Positive Numbers: Gopher softball (Two Weeks Ago: 0). Wow. Just ... wow. While I was gone, the University of Minnesota softball program has just kept going. After completing the Big Ten/ACC Challenge with a win over N.C. St., they took all five games in the Fresno State Tournament and swept through the LSU Tournament. That means that they have started the 2017 season 18-0.
The last two games in this screening period are the most noteworthy. They haven't necessarily rolled up this undefeated streak against a rogues' gallery. They were taken to eight innings before defeat Cal Poly, and they have mercy-ruled California-Davis and Idaho St. Finally they faced a good opponent last (Saturday) night against the hosts, ranked LSU. And behind a nine-Strikeout performance from Pitcher Sara Groenewegen, they shut out the Tigers, 3-0. This (Sunday) afternoon, they were behind Illinois St., 3-2, in the sixth inning before scoring five runs and beating the Redbirds, 7-3, in a game delayed 72 minutes because of rain.
Despite being undefeated, the Gophers, with stubbornness, have climbed in the polls, but only to around 10 or 11. All I can recommend, however, is to keep walking, because so far, you're doing great, ladies. They go to the Washington Tournament this weekend in Seattle.
#0: Gopher men's basketball (Two Weeks Ago: -1). Shit. If I were able to type up a WMNSS last week, these guys would have received the Pos #'s dap they deserve. And they still deserve a lot of recognition now. But they just lost to sputtering Wisconsin to finish the regular season at 11-7. This loss, however, after they ripped off eight wins in a row (the last half falling during the two weeks that are the concern of this survey). Like the U. softball team, this club hasn't gone through the Big 12 or the ACC. The most important wins probably were the Overtime one over Michigan at The Barn and the 14-point beating they dealt to Maryland in College Park when the Terrapins had a weird off night. Remember when this squad lost five games in a row? This winning streak came right after that losing streak.
It's a down year for the B1G. But the U. has already done enough to lock in a tournament bid and, for the first time I can remember, receive a double-bye to the B1G Conference Tourney this week in D.C. as the 4-seed. That's a hell of a turnaround for Richard Pitino.
#-1: Gopher men's hockey (Two Weeks Ago: Positive Numbers). OK, there is trouble brewing in Mariucci. They have split their last two series, home to Wisconsin and at Michigan. Enough time has passed whereby both the Gophers and the Badgers have distanced themselves from the rest of the league and earned byes for the B1G Tournament. But they have slipped down the PairWise from a 1-seed to a 2-. And even though Wisconsin is enjoying a Renaissance season, the U. suddenly look very vulnerable. Is the injury to Tommy Novak finally biting this team? They finish up the regular season at home for two against Michigan St.
#-2: Wild (Two Weeks Ago: -2). First off, the trade. They traded three picks (including their first-rounder next year) and some minor leaguer named Grayson Downing to The Bastard Winnipeg Jets in exchange for some mid-level draft pick, Forward Ryan White ... and Center Martin Hanzal. I appreciate that ownership and management recognize they have to put their chips in on what has shaped up to be an exceptional season. Center depth has unraveled this franchise too many times in the past, so the grit Hanzal can provide might be the difference in grind-it-out series where low-level lines may provide the winning tally. What may be just as important is that the organization is seen to have a really talented young corps, and General Manager Chuck Fletcher didn't have to trade any one of those pieces to get Hanzal and White. So if the Mild come up short again this year, well, the future remains quite promising.
We may have to look at the long-term future, because suddenly, this team isn't looking so good. They lost at home to Chicago, and in a loss in Columbus they were shut out on the road for the first time since early November. Plus they had to go to Overtime to beat Los Angeles, and survived Winnipeg 6-5. The Wild's place in the Survey was in doubt until the fate of tonight's (Sunday night's) game. They defeated San Jose, 3-1, at the X, so I'll put them up here. But now they're in a dogfight with Chicago for the division.
This week: Home to St. Louis and new Head Coach (and former Wild HC) Mike Yeo, then a Florida two-step Thursday and Friday that starts a five-game road trip that coincides with the Boys' State High School Hockey Tournament.
#-3: Timberwolves (Two Weeks Ago: -4). I've been out of the country, so I have no idea about how this team is. (Actually I don't know the state of any of the teams on this survey. So sue me.) I do know that the Timberwolves played five games while I was gone and went above .500. They lost to the two good teams, Houston and San Antonio, and against the teams that aren't that good (Dallas, Sacramento and Utah), they beat them all. And even though they sit twelfth in the Western Conference standings and three teams sit between them and the Denver Nuggets (two of the three being the aforementioned Mavericks and Kings), they are only three games back for the eighth and final playoff spot. So because of that, I am putting them above all the other teams that have muddled through these past two weeks.
Tomorrow they host the last of the three teams standing in the Woofie Dogs' way, Portland. That commences a three-game homestand that also includes the Clippers and Golden State, the latter of which will be played the day before the club travels to play the Bucks in Milwaukee.
#-4: Gopher wrestling (Two Weeks Ago: -6). At first I thought it was a typo: The Gophers beat Iowa St. 40-7?! In Ames?!?! The Gophers, who have been routinely humiliated this year?!?!?! And then I checked it. Yes, back on February 19, the U. won eight of the ten matches, and in all but one of those victories they received bonus points for at least a major decision. It was the first time in more than three years that they rolled up at least 40 points in a dual. But to do it against the Cyclones, one of the proud blueblood programs in college wrestling? And then I looked over the Intermat Wrestle rankings and, nope, Iowa St. is nowhere to be found. I lament the fall from grace of the Gopher grappling program, but at least the squad is still ranked. What the hell happened to the 'Clones, home to Cael Sanderson?
So technically the team has gone undefeated in this screening period. But still I hinged this team's final placement in this survey (done after Sunday's games have been played, to be sure) on one particular match during this weekend's B1G Tournament in Bloomington. The U. as a team finished an emasculating fifth (after finishing the first day in fourth place), but that was a foregone conclusion. What was still in doubt was the fate of the best player on the team and the top seed at 197 lbs., Brett Pfarr. But, no, he got upset in the class final, 15-11, to Ohio St.'s Kollin Moore. So the Gophers finish this league tourney with absolutely zero titles for its players, further sending off this program in a wayward direction. But hey, at least they went undefeated on the road (5-0) for the first time in four seasons!
Nine wrestlers will go to the NCAA Championships two weeks from now. But will Minnesota win the title? Fuck no.
#-5: Gopher baseball (Two Weeks Ago: -3). I left Hong Kong just before the club began playing the first of 13 games at U.S. Bank Stadium, a celebration that this school can finally play games at home before April. And the verdict? So far, through eight games, they're 5-3. Certainly not a way to hold on for your city, even if they did sweep Seattle in the first-ever series at Das Bank v.2.0. Add that they lost at California-Irvine 7-5 Sunday the 19th and I'll slip them behind the above two teams because, hey, it's not Iowa and Oral Roberts are titans in baseball like Iowa St. is in wrestling.
Their homestand ends this week. They have midweek one-offs against South Dakota St. and Wisconsin-Milwaukee. They then host Missouri St. for a three-game set, and I am poised to finally catch a game there, specifically Friday's tilt.
#-6: United (Re-Entry!). History was made Friday -- the birth of the Twin Cities' franchise in the fifth professional sport in the United States. And ... they got their asses kicked in Portland in the first game of the Major League Soccer season, 5-1. It was 1-0 at Halftime, however, and congratulations to MNUFC lifer (but substitute for this match -- huh?) Christian Ramirez for scoring The First-Ever Goal For Minnesota United FC in Major League Soccer:
But by then the Timbers already scored the game-winning goal, and later the roof caved in on United. Portland scored three goals in the last 11 minutes, the last two being a brace (that's two goals; I just learned that recently!) by Fanendo Adi in the 91st and 93rd minutes. Look, since this is the club's expansion year, I don't really give a good goddamn if they lose every game. They're not going anywhere this year, and they're not supposed to. But should they be losing every match 5-1? Uh, I hope not.
Next Sunday comes another milestone: The first home game for MNUFC at TCF Bank Stadium. They'll be facing fellow expansion side (and fellow United) Atlanta in the afternoon. This is one of the main reasons why I became a season-ticketholder for the first time ever. On Saturday they visit Colorado.
#-Infinity: Gopher women's basketball (Two Weeks Ago: -5). Well, they ended their regular season on a three-game losing streak via lopsided defeats to Purdue and Maryland. Then they started what had to be a miracle run in the conference tournament to get an NCAA tourney berth by beating Penn St., which they were supposed to do. But then they suffered a dozen-point defeat to Maryland in the next round, thereby ending their season. Once again, Brenda Oldfield is the bane to the Goofers' existence.
They finish the season 15-16 overall, and if that doesn't tell the current non-existent state of this program, I don't know what does. I really have nothing else to say about this.
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