#-1: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -3). In a screening week that is both long and blah, I want to give some dap to the Gopher women's b-ball team -- and I really am not trying to compliment them back-handedly. I have no idea where they sit in the eyes of the bracketologists. But by going undefeated with wins at Williams over Wisconsin and Iowa, the team sits at 16-5, already surpassing its win total from last year. Bonus points for being the Hawkeyes yesterday (Sunday) afternoon when they were ranked 20th.
Carlie Wagner still appears to be the alpha dogs on that squad. But it's striking to me how other players on this team are contributing. Destiny Pitts and Kehinde Bello notched double-doubles in Thursday's win over the Badgers, and Kenisha Bell did the same in the victory over Iowa.
I should move on; have a lot of teams to talk about. Apparently the B1G thought it fun to play the same teams twice so close to each other because the Gophers will be facing both the Badgers and Hawkeyes this screening week, except on the road.
#-2: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -6). This might be the weekend that saves the U.'s chances to reach the NCAA Tournament. In a special road-neutral series where Minnesota is the featured school in the Big Ten Network's "Super Saturday" in New York City, they swept an albeit pretty mediocre Michigan St. squad, 5-4 Thursday in East Lansing, then 2-1 Saturday night in Madison Square Garden. They are slowly sliding up the PairWise even though they remain below .500 (6-9-1) in the B1G. The team plays Notre Dame at 3M this weekend; I've seen the Fighting Irish play here before, but this is the first time they come here as members of the conference, so I might go to one of those games.
#-3: Wild (Last Week: -2). I forgot that the National Hockey League, at least for the foreseeable future, is giving "bye weeks" to teams. How does it work? I think it goes by Divisions: In the month of January, one Division takes the workweek off, then another and so forth. I believe this past week was the Central Division's turn. And it looks as though it paid off, at least in the short-term, for the Wild. For a squad that has consistently played down to the level of bad teams, they gave the prime favorite for the Stanley Cup, the Tampa Bay Lightning, their what for and crushed them Saturday at the X, 5-2. I think they're still scrounging for a playoff spot, but this helps a lot. This week: Home to Ottawa Monday, at Pittsburgh Thursday.
#-4: United FC (Re-Entry!). The teams above had undefeated weeks; the teams below had weeks of less than .500. So this is the perfect spot to put in my analysis of the Loons' SuperDraft picks and day.
I had not realized until listening to the draft online the parameters of importance this has when it comes to team development. With the help of Targeted and General Allocation Money, the relatively soft salary cap and the conventionalization with the world soccer market, drafting players is not the best way to help a soccer side -- in Major League Soccer or anywhere else. Instead, TAM and GAM allows sides to scout and sign players from outside the United States. Meanwhile, franchises are trying to start up academies whereby they sign kids to train for them throughout their adolescents. Those two mechanisms give teams an immense amount of control over who they want to play for them, unlike drafts, which rely on an order determined by the record of the previous season, which is a significant lever of player teams cannot control. Come to think of it, if you have all three methods by which to mine and sift for players, why would you even bother for the draft at all?
(Aside: If the splashiest players are going to come not through the SuperDraft but by teams spending money to get them, that diminishes the importance of the draft in MLS. Contrast that to the NFL and NBA, where the draft is the prime way to select talent. That's why there is so much keen interest in their sports' drafts, and that would mean that the MLS SuperDraft would be devalued in terms of appeal. That is very interesting to look at from an American sports fan's angle -- the draft in Major League Soccer isn't that important. So why have one? And furthermore, does the fact that a college draft in soccer won't have as much impact as those for football and basketball mean that there would be less overall appeal for soccer compared to those two sports? I kind of think that the draft is very important to a fan. Just a thought.)
Anyway, MNUFC still needs both talent and depth. Assuming you can't draft talent, the side was really busy on Friday, wheeling and dealing money and picks in order to rack up five players (four through the SuperDraft, one via trade). I'm scratching my head over the moves made to get Indiana Forward Mason Toye with the seventh pick if the Loons already have both Christian Ramirez and Abu Danladi. But the most intriguing one is the team's next draftee, Dartmouth Defender Wyatt Omsberg. He's big and rangy, and he fills a need on this club. People believe that the MLS Draft is to find depth players -- those who can be role players, either for your team or for the league, for a long, long time. (Most people say that many players in the draft don't get signed. If you sign one, that's a sign of a good draft.) In that sense, Omsberg might be the diamond in the rough.
#-5: Timberwolves (Last Week: -1). A humiliating loss in Orlando where they had a lead in the Fourth Quarter and lost it. They then were blown out at Houston in a potential second-round matchup in the playoffs. But me and a few members of my alumni club were at Saturday's deceptively good contest vs. the Toronto Raptors, and in a back-and-forth affair, the Timberwolves overcame an eight-point Halftime deficit to beat the Raps, 115-109, in a battle to see which team motto is northier; #AllEyesNorth beat #WeTheNorth.
Our alumni on the court acquitted themselves well. DeMar DeRozan hit 20 on 7-for-16 shooting, while Taj Gibson paced all players with 40 minutes on the floor and a +7 while he was playing. This was the first time I saw a game in-person, and was the first time I really focused on the team. And, at least for this game, I was impressed. Remember that the Wolves beat the second-best team in the Eastern Conference without Jimmy Butler or Jamal Crawford.
So the T-Wolves continue to fight San Antonio for the third-best team in the West. They are in the middle of a spell where they play seven-of-nine on the road. They go back on the road for contests out west -- the Clippers tonight/Monday, Portland and Golden State (the last two back-to-back, on Wednesday and Thursday). They then return to Target Center to play Brooklyn Saturday.
#-6: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -7). The team is still in freefall, as evidenced by their ass-kickings at Maryland Thursday and to Ohio St. Saturday afternoon at MSG. (At least the Gopher men's hockey team won, otherwise they would have gone 0-for-2 in Manhattan.) The return of Amir Coffey didn't help. But hey, at least they beat Penn St. in State College Monday! This club would be riding a six-game losing streak otherwise. The goal now is to avoid getting into the CBI. They host Northwestern tomorrow/Tuesday.
#-7: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -4). You know, such were the days where a team such as Michigan would be no problem for the Gopher grapplers, even if the Wolverines were ranked eighth. But those days are long ago, and these days, the U. is losing its luster rapidly. Yesterday/Sunday the Maize & Blue came into Maturi and humiliated the Goofers, 30-7. Egad.
That's all I want to say about this squad. This week: At Penn St. Friday (good luck with that), home to Northwestern Sunday.
#-8: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -5). OK, what the fuck is wrong with this team?!?! This is an embarrassment! For the first time in program history, they were swept by the Ohio St. Buckeyes -- who, even though this was on the road and they were ranked only a spot or two behind the Goofers and their Head Coach is former Gopher great Nadine Muzerall ... goddamn, it's Ohio St.! You don't lose to fucking Ohio St.! But these guys did. They coughed up a lead and lost Friday, 3-2, then got blow out, 5-1.
This weekend they have their final home series of the year, vs. Minnesota State-Mankato. Can't look past the possibility they will lose both games against the Mavericks. They then finish with St. Cloud St. and Wisconsin on the road. The losses to the Buckeyes have done considerable damage to their PairWise, and it wasn't robust to start out with. This team is in prime danger of missing out on the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eleven years.
#-Infinity: Vikings (Last Week: 0). I remember the last time they were in a position like this -- nine years ago. I was fighting with My Fucking Father at the time, so I spent most of the time during both championship games out. I came back, watched a portion of the NFC Championship Game, then turned it off. The game was not going as well as it could have, meaning that the Vikings weren't dominated in such a way that would make me feel good about continuing to watch them. So I didn't. We know what happened; therefore, I think my decision was justified.
I had a worse feeling coming into last night's game. I thought it was going to be close, but I felt there was a chance that it was going to be a blowout. Whatever the margin of defeat, I was certain that the ViQueens were going to lose. The fact that too many local pundits thought they would beat the Eagles in Philadelphia was a gigantic red flag ... and should have been one for local fans doing the Skol chant all week.
Man, what a way to dash those high hopes. I just finally checked the final score -- 38-7?!?!?! Man, fuck this team. I don't want to talk about them anymore.
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