#0: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -2). OK, what this team is doing is really good. I gave this squad no chance to go into Iowa City and defeat the then-tenth-ranked Hawkeyes, but Thursday evening they shot an all-time best 71.4% (ten-of-14) for Three-Point range and rode hot shooting in the middle two Quarters and held them off, 91-85. (Both the Gopher men's and women's b-ball teams notched upsets of the then-tenth-ranked teams in the country on back-to-back Days.) It was the first time Iowa lost at Carver-Hawkeye Arena this Year. It was the Gophers' first Win over a club ranked in the Top 10 since 2018. It was the first time they beat the Hawkeyes on the road since 2007. And it was the first time the U. beat a Top 10 opponent on their home floor since 2003.
And they suffered no let-down (not like the Gopher wrestling and men's basketball and men's hockey teams did, see below), comfortably beating Rutgers in Piscataway, 63-52. That gives Minnesota a six-Game winning streak and some notoriety as a tough out. I've said it before but I'll say it again -- these ladies are going to the NCAA Tournament, y'all. That's why I have put these ballers above negative numbers. I can't put the team in Positive Numbers, however, because the rest of the local outfits did not have good Weeks.
A busy Week ahead for this club, though: Home to Nebraska tonight/Thursday night, at Wisconsin early Sunday evening, then a home tussle versus eighth-ranked Ohio St. at The Barn Wednesday.
#-1: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3). Was finally able to take up my friend on his offer and went to a Timberwolves Game for the first time this season on Monday. The Woofs were fresh off two awful home Losses, a squeaker to The Bastard Charlotte Hornets and a blowout defeat to The Bastard Buffalo Braves/San Diego Clippers. What I saw is the Timberwolves team fans now expect, a sure-shooting, ball-hawking, smart-playing group that overwhelms inferior foes like The Bastard St. Louis Hawks. Unfortunately, I saw several instances when the players were indifferent when it came to playing Defense. But Julius Randle notched a Triple-Double, Jaden McDaniels was engaged in the affair and made two thrillingly nasty dunks (that young man has hops), and Minnesota won going away, 138-116.
They followed up that get-right Win with another 133-109 wipeout of Portland at Target Center last/Wednesday night, their final Match before this weekend's All-Star Break (which Anthony Edwards is participating in as a member of one of two Teams USA). And for all their stumbles, they should be worse than fifth place in the West, which is where they sit for now. It may be dumb luck, but it appears as if the universe is giving this team every reason to get their shit together. Will they, or will they remain a confounding mystery?
#-2: Gopher softball (NEW SEASON!!). And this new season has already started with a thud, as the softballers leave the SDSU Season Kickoff in San Diego over the weekend 1-4, their lone victory an 8-0 shellacking of Loyola-Chicago Saturday afternoon. They got Mercy-Ruled by Kentucky 8-0 in five Innings Sunday afternoon. And they got lost two Games to, of all schools, Miami of Ohio. Women's sports is big in Minnesota, but this program simply hasn't been pulling its weight for the last decade.
This team is going to the El Paso-Las Cruces area this weekend, a place I remember fondly from my time working as an intern there. Oddly enough, it appears as though they are playing two tournaments: The Dr. Diana Natalicio (who?) Memorial Tournament in El Paso just on Friday, when they play Idaho St. at noon and then hosts Texas-El Paso at 3; then The Troy Cox (who?) Classic in Las Cruces, when they play fourth--ranked Oklahoma late Saturday morning and then hosts New Mexico St. late Saturday afternoon and late Sunday morning.
#-3: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: 0). I feel as though this screening Week is the opposite of last Week's Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey. Last Week, all the teams won at least one Game, and several teams had a legitimate case to be on top. This Week, several local teams fell on their faces and would have been at the foot of the table if it were most other screening Weeks.
Case in point are the Gopher grapplers. They burned through all the currency they accrued after their awesome upset Win over then-fourth-ranked Iowa (at Iowa City, no less) by going to Rutgers Friday night and getting upset by the then-15th-ranked Scarlet Knights, 23-15. Like the Win over Iowa, the Dual turned on the Matches at 149 and 157 lbs. Drew Roberts and Charlie Millard, both of whom notched the upsets that made the team victory possible on January 30, had the tables turned on them and got upset themselves, Roberts (ranked #17 at 149) to 29th-ranked Andrew Clark, 5-1, and Millard (ranked #19 at 157) to also 29th-ranked Anthony White, 4-1 in Sudden Victory. If those two Matches went according to seed, the U. ekes out a team Win.
The squad rebounded by pounding Maryland on the road Sunday afternoon, 37-6, but the reputational damage has been done. They finish the regular season hosting Michigan St. Sunday afternoon.
#-4: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -4). And fresh off their thrilling upset of then-tenth-ranked Michigan St., this Gophers club proceeded to piss away all their goodwill by allowing Maryland to score the final seven Points in the final 53 Seconds of their Game to go from a two-Point lead to a five-Point margin of defeat Sunday afternoon at Williams Arena. Yeah, it's still Niko Medved's first season, but that chokejob is fucking inexcusable. They play at the PNW schools Saturday (Washington) and Tuesday (Oregon).
#-5: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -1). And fresh off their home sweep of then-eighth-or-seventh-ranked Wisconsin at Mariucci, then hosted unranked Ohio St. and completely capitulated to the Buckeyes, losing Friday 6-2 (ugh) and Saturday 2-1. Young team that can't regulate their highs, I guess. At Notre Dame Friday and Saturday.
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