#-1: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -1). Overall, this has been a great Week for local sports -- a combined 8-2 record. But with all but the money-making basketball teams at the U. taking the holidays off, it's the two pro teams (the Vikings technically didn't play over the screening Week) that did the heavy lifting. Both Gopher squads won their sole (non-conference) Game this Week.
So am I really going to hew to hackneyed dictate and just throw both college clubs on top just because they went undefeated even though they played three fewer contests than the Wolves and Wild. Well, yes. It's the Christmas season. I don't think both teams have been above both winter pro teams yet this Year. I'm being generous!
Now, with that being said, I am putting the women's team above the men's team. I have to break the tie somehow. And while eviscerating Lindenwood Thursday afternoon, 100-45, as part of a Williams Arena Doubleheader featuring both teams is quite impressive, I am more impressed with the women's team's future prospects than the men's. They finished non-conference play at 10-1 (the only Loss being to UConn), they eked out a Win in their only conference matchup so far, and Mara Braun is on the brink of stardom. This talented-on-paper club finally has the discipline and the tactics to be a fearsome foe, and I am expecting big, exciting things for them the rest of the season.
With that being said, the squad's biggest conference throwdown in a long, long time happens Saturday afternoon as Caitlin Clark and Iowa come to town. Game's already sold out.
#-2: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -3). Now, I don't want to shade the men's team. In the back half of that Doubleheader, the men ran away from Ball St., 80-63. That might not be a big accomplishment, but I'm not sure last season's club would beat the Cardinals. Still, while I am glad they're 9-3, I think the jury's still out on how good they'll be once they plunge into the B1G. But they don't have to do that yet; they finish up their non-con schedule hosting Maine on Friday.
#-3: Timberwolves (Last Week: 0). Outlasted the Heat (and Jimmy Butler; he finally played them after ducking them so often) in Miami, beat The Bastard Minneapolis Lakers at Target and went on the road to defeat Sacramento. They lost in Philadelphia to the 76ers, but that's understandable; they're a very good team, Joel Embiid went off for 51, and he was getting all the calls. What's remarkable is that, as of press time, Minnesota is tied with Boston for The Best Record In The NBA. That they're doing this 28 tilts into the season is mind-blowing. In fact, the only thing I'm now scared of is whether these guys are peaking too soon.
At OKC Boxing Night, then host Dallas and The Bastard Minneapolis Lakers again.
#-4: Wild (Last Week: -4). It's possible they've dug too deep a hole for them to crawl out of. But you have to acknowledge they swept Boston and beat Montreal at the X despite starting off the screening Week with a Loss in Pittsburgh where Kris Letang embellished a Penalty that led to the Game-winning Goal for the Penguins on the Power Play.
It is strange to see this squad play well now on the ice despite all the weird crap that continues to come out of the front office. Yesterday/Saturday the organization announced that Team Operations Director Andrew Heydt is leaving after a decade working for it. It was revealed not too long ago that it was Heydt who filed a complaint to Wild Human Resources that General Manager Bill Guerin was verbally abusive on the job. Guerin may have faced disciplinary action as a result, but this is another person in Wild brass who has left. To my untrained eye, this feels like Guerin, whose public aura has been tarnished because of team dysfunction, is consolidating power. But that's just me.
Meanwhile, have you noticed that Minnesota is only two Points off the final playoff spot in the Western Conference? No matter how you slice it, the Wild still have a chance, and it's not an absurd one. This Week: Home to Detroit, at Winnipeg.
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