#-1: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -2). Polls don't matter, thank goodness. A lot of that has to do with the fact that a lot of the rankings is based on reputation, not results.
I mean, I'm not upset that the University of Minnesota volleyball team is rocketing up the rankings; they jumped up from 16 to 11 for this week's poll. But remember that they started out of the AVCA Top 25 to begin the year. Should they have been able to vault into the doorstep of the top 10 with an 11-3 record? I could see an incremental step for this week's poll, maybe 15 or even 14. But 11? You have to thank Dr. Mike Hebert for imprinting on the sport's voters that Minnesota is one of the 20 best programs (well, besides last year) in v-ball.
Nonetheless, I was at Saturday's win against then-seventh-ranked Illinois at the Sports Pavilion. The attendance was 4,111, which may be as high as the team has ever gotten at the Pav. And all of us were treated to one hell of a game. I thought the Gophs were done after the Fighting Illini repeated what they did in Set 2 by winning Set 3 by a score of 25-22. But the energy the club seemed to have lost in those sets came back ... and with a vengeance; they blitzed Illinois in Set 4 25-10, then put away the Illini in the middle of Set 5 to take the match, 15-6. It was weird to see essentially two different teams between the third and fourth sets, but a spell for the setter may have done the trick.
Fans who follow the squad closer than I do say that this year's team has the depth that last year's lacked. Hope that's the thing that places them back in the volleyball firmament again. But they will be sorely test this week as they have three matches, all of them on the road: Maryland Friday, Rutgers Sunday, then the big one vs. Wisconsin Wednesday.
#-2: Vikings (Last Week: -1). Hmmm ... I am keeping the Vikes above the soccer team for this week's WMNSS, but I don't know why. Both teams lost their only game of the screening week (and seeing that I am only into the second team and I already am trying to sort out teams with disappointing weeks, this is very sad for the Twin Cities sports scene). But I like what I saw in the team even though they lost to Peyton Manning and the Minnesota Vikings.
I can be charitable on both sides. With one very notable exception, the run defense was very good, and even though Manning remains very accurate (although his arm strength issues did not go away on Sunday), the Vikings managed to pick him off twice. Turnovers were a big issue with this team last year, and the ability to stop opponents' drives cold by interceptions means the D will take a big step forward.
Saying that, I was more impressed with Teddy Bridgewater. Yes, he fumbled the ball on the last offensive play of the game, when two Broncos defenders blitzed on his right side. But I believe the commentators when they said that Bridgewater played with poise, because he does. The confidence to not panic and sit in the pocket just a second later in the hopes of finding the open receiver will do wonders for the passing game (where Mike Wallace and not Charles Johnson, who of course was on my fantasy team, has become the go-to guy) and give the offense the balance Offensive Coordinator Norv Turner wants. Also, the offensive line has so far played much better than last year, preventing Bridgewater from getting knocked on his ass and even plowing the lines, such as the 49-yard touchdown score from Adrian Peterson on that 4th-and-1. (By the way, did you know that both teams scored TDs on 4th-and-1? I find that interesting.)
Unfortunately I think back-to-back plays decided this game. It was the Blair Wash missed Field Goal followed by the sweep Touchdown by Denver's Ronnie Hillman on the very next play. It was a momentum swinger, but the Walsh FG theoretically would have tied the game at 20. So in my opinion that is the biggest problem with the Vikes right now: the Kicker. I'm afraid he has to go.
They host Kansas City in two weeks after a bye that is too early in the season to be helpful to this team or any team, for that matter.
#-3: Gopher soccer (Last Week: Positive Numbers). They lost their first conference match Friday at Wisconsin 1-0 on a Penalty Kick in the 36th minute. Not a time to panic, although this probably shuts the door on a top-two seed and makes the chance that they'll host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament a lot harder. But the road, literally, doesn't stop, as the U., now 14th, 20th or 27th (depending on which poll you look at) plays at a very good Nebraska side tonight (Thursday night) and at Iowa Sunday afternoon.
#-4: Lynx (Last Week: 0). This fucking team is going to give me a heart attack. In what may be the most dispiriting loss of "Black Weekend," the Lynx choked up home-court advantage, one they were given as a gift when the New York Liberty were eliminated, when they lost 75-69 at home in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals to the Indiana Fever, the team which also knocked off the Libs. The thing that really grates me about this fucking team is that the Indiana Fever also came into Target Center for Game 1 of the 2012 WNBA Finals and upset them there as well, allowing them to win the series and trophy in Indiana in four games.
Just like then, Tamika Catchings was having a fucking game. The Jynx didn't handle her then, and they didn't handle her now. And also like in 2012, the Jynx were outhustled for rebounds and fouls and were absolutely shitty on the perimeter. This time, however, the club has turned into a two-woman show, with Maya Moore still trying to do her best impression of Kirby Puckett in the 1991 World Series and Sylvia Fowles finally giving Moore help inside (she scored 21 points in Game 2, which coincidentally fell on her 30th birthday).
It's the other players that will sink this squad. Lindsay Whalen and Seimone Augustus are both injured and old. The Lynx needed them to shoot from outside, but their legs (and the Fever's outside D) caused them to shoot a combined 4-for-14. They are shells of what they were, and without both of them drinking the water the old people from Cocoon drank, shells they will remain.
I don't know which player it was, but late in Game 2's win (and thank Buddha the Jynx won at least one game, right?) a Fever player either fouled was given a technical. As the Target Center crowd sarcastically serenaded her, she shook her head and said (the ambient microphone picked up her words, supposedly) something to the effect of, "We ain't coming back." In other words, she is saying the series will end Friday and Sunday when Indiana wins both games.
I'm afraid she's right.
#-5: Gopher football (Last Week: -3). This may be the most demoralizing defeat of "Black Weekend." Yes, Northwestern is a good team and yes, this was on the road. But no points?
I'm not sure which unit I'm more disappointed in. Sure, the offense was punchless. They racked up only 99 yards passing (Mitch Leidner was ony 10-for-21 with one Interception), but they had 25 fewer yards rushing, which was supposed to be the strength of the offense. Meanwhile, the defense allowed 312 total yards of offense and conversions on seven of the Wildcats' 17 third downs.
This is what the program's worst fears come to life: The feeling that this is the same old bad Gophers team we've seen for the past half-century. A win like this was supposed to be the next step. Now, no one's really sure if they can beat Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind., Saturday afternoon.
#-Infinity: Twins (Last Week: -4). It was very alienating that the Twinks wound up their season getting swept at home to Kansas City, thereby allowing the Royals to pass Toronto and claim the best record in the American League and thus home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. (They beat Cleveland Thursday, thus their record for the final screening week is 1-3.) They had a chance to compete, but running into a powerhouse like the Royals (and I never thought I would ever say that phrase) was too much for a team so young. It was also frustrating to see that they got passed record-wise in the end by Anaheim, a team whose late-season run was helped in part by Minnesota, which lost three-of-four to the Angels at home.
But as time passes and the season-ending sweep fades from memory, what will last is the sigh of relief Twins fans can take knowing that the team's worst seems to be behind them. The goal all along was to avoid 90 losses. But finishing above .500 (83-79), and second (albeit a distant second) in the American League Central? All seasons that finish short of a championship is a season of failure, but putting that aside, this year qualifies as a success.
The youth movement for this team has finally commenced, and it's heartening to see that enough of the prospects the organization drafted and signed are good enough to make the Twins a good, if not contending, team. Miguel Sano is the star, for this season and beyond. Barring injury, he should be able to lead this team with 35-45 Home Runs. He will be the next Harmon Killebrew. And with a young-ish nucleus and more prospects coming, a .500 record should be expected next year.
Nevertheless questions abound, questions such as:
- Will the Twins sign a Pitcher that is an ace, or at least a #2, since the rest of the rotation may be, at best, #2 1/2's on playoff teams?
- Could Jose Berrios be that ace the franchise needs?
- Will Byron Buxton be decent enough at the plate to match his abilities on the field, or is one of the five best prospects in Major League Baseball -- gulp be a bust?
- Whither Joe Mauer? Could Sano take starts at First Base from him? Should Sano take starts at First Base from him?
- Is Glen Perkins OK to be the Closer for next year, or will it be Kevin Jepsen? Is Perkins done?
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