#-1: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -4). OK, now this is the Gopher volleyball team that fans have grown to know and love. The squad swept both of their games in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in Louisville, Ky., over the weekend. They started off shaky, needing five sets and 39 kills from Senior Outside Hitter Daly Santana to outlast the host Cardinals. But they may have righted themselves for the season in sweeping then-18th-ranked North Carolina, 23-22-18. For their perfect weekend, Samantha Seliger-Swenson was named conference Setter and Rookie Of The Week, and Libero Dalianliz Rosado was one of the Defensive Players Of The Week for the B1G.
I thought that would vault them into the AVCA Top 25, but it only got them 28th place. (The Tar Heels, the team they upset, is the club right ahead of them.) But that's still a vast improvement over where they were the poll before. And it makes me feel a lot better for their prospects this weekend as the Gophers host their annual Diet Coke Classic, where they cram three matches into a Friday and Saturday. I hope I see some semblance of their A team and game Friday evening, where I plan on going to see them face off against California-Irvine. They then face North Dakota St. Saturday morning before what probably will be the marquee match of the tournament when they go up against Central Florida that evening.
#-2: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -2). A very important tide-stemmer this weekend. In a pair of true road games, the side beat Marquette in Milwaukee, 2-1 in Overtime, then on Sunday evening they drew scoreless with Texas Tech in Lubbock, Tex. For contributing to their team's undefeated weekend, Haley Helverson was named Big Ten Defensive Player, and April Bockin Big Ten Co-Freshman, Of The Week.
I don't know how this weekend factors into Minnesota's overall tourney profile, but in Hero Sports they climb four spots to #37 in its all-Division I poll. And they can further build on that weekend as they come home to Robbie Stadium this weekend. I would have really loved to have gone to their game Friday evening against New Mexico, a team you don't see around these parts, but I think I should go to the volleyball game instead. But I'll try and make it up to them Sunday afternoon when they face an opponent I'm not so hot about, Nebraska-Omaha.
#-3: Twins (Last Week: -1). OK, so I forecast that a road trip where they go 2-4 would be enough to keep them in the race. They did me one better (even though it technically is a 3-4 screening week because the Twinks failed to sweep the Chicago White Sox Thursday, losing 6-4), which means they are only 1 1/2 games behind the Texas Rangers for American League Wild Card 2. I am heartened that they won a game in Houston and claimed the series against the division-leading Kansas City Royals. That means they can go toe-to-toe with the best clubs in the majors, which means that them battling for the playoffs the rest of this month won't completely faze them.
Even better for The Hometown Nine is that looks much more hospitable for them compared to The Bastard Washington Senators v.2.0. While they still have two series against Houston, there are no surefire playoff teams the Twins have to face the rest of the season. We aren't talking about AAA ballclubs; this weekend they visit Comiskey Park for three, then begin their final homestand of the regular season Monday with three against demoralized Detroit and fellow ALWC2 aspirant the Anaheim Angels Thursday. They are good enough in the rotation and the lineup to win five of those seven games. If they can pull that off, they should be at most a half-game behind for that final Wild Card spot. We'll see; this is a time to not just learn, but succeed before their time.
#-4: Lynx (Last Week: -3). These guys are cooked. Blow it up, trade all the pieces, start from scratch. On Sunday, in what was the biggest game of the season, the Jynx shit their pants and turned the ball over late, giving the visiting New York Liberty the 75-71 victory in Target Center. That put them two games clear of the Jynx in the race for home-court advantage throughout the WNBA Playoffs, which I think they later would clinch. A team that went all-in with the acquisition of Ashja Jones, a squad that people touted would be a slam-dunk champion this year, has in its hands instead of the makings of a greatness only the best record in the Western Conference.
By the way, even that was a struggle; they clinched the West by beating the eliminated Seattle Storm only by a score of 73-67 Tuesday. Nevertheless they are in line to run into a rejuvenated Phoenix Mercury team. Hell, they may not even make it past the first round of the playoffs since they are in line to face the well-rested Candace Parker and the resurgent Los Angeles Sparks. The Jynx have clearly run out of gas; tenacity, experience and luck are the only things holding this wheezing contraption together, and it's all going to fall apart in the playoffs, and it's going to be fucking embarrassing. Pisses me off and disappoints me to no end at the same time.
Their final regular season game is Friday night in Seattle. Then the playoffs begin, and they'll be quickly escorted out of that. You know, this makes me regret not getting a 2013 Lynx WNBA Championship t-shirt. Does anyone know where I can get one? It'll be the last title swag this franchise will be printing for a long time.
#-5: Gopher football (Re-Entry!). It's really hard to gauge how the team really did in its season-opening, 23-17 loss to then-2nd-ranked TCU at TCF Bank Stadium Thursday evening over the radio. So I tried to glean the flow and the momentum of the game through observations on Twitter. And they're still divided. Some people say that the game was not as close as the score indicates, but some others insisted that the U. was one or two or three plays away from springing the upset.
There are some facts you can take away from the defeat. First of all, TCU is now ranked third in both the writers' and coaches' poll, and you have to think the Gophs had something to do with that. Minnesota also nicked the rest of the year of the Horned Frogs' Linebacker Sammy Douglas, who suffered an injury that is "undisclosed" during the game. Finally, there is a consensus that the Goofs' defense played a whale of a game containing TCU Quarterback and Heisman Trophy hopeful Trevonne Boykin, but they were done in by an anemic offense whose Quarterback, Mitch Leidner, still has trouble throwing the ball. That combination is seen by some as still sufficient to win a B1G West that shows signs that it is down; Nebraska lost at home to BYU on a Hail Mary, while Wisconsin got trampled in the second half of their game vs. Alabama. Whether or not that means the team is a good team or merely a lucky one is still being figured out. They hope to get more clarity Saturday afternoon, where they visit Colorado St. Luckily they won't face Jim McElwain, former Rams Head Coach who now is manning the sidelines at Florida.
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