Positive Numbers: Vikings (Re-Entry!). In the beginning of yet another Winter Of Our Discontent, how nuts is it that the saving grace for the local sports scene is the goddamn Vikings?? In the middle game of a three-game road gauntlet, they traveled to Atlanta, a team desperate to stay in the playoff chase, and grinded out a 14-9 victory. The Vikes weren't the high-flying offense they have been, but Case Keenum continues to elude pass-rushers and extend plays, and the Wide Receivers -- once a liability, now a glaring strength -- continued to get open, playground-style, enough to get to the end zone twice.
Meanwhile, the Vikes' D rose triumphantly to the occasion Sunday, locking down a Falcons offense that might have found its stride in recent weeks. Their third-down defense was exceptional; the Dirty Birds were 1-of-10 on third down. (Just saw this during the Vikings' game against Carolina, which is happening as I type this: Minnesota leads the league in third-down efficiency on offense and on defense. That's amazing.) That's the type of clutch performance that will earn teams championships. But only if this team gets an advantageous spot. And despite technically being the top team in the National Football Conference over the Philadelphia Eagles, also at 10-2 (by virtue of strength of victory), they haven't won a first-round by yet. They haven't even won the NFC North yet. They will if they beat the Panthers, but as of press time, they're not doing so good.
Damn, and I thought the Vikes were going to save us.
Damn, and I thought the Vikes were going to save us.
#0: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -4). Still don't know the prospects of this team. But in a horrible screening week in Dinkytown, the lady ballers were far and away the best of the U. by dint of victories over Eastern Michigan (by 24 at home) and Georgetown (by ten in D.C.). I think Carlie Wagner passed Shannon Schonrock for second place in all-time three-pointers in Gophers women's basketball history in the Hoya game.
(By the way, unlike the men's, the B1G on the women's side is not starting its conference schedule this week. They will begin that part of their schedules around New Year's, like they usually do, because the conference tournament in women's b-ball will be at the same time it's always been.)
They're winding down their non-con sched slowly. They host Cal Poly Wednesday.
(By the way, unlike the men's, the B1G on the women's side is not starting its conference schedule this week. They will begin that part of their schedules around New Year's, like they usually do, because the conference tournament in women's b-ball will be at the same time it's always been.)
They're winding down their non-con sched slowly. They host Cal Poly Wednesday.
#-1: Timberwolves (Last Week: -5). A 2-1 screening week is not disguising the fact that this team may be bursting at the seams due to tension between the players and Coach/General Manager Tom Thibodeau. Sure, the Woofie Dogs sandwiched victories over The Bastard Buffalo Braves (Sunday at home, Wednesday away, both by six points) with a three-point loss to The Bastard Vancouver Grizzlies. But it was after one of the wins where, in an on-court post-gamer, Jimmy Butler, considered to be the man closest to Thibs, said he needed to talk to Thibs about the minutes some of the players are playing.
Thibodeau has already established a reputation for making his best players play massive minutes game-in and game-out through the regular season. He has shortened his bench to the point where he has benched Shabazz Muhammad and is now relying on an eight-man rotation. That means that he is making Butler, Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and the like to log 35, even 40 minutes on most nights. That, coupled with Thibs's well-known hard-driving, autocratic coaching star, may -- may -- have started wearing on the team, in particular KAT and Wiggins, the two building blocks who will take these Wolves back to impressive heights.
Moreover, his decisions seem to counter any presumed plan to hand over the keys to the future of this franchise to their two young cornerstones. In particular, Towns has been little utilized in recent weeks. His frequent double-teams have dramatically shrunk the number of Field Goal Attempts he makes. And that has made KAT very, very pouty. Now maybe Thibs is testing Towns. But at what point does The Big Meow have to grown up, and at what point does Thibs need to calm the hell down and start using his subs more? The way this news about dissension are being leaked out, the players are quickly tiring of it.
In the meantime they begin a five-game homestand; maybe some home cooking will cool heads. The first four contests come this screening week: Dallas, Process Philadelphia, Sacramento, and, once again, Phoenix.
They're done until the New Year. Maybe the break will get their heads right.
#-3: Wild (Last Week: -3). Got drubbed at L.A., then scored in Overtime to beat the Anaheim Ducks. Seriously, I don't know how to analyze this team. This week they play every other day. They begin by ending their California trip Sunday in San Jose. Then they come home to the X to, somewhat weirdly, face three Canadian clubs: Calgary (Tuesday), Toronto (Thursday), and Edmonton (Saturday).
#-4: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -7). So now the bloom is off the rose. The club bounced back from their first loss of the season by pounding Rutgers Sunday at Williams by 22. But in an eminently winnable road game versus Nebraska Tuesday, they never got out of first gear and loss handily, 78-68. And in another road game, an intriguing BcS contest against Arkansas, the unranked Razorbacks beat the ranked (but not for long) Golden Goofers yesterday (Saturday), 95-79.
This is a well-recruited team. They have shown that they can play well. But this team has now lost three out of their last four games. Maybe these players aren't as good as they are. Or maybe they need to be coached up. Richard Pitino, this is on you. It's gut-check time.
One game this week means finals are coming up. That game, Monday against Drake, is the first of a six-game homestand that spans the non-con and B1G schedules.
This is a well-recruited team. They have shown that they can play well. But this team has now lost three out of their last four games. Maybe these players aren't as good as they are. Or maybe they need to be coached up. Richard Pitino, this is on you. It's gut-check time.
One game this week means finals are coming up. That game, Monday against Drake, is the first of a six-game homestand that spans the non-con and B1G schedules.
#-5: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -6). OK, it's shit weekends like this that have garnered Don Lucia haters. Ohio St. has traditionally not been a good hockey school (surprising in the sense that THE Ohio St. University doesn't have enough money to spread to its hockey program), but they are ranked 15th in last week's USCHO.com poll. Minnesota is ranked 7th -- or was, after the U. got swept in Columbus this weekend, 2-1 in OT Friday and, even worse, 4-1 on Saturday. Just like the 5-2 defeat November 25 at Notre Dame, it feels as though there are players who don't mind quitting. What the fuck, man?
Traditionally for winter break, basketball teams throttle down their schedules and hockey teams shut down. Unlike the women, the men do resume play before 2018. They have a two-game home series against Army. I bought a ticket to the Saturday night game at the State Fair.
Traditionally for winter break, basketball teams throttle down their schedules and hockey teams shut down. Unlike the women, the men do resume play before 2018. They have a two-game home series against Army. I bought a ticket to the Saturday night game at the State Fair.
#-Infinity: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -1). You know how I've been talking all season about how confident I was in the Goofers' ability to go to their third straight Final Four because they actually lost a few times over the course of the season? Yeah, fuck that shit. I think this year has totally fucked that theory in the ass.
I was so wrong. How could I be so stupid to think those defeats would actually toughen up this team? Instead, that four-Set loss to Penn St. at the end of their regular season was all the evidence I needed that this team was tired and unprepared, and nowhere close to the squads of 2015 and 2016. Not like I noticed that evidence. Shit, they dropped a set to Northern Iowa last Saturday and I still thought they had a good chance of surviving through the second weekend.
Instead, they were humiliated in a three-Set loss to my alma mater Friday. And it was particularly humbling to see the death of the 2017 University of Minnesota volleyball club through the scores: 23-26-16. That means they lost a close one, then regrouped and tried to win the second but fell in extra points, and that took the life out of them as they faded away to an ignominious end. Sorry to sound so bitter (that's partially because my alma mater dropped Sets 4 and 5 last [Saturday] night to Florida, a team they could have and probably should have beaten to get into the Final Four), but even though this is an enormously successful and well-supported program, I'm starting to get a little fucking tired of them not winning an NCAA championship. When? Seriously, when? Doesn't Hugh McCutcheon get all the money he needs? Hasn't he constructed his squad so that it's consisting mostly of ringers from out-of-state? What more does he need? This is getting pretty goddamn frustrating, I mean it!
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