Hey, this is gonna be short because five inches of wet snow fell today and my garage door is still frozen shut so I have to shovel and I barely cleared enough of the driveway to spin my car off of the street, and my chest feels as though I'm about to have a heart attack and fuck it, I don't want to shovel anymore because I want to see Stan & Ollie instead, and I want to tuck this survey away before I have to leave. So:
#-1: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -2). It has been kind of fascinating to see the maturation of Lindsay Whalen, Head Coach. Once she made a starting lineup change and decided to ride her starting five all game, she has salvaged a season that was at first miraculous and then demoralizing. A close victory at Indiana followed by a relatively safe home win over Northwestern has given the Gophers a four-game winning streak and the top spot in this week's WMNSS. There is still a lot to repair, and both wins came despite the club continuing to run out of gas in the Second Half. But hey, a winning streak's a winning streak. Can that streak continue with contests versus Purdue on the road and Penn St. at home?
#-2: Gopher softball (Re-Entry!). The Kendyl Lindamann-less Golden Gopher softballers began their 2019 season last weekend with two shutout wins, a loss to Ole Miss, and a rainout vs. George Mason. I have no idea how this squad is supposed to fair this year, but it can't be as good without Lindamann, like I described last week. At any rate, the U. stays in Florida and goes from Orlando to Clearwater to face a quartet of BcS programs: Tennessee, Notre Dame, Florida St. and Cal.
#-3: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -1). Overall, this is a down week for local teams. The grapplers saw their four-game winning streak snapped at Nebraska Friday, losing 21-18. The killer match probably was at 149, where #19 Tommy Thorn got Major Decisioned by the Cornhuskers' Jordan Shearer. That upset helped the #10 Huskers upset the #7 Goofers. Sure, they came back to blank Maryland Sunday, 45-0 (the club's first shutout in conference play since 2012), but shit, it's Maryland. But hey, Gable Steveson ran his winning streak to 26 matches.
They finish B1G play at Maturi Sunday against Indiana.
#-4: Timberwolves (Last Week: -5). I think there are still a few of us who think the Woofie Dogs can make a run, but after 1-3 week, come on, guys. You can't lose a close game to a Memphis team that is about to have a clearance sale, nor get beat soundly by an Orlando team that is bottoming out. And Andrew Wiggins is becoming more and more of a passive dog.
At least the All-Star Break is coming up, after a home date Wednesday vs. Houston. Karl-Anthony Towns will have a busy week in Charlotte, but maybe the rest of the team can just, you know, practice or some shit.
#-5: Wild (Last Week: -7). It's white-knuckle time with the Mild, who dropped three-of-four this past week. Worse than that is the loss for the season of Captain Mikko Koivu, who tore his ACL in the first of those losses, to Buffalo Tuesday. A lot of Mild fans might actually be happy Koivu's gone for the year; they complain that he can't score. But he still provided good defense and was the club's faceoff maven. It will be weird to not see him on the ice, but can this team find a replacement who might also give these guys a jolt? For all the shitty play, they are, as of press time, still a playoff team. But maybe home tilts against Philadelphia, New Jersey and St. Louis (the latter party of Hockey Day In America, which comes a fortnight after Hockey Day In Minnesota) may finally doom this team for good.
#-6: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -4). It's also white-knuckle time after a winless screening week, where they couldn't make a three to save their lives at home against Wisconsin, and then got battered around at Michigan St. In the latest Bracketology on ESPN.com, Joe Lunardi still has the U. as one of the last actual tournament teams. But beating Nebraska and Indiana this week -- two games they should win -- would help secure their case for The Big Dance.
#-7: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -6). That should do it for the male U. icers, who went to Penn St. over the weekend and got pasted by the Nittany Lions over two games by a combined 13-4 score. Again, it's Motzko's first year, but the cache of going to Mariucci and making it rock is receding quickly in the distance, and Motzko and Athletic Director Mark Coyle need to make sure the turnaround happens fast. They visit Ohio St. this weekend.
#-8: Lynx (Re-Entry!). OK, I don't know what the hell is going on, now that franchise cornerstone Maya Moore is taking the year off for "personal and ministerial" reasons. It just so happens that this decision comes on the heels of the organization designating Moore as a "core player," which apparently is the WNBA version of the franchise tag. Moore could be sincere about taking time off; after all, the WNBA season is the polar opposite of the seasons in women's basketball in other countries, and many players play internationally and domestically to make as much money as possible. Or, Moore could be pissed off that she is essentially subject to the reserve clause and is going to fight like hell to either get the raise she deserves -- and as a Top 5 player in the league, I can't say she doesn't deserve it -- or get a trade.
It didn't help matters that Cheryl Reeve, Jynx Head Coach and General Manager, appeared on Barreiro shortly after the news of Moore's "sabbatical" and, according to some who tweeted, was very defensive about what happened. Reeve has now lost two of her Big Five (Seimone Augustus has just re-upped and AFAIK, Rebekkah Brunson and Sylvia Fowles are still happy). And the shooting of a wing like Moore is something you can't quite replace. Besides, Moore was with the team all season last year, and they crashed out in a one-and-done.
I said this many years before and was wrong. But I think I can say this with a ton of confidence now: This finally signals The End Of The Minnesota Lynx Dynasty.
#-1: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -2). It has been kind of fascinating to see the maturation of Lindsay Whalen, Head Coach. Once she made a starting lineup change and decided to ride her starting five all game, she has salvaged a season that was at first miraculous and then demoralizing. A close victory at Indiana followed by a relatively safe home win over Northwestern has given the Gophers a four-game winning streak and the top spot in this week's WMNSS. There is still a lot to repair, and both wins came despite the club continuing to run out of gas in the Second Half. But hey, a winning streak's a winning streak. Can that streak continue with contests versus Purdue on the road and Penn St. at home?
#-2: Gopher softball (Re-Entry!). The Kendyl Lindamann-less Golden Gopher softballers began their 2019 season last weekend with two shutout wins, a loss to Ole Miss, and a rainout vs. George Mason. I have no idea how this squad is supposed to fair this year, but it can't be as good without Lindamann, like I described last week. At any rate, the U. stays in Florida and goes from Orlando to Clearwater to face a quartet of BcS programs: Tennessee, Notre Dame, Florida St. and Cal.
#-3: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -1). Overall, this is a down week for local teams. The grapplers saw their four-game winning streak snapped at Nebraska Friday, losing 21-18. The killer match probably was at 149, where #19 Tommy Thorn got Major Decisioned by the Cornhuskers' Jordan Shearer. That upset helped the #10 Huskers upset the #7 Goofers. Sure, they came back to blank Maryland Sunday, 45-0 (the club's first shutout in conference play since 2012), but shit, it's Maryland. But hey, Gable Steveson ran his winning streak to 26 matches.
They finish B1G play at Maturi Sunday against Indiana.
#-4: Timberwolves (Last Week: -5). I think there are still a few of us who think the Woofie Dogs can make a run, but after 1-3 week, come on, guys. You can't lose a close game to a Memphis team that is about to have a clearance sale, nor get beat soundly by an Orlando team that is bottoming out. And Andrew Wiggins is becoming more and more of a passive dog.
At least the All-Star Break is coming up, after a home date Wednesday vs. Houston. Karl-Anthony Towns will have a busy week in Charlotte, but maybe the rest of the team can just, you know, practice or some shit.
#-5: Wild (Last Week: -7). It's white-knuckle time with the Mild, who dropped three-of-four this past week. Worse than that is the loss for the season of Captain Mikko Koivu, who tore his ACL in the first of those losses, to Buffalo Tuesday. A lot of Mild fans might actually be happy Koivu's gone for the year; they complain that he can't score. But he still provided good defense and was the club's faceoff maven. It will be weird to not see him on the ice, but can this team find a replacement who might also give these guys a jolt? For all the shitty play, they are, as of press time, still a playoff team. But maybe home tilts against Philadelphia, New Jersey and St. Louis (the latter party of Hockey Day In America, which comes a fortnight after Hockey Day In Minnesota) may finally doom this team for good.
#-6: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -4). It's also white-knuckle time after a winless screening week, where they couldn't make a three to save their lives at home against Wisconsin, and then got battered around at Michigan St. In the latest Bracketology on ESPN.com, Joe Lunardi still has the U. as one of the last actual tournament teams. But beating Nebraska and Indiana this week -- two games they should win -- would help secure their case for The Big Dance.
#-7: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -6). That should do it for the male U. icers, who went to Penn St. over the weekend and got pasted by the Nittany Lions over two games by a combined 13-4 score. Again, it's Motzko's first year, but the cache of going to Mariucci and making it rock is receding quickly in the distance, and Motzko and Athletic Director Mark Coyle need to make sure the turnaround happens fast. They visit Ohio St. this weekend.
#-8: Lynx (Re-Entry!). OK, I don't know what the hell is going on, now that franchise cornerstone Maya Moore is taking the year off for "personal and ministerial" reasons. It just so happens that this decision comes on the heels of the organization designating Moore as a "core player," which apparently is the WNBA version of the franchise tag. Moore could be sincere about taking time off; after all, the WNBA season is the polar opposite of the seasons in women's basketball in other countries, and many players play internationally and domestically to make as much money as possible. Or, Moore could be pissed off that she is essentially subject to the reserve clause and is going to fight like hell to either get the raise she deserves -- and as a Top 5 player in the league, I can't say she doesn't deserve it -- or get a trade.
It didn't help matters that Cheryl Reeve, Jynx Head Coach and General Manager, appeared on Barreiro shortly after the news of Moore's "sabbatical" and, according to some who tweeted, was very defensive about what happened. Reeve has now lost two of her Big Five (Seimone Augustus has just re-upped and AFAIK, Rebekkah Brunson and Sylvia Fowles are still happy). And the shooting of a wing like Moore is something you can't quite replace. Besides, Moore was with the team all season last year, and they crashed out in a one-and-done.
I said this many years before and was wrong. But I think I can say this with a ton of confidence now: This finally signals The End Of The Minnesota Lynx Dynasty.
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