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#-1: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -2). Overall it was a very down week for local sports. The top spot (although the top spot gets rewarded only with -1 this week) goes to the Gopher female ballers for their 2-0 week. They trounced Maine 91-64; the Black Bears probably aren't even a mediocre mid-major team, but with Minnesota not doing much this year, maybe a 27-point win should be impressive. They followed that with a comfortable-seeming 85-73 victory at Kent St. Extra points for playing, let along winning, a true road game in a college basketball non-conference season.
This weekend they participate in their only tournament of the year, the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico. They play Stetson Friday and Auburn Saturday.
#-2: Gopher football (Last Week: -6). And finally new Head Coach Tracy Claeys pops his cherry with a 32-23 win over Illinois at TCF Bank Stadium. I think the game shows the true talent gap between the two schools -- a powerhouse team such as Michigan St. or Ohio St. could rout either squad, but at least the U. still has more talent than the Illini, who still has an Interim Head Coach.
So the regular season comes down to the final game, the oldest rivalry in top-flight college football vs. Wisconsin at home for Paul Bunyan's Axe. There is added importance because the Gophers are 5-6, so a win will ensure another bowl appearance (albeit a shitty one, although there are enough bowl games that 5-7 teams might be invited to the postseason). But do you think they can actually beat the Badgers Saturday afternoon? Well, actually ... rivalry game ... at home ... against a Wisconsin team that is a in a down year ... I'll give the Gophers a fighting chance.
#-3: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -7). Destroyed the Air Force 22-12 Saturday, but the U. should always beat the Air Force. Why the fuck did this club lose to North Carolina? This isn't basketball! Sunday they play Oklahoma St. -- a real team -- in Stillwater.
Thank God, then, that Andrew Wiggins came alive and Kevin Martin shook off his continuing shooting woes by draining a three-pointer late in the game on their way to eking out a 100-95 victory -- which, by the way, was their first home win of the season, after six defeats to start the year. And they followed that up with a 99-95 win over Atlanta, sweeping the Hawks for the season (they have already played Atlanta twice this year? Yes, and 16 days apart!) This screening week they visit Sacramento and the Clippers before facing Orlando at Target Center Tuesday.
#-5: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: 0). OK, I don't want to make too big of a fuss about this, but I am now very frightened of the team's form. Their winning streak was snapped at 15 matches after losing in Purdue Saturday in five games. It was a valiant effort to tie the match after dropping the first two sets; the Golden Gophers took Set 3 34-32. It looks like Sarah Wilhite got benched for the final set after making more errors (seven) than kills (six). If she was firing on all, or even more, cylinders, does the U. beat the Boilermakers?
And then on Wednesday they again were taken the distance, this time by Ohio St. at the Sports Pavilion. This time the U. again had to come back from two sets down. The time, however, the comeback looked like a reverse rout -- the Gophs won the third set at 17 and the fourth at 15. These results probably mean that the U. will not be the overall #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. However, from all I've seen, Minnesota remains firmly and safely ensconced as one of the regional #1's (along with USC and Texas), so I guess the damage these two matches wreaked won't be that significant. Besides, their win over the Buckeyes gives Minnesota at least a share of their second-ever B1G title, the first won back in 2002. They go for the outright title Saturday, where they visit Indiana in the final game of the regular season. And on Monday (I think), the tournament field is revealed.
#-6: Wild (Last Week: -3). Don't look now, but the Mild ... suck at the present time. A 4-0 shellacking of Nashville Saturday is the only thing preventing the squad from being in the middle of a five-game losing streak. That might be the bad consequence over the rash of injuries they are going through right now, but this is the type of sketchy play that made some writers believe that Mike Yeo was going to be fired as Head Coach during the year.
Nevertheless, they are holding onto the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot. Also, they have played the fewest games in the National Hockey League; no team has played as few as the 20 the Wild have played as of press time, so they have chances to make up the points. They finish their four-game homestand by playing The Bastard Atlanta Thrashers and The Bastard North Stars back-to-back Friday and Saturday, then visit dreaded Chicago Tuesday.
#-7: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -1). This past week Michael Rand of the Star Tribune said that this year's club might be a horrible one. The recruits Richard Pitino is bringing in next year will be markedly better, but they'll have to take their medicine first.
They finished sixth in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. They faded late in their quarterfinal loss to Temple, but rebounded by outlasting Missouri St. That set up a final game versus Texas Tech ... which is coached by Tubby Smith, former Head Coach for the Gophers. Chalk one up to the cuckold, which throttled the Goofers 81-68. Reports said he couldn't hide his enthusiasm over beating his old team. Well, that's great, isn't it?
What's good for the team is that they are home for the next four games. Two of them comes this screening week: Nebraska-Omaha Friday, then Clemson Monday, as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. I have a ticket for the game against the Tigers which I bought at a discount at the State Fair. Hope I remember to go, and hope I have enough energy to enjoy the game.
#-8: Vikings (Last Week: Positive Numbers). This was an utter failure. They had the chance to capture greatness, to announce to a national audience that they were for real, and they were exposed as fake. Nemesis Green Bay had never looked more vulnerable, and yet it was the Packers who marched into TCF Bank Stadium and came away with a 30-13 win that was as decisive as the final score indicates.
Now, I have to say that the referees missed a lot of Green Bay holding calls; the penalty yards disparity was out-of-whack and, in my opinion, not accurate. Yet still, the Packers were able to solve their offensive woes. What happened in their three straight losses was that Aaron Rodgers was actually forced to say in the pocket, which I guess for him is not a good thing for him. Meanwhile, his receivers weren't able to create separation one-on-one. On Sunday ... well, it was weird, but even though he got sacked twice, there wasn't much pressure on Rodgers. The three defeats would have meant that he would be in trouble. But instead it, well, resulted in the way you would think a great Quarterback with a lot of time would result: Completed passes and Touchdowns. On the other side of the ball, the offensive line was so paper-thin that Teddy Bridgewater was sacked half a dozen times. Therefore, once the game went into the second half with Green Bay leading, it felt like the game was over.
And that is a feeling I and many fans hoped would have been banished, at least this year, or this game. Green Bay was able to not only end their losing streak at three but the Vikings' winning streak at five. And that winning streak now comes into question. They came against teams that didn't have a winning record. And while it's good to see Minnesota beat teams can beat (which you couldn't say about past teams), their schedule does a 180 for the rest of the season. Sunday brings Atlanta; they have floundered as of late, but they still have a winning record, and they need to go to the Georgia Dome to play. All of a sudden, a future that looked limitless now feels doomed. All because of one game.
#-Infinity: Gopher soccer (Last Week: 0). I'll say it: It shouldn't have happened. They should not have lost. In the second round of the NCAA Tournament Friday in Morgantown, W.V., they were playing Loyola Marymount, a team that upset a seeded Cal side (of the 64 teams in the tournament, only the top 16 get seeds). The Gophers were favorites. They should have won.
Unfortunately, a 5th-minute tally by the Lions' Sarah Sanger held up, and the Goofers became the second BcS victim of Loyola Marymount. They were their next scalp to their Cinderella run, one that ended in the Sweet 16 to West Virginia. Still, that's a great accomplishment for the Lions, and it came at the expense of Minnesota.
It may be just as demoralizing to see that not only did they lose, but the Lions basically matched up stat-wise with the U., too; Loyola Marymount won in Corner Kicks, 5-3, and beat them in fewer Fouls, 7-8. This echoes the shitty form the club was in in failing to win their final five games before the NCAAs began. Guess they just weren't able to pull themselves out of it.
But, we should look on the bright side. Before the season began, would I be satisfied if the team won its first tournament game since 2010? Yes. And even though they lose stalwart Seniors Haley Helverson and Taylor Stainbrook, Simone Kolander returns for her Senior year, and this is considered to be a very young squad that should get better with a year's seasoning. So although their excellent form through mid-October gave fans tantalizing dreams and those dreams were utterly dashed way short of a championship ... begrudgingly, I would say this year was a success.
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