So they did take care of the business than can control, whipping Penn St. at Williams Arena in their regular season finale. But all those losses before that win meant that their dreams of making the NCAA Tournament is now largely out of their hands. As of right now, most every armchair bracketologist has the Goofs on the outside looking in, one of the misnomerically-named "First Four Out." And unless they can make a run to, I think, the semifinals of the B1G Tournament this weekend in Indianapolis (starting with a return date with the Nittany Lions Thursday), and possibly to the final, say hello again to the NIT, Goofer fans. I for one do not believe this team is capable of such a season-saving run, by the way.
#-2: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -4). I've seen some talk this week about instilling the three-point game in the National Hockey League, partly because it would bring more, for lack of a better word, justice to winning a game (and getting three points instead of two) even though the drama of getting a second point by winning in overtime or a shootout keeps things close. I think that's a great idea, damn the possibility of runaway standings. I have no idea why in the hell there can be a different amount of points given whether or not a hockey contest goes to extra time. Besides, with the advent of giving a point for an overtime loss the standings in the newspaper had to add an extra column called "OTL," and the math I try to compute using the number of wins, ties and overtime losses makes no sense.
In other words, the NHL should do it the way college hockey, or at least the Big Ten hockey conference, does it. They award three points for a win and none for a loss, but once you get into overcome you get either two or one. The standings don't make that clear -- what they should do is set up the columns as "Wins," "Overtime/Shootout Wins," "Overtime/Shootout Losses," and "Losses." (The initials would be hard to settle on because there's only so much space in the table, but it'd be clearer.) But this point distribution strikes a more just balance between rewarding teams that win in 60 minutes while making the conference race compelling. Besides, hell, the conference tournament is coming up next week; the teams will settle the title on the ice. And of course there's the only tourney that matters, the NCAAs, where it's projected that only the top half of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan will make the 16-team field barring something screwy.
I say this because the U. escaped Ohio St. with a win and shootout loss, or in other words, a win and a loss. The dilution of losing in extra time is something I can't quite quantify, therefore I don't like it. But at least that loss is reflected in both college hockey polls; Minnesota remains on top, but the gap between them and #2 Boston College is thin.
Inbetween now and then is the final regular season series of the season, a road test against Michigan. Gophers Goaltender Adam Wilcox is coming off of a career-high 41 saves in Saturday's 3-2 shootout defeat to the Buckeyes. That means that they are five points clear of hard-charging Wisconsin for the Big Ten regular season title. They need to collect two points in the two games against the Wolverines to clinch it.
#-3: Gopher wrestling (Re-Entry!). OK, I don't get this: They have probably their best season since winning NCAA titles more than a year ago, and then they lay a relative egg by finishing a distant third in the B1G Wrestling Championships last weekend (after leading the first day)? Maybe they're resting up for the NCAAs, and I can see that. But what I am supposed to make of the Intermat Rankings, where they have two separate polls, one for tournaments and one for duals, and the latter has the U. first and the former has 'em third (behind Penn St. and Iowa, which just happen to be the two teams the Gophs finished behind in the conference tourney)? Maybe it doesn't matter, or maybe this means that they've lost momentum and aren't going to topple the Nittany Lions for the championship?
Should I make anything out of only one Gopher grappler, Heavyweight Tony Nelson winning his class at the B1G? At least he's going out in style; the Redshirt Senior won that title for the third year in a row. As for the rest of the team, they have one more week before trying to win the team NCAA championship in Oklahoma City, Okla.
#-4: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3). A week-long homestand against four teams from the decidedly weaker Eastern Conference ends in a 2-2 split, no ground gained in the Western Conference playoffs, and frankly, sticks the final nail in the coffin for the Woofie Dogs' faint postseason chances. New York and Toronto may have better records, but they are not good enough to beat the Wolves at home. Except that they did.
Kevin Love continues to amaze, Ricky Rubio continues to struggle shooting from the field, and the team as a whole continues to not play defense. My late-to-the-party revelation is that fans who actually pay to see these guys at Target Center have found their punching bag: J.J. Barea, whom I thought was a sabermatrician's wet dream. Apparently not; since Head Coach Rick Adelman started to trust him and not Rubio in late-game situations, he has had to face more instances where he either doesn't make the shot or the right play. I guess that's reason enough to boo him, but you really can boo everyone on the team.
Since the Minnesota State Boys' High School Basketball Tournaments have taken over Target, the Timberwolves are on the road Friday playing Charlotte. But it's only a one-off; they return home Sunday in match vs. Sacramento.
#-5: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -1). I'm surprised at this development: Just like their male analogues, the Minnesota Golden Gopher women's basketball team is now considered to be, according to the Internet's only women's college basketball bracketologist, Charlie Creme, the dreaded Team 65, aka The Last Team Out.
I'm not exactly sure why. First of all, the inside-outside tandem of Amanda Zahui B. and Rachel Banham would be a good one to showcase on ESPN's coverage of the NCAA Tournament. Second of all, I thought they had done enough to secure a spot in the Big Dance by dispatching Wisconsin in the first round of last weekend's B1G tournament (even though they had to go to overtime to do it). Maybe they needed to beat eventual tourney champ Nebraska instead, or at least not get shellacked by a tune of 80-67. However there is one possibility, and a personally cruel twist one: Fellow bubble team and my alma mater, USC, captured the Pac-12 Conference Championship Monday, and the Women of Troy could have pushed the Gophers out of the field. Sad face :(
Even though they won't play a game between now and next Wednesday (at least one of importance; the Women's NIT does not count), I'll put them on next week's WMNSS if they fail to make it. We'll see when the brackets are unveiled Monday night.
#-6: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -5). The Golden Gopher nine go 1-2 in the Chanticleer Classic, sandwiching a victory over host Coastal Carolina with losses to Elon and UNC-Greensboro, the last of which was a choke with a slight lead. Only in college baseball where small schools that aren't even in the same level in college football could places like Elon and UNC-Greensboro defeat a huge Big Ten school like Minnesota.
They are about to finish their last non-conference series, and the interminably long road trip's end is in sight. This weekend they travel to Sacramento St. for a three-game set, and then they begin a two-game midweek series at Saint Mary's.
#-7: Swarm (Re-Entry!). Ouch -- the Buffalo Bandits broke open a 9-9 game late by scoring the last three goals to send the Smarm to a 2-8 record. Might as well stick a fork in this team; even with all but one team reaching the National Lacrosse League playoffs, you certainly don't deserve to go with a 2-8 record. They host Toronto Sunday.
#-8: Wild (Last Week: -2). Now this is disconcerting. They broke their five-game winning streak by dropping all three games this screening week. To be fair, the last two were by shootout. To not be fair, those last two were also played at home.
Now, the game against The Bastard North Stars was a giveaway, literally: A turnover in the defensive zone led to the deciding tally. St. Louis is St. Louis; I saw them play when I vacationed down there, and they're a damn good team which only got better when they acquired Goalie Ryan Miller. But it's the loss Monday night to Edmonton, one where I saw the first period at Hooters (BTW, thank you, hot-hot-hot Alyssa!!!) and the Mild go up on The Worst Team In The Western Conference If Not The Whole National Hockey League, that makes my and other Mild fans' skin crawl.
Heard Michael Russo, Wild beat writer for the Star Tribune, on The Common Man Progrum this afternoon (with producer Brendan Mileskie filling in as host for the vacaying Dan Cole) broadcast from the Twin Cities Auto Show (a place where I go annually, even though I don't know when I'll be able to go this year). He said a lot of things about the awful choke job to the Oilers:
- Mikael Granlund was the best player on the team last night, yet Head Coach Mike Yeo did not put him on the ice when they had a 5-on-3.
- Of the ten times they have been in a 5-on-3 power play, they've only scored twice -- and Granlund scored one of those times.
- Russo is afraid that there is an old guard-vs.-young turks dynamic that might fracture the locker room.
- He spoke with one of the commentators with the Oilers broadcast say that Wild bench was very, very quiet throughout the game.
- That commentator also believes that netminder Darcy Kuemper is really struggling right now.
They're fucked, aren't they?
This week they finish their four-game homestand versus the New York Rangers and Columbus, then begin a three-game road trip with a Boston-New York Islanders back-to-back.
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