnesota men's and women's hockey teams won their games [even if the ladies won by shootout and it'll officially go down as a tie]. It would have been a bummer if the day ended with a loss, and to The Team That Was Stolen From Us.)
Oh yeah; the team that was the best in the NHL as of early December would now be out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs if they were to start today. Is next week All-Star weekend? They have only one game this screening week, at The Bastard Quebec Nordiques Tuesday on national television (well, NBC Sports Network, so cable).
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