NCAA – Page 122 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Zim Talks Division, but Goals Bigger

Posted on December 9, 2017December 9, 2017 by David Shama

A Saturday notes column kicking off with the Vikings.

Linebacker Ben Gedeon told Sports Headliners Mike Zimmer has talked to the Vikings this week about how the team can clinch the NFC North Division title and a playoff spot by winning Sunday against the Panthers, but then the coach added, “There are a lot bigger goals than just winning this week.”

Gedeon said the team reacted to Zimmer’s words by being quiet and professional. A steady approach reflects their coach. “I think that’s one thing you see with him is he is pretty consistent week to week and I think the message every week has been, ‘We haven’t done anything yet and…not looking too far ahead in the season,’ ” Gedeon said.

The Vikings have won eight consecutive games and with their 10-2 mark have the opportunity to finish the 16-game schedule with the best record in the NFC. They could have home field advantage throughout the payoffs and advance to the Minneapolis Super Bowl on February 4.

Zimmer was asked why some teams are better able to handle success than others. “I think it’s human nature. Some guys get full of themselves and go from there. Everybody is telling them how good they are and they listen.

“But it goes the other way, too. Everybody tells you how bad you are and you listen. It’s really human nature to back off of things.”

Defensive end Brian Robison, now in his 11th pro season, said he’s not surprised by the Vikings’ success. The team knew during the offseason the things that needed attention but realized the potential was present for success, he said. Included on the to-do list were how to handle “critical situations” in games.

A big year could have been derailed by the loss of starting quarterback Sam Bradford early in the season, but Case Keenum has impressed not only his teammates but NFL followers from coast-to-coast. Robison said he isn’t surprised by the performance of Keenum who came into the NFL in 2013 and has been with multiple teams before signing with Minnesota as a free agent this past offseason.

“I’ve known Case for awhile and I thought he’d been a good quarterback for a long time going back to his Houston days and even when he was in St. Louis,” Robison said. “I just think Case got caught up in a situation where he never really got that real opportunity and he was able to do it this year. He’s a smart player and he’s done some things for us this year that have helped us win ball games.”

The Vikings have used the same caterer for Friday locker-room buffets during their winning streak.

Vikings fans have been turning out in large numbers at away games this fall including in Landover, Maryland where a team spokesman estimated there were 5,000 to 10,000 cheering for Minnesota. The Skol chant prompted boos from Redskins fans in Landover. Historically, there have been large turnouts of Vikings fans for away games in Arizona and Florida.

“Get Inside the Game,” the interactive fan experience scheduled January 27-February 3 at the Minneapolis Convention Center as part of Super Bowl week activities, will charge admissions of $35 for adults and $25 for children 12 and under. Fans can experience NFL games via virtual reality technology, run a 40-yard dash against NFL players on a giant LED screen, obtain autographs from NFL players and learn football skills at clinics.

Twins general manager Thad Levine told Sports Headliners he doesn’t believe the franchise’s experience with Tsuyoshi Nishioka is a factor in negotiating with other Japanese players. Nishioka came to the Twins directly from Japan and failed with Minnesota before returning home. Now the Twins have interest in standout pitcher Yu Darvish, the native of Japan who is a free agent.

Levine said to his knowledge Darvish and his representatives won’t be affected by Nishioka’s experiences with Minnesota. He also said he didn’t think the history with Nishioka impacted the thinking of Shoehi Otani who eliminated the Twins and other teams before committing to the Angels.

Otani, often described as the Babe Ruth of Japanese baseball, is both a hitter and pitcher. Levine referred to him as a “significant prospect” who compares favorably with the best pitchers to come out of Japan.

Gopher junior Jordan Murphy, who has started the season with 10 consecutive double-doubles, isn’t projected to be selected in the two rounds of the 2018 NBA Draft, according to a mock listing by Nbadraft.net. Gary Trent Jr., the freshman at Duke and ex-Apple Valley star, is projected as the No. 15 selection in the first round. J.P. Macura, who played at Lakeville North and is a senior at Xavier, is predicted as a second round selection and the No. 55 pick.

Paolo Uggetti, writing December 6 for Theringer.com, said the Timberwolves starting lineup through 19 games logged more minutes than any other NBA team. Coach Tom Thibodeau used his starters 484 minutes, or 145 more than the No. 2 Pistons. Thibodeau, dating back to his first NBA head job with the Bulls, has long been known as a coach who likes to use his regulars for max minutes.

Dick Jonckowki said sportswriters LaVelle E. Neal and Charley Walters, along with ex-Gopher Jim Carter and former North Star Lou Nanne, will roast ESPN 1500 talk show host and Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse on January 26 at Mancini’s Char House in St. Paul. The luncheon is sponsored by the Minnesota Minute Men and Jonckowski will emcee.

It wouldn’t be surprising if Lynx star Lindsay Whalen, 35, is thinking of retirement after next season. The Minnesota native could be considering her post-playing career options. She will serve as a Timberwolves analyst for eight games on Fox Sports North starting with Tuesday night’s telecast of the 76ers game.

Whalen’s coach, Cheryl Reeve, speaks to the CORES lunch group January 11 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. Reeve has coached the Lynx to four WNBA championships in the last seven years. More information, including reservations, is available by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

Dorothy McIntyre, the former executive with the Minnesota State High School League, has a new book called Two Rings: A Legacy of Hope. She co-authored the novel with Marian Bemis Johnson. McIntyre previously helped write a book about the early years of girls high school basketball in Minnesota.

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Here’s Your College Football Finale

Posted on December 7, 2017December 7, 2017 by David Shama

The University of Minnesota season is over but my college football notebook has unfinished business. Here’s an offering of year-end thoughts about not only the U, but also the Big Ten Conference and national scenes.

Many Gophers fans remain open-minded after one season of the P.J. Fleck era—disappointing as it was at 5-7, ending with just two league wins and outscored 70-0 by the final two opponents. That’s the fair approach because it’s too soon to judge Fleck and his staff.

The 37-year-old coach has big ambitions for Minnesota and will mostly either realize them or fail based on the talent of his players. Minnesota’s 2018 recruiting class is No. 31 nationally in the 247Sports composite rankings. If that impressive ranking sticks through Signing Day on December 20, the Gophers will have their highest ranked recruiting class since 2008 and head coach Tim Brewster.

A prominent businessman, U alum and big-time Gopher booster thinks Fleck is going to be a coaching star. He told me this fall Minnesota will be on its way as soon as Fleck’s second season. The view from here: with so many inexperienced and new players in 2018, that’s not likely.

Fleck needs to not just eventually breakthrough with a couple of winning seasons, but more importantly develop a program with continued success. Can he do it?

That’s the golden question in Dinkytown. He has only been a head coach for five years. At Western Michigan he had one knockout season, his last one in 2016 when the Broncos were 13-1 and a damn good team. His first season at Western, in 2013, the record was 1-11, then came two 8-5 years.

Fleck’s combined record as a head coach is 35 wins, 29 losses. Certainly circumstances, including resources available, have much to do with a coach’s record but it’s interesting the Broncos program he left behind was just 6-6 overall and 4-4 in Mid-American Conference games this past season. Maybe the Broncos missed Fleck’s leadership that much, or perhaps he left a program still not built for sustained high level success.

The Mid-American has long been an incubator of coaches going on to big-time jobs—from Ara Parseghian to Urban Meyer. The league has also produced its share of Big Ten coaching busts including Darrell Hazell who was a one-season hit at Kent State before piling up the losses at Purdue over four years. Brady Hoke used some brief success at Ball State to move on to San Diego State for two seasons before he failed at Michigan.

Gophers’ athletic director Mark Coyle is all in on Fleck, having hired him for more than $3 million annually last January. This fall Coyle proposed extending Fleck’s original five-year contract through the 2022 season (pending Board of Regents approval next week).

The opinion here is the first attribute an athletic director needs is the skill to identify and hire the best coaches. How is Coyle doing?

It’s too soon to judge Coyle who was hired at Minnesota in 2016. However, it’s interesting that Fleck isn’t the only ex-Mid-American head coach with limited experience and success that Coyle has hired. As Syracuse’s athletic director he hired Dino Babers who coached at Bowling Green where he was 18-9 in two seasons and won the 2015 MAC championship. Babers has coached Syracuse for two seasons with 4-8 overall and 2-6 ACC records both years.

Among the best things that have happened to Gophers football this century is being placed in the Big Ten’s West Division. The power in the conference rests in the East where bullies Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State are usually better than most teams in the West—or is that all except for Wisconsin?

Mike Riley was the wrong coach for Nebraska but his presence in Lincoln was a plus for the Gophers who beat his team 54-21 this season. New hire Scott Frost looks like instant improvement for “Big Red” and leaves the West Division with only one apparent coaching soft spot, at Illinois where Lovie Smith is 5-19 (2-16 Big Ten) in two seasons.

The coaching scene in the West Division looks like it’s really settling in except for some drama at Minnesota and with the Illini. Frost, the former Nebraska quarterback who turned UCF from a 0-12 team in 2015 to an undefeated one this fall, looks like a perfect fit in Lincoln. Northwestern, with former Wildcat All-American linebacker Pat Fitzgerald heading the program with success since 2006, is already the West Division’s legacy model fit.

As head coach, Wisconsin’s Barry Alvarez resurrected Badgers football in the 1990s. As athletic director, he remains the CEO of the program. Now with Madison native and Alvarez disciple Paul Chryst as head coach the Badgers keep winning division titles, and it’s “On Wisconsin” every year.

It’s not easy to win at Iowa but head coach Kirk Ferentz has made an 18-year career as the Hawkeyes boss. Here and there Iowa has known glory including the 2016 Rose Bowl and the day this fall when they embarrassed Ohio State with a 55-24, beat down in Iowa City. Things remain stable at Iowa with Kirk’s son, Brian Ferentz, seemingly a solid bet to one day succeed his dad as head coach.

Jeff Brohm’s first season as Purdue head coach gave long suffering Boilermaker fans some bright moments including a 31-17 win over the Gophers. Purdue, with an overall 6-6 record and 4-5 in the Big Ten, will play in its first bowl games since 2012. A year ago Purdue finished 1-8 and 3-9 under Hazell. With his offensive pedigree, Brohm could be the right guy at a school that years ago was referenced as “Quarterback U.”

The Gophers are the opposite of “Quarterback U.” Minnesota’s last All-American quarterback was Sandy Stephens in 1961. The NFL last drafted a Gophers quarterback in 1972 when Craig Curry was an eighth round pick.

Quarterback Victor Viramontes, the junior college transfer from California expected to sign with Minnesota December 20, is already a social media fave of Gophers fans. He was even interviewed on WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” last Sunday before going to church.

Perhaps Viramontes, who has drawn comparisons to former Florida Heisman winner Tim Tebow, can emerge as a starter next year and also a star. The Gophers will need box office appeal not only because of this year’s record. The home schedule is not exactly a who’s who of college football—New Mexico State, Fresno State, Miami (Ohio), Iowa, Indiana, Purdue and Northwestern.

Speaking of college football’s elite, the Big Ten was left out of the four-team playoff to determine the national champion. The selection committee may well have put the best teams in the field—it’s hard to vote for the Big Ten champion Buckeyes after the debacle in Iowa City—but the playoffs do have a provincial look. Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and Oklahoma collectively cover a small part of America geographically.

The prediction here is that won’t happen in a few years because the playoff will likely be expanded from four to six teams. Champions from the five Power Conferences, plus a wild-card team would ensure more geographic balance and lessen second-guessing about who gets in the field. The motivation for going to six teams will also be to create more TV viewers and advertising revenues.

In case you didn’t notice, TV is king. The guy who spends $100 per ticket at the stadium isn’t as important as all those folks sitting at home in their recliners watching the endless parade of TV commercials. The ticket buyer is fortunate if he or she is provided more than six-days notice regarding the start time for the next game.

Meanwhile, the viewer at home may be sitting in his pajamas and enjoying all the game action up close on an Ultra HD TV. Commercials? Whoever invented the mute button is a genius.

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ESPN Expert Lauds Jordan Murphy

Posted on November 30, 2017November 30, 2017 by David Shama

Gophers junior forward Jordan Murphy is off to one of the most impressive starts in college basketball this season. He entered last night’s game against Miami averaging 22 points and 12.3 rebounds. Although No. 12 ranked Minnesota lost 86-81 to No. 10 Miami at Williams Arena, Murphy had his eighth consecutive season opening double-double in points and rebounds, totaling 17 and 14.

Murphy began this season with career averages of 11.4 points and 8.4 rebounds, and had a low profile nationally, but everything has changed. ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla, in Minneapolis for the nationally televised game last night, has been following Murphy since he arrived at Minnesota as only a three-star recruit from San Antonio.

“He is one of the most improved players in the country,” Fraschilla told Sports Headliners prior to the game. “He will be in the running for Big Ten Player of the Year because to this point in the season he has an impact on the game that few have. Even at 6-foot-6, he dominates the game inside. He’s also improved his ability to drive from the top of the key to the basket. He will be a very hard matchup for anybody in the Big Ten.”

Fraschilla described Murphy as a “nightmare” for defenders to stay in front of. The powerful 6-6, 240 athlete has strength, quickness and jumping ability. He can go through, around and over defensive players. He has strong hands, with the timing and athleticism to block shots and make steals.

“He’s a guy you have to talk about as a potential All-American candidate, if not this year, definitely next year,” Fraschilla said.

A former head coach at St. John’s and New Mexico, Fraschilla is friends with Providence coach Ed Cooley who said that in his six years leading the Friars Murphy was the most difficult player he’s had to prepare for. “That’s a heck of a compliment,” Fraschilla said. “Then they game planned for him and he still dominated the game. That tells you something. ”

Murphy photo courtesy Minnesota Athletic Communications

Murphy had 23 points and 14 rebounds in leading the Gophers to an impressive road win over Providence on November 13. Games like that have resulted in Murphy being named the Big Ten’s Player of the Week for three consecutive weeks. He is the first player since 2009 (Ohio State’s Evan Turner) to earn the award three straight weeks.

Fraschilla said it’s too early to know if Murphy can become an NBA first round draft choice, perhaps as early as next year. Years ago Murphy would have been profiled as too short to play power forward and too lacking in small forward skills to play that spot, but in today’s league there is emphasis on versatile players who can play multiple positions and possess multiple skills. “You know Draymond Green (Warriors) used to be a tweener; now we just call him an All-Star,” Fraschila said.

Fraschilla can see a future where it benefits Murphy to play four seasons with the Gophers. “He is going to be an intriguing prospect for (NBA) teams but there’s still aspects of his game he’s got to work on including his outside shooting,” Fraschilla said. “But I would not experiment (on perimeter shooting) if I were him at the expense of dominating the game inside.”

Worth Noting

Seen at last night’s Minnesota-Miami game were Vikings players Teddy Bridgewater, Adam Thielen and Jarius Wright, and club executives Bob Hagan and Lester Bagley.

Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen has three sons, including a new-born this month, and he approves of them playing football when they are high school freshmen, but not before because of potential blows to the head.

The price is six-figures but suites are available in U.S. Bank Stadium for the Minneapolis Super Bowl in February. Suite holders receive access four hours before kickoff and perks include food and beverages, and a meet-and-greet with an NFL legend.

Former Maple Grove High School basketball players Brad Davison of Wisconsin and Tywhon Pickford from Northern Iowa were honored this week by the Big Ten and Missouri Valley conferences. Davison, who averaged 15 points and two steals in three games last week, was named Big Ten co-freshman of the week along with Michigan State’s Jaren Jackson Jr. The freshman guard from Minnesota shot 50 percent in games last week and had a career high of 19 points against Milwaukee.

Pickford, who averaged 12.7 points and 12.7 rebounds last week, led the Panthers to an upset win over North Carolina State when he had 18 points and 18 rebounds. The freshman guard is the current MVC Newcomer of the Week.

The Badgers have decided not to redshirt former Lakeville North star Nathan Reuvers. The freshman forward has now played in two games for Wisconsin.

American universities have long been involved with sports but that model is different than other countries where clubs and other organizations provide opportunities for athletes. Former Gophers athletics director Joel Maturi has been volunteering his time to consult with Japanese educators interested in the American model.

Tsukuba University in Japan is going to start an athletics program next spring. Maturi was asked to be the interim head of athletics at the school for a year but he declined.

Gophers’ football coach P.J. Fleck turned 37 yesterday. November 29 is also the birthday of Iowa State coach Matt Campbell who is now 38.

Popular Pioneer Press sports columnist Charley Walters on why he doesn’t accept speaking engagements: “I abhor speaking. I am not very good at it and I got nothing to say—and I’ll probably have a toothache that day.”

If the regular season ended today, the Wild would not be one of the five teams from the Western Conference qualifying for the playoffs. The Blues, coached by former Wild boss Mike Yeo, have the best record in the conference at 17-7-1 and 35 points.

Thanks for the emails from readers who enjoyed Tuesday’s column reminiscing about Memorial Stadium. Former Gopher Paul Ramseth (1961-63) wrote that stadium memories brought “tears to my eyes.” Another reader said the Gophers lost their last game ever in the stadium when coaches didn’t realize the defense only had 10 players on the field.

Here are Sports Headliners’ power rankings of Big Ten football teams: Ohio State, Wisconsin, Penn State, Michigan State, Northwestern, Michigan, Iowa, Purdue, Indiana, Rutgers, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska and Illinois.

Quarterback has often been a position of frustration for Gophers fans. Minnesota hasn’t had a quarterback drafted by the NFL since Craig Curry in 1972.

The Lynx began a two-day garage sale this morning featuring discounted merchandise, bobbleheads, jerseys and other items. The sale, on the skyway level of Mayo Clinic Square, is from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days, and will also offer some Timberwolves items for purchase.

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