Note: This is, obviously, the last WMNSS of 2019. As convention, the surveys for the next year will fall on whichever day of the week January 8 is. (That's because, when I began Wailing And Failing, The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey captured the results of the, well, week, which was January 1 to January 7. I didn't want to get set over publishing the WMNSS the same day every week on WAF, so I decided to shift the day every year upon the New Year.) So if you read the survey religiously, just know that in 2020, you'll have to wait an extra day. Thank you.
#-1: Gopher men's hockey (Re-Entry!). So the Mariucci Classic was this past weekend. I remember the name "Mariucci Classic" as the non-conference tournament the Gophers hosted every year. Well, they didn't the past two years, but they did this year. This year, and I presume from here on out, the Mariucci Classic will feature the U. and three of the other four top-flight men's hockey programs from the state of Minnesota.
Are you familiar with the North Star College Cup? It was supposed to be The State Of Hockey's answer to the Beanpot: An annual tournament featuring the schools from the state fighting for Minnesota college hockey supremacy. It's a great idea. And after two years, I think, they scrapped it. It was played at the X both years, but there just wasn't enough interest and ticket sales to make it financially viable. The weekend the North Star College Cup took up -- I think it was late January -- was seen by the five schools as a valuable weekend to schedule in-conference or for their own non-conference matchups. I thought the North Star College Cup was a great idea, and I think they should have stuck with it. The meaning of hosting such a tournament in the state where this sport is so revered has to mean something. And maybe, if you give it several more years -- especially around now, where the big-school Minnesota actually may be the worst of the schools in-state -- interest would finally come around and pack the Fusebox.
Well, maybe the five schools didn't so much scrap the idea as try to create a lower-scale version of it. And so maybe that's why they retrofitted the Mariucci Classic into a semi-NSCC. If so, I can accept it. And also if so, the Golden Gophers may also accept it, because they defeated both Bemidji St. and St. Cloud St. to capture the title. I can't remember the last time Minnesota won one of these mini-tournaments, so for that, I'll give them the top spot for the final WMNSS of 2019.
The downside is that this appears to be the last non-conference opportunity to goose up the PairWise. It probably did not do much; last I checked, Minnesota ranks 30th. And they are just 7-9-4 overall. So they have massive catching up to do. And they will do it in two weeks' time, for they visit Michigan St. Jan. 10-1.
#-2: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -2). This club returns to the AP Top 25 after opening up their non-conference slate Saturday defeating Penn St. at Happy Valley, 81-74. After starting the season with a loss, they have won 11 in a row. They ring out 2019 with a home date tonight (Tuesday night) versus Ohio St., then visit Nebraska Saturday.
#-3: Gopher wrestling (Re-Entry!). OK, so these grapplers were in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., for the South Beach Duals. And unbeknownst to me, the tourney is a bunch of schools squaring off against one another. In that sense, these guys had a good week, going 3-1. They lost to Lehigh, 29-10 (!!!), but they dominated Old Dominion and Cornell, and yesterday (Monday) afternoon they wiped out Duke, 53-0 (!!!). Not bad.
Off until the 10th, when they host Wisconsin to begin conference play.
#-4: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -1). Finish their non-con clubbing Florida International -- the school Richard Pitino coached for one year before jumping ship for Minnesota; either Pitino is trying to make it up to FIU or his release from the school was predicated upon him playing FIU -- at Williams Arena Saturday afternoon, 89-62. In that tilt, Daniel Oturu scored 21 Points and brought down 20 Rebounds. It was the first 20-20 Double-Double by a Gopher player since Tom Kondla did it in 1966. For that, Oturu was named B1G Player Of The Week, the second straight week a Golden Gopher was bestowed that honor.
The conference schedule picks up after the New Year -- at Purdue Thursday, home to Northwestern Sunday evening.
#-5: Timberwolves (Last Week: -6). Looks Can Be Deceiving, Part I. The Woofie Dogs sit at 12-20. Andrew Wiggins has been absent the past few Games because of, maybe, the flu. Karl-Anthony Towns has been unavailable the past several Games because of a knee -- and in the past half-day, leaks have been springing about The Big Meow being unhappy with Minnesota.
And yet I'm putting the Wolves above the Wild for this screening week. Why? Well, it's mostly prosaic; I usually go by weekly record, and believe it or not, these guys went 2-1. They had to scratch and claw Thursday to defeat the Kings in Sacramento in Double Overtime, but they finally broke an 11-Game losing streak and won for the first time in almost a month. A bad slip-up to Cleveland at Target Center followed on Saturday, extending their home losing streak to nine. But in single Overtime, the undermanned Wolves pushed ahead of the similarly-undermanned Brooklyn Nets last/Monday night to break that home drought. (I was going to go to this Game, but a snowstorm came through. It wasn't that bad, I didn't think, but just in case I checked on Twitter, and Minneapolis declared a snow emergency. Parking at a meter was going to be kind of tricky as it was, and even though I got this ticket for free, I didn't really feel like paying through the nose to park at a lot. So I didn't go.) And such as it is worth, they are only 1 1/2 Games behind Portland for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. This team is not good, but it's not like they're the Golden State Warriors, either.
Speaking of the Warriors, they are the foe for the only home Game the Timberwolves have this week. It comes on the back end of a back-to-back that begins Wednesday/New Year's Day in Milwaukee. Road contests versus the same Cavaliers and Memphis beckon afterward.
#-6: Wild (Last Week: -5). Looks Can Be Deceving, Part II. The Wild have racked up the most Points in the NHL since November 14. They have scored the second-most Goals Per Game in that time frame. (Oh, and Eric Staal was named to the NHL All-Star Game, so congrats to him.) But they still are out of the playoff picture; they are two points behind Winnipeg and Calgary for the last spot in the West ... and they have Edmonton a Point ahead of them. And despite winning a wild win in Colorado Friday, 6-4, they blew a lead at home to the Islanders Sunday evening and lost, 3-1. They dug a huge hole early in the season, and now they are taking inexplicable losses at the X. So I don't know which Twin Cities pro winter team has the bigger upside now.
Host Toronto tonight/New Year's Eve. Then they have a back-to-back-homestand this weekend where they face ... well, wouldn't you know it -- Winnipeg and Calgary!!
#-7: Vikings (Last Week: -4). The last team to end its season, the Gopher women volleyball team, went from Positive Numbers to -Infinity. I set up the criteria for the WMNSS for such super-high falls from grace to happen constantly. Say, you make a run in the playoffs, but you're eliminated, so you go from the penthouse to the outhouse.
Well, I don't think I'll need to do that with the ViQueens this year. Sure, they made the playoffs. But they limp in at 10-6. They rested their starters Sunday in the regular season final vs. Chicago Sunday at Das Bank v.2.0 and lost, 21-19. Now, these guys aren't a juggernaut. But I really did think they had enough talent to beat the Bears. Instead, they got swept by them (got swept by the Packers, too -- they finished 2-4 in-division) and showed that they have very shaky depth.
Worst of all, they draw New Orleans in the Wild Card Round. Seattle I would've taken; the Vikes played them tough in Seattle earlier in the year, and both sides of the ball don't seem to be clicking as they were in years past. Green Bay, despite them sweeping the Vikings, aren't all that great, in my estimation; Aaron Rodgers still doesn't have that telekinesis with his Wide Receivers. And although San Francisco was good enough to claim home-field advantage, they are susceptible to play-action, of which Minnesota employs a ton. I don't know if I would favor the Vikes over any of them, but of the squads they could be facing next week, the Saints would probably be the worst match-up. And they got 'em, and on the road, and with both The Minneapolis Miracle and the PI no-call motivating their fanbase.
Vikings lose by 30 Sunday. Book it.
#-1: Gopher men's hockey (Re-Entry!). So the Mariucci Classic was this past weekend. I remember the name "Mariucci Classic" as the non-conference tournament the Gophers hosted every year. Well, they didn't the past two years, but they did this year. This year, and I presume from here on out, the Mariucci Classic will feature the U. and three of the other four top-flight men's hockey programs from the state of Minnesota.
Are you familiar with the North Star College Cup? It was supposed to be The State Of Hockey's answer to the Beanpot: An annual tournament featuring the schools from the state fighting for Minnesota college hockey supremacy. It's a great idea. And after two years, I think, they scrapped it. It was played at the X both years, but there just wasn't enough interest and ticket sales to make it financially viable. The weekend the North Star College Cup took up -- I think it was late January -- was seen by the five schools as a valuable weekend to schedule in-conference or for their own non-conference matchups. I thought the North Star College Cup was a great idea, and I think they should have stuck with it. The meaning of hosting such a tournament in the state where this sport is so revered has to mean something. And maybe, if you give it several more years -- especially around now, where the big-school Minnesota actually may be the worst of the schools in-state -- interest would finally come around and pack the Fusebox.
Well, maybe the five schools didn't so much scrap the idea as try to create a lower-scale version of it. And so maybe that's why they retrofitted the Mariucci Classic into a semi-NSCC. If so, I can accept it. And also if so, the Golden Gophers may also accept it, because they defeated both Bemidji St. and St. Cloud St. to capture the title. I can't remember the last time Minnesota won one of these mini-tournaments, so for that, I'll give them the top spot for the final WMNSS of 2019.
The downside is that this appears to be the last non-conference opportunity to goose up the PairWise. It probably did not do much; last I checked, Minnesota ranks 30th. And they are just 7-9-4 overall. So they have massive catching up to do. And they will do it in two weeks' time, for they visit Michigan St. Jan. 10-1.
#-2: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -2). This club returns to the AP Top 25 after opening up their non-conference slate Saturday defeating Penn St. at Happy Valley, 81-74. After starting the season with a loss, they have won 11 in a row. They ring out 2019 with a home date tonight (Tuesday night) versus Ohio St., then visit Nebraska Saturday.
#-3: Gopher wrestling (Re-Entry!). OK, so these grapplers were in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., for the South Beach Duals. And unbeknownst to me, the tourney is a bunch of schools squaring off against one another. In that sense, these guys had a good week, going 3-1. They lost to Lehigh, 29-10 (!!!), but they dominated Old Dominion and Cornell, and yesterday (Monday) afternoon they wiped out Duke, 53-0 (!!!). Not bad.
Off until the 10th, when they host Wisconsin to begin conference play.
#-4: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -1). Finish their non-con clubbing Florida International -- the school Richard Pitino coached for one year before jumping ship for Minnesota; either Pitino is trying to make it up to FIU or his release from the school was predicated upon him playing FIU -- at Williams Arena Saturday afternoon, 89-62. In that tilt, Daniel Oturu scored 21 Points and brought down 20 Rebounds. It was the first 20-20 Double-Double by a Gopher player since Tom Kondla did it in 1966. For that, Oturu was named B1G Player Of The Week, the second straight week a Golden Gopher was bestowed that honor.
The conference schedule picks up after the New Year -- at Purdue Thursday, home to Northwestern Sunday evening.
#-5: Timberwolves (Last Week: -6). Looks Can Be Deceiving, Part I. The Woofie Dogs sit at 12-20. Andrew Wiggins has been absent the past few Games because of, maybe, the flu. Karl-Anthony Towns has been unavailable the past several Games because of a knee -- and in the past half-day, leaks have been springing about The Big Meow being unhappy with Minnesota.
And yet I'm putting the Wolves above the Wild for this screening week. Why? Well, it's mostly prosaic; I usually go by weekly record, and believe it or not, these guys went 2-1. They had to scratch and claw Thursday to defeat the Kings in Sacramento in Double Overtime, but they finally broke an 11-Game losing streak and won for the first time in almost a month. A bad slip-up to Cleveland at Target Center followed on Saturday, extending their home losing streak to nine. But in single Overtime, the undermanned Wolves pushed ahead of the similarly-undermanned Brooklyn Nets last/Monday night to break that home drought. (I was going to go to this Game, but a snowstorm came through. It wasn't that bad, I didn't think, but just in case I checked on Twitter, and Minneapolis declared a snow emergency. Parking at a meter was going to be kind of tricky as it was, and even though I got this ticket for free, I didn't really feel like paying through the nose to park at a lot. So I didn't go.) And such as it is worth, they are only 1 1/2 Games behind Portland for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. This team is not good, but it's not like they're the Golden State Warriors, either.
Speaking of the Warriors, they are the foe for the only home Game the Timberwolves have this week. It comes on the back end of a back-to-back that begins Wednesday/New Year's Day in Milwaukee. Road contests versus the same Cavaliers and Memphis beckon afterward.
#-6: Wild (Last Week: -5). Looks Can Be Deceving, Part II. The Wild have racked up the most Points in the NHL since November 14. They have scored the second-most Goals Per Game in that time frame. (Oh, and Eric Staal was named to the NHL All-Star Game, so congrats to him.) But they still are out of the playoff picture; they are two points behind Winnipeg and Calgary for the last spot in the West ... and they have Edmonton a Point ahead of them. And despite winning a wild win in Colorado Friday, 6-4, they blew a lead at home to the Islanders Sunday evening and lost, 3-1. They dug a huge hole early in the season, and now they are taking inexplicable losses at the X. So I don't know which Twin Cities pro winter team has the bigger upside now.
Host Toronto tonight/New Year's Eve. Then they have a back-to-back-homestand this weekend where they face ... well, wouldn't you know it -- Winnipeg and Calgary!!
#-7: Vikings (Last Week: -4). The last team to end its season, the Gopher women volleyball team, went from Positive Numbers to -Infinity. I set up the criteria for the WMNSS for such super-high falls from grace to happen constantly. Say, you make a run in the playoffs, but you're eliminated, so you go from the penthouse to the outhouse.
Well, I don't think I'll need to do that with the ViQueens this year. Sure, they made the playoffs. But they limp in at 10-6. They rested their starters Sunday in the regular season final vs. Chicago Sunday at Das Bank v.2.0 and lost, 21-19. Now, these guys aren't a juggernaut. But I really did think they had enough talent to beat the Bears. Instead, they got swept by them (got swept by the Packers, too -- they finished 2-4 in-division) and showed that they have very shaky depth.
Worst of all, they draw New Orleans in the Wild Card Round. Seattle I would've taken; the Vikes played them tough in Seattle earlier in the year, and both sides of the ball don't seem to be clicking as they were in years past. Green Bay, despite them sweeping the Vikings, aren't all that great, in my estimation; Aaron Rodgers still doesn't have that telekinesis with his Wide Receivers. And although San Francisco was good enough to claim home-field advantage, they are susceptible to play-action, of which Minnesota employs a ton. I don't know if I would favor the Vikes over any of them, but of the squads they could be facing next week, the Saints would probably be the worst match-up. And they got 'em, and on the road, and with both The Minneapolis Miracle and the PI no-call motivating their fanbase.
Vikings lose by 30 Sunday. Book it.
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