Golden Gophers – Page 243 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Vikings to Face “Lousy” Team Sunday

Posted on December 7, 2016December 7, 2016 by David Shama

Bob Lurtsema makes his opinion clear about Sunday’s Vikings-Jaguars game in Jacksonville. “If you can’t beat a team that lousy, you got problems,” he told Sports Headliners.

The former Vikings defensive lineman is still close to his old team. When he speaks about his favorite franchise, it’s a good idea to listen. He predicted, for example, the 2015 Vikings would finish with a 10-6 record even though they had been 7-9 the season before. The Vikings made Lurtsema look good with an 11-5 record and an NFC North Division title in 2015.

The 6-6 Vikings, who still could qualify for the playoffs, play a Jaguars club that is 2-10. The other three teams remaining on the Vikings schedule are the 6-6 Colts, 6-6 Packers and 3-9 Bears. The Jaguars look like the weakest of the four opponents.

What about the Vikings’ playoff chances if they lose to Jacksonville? “It’s over,” said Lurtsema who thinks Minnesota may make the playoffs as a Wild Card team.

Among reasons the Jaguars are struggling is third-year quarterback Blake Bortles, who has thrown 15 interceptions in 12 starts and has a low passer rating of 76.9. The Jaguars made him the first quarterback and No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft—the same year the Vikings chose Teddy Bridgewater at No. 32 in the first round. “That’s who (Bortles) the Vikings really wanted when they drafted Teddy,” Lurtsema said. “Look how…he is playing.”

Injuries have forced the Vikings to rotate offensive linemen like a game of musical chairs. The result has frequently been fatal with the offense featuring an anemic rushing attack and a quarterback often facing constant pressure by pass rushers. But Lurtsema was encouraged by the line’s performance in last week’s 17-15 loss to the Cowboys.

“The offensive line played much better, believe it or not,” Lurtsema said. “They were sliding, (and) they were making the pickups a little better as far as adjusting to different defensive stunts the Cowboys had. They’ve got to play longer together. I think they’re still a game or two away from playing (even better)—seeing how good they’re actually going to be.”

In the closing seconds last Thursday night Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford threw high on an attempted pass and two-point conversion that if completed would have tied the score 17-17 with the Cowboys and sent the game into overtime. The Cowboys’ Cedric Thorton appeared to hit the Vikings quarterback on the face mask but the officials didn’t throw a flag and penalize the Cowboys for roughing the passer, so instead of replaying the down the game ended.

“The officials affected the game on both sides of the Dallas game,” said Lurtsema referring to multiple calls Thursday night. “Officiating is getting worse by the game. I mean it’s just brutal. When Bradford got hit on the two point conversion, people don’t understand what (a difference) one bad call can make (to a season).”

Worth Noting

Vikings fullback Zach Line told Sports Headliners yesterday that Adrian Peterson looks stronger every week. Line’s opinion is chances are “good” Peterson will play before the season ends next month. Peterson continues to rehab following surgery for a torn meniscus in September.

The Golden Gopher volleyball team is among the favorites to win the 2016 national championship. Minnesota’s potential path to its first title continues Friday night in a NCAA regional match against Missouri at the U Sports Pavilion. Also playing that night in the Minneapolis Regional are North Carolina and UCLA. Friday’s winners advance to the regional title match in the Sports Pavilion Saturday evening. The Minneapolis champion will then join three other regional winners in the national semifinals December 15 in Columbus, with the NCAA title to be decided there on December 17.

Gophers volleyball has become a major story with the media in this town. That development has caught the attention of former Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi who hired Hugh McCutcheon in 2011 hoping the former Olympics coach would build on the success of retiring U coach Mike Hebert.

The Gophers are the No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament (Nebraska is No. 1) and Maturi is impressed. “My goodness, the attention that this volleyball team is getting is deserved, but it’s new. We’re selling out the place (the Sports Pavilion).

“We’ve been good before…(although) not No. 2 in the rankings. But we’ve been top 10 which is pretty good.

“I just think what he’s brought (McCutcheon) to the whole program is the awareness of the sport. The success that we’ve had. The energy that he has brought to the building, and now the media has picked it up.

“You’re calling about them and other (media) people have called about them. You’ve got (Patrick) Reusse going to volleyball matches, and (Jim) Souhan going to volleyball matches. I mean when the hell did that ever happen? With all due respect, you know?”

McCutcheon was friends with Hebert who led the Gophers to three Final Fours. McCutcheon, who coached U.S. Olympic men’s and women’s teams to gold and silver medals, met Maturi through Hebert years ago. Maturi had no idea when Hebert wanted to retire but told the USA Volleyball coach he was interested in making him a candidate for the Gophers’ job when an opening occurred.

After the 2010 season Hebert retired. McCutcheon had to finish up his 2012 Olympics commitment with the U.S. women so Laura Bush filled in as interim coach for 2011 and for awhile in 2012 until the new boss could take over.

The Gophers basketball team has been invited consecutive years to play neutral court games at the Sanford Pentagon arena in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Kelby Krabbenhoft, a committee member with the group selecting teams for games at the arena, indicated before last Saturday’s Minnesota-Vanderbilt game that the Gophers will be invited back, but was noncommittal about 2017.

Krabbenhoft said in addition to Minnesota, teams of future interest include Notre Dame and Creighton. The Gophers have split two close games at the Pentagon, losing to Oklahoma State and defeating Vanderbilt while attracting Minnesota fans to help sell out the 3,250 seat building. “We love Minnesota,” said Krabbenhoft, president/CEO of Sanford Health.

Participating teams receive guaranteed sums ranging from $60,000 to $200,000 to play at the Pentagon, Krabbenhoft said. His son Joe, by the way, was a high school star in Sioux Falls who almost chose the Gophers instead of Wisconsin where he became a starter and now is an assistant coach. Dad said the decision to attend a school came down to a family vote.

University of Minnesota alum T. Denny Sanford celebrated his 81st birthday last Friday night with about 750 friends as singer Harry Connick Jr. entertained at the Pentagon.

Former Gophers coach Jerry Kill has several December book signings scheduled in the metro area including three next Saturday. Kill will be at Lexus of Maplewood from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.; Barnes & Noble Galleria 1 to 3 p.m.; and Barnes & Noble HarMar Mall, 4 to 6 p.m. He will be signing copies of his new book Chasing Dreams: Living My Life One Yard at a Time.

Minnesota sports fan Steve Erban, who has owned winning racehorses over the years, talking about criticism directed at Gophers football even when the team wins: “…I tell them this: You’ve never owned a race horse. Because when you win, you win. When you win, you take the win and move on to the next race.”

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Family, U Win Highlight Sioux Falls Trip

Posted on December 5, 2016December 5, 2016 by David Shama

Road trip.

Family and basketball brought my wife and me to Sioux Falls last weekend. Jeanne’s brother, Steve Gilbertson, has Down Syndrome and is a life-long South Dakota resident. With the Gophers playing Vanderbilt at the Sanford Pentagon arena Saturday night, the past weekend was an opportune time to visit Steve and see Minnesota against an SEC opponent.

Steve’s mental and physical skills have slowed the last couple of years. He has always been a sports fan and I used to tease him about his loyalties, but I don’t any more. The Vikings have long been No. 1 on his list of sports favorites. For years I kidded him about how “I love the Packers.”

“Oh, come on, Dave,” Steve answered back. “Why would you want to say that?”

Sometimes he would be so disgusted he could hardly spit the words “Packers” out of his mouth. It was at moments like that I realized it was time to back off.

Whenever we met up with Steve over the years—whether it was in Sioux Falls or Minneapolis—bowling was always on the agenda. During the car ride to the bowling alley Steve was likely to talk about his prowess in knocking down the pins. He might recall a recent outing and remember his score this way: “I bowled a 300.”

I am not going to doubt my brother-in-law, but my recollection is that no one in our little group broke 150. And by the way, God bless Steve for introducing me to alleys with guard rails. Those things will help pump up your score and ego!

For years Steve bagged groceries at a Sioux Falls Hy-Vee. He made a lot of friends at the grocery store and also wherever else he went. There were weekly Kiwanis luncheons and Sundays ushering at a large Lutheran church. None of Steve’s sibs were surprised years ago when he earned his Eagle Scout badge. A few years ago the Argus Leader even published a feature story about Steve and his life at age 60. It has been a remarkable journey for this good-natured man who used to do public speaking about people with disabilities.

Steve is something of a celebrity in his hometown. I realized this years ago after the three of us had a dinner in downtown Sioux Falls. As we walked the streets and browsed in shops, lots of people greeted us and said, “Hi, Steve, how are you?” Often Steve knew the person’s name and replied back. Almost always he knew the face. Perhaps it was someone he had helped at Hy-Vee, assisted at church, or inspired with a talk about his life.

We didn’t get Steve to the basketball game on Saturday night. He has mobility and attention issues now, but I told him about the game on Sunday morning. He’s not a big Gophers guy and said, “Oh, they’re all right.”

Well, I was more impressed than Steve and the rest of today’s column is my basketball report from Sioux Falls:

Minnesota finished up an important week by defeating Vanderbilt, 56-52. The Gophers’ 7-1 nonconference record is a surprise to most everyone—probably even players and coaches. Although the Gophers have a reshuffled starting lineup and roster from last season (2-16 Big Ten record), I didn’t expect this much improvement.

After Saturday night’s game, point guard Nate Mason said he’s excited about the team but is trying to keep emotions under control, and comments brief. “Hopefully have a big year,” he said.

This Minnesota team is without a star right now and has different standouts from game to game, but there’s a bond with these guys after eight games. They play together and for one another. “We really enjoy each other’s company,” said power forward Jordan Murphy. “We’re really good people.”

Murphy had 14 rebounds and 16 points in the win Saturday night. Both totals led the Gophers. He and teammates made up for a struggling night on Monday at Florida State when the Gophers got pushed around and lost to one of the most physically imposing teams in America. Minnesota is a young group but at the end of the Florida State game the Gophers didn’t play like they were intimated as they rallied late and lost 75-67.

Poise was evident Saturday night, too. The Gophers didn’t want to let a one-game losing streak become two. They didn’t and earned their seventh victory with a schedule that already includes three wins over major college teams—Arkansas, St. John’s and Vandy. And guess what? The sum of their work over eight games has landed the Gophers at No. 10 in one of the national RPI rankings, ahead of the Big Ten’s other 13 teams. (See RPI at Teamrankings.com).

The conference schedule starts December 27 and coach Richard Pitino said the way his team closed the game against Vandy will be needed in the Big Ten. The Gophers trailed 45-44 with about seven minutes remaining and continued to stay close, tying the score at 50-50 before going on to win.

Minnesota did miss eight free throws in the game and the coach also didn’t like the team’s turnovers, but said his club made winning plays. “That’s something we talk about a lot. We did that.”

The Gophers impressed with their defense, holding Vandy to only seven points in the last seven minutes. Pitino described Vanderbilt as “very gifted offensively” and liked seeing his team limit the Commodores to 30.2 percent on field goal attempts and 32 percent on three point shots.

Pitino wouldn’t bite on whether he would have been surprised before the season at a predicted 7-1 start. But there was no doubt he was pleased after the win on Saturday night.

“It’s a lesson to our guys,” he said. “You defend and you rebound, you’ll be in any game.”

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Vikings Miss on Momentum Builder

Posted on December 2, 2016December 2, 2016 by David Shama

The Vikings missed a storybook ending to their game last night, and diminished their chances of making the playoffs.

In the closing seconds the Vikings lined up for a two-point conversion attempt but right tackle Jeremiah Sirles was called for a false start, pushing the football back from the two-yard line to the seven. The next play quarterback Sam Bradford threw high on an attempted pass that if completed would have tied the score 17-17 with the Cowboys and sent the game into overtime.

Sam Bradford (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

A replay of Bradford passing showed that the Cowboys’ Cedric Thorton hit the Vikings quarterback on the helmet. A roughing penalty should have been called but the officials didn’t throw a flag.

Instead of another attempt at the two-point conversion and possible overtime, the Vikings were left with frustrations and a .500 record of 6-6 with four games remaining on their schedule. It’s been a traumatic week for the Vikings both off the field and on. Head coach Mike Zimmer followed the game from home because of emergency eye surgery Wednesday night. Zimmer’s players wanted to win for him and build momentum for a playoff run. It’s not known when the coach will return to practice.

It’s also very uncertain how the Vikings will play in their games between now and when the season ends on January 1. The good news is that the remaining teams on Minnesota’s regular season schedule all have losing records. The Jaguars (2-9), Colts (5-6), Packers (5-6) and Bears (2-9) have a cumulative record of 14 wins, 30 losses. The games with the Jaguars and Packers are away, while the Colts and Bears come to Minneapolis. The Vikings are 2-4 on the road this season, 4-2 at home.

Minnesota has now lost two more games than the NFC North Division leading Lions (7-4). The Vikings have dropped six of their last seven and, with or without Zimmer, they are scrambling to defend last year’s division title.

The Lions’ remaining games are against the Saints (5-6), Giants (8-3) and Cowboys (11-1) on the road, and at home with the Packers and Bears. The cumulative record of those clubs is 31-25. Past performances and records certainly indicate the Lions’ remaining schedule is more difficult than Minnesota’s.

But even if the Vikings somehow manage to finish in a tie with the Lions (perhaps both having 9-7 records), Detroit will have the tiebreaker for the playoffs because of two regular season wins over Minnesota.

Six teams from the NFC will qualify for the postseason, the four division champions and two wildcard entries. Right now there are seven teams with better records than the Vikings, so Zimmer’s bunch still has a chance at the playoffs but last night’s performance didn’t create momentum or optimism.

The Vikings’ defense was impressive against perhaps the best offense in the NFC. The Cowboys scored two touchdowns but one was a gift because Vikings punt returner Adam Thielen fumbled near the goal line. His miscue was part of a difficult special teams evening for the Vikings that also included anemic punting giving the Cowboys preferred field position.

As usual, the Vikings offense struggled with minimal rushing success and point production. The Vikings got three field goals from Kai Forbath but scored only one touchdown. Bradford, also as expected, took a physical beating from pass rushers and absorbed a crushing blow late in the second quarter that knocked him out of the game. The offensive line has had so many injuries the Vikings are now using overmatched personnel as they struggle to put momentum back into a season that started 5-0.

Vikings fans can hardly be cocky about the coming weeks. The lowly Bears defeated the Vikings 20-10 in Chicago earlier this season. Aaron Rodgers and the Packers are always a pain-in-the-you-know-what, the Colts have a top quarterback also in Andrew Luck and the Jaguars—well, they get the Vikings on their home field a week from Sunday.

But perhaps somehow the Vikings will find a way to win games down the stretch. Hard to know what tomorrow brings. Zimmer received a reminder this week.

Worth Noting

The Twins announced this morning that James Rowson, 40, will be the team’s new hitting coach. The last three seasons Rowson has been the minor league hitting coordinator for the Yankees. He was the Cubs hitting coach from June of 2012 through 2013.

St. Thomas plays at home tomorrow (noon start) in a Division III quarterfinal national championship football game against UW-Oshkosh. In the last 12 years, St. Thomas’ 30 teams in nine different sports have qualified for NCAA tournaments and advanced to at least the national quarterfinals. Ten of the teams went on to place first or second nationally. The Tommies’ football team played in the national title game last season.

Glenn Caruso (photo courtesy of University of St. Thomas)

In nine seasons under football coach Glenn Caruso, 19 different players have been named All-America or Academic All-America. In the 66 previous St. Thomas football seasons, 29 other Tommies were honored. At least one other player is expected to be added to that 48 member list when All-America teams are announced this month, because senior cornerback Michael Alada leads all four NCAA levels in interceptions with 11.

Senior wide receiver Nick Waldvogel made the 2016 Division III CoSIDA Academic All-America team this week, joining his older brother Fritz who was honored in 2011. Only one other set of brothers have made Academic All-America for St. Thomas: Greg Kaiser (1997) and Andy Kaiser (2001).

If the Gophers play Washington State in the Music City Bowl, Minnesota will have another look at Mike Leach. The famous passing game authority has revived the Cougars’ program as head coach, just like he did at Texas Tech. In the 2006 Insight Bowl Leach’s Raiders trailed the Gophers 35-7 at halftime but scored 31 second half points to force overtime. The Raiders passed the Gophers dizzy and eventually won 44-41 in Glen Mason’s last game as Minnesota’s head coach.

The 8-4 Gophers will learn their bowl destination Sunday night.

The Gophers will have four players returning next year who received All-Big Ten honors this week. The four are first team kicker Emmit Carpenter, defensive tackle Steven Richardson and running back Rodney Smith, both third teamers, and linebacker Jonathan Celestin who received honorable mention.

James Johannesson, the redshirt running back from Fargo who was one of the stars of the Gophers spring game, never played a minute this season. Minnesota’s top three running backs who played this fall all return in 2017. Johannesson ran for 6,158 yards and 81 touchdowns in high school.

A sympathy card might be appropriate for former Gophers basketball coach Dan Monson. His Long Beach State team is 1-8 with losses that include road games at Kansas, Louisville, North Carolina, Washington, Wichita State and UCLA.

Tubby Smith, who succeeded Monson at Minnesota, is 6-1 in his first season at Memphis. The most notable teams on the Tigers’ schedule so far are Iowa (Memphis 100, Hawkeyes 92) and Providence (Friars won 60-51).

Anyone else notice the Timberwolves have one of the worst records in the NBA, while the pro franchise that first played in Minneapolis is the surprise of the league? With a nucleus of promising young players, the Wolves were favorites before the season to emerge as the NBA’s most improved team. Instead, it’s the Los Angeles Lakers—who most everyone thought would be awful—that are playing .500 basketball after the first month of the season. Luke Walton is turning heads in L.A. and across the NBA in his first head coaching job, while the Wolves are off to a 5-15 start.

The Wild is at Calgary tonight and is 0-1 this season against the Flames. Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk stopped 26 of 27 shots in a 1-0 loss November 5 at Xcel Energy Center.

The Gophers volleyball team has its highest NCAA Tournament seed in program history at No. 2. Minnesota is hosting opening regional rounds at the Sports Pavilion tonight and tomorrow evening. The Gophers had top 25 RPI wins against 10 teams this season and nine of the 18 players on the roster are Minnesotans.

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