Preps – Page 111 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Dutcher Predicts U NCAA Tourney Invite

Posted on January 29, 2014January 29, 2014 by David Shama

Jim Dutcher told Sports Headliners he expects the Gophers — a team predicted to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten standings — to make the NCAA Tournament in March.

The Gophers, 4-4, have been a surprise team in the Big Ten even though they let a bull’s-eye opportunity for a win get away on Sunday when the Cornhuskers, now 2-5, defeated Minnesota 82-78 in Lincoln. Dutcher didn’t see that coming but he still believes the Gophers will win enough games to make the tournament, even without injured leading scorer Andre Hollins who is out indefinitely with an ankle injury.

The Big Ten will likely have the highest (or near highest) RPI of any conference and Dutcher said that means the tournament selection committee will be looking for six Big Ten teams. “There’s enough winnable games left that they can still get to 10 games (wins),” the Gophers former head coach said. “Even if they get to nine they’re going to make the tournament because they’re going to want to take a minimum of six Big Ten teams. …The Gophers would have to fall flat on their faces not to finish in the top six (in the conference).”

The Gophers play Northwestern, 3-5, at home on Saturday. Then go to Purdue, 3-4, February 5 before playing Indiana, 3-4, in Minneapolis on February 8.

“They should be favored in all three of them (those games),” Dutcher said. “Then they got a home game coming with Penn State (1-6). They got a home game with Illinois coming (2-6). You gotta think that they can win those games. So they wouldn’t have to really come out (and) upset a bunch of people to get into the tournament.”

Dutcher said the Gophers, now with an overall record of 15-6, can win the next three games without Hollins. He knows, however, the value of a player he describes as the team’s best offensively. “They probably would love to have him available on the fifth of February at Purdue,“ Dutcher said.

Dutcher believes the Gophers have “much better personnel” than Northwestern. He also said Purdue “struggles to score points” but Indiana will be a more difficult game and one that could go either way.

“I think 10 (wins) still is a reasonable number but they’re going to have to guard somebody,” Dutcher said. “They can’t give a guy like Petteway 35 points.”

Terran Petteway led Nebraska in scoring with a career high on Sunday night. The Cornhuskers made 50 percent of their field goal attempts in the game. And in Minnesota’s previous road loss, Iowa converted 49.2 percent of its field goal attempts during a high scoring 94-73 game.

Dutcher, who coached the Gophers to the 1982 Big Ten title, pointed out that in the Nebraska game point guard DeAndre Mathieu had nine turnovers. “He didn’t make good decisions,” Dutcher said.

Last year’s Gophers were 8-10 in the Big Ten during the regular season and finished seventh in the conference. That club was 20-12 overall after the Big Ten Tournament and received an NCAA Tournament invitation.

Worth Noting

Isaiah Gentry, the 6-4 wide receiver from Cincinnati Moeller High School, verbally committed to the Gophers last night. He is expected to sign his National Letter of Intent on February 5.

Iowa State hired former Kansas head coach Mark Mangino as offensive coordinator earlier this month. Mangino, who once was offensive coordinator at Oklahoma and made Kansas a top 10 team, will be Jeff Jones’ coordinator if the Washburn High School Rivals.com four-star player decides to attend school in Ames and not Minneapolis.

Nikola Pekovic scored 22 points when the Wolves defeated the Pelicans earlier this month. That was one of 17 times this season he has totaled more than 20 points but with bursitis in his right ankle sidelining him indefinitely he won’t be on the court tonight when the Wolves and Pelicans play at Target Center.

The DeLaSalle High School basketball team has high profile players in Reid Travis and Jarvis Johnson but Sacar Anim has been leading the team in scoring average. Ryan James, reporting for Gopherillustrated.com, wrote on Monday the Islanders’ wing is averaging a team best 15.9 points per game and being recruited by Creighton, Iowa, Nebraska, Northern Iowa and Wisconsin.

Taste of the NFL, a Twin Cities-based non-profit organization dedicated to reducing hunger in America, has raised more than $14 million dollars for local and national food banks, providing more than 112 million meals. This year’s event will take place Saturday, on the eve of the Super Bowl, at Pier 12 of the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Taste of the NFL was created in 1992 by Cuisine Concepts co-owners Wayne Kostroski and Mark Haugen, the restaurateurs from Goodfellow’s, Tejas, Bar Abilene and the Franklin Street Bakery.

In recognition of the Taste of the NFL, Kostroski rang the closing bell yesterday for the New York Stock Exchange.

Twins president Dave St. Peter said the estimated local economic impact from next July’s MLB All-Star Game is about $85 million.

A hockey source told Sports Headliners he expects Minneapolis-St. Paul to host an outdoor NHL game in the “next couple of years.” The Red Wings used Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor for their game with the Maple Leafs while Comerica Park in Detroit was the site of other hockey events as part of the NHL Winter Classic promotion. A similar setup could be done here using both TCF Bank Stadium and Target Field.

The WCHA hopes to have a new commissioner by the end of March to replace retiring Bruce McLeod.

Not sure if the thought warms you but the “World’s Toughest Rodeo” will be indoors at Xcel Energy Center Friday and Saturday nights.

KSTP TV sports director Joe Schmit has written a book, Sudden Impact: Stories of Influence through Purpose, Persistence & Passion. The book includes stories about Larry Fitzgerald, Joe Mauer and Paul Molitor. More at Joeschmit.com.

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RB Jones ’50-50′ about Gophers-Cyclones

Posted on January 27, 2014January 27, 2014 by David Shama

Jeff Jones, the Rivals.com four-star running back from Washburn High School, met at his Minneapolis home late yesterday with Gophers coach Jerry Kill. Jones committed verbally to the Gophers after Signing Day last year but is undecided whether he will attend Minnesota or Iowa State.

“I think it’s 50-50,” Jones told Sports Headliners last night. “At this point I don’t know.”

Jones described Iowa State’s head coach Paul Rhodes as a “great guy” and a leader who is enthusiastic. But he likes Kill, too. “He cares about his players a lot,” Jones said.

Kill made a good impression with Jones and family members last night. Kill had them laughing including when he said no flash would be necessary for photos because of his bald head.

Kill’s visit to the Jones home lasted about two hours. It was the most recent of several contacts the two have shared. “I feel I know him,” Jones said.

The 2014 National Signing Day will be February 5. Jones plans to wait until then to announce his decision and sign his national letter of intent. He will do so at Washburn with other Millers who will announce college plans.

Jones said his college choice will primarily be determined by him and he is unsure what will be the deciding factors.

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Dutcher Won’t Judge Pitino Too Soon

Posted on January 3, 2014January 3, 2014 by David Shama

Jim Dutcher is impressed with Richard Pitino but told Sports Headliners not to completely judge the first-year Gophers coach for a couple of years until results of his recruiting will be apparent.

Dutcher, the 1982 Minnesota Big Ten championship coach, said Pitino and his staff “did everything right” when the Gophers were a surprising 11-2 during the nonconference season. Last night in their Big Ten opener the Gophers impressed with their energy and rebounding (38 to 24 advantage) but couldn’t make enough plays late in the game against Michigan, losing 63-60.

“He’s done everything you could hope for,” Dutcher said prior to the Michigan game. “There’s a reason to be optimistic but it’s too early to be really optimistic. We don’t know. Tubby had undefeated (and one loss) nonconference seasons. Then the conference was a whole different deal.”

Pitino wasn’t hired to replace Gophers coach Tubby Smith until early April of last year. It was a surprise move by athletic director Norwood Teague because the then 30-year-old Pitino had only one year of college head coaching experience — with low profile Florida International of the Sun Belt Conference.

Pitino didn’t seem like a logical choice to skeptical fans. Doubts surfaced because Pitino looked like an afterthought with established coaches like Shaka Smart, Buzz Williams and Flip Saunders reportedly turning the job down.

Was hiring Pitino a good decision? “I’ll tell you after he’s had two recruiting classes,” Dutcher answered. “The secret to winning in any program is getting good players. I don’t care how good a coach you are, if you don’t have good players you’re not going to do well. Whether this staff can recruit, we won’t know that for a couple (or) three years. We won’t know how successful they’re going to be.”

Smith was hired after a long run of success at Kentucky including a national championship. Both his coaching and recruiting, though, faltered over six seasons at Minnesota. He was fired after compiling a 46-62 regular season Big Ten record.

“The jury is definitely out (on Pitino),” Dutcher said. “When people ask me, I say we don’t know. They were having parades and putting up banners when Tubby was hired, and you know where it was five years later.”

And then there is this: Pitino was asked about building his program during the postgame news conference last night. “I think it’s all about recruiting,” he said.

Worth Noting

The Gophers reported 11,800 tickets sold as of this morning for Sunday’s Purdue home game. Williams Arena capacity is 14,625.

Timberwolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders was at last night’s Minnesota-Michigan game to watch his twin daughters, Kim and Rachel, perform for the Gophers national championship dance team.

The new Vikings stadium scheduled to open in 2016 will have many enhancements compared to the Metrodome but for the general public none may be appreciated more than the restrooms. The new stadium will have 979 restroom fixtures compared with 435 at the dome.

Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin all lost bowl games because of ineffective passing games and not being able to come from behind at halftimes. Gophers coach Jerry Kill is rebuilding the Gophers the way he planned, making defense priority No.1. Since the 2011 season the Gophers are 0-21 in games when trailing at halftime. Look for that to change next fall.

Washburn running back Jeff Jones was the MVP for Team Nitro in yesterday’s Under Armour All-America Game in St. Petersburg, rushing for 72 yards and a touchdown, according to Espn.com. Team Highlight defeated Team Nitro 31-21 in the prep all-star game. Jones has verbally committed to Minnesota although he is drawing more attention from college recruiters and was offered a scholarship this week by Florida.

Eric Curry, who is both a college basketball referee and VP of sales at Sun Country Airlines, is engaged to Gophers assistant women’s basketball coach Kelly Roysland. The two became engaged late last year and are finalizing a wedding date.

The 18^th annual Timberwolves Shootout’s first game tomorrow (9:15 a.m.) matches the Grand Rapids Thunderhawks against the Lakeville North Panthers. Lakeville is led by senior J.P. Macura, a Xavier recruit who has been averaging 37.4 points per game. The Thunderhawks’ starters include junior Alex Illikainen who could finish his high school career as the state’s all-time leading rebounder.

The Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders and Bettendorf (Iowa) Bulldogs will play in the second game at 11 a.m. Then at 12:45 p.m. the DeLaSalle Islanders meet the St. Rita Mustangs from Chicago. The Islanders’ Reid Travis, who averaged 26.1 points per game last year, has yet to play this season because of a broken bone in his foot. The Mustangs are led by Victor Law, a Northwestern signee who is ranked No. 66 by ESPN in the class of 2014 and junior Charles Matthews, ranked No. 11 in the 2015 class, and has received offers from Duke, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan State and Ohio State.

The Shootout’s last game matches the Apple Valley Eagles against the Blue Valley Northwest Huskies from Overland Park, Kansas starting at 2:30 p.m. Apple Valley’s Tyus Jones has been averaging 28.8 points per game this season. The Huskies’ starters include Clayton Custer, an Iowa State signee and two-time first team Class 6A selectee.

Prep basketball authority Ken Lien thinks the final game of the day could be the best with two teams that are defending state champions. “Blue Valley really has a traditionally strong program,” he said.

All Shootout games are at Target Center. Fans with tickets to watch the Timberwolves versus Oklahoma City game at 7 p.m. tomorrow night are admitted free to the Shootout. Otherwise, tickets to watch all four games are available tomorrow for $15 at the Target Center box office.

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