With that said, the story in Twin Cities sports should be the University of Minnesota women's basketball team. As good as they've become in the past Month, I didn't give them any chance of upsetting tenth-ranked Ohio St. last/Wednesday night, even if it was at The Barn, even if the Golden Gophers finally got ranked at #23. They trailed at Halftime by three. But they blew the Game wide open in the Third Quarter, outscoring Ohio St. 27-13 on their way to a convincing 74-61 Win over the Buckeyes in the university's annual Pink Game, beating them for the first time since 2016 (a span of 14 Games). It's their second victory over an AP Top 10 team this Year, matching their Win at then-tenth-ranked Iowa back on the 5th.
Last/Wednesday night capped off a 3-0 Week, started with wallopings of Nebraska at home and Wisconsin on the road. And Minnesota is now on a nine-Game winning streak. Forget my misgivings back around the New Year wondering if they'll miss The Big Dance again; not only are they in, they are rocketing up the bracketology projections. In fact, they are now fighting for a Top-Four Seed and the right to host the first two Rounds of the NCAAs. Wow, what a turnaround. Is there any reason why these women shouldn't be in Positive Numbers, let alone topping the WMNSS, this Week?
And after three Games in seven Days, they can relax with only one Game this screening Week, even though it's a big one: At home to 18th-ranked Michigan St. early Sunday night.
#0: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -3). Finished the regular season crushing Michigan St. Sunday afternoon at the Sports Pavilion, 37-6. That rout is nice, but by itself that isn't zero-worthy. Honestly, I put the grapplers here because 1) they are the only other team this Week to go undefeated and 2) I do not skip over numbers, and since the Gopher hooping women more than deserve Positive Numbers, I had to put some squad above negative numbers. So -- ta-da!
Unless they pull off a miracle and win other the conference or NCAA Tournament, they're off the survey until March 26, where they will get eulogized (again) for the end of the season.
#-1: Gopher baseball (NEW SEASON!!). The Big Ten Conference has become such a behemoth that I believe it's expected that all schools in the league will attend to growing and improving their baseball programs. They're not on a league with the SEC or ACC. In fact, I still think that the B1G is a mid-major when it comes to college baseball. But the ambition is there, despite the drawbacks living in the northern part of the U. S. (besides the two Los Angeles colleges).
I don't know if that ambition is there in Dinkytown. Minnesota lags in NIL compared to most BcS schools, and since this isn't football or men's basketball, so the Gopher Nine probably will still have trouble squaring up against UCLA, Indiana and Nebraska.
The season started off well, though. They were in Deland, Fla., for a tournament that doesn't have a name -- but they won it! They beat Stetson Friday, 11-5, then shut out St. John's Saturday morning, 8-0 -- impressive. They followed that up with another 8-0 blanking Sunday morning, this time of Ball St. But Florida Gulf Coast put an end to the Gophers' hot start, nipping them on Wednesday, 6-5, last/Wednesday night in Fort Myers.
Ft. Myers is where they will remain. They have an Exhibition with the Twins (Ft. Myers is their Spring Training headquarters) Friday, then have a two-Game series there versus Northeastern. They then begin a four-Game series vs. Kansas at U. S. Bank Stadium on Wednesday that will skip Thursday. Weird.
#-2: Gopher softball (Last Week: -2). You know, El Paso was kind of dingy and I got my parents' work truck stolen which made me so scared to move out of the house, but I still miss those days when I was down there for six months ... wow, a quarter-century ago. Damn. Anyway, they swept The Dr. Diana Natalicio Memorial Tournament (one Day only) in El Paso by beating Idaho St. and host Texas-El Paso Friday afternoon, then headed west on I-10 to reach Las Cruces, N. M., and participate in The Troy Cox Classic over the weekend. They faced The Face Of Top-Flight College Softball, current-#4 Oklahoma Saturday morning ... and got Mercy-Ruled in five Innings, 12-2. The Gophs rebounded in the afternoon to beat host New Mexico St., 11-4, but in the rematch late Sunday morning, the Aggies got them back, 5-3.
So a 3-2 screening Week. But hey, they now get to travel home (er, it's at U. S. Bank Stadium) to host their own non-conference tournament, The Gopher Indoor Classic, this weekend. They face Long Island, Iowa St., Central Michigan twice, and North Dakota St.
#-3: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -4). A twelve-Point defeat at Washington followed by a 17-Point victory at an Oregon team that's fallen on black days under Dana Altman. And that, my friends, is all I have so say about this club. Well, this Week they host Rutgers and visit current-#1 Michigan.
#-4: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -5). A Shootout Win and a defeat at Notre Dame. It's jarring to look at the NCAA Power Index (NPI), which has replaced the PairWise as the sole determinant in selecting the at-large field for the NCAA Tournament, and see that Minnesota is not only so low (as of press time they are 41st), but that St. Thomas, the other Twin Cities school playing top-flight college hockey, is not only higher but 13th, aka on the bubble. When Tommies sports officially started top-flight play several Years ago, I mused how and even whether I would incorporate St. Thomas schools into the WMNSS. I thought I promised then I would reach a decision by the time they were eligible for postseason play. I have not, but that hockey team might force my hand in a Month.
Anyway, the Gophers ain't makin' it. And they have a bye this weekend.
#-5: Gopher women's hockey (whoops I forgot). I swear I looked up this team's results a Week ago while constructing last Week's Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey -- which consisted of a regulation Win over St. Thomas Friday afternoon at Anderson Arena and a Shootout Win over the Tommies at Ridder Saturday afternoon -- but I apparently did not put them in. Unfortunately, because of my oversight, I have to roll in this past Week's Games also, which are a pair of two-Goal Losses at second-ranked Ohio St., and I have decided the female icers bring up the rear. As I have said about this program for upwards of a Decade now, the U. is chasing the Buckeyes and Wisconsin for women's top-flight college hockey supremacy, so only results against those two schools matter. And they got swept.
They finish the regular season hosting Minnesota-Duluth for a two-Game series Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.
No comments:
Post a Comment