Gophers Basketball – Page 158 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Hot Seat Warms for Tubby Smith

Posted on February 18, 2013February 18, 2013 by David Shama

After yesterday’s embarrassing 72-51 loss to Iowa, there’s no doubt Gophers athletic director Norwood Teague is receiving more intense criticism about Minnesota coach Tubby Smith.

After a 15-1 start, the Gophers are 18-8 overall, 6-7 in the Big Ten, and losers in three of the last four games. The conference losses include a defeat against vastly inferior Northwestern and to an Iowa team that is not 21 points better than Minnesota.

Fans are so worked up there are even messages on the Gophers own website suggesting a coaching change should be made. In recent weeks I haven’t heard from a single fan who is supportive of Smith, and that includes boosters with influence in Gophers sports who are very upset with University of Minnesota men’s basketball.

Teague has known since taking over as athletic director last summer that there has been a lot of criticism directed at Smith during his tenure at Minnesota. Now Teague may have to decide if he wants the University to pay $2.5 million to buy out Smith’s contract.

And he might because this is a very negative and festering situation. Hardcore fans are tuning out this team, and that’s a way of saying supporters have lost hope in the program. Yes, $2.5 million is a lot of money, but how much momentum for generating revenues does a Smith-led program carry into the offseason and next year when much of the public and some media have soured on Gophers basketball? Hire the right coach and revenues from tickets, corporate partnerships and donations will increase significantly within six to 24 months.

The athletic department has invested millions of dollars in Smith for almost six years, making him one of the better paid college coaches in the country. The results? Not a single season finishing higher than sixth in the Big Ten. A regular season conference record of 44 wins and 59 losses. No wins in two NCAA Tournament appearances.

Complaints from fans this winter go beyond Smith’s illogical platoon substitutions and often ineffective offense. The barbs are targeted at the players, too. “They aren’t good enough fundamentally. They can’t shoot consistently, and make too many ball handling mistakes.”

Okay, the Gophers have their weaknesses even among the athletic and experienced starting five of Trevor Mbakwe, Rodney Williams, Joe Coleman, Austin Hollins and Andre Hollins. But after six seasons who is responsible for the personnel including a subpar bench?

Hint: it’s not Norwood Teague.

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Mbakwe: MSU Wants ‘Revenge’ vs. U

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

Michigan State, 7-2 in Big Ten games and chasing a conference title, has lost only to the Gophers and national power Indiana. In the conference opener for both teams on December 31, the Gophers defeated the Spartans 76-63, winning for the first time since 2006 against MSU in Williams Arena.

Wednesday night MSU, 17-3 against Minnesota in the last 20 games, gets a second chance. “I know they want their revenge. …It’s going to be a dog fight,” said Gophers senior center Trevor Mbakwe.

Coach Tom Izzo’s MSU program has built its reputation on toughness but in the game in Minneapolis the Gophers matched the Spartans’ aggression, including in rebounding where the home team had a 39-32 advantage. But the Gophers, 5-4 in conference games, struggled to match the physical play of Iowa yesterday, needing a three-point game winner from junior guard Austin Hollins in the last minute to win, 62-59.

After the game at Williams Arena the Gophers described Iowa, 3-6, as a “scrappy” team, and sophomore center Elliott Eliason acknowledged the Spartans will be more physical than the Hawkeyes. “They’re definitely going to be out to get us back. The Breslin Center is a very tough place to play.”

The Gophers, who have never won at the Breslin Center under coach Tubby Smith, were often outhustled by Iowa yesterday including in pursuit of loose balls. “You gotta beat’em to the floor,” Eliason said. “That’s the whole thing. Usually the first guy to the floor is going to get the ball.”

“They’re a very physical team (Iowa),” said junior Gophers guard Maverick Ahanmisi. “They were bumping, pushing. We weren’t getting that many calls so we just tried to play through it.”

Minnesota sophomore forward Joe Coleman said there was one surprise for him in the game. “They rebounded probably better than we expected.”

The two teams each had 35 rebounds, and Iowa had 18 offensive rebounds.

At MSU Wednesday night the Gophers won’t be surprised by MSU’s rebounding because the Spartans are one of the Big Ten’s better teams in rebounding margin. Izzo no doubt will remind his players which team had the most rebounds in Minneapolis. Count on that.

And perhaps talk about revenge.

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Nanne: U Potential Frozen Four Team

Posted on February 1, 2013February 1, 2013 by David Shama

Here is a Friday morning Sports Headliners roundup including Gophers hockey and basketball, the Wild, the Wolves and NBA commissioner David Stern, and even Cuban bully Fidel Castro!

Hockey authority Lou Nanne told Sports Headliners the 2013 Gopher team is “skilled at every position and has excellent goaltending.” No. 1 ranked Minnesota played in the Frozen Four last year and Nanne can see a return engagement.

“If they play up to their capabilities, they should be in the Frozen Four,” he said.

The Gophers, 18-4-4, have scored four or more goals in eight of their last nine games. In their 4-1 win over Minnesota State last Saturday night four different players had goals. Among the four was Nate Schmidt who leads the nation’s defensemen in scoring.

Minnesota leads the WCHA in power play goals and penalty killing. Goalie Adam Wilcox has a WCHA-best 17-3-4 record.

St. Cloud State and the Gophers are first and second in the league standings. The two teams play each other February 8 and 9 in St. Cloud. Minnesota has a bye this weekend.

Nanne said the Wild are talented and could finish among the better teams in the Western Conference. The key is “balanced scoring and defense.”

The Wild play at Anaheim tonight, facing a Ducks team that may pose problems in the Western Conference playoffs. In this week’s ESPN.com NHL power poll the Wild are ranked No. 9 and the Ducks No. 10 among 30 league teams.

The Wild’s Matt Cullen, who led the team in points (six) in four games against Anaheim last season, played in 427 games with the Ducks from 1997-2003. The 36-year-old center, scoreless in his first six games, scored twice in the Wild’s 3-2 win over the Blackhawks on Wednesday night.

Wild prospect Jason Zucker, representing the Aeros, scored a goal for the Western Conference on Monday in the AHL All-Star game. The Western Conference defeated the East, 7-6. Zucker leads the Aeros in points with 36.

Nanne and wife Francine spent a week visiting communist Cuba late last month as part of a University of Minnesota Alumni Association trip. Asked for a quick impression, Nanne said, “Too much government.”

Cubans use ration books for food, and some buildings have no running water. The higher wage earners, including doctors, make $500 a month in American currency, Nanne said.

There are many 1950s American cars on the streets in Cuba and Nanne even rode in a 1932 vehicle. “It had a rumble seat,” he said.

Nanne also said Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, in poor health for years, was recently seen walking with a cane. His brother Raul Castro runs the country.

The basketball Gophers, who ended a four-game losing streak with a home win over Nebraska (84-65) earlier in the week, play Iowa at noon Sunday. Minnesota, 16-5 overall and 4-4 in the Big Ten, lost twice to a mediocre Iowa team last season, 64-62 and 63-59.

The Hawkeyes were frequently the more aggressive team in those wins, combining for 21 steals. In Iowa’s 63-59 win in Iowa City the Hawkeyes not only had 11 steals to Minnesota’s one, but they out rebounded the Gophers.

Iowa, 3-5 in the conference and 14-7 overall, has several returning players from last season and is again a scrappy, well coached team. “I think, honestly, we just didn’t have the toughness mentality (last year),” said Minnesota junior guard Maverick Ahanmisi. “This year I think we have a lot of guys on this team that can take it upon themselves to slow the game down, or know when we need a shot or a basket. Last year we just let the game get away from us. Once they started scoring on us, we just put our heads down and stopped moving (fighting back).”

Center Trevor Mbakwe is disappointed with the Gophers’ start to the Big Ten schedule but still thinks Minnesota can be one of the nation’s best teams and win the league championship. “Little surprised (with the start),” he said. “We thought we had a chance to be 6-2 coming out of those two big games (losses to Indiana and Michigan). …We played a tough schedule so far. It’s the best conference in the country.”

Nebraska coach Tim Miles predicted the Gophers can win games in the NCAA Tournament. “I am really impressed with them. …If they don’t turn it over they’ll be good.”

The Gophers came into the Nebraska game averaging a Big Ten high 14.6 turnovers a game but had only five against the Cornhuskers. Among those responsible for the improvement was Ahanmisi, a reserve point guard who entered the game with 20 turnovers in 207 minutes this season. He had no turnovers in 19 minutes on Tuesday night.

Ahanmisi said his confidence, including shooting the ball, has improved. He scored nine points and made four of seven shots on Tuesday. His season field goal percentage of .463 and three point percentage, .417, are major improvements from last year’s numbers of .361 and .294.

“Back in high school I was a shooting guard.” Ahanmisi said. “That was my game. I used to shoot a lot of threes. When I came here I just got away from it. Tried to really turn into a point guard.

“It’s kind of something I really worked on—my shooting again. I think it’s coming back.”

Miles, in his first season at Nebraska, will have his Cornhuskers playing in a new state-of-the-art arena next fall. Each players’ locker has an iPad.

The first in a series called the Minnesota Timberwolves Business Alliance will be held next Wednesday at the Graves 601 Hotel and NBA commissioner David Stern will be the keynote speaker. The event, preceding a Target Center game against the Spurs, will bring together Wolves season ticket holders and corporate partners for networking opportunities.

Wolves president Chris Wright told Sports Headliners efforts to bring the NBA All-Star game back to Minneapolis (last here in 1995) will wait until his organization completes negotiations with the city for Target Center renovations. There’s no timetable for completing negotiations.

Wright and others with the Wolves have never seen a stretch of hard luck like this year’s team has experienced with numerous starters and reserve players sidelined with injuries for days, weeks and months. And even coach Rick Adelman missed 11 games to be with his wife who suffered seizures.

Since the early days of TargetvCenter there’s been speculation the franchise’s misfortunes have been tied to constructing the arena on an ancient Indian burial ground. Not true, said Wright. “That may have come from a couple of drunken guys talking at the (Cafe) di Napoli 20 years ago,” he joked.

Prep basketball authority Ken Lien e-mailed this week that DeLaSalle power Reid Travis has been offered a scholarship by Arizona.

The Wednesday Sports Media News e-mail reported Brett Favre will be a guest on the NFL Network morning show Sunday preceding the Super Bowl. The network is providing more than 16 hours of live pre-game and post-game Super Bowl coverage on Sunday, according to SMN.

Denis McDonough, a 1992 Saint John’s graduate and a three-year starter for the Johnnie football team, is President Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff after serving as deputy national security adviser the past two years.

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