Now, does this mean Minnesota is a contender for the overall NCAA title? No. Anyway, they're on the road over the weekend -- Illinois Friday, Purdue Sunday.
#-2: Timberwolves (Last Week: -2). I'm kind of splitting the difference here for the Wolves. They had a 3-1 screening Week, and so I decided to sandwich them inbetween two squads that had undefeated Weeks, largely based on the whole picture of the Wolves right now.
Their sole blemish was an 108-106 Loss to lowly Orlando at home Friday. Once again, the Woofs allowed a team to outscore them in the Fourth Quarter; in this case, O-Town outscored them by ten. On the bright side, they crushed Dallas and Houston at home and, most importantly, defeated The Bastard Seattle SuperSonics last Monday in Oklahoma City, 107-101, based on clutch play-making and scoring -- or essentially the opposite of what happened vs. Orlando.
So, as of right now, they are tied with OKC on record but are technically second because the second tie-breaker (the first is head-to-head and the clubs split their four showdowns against each other) is Division record. However, congratulations go out to Chris Finch: By beating the Rockets at Target Center last/Sunday night, he gets to coach The Western Conference All-Stars (which will include Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns) over Thunder HC Mark Deignault because the second tie-breaker when it comes to picking the Head Coach for the All-Star Game (the first is, again, head-to-head) is Conference, not Division, record, and the Timberwolves beat The Bastard Sonics in that category. I'm sure that Finch is the first Wolves HC to ever lead a team in the ASG. Then again, while it is a privilege, I wonder if he would be better off taking that weekend off for mental health. Also, the ASG is in Indianapolis, and while there are a lot of good things there (a lot of them being restaurants), I don't get how Republican a Midwest state Indiana reliably is.
They begin a five-Game roadtrip this Week with stops in Chicago and high-powered Milwaukee. Note: New Bucks Head Coach Doc Rivers will coach the East in the ASG. Boston actually has the best record in The Eastern Conference, but there is a rule that no one can be Head Coach in back-to-back All-Star Games, and Celtics HC Joe Mazzulla did it last Year. Also note that Rivers has just replaced the ousted Adrian Griffin as Head Coach in Milwaukee. In a matter of 11 Days, he has gone from analyst for ABC to coaching in All-Star Game. What a league!
#-3: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -3). Yeah, they swept St. Thomas at home over the weekend by a combined 8-3, but it's St. Thomas. So what? They aired the Saturday contest on Fox 9+ (awful analysis, BTW), and they put up the WCHA standings at one point. There are eight teams total. Six of them are the six Minnesota schools (namely the ones in Minneapolis, Duluth, St. Cloud, Mankato, Bemidji and St. Paul). The two schools not in Minnesota, Ohio St. and Wisconsin, are leading the league. That is the most goddamn Minnesota sports thing ever.
Home-and-home with St. Cloud St. for the weekend.
#-4: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -5). I have to agree with CBS beat reporter and man who is always singing the college basketball gospel, Jon Rothstein, in saying that there is tangible progress Head Coach Ben Johnson is making with this program. His club squandered a lead late at The Barn Saturday against Northwestern, but handled their business in Overtime, winning 75-66. The previous two seasons, Minnesota craters. Not this year. That isn't a sign of championship squad, but it is progress, and that is something I didn't think I'd see from Ben Johnson.
Hosting Michigan St. tomorrow/Tuesday night, at Iowa Sunday afternoon
#-5: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -4). An Overtime Win and a Shootout Loss at 4th-ranked (and I'm surprised by the instant turnaround Mike Hastings has done over in Madison) Wisconsin. The U. currently sits ninth in the PairWise -- should be safe, but I'm not 100% certain. Hosting Penn St. for two over the weekend.
#-6: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -7). The worst kind of news befell this program on Monday: Mara Braun, star Guard and the club's leading scorer, is out for the Year after having foot surgery. Her team was on the skids already, and Wednesday's 16-Point drubbing at home versus Penn St. extended their losing streak to three Games. Worst of all, Charlie Creme, women's b-ball bracketologist for ESPN.com, now has the Gophers as the Last (everybody says "First," but that's wrong; there are way worse teams than Minnesota that won't make the tournament, so why is the U. "First?") Team Out. They started out the season nowhere near The Big Dance, but not too long ago Creme had them as an 8-Seed.
And now they're fighting for their postseason (let alone NCAA tourney) lives as they visit Michigan St. tonight/Monday night and host powerful Ohio St. Thursday.
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