Positive Numbers: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -5). Well, that loss to Purdue is in the past, and while it is disconcerting, I have to admit it's also irrelevant to the team's fortunes this week. First, they beat Indiana in Bloomington on Saturday to claim their first outright Big Ten championship in 13 years (and second overall) with an 18-2 conference record (and 26-4 overall). Then on Monday, in the final regular season AVCA poll, they finished fourth (same as the week before) and received four first-place votes.
Also on Monday, the club just sat back and watched the conference awards roll in. Senior Outside Hitter Daly Santana will go down as one of the greats of the program by being named B1G Player Of The Year. Setter Samantha Seliger-Swenson was named Freshmen Of The Year. And both were named, along with Junior Opposite Hannah Tapp, to the all-conference team. And Hugh McCutcheon was named conference Coach Of The Year by both the media and his coaching peers. For a squad that was so down-and-out they failed to reach the NCAA Tournament last year, this is a stunning comeback. And I'll allow this possibility -- the step back may even have been intentional. They were sorely in need of depth in 2014, and they have that now. Maybe it was better to take one's lumps one year in order to be even better the next?
And they truly are this year. On Sunday the tournament field was revealed (I was wrong in last week's Survey; I thought it was Monday), and the Golden Gophers were given the #2 overall seed, the highest the program has ever gotten (in 2004 they were the overall #4). That gives them home-court advantage for the first two rounds of the tournament, which will take place Friday and Saturday at the Sports Pavilion. The U. draws HBCU Jackson St. first, then (assuming an unheard-of upset) they will play either Marquette or Northern Iowa in the second round.
Looking ahead, the field seems fair. Assuming the seeds hold, their Sweet 16 matchup will be against Louisville, a team whom the Gophers beat in five sets in Louisville way back on Sep. 4, then will face nemesis Penn St. in the regional final, which for them will take place in Des Moines. After that will face Texas, who vanquished Minnesota in three the last time the Gophs were in volleyball's Final Four. Beat the Longhorns and the only team standing in the way of their first-ever title in the sport is #1 overall seed/Proverbial Queens Of The Hill, USC, which breaks my heart. All of these times are good, and they're going to give Minnesota their best shot. But this is a damn good team, and you cannot ask to be more than fortified and healthy, which I believe the U. are. Good luck, and congratulations on a great season.
#0: Vikings (Last Week: -8). They needed good fortune, but I have to give the Vikes a #0 this week. They can't beat the Green Bay Packers, but nonetheless they are in first place in the National Football Conference North Division over the Pack because the Chicago Bears beat them Thanksgiving Night. Minnesota was able to coalesce that lead by beating a Falcons team in free-fall, 20-10, Sunday afternoon in Atlanta.
Man, this defense is getting to be really good. I got Matt Ryan on my fantasy teams because he has been dependable productive, but he was shut down in the face of two Interceptions, one of them picked in the Vikings' end zone. And what else can you say about Anthony Barr, who had the good sense to punch the ball out of Tevin Coleman's handle as he was running down the field for a sure Touchdown and instead fumbled the ball? I can now overlook him for being out of UCLA.
Nevertheless, any chance of the Vikes being a Super Bowl-winning team rests on the offense, and it remains woefully one-dimensional. Adrian Peterson continues to turn back time with 158 yards and two scores, the last of which was a neck-breaker well after the Falcons gave up. That's going to be the Modus Operandi of the Vikes -- defense and running -- and so far Head Coach Mike Zimmer's plan is working to great effect. But to be an actual contender, you need to pass. You need your Quarterback to not just manage the games, but to win them on his own, to not just be needed to pass with effectiveness, but to (sometimes) be the main engine of scoring. And for all his toughness and tenacity in the pocket (and Lord, I would rather have someone like that than, oh, Christian Ponder or Tavaris Jackson), Teddy Bridgewater has yet to prove that he can be a viable, if not primary, option of attack. And if he is, I don't think being sturdy in the running game and on defense means you lift the Lombardi Trophy, which is the ultimate, and only, goal.
Also, remember this. As of right now, Green Bay has the tiebreaker over Minnesota by virtue of its one win over the Vikes. They meet at Lambeau Field for the final game of the regular season. Therefore, to be absolutely sure they win the division, they have to come into that game with a two-game lead on the Packers. It seems odd that during this bad spell, Green Bay nevertheless had their way with Minnesota. So I think it's incumbent on the Vikings to be two games clear. Otherwise, if it's only a one-game lead, and Green Bay beats them in Green Bay, they sweep the season series and completely take the division over the Vikes even though they would wind up, in that hypothetical case, with the same record.
In the meanwhile the squad still has a very tough schedule for the rest of the season. That continues Sunday, when they face a Seattle club far off its Super Bowl-appearance standards (especially on defense) but should still be tough enough to stop the run while having enough to stymie Bridgewater through the air. The Seahawks may also be a better offensive than defensive team, and I want to see how the Vikes D lines up against them. This will be interesting; FiveThirtyEight calls this contest a complete toss-up.
#-1: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -7). Against all good sense, I went to Monday night's basketball Big Ten/ACC Challenge game against Clemson at Williams Arena. (Don't know if I've said this before; the bulk of the blizzard was supposed to hit Monday evening through overnight, but I guess the air aloft was warm enough that it was snow showers that fell, some of which melted on contact on the ground surface. So, really, the worst of the snowstorm fell that morning, and really, I had little trouble getting to or from the game.) From the reports I read, this team may have turned a corner.
This was seen to be a rebuilding year for Richard Pitino's squad, and thus ripe pickings for a Clemson team that appeared to have a little more talent, especially on its defensive side. That didn't seem to be the way the game was going at first. No, the Tigers were raining threes the first half -- they made half of their 28 shots the whole game -- while Minnesota was virtually giving away the paint defensively. But after halftime, at which they were down, 42-36, Pitino decided to contest rebounds and be aggressive on the offensive end. That resulted in more rebounds -- in the end they out-rebounded Clemson 31-25 and, more importantly, more trips to the free-throw line. That is how they got back into the game, and eventually surged past the Tigers on their way from a six-point deficit at the half to a six-point win (89-83). Jordan Murphy may be one to watch; he came off the bench to score 24 points and haul in ten rebounds.
Couple that with them holding off Nebraksa-Omaha Black Friday afternoon, 93-90, and the U. is doing what any BcS school should do this time of year: Get fat off of inferior clubs at home. And they will continue to do that this screening week against the South Dakota teams.
#-2: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -1). From this point forward (or downward) all the teams disappoint this WMNSS with at least one loss. Unfortunately, more will come with the University of Minnesota women's b-ball team. (Well, with all of the teams here, but you know what I'm saying.) They apparently finished second in last weekend's San Juan Shootout after outlasting Stetson, 72-69. Rachel Banham set the program's career scoring mark, surpassing Lindsay Whalen, but as is often the case in games where a record that lofty is set, the team of the player making that record lost, and the Goofs did in this case, to Auburn, 81-79 in Overtime.
Nothing else to add other than the team contributes to the women's version of the B1G/ACC Challenge right now, as I finish this up, as it visits Duke. They then begin a five-game stint at The Barn Sunday night versus Towson.
#-3: Timberwolves (Last Week: -4). Karl-Anthony Towns was named Western Conference Player Of The Month. Andrew Wiggins is the reigning (if that's what you can call it) Rookie Of The Year. Hope springs eternal with the T-Wolves. Hope always seems to spring eternal with the T-Wolves. You get your good news where you can, because this squad has gone through yet another 1-2 screening week. Tuesday's 96-93 defeat at home to Orlando was particularly frustrating.
The Woofie Dogs began a four-game homestand with that loss to the Magic. They have a long break until the next game -- Saturday against Portland. On Monday they host the Clippers, and then on Wednesday they host The Bastard Minneapolis Lakers and Kobe Bryant's Retirement Party. The team, of course, will honor the man who has roasted the Woofs so often. Great.
#-4: Wild (Last Week: -6). Don't let Tuesday Night's 2-1 win at Chicago fool you: This team remains in big trouble. First they get outworked by The Bastard Atlanta Thrashers, 3-1. Then they choke on a 3-0 lead -- a 3-0 lead!!! -- and lose in OT ... and to The Team That Was Stolen From Us, no less. Worst of all, those two curb-stomps happened in front of the innocent people at the Xcel Energy Center, where they finished up a four-game home stint by losing the last three games.
Head Coach Mike Yeo responded by ripping into the team, again. But it was more like the Blackhawks taking pity on Little Brother; I totally believe that Chicago let the Mild win that game. So here we are, in the middle of the Mild's Mid-Season Swoon, and now the Death Watch for Yeo is cranking up again. Everyone is healthy, but no one has any chemistry. To fix that, Yeo switched up the defensive pairing, causing Ryan Suter to openly bitch about being paired up with Jonas Brodin when he would rather stay with Jared Spurgeon. I say, if the entire team is sucking, you can't really complain if the coach makes changes. Suter would later say that he and Yeo cleared the air -- yeah right. Also, Suter scored a goal in that game against Chicago. His D-Man partner on the ice for that tally? Jared Spurgeon. Just throwing that out there.
This week: Back home for Toronto, then a home-and-home vs. The Bastard Quebec Nordiques. Will The Mid-Season Swoon continue?
#-5: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -3). OK, I have no idea what's going on with the wrestling program. Is this is just a one-year retrenching in order to be really good next season, kind of like what the volleyball team did? Or is this the beginning of a slide from being one of the sport's powers. Because even though a lot of teams lose at Oklahoma St. (20-17), this means that the grapplers have now lost four of their last five duals, and Sunday afternoon's defeat doesn't give me any hope that they're going to turn this around. They are at the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas this weekend; I may or may not put the squad in next week's WMNSS.
#-6: Gopher men's hockey (Re-Entry!). If this isn't rock bottom, they're damn close. They got humiliated by Little Brother, St. Cloud St., by being swept at home last weekend by 3-2 and 7-4 scores. Sophomore Leon Bristedt somehow was given an award by the B1G -- I think it's the Third Star Of The Week, even though in this poorly-worded press release, it doesn't say that. It'd be nice to see if other members of this "young" (read: bad) team start to play better.
They are in the midst of a five-game homestand (geez, a lot of teams are in the middle of long homestands). They have, so far, lost the first three. The last two comes this weekend, and since they're vs. Ohio St., they kick off conference play.
One more thing: You may not know this, but the West Regional will be held at the X in March. If this keeps up, there is no reason to fear a sellout. Now, if the North Dakota Fighting Hawks reach the West Regional ...
#-Infinity: Gopher football (Last Week: -2). Three things before I put the final nail in the coffin of this team's season:
A) I hate the idea of bowls; they are exhibitions that are meaningless for the people that are the most important (the fans), and they are done up to a month after their last game, so how fit and focused could they be? And with college football finally wising up and giving us all a playoff, all of the bowls (even the Rose Bowl -- sacrilege!) are irrelevant. But because of the ESPN college football bowl industrial complex, there are even more of these worthless cattle calls.
So many this year that there is a possibility that there will be more spots than teams that are eligible. There has been seemingly only one rule that bars a team from making a bowl: That team has to have at least six wins. However, due to the number of bowls and not enough teams reaching that magical 6-6 mark, there will be between two and five schools with 5-7 records that will up all the remaining bowl bids.
How do they choose? Well, that is where the NCAA is going to try and stuff the "student" part of "student-athlete" back into the business big-time college sports. Regardless of conference/bowl tie-ins, the schools with 5-7 records and the highest Academic Progress Rates (APR) will be selected (details thereafter, specifically which teams go where, are unknown to me). And guess which 5-7 squad has a high APR? Minnesota. It is highly likely, depending on the remaining regular season games this Saturday, that the Golden Goofers will get a bowl bid, even though they finished with a losing record. How about that?
B) I am shocked, very shocked, that Head Coach Tracy Claeys shitcanned Offensive Coordinator Matt Limegrover. Minnesota was very, very unique in that the coordinators never did leave their Head Coach, Jerry Kill, for other jobs. No -- Claeys and Limegrover stayed with Kill, from community college to third-division schools to second-division to non-BcS to, finally, a BcS school, Minnesota. They were inseparable. And as soon as Kill stepped down and Claeys stepped up, that harmonious, ironclad pact seemed to disappear.
Now, offense was a huge problem with the team all year; they remained reliant on a running game that flared up to be above average only some of the time. Nevertheless, from the outside, this feels like a supreme stab in the back. I don't care if this makes football sense. Kill didn't fire Limegrover last year when the passing game was stuck in first gear, and he had a better year that Claeys did. Loyalty lasts as long as milk does in college football, but Minnesota, these guys, were supposed to be different. That's fine, Claeys, but you'll just be hiring coordinators just like everyone else. And you're stuck in Minnesota. With, after Wisconsin beat them 31-21, a 1-4 record.
C) At the Minnesota State Fair's University of Minnesota barn, they brought over the rivalry trophies that the football team won last season. I made sure to snap a picture of every one -- Floyd of Rosedale (which they got by beating Iowa), the Little Brown Jug (Michigan, and by the way, and it ain't that little), and the Governor's Bell (Penn St., but no one gives a shit about that).
It was the second time I was at the Fair when I snapped photos of the trophies. I made a point to get back there because I realized there was a possibility that I would not see these trophies again. Turns out, that was smart.
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