Minnesota is 0-2 in the Big Ten Conference heading into tomorrow night’s first conference home game at Williams Arena but Jim Dutcher is optimistic about the Gophers. The former Gophers coach predicts Minnesota will finish third in the Big Ten standings, perhaps with an 11-7 record. “I like their roster,” said Dutcher, who coached the Gophers to the 1982 Big Ten championship.
Dutcher looks at the Gophers and sees a veteran team (five seniors on the 12-man roster) with “great guard depth” and valuable size with experienced centers Mo Walker and Elliott Elliason, both nearly 7-feet tall. “The question mark is forward play,” Dutcher said.
The Gophers, who have only unproven Charles Buggs behind Joey King at forward, opened their Big Ten schedule last week with losses at Purdue and Maryland. That makes tomorrow night’s game against Ohio State a big opportunity for Minnesota. “To win in the Big Ten you need to split (games) on the road and win your home games,” Dutcher said.
Wisconsin is Dutcher’s pick to finish first in the Big Ten and he has Ohio State at No. 2. OSU also has five seniors but a lot of the news about the Buckeyes focuses on freshman guard D’Angelo Russell who is third in Big Ten scoring at 17.7 points per game. The Buckeyes are 1-1 in league play, having lost to Iowa and beating Illinois, with both games at home.
Dutcher said the Big Ten has seen 11 players leave their schools early for the NBA in the last couple of years, including 10 No. 1 draft choices. This year Wisconsin senior Frank Kaminsky might be the league’s only No. 1 pick. With more mediocre talent spread throughout the league, the jockeying for high finishes in the conference behind consensus title choice Wisconsin figures to be entertaining and unpredictable.
The Gophers’ chances for a third or fourth place conference finish will partially be determined by stopping long scoring runs by opponents. The Gophers, for example, had a 55-44 lead with 9:37 to play in the second half against Purdue. A couple minutes later the Boilermakers trailed by three points, 56-53, before going on to win, 72-68.
Purdue had lost three consecutive nonconference games before playing Minnesota and the Boilermakers presented a major opportunity for a Gophers’ win. “A lot of time teams will get a run on them (the Gophers) and they really have some trouble just knuckling down and getting the key defensive stop,” Dutcher said.
Dutcher believes coach Richard Pitino should upgrade his nonconference schedule, taking on higher quality opponents that can help the Gophers ready themselves for the competition of the Big Ten, including playing on the road. “It doesn’t hurt…to lose to good competition early,” Dutcher said. “I just think it helps your preparation, particularly when somewhere along the line you gotta play a tough road game.”
Dutcher predicts Pitino will lead the Gophers to the NCAA Tournament after he coached Minnesota to the NIT title in his first season in 2014. To do that the Gophers will have to receive much better scoring production from three of their four outstanding guards than they saw against Maryland in a 70-58 loss. Seniors Andre Hollins, DeAndre Mathieu and freshman Nate Mason totaled six points on four of 21 shooting. The fourth guard is junior Carlos Morris, a player Dutcher likes a lot, and he scored 18 against the Terps, second to Walker’s team high 20 points.
Despite the 0-2 start, Dutcher isn’t backing off his optimistic prediction about this team that features talented guards and an inside scoring presence with Walker. But it’s no surprise he labels tomorrow night’s game “big” for 0-2 Minnesota.
Worth Noting
Dutcher said Big Ten Network basketball analyst Jim Jackson also predicted the Gophers will finish third in the conference.
Wisconsin, 14-1, is ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press poll and has all of its key players returning from last year’s Final Four team except guard Ben Brust. Dutcher said the Badgers, though, have “trouble with quick guards,” and can also be vulnerable if preseason player of the year candidate Kaminsky, the 7-foot center, is in foul trouble because Wisconsin doesn’t have a replacement with his size. “They’re not unbeatable,” Dutcher said.
Larry Davis, who was a Gophers assistant coach in the 1990s and credited with recruiting All-Americans Bobby Jackson and Quincy Lewis, is now interim head coach at Cincinnati because Mick Cronin won’t be coaching for awhile due to a health issue.
Gophers sophomore center Amanda Zahui B. today was named the National Player of the Week by espnW after averaging 17.3 points, 15.3 rebounds and 4 blocks per game in wins over Nebraska, Purdue and Wisconsin last week.
The 75th annual banquet for the “Original Baseball Old Timers Hot Stove League” will be at the Prom Center in Oakdale next Monday. Sports celebrities will include former and present baseball players. Twins manager Paul Molitor and relief pitcher Glen Perkins will be among the head table speakers. Event and ticket information is available by calling Rudy Jannetto, 651-379-2325.
With the smallest stadium capacity in the NFL, the Vikings had the lowest average per game attendance during the 2014 regular season. Playing at TCF Bank Stadium, the Vikings averaged 52,238 fans, according to ESPN.com. However, the website also reported the Vikings were No. 5 in the 32-team NFL for percentage of capacity at 104.5.
The Raiders, averaging 53,699 for regular season home games in Oakland, were 31st in attendance. The Rams, averaging 57,018 in St. Louis, ranked 30th. There is speculation those two franchises will relocate to Los Angeles. For a few years Los Angeles was rumored to be the new home of the Vikings and now it seems possible the city will have two teams based there. It will be ironic if the teams turn out to be the Raiders and Rams since both franchises once were based in Los Angeles.
The Gophers and Union played for the NCAA hockey title last spring but both programs are struggling this season. The Gophers are 10-5-1 while Union is 10-7-2.
It will be 35 years next month that Minnesotans such as former Gophers and North Stars coach Herb Brooks helped lead the U.S. hockey team to their stunning Olympic upset of the Soviet Union. ESPN Films has produced a show to air on February 8 as part of its acclaimed 30 for 30 series that will reveal how the game impacted the lives of the Soviet players.