Golden Gophers – Page 304 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Gophers’ Postseason Future Not Clear

Posted on March 11, 2015March 11, 2015 by David Shama

Gophers seniors Elliott Eliason, Andre Hollins, Kendal Shell and Mo Walker have already played in two National Invitation Tournaments during their college careers. They and their teammates might have to win a couple of Big Ten Tournament games this week to get another invitation—even if that “ticket” isn’t exactly coveted.

The Gophers, the No. 11 conference tourney seed, play No. 14 seed Rutgers tonight in Chicago. Minnesota finished 6-12 in the Big Ten and is 17-14 overall. The Gophers have lost five of their last six games and overall have a lackluster resume.

The cold truth is the NIT Selection Committee might not want the Gophers. Nixing an invite will be made easier if Minnesota loses to Rutgers and finishes its schedule with a 17-15 record. Rutgers, 2-16 during its first season of Big Ten basketball, is 10-21 overall and has lost 14 consecutive games. Last year Indiana had a 17-15 overall record and was left out of the 32-team NIT team field.

The next postseason step down from the NIT is the College Basketball Invitational, a lesser quality 16-team tournament created in 2007. Invites to the CBI aren’t always accepted and the suspicion here is the Gophers would say no—thereby ending a disappointing season that saw them start 0-5 in the Big Ten, lose their last regular season game at the buzzer and disappoint a fan base who thought a team with four starters returning from the 2014 NIT champs could earn its way into the NCAA Tournament.

Instead, the Gophers haven’t been as good as either they or the fans expected. Minnesota was mostly competitive in Big Ten play but lost eight conference games by six points or less. The latest heartbreaker came Sunday when Penn State’s D.J. Newbill hit a three-pointer as time expired to break a 76-76 tie.

Nobody blamed Gophers freshman guard Nate Mason for not doing all he could to defend Newbill but often the team hasn’t made defensive stops in close games when it should have. “We have defensive lapses,” Hollins said.

After the game coach Richard Pitino was frustrated about his team. “I think they’re playing really, really hard. I really do. I feel bad for the seniors that they go out with a loss like that.”

Could the Gophers look forward to playing in the NIT? “I don’t know,” Pitino answered on Sunday. “I think they’re looking toward playing in the conference tournament.”

In the locker room Sunday the gloom was in contrast to the sunny weather outside. Hollins admitted an NIT encore for a third time in four years would be difficult. “I don’t know. I am a competitor. I like playing, so I don’t want my career to end on a bad note. I am not even thinking about that (the NIT).”

When Eliason was asked about the NIT he said he “wouldn’t be too excited about that.” Walker, though, put a smiley face on another NIT. “Yeah, sure. I just want to play for as long as possible this season. Whoever it is, I want to play as much basketball as possible. I am never going to get this opportunity back.”

To earn an invitation to the NCAA Tournament the Gophers have to win five games in five days in the Big Ten Tournament and emerge as tourney champs. That would be the most improbable of stories but an NIT invite is at least possible—even if it wasn’t what the Gophers had in mind back in January.

“It’s not a real entitled group so I don’t think they’re above anything,” Pitino said. “Nor should they be, and I guess we’re just focused on the conference tournament right now.”

Worth Noting

Big Ten Conference statistics show the Gophers weren’t effective defensively. Minnesota ranked 12th in both scoring defense and field goal percentage defense, and last in three-point field goal percentage defense among 14 teams.

The last part of the season Pitino allocated more playing time to 6-9 Gaston Diedhiou and 6-11 Bakary Konate. Both are freshmen who have potential but also much to learn. Pitino played the two together for a few minutes against Wisconsin last week. Next season they could be on the floor together a lot. “They’re certainly going to be a major part of it next year,” Pitino said.

The Gophers, who sold out four games last season at Williams Arena, sold out only one in 2014-2015, the Wisconsin game. Minnesota finished ninth among league teams in average home attendance for Big Ten games. The Gophers averaged 13,013 for nine home games, finishing ahead of Michigan, Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue and Rutgers.

Bryan Green, the father of highly recruited East Ridge High School quarterback Seth Green, has moved the family to the Dallas area because of a job change. Seth, once considered one of the top Minnesota prep football recruits for the class of 2016, will play his senior season for Allen High School in Allen, Texas. Green has verbally committed to Oregon.

The opinion here is Eden Prairie High School junior linebacker Carter Coughlin, who has said he will announce his college choice soon, will choose the Gophers. Coughlin, could be the state’s best senior next fall.

Next Monday Vikings fans who have signed up on a waitlist can start touring the New Stadium Preview Center. Up until Monday, tours at the downtown center are only for existing season ticket holders. The new domed stadium is on target to open in 2016.

Bryant Allen, who played for both the Gophers football and basketball teams during the 2009-2010 school year, is a starting senior guard on the Dakota State basketball team playing this afternoon in a first round Division II NAIA national tournament game against the College of Idaho. Allen, 24, was at Illinois State before transferring to the NAIA school located in Madison, South Dakota.

Vikings special teams coach Mike Priefer, South Dakota head coach Joe Glenn and former NFL player and motivational author Joe Ehrmann will be headline speakers at the Minnesota Football Clinic. Priefer speaks March 26 while Glenn and Ehrmann will talk March 27 at the DoubleTree Hotel in St. Louis Park. The clinic is March 26-28 and is a partnership between the Minnesota Football Coaches Association and the Gophers.

Torii Hunter empathizes with Angels outfielder Josh Hamilton in a March 2 USA Today story in which the Twins right fielder acknowledges the drug habit of his 64-year-old father Theotis. Hamilton was recently suspended for a drug relapse. Hunter told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale his dad has been hooked on drugs almost as long as he can remember. “It’s like a demon that takes you over,” Hunter said in the story.

A lot of people in baseball and beyond sympathize with the horrors of drug abuse. New Twins manager Paul Molitor can speak from personal experience. Ron Simon, Molitor’s agent as a young major league baseball player, wrote about his client’s problem with cocaine in Simon’s 1993 book The Game, Behind the Game, Negotiating in the Big Leagues.

“The police were called to my house on Christmas Day, 1980,” Simon wrote. “They had to break in to see if Paul Molitor was inside, dead or alive. Molitor was in my house, sleeping off a wild night of cocaine abuse.”

Simon wrote in his book Molitor stopped using cocaine after that memorable night. Since then Molitor has talked to others about what he went through, sharing his experience.

Dick Miller, a tackle on the Gophers’ 1960 national championship football team and former athlete at Rochester Lourdes High School, will be inducted into the Rochester Quarterbacks Club Hall of Fame on April 20. The club president is long time Rochester radio sports commentator Ed Rauen.

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Pitino: Bo Ryan ‘Teaches You a Lot’

Posted on March 6, 2015March 6, 2015 by David Shama

Gophers basketball notes following last night’s 76-63 loss to Wisconsin which used the win to clinch the Big Ten championship:

Minnesota never recovered from a slow first half start, trailing the Badgers 17-6 with about eight minutes gone in the game. The Badgers mostly cruised with a double-digit lead during the game.

“We let them score too easily,” said Gophers senior guard Andre Hollins. “They set the tone (early). We got down big. When you get down big on a team like Wisconsin, it’s hard to come back.”

The Badgers are 15-2 in league play and coach Bo Ryan has now won four Big Ten titles at Wisconsin in 14 seasons. He teaches his players fundamentals like few coaches ever have and part of the success is minimizing mistakes. In last night’s game the Badgers committed only 11 fouls and nine turnovers.

“He teaches you a lot as a coach about not fouling and not turning it over,” Gophers second year coach Richard Pitino said after the game. “It’s almost like their program is built on that. Don’t turn it over. Don’t foul. …

“They make use of it every single possession and they make you pay when you make a mistake. They really do. We turned them over nine times. He may make them walk back to Madison because of that. I thought we lost to a great team.”

The Gophers, 6-11 in the Big Ten, have their last regular season conference game on Sunday at noon against Penn State at Williams Arena. Minnesota’s Big Ten record has been a disappointment for a team that closed last season by winning the NIT and returned most of the key players.

But Pitino was upbeat last night. “I don’t think the year is weighing on anybody. I think we lost to one of the best teams in the country. We hate losing but we’ll be ready to roll on Sunday.”

Sunday’s game will be the last scheduled game at Williams Arena for several seniors including center Elliott Eliason who for much of his career has either been a starter or among the first players off the bench for the Gophers. Eliason, though, hasn’t played a minute in the last two games and just two minutes in the game before that. The Chadron, Nebraska native’s parents came to town for last night’s game and will attend the Penn State game, too.

Among the sports celebrities at the game was golf authority Andy North, the avid Badger fan who sees Wisconsin play about 30 times per year. “Bo and I have been friends for 40 years,” North told Sports Headliners.

The two men play golf together. North, who twice won the U.S. Open, said the coach is “very competitive” in attitude on the course and has a 16 or 17 handicap. North has blocked out his schedule so that if the Badgers qualify for the Final Four in Indianapolis he can attend.

Vikings general manager Rick Spielman, just back from a meeting with Adrian Peterson in Houston, was at Williams Arena with club colleagues.

Worth Noting

Peterson’s contract for 2015 reportedly calls for him to earn $12,750,000 but that puts him pretty far down the list of the NFL’s top paid players. The highest earners in the league are no longer running backs. There’s no question rushing is less important in the NFL than it once was. The last team to lead the league in rushing and win the Super bowl was the 1985 Bears, according to Tuesday’s Mike & Mike show on ESPN.

Ryan Galindo is the new head football coach at Washburn. Galindo, a Washburn alum, has been the offensive coordinator for the Millers. He succeeds Giovan Jenkins as head coach. Jenkins started this week as a volunteer coach at Minnesota.

Jeff Jones, the Gophers running back who didn’t qualify academically last season to play as a freshman after graduating from Washburn High School, continues to excel in the classroom at Minnesota and may soon have consecutive semesters with GPA’s over 3.0.

Jones, the Gophers’ only Rivals.com four-star player in the recruiting class of 2014, could perhaps play next fall as both a running back and slot receiver. With exceptional burst, he might be used in the slot and run the jet sweep similar to how Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon made his early reputation for the Badgers.

Playing in the slot as a potential receiver, Jones has the hands to effectively catch the ball. Jones, 6-0, 198, has added strength since joining the program last summer and will be among the team’s most intriguing prospects to watch during spring practice.

Ex-Gophers safety Cedric Thompson was one of the defenders making Minnesota’s secondary among the best in the Big Ten last year. Although Thompson has used up his eligibility, he remains optimistic about the secondary including because of redshirt sophomore (next season) Daletavious McGhee who he believes can become a “great” player. McGhee, 6-1, 208, saw limited time in nine games last season.

Former Gophers wide receiver Derrick Engel said he’s fully recovered from the ACL injury he sustained in late 2013. Engel worked out at the Gophers Pro Day this week and hopes to be selected in the NFL Draft. If not, the Canadian Football League could be an alternative.

Engel’s brother Sean, a 6-5 receiver who will be a senior at Chaska High School next season, has drawn interest from the Gophers. Sean made an unofficial visit to Boise State last month and the Broncos are expected to continue following him.

The Gophers, Iowa, North Dakota State and Wisconsin have offered football scholarships to North High athlete Tyler Johnson, according to Rivals.com. A quarterback for the Polars, Johnson projects as a defensive back in college. Johnson, likely the best senior football player in the City Conference next fall, is also a shooting guard on the North basketball team.

Former Gopher Ra’Shede Hageman learned a lot about being a professional player in his rookie year of 2014 with the Falcons. His defensive line physical skills have been compared to the Lions Ndamukong Suh who drew a suspension last year for stepping on Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Would Hageman do something similar?

Hageman laughed and answered, “No. That’s a great question.”

The Gophers men’s hockey team was the No. 1 team in national polls last fall but later dropped out of the top 20. Minnesota, though, has won six of its last eight games and is ranked No. 15 in two national polls.

Lou Nanne, the former Gophers and North Stars player, has observed the team’s improvement and despite earlier disappointment with Minnesota playing below its talent level he remains optimistic about the postseason. “If they’re playing up to their ability, I expect they could win the national championship,” he told Sports Headliners.

Nanne sees the Gophers playing smarter, with more intensity and cohesiveness now. Although Adam Wilcox has experienced some inconsistency, the junior from South St. Paul remains one of college hockey’s best goalies. “I have no problem him being my goaltender in big games,” Nanne said. “If I gotta win a game in college, I’ll be happy to go with Wilcox day in and day out.”

Nanne will have knee replacement surgery next week. This week he is completing his 51st season of providing TV analysis for the state boys hockey tournament.

Jordan Leopold, the Robbinsdale Armstrong High School alum, became the 21st Minnesota native to play for the Wild when acquired in a trade this week with the Blue Jackets. Leopold played on the Gophers 2002 national title team and won the Hobey Baker Award the same year.

Every college recruiter and pro sports executive responsible for attracting free agent talent to this city should read Atlantic Magazine’s “The Miracle of Minneapolis” story. The February article by Derek Thompson says, “No other place mixes affordability, opportunity, and wealth so well.”

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Gophers Hope RB Numbers Add Up

Posted on March 4, 2015March 4, 2015 by David Shama

Gophers football notes:

Minnesota started spring practice yesterday and will have 15 total sessions including the April 11 spring game at TCF Bank Stadium. The game and most practices (all at Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex) are open to the public. The first of the practices fans can attend is this Saturday starting at 9:50 a.m.

The coaching staff will evaluate candidates to replace David Cobb, last season’s senior running back who rushed for 2,893 career yards, seventh best in program history. Gophers authority Darrell Thompson believes Cobb, who was a 100 yard rusher in all 13 games as a senior, may not be replaced by one individual next fall, but instead the coaches will use a “committee approach.”

There are several candidates for playing time including senior Rodrick Williams, redshirt sophomore Berkley Edwards, and redshirt freshmen Jeff Jones and Rodney Smith. Then the crowd of hopefuls grows larger in a few months with the arrival of freshmen running backs Shannon Brooks, Jonathan Femi-Cole and James Johannesson.

The candidate group offers power, speed, quickness and athleticism. Some players like Williams (bull rushing power) and Edwards (sprinter speed) possess more defined attributes while others appear to have more of a skills mix. Thompson, the Gophers’ all-time leading career rusher and now an analyst on the team’s radio broadcasts, can foresee using multiple runners with different styles each game. “Quite honestly, that’s what you want,” he said.

Thompson anticipates seeing even two of the running backs in the game together, along with junior quarterback Mitch Leidner who is a physical rusher. Such a setup could, for example, have Leidner running a quarterback keeper, or Edwards on a jet sweep or Williams busting up the middle. “I would like the defense to be thinking about all three of those things, versus they’re just going to hand the ball off to someone on the inside,” Thompson said.

He predicted Cobb could be selected between the second and fifth rounds in this spring’s NFL Draft. As a senior Cobb set school single season records with 314 rushing attempts and 1,626 yards.

Cobb combines speed and power but perhaps his best attribute is his ability to anticipate and see openings to run. “I think he’s certainly an NFL back,” Thompson said. “He’s got the poise, he’s got the strength, he’s got the size (and) he’s got the speed. He (also) has the patience.”

Cobb and tight end Maxx Williams, a redshirt sophomore last fall who has opted for the 2015 NFL Draft, were the big play producers on offense in 2014. There will be a number of candidates to replace Williams including former Blaine High School player Duke Anyanwu who has yet to catch a pass for Minnesota in a game.

Anyanwu, a redshirt sophomore, missed last season because of a knee injury. Gophers coach Jerry Kill said on WCCO Radio’s Sports Huddle program Sunday that before Anyanwu was injured the plan was to have him on the field at times with Williams.

“You’re going to see Duke has his confidence back,” Williams said. “Duke is moving around great. I ran routes with him a few times. Duke looks great, probably the best he’s been here. He worked hard to get back.”

Nice guy Barry Mayer has former teammates with the Gophers rooting for the success of his son Adam Mayer. Adam will be a preferred walk-on for the Gophers this year after a prep career at De La Salle High School in Concord, California. The younger Mayer caught 27 passes for 486 yards and two touchdowns as a senior. Barry was a star running back for the Gophers from 1968-1970.

The Goal Line Club is having a membership drive and encourages Gophers football fans to learn more about club benefits at Goallineclub.com. Membership for one year costs $100 and runs from May 1, 2015-April 30, 2016.

Basketball Notes

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said in the months ahead Flip Saunders, the coach and president of basketball operations, will work to improve the roster’s defensive personnel. “…I think we can see some offensive skills but if he’s going to get deep into the playoffs he’s just got to have guys that can play defense.”

Targeted for defensive improvement will be the power forward position. Last month the Wolves added 20-year NBA vet Kevin Garnett and rookie Adreian Payne to the roster in hopes of strengthening that spot. Garnett, 38, is one of the NBA’s all-time defensive greats but his body is wearing out, while Payne, 24, only played three games with the Hawks, his former team, and is learning the pro game.

Taylor said Saunders considered using a lottery pick to acquire Payne in last June’s NBA Draft. Instead, Saunders just couldn’t pass up drafting ultra athletic guard Zach LaVine at No. 13, while the Hawks chose Payne two picks later. Taylor said Payne’s potential is apparent including his ability to defend and rebound. At 6-10, 245, with long arms, Payne’s body resembles Garnett’s, 6-11, 253.

“He’s just beginning to play and the season is half over, and all the other guys have played…but he’s got the potential,” Taylor said. “You can just see that.”

Taylor said the Timberwolves aren’t for sale, although in the future he might allow limited partners to buy into the franchise he has controlled since 2005. “…We’re working on that (new) practice facility. We’re working on the (renovation of) Target Center. I want to get those projects done and see how it works. I am excited about our team’s future.”

Awhile ago he talked with Dr. Bill McGuire about Timberwolves ownership. Now the two men have had conversations about McGuire bringing an MLS franchise to Minneapolis. Taylor, however, hasn’t committed money yet to the franchise McGuire is hoping to acquire if the league expands into Minneapolis.

Taylor’s WNBA franchise, the Lynx, starts its regular season June 5. He said “the area of concern” is adding more height to the roster. Mercury star center Brittney Griner is 6-8 and she helped Phoenix to the WNBA title while averaging 15.5 points and six blocks per game in the finals. Her presence has WNBA teams on the lookout for tall players. Taylor said the Wolves need help for 6-2 starting center Janel McCarville.

One possibility could be Amber Harris, 6-5, who was a reserve with the Lynx in 2013. She didn’t play for the Lynx last season but Taylor indicated her return is a possibility.

A year ago no one foresaw the major developments ahead for the Gophers women’s basketball program. Coach Pam Borton was fired in late March and replaced by Marlene Stollings, the former VCU women’s coach. Then in December guard Rachel Banham, the preseason choice for Big Ten Player of the Year, tore an ACL and was lost for the season. But Minnesota still had a successful season led by Stollings, sophomore center Amanda Zahui B., senior forward Shae Kelley and freshman guard Carlie Wagner.

It was Zahui B. who won the media’s Big Ten Women’s Basketball Player of the Year award this week. She finished the regular season with averages of 18.5 points, 12.7 rebounds and 4 blocks per game, with a .553 (214-387) field goal percentage.

Her numbers are impressive, too, against teams ranked in the top 25—averaging 25.8 points, 16.8 rebounds, 4.3 blocks and 2 steals per game with a .548 field goal percentage.

Kelley wasn’t even on the roster a year ago. A transfer from Old Dominion, she was named first team All-Big Ten by the media after almost averaging a double-double with 17.1 points and 9.3 rebounds. Minnesota was 10-3 overall and 7-2 in Big Ten games when Kelley led the team in scoring.

Wagner, from New Richland, Minnesota, made the coaches’ Big Ten All-Freshman Team after averaging 11.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. She scored 10 or more points 21 times, including 11 straight games from January 18-February 21. She ranks second on the team in three-point field goals with 55.

The Gophers, 11-7 in conference games this year, play their Big Ten Tournament opening game tomorrow night in suburban Chicago against the winner of tonight’s Wisconsin-Purdue game. Minnesota is the No. 6 tournament seed.

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