The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Timberwolves (Last Week: 0).  A 2-1 screening Week.  Those Wins were by seven at scrappy Detroit on Wednesday and at Target Center the next Night (late next Night, in fact -- the contest started at 9 p.m.  I was offered a free ticket by a friend but I turned it down because it was so damn late ... well, that and I was depressed over the state of my car ... and the L&O's started their seasons that evening) vs. The Bastard Vancouver Grizzlies by 15.  They maintain a one-Game lead over The Bastard Seattle SuperSonics for top spot in the West as of press time ... even though their only Loss was to OKC Saturday.  Because of that defeat, and because that defeat came at home, they are tops in this Week's WMNSS, but they are in negative numbers.

A burgeoning narrative I am looking at is the comparison in the two young talents leading both the Timberwolves and the Bastard Sonics.  I totally admit I blew it in thinking Anthony Edwards was going to be a bust.  Instead, he turned out to be an athletic freak with a showman's flair and the hunger to continue to learn and grow.  But there has been very little Most Valuable Player talk around him even though it's been the Wolves leading the West all this time and not the Thunder.  And yet you hear a lot of praise toward Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is leading bastard Seattle.  That guy's good (even though I never heard of him in college; he was one-and-done in Kentucky), and his (stolen) team was one miss at the buzzer away from winning the showdown I was at between these two teams (it was the one that was part of the In-Season Tournament).  But both teams are similar -- young upstarts out of nowhere leading The Western Conference -- and so I think it stands to reason that the talismans for both teams would be too, and thus would garner considerable attention.  And yet there are crickets for Ant's leadership, even though he does crazy shit like this: 

 

Just a thought to ponder as these two appear to be dueling through the rest of the Year.

Busy week for the Timberwolves.  Tonight/Monday night they host Charlotte (in a Game I can go to courtesy of my friend because there's no Monday Night Football anymore), then start a four-Game road trip with back-to-back Games versus Washington and Brooklyn Wednesday and Thursday, then San Antonio on Saturday.

#-2: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -2).  This club is by no means anywhere near as good as last season's juggernaut (who ultimately choked in the title Game that would have secured the Twin Cities a championship so many sports fans here have been starving for, but that's neither here nor there).  But with a sweep at Mariucci of also-ran Ohio St. (by scores of 5-2 and 6-3), they've finally taken a sizable step into at least getting into this Year's NCAA Tournament (The Frozen Four of which, by the way, they will host since it's going to be at the Xcel Energy Center) by rising up to ninth in the PairWise.  They were down in the teens just before the Buckeyes series, and that is where the bubble always resides.  But if the U. can maintain up there, they'll be in, no doubt.

They get a chance to really burnish their bona fides in a weekend series at Michigan St., the leaders of the Big Ten right now.

#-3: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -1).  They got their asses kicked in Indiana Wednesday by 23, but they responded by routing Michigan St. Saturday at The Barn, 69-50.  With that being said, things are looking up, and possibly way up, for their tournament hopes.  Charlie Creme of ESPN.com puts out his Bracketology projections on Tuesdays and Fridays.  And Minnesota, which started the season not even in consideration, has floated into First (actually it should be called Last, but we won't get into that bullshit now) Four Out to Last Four In (aka the Play-In Games) to actually being in the actual field.  The Gophers are projected right now to be a 10-Seed -- and remember that this projection was put out Friday, before they demolished the Spartans the next Day.

And things could be looking even brighter for this squad's prospects.  Their two Games this screening Week are on the road, but both Wisconsin (Tuesday) and Illinois (Sunday) are not good, and road Wins matter are little more than victories at home in the eyes of the NCAA ... I think.  Maybe.

#-4: Wild (Last Week: -Infinity).  Well, I guess I like the fight these guys have in them after The Shittiest Week In Mild History I Can Remember.  It appears as though this is going to be a season where either this club kicks ass or gets their asses kicked, and the scores are going to be annihilations or blowouts.  It's definitely going to be high-scoring affairs -- blanking the Islanders at home, 5-0 on Monday, getting emasculated at Tampa Bay Thursday, 7-3, somehow upsetting Florida on the road the next night, 6-4, and then springing another surprise at The Bastard Hartford Whalers yesterday/Sunday afternoon, 5-2.  They're going to have to finish the season without Jared Spurgeon, who's done for the Year because of hip and back injuries that are too much to overcome.  With that being said, Kirill Kaprizov notched a Hat Trick in Carolina and has scored in each of the Wild's last ten tilts.  And not for nothing, Minnesota is six Points out of the last playoff spot in the West.  Yeah, I'm being a total stupid fanboy again.

This screening Week they're staying home: D. C. Tuesday, Nashville Thursday, Anaheim Saturday.

#-5: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -4).  Swept Bemidji St. in Bemidji over the weekend by 2-0 and 3-1 scores, but seriously, when don't they sweep the Beavers?  Actually, on second thought, I don't want to think of the day the U. don't sweep the Beavers.  The Wins over tomato cans like BSU are worthless.  No, the awful aftertaste of getting destroyed by top-ranked Ohio St. remains top of mind.  These Goofers are fourth in the PairWise, and it's a good thing the NCAA has expanded the women's hockey tournament.

A home-and-home with Minnesota State-Mankato this weekend: Here Friday, there Saturday.

#-6: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -3).  It's a bit unfair to see it's two steps forward and two steps back with this squad, but losing twice this screening Week and extended your losing streak to three Games forces you to reconsider the raised expectations you may have had.  Iowa isn't having a great season, yet they came to Williams on Monday and won by nine.  Michigan St., under Tom Izzo, is having a shockingly bad Year, yet they handled the Goofers by ten in East Lansing on Thursday.  At 3-4 in the B1G, there are still some lessons to be learned.

This Week -- hosting Wisconsin Tuesday, at Penn St. Saturday.

#-7: Gopher wrestling (Re-Entry!).  I'm afraid this is where the program is right now: They get manhandled at third-ranked Iowa on Monday, 22-9, then come home and lose to Nebraska Friday, 19-14.  Both schools appear to be really good this Year, and both probably better than the U.  But in seasons of yore the Goofer grapplers would dominate the Cornhuskers and stand toe-to-toe with the Hawkeyes.  The latter thought is a rumor now, and the former sentiment appears to be slipping away.  Irrelevance.

At Rutgers Saturday.