#-1: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -3). This week's survey is a tough one to order. A lot of teams (it's that time of the year), a lot of weeks that compares apples to oranges, and many teams have a lot of mitigating circumstances that gives me pause to putting them as high as I eventually do.
Take the U. women's hockey team. I still think there are problems that I'm not used to seeing from this program. They played a non-power in Mercyhurst. And Friday's contest had to go to Overtime before Taylor Wente scored to give them a 2-1 win. Nevertheless, they swept the Lakers with a 5-2 victory Saturday, and this sweep was on the road, and for this week's WMNSS, that's good enough to claim the top spot, although as a customary -1.
Where this team is will get more credible evidence next week, when the Gophers return home to Ridder and get back into conference play. St. Cloud St. is the foe for the weekend -- not a power, either, but WCHA games are more important than non-WCHA games.
#-2: Gopher football (Last Week: -5). I remember back in 1983 seeing the game, or at least seeing the score, where Nebraska beat the ever-loving shit out of the Golden Goofers by a score of 84-13. I didn't know much about football at the time, but I somewhat knew that that was a lopsided score. Not to say that yesterday (Saturday) afternoon's 54-21 shellacking of the Cornhuskers at Das Bank v.1.0 makes up for it, but this proves that a school that seemed unstoppable can be very stoppable, even mediocre, if you give it time. Sure, this took, oh, 20, 25 years, but life is long, and I have seen a very scary team made to heel by our team, one that, frankly, still isn't good. Meanwhile, the U. has earned its fifth win, and with its high APR, they probably have sealed a birth in some shit bowl somewhere over the holidays.
Of course, they visit Northwestern next Saturday afternoon, and I wouldn't put it past them to upset the Wildcats and win for a sixth time, thus legitimately earning a birth in some shit bowl somewhere.
#-3: Gopher men's basketball (Re-Entry!). The most promising season for the Minnesota men's basketball squad in decades began Friday, where they beat South Carolina-Upstate at Williams Arena, 92-77. Fortified with a starting lineup including Amir Coffey, Reggie Lynch, Nate Mason and Jordan Murphy and exciting Freshman Guard Isaiah Washington, many people think that an NCAA Tournament birth is assured. Some people think these guys are contenders for the Big Ten title. That would be great, almost unheard-of coming from this program. But I hear from some quarters that the offseason's corruption arrests in college basketball, which included the firing as Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino, will eventually affect Minnesota, mostly because Pitino's son, Richard Pitino, is the Head Coach at the U., and the son had to have learned about how to cheat from the father. That may or may not be the case, and any consequences might not occur until years after this season is over. Until then, let's just lie to ourselves and indulge in what could be a great year.
The schedule gets very credible quickly. The Gavitt Tipoff Games, aka the Big Ten-Big East Challenge, comes tomorrow (Monday), when the U. travels to Providence. They then come back to The Barn to play Niagara.
#-4: Gopher women's basketball (Re-Entry!). And what about this team? Yesterday (Saturday), the U. women's b-ball team crushed Lehigh at Williams, 107-73. That's great, but this team is coming off a 15-16 year, finishing a paltry 5-11 in the B1G. And there is no Isaiah Washington walking through that door. The verdict's still out on Marlene Stollings, whose postseason success has fallen through her three years at the helm (from the NCAA to the WNIT to nothing), and the person who hired her for this job is long gone because of he harassed women. Carlie Wagner remains the best player on this team, but she's a Senior; will she see any postseason success her last year here? (Aside: Of the 13 players on the club, only three are Minnesotans -- two Seniors and a Redshirt Junior.) So, yeah, nice win, but how many more of these are they really going to have?
This week: A true road game against Rhode Island tomorrow/Monday, then hosting VCU Thursday.
#-5: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: 0). Hmmm ... I intimate that a loss wouldn't be the worst thing for this club to refocus their efforts, and then they lose for the first time in 11 games in four Sets at Purdue Friday ... and I'm worried. I mean, what's wrong with this team? Well, maybe I shouldn't panic. They responded Veterans Day with a sweep at Indiana. So they'll slip in the AVCA Top 25, but maybe this defeat will be good for this squad.
After visiting the Indiana schools last weekend, they visit the Illinois schools this weekend -- Northwestern Friday, Illinois Saturday. It'll be the last two road games of their season.
#-6: Wild (Last Week: -4). I'm still very worried about the Mild. Yes, all four games they played this screening week were on the road, so 2-2 (both wins Shutouts) isn't bad. But right now, Jason Zucker has scored the team's last six Goals, so I think you could say these guys have a problem finding diverse scoring. And they are still in last place in the Central, even though they are two points behind fourth place. Still not on track.
They finished the week blanking the Flyers in Philadelphia last (Saturday) night, 1-0. They complete an elongated home-and-home by hosting the Broad Street Bullies Tuesday. They also host Nashville Thursday, then head out to Washington to face Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals Saturday.
#-7: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -1). Both teams at Michigan this weekend went to OT. The Friday game ended in defeat in Overtime; Saturday went all the way to a Shootout, which they won, so even though it officially is recorded as a Tie, the Golden Goofers get an extra point in the B1G for the SO win. I think. Really, this is, like, half a win they take back from Ann Arbor.
Non-con games are the least important games in a schedule. Nevertheless, I love these opponents because it stands out in comparison to your usual games against Wisconsin et al. I have not seen Harvard play here before, at least I don't think. Moreover, that the two-game series against the Crimson (being played at 3M) occurs at a random mid-November date makes this even more conspicuous, and for variety's sake, that's a good thing. Will I watch a game, though? Hmmm. ...
#-8: Timberwolves (Last Week: Positive Numbers). A week where they burn through much of the currency they gained the week before. They crushed Charlotte at Target Sunday, but then they showed how far behind they are against the Golden State Warriors, losing 125-101 Wednesday. But I think last (Saturday) night's 118-110 at Phoenix was worse because the Suns are in a naked rebuilding job right now. They have Devin Booker and that's it. And yet it looks as though they weren't in this game at all. I heard Dan Barreiro on KFAN this (Sunday) morning saying that Jeff Teague blows hot and cold. If that's true, particularly that he can hurt a team with his lackadaisical attitude and play, is he really any better than Ricky Rubio?
Well, coincidentally enough, the Woofie Dogs travel to Mormon Land to face Ricky-Ricky and The Bastard New Orleans Jazz Monday. They then hopscotch: Home to San Antonio Wednesday, then at Dallas Friday.
#-Infinity: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -6). Well, the haters and naysayers were right: The University of Minnesota women's soccer team were not selected for the NCAA Tournament -- a surprise to many bracketologists and fans, not a surprise to a few others. I still think this was kind of screw job because the experts thought these Goofers should be in, but there were a lot of reasons you can point to for their exclusion. The biggest example? They shouldn't've lost to Wisconsin at home to start the B1G Tournament. Also, they finished the year losing three of their last five matches. And how about that game vs. Michigan Sep. 21, where they gave up the game-tying Goal with 19 seconds left in regulation? It is kind of surprising that a record of 11 Wins, 3 Draws and 5 Losses eliminates you from the postseason; college tournaments aren't this tough to get into. But right now, I'm of the thinking that this club had its chances and failed to seal the deal. One more win and they'd be playing this weekend.
And now what of this team, which won the double and was a national seed in 2016? They lose a lot of talent -- Tori Burnett, Maddie Gaffney, Julianna Gernes, Kellie McGahn and most of all, Sydney Squires. April Bockin, Molly Fiedler and Emily Heslin will return to lead this XI, but this team is rapidly getting younger, and right now there isn't a whole lot of success to believe that things are on the up and up. So, what now?
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