#0: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -2). For a team on the outside of the NCAA Tournament but with a clear task to get on the inside of said tourney -- two games against ranked squads Michigan and Maryland, both at Williams Arena -- these women did exactly what they had to do, and thus took a decisive, confident step in to The Big Dance. On Wednesday they held off the 23rd-ranked Wolverines, 93-87, and yesterday (Sunday), against the tenth-ranked Terrapins (a squad they had never beaten, and oh yeah, whose Head Coach jilted the U. all those years ago [and no, I'm not over it]), they buried them by a score of 93-74.
One thing that might explain the resurgence of this squad is balance and contributions from players besides Carlie Wagner. Take a look at the box score for the win over Maryland. Wagner is one of four players who scored in double figures. The other three -- Kenisha Bell, Gadiva Hubbard, and Destiny Pitts -- are averaging double figures throughout the year. I doubt that happened last season. Don't exactly know the reason, but this could be Marlene Stollings's best coaching job at the U.
The Gophers have won four in a row, the last three are against ranked teams. They still have two matches this week to end the season -- Senior Night against Indiana Tuesday, then at Illinois Sunday -- and then there's the B1G Tournament. But get through that, and they've got to be in, right?
#-1: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -4). Beat Rider Friday in Lawrenceville, N.J., 32-12. That's great, but why in the hell are these guys winding up their season vs. a non-conference opponent? And why are they going to New Jersey a week after they were there to play Rutgers just seven days ago? Seems like a huge carbon footprint, but that's just me.
Big Ten Championships early next month.
#-2: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -3). In a two-game series at Mariucci, they beat Ohio St. Friday, 2-1, then, after a ridiculous eight-round Shootout, lose to the Buckeyes by the same score. (Or is the score 1-1 with Ohio St. getting the extra point? Why can't they just leave tie games as tie games?) They have maintained, if not slightly improved, their standing in the PairWise, and yet I feel underwhelmed yet again. They finish the season next weekend at Penn St. for two, then it's tournament time.
#-3: Timberwolves (Last Week: -6). An abbreviated screening week because this is All-Star Week. (Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns were there; congratulations to them. But while KAT poured in 17 for the losing Team Steph team, Jimmy Buckets did not play because he was sick.) Lost to Houston at home by 18 after the Rockets put their foot down in the Fourth Quarter. Then in the only game on Thursday and the final game for the NBA before the All-Star Break, after an emotional tribute to the late Flip Saunders, they outlasted The Bastard Minneapolis Lakers by eight.
For a team whose starters are ridden hard, that the club doesn't have to play until Friday is a good thing indeed. Unfortunately they get dumped into the deep water immediately; they visit the Rockets, then they immediately come home to host Chicago Saturday.
#-4: Wild (Last Week: -5). Saturday was a ridiculous day for Shootout losses. The afternoon before the U. male icers lost in an eight-round SO, the Mild fell to Anaheim, 3-2, after an eleven-round SO, the longest in Minnesota professional hockey history.
They beat the Rangers Tuesday, 3-2, but got blown out by Washington Thursday, 5-2, breaking a 13-game home streak where the Mild collected at least a point. As of press time they still have the final spot in the West. But they just finished a five-game homestand where they were expected to make some hay, and instead the squad finished 2-3. And now they have four games this screening week: Three games at the New York teams (including the Devils and Rangers back-to-back), then a Sunday night home date versus San Jose.
#-5: Gopher softball (Last Week: -1). Overall this wasn't a good screening week for local sports. That the last three teams all went winless is the reason why. I find it very shocking that Minnesota, after spending the past few years establishing itself as a very good power in softball, would somehow lose all four games in the B1G/ACC Challenge over the weekend in Tallahassee. Sure, the season is young. But I think this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that this team is nothing like last year's team. In fact, this may very well be a rebuilding year. The club tries to get back on the beam in Orlando this weekend for the Diamond 9 Citrus Classic, where it will play five games vs. five schools over three days.
#-6: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -7). I'm obsessed with winning the bracket pool, so I'm trying to find every tendency I can to suss out who will the national title. After looking through Kenpom and hearing about this weird quirk John Gasaway pointed out (although I don't know if he's the one who found it), Michigan St. may be in the best position of any team this season to win it all. And they demonstrated that by immolated the Golden Goofers at The Barn Tuesday by 30. Then again, for a team that has now lost eight straight and looks as though they have packed it in, beating the U. may not mean a whole lot.
Mercifully for the Goofers, the conference is ending its regular season a week early because the conference tournament is being held in Madison Square Garden, and the arena is reserved by the Big East Tournament the week of Selection Sunday. They host Iowa Wednesday, then finish their regular season at Purdue Sunday.
#-7: Gopher women's hockey (Re-Entry!). Now I'm officially worried -- about this team and about the direction of the program. Last weekend they got swept at Wisconsin to finish out their regular season. (Badgers probably got ringers from Canada. It's Wisconsin; they're cheating Republicans over there.) But it's the first time ever Wisky won all four regular season games over the Goofs. And even though the Badgers are, I think, top-ranked in the nation, these losses may have put the U. on the wrong side of the PairWise bubble, and frankly, that is unthinkable. I mean, how could a year get so bad that this happens? There are fewer than 40 clubs in top-flight women's hockey. How can you fall off this badly?
Worse yet, I'm not completely sure they'll get out of the first round of the WCHA Playoffs next week vs. St. Cloud St. Sure, it's a best-of-three, and all three games will be at Ridder. But a team struggling this bad could lose this series. That'll be embarrassing for the U. because the WCHA Final Faceoff is also at Ridder. And if the U. doesn't reach that, there's no way it makes the NCAA Tournament.
No comments:
Post a Comment