NCAA – Page 98 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Wolves Owner Praises Wiggins Effort

Posted on September 19, 2019September 19, 2019 by David Shama

Enjoy a Thursday notes column with a focus on Minnesota’s professional basketball franchises.

For many observers the Minnesota Timberwolves player to watch in preseason and beyond this fall will be enigmatic 24-year-old forward-guard Andrew Wiggins. The franchise opens training camp October 1, and in this town the five-year veteran’s name is synonymous with unfulfilled potential.

So flashy his nicknames have included Junior Jordan, Wiggins can prompt gasps from spectators because of his athleticism. He has a career scoring average of 19.4 and that is exceptional by NBA standards. The rest of his stat line, though, is pretty blah and his numbers in categories like assists (2.2 per game) and rebounding (4.3) hint at Wiggins not being a player who makes teammates more productive. His many critics see a high potential player who lacks the focus and intensity to be a star on both offense and defense.

Waiting on Wiggins to consistently perform at a high level seems like part of the franchise DNA. This season he gets a fresh start with new instructors, a revised coaching staff led by Ryan Saunders in his first full season as head coach. Directing from the top is Gersson Rosas, the new president of basketball operations.

How Wiggins prepared for this season may provide a clue as to things could go in the coming months. Team owner Glen Taylor told Sports Headliners he likes the approach of Wiggins who he rewarded with a five-year contract in 2017 that reportedly approaches $150 million. He said Wiggins has invested more effort this offseason than in at least a couple of years.

“Everything has really been positive,” Taylor said. “He’s stayed around (Minneapolis and) worked. Done everything we’ve asked him to do. He’s working on the things that we thought were important.

“If he has a tough year (in 2020), or a good year…he has put in the effort. That was the first big step. If he didn’t put in the effort we would really be concerned. Now we’ve gotta see, does that effort translate into results?”

When Rosas was hired last spring many Wolves fans assumed general manager Scott Layden would move on. Layden had been hired by Tom Thibodeau in 2016 when he took over as president of basketball operations and head coach. Speculation was Layden might leave, or be asked to exit, months after Thibodeau’s firing in January of this year.

After hiring Rosas, Taylor told him that Layden was under contract and to decide about his future. Rosas said he had worked with Layden in the past and respected him. “He said, ‘I got no reason to push him out. If he finds another job, if he wants to do something else he thinks would be better, I am okay with that, too.’ “

Layden remains with the Wolves with responsibilities that include evaluating personnel.

The Wolves will train in Taylor’s hometown of Mankato for the first time since 2014. Taylor’s wife Becky will prepare a lasagna dinner and the two will host a team party at their home for players and staff.

Although most media who cover the NBA don’t predict a spot in the playoffs for the Wolves, Taylor is upbeat because of new leadership with Rosas and Saunders, and promising young players like rookie guard Jarrett Culver joining Karl-Anthony Towns, one of the league’s premier centers.

Taylor was elated over the 2019 regular season performance of his other basketball franchise, the WNBA Lynx. Despite a roster reshuffle after losing star players following the 2018 season, the team made the playoffs.

The Lynx are four-time WNBA champions, with the last title coming in 2017. During the past offseason, coach and front office decision maker Cheryl Reeve asked Taylor how to approach the 2019 season, with options that included rebuilding. Taylor had seen Reeve’s past skills to acquire talent and coach the team to high performances. He didn’t want a rebuild.

Taylor told her: “…Cheryl, I got you (to do things). I’d just as soon go for it (not rebuild). I am betting on you. Let’s go for it, and we’ll help.”

Taylor got involved with “recruiting” players to Minneapolis but he downplays the importance of what he did. He told players the Lynx has a culture that distinguishes the franchise from other WNBA organizations. “So you know I did the pitch,” Taylor recalled. “It helped her but I am not implying anybody came because of me.”

It was announced yesterday that Reeve was voted by her peers WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year for her work as the Lynx’s general manager.

Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen led the team in receptions and receiving yards against Green Bay last Sunday, with five catches for 75 yards. He holds the franchise record for most receptions against the Packers, coming up with 12 in two different games.

Thielen, a Minnesota native, was asked if his focus or intent is different in the rivalry games against the Packers. “No, no, not at all,” he told Sports Headliners. “It’s the National Football League. If your emotions aren’t the same for every game, you got a problem. You only have 16 games. You gotta bring it every week.”

Thielen has 212 receptions since 2007, tied for fourth most in the NFL.

The Vikings, 1-1 after their loss to the Packers, play the Oakland Raiders Sunday in Minneapolis. The two franchises met in Super Bowl XI, with the Raiders winning 32-14, and giving the Vikings one of their four Super Bowl losses. Ten individuals associated with that Raiders team, including owner Al Davis and coach John Madden, have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Defending WCHA regular season and playoff champion Minnesota State is the favorite to repeat as league champions in the 10 member conference, receiving nine first-place votes in the eighth annual Mankato Free Press WCHA Preseason Coaches’ Poll and all 10 votes in the WCHA Preseason Media Poll.

Minnesota Twins Luis Arraez and Mitch Garver appear at the Fan HQ Ridgedale store on September 21 and 22 respectively. The Minnesota Wild’s Zach Parise is scheduled there September 30. Details on celebrity appearances at Fanhqstore.com.

The 3-0 football Gophers, who are one of five Big Ten teams with byes this weekend, rank No. 13 in the country in average of time possession at 34:36. Wisconsin is No. 1 at 37:13.

CollegeAD.com reported that through Sunday tickets sold on Vivid averaged $611 for next Saturday’s Georgia-Notre Dame game in Athens. That’s the most expensive college ticket this season, CollegeAd said on Wednesday. By contrast the average for the Wisconsin-Michigan game coming up in Ann Arbor is $184.

September birthdays: Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino turned 37 Monday, and former University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler will be 63 next Monday.

Prep football coaching milestones: Jay Loven, Upsala/Swanville Area, and Tim Kirk, Mountain Lake Area, won their 100th career games last Friday. Loven’s career record is 100-55 in 16 seasons as a head coach at Upsala/Swanville. Kirk is now 100-71 in 17 seasons as a head coach at Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin and Mountain Lake Area.

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Craig Leipold’s House Dodges Dorian

Posted on September 5, 2019September 5, 2019 by David Shama

Enjoy a Thursday notes column with news about the Wild, Twins, Gophers and Vikings.

Dorian, the hurricane that has ravaged parts of the Caribbean this week including the Bahamas, didn’t damage Great Exuma Island in the Bahamas where Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold has a home. Abaco Island in the Bahamas, located about 200 miles from Leipold’s home, was devastated. Leipold was told there was a lot of rain in recent days on Great Exuma, but no property damage.

“We were lucky we dodged it,” Leipold told Sports Headliners yesterday. “The next one, who knows?”

Leipold is looking forward so much to the start of the Wild’s 2019-2020 season he has decided to postpone his fourth hip replacement until January. He was scheduled for September surgery on his right hip but with the doctor’s approval decided to wait until next year.

The Twins have a Cleveland stopper in right-hand starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi. He is 2-0 this season against the Indians who come to Minneapolis for a three-game series starting Friday. He has a 1:04 ERA in 17.1 innings pitched versus the Indians, who as of this morning are 5.5 games behind the Twins in the race to win the American League Central Division title. The Indians lead the season series so far 7-6.

In Odorizzi’s last Cleveland start he pitched 5.2 shutout inngs with six strikeouts. That August 10 win at Target Field was pivotal because it broke a first place tie with the Indians and provided Minnesota a one game lead in the division.

Odorizzi has a career high 14 wins (14-6 record) and will make a Saturday start in the upcoming series. In his last seven starts, he is 3-1 with a 3.00 ERA.

A spokesman in the Twins ticket office said yesterday only ballpark access tickets ($25) remain for Saturday night’s game, with greater inventory available for Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.

The Twins will make an announcement Monday regarding playoff tickets for the general public. Details have already been provided to season ticket holders. The club is also renewing season tickets for 2020 and selling to new account holders.

The football Gophers are 1-6 in games on the West Coast (in California, Oregon, Washington) during the last 50 years. The only win came at Oregon State two years ago in coach P.J. Fleck’s first season. Saturday night Minnesota plays at Fresno State, with a 9:30 p.m. Minneapolis time kickoff and temps expected in the 80s.

Talking on his weekly KFAN Radio show Tuesday, Fleck said he will keep his players on Central Daylight time and not reset watches while in California. For preparation, the heat has been turned up in the Gophers’ practice facility.

Fresno State is one of the best teams in the Mountain West Conference, a league that experienced an impressive opening weekend several days ago. Fresno State lost but was competitive at USC (31-23), while rival power Boise State defeated Florida State from the ACC in Tallahassee. The Mountain West’s Hawaii, Nevada and Wyoming staged upset wins over three Power Five teams, Arizona, Purdue and Missouri respectively.

Minnesota has been one of the least penalized teams in the nation dating back to the 2017 season, Fleck’s first with the Gophers. In the past 26 games the Gophers have been penalized 93 times for 888 yards. In 2016 Minnesota was penalized 88 times for 743 yards in 13 games.

SI.com’s NFL power rankings of 32 teams posted on Tuesday offered this top 10: Patriots, Chiefs, Saints, Rams, Eagles, Cowboys, Packers, Falcons, Steelers and Chargers. The Vikings ranked No. 14, with the Bears at 11. NFC North rivals the Packers, Bears and Vikings made the top 15, with the division’s fourth team, the Lions, at No. 22.

The Vikings, 8-7-1 last season, start their regular season Sunday at home against a Falcons team that also disappointed in 2018 with their 7-9 record. The Falcons have perhaps the NFL’s best unit of wide receivers led by the great Julio Jones, but quarterback Matt Ryan, 34, doesn’t have a strong arm and that may cue the Vikings safeties to play nearer the line of scrimmage and more easily stop the run.

Not much is being said about it, but the Vikings seem likely to often use a two tight ends formation this season with Kyle Rudolph and Irv Smith Jr. Such a scheme changes the technique of defensive linemen and makes them wonder whether the offense will attack with a run or pass.

Vikings running back Dalvin Cook is counted on to have a breakout season after being held back by injuries in 2017 and 2018. Statistics support his reputation as a playmaker. He has a career rushing average of 4.7 yards, with nine runs of 20-plus yards or more. As a pass receiver he is averaging 7.7 yards, with six receptions of 20-plus yards.

Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer after being asked what needs to happen for this season to be a success: “I would say the biggest thing is…if we go out and we play really smart football, (and) we don’t beat ourselves. We control the explosive plays in the game, on both sides of the ball. We have them and they (opponents) don’t. …I think if we are effective in the last 10 minutes of the fourth quarter in ball games, I think we’ll be good.”

New this year at U.S. Bank Stadium is having a young Vikings fan push the button that opens the massive doors and allows fresh air into the facility. The facility opened in 2016 and late last month was ranked No. 1 among NFL stadiums by Dan Graziano writing for SI.com.

Former Viking Adrian Peterson, now with the Redskins, is tied with Jim Brown for the fifth most rushing touchdowns in NFL history, 106 each. The all-time leader is Emmitt Smith with a 164.

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College Football Weekend a Charmer

Posted on September 3, 2019September 3, 2019 by David Shama

Opening weekend of college football is like Christmas for me, only better. It’s great fun checking in on the televised games, and if I become bored I can head for a break at the swimming pool. Try diving off the outdoor high-board around Christmas time in Minnesota.

FBS Minnesota and FCS South Dakota State got things rolling last Thursday night. FCS opponents are usually scheduled by Power Five Conference teams because they are softer than political campaign promises. The Gophers, though, got the opposite against FCS powerhouses South Dakota State and North Dakota State.

The somewhat wise guy suggestion here is to try lesser FCS teams for the Minnesota opener like maybe Presbyterian from the Big South, or “The Boy & Girl” (William & Mary of the Colonial Athletic Association)—but not the Jackrabbits and Bison who hang out together in the competitive Missouri Valley Conference.

The Jacks know how to schedule nonconference games. After losing a game they should have won with the Big Ten Conference Gophers, they’re at home next Saturday against Long Island University from the Northeast Conference. Make SDSU a big favorite in that game!

If you’re picking up a favorable attitude toward the Jacks, I confess. The program’s boss is John Stiegelmeier, and I like coaches old enough to collect Social Security.

As for the mighty Bison—winners of seven FCS national championships in eight years—they destroyed Butler, 57-10, last Saturday in the second college football game ever played at Target Field. The game was the NDSU head coaching debut of Matt Entz. He’s the program’s third head guy since the national title run started and that speaks to how they know the “secret sauce” in Fargo.

It was encouraging to see the Gophers announce a near capacity crowd Thursday night. Minnesota fans, though, are a casual bunch. They routinely head for the exits in the second half, even when the game is close like against South Dakota State. At Wisconsin games, fans do the “Jump Around” between the third and fourth quarters. In Minneapolis they head for the dorms, the bars and the interstate.

College football is celebrating its 150th birthday in 2019. In the sport’s first game ever, Rutgers defeated Princeton “six goals to four goals” in November of 1869. The Rutgers program hasn’t done a lot to distinguish itself since then, and why the school was welcomed into the Big Ten a few years back is something that makes a lot of the league’s fans wince. Painful, too, was watching the Scarlet Knights start their game down 14-0 to UMass, an awful FBS program.

Rutgers (48-21 winners) was one of three Big Ten teams to play on Friday night. Michigan State looked intimidating while beating up on Tulsa, 28-7. Coach Mark Dantonio’s teams most always play punishing football. He demands it. The guy scowls and I jump a foot, even while watching on TV! Wisconsin embarrassed South Florida, 49-0, to give the Big Ten a Friday sweep.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago the Badger program could be on the decline. I am sure Bucky used my words as bulletin board material for motivation. And, yes, South Florida coach Charlie Strong’s seat is warm in Tampa, and it’s not because of the weather.

Hey, is there any better way to start Saturday morning than by watching college football GameDay on ESPN? Let’s put it this way: if I got stuck in an elevator for a couple of hours who better for companions than Lee Corso, Rece Davis and Kirk Herbstreit? Corso is a character who does strange things like picking Utah to make the playoff finals, and he brings down the house when he dons a mascot head to pick the winner of a featured game. Davis and Herbstreit are charmers with football IQ’s through the roof.

GameDay’s Desmond Howard can ride in another elevator. Not big on the Des and part of it might be he is a Michigan alum. Hard to forget the uncivil treatment our travel party received from Big Blue fans when we were at a Michigan game years ago. Apparently it was offensive to wear maroon and gold clothing.

Who says there is no security in college football coaching? Kirk Ferentz began his Iowa head coaching career in 1999 and he is still the Hawkeye boss man. Before Ferentz, Hayden Fry was the Iowa head coach from 1979-1998. That’s two head coaches in 40 years. I would tell you how many the Gophers have burned through but I can’t find my calculator.

I am picking the Hawkeyes and Northwestern to tie for the Big Ten West Division title. The Hawks might have top 10 future NFL draft choices in linemen A.J. Epenesa and Tristan Wirfs. Less is usually more at Iowa where Ferentz and staff make the most of their available talent. A big year for the Hawks gets the minds of farmers off crop prices. Iowa defeated Miami (Ohio) Saturday night, 38-14.

Ohio State put up 28 points on Florida Atlantic by midway through the first quarter and won the game 45-21 Saturday. Oh, my, a tough day for Bloomington Jefferson alum Lane Kiffin who brings his Owls to TCF Bank Stadium for Minnesota’s opener in 2020. As for the Buckeyes, they remain the gold standard of Big Ten football. How high is the bar in Columbus? Well, last year the Bucks won the Big Ten title, won the Rose Bowl and finished a 13-1 season while an air of disappointment hung over Columbus because their beloveds weren’t invited to the playoffs and to have a chance to win the national title.

What was the worst sign I saw a fan hold up over five days of viewing? “Idaho isn’t even a state.”

Honest. Saw it prior to the Penn State-Idaho game on Saturday.

Best mascot in the country? Gotta go with Sports Illustrated’s online August 12 ranking that chose Georgia’s English Bulldog, Uga.

The best game I watched during my college football weekend was Iowa State’s three overtime 29-26 win over Northern Iowa in Ames. The Big-12 Cyclones, a top 25 ranked FBS team, had to rally on their home field to tie the game at 13-13 and head for the first overtime. Substitute walk-on kicker Matthew Cook, a true freshman, made all four of his field goal attempts, including one from 50 yards for FCS Northern Iowa—another member of the Valley.

My finale was Monday night when Notre Dame played at Louisville. During the weekend I wondered whether Fighting Irish and Green Bay Packers legend Paul Hornung might attend the game. I can’t confirm his attendance, but move to the head of the class if you know Louisville was Hornung’s hometown when he went off to Notre Dame in the early 1950s. I believe he still lives there.

After opening weekend the Big Ten had won 12 of 14 games (most by big margins), but lost two of three on the road. Out West Nevada beat Purdue, 34-31, on a last minute field goal and Northwestern lost 17-7 at Stanford. The Gophers, too, head West later in the week to play at Fresno State. Be warned!

That’s my opening weekend college football saga, with just one request for assistance. Several months ago I lost a TV remote in the family room. No kidding, honest to Goldy! Never did find it. Help.

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