MIAC – Page 26 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Advice to Tyus Jones: Stay at Duke

Posted on April 10, 2015April 10, 2015 by David Shama

Bill Fitch coached the Celtics to a world championship and is among the winningest coaches in NBA history. His advice for Tyus Jones is stay at Duke and not declare for the NBA Draft as a college freshman.

The 2015 NBA Draft will be held June 25 and college underclassmen must declare for the draft at least 60 days prior. Jones—chosen the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four after leading Duke to the NCAA title last Monday night—will in the days ahead counsel with family members and others about whether to leave college after one season.

Mock NBA drafts have Jones listed as a first round pick. Draftexpress.com projects the former Apple Valley High School point guard being selected No. 21. First round draft choices receive guaranteed money, and the NBA’s predetermined compensation scale results in the No. 21 pick receiving $1,210,000 as a rookie, according to Draftexpress.

Fitch, who coached the Gophers before a long NBA career that ended in 1998, still closely follows college and pro teams. He didn’t hesitate when asked about Jones’ future. “Mentally and physically he’s better off where he’s at (Duke),” Fitch told Sports Headliners.

Jones is only 18 years old and turns 19 in May. Although the Duke website lists him at 6-1, 190-pounds, he is probably smaller. Another year or two of college basketball won’t make him taller but a weight program can make the Blue Devils point guard stronger and eventually better equipped to deal with the grown men in the NBA, some of whom are nine inches taller and 100 pounds heavier. A strong and more mature body can also help any player deal with the physically demanding pro schedule of 82 games.

The mental challenges for Jones and other young players come both on and off the court. There’s a lot to learn about basketball, including a new system of X’s and Os, and adjusting to teammates, and probably sitting on the bench instead of starting. Off the court, there are the temptations of the NBA life that can include too many social interactions with the wrong kinds of people.

Fitch said Jones faces a backlog of NBA talent that the Minnesota teenager would have to compete with for playing time. He implied there are young players who are already waiting for court time, or guys starting that shouldn’t because they’re not ready. His advice for Jones is don’t get caught up in grabbing the NBA money too soon. “A guy is always going to be worth what he is now, or more,” Fitch said.

It’s been Jones’ dream to play in the NBA but Fitch doesn’t think there is a single league team that will use him immediately as a starter. “There are too many (players) sitting in the league that have talent at that position,” he said.

Jones scored 23 points, including 19 in the second half, to lead Duke to a 68-63 win over Wisconsin on Monday night. He showed in the championship game and during other big moments this season he delivers when the pressure is the biggest. He’s an extraordinary playmaker and more accurate outside shooter than often given credit for, but he needs to become a better defensive player and could have a difficult time against taller and more physical NBA point guards.

Jones will no doubt seek the counsel of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski about leaving school early. Coach “K” has coached five national championship teams at Duke and two Olympic gold medal teams led by NBA players. He is the right man to give Jones advice. Before coaching Jones this season at Duke, he watched him play in high school and AAU ball. Jones and other top American high school players scrimmaged against the 2012 Olympic team so Krzycewski knows his freshman point guard well.

Jones is part of a super freshmen group at Duke that includes center Jahlil Okafor and forward Justise Winslow. Okafor is likely to be the first or second player taken in June’s NBA Draft, while Winslow is projected in the top 10 for sure. Those teammates are close friends, dating back to AAU days. Okafor has declared for the draft and Winslow could soon. Their decisions will influence Jones and his thinking about the future. The three played so much together for different USA national basketball teams that they are far from your typical freshmen when it comes to experience.

The first 14 players chosen in the NBA Draft are known as lottery picks because of the lottery system determining the order of first round selections. Lottery picks receive guaranteed money that can be three to four times more than late first round choices get. Lottery picks are also likelier to receive more playing time than late selections who can one day find themselves riding a bus in the NBA Development League.

A back road bus experience in the basketball minors is a long way from Duke and the glory of a national championship.

Worth Noting

Jones was surrounded by family while leading Duke to the national championship in Indianapolis on Monday but unfortunately Dennis Deutsch, his mom’s father, died last year. Jones revered his grandfather and it would have meant so much for Dennis to be in Indianapolis.

Minnesota-based Jostens will certainly be a contender to secure the order for Duke’s national championship rings. The company provided the 2010 national title rings for the Blue Devils. Former Gophers captain Al Nuness secured that order working for Jostens and will be involved again this spring soliciting business from Duke. Nuness and Krzyzewski knew each other as high school basketball players in the Chicago area.

Fitch thought highly of three Final Four teams—Duke, Kentucky and Wisconsin. “I think if you played it over any one of the three teams could win it (the title),” he said. “Kentucky without a doubt had a little more talent. Duke a little more coaching.”

Although the Spurs have struggled this season, Fitch likes the chances of the defending NBA champions emerging from the Western Conference playoffs and advancing to the Finals. That championship matchup could be Spurs versus Cavs.

David Cobb, the Gophers record setting senior running back last season, will have his Pro Day at the University of Minnesota on Monday. Cobb had a quad injury and missed the Gophers Pro Day last month attended by some of his former Minnesota teammates and NFL personnel evaluators.

Tanner Oakes Photo courtesy of Augsburg College. — Tanner Oakes
Photo courtesy of Augsburg College.

The Oakes family from Jordan, Minnesota can be described as the state’s “first family” of pitching. Patriarch Todd Oakes is in his 17th season as Gophers pitching coach. Oldest son Tyler pitched for the Gophers and is now pitching coach at North Dakota State. Middle son T.J. also pitched for Minnesota and is head baseball coach at Legacy Christian Academy in Andover. Youngest son Tanner, a senior at Augsburg, is one of the best pitchers in the MIAC and Division III.

The Wild set home franchise attendance records this regular season, drawing 779,974 for 41 games with average attendance of 19,024. All games sold out, with 31 exceeding 19,000 in attendance. Official Xcel Energy Center capacity for hockey is 17,954 but standing-room-only tickets allow for additional capacity.

Draftsite.com projects 6-5 center Amanda Zahui B. will become the second player selected in the WNBA Draft next Thursday. Tulsa has the second pick but the Lynx no doubt would like to move up from No. 11 and choose Zahui B., who announced earlier this week she will enter the draft and give up her final two seasons of eligibility with the Gophers. The Lynx are looking for more size behind backup center Janel McCarville, the ex-Gopher. Any franchise in the WNBA will welcome Zahui B. who twice last season approached 30 rebounds for coach Marlene Stollings’ team.

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Big Ten Teams Did U No Favors

Posted on March 20, 2015March 20, 2015 by David Shama

Minnesotans who hate the Big Ten Conference for forming a hockey league a couple of years ago with six teams—including the Gophers—could see their collective blood pressures soar again this weekend.

The Gophers are on the spot today in the Big Ten Tournament in Detroit against Ohio State. A loss likely eliminates Minnesota from selection for the NCAA Tournament, a postseason party the Gophers have attended the last three years.

If the Gophers win today (3:30 p.m. CDT start, Big Ten Network) they advance to the Big Ten Tournament championship game on Saturday. Minnesota coach Don Lucia said earlier this week on his 1500 ESPN Radio Show his team has less than a 10 percent chance of being selected for the NCAA Tournament on Sunday if the Gophers lose to the Buckeyes. Minnesota won three of four games against OSU during the regular season.

The Big Ten Tournament title game on Saturday starts at 7 p.m. and will also be on BTN. The winner receives automatic entry into the NCAA Tournament.

But will the NCAA Selection Committee still call the Gophers’ name if Minnesota loses on Saturday? The Gophers won the regular season Big Ten championship with a 12-5-3 record but that doesn’t tell the whole story. The Gophers were once the No. 1 ranked team in college hockey, later fell out of the top 20 and now are No. 13 in the USCHO.com national poll. No other Big Ten team is even ranked in the top 20, an indication of the six-team hockey league’s lack of strength this year. And while the Gophers were the best in their league, the nonconference record was a not so impressive 9-7.

No doubt (cue the blood pressure tests) the overall weak performance of the Big Ten as a hockey league this season hurts. “When the whole league is down it affects all the teams trying to qualify for a playoff position,” said Lou Nanne, the former Gopher and passionate fan. “Whenever you’re in that situation you have very few teams make it PairWise (see below).”

The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee uses “mathematical and other criteria” to determine 10 of the 16 teams for the tourney, according to USCHO.com. Six other schools are automatic qualifiers as conference champions. USCHO.com explains on its website that the selection committee compares teams against each other and then puts them in order based on comparisons won. USCHO uses a process called PairWise rankings which it says ranks teams similar to what the selection committee does because of the same data. The PairWise rankings on USCHO.com indicate, as of now, the Gophers would be invited to the tourney if they lose on Saturday.

Fans grumble about missing the old days when the Gophers were members of the WCHA, a powerhouse hockey league with Minnesota rivals like North Dakota and UMD. North Dakota, Michigan Tech, Denver and UMD are programs that once were WCHA rivals of the Gophers and this week are ranked No. 1, 4, 5 and 8 in the USCHO national poll.

Big Ten decision makers concluded awhile ago the conference should have a hockey league and a lot of that decision was driven by the Big Ten Network’s need for programming. The Gophers have won the first two regular season championships in the new league, but that won’t be perfect consolation if they miss out on the NCAA Tournament.

Nanne said leagues have good and bad years. In the long run he isn’t concerned about Big Ten hockey competing with the country’s best leagues. What he is upset about, though, is this season’s Gopher TV schedule that had the team playing on so many different channels and days and times it became frustrating for him and other fans. “Anybody tells you this doesn’t hurt Minnesota hockey, they’re nuts,” he said.

What happens with the Gophers’ TV schedule is the Big Ten Network is the rightsholder and has first call on games. Then the ESPN family of networks including ESPN2, ESPN News and ESPNU can pick and choose. And Gophers games can also end up on Fox Sports North. Regardless of network, games aren’t just televised on traditional Friday and Saturday nights anymore. TV dictates that some games are on other days and aren’t always played in the evening. The good news was 31 of the team’s 36 games have been televised—the best coverage of a college hockey team in the country.

Nanne does worry about fan interest in the Gophers program. “I just want more teams (in the Big Ten),” he said. “I think we gotta get to eight teams somehow. I think that will drive more interest.”

For now, though, the Gophers are on a two-day, two opponents Big Ten schedule.

Worth Noting

The WCHA Final Five tonight matches (first game) No. 2 seed Michigan Tech against No. 3 Bowling Green, followed by No. 1 seed Minnesota State playing No. 4 Ferris State at Xcel Energy Center. The tournament features three of the nation’s top 10 teams, according to both the USCHO. com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls, with No. 2 Minnesota State, No. 4 Michigan Tech and No. 9 Bowling Green. The fourth team competing for the Broadmoor Trophy and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament is Ferris State, a preseason top 10 team that is 7-1-1 in its last nine games.

Minnesota State, Michigan Tech and Bowling Green give the WCHA an NCAA-best (tied with Hockey East) three of the nation’s top 10 winning percentages . The Mavericks are tied for the best at .777 (27-7-3), the Huskies (tops nationally with 28 wins) are third at .763 (28-8-2) and the Falcons are seventh at .671 (23-10-5).

Also taking place locally is the men’s NCHC Frozen Faceoff at Target Center where No. 1 ranked North Dakota plays No. 18 St. Cloud State tonight followed by the No. 5 Denver against No. 6 Miami game. Those conference tournament games are scheduled to start at 4:08 and 7:38 p.m. Minneapolis time.

Tickets are sold out at Ridder Arena, official capacity 3,400, for the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four that starts today on the University of Minnesota campus. Despite the sellout status the first 100 students to show their college IDs at the Ridder Arena box office for both the semifinal session and championship game will receive complimentary tickets. Questions should be directed to the Gopher Sales & Service Department at 612-624-8080 (option 2).

Minnesota, the No. 1 tournament seed, plays No. 4 Wisconsin starting at 5 p.m. today. The Gophers, 32-3-4, are trying to win their third national title in four years. The other Frozen Four teams are Boston College and Harvard, No. 3 and 4 seeds. The national championship game is at Ridder on Sunday starting at 3 p.m.

The Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award honoring the best female college hockey player in the country will be announced tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. at the McNamara Alumni Center on the Minnesota campus. The Gophers Hannah Brandt, along with Alex Carpenter from Boston College and Marie-Philip Poulin of Boston University, are the three finalists.

Marlene Stollings achieved a personal best head coaching win total with the Gophers’ 23-9 record in her first season at Minnesota. In two previous head coaching assignments (two seasons at VCU and one at Winthrop) Stollings didn’t win more than 22 games in a season, nor did her teams qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Her Gophers are in the NCAA Tourney for the first time in six years. They are the No. 8 seed in the Oklahoma City Region and play No. 9 seed DePaul starting at 4 p.m. today in South Bend. Brittany Hrynko leads the Blue Demons with a 19.6 points-per-game average. The senior is a finalist for the Dawn Staley Award, given to the nation’s top guard.

Lynn Holleran, director of the McNamara Academic Center for student-athletes at the University of Minnesota, starts her new position later this month at Penn State as senior associate athletic director for administration. Holleran’s partner is former Gophers women’s basketball coach Pam Borton. The two were married last year.

Hamline’s Cinderella men’s hockey team hopes to keep “dancing” tomorrow when the Pipers (14-10-4) travel to UW-Stevens Point for an NCAA Tournament quarterfinal game starting at 7 p.m. The winner plays at Ridder Arena March 27 as part of the semifinals leading to the national title game on March 28 at the Gophers’ arena. This is only the second time in school history Hamline has advanced to the NCAA men’s hockey tourney and follows a 2-22-1 season last year.

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Look for KG to Play All Home Games

Posted on March 2, 2015March 2, 2015 by David Shama

The Timberwolves have 11 remaining home games this season. Fans can expect to see Kevin Garnett in every one of those games in Minneapolis.

“He will play them all at home, and then some of them (13) away,” Wolves owner Glen Taylor told Sports Headliners during a telephone interview.

Garnett, the 38-year-old future Hall of Famer, returned to the Wolves via trade last month and made his debut last Wednesday night before a standing room only audience at Target Center. Garnett, who played for the Wolves for 12 years before being traded away in 2007, is no longer able to play a lot of minutes because of his aging body (he turns 39 May 19th).

In Wednesday’s game he played 19 minutes during the home win over the Wizards, and then watched the entire game from the bench on Friday night when the Wolves lost in Chicago to the Bulls. Saturday evening he played 15 minutes in a home loss to the Grizzlies before being ejected from the game for a second technical foul.

Hit by injuries that sidelined three starters for more than 100 games this season, the Wolves have struggled on the court while compiling one of the NBA’s worst records. The result has been problems at the box office and overall minimal interest in the team including poor TV ratings. The Wolves are last in home NBA attendance averaging 14,225 fans per game, according to Espn.com. Tickets have not only gone unsold but seats already purchased haven’t been used for many games this season at Target Center.

All of that and more is why bringing back Garnett was a calculated business decision by the franchise. In acquiring Garnett from the Nets in a trade that sent Thaddeus Young to Brooklyn, the Wolves agreed to pick up the remaining money owed to Garnett on his contract this season—about $4 million.

Garnett’s presence in a Wolves uniform and playing 13 home games before the season ends on April 15 is probably worth at least a few million dollars in additional revenue to Taylor’s club. The Wolves drew a second consecutive sellout (19,356) on Saturday night and even if Garnett helps the franchise attract only an additional 2,000 fans per game the revenues will be significant. Tickets, concessions and merchandise are all impacted by Garnett. His presence also increases the likelihood of fans using tickets purchased before he came back to town.

“I think we’ve really got a lot of interest (with Garnett back),” said Taylor who told Sports Headliners in January he anticipated the franchise losing a couple million dollars this season.

There’s an economic impact tied to Garnett for next season, too. Getting more fans in the building now to see the team’s roster of high potential players like 2014 first round draft choices Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine is the kind of “product sampling” Taylor and staff marketers want. The potential for selling more season tickets has increased and the renewed interest in the franchise can also impact potential revenue areas such as suite sales, sponsorship and advertising.

Garnett was only 19 when the Wolves made him their No. 1 draft choice in 1995. He is the greatest player in team history and seen as the face of the franchise. His intensity and zeal to win can be inspirational to teammates and fans. The energy Garnett created in Target Center for the first two games put new life into the fans and the Wolves who have a near worst league record of 13-45.

“He just has a showmanship about him,” Taylor said. “…The way he points his fingers and the look on his face and stuff like that. The whole crowd loves it.”

Garnett is a free agent after this season but indications from him are that if he chooses to play a 21st season in the NBA it will be for the Wolves. Taylor said there is no agreement yet about next season but the owner seemed upbeat a deal could be made. “If he remains healthy I am optimistic that he would probably want to continue try playing.”

Worth Noting

Garnett’s first home game with the Wolves last Wednesday night offered a boost in Fox Sports North’s audience compared with typical viewership of the NBA team on the cable network. A Sports Headliners source e-mailed that viewership was “four or five times better” than a typical game on Fox but because of the Wolves’ poor record this season viewership numbers have been low. At peak viewing on Wednesday night about 139,000 people were watching the game.

The telecast of last Tuesday night’s Wild game against the Oilers was the highest-rated regular season Wild game ever on Fox Sports North. The viewing audience was over 200,000.

The prediction here remains the same as months ago: in the near future U.S. Bank will buy the naming rights for the new Vikings stadium. You wonder, though, how the Adrian Peterson controversy is affecting sponsorship relations for the Vikings. Certainly Peterson’s incident with his son last year provoked concerns from corporate supporters of the Vikings and the NFL. More recently Peterson’s publicized reservations about returning to Minnesota added to speculation about how his association with the Vikings might be perceived by the public if he plays here in 2015. When companies invest millions for sponsorships and other affiliations with sports teams, controversy and public disapproval aren’t developments they want associated with their brands.

The Gophers basketball team plays No. 6 ranked (AP poll) Wisconsin on Thursday night at Williams Arena. Last season Minnesota upset the Badgers in Minneapolis and Jim Dutcher told Sports Headliners it could happen again. The former Gophers coach said the Badgers struggle against guards who penetrate toward the goal, and also Minnesota center Mo Walker matches up effectively against Wisconsin Player of the Year Candidate Frank Kaminsky. “They’re built to really play well against a team like Wisconsin,” Dutcher said.

Walker and point guard DeAndre Mathieu each scored 18 points in last year’s 81-68 win at home. Mathieu’s quickness could be effective again and Dutcher advised watching Minnesota junior college transfer Carlos Morris, a 6-5 wing with NBA type slashing ability. “Morris could have a great game against Wisconsin just taking the ball to the basket,” Dutcher said.

The Badgers, 14-2 in Big Ten games, defeated Minnesota, 63-53, in Madison on February 21. The Gophers, 6-10 with two regular season games remaining, had thoughts of a winning conference record before the season and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA dream is gone unless Minnesota wins the Big Ten Tournament later this month. A victory over the Badgers would be a morale boost. “This is almost a season salvager for the Gophers,” Dutcher said.

Multiple sources have said East Ridge High School junior quarterback Seth Green, considered the top Minnesota prep football recruit for the class of 2016, will play his senior season for Allen High School in Allen, Texas. An announcement might be made soon that Green will play for the suburban Dallas school, a football power playing its home games in a $60 million stadium.

Green verbally committed to Oregon last fall and if he moves out of Minnesota it appears to further diminish any possibility he will sign a National Letter of Intent with the Gophers next February. Among Green’s college offers is one from Texas, and the Longhorns now might figure more prominently in the young quarterback’s decision-making process in choosing a college.

Rivals.com labels Green as a four-star recruit and ranks him as the No. 10 dual-threat quarterback in the country.

Safety Cedric Thompson was one of the ex-Gophers who impressed today at Pro Day at the University of Minnesota. Thompson was timed at 4.37 seconds in the 40-yard dash as pro scouts looked on.

A quad strain kept ex-Gophers running back David Cobb from participating but he said he will have a private workout for scouts at the U early next month.

Among talent evaluators in attendance were Rick Spielman, Norv Turner and Mike Zimmer from the Vikings. The three talked with Gophers coach Jerry Kill on the field at the U indoor football facility where Pro Day was held.

Hamline’s men’s hockey team has an improbable success story. The Pipers were 2-22-1 last season and won just a single game the year before. Former Gopher Cory Laylin is the new coach this season and the Pipers are 13-10-4 overall after Saturday’s upset of No. 1 seed St. Thomas in the MIAC playoffs. Hamline’s 11 win improvement this season is the best in men’s Division III hockey. The Pipers scored three goals in the final four minutes to break a 3-3 tie against the Tommies (16-6-4) to win the game. Hamline, the No. 5 playoff seed, has advanced to the MIAC playoff championship game where next Saturday night the Pipers will play No. 2 seed Saint Mary’s in Winona.

Bob Gustafson, public relations director for Grandma’s Marathon, will speak at the March 12 CORES luncheon at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. A St. Louis Park High School alum, Gustafson is responsible for various public relations and marketing duties for the annual event that attracts 18,000 runners. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans. Reservations for the program (deadline March 9) can be made by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.

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