Gophers Basketball – Page 168 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Worth Noting

Posted on February 22, 2012February 22, 2012 by David Shama

Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners he wouldn’t grade his overall work including accomplishments as Gophers athletic director. “I will give myself ‘A’ for effort,” he said.

Maturi and University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler announced earlier this month that Maturi, the school’s A.D. since 2002, will leave his position in June when his contract expires. Although his tenure has been controversial, Maturi said he’s recently received over 500 emails and 99 percent have been “positive.”

“I don’t get too high and I don’t get too low,” Maturi said.

Maturi, 67, won’t be a member of the search committee announced yesterday to find his successor. “Gosh, absolutely not,” he said. “That wouldn’t be right. I wouldn’t accept it (an appointment).”

Media birthdays this week: KARE TV’s Dave Schwartz, 33; FSN’s Kevin Gorg, 45; Lynx assistant coach and Wolves broadcaster Jim Petersen, 50.

The Star Tribune’s Sid Hartman turns 92 on March 15.

Although it’s the offseason, Hartman has Gophers football coach Jerry Kill on WCCO Radio every Sunday from 9:30 to 10 a.m. Co-host Dave Mona said last Sunday that Kill’s weekly comments are transcribed and posted on Gopherhole.com.

C.O.R.E.S. members have a March 5 deadline for attending the March 8 program with Kill in Bloomington. Ron Stolski, Brainerd High football coach and executive director of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association, will introduce Kill. Members can contact Jim Dotseth for more information, dotsethj@comcast.net. C.O.R.E.S. is an acronym for coaches, officials, educators, reporters and sports fans.

The Gophers basketball team, 5-9 in the Big Ten, plays 11-3 MichiganState at Williams Arena tonight and Minnesota will try to end a three game losing streak. In five seasons Minnesota coach Tubby Smith is 0-9 against Michigan State’s Tom Izzo. Smith’s conference record as Gophers coach is 37-49.

As a high school player, MSU’s Draymond Green committed to Kentucky when Smith was coaching the Wildcats, but then changed his college choice. The senior forward, who might be the Big Ten’s best player, leads the conference in rebounding at 10.5 per game and is MSU’s leading scorer, 15.4 points per game.

Gophers senior center Ralph Sampson, described earlier this season as one of Minnesota’s star players by the Star Tribune, has scored four points in each of his last three games (all losses). Sampson is averaging 7.9 points per game, the lowest since his freshman season (6.4).

Although former Gophers forward Royce White is second in Big 12 Conference rebounding at 9.1 and is 14^th in scoring, 12.9, the Iowa State sophomore isn’t listed by nbadraft.net among its projected 60 NBA draft picks next June. Look for White to return to the Cyclones next season.

Former Star Tribune Gophers basketball beat writer Myron Medcalf still lives in the metro area and works seven days per week in his new college basketball writing assignment for ESPN.com.

Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson was in the news last week because his league is merging with ConferenceUSA. Thompson, who used to work in the Gophers sports information department, is from Redwood Falls, Minnesota and could be a candidate for the athletic director job at Minnesota.

Alexandria, Minnesota native Tom Lehman tied for third in last weekend’s ACE Group Classic in Naples, Florida. Kentucky native Kenny Perry won the Champions Tour event and earned $240,000. Lehman, 52, was the tour leader last year earning over $2 million.

The Twins, on March 3, will be the first major league team to play the Red Sox in the team’s new Fort Myers ballpark that includes a replica of the famed Green Monster wall in left field. Lee County spent $77.8 million on the new ballpark and expects an annual economic impact of $24 million from Red Sox generated spring training monies, according to a February 18 article in the Naples Daily News.

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Worth Noting

Posted on February 8, 2012February 8, 2012 by David Shama

Jim Rantz, Twins senior director for minor league operations, likes infielder Brian Dozier who will start the season at Class AAA Rochester. Dozier hit .296 in the Arizona Fall League and will play mostly second base at Rochester, although he’s drawn past speculation as a big league shortstop.

Sports Headliners has been told that to build a Vikings Stadium on the Arden Hills site will require about 33 permits from government agencies, a far larger number than building on or near the Metrodome site.

The Gophers, 0-2 in the Big Ten this season against Iowa, play another border rival tomorrow night, Wisconsin at Williams Arena. The Gophers play in Madison on February 28.

Minnesota coach Tubby Smith, now in his fifth season with the Golden Gophers, is 6-2 in rivalry games against Iowa, and 3-3 versus Wisconsin.

The Gophers will likely start two Minnesotans tomorrow night, forward Rodney Williams and guard Joe Coleman. The Badgers figure to start three Minnesotans, forward Mike Bruesewitz, center Jared Berggren and guard Jordan Taylor.

Last season Badgers sophomore guard Josh Gasser became the first Big Ten freshman to earn a triple double since Magic Johnson in 1977.

The NBA All-Star balloting is a reminder about the lack of quality centers in pro basketball compared with power forwards. Superior power forwards like the Wolves’ Kevin Love weren’t voted on to the first team.

The Wild are home tomorrow night against Vancouver, part of a favorable home schedule the rest of the season that has Minnesota playing 18 of its remaining 29 games atXcel EnergyCenter. Tickets remain for all home games.

The Wild’s Cal Clutterbuck and Nick Schultz answer questions and provide autographs tonight at Main Street Bar and Grill in Hopkins. Matt Kassian and Nate Prosser will do the same on Monday at Cowboy Jack’s in Bloomington. Both appearances begin at 7 p.m. and are part of the Wild Hockey Unplugged series. Autograph tickets for each player will be distributed.

Saint John’s forward Aaron Barmore knows about perfection. The former Bloomington Jefferson High School player is the MIAC Men’s Basketball Athlete of the Week. All he did last week was not miss a single field goal attempt in helping the Johnnies upset St. Thomas for the first time since 2003 and also defeat Hamline. Barmore averaged 16 points and 6 rebounds per game. He made all 12 of his field goal attempts.

The Minnesota High School All-Star Football Game training camp will for the first time be at Saint John’s University in Collegeville. The game will be played on June 30 at TCF Bank Stadium.

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Sampson Told Son to Stay with Gophers

Posted on February 1, 2012February 1, 2012 by David Shama

Ralph Sampson III is in the final months of his college basketball career but the Gophers 6-11 senior center appears no closer to fulfilling his potential now than when he was a freshman.

A gifted athlete and the son of former college Player of the Year Ralph Sampson II, the younger Sampson has compiled similar stats and performed inconsistently this season as in the past. Tonight the Gophers play at Iowa—halfway through their Big Ten regular season schedule—and Minnesota fans wonder what contributions Sampson will make to a Minnesota team (4-5 in conference games, 16-6 overall) that could qualify for the NCAA tournament with a strong finish in February and March.

Last Saturday night, with his dad in town to watch him, Sampson played only 20 minutes before fouling out in Minnesota’s game against Illinois at Williams Arena. He had three rebounds and five points while making two of eight shots.

That performance contrasted with Minnesota’s game at Illinois in late December when the Duluth, Georgia native scored 22 points and had nine rebounds in 35 minutes on the floor.

During Sampson’s first three seasons he shared playing time with center Colton Iverson and with Iverson having transferred after his junior season last spring it was expected that Sampson’s minutes and contributions would increase. But he’s averaging 22.9 minutes per game, the fewest since his freshman season. His scoring average of 8.2 points and rebounds of 4.8 per game this season are almost identical to career stats of 8.2 and 5.1.

Sampson’s lack of aggressiveness has limited his success and frustrated fans who often target him for criticism. His dad was asked if Sampson can play more assertively for coach Tubby Smith.

“I know he is (capable),” Ralph II said. “I’ve worked with the kid for all my life. It’s just how do you do that? How do you do that with the system and don’t break the system? Tubby has that system where five guys play five minutes, and five guys play the next five minutes. That’s a little different. …”

Sampson’s dad, who at 7-4 was a four-time All-American at Virginia, said ample minutes on the floor allow big body players to have a feel for the game, becoming more comfortable with themselves, teammates and opponents. What’s evident, though, is the younger Sampson isn’t earning a lot of extra minutes in the Smith system and he doesn’t look like a player enjoying his time on the floor.

Does fan criticism bother the Gophers center? Ralph II said fans should consider that unlike Iverson and guard Devoe Joseph, his son didn’t transfer from Minnesota. Ralph III is the only player remaining from his freshman class at Minnesota. “…You didn’t transfer like everybody else did and you stuck it out,” Ralph II said. “I think they should appreciate that.”

Sampson said his son thought about transferring from Minnesota to another school. “Every year, like everybody else,” Ralph II said. “First year to this year. I wouldn’t let him leave. We started it, we’re gonna finish it.”

The Gophers’ team potential the last two seasons has lessened because of several players leaving the program. The departed include forward Royce White who has become an All-American candidate at Iowa State in his first season. Joseph is Oregon’s leading scorer at 15.4 points.

“The question is why did they leave?” Ralph II asked. “What was going on that made them leave and wanted to leave? I am not going to get into a lot of details with it because I don’t know the internal things about it. …”

What the older Sampson knows is he believes in his son’s potential to become a better player. He acknowledges, too, that Ralph III is a young man of character who has never given his father problems. “He’s a great kid,” Ralph II said. “He’s the best in the world. The sky’s the limit if he wants to work at it.”

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