#-1: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -7). At the end of the day, if I can't have my team, all I want to see is a good game. I constantly say that at its best, (insert sport here) is better than any other. Well, at its best, women's volleyball is better than any other.
The U. just lost a pair at the Michigan schools. They were facing a home game against a very good program, Nebraska, and it looked probable that they would lose their third game in a row and four of five.
Volleyball is a momentum sport; signs that a less-talented team is about to lose include losing sets in a match by wider leads and getting blown out after winning a set. I saw those classic signs at the Sports Pavilion. The Gophers blew out Nebraska in the first, 25-12, but then the Cornhuskers got up on the Gophers two sets to one and was leading in the fourth set 7-2. This is where the ninth-ranked 'Huskers crush the U., ranked 14th and, presumably, falling.
But turning things around in a volleyball match is rare, and shows a lot of heart, and somehow the team came back. They finally took back the lead in the fourth at 19-18. They then fell behind early in the fifth and final set also by a 7-2 score before coming back and winning the set and the match in extra points, 21-19. It's the first time Minnesota has beaten Nebraska since October 4, 1980.
I have never seen the Pav as crowded as it was Friday, but the game was virtually sold out. The game was one many looked forward to, but Nebraska is a school that both travels well and has a huge presence in Minnesota. And they were treated to one fucking great game, as was I. Possibly the best game I've seen in person this year. Selfishly, that is the reason why I'm putting this team on top of the survey even though the team below them has a very, almost airtight, case.
They closed out the home portion of their schedule sweeping Iowa Saturday on Senior Night. They now sit 13-5 in the soon-to-be-14-team Big Ten and 22-7 overall as they finish their regular season at Wisconsin Thanksgiving Eve and in Indiana Saturday.
#-2: Gopher wrestling (Re-Entry!). Yeah, I'm sorry that I overlooked you guys. They actually began their year on the 9th with a home crushing of Hofstra, 32-6. They continued Friday with a 27-7 rout in Nebraska. And they may or may not be done putting the finishing touches on Boise St. at the Pavilion, a meet that's going on right now.
The big news, however, is that the Gophers are the preseason #1 team according to USA Today (in conjunction with the NWCA and the AWN alphabet soup groups). I would've put them #1 in the more-important WMNSS, but another group, InterMat, had them and currently has the team ranked third, behind two-time defending national champion Penn St. and Iowa. I just noticed that the Nittany Lions are not on the schedule. Anyway, they are at North Dakota St. Saturday.
#-3: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -3). Didn't make it to the game against Toledo Monday; car trouble, plus it was cold that day, plus I think my parents would bitch about me going to "work" out in the cold. Not a huge loss; the Goofs won, 82-56. And they followed that up with a similar pasting, 72-43 over Tennessee St., a team I may have seen when I vacationed in St. Louis in February and caught a game at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
Anyway, it's great that they're undefeated, and they will go 4-0 once they polish off Richmond this (Sunday) evening. But the rubber meets the road starting Thanksgiving, when they finally go on the road and finally pick on teams their own size -- or bigger. Their quarterfinal opponent in the Battle 4 Atlantis? Duke. At least they'll be in the Bahamas.
#-4: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -1). Like Tubby Smith, Pam Borton is using home cooking to pad her team's record. She, however, uses the imprimatur of home tournaments. The Subway Classic kicked off Saturday with an 85-40 immolation of Ohio, and right now it looks like they're putting the finishing touches on Maine to claim yet another tournament trophy. They are also about to go 4-0.
And, like their Y-chromosome analogues, this team also goes to warmer climes to play in a tournament starting on Thanksgiving: The Cancun Challenge (oh, Cancun!), where they start play vs. Richmond.
#-5: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -4). I have a friend who has season tickets to this team. He was disappointed that Wisconsin, a team that is not ranked (?), managed to tie the Goofs Friday at 2. I am surprised that they are still ranked third in the country, but it is hockey, a sport where goals are scored through hard work and fluky bounces. And they are 8-2-1 overall, so I'm not going to hit the panic switch yet. Besides, they beat the Badgers last (Saturday) evening 3-1.
I hear the fall leaves are best in Vermont. That's where the team will be this holiday weekend, playing a pair against Vermont.
#-6: Timberwolves (Last Week: -5). It feels like the losses of Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love have finally caught up to the Woofie Dogs. Although they began the screening week with an improbable 90-82 win at Dallas, they were taken out at home by Charlotte on a dagger by Kemba Walker with time running out (what is the Timberwolves' all-time record against the Bobcats? They won their first-ever game with them the year after the Woofie Dogs went to the Western Conference Finals and the "MV3" of Kevin Garnett, Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell was starting to fall apart, and it seems like they've swept them every year since. It's ridiculous), and then Golden State won going away, also at the Bullseye. The Wolves have now lost three-of-four.
That game against the Warriors was on Friday. And they are off till Wednesday, Thanksgiving Eve, where they host Denver. After Turkey Day, they visit Portland and Golden State to finish out the week.
#-7: Gopher football (Last Week: -2). The football team has lost to Nebraska 15 straight times. The last two times they went to Lincoln, they were completely wiped out by a combined score of 104-0. So it was time for them to win one, right?
No. They lost, as predicted. They did score 14 points (the Cornhuskers notched 38), but they were late points after Nebraska felt sorry for them.
There's not much else to say. As is tradition in the tradition-rich B1G, they finish the regular season at home Saturday against their traditional rival ... Michigan St. You know, they could win this one, actually. ...
No comments:
Post a Comment