Gophers Basketball – Page 150 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Jones Undecided on U Official Visit

Posted on July 26, 2013July 26, 2013 by David Shama

Tyus Jones isn’t sure about making an official recruiting visit to the University of Minnesota, according to his mother Debbie Jones.

The family has made unofficial visits to Minnesota in the past to become acquainted with the Gophers’ basketball program. “We have talked about it (the official visit) but not decided,” Debbie told Sports Headliners on Wednesday.

The Gophers are on the Apple Valley High School point guard’s current list of possible college destinations along with Baylor, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State. There had been seven schools but Debbie said, “Ohio State is no longer recruiting Tyus.”

The National Collegiate Athletic Association allows a recruit to make five official visits to schools. An official visit is paid for by the school while an unofficial is at the family’s expense.

The first official visit by Tyus will be to Baylor in late August. Baylor director of player development Jared Nuness is a distant cousin of Tyus who is the Rivals.com No. 2 prospect in the country for the class of 2014.

Official visits by Tyus are planned for August, September and October with dates and schools beyond Baylor to be determined. High school seniors can sign National Letters of Intent with colleges in November, or they can wait until the following spring for a second period of signing dates. Asked by Sports Headliners on Sunday if Tyus will sign in November, his mom said: “I think so.”

Worth Noting

Twins president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners the 2014 All-Star Game logo will be revealed next Tuesday at Target Field. Among those present for the unveiling will be officials from Major League Baseball.

The Twins will host the first ever All-Star Game at Target Field on July 15, 2014. The franchise hosted All-Star Games in 1965 at Met Stadium and 1985 in the Metrodome.

During the 2012 and 2013 baseball seasons Target Field has been the site of Kenny Chesney concerts drawing crowds of more than 42,000. No decision has been made on a concert for next year including type of music or date. “We’re likely to host one major show (in 2014),” St. Peter said. “It’s likely to be post-All-Star Game.”

St. Peter also said the Twins are “hopeful” about hosting the NHL Winter Classic on January 1, 2015 but that will be the final decision of the Wild and National Hockey League. Both the Wild and Twins have long been interested in bringing the Classic to Minnesota where the local NHL team would play against an opponent to be announced, perhaps the Blackhawks.

St. Peter is co-coach of an Eden Prairie travelling baseball team for 15 year olds that includes twin sons Ben and Eric. Asked about their prospects of playing college baseball, St. Peter said they inherited their dad’s slowness of foot.

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said he and his wife enjoyed a one-week vacation in Carmel, California. The Vikings reported to training camp at Minnesota State Mankato yesterday with the first practice today.

Frazier on whether it’s fair for observers to tie so much of the expectations about the Vikings to starting quarterback Christian Ponder: “It’s a team game and we need a lot of guys to step up. We definitely need Christian just to continue to improve, but we need the rest of our offense, our defense, our special teams, to improve as well.

“And if we all improve across the board we’ll be a better football team and we’ll have a chance of reaching our goals as a team. It’s not fair to say we’ll only go as far as Christian will take us. We have a lot of people that have to play well also.”

Frazier said the team will practice today and tomorrow, take Sunday off and then be in pads for the first time on Monday and for the duration of training camp in Mankato.

Chris Burke, writing last Tuesday for S.I.com, ranked new Viking Matt Cassel as the fifth best backup quarterback in the NFL. Burke said Cassel was “awful” last season for the Chiefs but played on a bad team. He noted Cassel was outstanding in 2010 for the Chiefs and 2008 for the Patriots. “A lot of time has passed since then but Cassel has more NFL on-field experience than just about anyone on this list,” Burke wrote.

Kyle Orton of the Cowboys is Burke’s No. 1 followed by Matt Moore (Dolphins), Ryan Fitzpatrick (Titans) and Matt Hasselbeck (Colts).

Gophers football coach Jerry Kill meets with the media next Tuesday with the opening practice for his team on Thursday. Four practices including the August 10 scrimmage (start time 4:40 p.m.) at TCF Bank Stadium are open to the public. More details at Gophersports.com. The Gophers open their season at home on August 29 against UNLV.

Will Rakeem Buckles transfer to the Gophers after finishing summer school at Florida International where new Minnesota basketball boss Richard Pitino coached last season? The 6-7 forward sat out last season after transferring from Louisville and could play this fall at Minnesota as a graduate student if the NCAA approves.

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Pitino Versus Pitino in Vikings Stadium?

Posted on July 12, 2013July 19, 2013 by David Shama

New Gophers coach Richard Pitino told Sports Headliners he will talk with his father, Rick Pitino, about scheduling Minnesota and Louisville nonconference games.

“I think it would be great for fan bases and great universities, great athletic departments,” Richard said this week. “We would definitely talk about that at some point down the road.”

How about playing in the Vikings stadium that opens in 2016? “That would be a great idea,” the Gophers coach said. “That would bring some good exposure.”

Such a game could attract 25,000 fans or more to the downtown dome stadium. With Louisville’s reputation as an elite basketball school and the intrigue of a father against son matchup, it doesn’t take much imagination to see the game being nationally televised and providing valuable publicity for Pitino as he builds his Minnesota program and brand.

It’s likely any agreement between the two schools would include games scheduled in both Louisville and Minneapolis. The Pitinos met on the court as head coaches for the first time last December when Rick’s team beat Richard’s Florida International group, 79-55 in Louisville.

Richard worked for his dad at Louisville until he took the head coaching job at Florida International last season. The two are close and talk frequently. Rick, who coached the Cardinals to the national championship in April, is known for his work ethic.

“I think he really taught me just do (things) with unbelievable effort, unbelievable hard work,” Richard said. “He’s one of the most motivated guys I know. I just learned a lot by example from working with him for three years and being around him my whole life.”

Richard on other subjects including Drake transfer and former Eastview High School player Joey King who is waiting for an NCAA ruling on whether he will be eligible this coming season or have to wait a year:

“I love him. Tough kid. Huge chip on his shoulder. Really believes he is the best player on the court. Has that great confidence. Fearless. Can play multiple positions on the court.”

The 6-9 Eagan native has an ill family member who wants to watch King play at Minnesota, Pitino said. The NCAA is known to grant immediate eligibility in such situations.

Pitino wasn’t surprised his best player, junior guard Andre Hollins, didn’t make the USA junior team at tryouts last month. Hollins, as part of his academic experience, was in Italy before the tryouts and didn’t have access to a basketball facility.

“I told him, ‘Listen, you gotta expect you’re not going to make it. It has nothing to do with your ability. It has nothing to do with how good of a basketball player you are. You’re just very rusty.’ He wasn’t too down about it. He understood that.”

Pitino said right now there are no players who have a lock on starting next season, not even Hollins who led the team in scoring at 14.6 points per game or senior guard Austin Hollins who was second at 10.7. “I would assume that they are going to be in the starting five and they are going to play major, major minutes,” Pitino said. “But they’ve got to show me that.”

The Gophers finished with an 8-10 record in the Big Ten last season. Minnesota has only two Big Ten season records above .500 since 2000 but Pitino expects “to build this program on a high level.”

What does high level mean? “I think the biggest thing that you’ve gotta do is try to compete for conference championships,” Pitino said. “Try to get to the top half of that league and win a conference title. If you win a conference title in a conference like us, you’re gonna get a great seed in the (NCAA) Tournament. Then you never know what might happen.”

The Gophers have only two returning starters in Andre and Austin Hollins. Just two other returning players averaged double figure minutes per game, senior guard Maverick Ahanmisi and junior center Elliott Eliason. Pitino said it’s too early for him to talk about what his first Minnesota team accomplishes in wins and losses. “It’s going to take time, that’s what it does whenever you build a program.”

The Big Ten has a reputation for teams playing slow, conservative basketball. Pitino wants to coach at a fast pace on offense and defense. “I don’t think it has as much to do with the conference as it does with the players that I have on my team,” Pitino said. “I will be able to run. I will be able to press. I will be able to play fast if I have athletes and fast players on my team. I won’t be able to do it if I don’t.

“It comes down to the personnel more than the conference. Certainly game by game will be a little different but we just need to have the right type of players to play that style.”

Pitino has a new blog at Gophersports.com and this week he discusses each of his players.

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Shabazz Gets Musselman Endorsement

Posted on June 24, 2013June 24, 2013 by David Shama

Among the assumptions about Thursday night’s NBA Draft is the Timberwolves will select a shooting guard with their No. 9 pick in the first round. What might be far more clandestine is their interest in UCLA swingman Shabazz Muhammad.

While public conversation has frequently included the possibility of selecting Indiana’s Victor Oladipo, the Wolves almost certainly have to make a trade with another team and move up in the draft to obtain the Indiana junior shooting guard. There’s no guarantee the Wolves want to or can make such a move.

In the June 24 issue of Sports Illustrated the magazine predicts the Wolves will select Muhammad at No. 9 after Oladipo is chosen at No. 5 by the Suns. The publication includes a feature on Muhammad who played only as a freshman at UCLA, averaging 17.9 points per game and finishing his career in a 20 point first round NCAA Tournament loss to the Gophers last March.

Among Pac-12 rivals who watched Muhammad play was Arizona State associate head coach Eric Musselman, a friend of Timberwolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders. “If there were an NBA game tomorrow, you could put him in your rotation,” Musselman said in the magazine. “There are probably less than 10 guys in this draft you can say that about.”

While Muhammad is stereotyped as a shooter-scorer, a one dimensional player, Oladipo has all-around abilities including a stingy defensive skill set. The Wolves’ glaring need, though, is someone who can hit open jump shots while joining a team already built around forward Kevin Love and point guard Ricky Rubio.

Given that roster need, Jim Dutcher wouldn’t advise Saunders to move up in the draft to take Oladipo. “If you’re looking for a shooter I would say no,” said Dutcher. “He’s more of an all-around athlete than he is a pure stroker. He’s not like a Klay Thompson or those kind of players that can just knock down (shots). Stephen Curry, those great shooters.

“That’s one of the question marks. Is he (Oladipo) a quality outside shooter? And I am not sure. I think his better game is a penetrator, a guy who gets to the basket. One thing he does do is he finishes at the basket.”

Dutcher, the former Gophers’ coach whose players at Minnesota included Saunders, labels Oladipo a “great physical talent” with good character who will be a solid pro.

“The one thing that would be concerning to me is as you watched Indiana play, there were large periods where Oladipo kind of disappeared. He’s out there and then he would do something spectacular. And maybe it’s because Indiana had a balanced team. …I would be concerned that he wasn’t their go-to guy at the end of games. Sometimes he would be and a lot of times he wouldn’t be involved.”

Basketball fans in this town will be intrigued by Thursday night’s draft not just to see what the Wolves do with two first round picks and two second rounders. There will also be interest in the futures of former Gophers Trevor Mbakwe and Rodney Williams.

Mbakwe led the Big Ten in rebounding at 8.7 per game. His instincts for rebounding and physical strength at 6-8, 245 are NBA level but there are holes in his resume including a limited offensive game. Williams, 6-7, 205, can put himself on ESPN SportsCenter with world-class dunks, but it seems like there are almost as many questions about his overall skill set as inches he can jump.

“I think on Trevor you gotta evaluate where you are going to play him,” Dutcher said. “He’s strong around the basket but he does not have a refined inside game. If he can’t dunk it, he can’t make it a lot of times.

“He’s not big enough to play a full-time center in the NBA. You gotta be able to make that face-up jump shot and there were games that he did that, and he was probably the premier rebounder in the Big Ten Conference which says a lot, but everybody evaluates Trevor based on one game. The Indiana game where he out played (Cody) Zeller and the Gophers upset Indiana who was then the No. 1 team in the nation.

“But you gotta look at the whole picture where he got out played at Nebraska and Northwestern. Some of the lesser teams…where he didn’t have great games. The Michigan game here (facing a top 10 team) I thought he got badly outplayed by Michigan’s big men.”

Dutcher believes Mbakwe is probably a second round NBA draft choice at best. “He’s not a sure fire NBA player. Probably going to end up playing in Europe would be my guess unless somebody has a spot for a guy that can go in and get you a key rebound or two.

“He does have some down things. He’s older (24). His age is not in his favor. The off the court baggage, I think Trevor has dealt with that pretty well. I don’t think that is a major concern but…when they evaluate a player they evaluate everything.”

While Mbakwe had serious issues off the court during his college career, Williams won’t have to answer such questions from NBA teams. The signature question about Williams is how did he miss doing more with all his athleticism?

“People that watched Minnesota waited four years for Rodney to have a break-out year and he never did,” Dutcher said. “Not a consistent outside shooter. Not a great defender. He does the spectacular. He can go up there and dazzle you with a slam dunk but at the end of the year when you look at the stats he doesn’t average great scoring. He doesn’t average even great rebounding, and doesn’t have impressive statistics. But you gotta be impressed with his leaping ability. ….

“I doubt that he gets drafted. Somebody will take a chance on bringing him to (an NBA) camp or putting him in the D-League, or doing something just because of his physical jumping ability. But you evaluate the all around game and Rodney…is probably not an NBA player.”

Worth Noting

The year’s draft will feature more Big Ten players likely to be selected in the first round than any in recent memory. The list consists of Indiana’s Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller, Michigan’s Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr., and could include Ohio State’s Deshaun Thomas.

The Timberwolves will host a free draft party for fans at Target Center starting at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday night. The draft begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be telecast by ESPN. Wolves center Greg Stiemsma is scheduled to be in attendance for a portion of the party.

Former Gophers assistant coach Jimmy Williams is no longer an assistant at the University of Memphis and has interest in NBA coaching. Williams is living in Houston.

The Wild have eight picks in next Sunday’s NHL Entry Draft but none in the first round. A trade may change that. The draft begins at 2 p.m. Minnesota time and will be televised by the NBC Sports Network.

Miguel Sano, the super prospect who some observers think could be playing for the Twins as early as next year, is off to a slow start after being promoted from Class A Fort Myers to Class AA New Britain. In 11 games the 20-year-old third baseman is hitting .171 with two home runs and eight RBI.

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