NCAA – Page 110 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

U with Coffey Return Could be Top 20

Posted on May 14, 2019May 29, 2019 by David Shama

ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla believes next season could be very rewarding for Amir Coffey and the Golden Gophers if the junior guard-forward returns for his senior season.

In a telephone conversation Sunday night Fraschilla, who follows the Gophers closely, talked about Coffey’s interest in skipping his senior season to turn professional and also what a return to Minnesota might mean for the team. “I think if Amir comes back they definitely have a chance to be a top 20, top 25 (team in national rankings),” the former college coach said. “He would be a leading candidate for Big Ten Player of the Year. So right off the bat that says a lot.”

Fraschilla has confidence in several of Coffey’s teammates including the sophomore class of Marcus Carr, Gabe Kalscheur, Jarvis Omersa and Daniel Oturu. “I think they’re going to be very competitive even if Amir doesn’t come back,” Fraschilla said. “I think they’ll be competitive in the Big Ten and could be an upper tier team, first division team.”

Coffey, 6-foot-8 and about 205 pounds, was a third-team All-Big Ten selection last season and was at his best in March, often making key plays in important games. The Gophers’ leading scorer, he was among the league’s most versatile players both offensively and defensively. He played point guard and wing for Minnesota while averaging 16.6 points and starting every game.

Coffey has been playing in the May 12-14 NBA G League Elite Camp, a three-day tryout for NBA Draft hopefuls in Chicago. However, he didn’t receive an invitation to the NBA Draft Combine (also in Chicago) that begins today and runs through May 19. He has until May 29 to withdraw his name for the June 20 NBA Draft and still retain eligibility to play for Minnesota next season.

Asked about Coffey’s decision to explore his professional options, Fraschilla said, “I believe he is doing the right thing.” But Fraschilla acknowledged it’s a “red flag for sure” that the former Hopkins star didn’t receive an invitation to the NBA Draft Combine.

The Draft Combine invited 66 players based on input from the league’s 32 teams. Coffey not being on the list is a strong indication he won’t be a first round draft choice in June. First rounders receive guaranteed big money. Coffey could more likely be chosen in the second round (payouts and guarantees iffier), or sign with an NBA team as a free agent if he keeps his name draft eligible. There is the possibility, too, that he might play next fall in the NBA’s development league (the NBA G League), or overseas.

“I think he’s got a very good chance to get drafted because he’s a big guard and has shown improvement,” Fraschilla said. “He can handle the ball. He’s very versatile. Even if he doesn’t get drafted, he’s going to have a chance to play professional basketball somewhere next year, if that’s the decision he makes.

“He’s definitely a G League level player, which puts him a step away from the NBA. If he comes back to college, then I think he has a chance to not only make his mark in the Big Ten but I believe he has a chance to be on an All-American team if he continues the upward trajectory he showed at the end of the season.”

Amir Coffey photo courtesy of Minnesota Athletic Communications

Could Coffey improve enough next season with the Gophers to move into certain first round status? Fraschilla speculated there could be a 50-50 chance, adding that the former prep Minnesota Mr. Basketball might be somewhere between a top 20 to 40 prospect next year.

Fraschilla looks at Coffey and sees a player who needs to become a consistent “knock-down shooter,” and improve his physical strength and quickness. “There is no one area where he can’t continue to improve,” Fraschilla said.

Is it best that Coffey opt to stay in the draft process now, or return to Minnesota? That’s a decision that will have input from Coffey’s dad, Richard, who is a former Gopher and NBA player. Fraschilla’s advice is for the two Coffeys to listen carefully to NBA representatives.

“NBA teams will shoot Amir straight about his strengths and weaknesses, and his opportunity not only to get drafted, but to make a team,” Fraschilla said. “So they have to take information, factor it into the decision and then decide which route is best.”

Fraschilla said there are 450 players filling out NBA rosters but only a handful are stars. “Everybody else fills a role,” he added. “At lest initially, if Amir were to make a team it would be as a role player. That (also) might be what he is if he stays in the league a long time.

“Character is important (to be a role player). Versatility (too), and talent is obviously important. And then someone that is willing to work at his weaknesses and get better. Those are all key components that teams are looking for.”

Those are attributes that belong on Coffey’s resume. “I think there’s a good chance that at some point in his career, he can make an NBA team even if it doesn’t happen this coming year,” Fraschilla said.

With all this speculation about Coffey’s future, it’s certain Gophers fans are hoping with fingers crossed that he still belongs to Dinkytown on cold winter nights next season.

Comments Welcome

Richard Coffey Refutes Hate Rumor

Posted on April 21, 2019April 21, 2019 by David Shama

In a telephone interview with Sports Headliners, Richard Coffey was vehement concerning what he said are untrue rumors that his son Amir Coffey hates Golden Gophers head basketball coach Richard Pitino. Amir, a junior, is in the process of deciding whether he wants to skip his senior season at Minnesota and enter the NBA Draft.

“It’s amazing how people hear something and they just run with it,” Richard said about comments his son dislikes Pitino. “First of all, we don’t use the word hate in our family. We don’t hate anything, or anybody. That upsets me, when people use that word because there is so much hate in our country, and hatred only divides. I didn’t raise my kids to hate anyone, or to use that word. It upsets me when people read something or see something and then take it as truth.

“I live in Minnesota. I love the University of Minnesota. I love this state. If they want to know the truth about something, they should stop me and ask me—instead of taking the word of someone that has not spoken to me, has not spoken to my son, has not spoken to anybody in my family.”

Richard said if Amir decides by late May not to enter the 2019 NBA Draft, he will return to college basketball and guaranteed his son will play for the 2019-2020 Gophers. “So stop speculating on it,” Richard said.

In two of Amir’s three seasons Pitino’s Gophers have earned their way into the NCAA Tournament. They also won the NIT Tournament in New York in 2014. “Pitino is the coach of the University of Minnesota. We respect that,” Richard said. “Pitino has been here for six years and been to three postseasons. That’s a pretty good record.”

Amir remains enrolled at Minnesota and is attending classes this spring. When not pursuing academics, he is training for a pro career that could begin after the June 20 NBA Draft. The Coffeys are being assisted in the fact-finding process about how NBA teams regard Amir by Excel Sports Management based in New York.

A select number of potential NBA draftees are invited to the NBA Combine where in mid-May in Chicago they are closely evaluated by representatives from the league’s 30 franchises. Those Combine invitations have yet to be sent out and Amir doesn’t know if his name will be on the invitation list. Under NBA and NCAA policy, underclassmen like Amir have until May 29 to retain their college eligibilities and play next season.

Amir, 6-foot-8 and about 205 pounds, was a third-team All-Big Ten selection last season and was at his best in March, often making key plays in important games. The Gophers’ leading scorer, he was among the league’s most versatile players both offensively and defensively. He played point guard and wing for Minnesota while averaging 16.6 points and starting every game.

Richard has a lot of basketball expertise, having been a four-year starter for the Gophers from 1986-1990, including being a terrific effort front court player and rebounder on two NCAA Tournament teams. He also played professionally including for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He said the training and evaluation his son is receiving now will make him an improved player in either the pros or with the Gophers.

“Oh, for sure it’s going to make him a better player,” Richard said. “He’s spending a lot of time working on his weaknesses, trying to get better at those things, trying to become a better basketball player. You (also) continue to work on your strengths to help them continue to be your strengths.”

The Gophers lose four seniors from this year’s tournament team, and the likelihood for a successful season in 2019-2020 could well be predicated on a Coffey return. “We haven’t really thought about that (Amir’s importance),” Richard said. “At this point we are in a process of trying to find out from professionals their opinion on Amir. When we get that information we are going to use it to make a sound, intelligent decision on whether Amir comes back to school, or whether Amir stays in the draft.”

Worth Noting

NBAdraft.net, in its April 18 mock draft, didn’t include Coffey among the players it projects being picked in either the first or second rounds. The website predicted Maryland center Bruno Fernando being the first Big Ten player drafted with the Timberwolves using their first round selection at No. 10 on him.

Bryant Pfeiffer, the Minnesota United’s chief revenue officer, said the club’s new Allianz Field can potentially be expanded to a seating capacity of 25,000. The United played its first match ever in the privately financed facility earlier this month before a standing room only crowd of 18,796.

There are no immediate plans to expand the stadium but the United has 5,000 people on a waiting list for season tickets, Pfeiffer told Sports Headliners. The club capped its season tickets at 14,500 this year to leave room for single game and group sales.

A career sports marketer, who lives in Minnesota but prefers to speak anonymously, predicts the Twin Cities will have another men’s Frozen Four in six to eight years, and men’s basketball Final Four in 10 to 12.

He doesn’t think the Super Bowl will return to Minneapolis for a long time, and it’s unlikely the college football national championship game will ever be played here. Those games are played in January and February when the Minneapolis winter weather makes it difficult and even impossible to stage the kind of auxiliary outside events promoters require and prefer.

“Behind the Game,” the Twin Cities cable TV show with co-hosts Patrick Klinger and Bill Robertson, has a current interview with longtime Pioneer Press sports columnist Charley Walters. The former Edison High School athlete had a brief career with the Minnesota Twins and it was 50 years ago this month he made his Major League debut.

Condolences to family and friends of Bill Ferril who passed away last week. Bill, formerly of Wayzata, was a successful businessman and dedicated booster of Gophers basketball.

Comments Welcome

Ben Leber: Vikings Need to Be ‘Tougher’

Posted on April 16, 2019April 16, 2019 by David Shama

Ben Leber has transitioned successfully into broadcasting, and unlike many former athletes who speak into a microphone, the ex-Vikings linebacker talks honestly to his audience. As a sideline radio reporter at Vikings games and college football TV analyst, Leber is informative and fun to hear because of his candid approach.

Leber retired from the NFL in 2012 after 10 seasons but remains an authority on the Vikings. Minnesota had a disappointing 8-7-1 record last season and failed to make the playoffs after summer predictions included the team among Super Bowl favorites. What do the Vikings need to do to be better in 2019?

Leber’s answer that the Vikings need to be “tougher” may surprise some fans because the club has built its reputation with defense and is led by demanding fifth-year head coach Mike Zimmer. But Leber told Sports Headliners the Purple took a step back last year from where they had been on both defense and offense.

“I think there needs to be an attitude and a stigma that’s set early on in the (2019) season that they have to play a ferocious and intimidating style,” Leber said. “I think everybody knows they will be well coached in Xs and Os, (but) now I think they need to take it to another level and…be the dogs on the field. Be the guys that people are afraid of. I don’t think that they struck fear in anybody last year.”

Leber believes the Vikings had an intimidating identity in 2017 when they went 13-3 in the regular season and won their first playoff game in the 2018 postseason. Leber said foes were “scared” of the defensive unit, and they over game planned about how to deal with Minnesota’s No. 1 ranked NFL defense. But in the NFC title game against the Eagles, things changed. Here is Leber’s analysis of why the Vikings experienced an embarrassing 38-7 loss costing them the opportunity to play in the 2018 Minneapolis Super Bowl:

“Philadelphia basically said, we don’t care who your stars are. We don’t care what the public thinks and what the media thinks. We’re going to attack those guys and put them in vulnerable situations, and they did.

“I think that (approach by opponents) carried over…and that’s what you saw this last year (2018). Early in the season the defense especially—just sort of scrambling to try to readjust itself—that the teams were attacking them so directly.”

In Leber’s view the offense also needs “to scare people in the run game.” Running back Dalvin Cook, whose first two seasons in the NFL have been limited by injuries, could play a major success role for the Vikings because he has big play potential that few NFL rushers possess. “Anything that makes Dalvin a true weapon where defenses have to worry about a home run shot with him, that’s a threat,” Leber said.

Perception can be reality, and Leber said the likelihood of the Vikings making consistent and productive plays in the run game is important. The benefit is that when defenders respect the run, play action passes are more likely to succeed, receivers have a better chance to get open and the offense simplifies for quarterback Kirk Cousins.

In addition to broadcasting, Leber is active speaking to groups, particularly corporations. He was raised in small towns in Iowa and South Dakota, and he shares a message with audiences about experiences in early life and growing into a man.

“I would say the biggest thing that I try to drive home is football wasn’t easy for me,” Leber said about his speaking assignments. “Not because of the physical aspect of it, but because of the self limitations that I put on myself, and I think that can apply to everything.

“I grew up listening to the labels that I came from a place…where people in a small town don’t succeed. I came from a place where people like to place labels on people, and I walked away going off to college believing those things. Almost holding myself back because I was sort of scared to succeed… .”