Gophers Basketball – Page 153 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Mauer Turns 30 with Critics & Admirers

Posted on April 19, 2013April 19, 2013 by David Shama

Joe Mauer’s 30^th birthday is today. A cynic might suggest the Twins’ catcher will receive more well wishes from across the country than here in Minnesota.

“He’s under appreciated in his own market,” said Dave Mona, co-host of WCCO Radio’s Sports Huddle. “Talk shows rip on him all the time.”

The rant over Mauer is about his $23 million salary, minimal home run production and the losing ways of his team. In 2009 his future with the Twins was uncertain until he signed a contract that puts him among a half dozen or so of the best paid players in major league baseball.

Mauer’s critics argue the hometown hero makes the list of baseball’s best paid players but he isn’t a top five player. Some baseball authorities wouldn’t even grant Mauer No. 1 status among catchers, preferring the Giants’ Buster Posey or the Cardinals’ Yadier Molina.

But how is it fair to blame Mauer for having leverage with the Twins back in 2009 to command one of baseball’s richest contracts? “I do believe the Twins had to sign him to a large contract because they were moving into a new ballpark and needed the fan base to be on board that they were going to build a winner,” said a sports marketing authority who spoke anonymously.

In two of their three seasons at Target Field the Twins have finished last in the Central Division. While injuries sidelined Mauer for much of the disastrous 2011 season (99 losses), he came back last year to play in 147 games and the team still lost almost 100 games. Mauer doesn’t deserve blame for a franchise whose front office let the talent pool dry up, led by a pitching staff that nosedived to among the worst in baseball.

Home runs? The casual fan looks at the 6-5, 230-pound Mauer and wonders why has he hit only 22 home runs during the last three seasons, including just 10 last year in 545 at bats. “I know people want more home runs and I think he could do it,” said Gophers’ assistant baseball coach Rob Fornasiere. “But that’s not who he is.”

Fornasiere said that in over 30 years of high school recruiting in Minnesota Mauer is the best player he’s seen, and the former Cretin-Derham Hall three-sport star has the same beautiful batting swing he had as a sophomore. “From a mechanical standpoint he’s just so consistent,” Fornasiere said.

Mauer has been in birthday celebration mode this week. After consecutive four hit games on Monday and Tuesday nights, he is on a nine game hitting streak — .462 average with two home runs and seven RBI. The hitting party has raised his batting average for the season to .386.

This week Mauer looks like the hitter who batted .365 in 2009, whacking balls up the middle, finding the gaps in the outfield, and sending balls into the left field corner. His batting average that season was the highest ever for a major league catcher. He led the American League in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage — something no catcher had ever done before in MLB history.

Mauer has three batting titles since his big league career began in 2004. He won the AL MVP Award in 2009. Coming into this season he had the highest batting average in the major leagues since 2006 (.328) and his on-base percentage of .411 was fourth best.

For those who study baseball, Mauer’s prowess hitting the ball is even more remarkable because of the position he plays. Catching is the most physically demanding position on the field. It’s a punishing job squatting behind the plate, subjecting legs to constant stress while hands, fingers and other body parts are targets for foul tips.

Mauer has always liked being back of the plate, helping to dictate the game. His knowledge about opposing hitters helps get the most out of the Twins’ pitching staff, and his strong throwing arm is a deterrent to base runners.

Spoken like a career baseball man, Fornasiere said good baseball teams are built on quality position players in the middle of the field starting with the catcher. “There’s not a team that wouldn’t take him (Mauer),” Fornasiere said.

If critics don’t like Mauer, then Fornasiere probably has it right when he said, “You’re dealing with other people’s expectations.” Those who admire Mauer have their own expectations about him including one day seeing him inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame.

“He’s already done things no other catcher in the history of baseball has done,” said Mona.

And Mauer is only 30 years old.

Worth Noting

A ceremony Sunday at Siebert Field will recognize Gophers’ baseball coach John Anderson for his 500^th career Big Ten win last weekend at Northwestern, according to assistant Minnesota coach Rob Fornasiere. Anderson, who started coaching the Gophers in 1982, is the all-time winningest Big Ten baseball coach — 87 wins ahead of retired Ohio State coach Bob Todd and 205 more than ex-Minnesota coaching legend Dick Siebert. Fornasiere said that since the fall of 1981 there have been 37 head baseball coaches in the Big Ten.

The Gophers play a series against Michigan State at Siebert Field this weekend including Sunday’s game starting at 1:05 p.m. Fornasiere said the Spartans’ leadoff hitter and center fielder is freshman Cam Gibson who is batting .297. He is the son of Kirk Gibson, the Diamondbacks’ manager and former major league star.

The Gophers, 23-13 overall and 7-2 in conference games, are tied for first place with Michigan in the Big Ten standings. Minnesota pitcher Tom Windle, 5-2 with a 1.35 ERA, leads the conference in strikeouts with 57 in 60 innings.

New Minneapolis public schools athletic director Trent Tucker has known Gophers’ basketball coach Richard Pitino since Pitino was five years old. Former Henry football coach Jim Dotseth said Tucker attended a meeting of retired city coaches on Wednesday and Tucker remembered young Pitino from his days playing for the Knicks and coach Rick Pitino, Richard’s father.

I don’t know by how much, but the odds of the Gophers convincing DeLaSalle junior Reid Travis to attend Minnesota went up when Pitino hired former Islanders’ star Ben Johnson as an assistant coach.

But not so sure about Minnesota’s chances for landing Apple Valley point guard Tyus Jones and Cooper shooting guard Rashad Vaughn, both juniors. Elite prep players often want to know how their college experiences can help them earn a roster spot in the NBA. Pitino, at 30 years old, can’t talk about any players he sent to the next level as a head coach. Tough competition against power coaches like Kentucky’s John Calipari and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski.

In a somewhat surprising prediction, Dane Brugler from Cbssports.com has quarterback Ryan Nassib from Syracuse going No.8 to the Bills in his NFL mock draft. The Gophers beat Nassib and the Orange 17-10 last year at TCF Bank Stadium. None of Brugler’s other colleagues have Nassib being selected in the first round of their mock picks.

Former Star Tribune Vikings writer Don Banks posted his mock draft for SI.com with Minnesota selecting Washington cornerback Desmond Trufant at No. 23 in the first round and Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o at No 25.

In a mock NBA draft, NBAdraftnet.com projects the Timberwolves choosing shooting guards Shabazz Muhammad (UCLA) and Tim Hardaway, Jr. (Michigan) with the No. 9 and 25 picks in the first round. The projections also include former Gophers Rodney Williams and Trevor Mbakwe going to Dallas and Utah with the No. 43 and 44 picks.

In a comparison worthy of shoot-first former Gopher Kris Humphries, Muhammad had 27 assists in 32 games for the Bruins last season.

Former Saint John’s national championship coach John Gagliardi and his son Jim Gagliardi will speak Tuesday evening at the MVP event at Trinity Lutheran Church in Stillwater. Together they helped coach the Johnnies to the 2003 Division III national title. MVP stands for men, value, purpose. MVP gatherings celebrate sports with food, fellowship and inspiration. More information is available at Trinitylc.org.

Comments Welcome

Mussy & Pitino: Deja Vu in Dinkytown?

Posted on April 8, 2013April 8, 2013 by David Shama

More than four decades ago the Gophers hired a 30-year-old head basketball coach who eventually got the school in trouble with the NCAA, but Bill Musselman revived a dormant program and long after he was gone Minnesota basketball was still benefitting from his fiery work.

Last week Rich Pitino, 30, took over a Gophers’ program again in need of revival and heavy lifting to make it one of the best in the country. His passion was obvious at his Friday news conference. “I believe this is one of the best jobs in college basketball,” he said even though many college coaches might roll their eyes at such a statement.

Pitino’s reputation is that of a tireless worker who may devote 18 hours per day to his task at Minnesota. He’s known as an effective recruiter and a coach who favors full court pressure defense. To be hired as a Big Ten basketball coach at 30 years old is a remarkable achievement.

Open the Musselman file and see similarities. Like Pitino, Musselman wasn’t the first choice to become the Gophers’ coach but once he arrived you knew this guy was serious —even fanatical— about his business.

Musselman worked long hours and prided himself on his own conditioning. When he wasn’t in the office or on the phone at home, he might be playing pickup basketball where a frustrated and immature Gophers’ coach could resort to fisticuffs. He hated to lose in any competition.

In the summer of 1971, Musselman’s first year in Minneapolis, he told a pumped up crowd at Williams Arena he planned on his Gophers winning the 1971-72 Big Ten championship. Skeptics in the audience remembered that Minnesota had last been conference champs in 1937, and the 1970-71 Gophers finished 5-9 in the Big Ten.

Musselman inherited some talent on his roster in 1971 but knew he needed more. It didn’t take long to sign up junior college stars Clyde Turner and Ron Behagen. They and others formed a roster that won the Big Ten title in 1972, just as predicted.

It was more than recruiting that made the Gophers a winner, though. Musselman employed a zone defense that regularly held opponents to point totals in the 50s. On offense Minnesota was a disciplined team willing to hold the ball for long stretches to find a high percentage shot.

Musselman was a motivator who could be so crazed to win he talked to his players prior to the first practice in October of 1971 about beating Big Ten powerhouse Ohio State. Never mind that there would be no game between the schools until winter.

The desire to motivate his team and pack Williams Arena resulted in Musselman’s use of a pregame ball handling drill set to music. As the Gopher players performed 25 minutes before tipoff, nearly all the seats in the arena were filled with hand clapping, foot stomping fans.

In less than a year Musselman transformed the Gophers on the national college basketball map. During his career at Minnesota the Gophers had Big Ten finishes of first, second, sixth and third. The team was so popular games were regular sellouts, and fans who couldn’t get in the arena paid to watch on a large screen in the next door hockey arena.

Musselman left the Gophers after the 1975 season with NCAA infractions brewing and the bad taste of the infamous 1972 Minnesota-Ohio State brawl on his resume. But he had the program rolling in recruiting, victories and at the box office from the start of his assignment in Minneapolis, and that momentum carried over for years and contributed directly to the success of the two coaches who followed him, Jim Dutcher and Clem Haskins.

If Pitino can duplicate the “Good Mussy” and not the “Bad Mussy,” it will be déjà vu in Dinkytown.

Worth Noting

Rich Pitino said he welcomes the idea of the Gophers playing nonconference games against Louisville, the team coached by his father, Rick Pitino. “I would love to, if he would be willing to do it. We were going to do it at FIU, and hopefully we can do something here. I think it would be great. It would be fun to go against him head-to-head.”

Although Rich Pitino didn’t say it, the game is something the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority should be looking at for 2016, the first year of the new Minneapolis Vikings stadium. A crowd of 20,000 to 30,000 could be likely, and installing a basketball setup in the new covered stadium would be a trial run for hosting NCAA Tournament games.

Pitino has already contacted Minnesota high school recruits including Apple Valley junior point guard Tyus Jones. He plans to have individual meetings with Gophers players this week.

The April 8 issue of Sports Illustrated said Minnesota natives Nate Wolters and Mike Muscala didn’t help themselves with their performances in the NCAA Tournament. Wolters, the South Dakota State point guard from St. Cloud Tech, “got destroyed” against the quickness and long arms of Michigan defenders in the tourney, according to an NBA executive.

Muscala, the Bucknell center from Roseville, has talent but an NBA executive quoted in the magazine said, “You can see his skills. But he needs to develop. If I were taking him, I’d try to get him to play in Europe for a couple of years.”

S.I. predicted the Timberwolves, drafting at No. 8 in the first round, will choose Indiana shooting guard Victor Oladipo.

The Vikings will play a home preseason game against the Titans at Mall of America Field on either Thursday, August 29, or Friday, August 30. A game on August 29 will be the same date the football Gophers play UNLV at TCF Bank Stadium.

A Vikings’ spokesman said the team’s date will be finalized within a couple of weeks. The Vikings’ August 25 preseason game at San Francisco will be nationally televised by NBC’s Sunday Night Football.

Gophers’ offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover said he thinks former Gophers’ quarterback Max Shortell is home in Kansas still deciding where he will finish his college career. Shortell, who would have been a valuable junior for the Gophers next fall, decided to transfer from Minnesota after the season ended last year.

Limegrover, who used to weigh 400 pounds, is now at about 230 and coaching with renewed energy.

At the Minnesota Football Clinic on Friday night newscaster Randy Shaver thanked high school and college coaches for fund-raising $121,000 for his cancer research foundation. The “Tackle Cancer” promotion involved 150 high schools and two colleges in the state. The Gophers will participate this year at the San Jose State game at TCF Bank Stadium.

The clinic, a three day event led by the Minnesota Football Coaches Association and held at the Double Tree Park Plaza in St. Louis Park, reported a record attendance of over 1,300, according to an e-mail from Ron Stolski, executive director of the MFCA.

At the clinic Minnetonka High School coach Dave Nelson was given the Tom Mahoney Man of the Year Award by the MFCA. “Tom Mahoney was one of the founders of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association, and an inspirational, tireless leader of it for decades,” Stolski wrote in an e-mail. “The Tom Mahoney award is presented to an MFCA member who represents the best in our association. A person who devotes leadership and enthusiasm for and energy to the efforts of the MFCA. Dave Nelson epitomizes all that the award represents.”

St. Thomas football coach Glenn Caruso said his Tommies will return “more kids than any top five” Division III program in the country. Among his top 60 players last year, 35 were freshmen and sophomores. Caruso said the Tommies might be ranked No. 2 in the nation prior to the start of next season.

St. Thomas begins the first of seven spring practices next Sunday. The Tommies, who have 91 Minnesotans on the roster, return nine starters on offense and six on defense.

Twins’ closer Glen Perkins, who earned his second save of the season yesterday in a 4-3 win over the Orioles, has yet to give up a hit in three innings over three games. The Twins, now 4-2, have swept their two opening series.

Comments Welcome

Pitino Plans to Finish Career Here

Posted on April 5, 2013April 5, 2013 by David Shama

Although he is only 30 years old, new Gophers’ coach Rich Pitino said this morning at his introductory press conference he doesn’t see the Minnesota job as a stepping stone to another position.

“This is absolutely the place I want to be,” Pitino said. “Me and my wife talked about it last night, just how excited we were that we can finally be at a place we hope to be for the rest of our lives, and build something special. I believe this is one of the top basketball jobs in the country, and I believe the University of Minnesota is one of the best universities in the country. So I am really looking forward to building at a program that competes at a very high level.”

Pitino praised the fan base, historic Williams Arena and the Big Ten as America’s best conference during his remarks. “I truly believe the sky is the limit (at Minnesota),” he said.

His teams will play full court pressure defense, trying to create turnovers and turn those mistakes by opponents into Minnesota baskets. It’s a fast style of play that can be entertaining. “I think you guys will really enjoy it,” he said.

Pitino will almost certainly pursue Tyus Jones, Rashad Vaughn and Reid Travis. The three Minnesota high school juniors are among the most coveted prep players in the country, and Jones in particular has been targeted by glamour coaches John Calipari, Mike Krzyewski and Tom Izzo.

Former Gophers’ coach Jim Dutcher told Sports Headliners the young coach has much to prove as a recruiter and coach. “I don’t think they (the top coaches) will be frightened to recruit against Minnesota,” said Dutcher who coached the Gophers to the 1982 Big Ten championship.

Pitino, who the Minnesota athletic department acknowledged earlier this week as the choice to replace Tubby Smith, has only one year of head coaching experience — an impressive 18-14 season this year at Florida International, a losing program that had gone nowhere under its previous failed coach, Isiah Thomas. But Dutcher’s reaction and that of many Gophers followers to the hire was, “Who?”

The response is indicative that, short-term, Pitino won’t make much impact on fan interest in the Gophers. “They won’t have to keep the ticket office open this weekend,” Dutcher said about Pitino.

Pitino is the son of 60-year-old Louisville coaching legend Rick Pitino. Already the worry-warts are speculating if young Pitino is successful here, he will then be his father’s successor at Louisville. The speculation is even frantic enough to suggest Pitino’s contract with the Gophers (perhaps not finalized yet) will include an opt-out clause to leave for Louisville. “I don’t think he can command that,” Dutcher said.

Among Pitino’s assistants at Florida International was Mark Lieberman who won five state titles as a prep coach in Florida before working at Louisville. Another assistant at Florida International, Kimani Young, has recruiting ties to New York City and New Jersey, areas Pitino is likely to emphasize at Minnesota.

Pitino’s background as an assistant to his dad and also to former national championship coach Billy Donovan at Florida is impressive. So, too, is Pitino’s reputation as a strong recruiter and his performance coaching Florida International to the school’s first winning season in 13 seasons. Regarding how he will do at Minnesota, Dutcher said, “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

But at 30 years old it’s virtually certain Pitino will bring extraordinary energy to the Gophers’ job. The program and the results had grown stale under Smith. Credit athletic director Norwood Teague with making a change the public wanted by dumping Smith and even if he didn’t hire a highly recognizable name in Pitino, his track record in hiring Shaka Smart at VCU gives the Gophers’ fan base encouragement about the future.

Pitino’s salary at Minnesota is expected to be about $3.7 million less than his father who earns close to $5 million at Louisville, according to a story in yesterday’s USA Today.

Dutcher Likes Syracuse, Louisville Tomorrow

Dutcher sees “three very good teams and kind of an unknown” in tomorrow’s Final Four lineup in Atlanta. He predicts a Syracuse win over Michigan, and perhaps a double-digit victory by Louisville against Wichita State, a team that might be the lightweight among the four schools.

Dutcher, once an assistant coach at Michigan and perhaps the sharpest TV college basketball analyst ever in this town, said Wolverines’ sophomore point guard Trey Burke isn’t just the best player in the tourney, nobody in the country is as good. “He’s got the ball more than anybody in the tournament,” Dutcher said. “He decides what to run.”

It was mostly the clutch shooting of Burke that led Michigan to an improbable late game come from behind Sweet 16 win against Kansas. The Wolverines trailed by double-digits in the closing minutes and Dutcher called it a game Michigan shouldn’t have won, but now the victory could help carry Burke and teammates to an NCAA title. “A lot of times if you win one game you shouldn’t, you go all the way,” Dutcher said. “It takes the pressure off.”

Michigan’s fate against Syracuse could well be decided by the Wolverines’ effectiveness against the Orange’s two-three zone defense. Few college teams commit to a zone as their primary defense, and maybe no one executes the two-three better than Syracuse which has been using the defense for years.

Dutcher said Michigan could do well against the zone because of outstanding perimeter shooters including Tim Hardaway Jr. and Nik Stauskas. It takes outside shooting and good rebounding to beat the zone, and the Wolverines have an emerging star in center Mitch McGary whose rebounding and scoring are commanding attention.

The Wolverines have three freshmen, a sophomore and junior in the starting lineup. Syracuse has more experience and Dutcher likes the way the Orange make adjustments — plus that zone defense— so he’s predicting a Michigan loss.

Wichita State will wish it was back in Kansas if the Shockers can’t handle Louisville’s full court pressure defense. That’s a relentless style most teams don’t play and if the Cardinals consistently force the Shockers into turnovers and convert steals and interceptions into baskets the game could be over early.

Louisville, the highest seeded team in the Final Four, is about a 10 point favorite to win the game. Oddsmakers like Michigan by a couple of points against Syracuse.

Comments Welcome