NCAA – Page 101 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Thielen, Mahomes Return on Sunday?

Posted on October 29, 2019October 29, 2019 by David Shama

Enjoy a Tuesday notes column:

It could be that top playmakers Adam Thielen and Patrick Mahomes return for Sunday’s game in Kansas City between the Vikings and Chiefs.

Wide receiver Thielen, recovering from a right hamstring injury, didn’t play last Thursday in Minnesota’s win over the Redskins. By Sunday he will have both rested and undergone treatment, making a return to the lineup perhaps likely.

Mahomes, the Chiefs’ starting quarterback and 2018 NFL MVP, dislocated his right knee cap more than 10 days ago and he didn’t play Sunday night against the Packers. But that evening NBC TV reporter Michele Tafoya said Mahomes told her that if the Chiefs were facing a playoff game he would have played against the Packers.

The 6-2 Vikings and 5-3 Chiefs have postseason ambitions just like 50 years ago in 1969. Minnesota and Kansas City played in Super Bowl IV on January 11, 1970. The Vikings were about a two touchdown favorite but lost 23-7.

Chiefs coach Hank Stram loved the limelight and was “miked for sound” during the game. He is famous for this quote about a Vikings defensive back: “(Karl) Kassulke: was running around there like it was a Chinese fire drill.”

Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall played in that Super Bowl but many fans remember him for a gaffe 55 years ago this month. Playing against the 49ers, he scooped up a fumble and ran 66 yards the wrong way and into the end zone. The 49ers were rewarded with a safety.

Former Vikings linebacker Ben Leber, now a sideline reporter on the team’s radio broadcasts and TV analyst for college football games, speaks to the CORES lunch group Thursday, November 14 at the Bloomington Event Center, 1114 American Blvd. Reservations are accepted until Monday, November 11 by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

Ben Utecht, the Hastings native and former Gophers star tight end now a brain health advocate, speaker and entertainer, is the latest guest on the “Behind the Game” Twin Cities cable TV showed hosted by Patrick Klinger and Bill Robertson. The Utecht episode is also on YouTube.

In the latest A.P. and Coaches polls the Gophers are ranked No. 13 nationally, while Penn State is No. 5. The last time Minnesota was ranked in the top 25 and played another ranked team was in October of 2004 when the No. 13 ranked Gophers lost to No. 14 Michigan.

If Minnesota defeats Penn State a week from Saturday the Gophers will almost certainly be ranked in the top 10 in polls. The Gophers haven’t finished a season in the top 10 since 1962,

Minnesota connections: An October 19-20 Wall Street Journal article lists the five best sports scandals books ever and includes Foul: The Connie Hawkins Story, and The Last Temptation of Rick Pitino. The Hawkins biography details how the former ABA Minnesota Pipers star was blacklisted for years from the NBA following gambling allegations while in college. Pitino, the former Louisville basketball coach and father of Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino, fell from grace after two sex scandals.

Willie Burton, the former Gophers basketball player who will have a banner raised in Williams Arena to honor his legacy January 26, was recruited out of high school in Detroit by Minnesota head coach Jim Dutcher who said Burton turned down Michigan and Michigan State. “He could have gone wherever,” Dutcher told Sports Headliners.

Dutcher resigned as Minnesota coach before Burton enrolled in 1986 and he played four seasons for coach Clem Haskins. The third-leading career scorer in program history, Burton played on two NCAA Tournament teams including a group that made the Elite Eight.

Dutcher’s son Brian Dutcher, head coach at San Diego State, has a team that is picked by the media to finish second in the Mountain West Conference behind Utah State.

The 3-0 Timberwolves have shown unity and hustle in their early regular season games, but face their biggest challenge so far Wednesday night in Philadelphia against a 76ers team that could win the NBA title. Give Wolves star center Karl-Anthony Towns credit for organizing a team bonding trip to the Bahamas prior to training camp.

Towns is the Western Conference Player of the Week for NBA games played October 22-27. As of Monday afternoon Towns ranked third in the NBA in scoring (32 points per game), sixth in rebounds (13.3), second in steals (3.00) and second in three-pointers made (5.0).

Gorgui Dieng, the Wolves backup center, speaks five languages.

An S.I. online story last week listing baseball’s top 50 free agents ranked Astros’ starting pitcher Wade Miley at No. 40 and suggested the best fit for him could be the Twins. The October 24 article ranked Twins pitchers Serio Romo No. 44, Kyle Gibson No. 42, Michael Pineda No. 27 and Jake Odorizzi No. 14. S.I. said best fits for them are with other teams.

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Ageless Peterson Won’t Play at 40

Posted on October 22, 2019October 22, 2019 by David Shama

Adrian Peterson, 34, could be playing against his old team, the Vikings, for the last time Thursday night at U.S. Bank Stadium. There was doubt earlier this week about Peterson’s availability for the game because of an ankle injury but Cbssports.com is reporting this afternoon that he will play in Minneapolis.

The future Hall of Famer has been a starter on a bad 1-6 Redskins team. Peterson, filling for injured starter Derrius Guice, has run for 307 rush yards and one touchdown on 83 attempts in six games. His longest run is 25 yards and he is averaging 3.7 yards per carry. Although time and the pounding of the NFL have surely diminished Peterson’s skills, it’s remarkable he is still productive at such an advanced age for a running back.

Peterson, who played for the Vikings from 2007-2016, has long talked about becoming a king of old age ball carriers. Even when Peterson was with the Vikings he speculated about being on the field at age 40. Then last December in an interview posted on NFL.com he revisited the topic.

With one game remaining in the season his Redskins weren’t going to qualify for the playoffs but Peterson claimed to have “fresh legs” and was upbeat while answering questions. “My body feels great,” he said.

Toward the interview’s end Peterson was asked how many more years he might play in the NFL? “God willing, I am thinking about 40 years (old),” he said.

Peterson, who earlier this season set the NFL all-time record for rushing touchdowns with 107, has also played for the Saints and Cardinals since leaving Minnesota. He loves to play football but money is likely a motivation, too. Multiple media sources last summer reported he had serious financial problems.

The Redskins lost 9-0 to the 49ers on Sunday with Peterson gaining 81 yards on 20 carries. Word from a Sports Headliners source is Peterson was less effective in the second half, and that his third quarter fumble, on the team’s best drive, was a turning point in the game. “He still runs hard, but seems to lack the breakaway quickness or agility of earlier times,” the source said via email.

In the competitive world of the NFL, teams are looking to the future as well as the present. Peterson has set records and made remarkable comebacks from injuries but playing to age 40 seems impossible. More likely is that all those Vikings fans who cheered for him so long will say goodbye Thursday evening.

Worth Noting

The Vikings announced this afternoon the release of cornerback and punt returner Marcus Sherels who has played most of his NFL career with the organization. The Rochester native was a walk-on standout with the Gophers.

Former Vikings quarterback Case Keenum, a featured part of the Redskins’ struggling offense, is expected to be the starter for Thursday night’s game in Minneapolis.

Gophers head football coach P.J. Fleck reiterated today on KFAN Radio that the availability of injured senior linebacker Kamal Martin will be a game-time decision Saturday before taking on Maryland.

Fleck talking on the radio about inspirational four-time cancer survivor Casey O’Brien who is the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week, and will visit a hospital to help others this afternoon: “The attitude he has is non-human.”

Fleck’s wife, Heather, will attend Friday’s Goal Line Club lunch at Jax Café where Gophers cornerback coach Rod Chance will speak. Mike Grimm, radio voice of the Gophers, will emcee. More at Goallineclub.org.

It will be interesting to watch the secondary tickets market for Saturday’s showdown game in Brookings between North Dakota State and South Dakota State. Monday StubHub.com was featuring tickets ranging in cost from $ 85.39 to $283.89.

The “coaching tree” is healthy: first year NDSU head coach Matt Entz is 7-0 while Chris Klieman, the mentor he succeeded in Fargo, is 4-2 at Kansas State following a big win over TCU last Saturday. Klieman’s former boss with the Bison, ex-NDSU head coach Craig Bohl, is 5-2 at Wyoming.

Running back Zach Zenner, the former Eagan, Minnesota and South Dakota star, caught a pass for six yards and rushed for a single yard in his debut game for the Saints on Sunday.

Mike Mahlen of Verndale became the first Minnesota prep football coach to achieve 400 career wins when his team defeated Rothsay last week. Mahlen, 400-123-3, is in his 51st season at Verndale (about 150 miles northwest of Minneapolis) where he has spent his entire head coaching career.

The Timberwolves, who open their NBA regular season Wednesday night against the Nets in Brooklyn, are predicted to finish 13th among 15 Western Conference teams by Sports Illustrated. In the magazine’s NBA preview issue the Wolves are ranked No. 22 among the league’s most fun teams to watch. There are 30 NBA teams.

“The offensive brilliance of Karl-Anthony Towns is basically weighed down by the offensive brickiness of Andrew Wiggins,” the magazine said in the story about the entertainment appeal of all 30 NBA teams.

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor on Towns’ whose offensive game is among the NBA’s best: “He’s pretty well got that down.”

Taylor told Sports Headliners last week that coach Ryan Saunders has asked him to travel with the team, something that Ryan’s dad, Flip Saunders, also requested.

Taylor, an investor in the Minnesota United, said the third-year MLS franchise will not be profitable this year and probably won’t be for awhile.

It’s believed Twin Cities winter time teams are finding it a challenge to sell season tickets. A guesstimate is the Wild could be at about 11,000 season tickets, with the Timberwolves and basketball Gophers in the 7,000 to 8,000 range. Sports Headliners reported Sunday that Gophers hockey non-student season tickets are at 4,610 and down from 5,060 in 2018-2019, according to the University of Minnesota.

Budget ticket prices are featured now by the University in multiple sports including a $15 single game ticket for men’s basketball.

Condolences to family and friends of former Gophers volleyball coach Mike Hebert who passed away Monday at age 75.

It was 20 years ago last Sunday that original Twins owner Calvin Griffith died at age 87.

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Don’t Expect Stefon Diggs Trade Now

Posted on October 14, 2019October 14, 2019 by David Shama

The NFL trade deadline is October 29 but there seems zero chance the Vikings will move Stefon Diggs between now and then. Diggs has been mentioned nationally in trade rumors as recently as yesterday when he had 167 receiving yards and three touchdown receptions in the Vikings’ 38-20 win over the Eagles.

Diggs created controversy by skipping practices and meetings earlier this month, and was reportedly fined more than $200,000. The fifth-year wide receiver wanted to be a bigger part of an offense that was struggling with its passing game. Maybe his disgruntlement prompted opening things up the last two Sundays, including yesterday when Diggs not only caught seven passes (he dropped two) but ran the ball twice for 18 yards.

Before Sunday’s win Billswire.usatoday.com posted a story saying Good Morning Football Weekend host Michael Robinson speculated a Diggs trade was the most likely involving an NFL star before the October 29 deadline. The 4-1 Bills are chasing the 6-0 Patriots in the AFC East Division.

“They need another number one receiver,” Robinson said. “Zay Jones (wide receiver traded to the Raiders) has just got out of there. So I’m telling you, go get Stefon Diggs. He could be the piece, the secret piece to beat the New England Patriots.”

But six games into the season the Vikings seem too committed to their roster to shake things up by trading Diggs. With Super Bowl ambitions and coming off a failed season in 2018, they want to give quarterback Kirk Cousins the best and most familiar personnel possible to make the offense successful. Cousins was unfamiliar with Vikings receivers in his first season a year ago but now can take advantage of the knowledge he has about Diggs and others. That’s a comfort for the inconsistent Cousins.

Diggs is talented and experienced, and forms a big-play threat with Adam Thielen, the team’s other dangerous wide receiver. The Vikings, though, aren’t deep at WR and that’s another reason why a trade during the season makes no sense given Minnesota’s commitment to win now.

Worth Noting

Donald Trump made no mention of Minnesota sports teams or celebrities including Cousins (the two spoke a week ago Sunday) when in Minneapolis Thursday night for a campaign re-election rally, but when the President was in Lake Charles, Louisiana the next evening he was touting the undefeated LSU Tigers and quarterback Joe Burrow.

The unseasonably inclement weather for Saturday night’s Minnesota-Nebraska game might have prompted a few Golden Gophers football historians to recall the late October upset of 10th ranked USC at old Memorial Stadium in 1955. Played in an October 25 snowstorm, the Californians acted like they had never seen snow (and many had not) and couldn’t wait to fly home. A mediocre Gophers team that won just three games all season, took care of the chilly and wet Trojans.

Gophers senior linebacker Kamal Martin was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week today for his 15 tackles performance in Minnesota’s win over Nebraska. He had six solo tackles for the 6-0 Gophers who are now ranked No. 20 nationally in both the A.P. and Coaches polls.

Former Gophers basketball captain Paul Presthus, now retired from the financial industry, is a starter at Braemar Golf Course in Edina. He only played 27 holes this season because of a torn Achilles suffered last October. Presthus and wife Linda celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary September 20.

Lindy’s college basketball magazine lists the top 150 players in the nation with Duke’s Tre Jones, the former state Mr. Basketball from Apple Valley, at No. 4. Another Minnesotan, McKinley Wright from Champlin Park and now at Colorado, ranks No. 10.

The state’s 2019 Mr. Basketball, Matthew Hurt from Rochester John Marshall, is preparing for his freshman year at Duke and Lindy’s ranks him No. 59 on its 150 list. “More than capable of leading the Blue Devils in scoring this year,” Lindy’s says.

No Gophers made the list, although Minnesota natives and sophomores Daniel Oturu and Gabe Kalscheur could be deserving of such recognition by next March.

The state’s pipeline of current top prep players includes Minnehaha super talents Jalen Suggs (class of 2020) and Chet Holmgren (2021). Both had recent visits to Gonzaga, with speculation the Spokane, Washington school could be the college choice for Suggs.

Meanwhile the Star Tribune is reporting Minnesota coach Richard Pitino might receive a verbal commitment today from four-star Brewster Academy guard Jamal Mashburn Jr.

Lindy’s preseason top 25 of women’s teams includes Minnesota at No. 18. The Big Ten Conference schools ahead of the Gophers are No. 5 Maryland and No. 15 Michigan State.

Street & Smith’s college basketball magazine refers to Hopkins superstar Paige Bueckers as the “nation’s top-rated player” and has her headlining its first team of high school All-Americans.

Former Timberwolves player Mark Madsen is in his first season of coaching at Utah Valley.

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