#0: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3). Don't have too many good choices for the top spot this screening Week. But I woke up from my long nap/early sleep last/Thursday night after conking off shortly after dinner to see that the Woofie Dogs started the second half of their regular season with a victory over The Bastard Charlotte Hornets ... in New Orleans ... by 30?!?!?! The Pelicans are a good team, and they started the contest with a 16-Point lead in the First Quarter and ... well, the Timberwolves made a comeback and then started kicking ass. And they did without Karl-Anthony Towns having a good night (16 Points on 7-of-19 shooting).
OK, I'll be honest: This is a charity case here. I don't think the first victory in The Chris Finch Era is the start of an epic comeback; after all, they host Portland for a two-Game series, then visit the Lakers before starting a two-contest set in Phoenix on Thursday. But this is as eye-popping a surprise as you may get from any local sports club in 2021. And, it just so happens that the Wolves have an undefeated screening Week, and when's the last time you could say that? So enjoy bobbing up from your usual negative rankings, Timberwolves!
#-1: Gopher softball (Last Week: -1). Finishing up their stint/vacation in Florida. Began a three-Game series against Rutgers yesterday/Thursday morning/afternoon with a Doubleheader sweep. Maybe this shakes off the choppy start to begin the team's Year. One more vs. the Scarlet Knights this/Friday morning, then the players finish their time in the bubble with three with Michigan St. over the weekend.
#-2: Wild (Last Week: -2). Only a miserable 5-2 loss in Arizona prevented the Wild from a 4-0 Week -- which would have been sweet, especially since they swept the Las Vegas Golden Knights Monday and Wednesday and are now only, like, a Point behind them in the West Division standings. That defeat came a day after Minnesota whipped The Bastard Winnipeg Jets 5-1, on the strength of yet another Kirill Kaprisov highlight:
Goodness, Kirill Kaprizov. pic.twitter.com/1eVHYbU5Hr
— NHL (@NHL) March 6, 2021
This might be hampered by the inability for fans to watch Games in person. But if he keeps this up, Kaprizov might become The Most Popular Player In Twin Cities Sports. Shit, man, he might be right now.
This Week: Not one, not two, but ... wow, three Games versus Arizona at the X, being played every other day. Then on Thursday the club begins a two-Game set vs. The Bastard Quebec Nordiques.
#-3: Gopher soccer (Last Week: 0). Scoreless Tie versus Illinois at home Saturday night. This side has scored merely thrice over five Matches. They've drawn a donut thrice -- and lost only once. (shrug)This squad already is halfway through its season. And now they will embark on their final three road Games of the season. They play Iowa at Iowa City Sunday afternoon and Penn St. in Happy Valley Thursday afternoon.
#-4: Gopher baseball (Re-Entry!). Oh yeah, here comes another team starting its season! I have no idea how this team is supposed to do. All I know is the most-heralded player to come out of this ballclub in a long time, Max Meyer, is now with the Miami Marlins.
Because of the pandemic, Minnesota (and, I assume, all the other Big Ten squads) will only play each other. Also, apparently, there will be no migration to the southern U. S. to begin their Year. Instead, the U. is bringing in several schools to play at U. S. Bank Stadium (with no fans, of course) over a three-Week period. This past weekend they brought in two, Indiana and Rutgers, and they each played the others twice. And the U. went 1-3, getting swept by the Hoosiers, although they got destroyed by the Scarlet Knights late Saturday afternoon by a score of 16-1.
I'll formulate more analysis the more Games these young men play. In the meantime, they are back to single foes over weekends. This weekend it'll be (and this college pops up everywhere this WMNSS) Illinois for a four-Game series, although they'll play a Doubleheader on Saturday where each Game will be scheduled only for seven Innings apiece.
#-Infinity (tied): Gopher women's hockey, Gopher men's basketball, and Gopher women's basketball (Last Week, respectively: Re-Entry!, -4, Re-Entry!). Has there ever been a triple bustout on the same screening Week like this? For all I know, we had one two Years ago.
Let's start with Gopher women's hockey, which has missed on the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007 (which happened to be Laura Halldorson's final Year as Golden Goofer Head Coach, though it's only easy to believe she quit because the U. failed to make it). I initially thought that it was the first time Minnesota has ever missed the tourney. I will say that even with only eight teams invited, the U. should always make it, seeing as we are, of course, The State Of Hockey and, truly, generate more girls who play the sport than any other United State.
I will, however, hop to the other side and say that there are many reasons to believe that Minnesota got absolutely hosed. They finished the Year ranked fourth in the only top-flight women's college hockey poll in the country, and they didn't get into the field?? And look at the at-large teams that did get in. Ohio St. I can understand; they were better than the Goofs this Year. But I checked with fanatics on "woho" chatrooms before Sunday's selection show (yes, there are fans of women's top-flight college hockey and they congregate on the World Wide Web) and unanimously they were sure Minnesota was at least comparable and probably better than Minnesota-Duluth, Boston College, and Providence. This, of course, is a season unlike any other because there was little to no inter-conference play and thus the PairWise was mostly useless. The obvious snub (for lack of a better term) makes me think that without their usual criteria they could rely on, the NCAA Selection Committee choose to limit the number of teams that enter the tournament from one conference. That doesn't explain, however, why the Bulldogs were selected as the de facto third team from the Women's Western Collegiate Hockey Association over Minnesota when Minnesota (to bring up one statistic) swept UMD in the only series between the two this season (that was in Duluth; there was supposed to be a return series at Ridder Arena, but that eventually got cancelled because UMD became riven with COVID-19).
After the snub Sunday night, Head Coach Brad Frost was as apoplectic as I have ever seen him. He has a right to be. But Gopher fans on the Internet still weren't letting the team off the hook for a startling level of underachievement throughout the Year. (Note to self as I gear up for betting on the NCAA men's basketball tournament: You will never find more sober, incisive critiques of a college basketball team than from its own fans.) What I can glean from them, for I don't follow this club that closely, is that in particular, the goaltending was oftentimes a dumpster fire. But most also were alarmed by a lack of heart and drive from this particular group. (I totally just saw this looking at the team's schedule page: They finished only 11-8-1 on the season ... and under .500, at 4-5-1, at home. Whoa, what the hell was that?) The thinking is is that this squad will be back to normal when everything is back to normal. But if I were Mark Coyle, I would either drop by Frost's office or call Frost into his and let him know he noticed what happened and he would like things to be back where they belong. More judgmental eyes should be on this program starting in the fall.
Let's go to the Golden Goofer men's basketball program, whose season-ending defeat in the Big Team Tournament to Ohio St. last/Thursday night may have been a better performance than the previous evening's result, where they somehow outlasted Northwestern, ugh, 51-46. I am still shocked that this team overperformed against a first half of a schedule that was as tough as I have ever seen any local sports team have to deal with, and then stumble and succumb to a very, very winnable second half.
Injuries played a part in this derailment; Liam Robbins turned out to be the linchpin of this club, and his ankle injury spelled the death knell for the Goofs. But injuries are a part of life for many teams, and it has happened to Richard Pitino before, and more often than not, he and his players did not adapt well. Bad Guard play has also been a constant bugaboo for the U. in The Pitino Era; bad shooting from deep has sunk this team often this season, and was noticeably bad in the loss to the Buckeyes, although they got hot very late and made it a Game late. Finally, I noticed that too often, foes surged in the early part of the Second Half, either turning a deficit into a lead or blowing a tilt open, this season. That speaks to an inability to adjust to an opposing Head Coach's adjustments, or an inability to get your players to restart after Halftime. That adds up, over Games and then over seasons.
It has been the general consensus that Richard Pitino is a dead man walking. I have not heard any news of him being fired after the Game was over. There is a slight chance that Pitino sticks around, for the U. has a pretty good chance to be a part of the NIT, which this Year has been cut down to 16 squads and will bubble in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. But it's also possible Coyle is trying to do the right thing for Pitino, who has not tarnished the Minnesota athletic department in scandal, and be as mature about a coaching change as possible. Saying that, I highly expect an announcement about Pitino today.
Finally, there is the Gopher women's b-ball team, which shrugged its way to the end of its season with a 72-61 defeat to Nebraska Wednesday morning/afternoon in the First Round of the B1G Tournament. Back on Sunday, February 28 the U. was supposed to host Michigan on Senior Day, but there were cases of the coronavirus within the Gophers program, so that was outright canceled. That cancellation robbed Redshirt Senior Gadiva Hubbard and possibly Graduate Student Laura Bagwell Katalinich of their moment, which sucks. But the guess here is some player on the team knew the season was going to end soon, said fuck it, and partied in a dorm with some friends and caught the virus. She wasn't going to get too sick, and if it cost the team some Games, who cares? The club got enough players to travel to Illinois despite the protocols, where they ended the regular season with an eight-Point loss to the Illini last Friday, and then there was the loss to the Huskers, and that's that.
I am of the belief that Lindsay Whalen is getting a lot of leash because of her status as a legend at the University. But how much latitude does she get for popularizing a program from complete irrelevance as a player when she has been unable to resurrect it from its return to irrelevance as a Head Coach? Is the pandemic an excuse not to do force changes with the program? Is Coyle too busy dealing with Richard Pitino to scrutinize the Gopher women's basketball team? I don't think a change is imminent -- at least I don't think. But once the situation with the Gopher men is squared away, chances are, Coyle is looking at Whalen next.
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