Golden Gophers – Page 406 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Worth Noting

Posted on January 23, 2012January 23, 2012 by David Shama

Gophers football coach Jerry Kill will speak to the C.O.R.E.S. group on Thursday, March 8.

Former Highland Park and Gophers player Tony Levine, now head coach at Houston, will be among the headline speakers at the MFCA Clinic in late March. The clinic is sponsored by the Minnesota Football Coaches Association. The MFCA is also sponsoring the “Everything but X’s and O’s Clinic” on Saturday at the University of St. Thomas.

Another MFCA event, the annual All-Star game, will be played on Saturday, June 30 at TCF Bank Stadium.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who died yesterday at 85, had an 8-4 record against the Gophers, including four straight wins.

The Gophers (3-4 in the Big Ten) played some of their best first half basketball in memory yesterday, building a 41-24 against Northwestern (2-5) and went on to win 75-52. Although Minnesota won its third straight conference game, coach Tubby Smith said the Gophers are “not close to where we need to be.”

The Gophers won road games at Indiana and Penn State before coming home to win yesterday. Michigan State (5-2) hosts Minnesota on Wednesday night. “I can feel us gaining confidence with each win,” Smith said.

This March will be the 100^th anniversary of the Minnesota high school boys basketball tournament. Among those involved with the celebration planning is former Edgerton High School star Dean Verdoes.

High school basketball will lose one of its legends and best gentlemen when Mounds View coach Ziggy Kauls retires after this season.

ESPN in-studio NBA analyst Jon Barry ranked the Wolves’ Kevin Love as the league’s No. 1 power forward last week. Blake Griffin from the Clippers was ranked No. 2.

The Tapemark Annual Charity Pro-Am Tournament dates are June 8, 9 and 10 for the men’s event and June 5 and 10 for the women’s.

Happy birthday to KSTP TV’s Darren Doogie Wolfson who turned 32 on Friday.

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Maturi: U ‘Lucky’ to Have Smith

Posted on January 9, 2012January 9, 2012 by David Shama

The Gophers have lost 14 of their last 15 Big Ten games but athletic director Joel Maturi expressed strong support for coach Tubby Smith in an interview last week with Sports Headliners.

Minnesota is 0-4 in conference games after last night’s 79-66 loss to Purdue at Williams Arena. The Gophers closed last season by losing 10 of their final 11 league games including one in the Big Ten Tournament. Minnesota has also lost 10 consecutive games against Big Ten opponents. The streak is the longest since the 2007 and 2008 seasons when the Gophers also had a combined 10 game losing streak. Nine of the defeats were in 2007.

“I think we’re very lucky to have Tubby Smith as our basketball coach here,” Maturi said. “I think it’s a situation where we’ve had some unfortunate things happen to the program. …You tell me the players that have been injured. You tell me the players that have left.

“We all take responsibility for some of those actions including Joel Maturi. But it does have an impact — sometimes immediately — as to wins and losses.”

Maturi decided two years ago that high impact forwards Trevor Mbakwe and Royce White couldn’t play until their legal entanglements were resolved. Since then Maturi and Smith have seen several players leave the program including White, guards Devoe Joseph and Justin Cobbs, and center Colton Iverson.

Joseph, Cobbs and Iverson, along with Mbakwe, whose season ended with a knee injury on November 27, could all be playing at Minnesota now. Not only was Mbakwe a difficult injury loss, but last season senior point guard Al Nolen missed most of the Big Ten schedule with a foot injury and the Gophers collapsed without him. And also last season Gophers freshman center Maurice Walker was injured in late December and hasn’t played since.

Maturi hired Smith in 2007 after the coach had been at Kentucky for 10 seasons. He won a national championship in 1998 and had 10 tournament teams. His worst record at Kentucky was 22-13.

Not only are the Gophers losing games, but many of the defeats are frustratingly close. Two of the conference losses this winter have been by a combined seven points, and another defeat was a nine point double overtime loss at Illinois. The situation has left not only Smith and the Gophers frustrated but also fans including season ticket holders who have been informed they will pay more for their seats next season.

An expanded donation program will have most season ticket holders paying more than just the cost of their season tickets as in the past. Maturi said he believes Minnesota and Northwestern are the only conference schools without such a fundraising policy.

On court losses and more expenses will give season ticket holders pause about renewing but Maturi said the policy will become reality. “We’re going ahead with the policy we put together,” he said. “It’s the right thing for the long term health of Gopher basketball and Gopher athletics. And that program has been four years in the making. We already delayed it one year. We’ll go forward with it.”

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Worth Noting

Posted on January 9, 2012January 9, 2012 by David Shama

Maturi is excited about the Gophers hockey team, that after finishing with a 16-14-6 record last season, has made a comeback. Minnesota is among the nation’s top ranked teams and is 15-7-1 overall, and 11-3 in the WCHA, although the Gophers have lost two straight nonconference games by one goal each.

Maturi sees a “hunger” among returning players who want to have this season be special. “I think we have a good team, and I think we have a hockey team that potentially could be great, but there’s a lot of factors that go into being great versus good,” Maturi said. “And that remains to be seen.”

Those factors can include a team playing effectively at tournament time and having a “hot goalie.” But for now the Gophers are impressive—a talented team with size and speed that plays with energy and is entertaining to watch.

Maturi’s contract as athletic director ends in June and he said his status beyond then is to be determined. Maturi repeated comments made months ago that both he and new University president Eric Kaler need to be comfortable with one another. Maturi said no meeting with Kaler is planned for this month to discuss his future.

Maturi has been Minnesota’s athletic director since 2002 and he said at this stage of his career it’s important to be happy with his job and who he is working with. “Those decisions are still ongoing and will be made in due time,” he said.

Timberwolves Michael Beasley, Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio are on the NBA All-Star game ballot. The 61^st All-Star game will be played on February 26 in Orlando.

Love was quoted in the January 9 issue of Sports Illustrated about those who think his rebounding numbers might be inflated: “…I tend not to listen. I let my game do the talking.”

Twins pitcher Franciso Liriano has been given permission by Twins management to pitch 20 innings of winter baseball in the Dominican Republic.

The Gophers baseball team will play 39 home games including 38 at the Metrodome and a May 5 game against PennState at Target Field. The Minnesota schedule has the team playing 27 straight home games—the longest consecutive home stand in program history. The Gophers open their schedule with the 18th annual Pro & Legends Alumni Game at the Metrodome on February 4.

In March of 2010 the Gophers, playing against Louisiana Tech, hosted the first baseball game at Target Field. The game drew the second largest crowd in collegiate baseball history, 36,056.

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