The U. awaits the winner of the First Round (not a Play-In; this is a proper First Round, not like those fucking Play-In Games masquerading as the "First Four" [wanking motion] in men's college basketball) Game between Lipscomb and Georgia Tech (the latter school being the Gophers' opponent in I believe The Longest Women's Volleyball Tournament Game In History, a Match I was blessed to have attended). That match will be played Thursday evening.
#-1: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -2). The Golden Gopher XI finish the should-have-been 2020 season with a 1-all Draw at Robbie versus Wisconsin Saturday afternoon. Abi Frandsen equalized for the U. about 2 1/2 Minutes after the Badgers' Sophia Romine broke the seal of this Match early in the Second Half. Minnesota finishes the Year 5-3-3, scoring only seven Goals and allowing eight.
For COVID-19 reasons, there isn't a usual B1G Tournament, whereby the top eight teams in the conference congregate at one of the schools and determine the automatic bid over a weekend. But it looks as though the conference wanted to field some tournament after the regular season. So, to balance coronavirus concerns while being fair to all the teams and giving all of them something to play for, the league came up with a ... well, it's a tournament, though they're not calling it such.
The 14 teams in the Big Ten (I feel stupid whenever I say that) were split into West and East Divisions -- like they are in football, except that this divisional format is not used in any other sport in the B1G. (They shouldn't permanently cleave the teams like this, yet they should set up two Divisions in men's and women's basketball ... I should stop now). The two Divisions were then divvied up into one three-team pod/bubble where the top team in each "Division" awaited the winner of the other two teams playing each other and one four-team pod/bubble which was hosted by the school that finished second in each respective "Division." This is being done this weekend, which the league is calling "Big Ten Regional Weekend." The four teams that come out of this will meet at the highest-remaining seed and compete in a smaller Big Ten Tournament next weekend in order to crown a champ.
I can't say it's going to plan. The side, which is in Champaign, was supposed to face Nebraska last/Thursday night. But it was declared a No-Contest because there are COVID concerns with the Cornhuskers. That means Nebraska "loses," and so the Golden Gophers advance to face Iowa, which upset the host Illini in the tilt just before the Gophers were supposed to play. They will play Sunday; the winner next plays, in all likelihood, Thursday.
#-2: Twins (Last Week: -6). Alright, so it appears as though that blown Save Opening Day was not an omen of bad things to come. They went 5-1 this screening Week, and they lost Tuesday's Game at Detroit in the Tenth Inning on a hit by former Twin farmhand Akil Baddoo. Well, that is what I've been told; I don't remember a Twinks minor leaguer named Akil Baddoo.
Otherwise they won road series against The Bastard Seattle Pilots and the Tigers, and they opened up Target Field (with ... 3,000 fans [?]) yesterday/Thursday afternoon by quintupling the Seattle Mariners, 10-2. The pitching staff has fully shed their reputation of "pitching to contact" and got on the same wavelength as all the other analytics-advanced organizations and found and developed hurlers who will strike batters out. And judging by the rout of the Mariners, Monday's 15-6 win vs. the Tigers and Sunday's 8-2 victory over Milwaukee, the Offense is quickly getting up to speed. So now it's win a postseason Game and get back to me.
This Week starts the Twins' home schedule. They are off today/Friday, complete the series with the Mariners over the weekend, host Boston for four, then start a series in Anaheim against the Angels Friday.
#-3: Wild (Last Week: -5). With the Wild now just about assured of a playoff spot (impressive considering experts believed the club would be fighting with the dregs of the pandemic-only West Division for the fourth and final playoff spot), they are now getting frisky as they prepare for the postseason. In particular, the rivalry with The Bastard Quebec Nordiques has flickered back to life.
The team hosted Colorado for two. On Monday, the Bastard Nordiques ended the Wild's 11-Game winning streak at home. Then on Wednesday, Minnesota ended their 14-Game Points-gaining streak. And they did so emphatically -- 8-3, with Kevin Fiala trying to regain last Year's form by getting a hat trick. Colorado currently leads the West; Minnesota is third. (Las Vegas is between the two, and oh yeah, the Wild completed a two-Game sweep of the Golden Knights in Vegas by nipping them, 2-1, Saturday.) If a clash happens in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it might rekindle memories of Andrew Brunette beating Patrick Roy.
And by the way, if I haven't said this yet -- the Wild is a good team. I hope it's reflected in the postseason, and I'll be very disappointed if they underachieve. But they are overachieving right now, and the slow rebuild has accelerated this season. All good things.
Out to St. Louis for a pair (Friday and Saturday), then they host the Blues on Monday, and then host The Bastard Winnipeg Jets Wednesday.
#-4: Gopher softball (Last Week: -3). In the first series held at Cowles Stadium this Year, the softballers took three-of-four versus Purdue. And it's a testament to the raised standards of the program that I cannot help but fixate on the loss, a 2-0 defeat in the back half of the Saturday Doubleheader where Ace (maybe Minnesota's only Starting Pitcher) Amber Fiser allowed two Hits, got screwed by a fielding Error, and got hung for two Runs (all in the top of the First Inning) that were more than enough for the Boilermakers.
The team currently is 15-5. And I have no idea if that's good for this team, or whether this keeps them on track for an NCAA Tournament birth. Might as well keep winning. This weekend, however, will be a tall order: A four-Game series at Northwestern.
#-5: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -7). Oof. (I've been saying that a lot about this squad.) Dropped two-of-three against Michigan St. at Siebert last weekend. The lone victory, Saturday's 10-9 squeaker, broke a five-Game losing streak. But these guys currently are 4-14. I remember attending a Regional they hosted at Siebert not too long ago; it just seems like it's been long ago. They're at Iowa for three this weekend.
#-6: Timberwolves (Last Week: -4). A victory at home over Sacramento was the only bright spot; it was sandwiched by defeats on the road to Memphis, Philadelphia, and Indiana. But without knowing any of the ebbs and flows of the other three contests, I want to hone in on the Wednesday loss to the Pacers. I remember coming across the score in the middle of the Game, and the Woofie Dogs were down, big. But they only lost by four, albeit 141-137, so it's not as if they buckled down on Defense. They rallied to make it close, so ... is this progress under Chris Finch? Maybe not, especially since Malik Beasley is now out four-to-six Weeks because of a bad hamstring. This team can never be at 100%, even if the Timberwolves at 100% is like the Lakers being at 2%.
They play in Boston Friday before beginning a four-Game homestand, three of which fall under this Week: Chicago, Brooklyn, and Milwaukee.
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