David Shama is a former sports editor and columnist with local publications. His writing and reporting experiences include covering the Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Gophers.
Shama’s career experiences also include sports marketing. He is the former Marketing Director of the Minnesota North Stars of the NHL. He is also the former Marketing Director of the United States Tennis Association’s Northern Section.
A native of Minneapolis, Shama has been part of the community his entire life. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota where he majored in journalism. He also has a Master’s degree in education from the University of St. Thomas. He was a member of the Governor’s NBA’s Task Force to help create interest in bringing pro basketball to town in the 1980s.
Talk about intrigue. The Vikings play the Bears in Chicago on Sunday and the game could be a laugher for the Purple—but then again perhaps Marc Trestman’s group can finally get things right.
The Bears have lost three consecutive games, including the last two by a combined 69 points. Let’s just say Trestman, the Bears second-year coach from St. Louis Park, isn’t positioned to run for mayor of the Windy City anytime soon. Last night the Bears probably reached a new low in the Trestman era when the Packers embarrassed Chicago 55-14 on NBC’s national telecast. That defeat came after a 51-23 loss to the Patriots.
“It was humiliating,” wrote Mike Foss for Monday’s Usatoday.com. “The last team to give up 50 points in consecutive games was the Rochester Jeffersons in 1923. Yes, that doesn’t sound like a real team.
“It was dumbfounding. After the game, Packers receiver Randall Cobb noted that the Bears essentially gave up.”
The headline on the Foss story is: “The Chicago Bears are dead. The Green Packers killed them.”
The Bears, 3-6, clearly have major issues this season—including injuries that have impacted the offense—but will they have at least a little bite against the Vikings, 4-5, or is this team headed for early hibernation? Vikings offensive lineman Brandon Fusco said the Bears might be “down in the dumps” but players won’t quit on themselves because they are competitors. “It’s the NFL. It doesn’t matter what your record is,” said Fusco who is injured and out for the season.
Vikings safety Harrison Smith watched last night’s game and was asked what he thought the Bears’ reaction will be? “You never know. Locker rooms are different. I am not in their meetings, not in their locker room. I know they got a bunch of Pro Bowl players on that team so we just gotta get ready to play those guys.”
Anthony Barr, the Vikings rookie linebacker, expects the Bears’ adversity to work in their favor next Sunday. “I think you play harder because of that. I think it makes you want to respond and come back the next week and prove yourself.”
A couple of Vikings mentioned the difficulty of playing the Bears at Solider Field. Center John Sullivan, for instance, is 0-6 at the historic stadium during his Vikings career. What’s interesting now, though, is the Bears are 3-3 on the road and 0-3 at home.
This week the Bears will want to forget their home record and the results of recent games including last night. “They got it handed to them. That’s behind them,” said Vikings wide receiver Greg Jennings. “They’re moving on to us and we’re moving on to them.”
The Vikings, coming off a bye in the schedule, are on a two-game winning streak. They have a different kind of momentum than the Bears, and they hope to retain it after Sunday.
High school basketball recruiting authority Ryan James told Sports Headliners he expects all four players who have made verbal commitments to the Gophers to sign National Letters of Intent during the early signing period that begins Wednesday and continues through November 19. “I would say they’re (the commitments) as solid as you’re ever going to get,” said James who writes for Gopherillustrated.com.
Verbally committed and expected to accept scholarships are point guards Kevin Dorsey and Jarvis Johnson, shooting guard Dupree McBrayer and power forward Jonathan Nwankwo. James said Dorsey’s style is a “perfect fit” for Minnesota coach Richard Pitino who likes to speed up play offensively and pressure defensively all over the court. James also said Johnson has favored the Gophers for awhile and the coaches “got in early on” recruiting McBrayer and Nwankwo. “There’s been no rumors whatsoever to them (all) not signing,” James said.
Ryan James
He expects the foursome to be a top 20 to 25 recruiting class when the national rankings come out after the early signing period, and for Minnesota’s group to be higher rated than those from border rivals Iowa and Wisconsin.
He believes the class will compare favorably to the Gophers’ best recruiting groups of the last 20 years except for what coach ClemHaskins achieved in 1995. The Haskins class included Bobby Jackson, Courtney James and Quincy Lewis—key contributors to the Gophers’ 1997 Final Four team. “That’s the best class that I have seen,” said James.
Dorsey is a 5-11, 160-pound four-star prospect from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, according to Rivals.com. “This is a guy who pushes the pace at all times,” James said. “He makes a 60, 70 point game (into) a 90 point game. His defense is game changing.”
Dorsey’s profile on Rival.com includes an impressive list of basketball schools that offered scholarships including Creighton, Maryland, Memphis, SMU and VCU.
Minnesota’s other three recruits are three-star players, according to Rivals but there are often different opinions about ratings. “Dupree McBrayer—some people have him four—most people have him three. I believe he’s a four-star kid,” James said. “As a guy who sees national talent (during) all the live periods, goes to all these tournaments, (I think) he’s better than a lot of guys that are ranked in front of him.”
McBrayer, from Bel Aire, Kansas, is 6-4, 175. “He’s a very skilled, very explosive long winged (player). He can play three positions,” James said. “He has so much potential, it’s amazing. He’s just starting to reach it.”
Johnson is the hometown kid, the DeLaSalle High School star who local prep fans have been watching for awhile. The 6-1, 175-pound Johnson turned down offers from the likes of Iowa State, Michigan State, Wisconsin and UCLA to stay home, according to Rivals.com. The decision was influenced, James said, by a “tight, tight, family.”
“Athletically he’s on another level,” James said about Johnson. “He can physically do things that other people just can’t and he’s been well taught at DeLaSalle.”
Johnson draws attention with his speed and James said the young point guard is “ferocious” in driving to the basket. And Johnson impresses with his hustle and effort on defense, too. “I’ve never seen him not dive for a loose ball. I’ve never seen him not play hard in a game. He plays for (coach) Dave Thorson; when you’re playing for Dave Thorson, you’re playing defense.”
Nwankwo is a player James is familiar with but wants to see more of. However, he has seen and knows enough to like the potential of the 6-9, 245-pound Nwankwo who is from Mount Vernon, New York.
“His body is like a Marvel cartoon character,” James said. “He’s a beast. He’s very coachable and willing to do whatever. Great size—he’s willing to defend.”
The Gophers and Louisville basketball players will be able to size each other up before the two teams compete in the Armed Forces Classic in Puerto Rico on Friday night. Minnesota and the Cardinals will fly together to the game.
Two college basketball teams using the same airplane is unusual. “I have never heard of that before,” Gophers center Elliott Eliason told Sports Headliners. “I guess when you’re father-son you kind of work those things out.”
The coaches, of course, are Louisville legend Rick Pitino and Gophers second-year coach Richard Pitino. The father and son, who talk frequently by telephone, agreed that to save money the two programs will charter from Louisville to Puerto Rico on Wednesday. The Gophers will fly to Louisville on Tuesday and have a practice there before joining the Cardinals on the flight to Puerto Rico.
Jim Dutcher
“I guess I haven’t heard of it (same airplane),” said former Gophers coach Jim Dutcher. “I certainly didn’t ever experience that in 30 years of college where we flew with the opposing team.”
Eliason is curious what the seating arrangement will be on the airplane. “I am sure they’re a bunch of good guys so…it won’t be a problem, but it is kind of interesting. But it will be a good time.”
Will players from both teams socialize on the plane? “I’ll probably throw the old earphones on,” Eliason said. “Maybe take a nap, fall asleep. We’ll see. After the game we can talk all you want.”
Actually, get-togethers involving the Cardinals and Gophers are planned in Puerto Rico as part of festivities leading up to the game. The Armed Forces Classic is part of ESPN’s America’s Heroes: A Salute to Our Veterans programming, and each year a different branch of the military hosts the game. This year it’s the Coast Guard’s turn and the game will be played in a hangar in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. The Classic will be played in front of military personnel with no admission cost and televised nationally by ESPN starting at 6:30 p.m. Minneapolis time.
The game–the third annual–is owned by ESPN Regional Television. “It’s honestly a huge honor,” Eliason said. “It’s going to be an amazing game. I couldn’t be more excited about it. You watch those other teams play in it every year so it’s so exciting to be part of that this year.”
The Cardinals are among the royalty of college basketball. Louisville won the NCAA championship in 2013 and is a contender for the 2015 title. The Cardinals are probably a top 20 team in every preseason poll, while the Gophers, who won the NIT last April after not qualifying for the NCAA Tournament, are trying to become a nationally-ranked program. “It’s a bigger opportunity for Minnesota than it is for Louisville,” Dutcher said.
Louisville has forward Montrezl Harrell and guard Terry Rozier, two players who are projected as NBA draft choices next June by NBAdraft.net. The Cardinals also have Pitino who has won national championships while coaching at Kentucky and Louisville. The Cardinals are ranked No. 8 in the AP preseason poll. “There’s a lot more pressure on Louisville than there is on Minnesota,” Dutcher said.
Dutcher recalled that ex-coach Tubby Smith’s Gophers defeated Louisville in an early nonconference game in 2008. The Cardinals were rated No. 9 nationally, while the Gophers were unranked. It was a signature win for Minnesota and one that influenced the NCAA selection committee when they started handing out invitations to the tournament and the Gophers were included in the field of teams.
Richard Pitino is 32 years old and the consultation he receives from his dad is a plus for the Gophers’ program—something that goes beyond saving money on an airplane trip to Puerto Rico. “I think it’s definitely an asset,” Dutcher said. “I talk to my son Brian all the time about San Diego State games. He sent me the tape of their scrimmage the other day with Stanford and said, ‘What do you think?’ ”
For the younger Pitino to know that his father is just a telephone call away means a lot. “Every coach has somebody they want to talk to other than their staff and their players—particularly when things aren’t going well,” Dutcher said. “That’s when they kind of need some guidance and some help and some encouragement. I am sure he (Richard) gets that.”
Conversations between the Pitinos likely include potential recruits, and that’s another asset for Minnesota’s program. “That goes on between coaches who are just friends, not even family—there’s a kid that we can’t take but I think he would really fit into your program,” Dutcher said. “All coaches network, even with other coaches in different conferences. I am sure he (Richard) benefits from the success and the experience that his father has.”
Of course on Friday night the son would like nothing better than to take some of that success away from dad—even if they did hitch a ride together to Puerto Rico and back.
Gophers Football Notes
Even mascot Goldy Gopher—symbolically the biggest Golden Gophers loyalist on the planet—wouldn’t have predicted a 51-14 domination of Iowa on Saturday. The doomsday feeling hanging over Dinkytown for two weeks after Minnesota’s loss to lowly Illinois on October 25 evaporated by halftime on Saturday when the Gophers followed up an opening touchdown by Iowa with 35 unanswered points.
The win demonstrated again that the unexpected can be anticipated in college football where there is plenty of parity in talent among teams. Iowa had beaten up on Northwestern a week ago Saturday, winning 48-7, but what proved more valuable was Minnesota’s bye in the schedule that gave the Gophers an extra week of preparation.
The Gophers, now 7-2 overall and 4-1 in the Big Ten, improved their chances of an invitation to a good bowl game, enhanced the possibility of a sellout at TCF Bank Stadium next Saturday against Ohio State and won “Floyd of Rosedale” for the third time in five years. Representatives from the Holiday Bowl (December 27, San Diego) and Fiesta Bowl (December 31, Glendale, Arizona) were at the game.
Maxx Williams
The Gophers’ Maxx Williams, who had three touchdown receptions, showed again why he is on the midseason watch list for the John Mackey Award recognizing the nation’s best tight end. He is a redshirt sophomore eligible for next year’s NFL Draft.
The game wasn’t a happy homecoming for Iowa athletics director Gary Barta who was born in Minneapolis and attended Burnsville High School. Barta still has more than a dozen relatives in this area.
Zach Johnson of Gopherillustrated.com said the Gophers had high school players Colton Beebe, Jonathan Femi-Cole and Jaylen Waters at the game. Beebe is a Rivals.com two-star linebacker from Kansas City, Kansas. Femi-Cole is a three-star running back from Vaughan, Ontario while Waters is a three star linebacker from Copperas Cove, Texas. Beebe hasn’t verbally committed to the Gophers but Femi-Cole and Waters have, according to G.I.
Here are Sports Headliners’ power rankings of Big Ten teams after Saturday: 1. Ohio State; 2. Michigan State; 3. Wisconsin; 4. Nebraska; 5. Minnesota; 6. Maryland; 7. Iowa; 8. Michigan; 9. Penn State; 10. Northwestern; 11. Rutgers; 12. Purdue; 13. Illinois 14. Indiana.
