Golden Gophers – Page 246 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Pitino and Gophers Trending Up

Posted on November 28, 2016November 28, 2016 by David Shama

Hey, wake up Gophers basketball fans. Coach Richard Pitino’s 6-0 team is the surprise of the Big Ten in this just getting started season and tonight has its biggest challenge so far, playing on the road against 5-1 Florida State, an opponent ranked No. 25 last week in the Associated Press poll.

Last season’s 2-16 Big Ten record drove fans into hibernation and the Gophers have yet to attract a crowd of more than 10,000 in six home games at 14,625 seat Williams Arena. As reported in Sports Headliners earlier this month, nonstudent public season tickets were at 6,246 compared with 7,221 for the 2015-2016 season. The student season tickets total was 1,181, after a 2015-2016 total of 1,748.

But as Pitino likes to say, “That was last year’s team.” With a core of new and improved talent, the Gophers have been impressive with victories over well-known basketball schools Arkansas and St. John’s. Minnesota won those games by scores of 92-86 and 85-71, but the Gophers led both opponents by margins bigger than the final totals.

After last week’s win against Arkansas, Pitino was asked how his players feel about themselves. “They should be confident,” he said. “They’ve worked hard. They stayed humble throughout the tough offseason and they’ve just been eager to get back to proving themselves on and off the court. Very proud of these guys. They deserve success right now. They’re getting it.”

Tonight comes a prove-it game at Florida State. The Big Ten/ACC Challenge game (6 p.m. ESPNU) is the only time Pitino’s young team (one scholarship senior) plays away from Williams Arena during the nonconference schedule. The Seminoles represent a sizeable challenge both because FSU is a potential NCAA Tournament team and has a roster with big guards like 6-foot-7 Dwayne Bacon and four front court players who are 6-9 or taller including 7-1, 304-pound center Michael Ojo and 7-4 (not a typo) center Christ Koumadje. Forward Jonathan Isaac is 6-10 and a potential NBA lottery pick. He is averaging 15.3 points, second on the team to Bacon’s 18.2.

Minnesota might not be able to win if 6-10, 260-pound center Reggie Lynch can’t play because of the injured ankle that forced him to miss last Friday night’s game against Southern Illinois. Lynch leads the Big Ten in blocked shots at 3.6 per game and his interior defense has changed the Gophers’ ability to stop opponents from last season. Minnesota’s roster has length, too, but Lynch is the player who best combines height and muscle.

With or without Lynch, tonight’s game will provide a learning experience for the Gophers. If Minnesota is to become a postseason tournament team, the Gophers will have to win on the road. The poise of young players including freshmen forwards Amir Coffey and Eric Curry will face a test tonight against a quality opponent and noisy crowd. Both players have been impressive, with Coffey leading the team in scoring at 15.8 points per game, while Curry is fifth at 8.2 and third in rebounding average at 7.2. Junior guard Nate Mason, who is tied for first in Big Ten assists at 5.5 per game, will need to exert leadership tonight.

This is a “how good are we?” week for the Gophers with not only the Seminoles, but also a neutral court game coming up on Saturday in Sioux Falls against 3-3 Vanderbilt. The Commodores have been mediocre so far, losing to Butler, Bucknell and Marquette, but Vandy has a respected basketball brand and could pull off upsets in the SEC. Vandy’s notable players include Jeff Roberson (multiple positions) and 7-1 center Luke Kornet who ranked near the top nationally in shot blocking last season.

This should be the most meaningful week for the Gophers until they open the Big Ten season against Michigan State, a favorite to win the conference title. That game on December 27 is at Williams Arena and figures to bring some missing Gophers fans out of hibernation.

Worth Noting

With the Big Ten football regular season completed, it’s time for observations and conclusions. Big Ten boosters can argue their league is the best in the country with four teams ranked in the A.P. national top 10—Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn State. That’s rare territory for the Big Ten and it’s not often the conference has more teams top-10 ranked than the mighty SEC (only No. 1 ranked Alabama).

Among the four Big Ten powers, Ohio State is likely to receive an invitation to the College Football Playoffs. Nine other conference teams are expected to play in bowl games, with only Illinois, Michigan State, Purdue and Rutgers not participating.

There is so much parity in college football, I doubt there is a great Big Ten team and maybe not anywhere in the nation. Alabama is the best team I have seen, but certainly could be upset in the playoffs.

The Gophers finished 8-4 overall and 5-4 in the Big Ten. It’s the second time in three years Minnesota has won eight games and also been over .500 in the Big Ten. Media and fans believe Minnesota’s records this season met minimum expectations because the team played its easiest schedule in years.

The Gophers have been competitive in just about every game the last couple years because of the team’s defensive improvement. Minnesota, though, isn’t going to take that next step toward a West Division championship without developing quality quarterback, pass catching and offensive line play.

Best guess is Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle will extend head coach Tracy Claeys’ contract, adding two or three years, with a small compensation increase and minimal buyout provision. Claeys has two years remaining on his present contract and is in an awkward place, assuring high school and community college recruits that he will be around for awhile.

Here are Sports Headliners’ final Big Ten power rankings: 1) Ohio State; 2) Michigan; 3) Penn State; 4) Wisconsin; 5) Iowa; 6) Nebraska; 7) Minnesota; 8) Northwestern; 9) Indiana; 10) Maryland; 11) Michigan State; 12) Illinois; 13) Purdue; 14) Rutgers.

Gophers junior defensive end Gaelin Elmore was featured this fall in Ski-U-Mah, the official magazine of Gophers athletics. Elmore had a traumatic childhood including moving at least 19 times in his first year of foster care. Elmore said in the magazine he had a five-year experience in a foster home where he was “slapped, kicked, punched, slammed down, thrown, and beaten with cable, extension cords, chains and tree branches.”

Elmore has flourished with the Gophers, becoming a starter and impressing teammates including senior defensive end Hendrick Ekpe who praised his friend’s character. “He comes from a humble beginning and a humble background,” Ekpe said. “He understands and loves the game, and shows passion on the field. At first he wasn’t…a big talker or anything. Now he’s a leader. He definitely helps you out on the plays.”

Among reasons to be optimistic about the Gophers’ defense next season is the return of high potential linebackers. Sophomore Blake Cashman and freshmen Thomas Barber, Carter Coughlin and Kamal Martin are all Minnesota natives and have impressed with their play off the bench.

Starting senior linebacker Nick Rallis has noticed. “I am excited. I think physically they’re all very gifted, (and) explosive. They’ve got size.

“I think about when I first got here, I am like, man, these guys are ahead of where I was. I hope they keep working hard. If they do, they could be one of the best linebacker corps around here of all-time.”

Former Vikings tight end Joe Senser’s rehabilitation from a stroke earlier this year is featured on WCCO TV news tonight.

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Maybe Walsh Late Entry for Turkey Award

Posted on November 23, 2016November 23, 2016 by David Shama

Just an outsider looking in, but I can’t help anticipating Patrick Reusse’s announcement tomorrow of his Turkey of the Year. The Star Tribune columnist has made his TOY coronation a Thanksgiving tradition for decades by selecting and writing about a prominent Minnesota sports figure that experienced a dismal 12 months.

Reusse and his “committee” must be feverishly sorting through finalists on Thanksgiving Eve. Here on the prairie there are never any shortages of candidates from the professional teams and University of Minnesota. Perhaps compounding the selection process this year is the late entry of Blair Walsh, the woe-begone placekicker who made a matinee thriller out of extra points and was released by the Vikings last week.

It will also be hard to ignore the Twins who lost a franchise record 103 games last season. I could see the TOY gang arguing over whether to bestow the honor on former general manager Terry Ryan, or take a more inclusive approach by naming the entire baseball department.

Joe Mauer could be in contention too after earning $23 million and hitting just .261, with 11 home runs and 49 RBI. Another likely contender is Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino who lost a school record 16 Big Ten games in 2015-2016.

Reusse’s declaration of his 2016 Turkey winner will be part of a day that includes a rare Thanksgiving game by the Vikings. If the club follows past history, fans won’t have to worry about the final score giving them a bad case of heartburn and upset stomach. The Vikings have won five of six times on turkey day since the franchise began in 1961. All have been road games, with Minnesota 3-0 against the Cowboys and 2-1 versus the Lions.

Tomorrow the Vikings play the Lions in Detroit for the first time since 1995. Although both teams are playing on just three days rest since last Sunday, it’s an honor to have a “place at the table” in Detroit. No franchise in professional sports is more identified with a holiday than the Lions who have been playing on Thanksgiving Day since 1934.

After 69 holiday games, the Lions are 33-34-2 against 24 opponents. One of those Detroit wins came in the 1995 game when defense was out and offense was in. Lions quarterback Scott Mitchell threw for 410 yards and four touchdowns in his team’s 44-38 win. Three Lions receivers had over 100 yards in receptions. Vikings quarterback Warren Moon passed for 384 yards and three touchdowns. Wide receiver Jake Reed had 149 yards in receptions including two touchdowns.

Go ahead and wager the best drumstick in town that kind of offensive show won’t happen tomorrow. The Vikings’ defense is too good, ranking among the best in the NFL giving up 306.9 yards per game and 17.6 points (although controlling the run has been a problem of late). The Lions are yielding 358.2 yards and 22.5 points.

You might want to hold off rolling out the turkey and all the fixings until after 3 p.m. Tomorrow’s 11:30 a.m. game is kind of a big deal. The teams are tied for first place in the NFC North with 6-4 records, and the Vikings intend to have a better day than earlier this month when the Lions won, 22-16, in Minneapolis. Quarterback Matthew Stafford rallied the Lions late and they tied the game as time expired. Then Stafford was clutch in overtime and threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate for the winning points.

That game gave indigestion to “Purple People.” Might have even produced a Turkey of the Year candidate, too.

Worth Noting

Vikings defensive end Brian Robison talking about tomorrow’s game with the Lions: “It’s about who wants it more.”

If the Gophers can win Saturday in Madison against the Badgers it will be among the most significant upsets in the rivalry that dates back to 1890. The Badgers are ranked No. 5 in the latest Associated Press poll and are close to earning an invitation next month to the four-team College Football Playoffs.

Wisconsin was 0-2 in Big Ten games in mid-October but has now won five consecutive league games. With an overall 9-2 record and 6-2 in the Big Ten, a win against Minnesota sends the Badgers to the conference title game next month in Indianapolis. A victory by the Badgers also would put the all-time series standings against Minnesota at 59-59-8.

But the Gophers, 8-3 and 5-3, would spoil Wisconsin’s CFP hopes with an upset, and that’s just part of how wild things could end in the West Division by Saturday night. Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin could all finish with 6-3 records. The Badgers, though, would be invited to Indianapolis because they have wins over Iowa and Nebraska, and the Gophers lost to both the Hawkeyes and Cornhuskers.

Even with an 8-4 final record, the Gophers figure to earn an invitation to one of their better bowl destinations in the last 10 years. At last Saturday’s Minnesota-Northwestern game at TCF Bank Stadium, press box seat assignments were made for representatives of the Fiesta, Foster Farms and Holiday bowls.

Ryan Burns, the high school football authority from GopherIllustrated.com, told Sports Headliners he predicts Totino-Grace will win by seven points over Eden Prairie in the Class 6A state championship game Friday. Burns wonders whether EP has enough “firepower” to win against Totino. A state title win by Totino would be a third consecutive victory over Eden Prairie including a 17-14 win earlier this year. “That would be a hell of an accomplishment,” Burns said about Eden Prairie, a program that has won four of the last five big school state titles.

Asked about the 10 finalists for the 2016 Mr. Football Award, Burns suggested the likely winner will either be Grand Meadow running back/linebacker Christopher Bain, Crosby-Ironton quarterback/linebacker/kicker Noah Gindorff, or Lakeville North running back Wade Sullivan. Among the 10 candidates, Marshall tackle Blaise Andries is the only one with offers from FBS schools. He is verbally committed to the Gophers.

Gindorff has committed to FCS North Dakota State. Alexandria quarterback Jaran Roste, another Mr. Football candidate, has a preferred walk-on invite from the Gophers, Burns said.

The 2016 Mr. Football Award, sponsored by the Minnesota Football Coaches Association and the Vikings, will be presented on December 4 at the Doubletree by Hilton in St. Louis Park. Candidates for the award, which dates back to 2004, must be high school seniors.

The Rochester Quarterbacks Club that began in 1955 is still meeting on Mondays under the leadership of Ed Rauen, a familiar voice in southern Minnesota for decades on KROC Radio. The club meets at a place called Canadian Honker Catering, features speakers from various sports and has had only two presidents, the late Ben Sternberg and Rauen. “It’s the only club in America that doesn’t have an election,” baseball icon Joe Garagiola once said.

Former Gopher Darrell Thompson, the program’s all-time leading career rusher, turns 49 today.

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Vikings Praise Record-Setter Diggs

Posted on November 18, 2016November 18, 2016 by David Shama

Stefon Diggs has more than documented his improvement the last two Sundays. The Vikings’ second-year wide receiver caught 13 passes in each of the last two games to become the first player in NFL history to accomplish that.

Teammate Zach Line said Diggs, a fifth round draft choice in 2015, has the ability to find openings in the secondary. “He’s got a nose for the ball,” the Vikings fullback told Sports Headliners.

Veteran quarterback Shaun Hill said Diggs has not only improved since his rookie season but is even better than he was in training camp last summer. Hill was asked for an example of that.

“It’s one thing to know what a play looks like on paper. It’s another thing to know the detail how to run that play—how to run that route, versus everything that a defense can bring,” said Hill who is in his 15th NFL season.

Hill predicts more improvement from Diggs who has become the team’s star receiver and already has 10 more receptions in eight games than he had in 13 games last year. “He comes with a worker’s mentality every day, and that’s what you have to do,” Hill said.

Stefon Diggs (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen also praised Diggs’ mental approach to football. “He’s an unbelievable competitor,” Thielen said.

Diggs has 710 yards in receptions after totaling 720 last year. His 710 ranks 11th in the NFL and his 61 receptions are tied for fourth best in the league with the Falcons’ Julio Jones.

Diggs has earned praise from various teammates including another Vikings wide receiver, Cordarrelle Patterson. Patterson said the individual stats are nice but he reminded a reporter the 5-4 Vikings are in a losing streak.

“I know he (Diggs) would take all those catches back for two wins the last two weeks,” Patterson said.

Worth Noting

Fox’s lead broadcast crew of Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Erin Andrews will be in town to do Sunday’s Vikings game against the Cardinals at U.S. Bank Stadium. The trio is also scheduled to work the February Super Bowl in Houston.

The Vikings, 5-4, are looking for their first win since October 9—week five of the NFL schedule. The Cardinals, 4-4-1, are 3-1-1 dating back to week five.

Injured Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater hasn’t been attending home games, but running back Adrian Peterson, who is also rehabbing, has been on the sidelines.

Tom Moore, 78, is the Cardinals assistant head coach/offense. Moore, from Owatonna, Minnesota, was the Gophers’ offensive coordinator from 1972-73 and 1975-76. Among his best players are Minnesota natives and receivers Larry Fitzgerald, Jr. and Michael Floyd.

The Gophers have 13 seniors/grad students who will be recognized for their final game at TCF Bank Stadium Saturday (2:30 p.m. start against Northwestern). But head coach Tracy Claeys said on his KFAN Radio show Tuesday that another seven—juniors not expected to return in 2017—will be in their final home game, too.

Minnesota’s group of 13 is the third smallest in major college football. Only three of the 13 play on offense, quarterback Mitch Leidner, tackle Jonah Pirsig and wide receiver Drew Wolitarsky. That’s the fewest on any offensive unit in college football.

Leidner is among the winningest senior quarterbacks in the nation with a 22-16 career record. He has an undergraduate degree in kinesiology and is halfway through his master’s in sports management, but he isn’t sure about career plans.

Although he is only 40 years old, Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald is the second longest tenured head coach in the Big Ten. Fitzgerald is in his 11th season with the Wildcats, while 61-year-old Kirk Ferentz has 18 seasons as head coach at Iowa.

MarQueis Gray, the former Gophers quarterback, has played in nine games at tight end for the Dolphins. He has started four games, with seven receptions for 109 yards. This is Gray’s fifth NFL season and he’s played with four teams including the Bills, Browns and Vikings.

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

Coach Glenn Caruso and the St. Thomas football team has its opening playoff game tomorrow, with the intent of eventually advancing to the Division III national championship game in Salem, Virginia. The 10-0 Tommies lost in the title game last December but get a new start in the postseason Saturday at home against 9-1 Northwestern-St. Paul.

Northwestern, from the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, and the MIAC’s Tommies had one common opponent during the year. Northwestern defeated Augsburg 14-0, while St. Thomas beat the Auggies, 55-7.

Two Tommie seniors, All-America tackle Will Hilbert and running back-kick returner Nick Waldvogel, have started all 46 games over the last four seasons. The Tommies record is 40-6 during that stretch.

Hilbert, from Milwaukee, has blocked for 28 different 100-yard rushing performances (eight players), and helped St. Thomas achieve 34 games with 200 or more yards passing.

Waldvogel’s older brother, All-America wide receiver Fritz Waldvogel, started all 50 games in his St. Thomas career. In eight years of the nine-season Caruso era, a Waldvogel has been in the St. Thomas lineup every game (all but 2012 season). The two brothers have combined to score 80 touchdowns (Fritz 46, Nick 34).

Nick, a St. Thomas Academy graduate, is averaging 99.5 all-purpose yards per game in his career and has scored 34 touchdowns. He has 177 career receptions for 2,134 yards.

NBA Hall of Famer Chris Mullin, now in his second season as St. John’s basketball coach, leads the Red Storm (2-0) against the Gophers (3-0) tonight at Williams Arena. The game is part of the Gavitt Tipoff series this fall between the Big East and Big Ten. Minnesota and St. John’s played once previously, a 70-61 Red Storm win in 2014.

Former Gopher forward Rodney Williams is playing for the Greensboro Swarm in the NBA Development League. The North Carolina-based team is starting its first season and is an affiliate of the NBA Hornets.

Timberwolves forward/center Karl-Anthony Towns is featured on the cover of ESPN The Magazine’s “Tall Ball” issue. The magazine arrived in subscriber’s mailboxes earlier in the week, went online yesterday and is available at newsstands starting today. The article reviews how height has impacted NBA and college basketball.

Towns helped the Wolves to a 110-86 win over the 76ers last night. He scored 25 points and had 10 rebounds. It was his fourth 20 point, 10 rebound game in the last five.

Timberwolves executive Chris Wright is finishing his year as “head coach” of the Twin Cities Dunkers. In that volunteer role, Wright has arranged speakers for the Dunkers organization that dates back to the 1940s.

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