Gophers Basketball – Page 129 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Peterson Tells NBC He Understands Critics

Posted on August 12, 2015August 12, 2015 by David Shama

Controversial Adrian Peterson didn’t play in last Sunday’s nationally televised preseason Vikings-Steelers game but he certainly wasn’t ignored. Among references to the Vikings running back was acknowledgment by NBC that Peterson declined an on-camera interview regarding the incident last year when he beat his four-year-old son with a switch. However, NBC pro football analyst Cris Collinsworth reported a conversation with Peterson where the future Hall of Famer “owned up” to his mistake.

Collinsworth told TV viewers Peterson understands the harsh views people have about him if all they know regarding his character are graphic photos showing the bloody injury his son suffered. Peterson’s supporters, though, including many individuals in the Vikings organization, have long insisted the 30-year-old Texas native is someone they like for his personal qualities and community involvement.

“It was a difficult conversation with him,” Collinsworth said on the NBC telecast. “He explained his family growing up—that he had tough love. That he was spanked by his parents and extended family, and (he) thought that discipline went a long way towards the guy that he became. Also, that many of his friends did not receive that kind of discipline and they’re in jail to this day.”

Adrian Peterson (Photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

Peterson has multiple children by different women. He talked to Collinsworth about his 10-year-old daughter “who understood everything that was being said about her father” (involving the child abuse incident and his NFL suspension last season).

Peterson and the Vikings were in Canton, Ohio to play in the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Game. Chris Wesseling, writing for NFL.com on Sunday, reported Peterson believes his eventual induction into the Hall of Fame is a “no-brainer.”

Peterson has the third highest all-time average of rushing yards per game, but Wesseling quoted him as having career ambitions that go beyond being acknowledged as football’s greatest running back. He wants to be known as “the greatest player” ever.

Because injuries are a possibility, Peterson probably won’t play in the team’s remaining four preseason games. His first on-field appearance is likely to be the regular season opener September 14 against the 49ers.

Worth Noting

Sports Illustrated’s August 10 College Football Preview predicts the Gophers will be third in the Big Ten’s West Division after Wisconsin and Nebraska. Iowa, Northwestern, Illinois and Purdue will finish behind Minnesota.

Ohio State is the magazine’s choice to win the East Division and is ranked No. 1 in the country. S.I. projects a four-team college football playoff between the Buckeyes, Auburn, Notre Dame and TCU. The Gophers play at Ohio State November 7 and host TCU in Minneapolis September 3.

About 5,000 tickets remain for the TCU game that is expected to sell out. Among fans attending the game will be about 8,000 University of Minnesota students, including 3,000 who purchased tickets. Another 5,000 will be freshmen who annually receive free tickets to the home opener.

Among true freshmen making a good impression at early Gophers practices were offensive tackle Quinn Oseland and running back James Johanesson. Oseland, 6-6, 301 pounds from Springfield, Illinois, was rated the No. 2 offensive tackle in Illinois by Scout.com. Johannesson, the two-time North Dakota Gatorade Player of the Year, rushed for 81 career touchdowns at Fargo South High School. If Johannesson, 6-1, 221 pounds, becomes a starter for the Gophers some day, he will draw comparisons with Barry Mayer, a similar size running back from Fargo who led Minnesota in rushing in 1968 and 1969.

Mayer’s son, Adam Mayer, is a freshman walk-on wide receiver with the Gophers. The 6-1, 205-pound Mayer is from Concord, California where he played on a state championship high school team and was considered one of the better prep receivers in the Bay Area.

Gophers senior wide receiver KJ Maye liked what he saw of true freshman wide receiver Rashad Still during informal summer workouts. “The way that he can go get the deep ball and the way that he learns (impressed),” Maye said. “He learns pretty good.”

Still, 6-5, 200 pounds and from El Paso, Texas, was ranked as the No. 62 senior prep wide receiver in the nation by ESPN.

Dan O’Brien, Gophers senior associate athletic director, said his teenage son Casey had a successful surgery for cancer on his right lung last week. In a few months Casey will undergo surgery on the left lung with intent to remove all the cancer in his body.

O’Brien will have to decide whether he wants to be a candidate for the athletic director’s job vacated by Norwood Teague.

It’s interesting to look back at the comments of Rick Pitino about Teague. Pitino, the Louisville basketball coach, is the father of Gophers men’s coach Richard Pitino who was Teague’s most important coaching hire in three years at Minnesota. In April of 2014 the older Pitino, talking on 1500 ESPN, referred to Teague as one of the five best athletic directors in the country. “He’s an awesome AD,” Pitino said. “He is going to bring them to heights they’ve never seen before.”

Gene Taylor, the former North Dakota State athletic director who is credited with helping shape the Bison’s nationally prominent football success, told the Fargo Forum last week he isn’t interested in the Gophers job. Taylor is now deputy director of athletics at Iowa.

Chris Obekpa, the 6-9 shot blocking center the Gophers reportedly once had interest in, has transferred from St. John’s to UNLV. Obekpa, who was suspended by St. John’s earlier this year, will use his final season of college eligibility (2016-2017) at UNLV.

A source told Sports Headliners Dr. Bill McGuire’s option to buy eight acres of land near Target Field and the Farmers Market expires at month’s end. McGuire’s intent has been to build a new outdoor soccer stadium there or in St. Paul as part of the effort to acquire a Major League Soccer franchise for Minnesota. Proponents of the Minneapolis site want to see Hennepin County involved in covering infrastructure costs.

Danny Santana, the former Twins shortstop recently sent down to AAA Rochester after hitting .218 here, is batting .266 with the Red Wings.

The Gophers have commitments from Arizona, Illinois, Michigan State, UCLA and Washington to play in a round-robin baseball tournament at the new U.S. Bank Stadium. Rob Fornasiere, Minnesota’s assistant head coach, said the Pac 12/Big Ten Challenge will be the first weekend in March of 2018.

Minnesota native Karl Gregor is the new men’s head tennis coach at Tufts University. Gregor, a Wayzata High School alum, was interim coach of the team last season. He is a 1997 graduate of the Air Force Academy where he played No. 1 singles.

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Lots of Questions about U Basketball

Posted on August 5, 2015August 5, 2015 by David Shama

The Gophers basketball team leaves for Spain next week, with the practices and games expected to improve the players and increase chances for a successful Big Ten season in 2016. When the Gophers return to campus later in the month they may have more answers, but there will still be intriguing questions about the future.

NCAA rules allow a college basketball program to schedule a foreign trip every four years. Because of the trip to Spain this summer, Minnesota has 10 extra practices and a few exhibition games to help prepare for next season. Here is a list of questions Gophers fans could be asking.

Q. What direction is the program trending?

Minnesota was a disappointing 6-12 in Big Ten Conference regular season games last season. Preseason expectations had them at 8-8 or better but the Gophers struggled in close games, losing eight league games by six points or less. Minnesota was 18-15 overall and not only missed an invite to the NCAA Tournament but also didn’t return to the NIT where the Gophers won the championship in 2014.

With key returnees a year ago including guards Andre Hollins and DeAndre Mathieu—and building off the NIT championship—the Gophers looked like a solid bet for the NCAA Tournament. Instead, they struggled through the conference season, producing a record that was better than only three other league teams.

Starters Hollins, Mathieu and forward-center Mo Walker, three of the team’s better players, have used up their college eligibilities. The returning personnel has plenty to prove, just like the team’s newcomers. That’s why the Gophers are a popular pick to finish again near the bottom of the Big Ten next season.

Head coach Richard Pitino acknowledged at his news conference yesterday that the expectations for next season by fans are low. “We try to get better everyday,” he said.

Q. Who steps up for the Gophers?

Everyone needs to but hopes start with sophomore guard Nate Mason and senior guard-forward Carlos Morris. Pitino wrote on his blog that Mason has all-conference potential. He’s also written that Morris, a very athletic but inconsistent player, will have much to do with determining the team’s success.

The 16-man roster consists of two seniors, four juniors, four sophomores and six freshmen. “We’re so young,” Pitino said.

Forward Joey King, a returning starter, is the team’s other senior and poster boy for max effort. Pitino has to hope his mostly unproven roster of players emulates King, and that they all try to take away his title as Minnesota’s best overachiever.

The Gophers will need help from newcomers including four-star freshman guard Kevin Dorsey from Waldorf, Maryland. Minnesota’s incoming recruits were rated No. 11 in the Big Ten by 247sports.com, and Rivals.com had four teams from the league in its top 30 national recruiting rankings but not the Gophers. Pitino’s incoming class has an opportunity to prove it’s better than expected.

Q. Will the roster stabilize after recent turnover?

During the last 12 months three players with remaining eligibility have left the program—Zach Lofton, Josh Martin and Daquein McNeil. Lofton and Martin transferred to other schools while McNeil has legal issues. A fourth player, incoming freshman Jarvis Johnson, was determined unfit to play because of a heart condition. All four players were once seen as either starters or key contributors. This spring the Gophers also lost assistant coach Dan McHale who became head coach at Eastern Kentucky.

Pitino and his staff have brought in two important transfers from other college programs, center Reggie Lynch and forward Davonte Fitzgerald. They will be eligible for the 2016-2017 season when the Gophers, with more experience and probably proven talent, could have their best team in four seasons under Pitino. With only two seniors on the roster now, the 2016-2017 team will be a veteran group.

Q. Will the Gophers receive commitments from top in-state high school talent like Amir Coffey and Gary Trent Jr.?

Coffey, who will be a senior guard-forward this fall at Hopkins High School, and Trent, a junior guard at Apple Valley High School, are nationally-recruited players. In recent years the Gophers have flopped in efforts to convince the state’s best prep players to stay home and play in Dinkytown.

Minnesota has homegrown talent that can compete with the better high school players in the country. Not every year will offer a prep group like 2014 with Tyus Jones, Rashad Vaughn and Reid Travis, but there are exceptional high school players in this state each season.

The Gophers have a 2016 commitment from Rochester John Marshall forward Michael Hurt. That’s a step forward in closing the recruiting borders but the Gophers will have to do a lot more lockdown in coming years with players like Coffey and Trent and their successors. Minnesota’s potential to contend for Big Ten championships depends on it.

Q. Can Pitino answer the critics?

Pitino impressed with his coaching in his first season at Minnesota. His 2013-2014 team was 8-10 in the Big Ten and surprisingly won the NIT championship. The league record was the same as coach Tubby Smith’s last Minnesota team, a group with more talent than Pitino worked with.

The disappointment of last season has been documented but the last several months have triggered controversy, too. During the offseason Pitino’s name was rumored with job openings at St. John’s and Alabama. He was too slow in countering speculation and declaring his commitment to Minnesota, according to critics.

Does the 32-year-old Pitino want to coach here long-term? An East Coast guy, he had no connection to the state before leaving his head coaching job at Florida International in 2013. Gophers athletic director Norwood Teague has been all in on Pitino—giving him an opportunity in big time college coaching, and, according to recent media reports, he is boosting the coach’s pay by a reported $400,000 to $1.6 million.

Media and fans ask what Pitino did to earn the $400,000? If you read his contract, though, it calls for annual increases, even though the $400,000 amount is much more than the University is obligated to provide. Advocates for the pay boost argue it’s the cost of doing business in the “arms race” to retain coaches (see Alabama rumors).

Pitino’s popularity, as with any coach, will be tied to winning games but he could become more engaged with the public and media. If he wants a role model, there’s a guy named Jerry Kill who offices within several hundred feet of the basketball office.

Q. When will the Gophers upgrade the nonconference home schedule?

For years now—long before Pitino arrived—Williams Arena has been the state’s largest “bakery” in November and December when the Gophers serve up a schedule of “cupcake” opponents. Yes, it’s understood all Big Ten teams do a lot of this “bakery” stuff to win enough games to make the NCAA Tournament. But the Gophers nonconference scheduling annually ranks with the most unappealing in the Big Ten and is a deterrent to buying season tickets.

In a competitive sports market, the Gophers need to upgrade the pre-Big Ten home schedule with a couple of big-time opponents that are in addition to those provided by the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. This December the Gophers play Oklahoma State in Sioux Falls in a neutral court nonconference game. Minnesota fans are being encouraged to make “the short drive” to Sioux Falls to see the game against the Big 12’s Cowboys. Sorry, that doesn’t count as an upgrade, critics respond.

Q. How much decline in fan interest could be ahead?

For years the Gophers program was among the most popular and lucrative in college basketball. Decades ago Minnesota led the nation in average attendance per game. But interest and attendance is trending downward. The Gophers sold out only one game last season at Williams Arena (14,625 capacity) after selling out four the previous year. The program has an aging season ticket base and younger basketball fans are drawn to the Timberwolves.

The Gophers and Timberwolves once had a sort of stand-off in competition for basketball fans in this market. But the Gophers haven’t had a winning season in the Big Ten for 10 years and while the Wolves’ losing ways have sometimes been even more abysmal, fan excitement surrounds the pro franchise that has a roster loaded with former first round draft choices. It’s a marketing mismatch for Gophers basketball right now when the Wolves can advertise players like last year’s NBA Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins, hometown hero Tyus Jones and Karl-Anthony Towns, the No. 1 overall pick in last June’s NBA Draft.

It’s easy to see why Wolves fans are anticipating a bright future during the winters ahead. The Gophers’ future is less clear.

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State Making Basketball History Now

Posted on June 26, 2015August 22, 2015 by David Shama

The state of Minnesota made basketball history last night during the NBA Draft. Tyus Jones and Rashad Vaughn became the first pair of Minnesotans to be selected in the draft’s first round. The Timberwolves for the first time in franchise history had the NBA’s overall No. 1 pick and chose Karl-Anthony Towns.

A long list of native Minnesotans—from Cole Aldrich to Royce White—have been first round draft choices but never in the same year have two players from the state been selected as Jones and Vaughn were last night. Jones was expected to be selected before Vaughn but the shooting guard was the No. 17 pick of the Bucks. Jones landed with the Wolves after a trade with the Cavs who chose him at No. 24.

Towns, the 6-11, 250-pound center from Kentucky, was anticipated to be the team’s first draft choice. He can score inside and outside, and is an athletic defender. “He’s incredibly versatile,” ESPN draft analyst Jay Bilas said last night on the air.

The network reported last evening the Wolves are now the first NBA team to ever have three overall No. 1 draft choices on a roster. In a trade with the Cavs last year the Wolves acquired 2013 No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett and 2014 No. 1 selection Andrew Wiggins. In April Wiggins became the first Wolves player in franchise history to be NBA Rookie of the Year.

Minnesota prep basketball made history this spring with the announcement Apple Valley High School players Gary Trent Jr. and Tre Jones earned roster spots on the USA Basketball Men’s Under-16 team. It was the first time two Minnesotans have been selected for the Under-16 team at the same time. With Trent and Jones being from the same high school, the achievement was even more distinct.

Tre Jones, of course, is the brother of Tyus who saw four other point guards selected last night before his name was called. But the 19-year-old former Apple Valley and Duke star couldn’t have asked for more than to start his NBA career in Minneapolis.

It was a special night for Vaughn, too, who played at Cooper High School before finishing his prep career in Las Vegas. Only 18, Vaughn played as a freshman at UNLV before declaring for the draft. Vaughn is known as an excellent shooter with a big time stroke who could be a “steal” for the Bucks.

Worth Noting

The Gophers men’s basketball team will play Oklahoma State of the Big 12 in a nonconference game on Saturday, December 12 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls. The schools haven’t played against one another since 1986. Minnesota leads the all-time series 3-2.

The Twins have placed outfielder Byron Buxton on the 15-day disabled list with a left thumb sprain, an injury that occurred on Tuesday attempting to steal second base. To replace Buxton on the 25-man roster, the Twins have recalled infielder Danny Santana from Triple-A Rochester. Santana has hit .308 (20-for-65) with six doubles, three triples and five RBI in 15 games for the Red Wings since being optioned by the Twins on June 7.

The Wolves had a full page advertisement in today’s Star Tribune featuring No. 1 draft choice Karl-Anthony Towns and also picturing five players from the current roster. Noticeably absent was often injured center Nikola Pekovic.

The new Timberwolves and Lynx training center has interesting amenities including three plunge treatment pools and one therapy pool; three steam rooms and two saunas; five locker rooms and two film rooms; 9-foot doors and 8-foot showerheads; a players lounge and nutrition center. The Timberwolves and Lynx Courts at Mayo Clinic Square is a $25 million (private investment) facility that is both a training center and corporate headquarters for the teams. Located across the street from Target Center on First Avenue North, Mayo Clinic Square is a first of its kind facility in the NBA and WNBA. The Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center in the complex is available to all athletes.

Former Gopher basketball players Don Linehan, Larry Overskei and Paul Presthus visited John Kundla last week in advance of their ex-coach’s 99th birthday on July 3.

“I feel like a million but I’m only 99,” Kundla said with a smile at his living care facility in northeast Minneapolis. Presthus reported the quip in an e-mail where he also wrote: “John looked great, is self-sufficient and was sharp as could be.”

Kundla was the Gophers coach from 1959-1968, and Linehan, Overskei and Presthus played for him. “John is as humble as they come, a true gentleman, (and) one of the nicest men I ever met, and he always treated his players with respect,” Presthus said in the e-mail.

Before becoming Gophers coach, Kundla coached the Minneapolis Lakers to five world professional championships, the last in 1954. Presthus said there was storytelling about the Gophers and Lakers, and plenty of laughs during the visit. “We spent about an hour visiting with him before he had to leave to go to mass,” Presthus wrote.

The Wild want “to get bigger and more physical” with personnel moves at the NHL Entry Draft today and tomorrow, according to a hockey source who asked that his name not be used. Playing better “around the boards and the net, and not getting outmuscled” is needed for the Wild to continue its ascent among NHL competition and to play more effectively against clubs like the Blackhawks, Ducks and Kings.

Wing Thomas Vanek, 31, had a disappointing initial season for the Wild. The source said Minnesota might release or trade the former Gopher, speculating a return to the Wild could be 50-50.

The return next season of expensive 37-year-old goalie Niklas Backstrom seems unlikely. He reportedly earned $3.75 million last season and will be paid more under terms of his contract for next year. Of course the team’s goalie priority is re-signing 29-year-old Devan Dubnyk. The source said Dubnyk wants $5 to $6 million annually and Minnesota might now be willing to pay $4 million.

Vanek is one of 17 Gopher Hockey alums who played in the NHL last season. Here is the list: Mark Alt (Philadelphia), Keith Ballard (Minnesota), Stu Bickel (Minnesota), Nick Bjugstad (Florida), Alex Goligoski (Dallas), Erik Haula (Minnesota), Seth Helgeson (New Jersey), Erik Johnson (Colorado), Phil Kessel (Toronto), Nick Leddy (New York Islanders), Jordan Leopold (St. Louis/Columbus/Minnesota), Paul Martin (Pittsburgh), Kyle Okposo (New York Islanders), Nate Schmidt (Washington), Jordan Schroeder (Minnesota), Thomas Vanek (Minnesota) and Blake Wheeler (Winnipeg).

About 2,000 fans are expected to attend tonight’s Summer Bash and NHL Draft Viewing Party from 6 to 9 p.m. at Xcel Energy Center. In addition to watching the draft on TV from Florida, fans can visit the Wild locker room and press box. Wild players Keith Ballard, Ryan Carter, Charlie Coyle, Matt Dumba, Jordan Leopold and Jason Zucker are scheduled for photos and autographs.

Players and coaches representing 79 schools and 27 conferences are expected to participate in tomorrow’s annual MFCA Tackle Cancer All-Star Football Game in Husky Stadium at St. Cloud State. Players (2015 high school grads) and coaches were selected by members of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association.

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