P.J. FLECK – Page 48 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

U Leaves Spot for Power Forward

Posted on April 7, 2021April 7, 2021 by David Shama

New University of Minnesota basketball coach Ben Johnson has commitments from three transfers so far but interestingly none play the power forward position occupied last season by Brandon Johnson. It’s possible that spot could be filled next season by a state native, with Minnesotans Chet Holmgren, Race Thompson, Nate Reuvers and Dawson Garcia attracting speculation.

College basketball is a fluid landscape like never before with players and coaches frequently changing addresses. It’s evident Holmgren and his father David Holmgren didn’t want to make a commitment last fall during the signing period for high school players. They decided to see who is coming and going this spring, but soon the nation’s No. 1 recruit in the class of 2021 will have to choose either a college or an opportunity in the NBA’s development league following Chet’s superlative career at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis. (It’s interesting that ongoing internet articles have Chet choosing Gonzaga but offer no definitive sources.)

Ben Johnson is trying to make Chet a Gopher, a task perhaps made easier with his dad being a U alum. Chet is a gifted two-way player who Johnson could offer to build his offense and defense around. At 7-feet, but only about 200 pounds, Holmgren needs physical support from a big center. If center Liam Robbins remains with the Gophers he could be a bargaining chip for Johnson in the recruitment of Holmgren, but Robbins entered the transfer portal as of yesterday.

Coach Johnson could help his team by convincing Robbins to stay, although the Iowa native’s future might be tied to his uncle Ed Conroy, an assistant last season under Richard Pitino but probably moving on to another job. Robbins, a 7-foot, 235-pound transfer last year from Drake, is one of the Big Ten’s better centers after three seasons of college experience. Robbins could lessen the stress and pounding on Holmgren from opponents by using his size and strength, while helping with rebounding, shot blocking and scoring. A versatile scorer, Robbins can move outside the lane on occasion and allow others to post up.

Robbins can be a selling point for any power forward of prominence who might be considering the Gophers. Thompson, who played at Armstrong before becoming an Indiana Hoosier, was one of the Big Ten’s most improved players last winter as a redshirt junior but is now in the transfer portal. He was eighth in the conference in blocked shots at 1.3 per game, and averaged 9.1 points and 6.2 rebounds. It’s believed he is interested in the Gophers.

While Thompson improved, Reuvers regressed during his senior season at Wisconsin (the NCAA is granting an extra year of eligibility to college seniors in 2021-2022 because of the pandemic). The Lakeville North alum led Wisconsin in scoring as a junior and made third team All-Big Ten on the Badgers’ conference title team. His 6-foot-11 size and shot blocking, combined with Robbins, would give the Gophers a dynamo pair on defense. A business major, Reuvers could position his name with Fortune 500 companies in Minneapolis-St. Paul if he is invited to come home.

Garcia, a five-star recruit at Prior Lake, almost chose the Gophers before committing to Marquette in the fall of 2019. While Garcia hasn’t entered the transfer portal, there are rumors he might leave Milwaukee. The 6-foot-11 former McDonald’s All-American made the Big East All-Freshman team last season. He started all 26 games for Marquette, averaging 6.7 rebounds and 13.2 points.

Brandon Johnson, a senior transfer from Western Michigan last season, was Minnesota’s starting power in 2020-2021 and it’s not clear whether he will return. He averaged 8.9 points and 6.3 rebounds. As a reserve next season, his experience and leadership would be a major asset.

Worth Noting

Anticipate an announcement soon that Rochester, Minnesota native and Duke forward Matthew Hurt will be declaring for the NBA Draft and not returning for his junior season with the Blue Devils.

Sources expect former DeLaSalle coach Dave Thorson, now an assistant at Colorado State, to be named one of Johnson’s assistant coaches.

The NCAA champion Baylor roster includes power forward Dain Dainja from Park Center who didn’t play in 2021 while redshirting as a freshman.

Gonzaga freshman point guard Jalen Suggs, from Minnehaha Academy, will be the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, going to the Detroit Pistons, per the mock draft from NBC Sports California. The Minnesota Timberwolves, with the No. 1 selection, will take Oklahoma State freshman guard-forward Cade Cunningham. Word of advice to the Wolves: if available, draft Suggs.

Monday’s column regarding suggestions to make MLB games move faster drew a lot of comment from readers including this from a former baseball executive: “I was in the game for a long time but simply can’t tune in for more than a few innings now because of all the pitching changes and stops in action. Even a well-known former player told me that the game had become too slow for him.”

Hopkins girls basketball legend Paige Bueckers won 2021 national Player of the Year Awards from various sources after her freshman season at Connecticut. Old-timers may compare her with “Pistol” Pete Maravich but that’s at least a little off base. Maravich, while a playmaker for the ages, was a gunner who often thought shoot first, pass second. Not sure I have ever seen the unselfish Bueckers take a bad shot.

Next Sunday, April 11, will be the 60th anniversary of the first game ever played by the Minnesota Twins. On that date the Twins, who had moved from Washington D.C. where the club was known as the Washington Senators, defeated the New York Yankees, 6-0, in Yankee Stadium.

The Twins placed outfielder Brent Rooker on the 10-day Injured List today with a cervical strain. Rooker, who was recalled from the alternate training site last Saturday, played in three games, hitting .091 with one RBI. To replace Rooker the Twins have selected the contract of left-handed pitcher Brandon Waddell from the Taxi Squad. He pitched in nine games for the Twins in spring training, going 1-1 with a 4.82 ERA.

Brusdar Graterol, the former Twins pitcher who went to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Kenta Maeda trade, is starting the season on the 10-day Injured List.

Twins 35-year-old third baseman Josh Donaldson, also on the 10-day Injured List, said before the season he expects to have ongoing “conversation” with manager Rocco Baldelli regarding playing time in 2021. Donaldson has a history of injuries including missing most of last season with the Twins.

Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Zimmer on the NFL adding a 17th regular season game that will have his team going west to play the Los Angeles Chargers: “It’s just something else they tell us to do and we do it like good soldiers.”

P.J. Fleck said the Gophers have developed a program to address racism and he wants to be “the most empathetic head coach in America.” Fleck has used speakers such as Tony Dungy and Dr. Harry Edwards to talk about race with his team. Edwards, the famous sociologist and race expert, once took Fleck and his San Francisco 49ers teammates to a California prison.

Minnesota Wild rookie Kirill Kaprizov leads NHL first-season players in goals and points. He’s a major contributor to a Minnesota offense that is probably the best since the days of superstar Marian Gaborik.

Comments Welcome

‘Old Man’ Cruz Could Make HR History

Posted on March 17, 2021March 17, 2021 by David Shama

No player age 40 or older has ever led the American or National leagues in home runs, according to MLB.com. Minnesota Twins 40-year-old DH Nelson Cruz might change that this season.

Although he didn’t finish first, the amazing Cruz led in American League home runs during part of last year’s shortened season. He finished 2020, after celebrating his 40th birthday in July, with 16 home runs and a .303 average in 185 at bats.

Cruz has hit 311 home runs since 2012, the most in the big leagues, per MLB.com. Four times in his career he has hit 40 or more homers. That includes his 41 home run total in 2019 when he was 39 years old. He led the American League in home runs in 2014 with 40, while playing for the Baltimore Orioles.

Although several much younger players like Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels are surer bets to lead their leagues in home runs in 2021, Cruz does seem to get better with age. Not only does he have 57 home runs in the last two years but over the last five seasons no MLB player tops his 176.

Cruz won the 2020 American League DH Silver Slugger Award in a vote by AL coaches and managers. In 53 games he ranked third in league on-base percentage, fourth in OPS, fifth in slugging percentage, tied for fifth in home runs and was seventh in batting average.

Cruz’s successful approach to training and nutrition are well documented. “He is quite a physical specimen and is obviously in tremendous shape at the age of 40,” Twins president Dave St. Peter said earlier this year.

Being a student of the game is part of Cruz’s success story, too. “His baseball related intellect is elite,” St. Peter said. “He understands the game inside and out.”

Cruz will ease his way into spring training, preparing for the coming season while approaching his 41st birthday July 1. In 20 spring training at bats he is hitting .300 and has a home run, although that one doesn’t count in an unlikely but possible campaign to be the MLB or AL 2021 home run king.

Worth Noting

Maybe Marcus Carr, the Gopher point guard and leading scorer, won’t return to the team next season and will opt for professional basketball, but he’s a long-shot to make an NBA roster. It’s highly unlikely he will be selected in the two rounds of the 2021 NBA Draft and he would have to hope for a free agent invite.

On a list of college basketball’s 50 best players this season, SI.com rates Carr No. 46. Minnesota natives Matthew Hurt, McKinley Wright IV and Jalen Suggs are at 43, 42 and 8.

Rick Pitino has influenced son Richard Pitino’s coaching career for years including now with Richard’s hiring at New Mexico. Lobos AD Eddie Nunez played for a Rick Pitino disciple at Florida, coach Billy Donovan. While in his 20s, Richard was an assistant coach working for dad at Louisville and Donovan in Gainesville.

Rick, who in his first season back in college coaching has Iona in the NCAA Tournament, looks after family. He once said on local radio here that Richard’s boss, Norwood Teague, was one of the best athletic directors in the country.

The Gophers’ basketball coaching vacancy will probably be filled in three weeks, or sooner. Whoever accepts the job likely has his current team in the NCAA Tournament.

Utah State coach Craig Smith, from Stephen, Minnesota and thought for awhile to be a favorite for the Gophers job, is receiving fan approval out west to fill the University of Utah opening.

The other Big Ten men’s basketball opening is Indiana, and look out for the Hoosiers if they convince Brad Stevens to take the job. Stevens, an Indiana native, was sensational at Butler before going to the NBA’s Boston Celtics.

Randy Wittman, 61, probably won’t draw interest from the administration despite being an Indiana native, former Hoosier star and ex-NBA coach including with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

That was Lewis Garrison, the former Gopher football player and now an experienced basketball official, working last Saturday’s Big Ten semifinal game between Iowa and Illinois in Indianapolis.

The University of Minnesota lost a thoughtful and practical leader when Michael Hsu wasn’t re-elected to the Board of Regents. The Minnesota State Legislature voted Monday on regents and among the new members are Kodi Verhalen replacing Hsu in the Sixth District.

The Minnesota men’s hockey team, winners last night of the program’s second Big Ten Tournament, head into the NCAA Tournament with the most wins in the country at 23-6.

The Minnesota Wild is 6-2 since veteran forward Zach Parise was benched for one game March 3. An NHL authority said head coach Dean Evason plays no favorites and expects everyone to play hard, even his highest paid players. No player receives the star treatment including rookie forward Kirill Kaprizov who has captivated the fan-base.

Have to wonder if former Gopher and now Northern Michigan coach Grant Potulny won’t be the next men’s hockey coach at St. Thomas. The Tommies figure to soon announce the coach who will lead them into Division I play in the CCHA.

Six players representing four schools have been named to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s All-Decade Team for the 2010s: forwards Jack Connolly of Minnesota Duluth and Marc Michaelis and Matt Leitner of Minnesota State; defensemen Justin Schultz of Wisconsin and Alec Rauhauser of Bowling Green and goaltender Dryden McKay of Minnesota State. All-decade teams this winter are part of the league’s 70-years celebration.

There is a tradition of great football clinics in Minnesota but perhaps none match the lineup of speakers for the MFCA’s virtual clinic coming up April 8-10 with Tom Allen, Mack Brown, Matt Campbell, Paul Chryst, Dave Doeren, Pat Fitzgerald and P.J. Fleck. Learn more by visiting the Minnesota Football Coaches Association website.

Vikings free agent signings of linebacker Nick Vigil and defensive linemen Dalvin Tomlinson and Stephen Weatherly hints at the franchise using its first round selection in the upcoming draft on an offensive player, perhaps a guard.

The popular WCCO Radio “Sports Huddle” program hasn’t been on the air for a year and apparently there is no plan to bring it back. The show stopped its long run because of COVID-19 concerns for 100-year-old Sid Hartman who died last fall. Hartman’s birthdate was March 15, 1920.

Comments Welcome

Twins Could Delay Alex Kirilloff Debut

Posted on February 24, 2021February 24, 2021 by David Shama

No everyday position in the Minnesota Twins starting lineup will receive more scrutiny during spring training than left field. Eddie Rosario was plugged in there for several Opening Day starts but the Twins cut him from the roster last winter, leaving a void in left field that 23-year-old Alex Kirilloff might fill during most of the 2021 season.

Kirilloff is one of baseball’s top prospects but it could be the Twins will start the regular season in early April using utility man Luis Arraez in left field. Kirilloff, even if he dazzles in spring training, might be assigned to the Triple A St. Paul Saints roster but later called up to the Twins.

Why wouldn’t Kirilloff begin 2021 in the majors? A factor could be MLB’s service time policy that determines when players eventually become eligible for free agency. If a player accumulates 172 days on a big league roster (either in one year or multiple seasons), he earns a year of service time. After six seasons a player is eligible for free agency. By delaying “the clock” on a prospect like Kirilloff, perhaps adding him to the roster in May, the Twins gain a future financial advantage.

In three previous minor league seasons the left-handed hitter had 1,103 at bats with a .317 batting average, 36 home runs and 177 RBI. Minnesota’s first round draft choice in 2016, Kirilloff makes solid contact with the baseball, hitting to all fields with line drives and also demonstrating power.

Kirilloff has the athleticism, including a strong arm, to play left or right field for the Twins. He also has experience at first base, making him a versatile player already. If anything, the excitement about Kirilloff becoming a big contributor to the Twins has been slowed by past injuries but he has the profile of a top 30 MLB prospect.

Kirilloff is already the answer to an intriguing trivia question. Who is the only MLB player to get a base hit while making his big league debut in a playoff game? Kirilloff, starting in right field, singled in four at bats for the Twins in their final playoff game last September.

Worth Noting

The Twins announced this morning all 14 of their home spring training games at Hammond Stadium sold out within 30 minutes.

Fox Sports North will televise the Twins’ first spring training game starting at 12:05 p.m. March 3 (against the Boston Red Sox).

MLB.com offered its first power rankings of spring training Monday. The Twins are No. 7, one spot behind their newly hyped division rival, the Chicago White Sox. The top five teams are the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves and New York Mets.

The Detroit Tigers may have three former Twins in their regular lineup, with left fielder Robbie Grossman, catcher Wilson Ramos and second baseman Jonathan Schoop.

Former Twin and free agent starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi remains unsigned. He turns 31 next month and could help a club as a No. 3 or 4 starter, but with the Twins’ starting rotation apparently set it doesn’t look like his future will be in Minnesota.

Happy early birthday wishes to Twins TV announcer Dick Bremer who will be 65 next Monday.

It looks like status quo for head coach P.J. Fleck’s Gophers football staff who had expiring contracts January 31. New one year deals are in place including for Rob Wenger who leads special teams that struggled in 2020.

Because of the pandemic, the Minnesota Football Coaches Association’s outstanding annual clinic will be held via Zoom April 8-10.

The MFCA announced its 2020 Mr. Football Award winner Sunday—Wisconsin Badgers-bound Jake Ratzlaff, a strong safety/tight end from Rosemount High School. “As a high school football player, I have never seen one player impact a game in so many different ways,” Rosemount coach Jeff Erdmann said in a news release. “He could start for us at any position offensively or defensively. He could have been our starting QB, offensive tackle or even nose guard because of his athleticism, aggressiveness, and style of play.”

Fired Timberwolves coach Ryan Saunders, 34, could resume his career with a college job. If so, he might be interested in using the famous and entertaining pre-game warm-up routine that rocked Williams Arena when Ryan’s dad Flip played for Gopher coach Bill Musselman. Although Flip was a Gopher before Ryan was born, the warm-up show that filled the arena with delirious fans is something the younger Saunders knows about.

Ex-Gopher center Janel McCarville, 38, is still playing professional basketball in Sweden. McCarville and playmaker Lindsay Whalen are the names best remembered from Minnesota’s 2004 Final Four team that played in New Orleans.

Next year the women’s Final Four returns to Minneapolis for the first time since 1995 and the field will likely include Minnesota prep legend Paige Bueckers leading the Connecticut Huskies. Coach Geno Auriemma won the first of his 11 national titles here that year.

Comments Welcome