(This is a note that with the beginning of the New Year, the WMNSS will (or should) be published on Tuesdays, since I need to encompass the results of the first actual week of 2019, and January 8, 2019 falls on a Tuesday. Since I did not cover the results of December 31, 2018, this first Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey will catch up by taking in the results from New Year's Eve to yesterday.)
#0: Gopher women's hockey (Re-Entry!). They won what is called the Minnesota Cup, a first-time all-Minnesota tournament. Think of it is as the women's version of the now-dead and lamented (at least by me) North Star College Cup, even though the men's teams appear to be trying to revive a version of that for next year. Anyway, they beat Minnesota-Duluth (and gold medal-winning Team USA Goalie Maddie Rooney Saturday, 4-3 in Overtime, and then zoomed past St. Cloud St. (which beat MSU-Mankato in the other Semifinal) Sunday, 5-1.
The second-ranked (at least according to PairWise) Gophers visit the Mavericks down in Mankato for a two-game series this weekend.
#-1: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -2). We are looking for something, anything, that will show that this program is finally turning things around. And it is but a win, however things suddenly are looking bright for this squad after opening up Big Ten play with a 59-52 upset of ranked Wisconsin in Madison. It is the first time they have beaten the Badgers since 2014, and it's the first time they've done so at the Kohl Center since 2009. This is a sign that all the talent Richard Pitino is accruing is finally gelling and paying off.
They will try and consolidate that season-defining win by beating Maryland at Williams Arena, a game that is going on right now (so I need to finish this up before I have to count this game for this screening week's survey). Saturday afternoon they host Rutgers.
#-2: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: 0). The U. was ranked ninth. Rutgers, the club's opponent Sunday, was ranked 20th. It was a close match on paper ... and it was a close match on the mat, even though six of the ten matches were routs (as in results besides Decisions). But six of the matches went the Gophers' way, so they beat the Scarlet Knights at Maturi, 22-15. A team below them, even if that team was ranked, used to not be such a problem for Minnesota, but such is the life these days of a program that is clearly a cut below the power schools like Penn St. and Oklahoma St.
Maybe Iowa too. The U. hosts the Hawkeyes Sunday at noon.
#-3: Wild (Last Week: -6). An inverse screening week -- as in, they lost at home to Pittsburgh New Year's Eve afternoon, but so far are perfect on a four-game roadtrip, winning at Toronto, at Ottawa and at Montreal. Caught the only Goal in the Wild's 1-0 victory over the Canadiens last/Monday night; a horrible pass in the defensive zone was picked up by Mikael Granlund, who deked the puck past Carey Price for the lone tally with seven minutes left in the game.
Incredibly, with that win, the Wild have (sort of) gotten themselves off the mat, rising to the second Western Conference Wild Card and the final spot in the Western Conference playoffs. (They have the same number of points as Anaheim but win the tiebreaker, which is Wins.) They will try to keep their winning streak going tonight (Tuesday night) in Boston. They then come home to face Winnipeg and Detroit before visiting Philadelphia (and former General Manager Chuck Fletcher) on Monday.
#-4: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -5). Another two-game series, another split. This time, they couldn't crack visiting Penn St. Friday, losing 4-2, but got the better of the Nittany Lions in the Saturday night game, 4-1. Still, these guys are going nowhere. Checked the PairWise for the first time this season, and the Golden Goofers are down in the twenties. This weekend they are at Notre Dame for a pair.
#-5: Timberwolves (Last Week: -4). This may be the most Timberwolvesian week in their damned history. Sure, shitcan a guy 60 minutes after crushing a Lakers team at home by 22. But that is what General Manager Scott Layden and CEO Ethan Casson did when they marched into Tom Thibodeau's office. Not even three years into his time as Head Coach and Team President, he was asked to leave.
And leave it to the Woofie Dogs to make what many people believe is the right move in such a wrong way. Yet, as a couple of beat writers have pointed out, the organization may have had its hand forced. They really, really, really have a hard-on to bring Fred Hoiberg back into the fold. He was with the T-Wolves before taking the Head Coaching job at his alma mater, Iowa St., and then moving to become HC of the Chicago Bulls. He was fired from that job earlier this year, and so he's free to come back to the Wolves -- although, if reports are correct, they are breaking up the twin jobs of coaching and personnel that Thibodeau enjoyed, so Hoiberg would come back only to be either Head Coach or General Manager (the position Scott Layden currently enjoys), not both. Meanwhile, there is talk that UCLA would hire Hoiberg as their coach. If that is true, the organization probably is trying to get to Hoiberg before the Bruins do, and they can't even make a play for him unless they fire Thibs first.
Also a factor: This is the time of year franchise salespeople get season-ticket and sponsorship renewals, and those beat writers are hearing that retention rates are sluggish. There just isn't any buzz surrounding a team with two players drafted first overall. This midseason firing is a way to reinject interest in the team, and to give the message that they are going to try to get better by hiring a different Head Coach. To which I say, great, but there are at least a couple of other times where it was better to fire Tom Thibodeau. He was a dead man walking, sure, but even I thought Thibodeau got kind of a raw deal in being fired under these circumstances. Now granted, the Wolves are still out of the playoff picture, but damn, the guy just won a game! Let him bask in a little bit of glory, would ya? You can fire him on the next losing slump.
So for now, the reins of the team go to Interim Head Coach Ryan Saunders. Yep, the son of the late Timberwolves talisman Flip Saunders. We'll see what the youngest coach in the NBA (all of 32 years old!!!) can do with a professional b-ball squad under his charge in games this week at Oklahoma City and home vs. Dallas and New Orleans.
#-6: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -1). Uh-oh. Turns out these young women may have been exposed as pretenders a lot earlier than even I thought. It started with a New Year's Eve beatdown in Ann Arbor by Michigan, 76-60.
Head Coach Lindsay Whalen was quoted as saying she wanted to see how her team responded to its first loss of the season. Not well, apparently. On Sunday at home, these Goofers jumped out to a 35-21 Halftime lead over Illinois on the strength of a 23-8 Second Quarter. But the players went to shit in the Fourth, as the Illini outscored them 23-9 and eked out a 66-62 victory.
Once again, like with Bob Motzko and the U. men's hockey team, I am going to give Whalen a mulligan because this is her first year coachingperiod at the U. But I have to admit that that 12-0 start tricked me into thinking that the halcyon days of this program is back. In fact, it might be a lot more complicated than that.
This week for the now 18th-ranked Gophs: At Michigan St. Wednesday, at home to Iowa Monday. I am still angling to work for that game against the Hawkeyes, but I have no idea whether I'll be hired.
#0: Gopher women's hockey (Re-Entry!). They won what is called the Minnesota Cup, a first-time all-Minnesota tournament. Think of it is as the women's version of the now-dead and lamented (at least by me) North Star College Cup, even though the men's teams appear to be trying to revive a version of that for next year. Anyway, they beat Minnesota-Duluth (and gold medal-winning Team USA Goalie Maddie Rooney Saturday, 4-3 in Overtime, and then zoomed past St. Cloud St. (which beat MSU-Mankato in the other Semifinal) Sunday, 5-1.
The second-ranked (at least according to PairWise) Gophers visit the Mavericks down in Mankato for a two-game series this weekend.
They will try and consolidate that season-defining win by beating Maryland at Williams Arena, a game that is going on right now (so I need to finish this up before I have to count this game for this screening week's survey). Saturday afternoon they host Rutgers.
#-2: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: 0). The U. was ranked ninth. Rutgers, the club's opponent Sunday, was ranked 20th. It was a close match on paper ... and it was a close match on the mat, even though six of the ten matches were routs (as in results besides Decisions). But six of the matches went the Gophers' way, so they beat the Scarlet Knights at Maturi, 22-15. A team below them, even if that team was ranked, used to not be such a problem for Minnesota, but such is the life these days of a program that is clearly a cut below the power schools like Penn St. and Oklahoma St.
Maybe Iowa too. The U. hosts the Hawkeyes Sunday at noon.
#-3: Wild (Last Week: -6). An inverse screening week -- as in, they lost at home to Pittsburgh New Year's Eve afternoon, but so far are perfect on a four-game roadtrip, winning at Toronto, at Ottawa and at Montreal. Caught the only Goal in the Wild's 1-0 victory over the Canadiens last/Monday night; a horrible pass in the defensive zone was picked up by Mikael Granlund, who deked the puck past Carey Price for the lone tally with seven minutes left in the game.
Incredibly, with that win, the Wild have (sort of) gotten themselves off the mat, rising to the second Western Conference Wild Card and the final spot in the Western Conference playoffs. (They have the same number of points as Anaheim but win the tiebreaker, which is Wins.) They will try to keep their winning streak going tonight (Tuesday night) in Boston. They then come home to face Winnipeg and Detroit before visiting Philadelphia (and former General Manager Chuck Fletcher) on Monday.
#-4: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -5). Another two-game series, another split. This time, they couldn't crack visiting Penn St. Friday, losing 4-2, but got the better of the Nittany Lions in the Saturday night game, 4-1. Still, these guys are going nowhere. Checked the PairWise for the first time this season, and the Golden Goofers are down in the twenties. This weekend they are at Notre Dame for a pair.
#-5: Timberwolves (Last Week: -4). This may be the most Timberwolvesian week in their damned history. Sure, shitcan a guy 60 minutes after crushing a Lakers team at home by 22. But that is what General Manager Scott Layden and CEO Ethan Casson did when they marched into Tom Thibodeau's office. Not even three years into his time as Head Coach and Team President, he was asked to leave.
And leave it to the Woofie Dogs to make what many people believe is the right move in such a wrong way. Yet, as a couple of beat writers have pointed out, the organization may have had its hand forced. They really, really, really have a hard-on to bring Fred Hoiberg back into the fold. He was with the T-Wolves before taking the Head Coaching job at his alma mater, Iowa St., and then moving to become HC of the Chicago Bulls. He was fired from that job earlier this year, and so he's free to come back to the Wolves -- although, if reports are correct, they are breaking up the twin jobs of coaching and personnel that Thibodeau enjoyed, so Hoiberg would come back only to be either Head Coach or General Manager (the position Scott Layden currently enjoys), not both. Meanwhile, there is talk that UCLA would hire Hoiberg as their coach. If that is true, the organization probably is trying to get to Hoiberg before the Bruins do, and they can't even make a play for him unless they fire Thibs first.
Also a factor: This is the time of year franchise salespeople get season-ticket and sponsorship renewals, and those beat writers are hearing that retention rates are sluggish. There just isn't any buzz surrounding a team with two players drafted first overall. This midseason firing is a way to reinject interest in the team, and to give the message that they are going to try to get better by hiring a different Head Coach. To which I say, great, but there are at least a couple of other times where it was better to fire Tom Thibodeau. He was a dead man walking, sure, but even I thought Thibodeau got kind of a raw deal in being fired under these circumstances. Now granted, the Wolves are still out of the playoff picture, but damn, the guy just won a game! Let him bask in a little bit of glory, would ya? You can fire him on the next losing slump.
So for now, the reins of the team go to Interim Head Coach Ryan Saunders. Yep, the son of the late Timberwolves talisman Flip Saunders. We'll see what the youngest coach in the NBA (all of 32 years old!!!) can do with a professional b-ball squad under his charge in games this week at Oklahoma City and home vs. Dallas and New Orleans.
#-6: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -1). Uh-oh. Turns out these young women may have been exposed as pretenders a lot earlier than even I thought. It started with a New Year's Eve beatdown in Ann Arbor by Michigan, 76-60.
Head Coach Lindsay Whalen was quoted as saying she wanted to see how her team responded to its first loss of the season. Not well, apparently. On Sunday at home, these Goofers jumped out to a 35-21 Halftime lead over Illinois on the strength of a 23-8 Second Quarter. But the players went to shit in the Fourth, as the Illini outscored them 23-9 and eked out a 66-62 victory.
Once again, like with Bob Motzko and the U. men's hockey team, I am going to give Whalen a mulligan because this is her first year coaching
This week for the now 18th-ranked Gophs: At Michigan St. Wednesday, at home to Iowa Monday. I am still angling to work for that game against the Hawkeyes, but I have no idea whether I'll be hired.
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