Gophers Basketball – Page 126 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

College Title Game Likely Coming Here

Posted on October 30, 2015October 30, 2015 by David Shama

An announcement regarding the site for the College Football Playoff Championship Game in 2020 is expected early next month. My prediction is Minneapolis and U.S. Bank Stadium will be the city and venue announced.

A site committee headed by CFP executive director Bill Hancock visited Minneapolis earlier this fall. The group left town impressed by a presentation similar to what Minnesota leaders used to convince Super Bowl and NCAA Final Four authorities to bring those events to U.S. Bank Stadium in 2018 and 2019.

Last spring governor Mark Dayton announced the formation of the Minnesota CFP Steering Committee comprised of representatives from the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, Meet Minneapolis/Sports Minneapolis, the Vikings and the University of Minnesota. The CFP organization announced in late May bids had been received from the Bay Area (Santa Clara game site), Charlotte, Houston, Minnesota, New Orleans and San Antonio to host the 2020 game to be played on Monday, January 13.

The selection of a northern city to host the game would add diversity to the site locations. The inaugural game last January was played in Arlington, Texas. Glendale, Arizona will host the game next January and Tampa will be site for 2017. The CFP organization is expected to announce next month its choices of host cities for 2018, 2019 and 2020. Minnesota didn’t submit bids for 2018 or 2019.

The successful winter hosting of the 1992 Super Bowl in Minneapolis and the eagerness of NFL officials to return the game here in 2018 could certainly have played a part in easing any concerns about the weather by CFP authorities. This area offers a state-of-the-art domed venue in U.S. Bank Stadium and also covered practice facilities owned by the Gophers and Vikings. Positives also include Minneapolis’ reputation as an easy to reach travel destination, with varied local transportation including light rail, and a city offering facilities to host ancillary CFP events. The city’s famous skyway system allows visitors to walk around downtown without going outdoors.

Worth Noting

The Vikings and Gophers already have covered practice facilities, and seem targeted to have new ones by 2020 when the CFP Game will likely be played here. The Vikings appear headed toward developing a complex in Eagan that will include offices and practice facilities. The Gophers today will host a ceremonial groundbreaking event on the East Campus for the new Athletes Village that will include a new football practice facility.

During the time Jerry Kill was the Gophers head football coach the state’s high school football coaches have been among his vocal admirers. After Kill’s resignation on Wednesday the Minnesota Football Coaches Association distributed a tribute that said the coach gave “every minute of his time and every ounce of his energy” to not only his players and assistants, but also to the public including causes both large and small. “No request was denied, no cause too minor,” the statement said. “He was and is the ultimate giver. …From the very bottom of our collective hearts, THANK YOU, COACH.”

The are “still a limited number of tickets” available for the Gophers Halloween night game Saturday against Michigan, according to an athletic department spokesman. The game could be Minnesota’s fifth consecutive home sellout this season. The Wolverines, college football’s winningest program, are always a gate attraction but adding to the hype this season is the debut of glamour coach Jim Harbaugh who after a star career as Michigan’s quarterback developed winning teams at Stanford and with the NFL’s 49ers.

The Wolverines, who prior to Harbaugh’s arrival this year were struggling, are among the surprise teams in college football. Michigan, 5-2, has lost only to Pac-12 power Utah in an opening game and to Michigan State on a fluke fumble by the Wolverines punter.

When Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany was in Minneapolis earlier this month he was asked about Harbaugh’s impact on the conference. “He’s got a great track-record as a player and coach,” Delany answered. “Only halfway through the season but they’ve played awful well. The Michigan people are excited. A great conference needs great coaches, and needs great programs. I think that in football and in basketball we’re well positioned with some of the coach-teacher leaders that we have, and obviously Jim is off to a fabulous start.”

Because of the Kill resignation and being major underdogs, the Gophers will be a national story if they can win Saturday’s game. The Wolverines, who have shutout three opponents and lead Big Ten teams in six defensive categories, are likely to go into the game favored by a couple of touchdowns.

College football authority Jerry Palm has the Gophers, 4-3, as one of 10 Big Ten teams who will play in a bowl game. Palm, writing this week for Cbssports.com, predicts Minnesota will play Air Force December 29 in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth.

The Timberwolves opened their season Wednesday night with a comeback one point win in Los Angeles against a Lakers team that was 21-61 last season. “They’re still going to be really, really bad.” That’s a quote about the Lakers from an anonymous scout in the October 26 issue of Sports Illustrated.

In the magazine’s NBA preview issue the Lakers are predicted to finish 14th among 15 Western Conference teams. The Timberwolves, 16-66 last season, are forecast to finish 12th. The Cavs, whose key players include former Wolves star Kevin Love, are the choice to defeat the Thunder for the NBA title.

NBA.com surveyed the league’s general manager with questions about teams and players. The Wolves Andrew Wiggins, who was the Kia NBA Rookie of the Year last season, drew the most support as the player expected to have a breakout year. Among NBA rookies this season, the Wolves Karl-Anthony Towns is a runaway choice to be the best player in five years.

Basketball stat of the day: with a career record of 172-68 (.717 percent) Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan has the highest Big Ten winning percentage in conference history.

Among the newcomers to watch on the Gophers basketball team is 6-6 freshman forward Jordan Murphy from San Antonio. “He can jump with anybody (on the team),” teammate Charles Buggs told Sports Headliners. Murphy averaged 23.6 points and 10.5 rebounds as a high school senior.

Buggs, a 6-9 junior forward, wears size 17 shoes. Reggie Lynch, the 6-10 junior center who isn’t eligible this season after transferring from Illinois State, wears size 18 shoes, the biggest on the team, according to Buggs.

Buggs, who has increased his weight from 210 to 230 through training and by eating four to five meals per day, has a 3.0 GPA and is a sports management major. He spent part of the offseason working events at TCF Bank Stadium.

The Gophers play Minnesota Crookston in an exhibition game Sunday starting at 4 p.m. in Williams Arena. BTN Plus will televise the game.

After winning Tuesday night, the Wild is now 21-3-1 in its last 25 games against the Oilers. Tonight the Wild plays the Blackhawks at Xcel Energy Center. In the last 15 games between the two clubs eight have been decided by one goal and four were shootouts.

Two former Gophers hockey players, now coaches at Hamline, are about to start their seasons. Hamline men’s coach Cory Laylin, whose team last winter won the MIAC playoffs after a fifth place regular season, will send his Pipers into games tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon against Gustavus Adolphus and Saint Mary’s as part of the MIAC Men’s Hockey Showcase in Blaine. Natalie Darwitz starts her first season coaching the women’s team with games at Concordia (WI) tonight and tomorrow afternoon.

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Flip Did It All in His Basketball Life

Posted on October 26, 2015October 26, 2015 by David Shama

Flip Saunders was probably the most unique basketball man in the history of this state. He was raised in Ohio but Minnesota was home. He died yesterday at age 60 in Minnesota and he wouldn’t have wanted to depart this earth from anywhere else.

I first saw Flip as a feisty teenager playing point guard for the Gophers in the 1970s. During the last few years I knew him as the basketball boss of the Timberwolves. Through the decades he played every role possible in big time basketball in Minnesota. At the end of his life he had an unprecedented list of simultaneous responsibilities as part owner, president and coach of the Wolves.

Flip Saunders (Photo courtesy of Timberwolves)

Flip played on some of the best Gophers teams ever, including the 24-3 group in 1977, his senior season. He had been a high school All-American in suburban Cleveland and came to the Gophers as coach Bill Musselman’s alter ego. Musselman was back alley tough and reveled in the basketball smarts and competitiveness of Flip, a small guy like his coach but just as willing to battle enemies of all sizes and skills.

After Flip’s college career he had an NBA tryout with his hometown Cavs. If guts and determination were all that was required, the 5-11 Saunders would have been All-NBA 10 years in a row. Flip had averaged 32 points per game in high school and started 101 of 103 possible games for the Gophers but he soon realized his future was on the sidelines and not on the court.

Flip started his coaching career at Golden Valley Lutheran where his record of 92-13 included 56 straight wins at home. In 1981 he became a Gophers assistant to head coach Jim Dutcher for whom he had played his final two seasons. He stayed five seasons with the Gophers, helping them to the 1982 Big Ten championship. Then it was two more years of assistant coaching at Tulsa.

After Tulsa he went into the CBA, pro basketball’s minor league and NBA feeder system. His achievements, though, were big time. In seven seasons his teams won two league championships, he was twice named Coach of the Year, and he had a record number of players promoted to the NBA.

By 1995 Flip had proven he was as much a grinder hell-bent for success as a coach as he was as a player. Kevin McHale, the Wolves basketball boss and former teammate with the Gophers, hired Flip to work in the front office but soon switched him to the sidelines as head coach.

It’s no coincidence that the mostly forlorn franchise known as the Timberwolves has experienced its greatest successes under Flip’s direction. In the late 1990s the Wolves looked poised to become one of the league’s elite led by Kevin Garnett, Tom Gugliotta and Steph Marbury. But only Garnett stuck around and the Wolves regrouped early in the new Millennium led by KG, Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell. They were on the edge of an NBA title in 2004 when an injury to Cassell derailed plans for a championship parade down Hennepin Avenue.

Any list of the franchise’s 26 years of mistakes has to include the decision to fire Saunders as coach early in the 2004-2005 season. That was a blow to the gut for Flip but by now anyone who knew him realized he would march on to more coaching experiences. There was success in Detroit where his Pistons were annual contenders to win the Eastern Conference. Then there was a stop in Washington D.C. as Wizards coach before he was let go.

Flip was almost 57 when the Wizards said he was out in early 2012, but he was hardly through writing his basketball story. He became a special assistant to the Celtics, worked for ESPN analyzing the NBA and plotted a return to coaching.

That return might have been to his alma mater in 2013. Flip was looking for a job and the Gophers had an opening. He would have been a sensational fit, and not just as a coach but as a recruiter and promoter of the program. He had told me years before that if he ever got back into college coaching he would revive the Harlem Globetrotters-like pregame ball handling show he had been part of at Minnesota under Musselman. The show was a knockout and amped fans to near craziness by game time.

In 2013 Flip interviewed for the Gophers job with athletic director Norwood Teague and his basketball administrator Mike Ellis. The interview went no where including a disagreement over Flip’s authority to hire a staff. I was told Flip was willing to take the job at a modest salary and willing to donate $500,000 toward the cost of a new practice facility. The same source also said Flip did want bonus compensation based on the box office success of his team.

Teague should have given Flip just about anything he asked for. That’s how big time deals are made. Go ask Michigan how they were able to bring Jim Harbaugh back to the Big House. Do a little homework on how the Blue Devils keep “Coach K” at Duke. Teague was a flop as Minnesota’s AD and the half-hearted effort to land Flip is one of the now departed administrator’s failures.

Glen Taylor (Photo courtesy of Timberwolves)

Soon after the Gophers’ opportunity fell through in 2013 Flip was rehired by the Wolves, this time as the basketball authority in charge of personnel and other decisions. He negotiated a part ownership of the Wolves with lead owner Glen Taylor who also gave Flip the coaching job in 2014 when Rick Adelman retired.

Flip not only knew how to coach, he was a savvy talent evaluator. In the last couple of years he undid some of the damage left by overmatched general manager David Kahn. His acquisition of young players Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony-Towns and Zach LaVine has put hope back into spirits of the fan base. The Wolves are no longer the laughingstock of the league and have the foundation to build a playoff team.

This season was going to be Flip’s next step in the resurrection of the Wolves. He had big plans and likely would have been interested in eventually expanding his share of team ownership. He reached out awhile ago to big money guys like Dr. Bill McGuire about possible ownership if Taylor went through with plans to sell.

Flip was always ready to do what was needed, whether it was Xs and Os, college scouting, NBA trades, pitching potential owners, or marketing his team to the fans and media with public appearances and news gatherings. He was a basketball icon who did it all while earning tens of millions of dollars.

Now the tributes to the man who died at the height of his influence are coming from all over the map. Ironically one came from Marbury who played only a couple of seasons for Flip before bolting out of town and blowing up a potential Wolves championship. Yesterday the former point guard wrote this on Instagram about his ex-mentor:

“I thank you for giving me my foundation in how to play the professional way. I thank you for giving me unconditional love as if I were your son when I was so young. …What an impact you’ve had on so many humans on earth.”

Flip worked his way up from the bottom. Played so many roles. Touched so many lives. He won’t just be missed. He won’t be replaced.

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Playoffs? Vikings Need Road Wins Now

Posted on October 23, 2015October 23, 2015 by David Shama

The Vikings haven’t had a winning road record since 1998 when they were 7-1 in away games and 8-0 at home. The franchise hasn’t even reached .500 since the 2009 team was 4-4 on the road. And more recently the Vikings have really struggled in NFC North road games, not having won a division game away from home since 2012.

Wide receiver Mike Wallace acknowledged the Vikings need to win Sunday’s game in Detroit against the 1-5 Lions. “We know why need to win this game. We need to get it going, do something on the road,” he told Sports Headliners. “We can’t make the playoffs (alternating) win and lost, win and lost.”

During September the Vikings opened the season with a road loss to the 49ers, then followed up with home wins against the Lions and Chargers. Early this month there was a road loss to the Broncos and last Sunday a win at home versus the Chiefs. That adds up to a 3-2 record including no wins on the road.

Mike Wallace (Photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

While the Vikings are undefeated at home, they can’t count on a perfect record at TCF Bank Stadium, and even if they could go 8-0 that wouldn’t for certain qualify the club for the playoffs. Wallace believes the Vikings should think about winning five of eight games on the road. But with six road games remaining, the goal of going 5-1 seems daunting.

Awaiting the Vikings are away games with the Lions, the 2-3 Bears and Raiders, 5-1 Falcons, 4-2 Cardinals and 6-0 Packers. The best the Vikings might accomplish are three or four road wins.

Regarding the remaining home schedule, the Packers are the only opponent with an above .500 record. A win over the Packers at TCF is possible, but victories are more likely against the Bears, 2-3 Rams, 3-4 Seahawks and 3-3 Giants.

Add up the potential wins and losses and the Vikings could go 9-7 or even 10-6 but they need to help themselves both on the road and at home starting this Sunday in an almost can’t lose game. The Lions were 11-5 last season and defeated the Vikings twice, but they have been a major disappointment in 2015.

Vikings wide receiver Charles Johnson anticipates plenty of support from Lions fans on Sunday at Ford Field, a covered stadium. “A place like Detroit is going to be really amped up, and it’s super loud. (I) think it’s going to be a good test for us,” he said. “We already beat them once but I know they got something else up their sleeve.”

Johnson said encountering extreme noise on the road can limit communications among players and restrict game plans. “Some things that we would do at home we won’t be able to do on the road because of the crowd noise and certain situations that may occur,” he said.

Told that the Vikings haven’t had a winning road record since 1998, Johnson said: “We’ve got a great group of guys here willing to work and we’re gonna try to change that statistic.”

What does Vikings coach Mike Zimmer think is needed to play better on the road? “Probably start fast (in the game) would be a good one. I think we’ve started fast at home pretty good. …Handling the crowd noise, making sure we don’t turn the ball over. We’ve got to protect the quarterback better than what we’ve done on the road. Those will all be big things.”

Worth Noting

Phil Loadholt said this Vikings team has more rapport than any he has played on. The offensive tackle is in his seventh year with the Vikings and although a torn Achilles tendon has ended his season he is around the players. Teammates are supportive of one another and while coaches are critical they avoid humiliating players. “They don’t do that,” Loadholt told Sports Headliners.

Rookie wide receiver Stefon Diggs has been mentored by teammate Charles Johnson. “He’s definitely helped me out a lot,” Diggs said. “More than he knows as far as watching him run routes. Watching what he does really helps me. …”

The 21-year-old Diggs has 13 catches for 216 yards in his last two games. Johnson, a three-year NFL wide receiver who joined the Vikings last year, is enthusiastic about Diggs, a fifth round draft choice from Maryland.

“I love Diggs,” Johnson said. “Since he came in he’s been under my wing and I’ve been helping as much as I can.”

The Gophers basketball scrimmage on Sunday at Williams Arena will consist of four eight minute quarters. The scrimmage, free and open to the public, begins at 4 p.m. with doors opening at 3:30 p.m.

The team’s potential star, at least early in the season, looks like sophomore guard Nate Mason. Gophers coach Richard Pitino predicts Mason has the potential at some point to become one of the Big Ten’s best guards. The 6-2 Mason, who averaged 9.8 points and almost three assists per game as a freshman, told Sports Headliners he doesn’t have a preference between point guard and shooting guard.

Mason’s assignment could be shooting guard if 6-foot much hyped point guard Kevin Dorsey, a freshman, impresses Pitino in practices and early games including the November 1 exhibition matchup at Williams Arena against Minnesota Crookston. Mason likes what he’s seen of the speedy freshman and would “welcome” playing along side of him. “We both came in (to the Gophers) with a lot of confidence,” Mason said.

Minnesota junior forward Charles Buggs also talked about Dorsey. “He’s one of the fastest guys I’ve ever seen at the guard spot in college basketball,” Buggs said. “He can get to the rim, and shoot.”

The Gophers men’s hockey team should be on a mission tonight and tomorrow evening in games against Northeastern at Mariucci Arena. The Gophers 0-3 start to the season contrasts to their first three games a year ago. With a revised roster of players this fall, Minnesota has been outscored 9-1. In the first three games last year coach Don Lucia’s team was 3-0 and had outscored opponents 12 goals to five.

The Gophers have 10 freshmen on the roster after graduating six seniors and having three juniors sign professional contracts.

A streak of mediocre seasons and discontent with coach Kirk Ferentz resulted in Iowa attendance being down this season. The Hawkeyes haven’t sold out a game in 2015 but the Iowa athletic department announced yesterday only single seats remain for the November 14 Minnesota game. Although Iowa is off to a 7-0 start, 9,500 tickets remain for the Maryland game and 15,000 for the Purdue game.

Nationally-ranked St. Thomas, the MIAC’s only undefeated football team, hosts Bethel (4-2 overall, 3-1 MIAC) on Saturday afternoon. The Tommies (6-0 overall, 4-0 in league games) will see a Bethel squad that lost close games to nationally-ranked Wartburg and Concordia.

The game will feature two of the MIAC’s top running backs in St. Thomas’ Jordan Roberts (730 yards, 7.0 yard average, 14 touchdowns) and Bethel’s Marshall Klitzke (642 yards, 6.2 average, 8 touchdowns). The Tommie defense leads the conference in scoring (6.8 points per game), yardage (209.2 a game) and sacks (22), while the Royals aren’t far behind, allowing 18.2 points and 333.6 yards per game. The two football programs are 3-3 in their last six games.

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