Gophers Basketball – Page 146 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Owner: Wolves Have Title Aspirations

Posted on October 9, 2013October 9, 2013 by David Shama

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor was asked this week if he expects his team to end a 10-year absence from the playoffs next spring. The Wolves had playoff potential last season but injuries ruined their season and the club finished with a 31-51 record.

“When I talk to team members and coaches and all that, their expectation is they want to prepare to win the (NBA) championship,” Taylor told Sports Headliners. “They’re not just saying they want to make the playoffs. The expectation is how deeply can they go.”

The Wolves have a nucleus of three players who are among the best in the NBA at their positions, power forward Kevin Love, point guard Ricky Rubio and center Nikola Pekovic. But the optimism coming from Wolves training camp is also based on other players including offseason acquisitions Kevin Martin at shooting guard and small forward Corey Brewer.

New president of basketball operations Flip Saunders is responsible for those moves and others. His work has impressed Taylor who gives Saunders an “A” grade since being hired last spring.

“I had high expectations of Flip and he’s made all of them come true,” Taylor said. “His level of communications is excellent and I am very appreciative of all he’s done.

“In the personnel area we had talked previously about the type of personnel he wanted. He just moved on it very quickly and found the type of players the staff wanted.”

Saunders has more than 20 years of professional basketball experience. This is his second period of employment by Taylor and the Wolves, having worked here from 1995 – 2005, first as general manager and mostly head coach. Head coaching assignments with the Pistons and Wizards followed before Taylor brought him back to his organization.

Taylor describes his top basketball executive as a “unique” hire because of their previous relationship and all of Saunders’ skills. He said Saunders’ experiences after he left the Timberwolves of working for other teams and also a short period as an NBA analyst for ESPN “rounded out his understanding of the league.”

Taylor is projecting the Wolves will make money in 2013-14 for the first time in years. “It’s not like we’ll make a lot, probably $2 or $3 million,” Taylor said.

Taylor’s other basketball team, the Lynx, is in the WNBA Finals for the third time in three years. Last year the franchise earned a profit approaching $500,000, the first time the Lynx made money, Taylor said. This year the team could finish in the black and “approach” $1 million.

Taylor said the pending deal with the city and AEG Facilities to renovate Target Center for $100 million is taking “longer than anticipated” but he remains optimistic about it being completed. After the renovation he expects Target Center to be a better arena than “over 50 percent” of the other NBA venues.

Worth Noting

New Vikings quarterback Josh Freeman had differences with his Bucs coach, Greg Schiano. Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said, however, Freeman is excited about a “fresh start” here and believes the two will “co-exist.”

Although Freeman’s career performance has been inconsistent, he was reportedly wanted by multiple NFL teams. After being released last week by the Bucs, David Steele wrote the following on Sportingnews.com: “The rest of the NFL likely doesn’t feel about him the way the Bucs do. He’s done nothing to make the entire sport give up on him now, as it did on JaMarcus Russell.”

Rib injuries are slow to heal and whether Christian Ponder is healthy enough to be an option to start on Sunday against the Panthers isn’t known. But Matt Cassel seems the more likely starter with Ponder trying to heal and Freeman too unfamiliar with the offense to start.

Ponder may soon lose his starting job for the remainder of the season. “I am a man of faith,” Ponder said. “I believe that God’s got my future in his hands. I don’t know what that means. But I am trying to get healthy and I think ultimately it will make me a better quarterback.”

Is Ponder’s confidence shaken after being replaced two weeks ago by Cassel and now the acquisition of Freeman who has started 59 NFL games dating back to his rookie season in 2009? “In my eyes I am getting prepared to play,” Ponder said. “As long as I play well, then I am the one on the field.”

Vikings defensive end Kevin Williams is a team leader and is unsure what impact Freeman will have. “I don’t know, we’ll have to see. The management made a decision, we have to go with it.”

Williams, though, knows Freeman has talent. “He’s a first rounder for a reason. He has great potential. He just has to bring it to the table and shine.”

Tomorrow the Vikings are offering “No Service Fee Day” sponsored by U.S.Bank. Fees are waived for fans purchasing single game tickets through Ticketmaster.com.

Steve LaCroix, the Vikings vice president of sales and marketing, e-mailed that tickets remain for home games against the Redskins November 7, the Eagles December 15 and the Lions December 29.

The Vikings sold “just under” 8,000 new season tickets this year, according to LaCroix.

The SportingNews college basketball yearbook ranks the best coaches in each conference. Mick Cronin is No. 4 in the American Athletic, Shaka Smart No. 1 in the Atlantic 10 and Buzz Williams No. 1 in the Big East. All had their names prominently mentioned with the Gophers’ opening last March after Tubby Smith was dismissed.

Although the magazine said it was time for Smith to move on, he is rated the third best coach in the Big 12 where he now leads the Texas Tech program. The top five coaches in the Big Ten, according to the publication that predicted the Gophers will finish ninth in the conference, are Tom Izzo, Thad Matta, John Beilein, Bo Ryan and Tom Crean.

Timberwolves players Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio bought 500 tickets to give away for last night’s Lynx WNBA Finals Game at Target Center. The Lynx, with a 2-0 series lead in the best of five series, play the Dream on Thursday night in Duluth, Georgia with ESPN 2 televising the game starting at 7:30 p.m. Minneapolis time.

It might be an interesting meeting today for Gophers football coach Jerry Kill and athletic director Norwood Teague. The two normally meet at noon on Wednesdays, and Kill suffered a seizure last week preventing him from coaching the team on Saturday at Michigan. Although Kill has experienced multiple seizures since becoming the Gophers coach, last week was the first time he missed a game.

The Gophers 0-2 start in Big Ten games isn’t pretty and neither are their offensive and defensive numbers in conference games. Minnesota ranks 10^th in rushing offense and eighth in rushing defense. The Gophers are 11^th and eighth in passing offense and defense. Minnesota is tied for last in scoring offense and ranks eighth in scoring defense.

Matt Majka speaks to the CORES group on Thursday, November 14 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington. Majka is chief operating officer of Minnesota Sports and Entertainment, a company whose business interests include the Minnesota Wild. Reservations for the luncheon and program should be made by Monday, November 11. Anyone interested can contact Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.

The Wild, 0-1-1 against Winnipeg last season, play the Jets tomorrow night at Xcel Energy Center. Zach Parise has 23 points in 24 career games against the Jets, while Jason Pominville, has 23 in 27 games. Both Wild wings have played most of their NHL careers with other teams.

It’s a major disappointment for the Wild to have Charlie Coyle, the 21-year-old center with star potential, out three to four weeks with a sprained knee.

Comments Welcome

Gophers Use Predictions for Motivation

Posted on October 4, 2013October 4, 2013 by David Shama

Andre Hollins calls it a “slap in the face.”

The Gophers’ best player is using predictions by college basketball writers that his team will be among the worst in the Big Ten Conference as motivation. “I think we can be a surprise team. …Nobody really knows what to expect, expecting us last. That’s the motivation that we’re using.”

Hollins, who led the Gophers in scoring last season at 14.6 points per game, is one of two returning starters from a team that finished 8-10 in Big Ten Conference games and 21-13 overall last season. He and Austin Hollins were starting guards last season but forwards Rodney Williams and Joe Coleman, and center Trevor Mbakwe, are no longer part of a Minnesota program with a new coach in 31-year-old Richard Pitino.

Basketball writers see a program in transition with changes in personnel and a new coaching staff. They forecast a challenging winter for the Gophers playing in the Big Ten, perhaps the nation’s best conference.

Andre Hollins said the Gophers, who have started fall practice preparing for their first exhibition game against Cardinal-Stritch at Williams Arena on November 1, are embracing the changes. “Much more energetic, enthusiastic. Just the whole program,” he said.

The team’s best players are likely to be the guards. The strategy could be to compensate for lack of size and talent in the frontcourt by playing wide open basketball — fast breaks, quick shots, full-court defense, double teams, and force turnovers.

The Gophers want opponents to panic and to do so Hollins is already seeing the importance of conditioning for himself and teammates. “We’re playing hard-nosed full-court defense an hour twenty minutes in practice,” he said. “I don’t think many teams do that in the nation.”

Hollins, a junior, has been known as an offensive player but when asked about personal goals for the season he said, “Be the best player I can be. Pick it up defensively. Be one of the best defending guards in the nation.”

Hollins said he improved his defense during the summer and made a comparison with how the Gophers will play defense this season versus last. While former coach Tubby Smith had players deny passes, the Gophers now will ease off on that so not to be vulnerable to backdoor cuts to the basket by opponents.

Hollins also said he’s learned to be more vocal, an attribute that will help him as one of three newly elected captains. Austin Hollins and guard Maverick Ahanmisi are the other captains.

Worth Noting

Forward Mo Walker, 6-10, has lost about 50 pounds and looks like a different person. Andre Hollins said Walker can now keep up with 6-11 center Elliott Eliason in running drills. Eliason is known for his ability to run up and down the court.

The Gophers haven’t set an October date when practice will be open to the public but plan to do so.

Pitino has converted the gym adjacent to his Bierman Building office into a practice facility. A wall has been constructed with power operated window shades to provide privacy. On the wall are video monitors showing images including of Minneapolis, the University campus and celebrities such as Ricky Rubio and Adrian Peterson.

The facility has a nearby locker room and showers. It is intended more for individual instruction, with the Gophers also using Williams Arena with its larger floor on practice days.

A passionate and knowledgeable Twins fan, disappointed with the decision to re-sign manager Ron Gardenhire for two more years, sent this e-mail to Sports Headliners: “After so many losses over the last three years, it’s hard to believe a change wasn’t made. Only in Minnesota do we accept such mediocrity on a consistent basis. I love Gardy as a person. It just seemed the right time to go in a different direction.

“What I find interesting is the Twins point to the A’s, Pirates and Rays and tell you a big payroll isn’t necessary to win. That may be true but then it’s an indictment of the team’s baseball operations department for failing to draft, sign and develop players that make an impact. If a team isn’t willing to spend money, then it better draft and develop well. Some of the Twins first-rounders like (Chris) Parmelee, (Trevor) Plouffe, (Aaron) Hicks and (Kyle) Gibson made it to the bigs but don’t appear to be impact players. Others, like (Denard) Span and (Ben) Revere, were traded before the start of the season.”

A guess is Gardenhire’s new deal pays him between $1.4 and $1.6 million annually. Baseballprospectus.com lists his two-year total compensation at $2.5 million for 2008-2009, but offers no figures more recent.

The Gophers (4-1) play at Michigan (4-0) tomorrow in a 2:30 p.m. ABC regionally televised game. The Gophers haven’t won in Ann Arbor since 2005 and have two victories in Michigan Stadium since 1980. The “Big House” has an official seating capacity of 109,901 but 115,109 saw the Wolverines defeat Notre Dame last month – the largest crowd ever to watch a college or pro football game.

Senior defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman said younger teammates might be somewhat “star-struck” playing against college football’s all-time winningest program in such a famous venue, but they need to know it’s “just a regular football game.”

Two years ago it wasn’t a regular game, as Michigan embarrassed Minnesota 58-0 in the “Big House” before 111,106 fans.

The Gophers average of only 27.4 penalty yards per game is the best among Big Ten teams. Coach Jerry Kill stresses in weekly meetings the importance of minimizing penalties.

“You wouldn’t want to be in here (the meeting room) after a ballgame and you were one who made a dumb penalty because it’s going to go up on that screen. That’s called the Daily News.” Kill said. “We all get educated through the Daily News and it helps because it’s not degrading anybody. This is why we didn’t score. This is why we kicked the field goal because we lined up wrong. So we’re gonna get that corrected. ‘Yes, sir.’ Okay, move on. So that’s kind of how we try to teach.”

The defensive secondary might be the Gophers’ top unit, comparing favorably with the best in the Big Ten. Safety Cedric Thompson thinks so and believes the unit is better than last year. “We’re a lot more physical, smarter and faster,” he said.

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier didn’t want to tell his players that because of the team’s unexpected poor start and 1-3 record they had to spend part of their bye week at Winter Park working: “I think it’s important that our players get a chance to get away, take their minds off some things for a little bit and also…get re-engaged from a physical standpoint as well. So I think this is the right decision. We’ll come back on Monday, get started on the next opponent. …”

Vikings rookie wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson has turned heads with his kickoff return ability including a 105-yard touchdown return against the Bears last month. He is averaging 33.8 yards on 12 returns and was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for September. Frazier allows him freedom about making decisions about whether to return a kickoff or down the ball in the end zone for a touchback.

“Yeah, we do have a lot of trust in him for sure,” Frazier said. “We have some parameters on when he can bring it out and when he doesn’t, but it’s not by yards. We think he can return one 109 yards, 108 yards and he’s done 105 so we trust his judgment. We do have some things we talk about when it comes to where the ball is kicked when he has to not return it, but he’s made good decisions up to this point.”

It wasn’t complacency that ended St. Thomas’ 36 game regular season winning streak last month. “Gosh, no. No way,” coach Glenn Caruso told Sports Headliners yesterday. “We would not tolerate it.”

The Tommies lost 20-18 to St. John’s on September 21 and had a bye last weekend. Caruso was surprised how poorly his team played “at times” against the Johnnies, committing five turnovers after a focused week of practice. “It was a great reminder of how strong the rest of the conference has gotten,” he said.

The Tommies are home for a 1:10 p.m. game tomorrow against Carleton, another MIAC opponent. Caruso said the St. John’s loss doesn’t end the dream of playing later this year for the Division III national championship but the Tommies need to focus on the present each week.

State basketball legend Janet Karvonen, now 50, is finishing studies at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, according to the latest issue of MVP Magazine. Bob Brown wrote in his story for the southeast Minnesota sports publication that Karvonen plans to intern at Living Waters Lutheran Church in Lino Lakes. “It’s still a new thing for women to be ordained as pastors,” said Karvonen who grew up in the Lutheran church.

The Lynx open the WNBA Finals on Sunday night at Target Center against the Dream. Single game tickets start at $26.

Comments Welcome

Stakes High in U Facilities Future

Posted on August 28, 2013August 28, 2013 by David Shama

When athletic director Norwood Teague announced his $190 million plan to upgrade Gophers athletic facilities earlier this summer few people ever thought about Minnesota’s future as a member of the Big Ten Conference.

Perhaps they should have.

There might come a time when the Big Ten decides schools that aren’t investing in their athletic programs are also not worthy of membership in the historic conference. “I think that’s a possibility,” Mark Sheffert told Sports Headliners.

Sheffert is a University of Minnesota alum, Gophers fan and supporter, former president of First Bank System and now CEO of Minneapolis-based Manchester Companies, a company providing strategic and financial planning to businesses. He’s also a personable guy with a modest manner who has the respect of local leaders in the business community and at the University of Minnesota.

The Gophers have fallen far behind in athletic facilities compared with schools in the Big Ten and elsewhere. The needs list includes the often publicized absence of a basketball practice facility for men’s and women’s teams but goes way deeper. A football complex, academic center, training table, women’s gymnastics facility, wrestling training facility, Olympic sport indoor practice facility and outdoor Olympic sport track were all in the details Teague announced last month.

“There was a report a couple of years ago that showed Minnesota was second to last (in the Big Ten) in re-investing (in facilities),” Sheffert said. “Purdue was last. We were also second to last in donations to the athletic department.”

That’s the kind of stuff that one day might lead to head scratching in the Big Ten office in Chicago about Minnesota’s future. The Gophers not only are behind in facilities but the football program has mostly been in free fall for decades. Every conference school has been to the Rose Bowl more recently than the Gophers who last visited Pasadena in 1962. Minnesota hasn’t won a Big Ten football championship since 1967.

In basketball, the record the last four decades is better but doesn’t exactly glitter. During the past 15 years the Gophers have mostly been second division finishers in the Big Ten. Before that period there was the embarrassing and expensive academic scandal of the coach Clem Haskins era that wiped out a Big Ten championship and NCAA Final Four appearance. Even further back in Gophers basketball history there were other sanctions by the NCAA.

The high profile sports of football and men’s basketball are what drive the big revenues in college sports today. The profits made are sometimes stunning. Texas, for example, had about a $71 million football profit for school year 2010-11, according to a December 28, 2011 article by Businessofcollegesports.com. The Gophers’ football profit of approximately $13.5 million ranked No. 30 in the nation (down from No. 25 the year before). The profit in basketball of about $9.5 million ranked No. 47 in the country among football and basketball programs. The potential to grow profits at Minnesota is considerable in both sports.

Minnesota’s annual share of the Big Ten TV income pot is over $21 million and without it the Gophers athletic department would operate in the red, likely unable to sustain a 23 sport program that includes 12 women’s teams and 11 men’s teams. “If we don’t make investments in our sports, I think the Big Ten Conference will look for teams that are investing and will be competitive,” Sheffert said. “You don’t watch two teams (on TV) not investing in their programs and who are battling for last place in the standings. If you’re an advertiser, you don’t buy time with two teams last in the conference.”

Athletic departments have to “think like a business” and “take stock” of weaknesses, Sheffert said. In a visit he made to Lincoln, Nebraska to study the Cornhuskers athletic facilities he saw what the better programs are doing.

The Gophers have one practice field for football. At Nebraska Sheffert saw three fields, creating opportunities for the offense, defense and special teams to each have their own space.

The Gibson-Nagurski football complex where the Gophers practice is about 30 years old and Sheffert said it has a leaky roof. The building is sometimes shared with the softball and golf teams because of the minimal indoor facilities for Gophers teams.

Passionate college football fans know that schools like Ohio State, Michigan and Nebraska have far superior facilities to Minnesota’s. The comparisons are striking, even when it comes to meal time. “The (Gophers) football team eats dinner in the hallway (at Gibson-Nagurski),” Sheffert said.

At Nebraska there is a large dining room. Sheffert said football players and other athletes see food offerings that are color coded at the training table, helping to guide selections depending on whether athletes are preparing for game days or practice days. “You don’t even have to think what you should eat,” he said.

At Minnesota a donor stepped forward to buy more computers to help athletes with academics and close a small gap between what the Gophers have in technology compared with other schools. Those same athletes sometimes receive tutoring in open settings while at other schools there are private rooms. Places like Michigan and Nebraska have elaborate programs to track and tutor athletes, creating more likelihood athletes will perform better academically.

Sheffert said at those schools the athletic departments have their own orthopedic doctors and pharmacies on-site. Such resources can influence parents and recruits who at a place like Nebraska will even be impressed by the setting for the coach’s office. Bo Pelini’s office doubles as a suite and looks out over Memorial Stadium.

Ask Gophers coach Jerry Kill if he can lose recruits because of facilities and he will say yes. He has a new stadium that opened in 2009 but there’s so much more to the facilities picture than where a school plays seven or eight home games each year.

All of this doesn’t even address basketball where the Gophers and Northwestern are the only Big Ten schools without designated practice facilities other than their gameday arenas. At Nebraska, Sheffert was impressed with the Cornhuskers’ facilities including the technology. The Huskers not only have multiple practice courts but players can sit at their lockers and swipe a card to study game action of themselves on computers. In the showers they can swipe cards to hear favorite music.

Sheffert said at Nebraska, unlike Minnesota, there are separate weight rooms for football, basketball and wrestling. And this fall the basketball team will be competing in a new $180 million arena.

It’s not just Nebraska, Michigan and a few others that are investing in their programs. Google searches quickly show $55 million projects either completed or in motion for other Big Ten schools. Oregon has opened a $68 million football complex that is so lavish it commanded a photo spread in Sports Illustrated this summer.

The August 5 issue of the Businessofcollegesports.com reported that Utah has opened a $32 million football facility. Duke is working “in earnest” on a $100 million facilities plan, according to the website. The Air Force Academy is considering a $50 million-plus renovation of its football stadium.

“We continue to fall behind…teams that are competitive,” Sheffert said. “We have to start with the idea that football, basketball and hockey are the entertainment business. They are (played by) student athletes and we owe it to them to provide the best facilities (for academics and athletics) that we can. We are at a competitive disadvantage when recruiting the best players in the country.”

The disadvantage goes beyond facilities. Kill has been at the bottom of the Big Ten’s salaries for head football coaches since he came to Minnesota in 2010. Presuming Kill continues to improve the Gophers football product, Minnesota will become increasingly at risk for losing a popular coach who is admired around the country not only for his football IQ but also his moral values and concern for the community.

So far Kill has been able to hold on to his assistant coaches although it’s a group that is far from the best paid in the Big Ten. Gophers offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover and defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys don’t rank among the top 10 paid coordinators in the league, according to a May 4 Espn.com story by Adam Wittenberg. In a league where only 18 assistants make less than $200,000 per year, 15 of them work for Minnesota, Illinois, Purdue and Indiana, according to Wittenberg.

Sheffert assesses the financial landscape at Minnesota and voices optimism. “I view it as a great opportunity,” he said. He is part of a group that has dialogued with Teague and University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler.

Sheffert knows more than a little about money and he said there are different ways to finance facilities improvements. Those options can include fundraising but also borrowing money in a responsible way while taking advantage of favorable construction rates as the economy continues to recover. “We may have to take a risk but we take a risk by not doing anything,” Sheffert said.

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