Preps – Page 34 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

U Goal to Lead League in ‘High Fives’

Posted on October 20, 2021October 20, 2021 by David Shama

New University of Minnesota basketball coach Ben Johnson puts his team in front of a Williams Arena crowd for the first time in less than two weeks when the Golden Gophers play an exhibition game against the Golden Bears of Concordia-St. Paul.

The November 1 game will provide first impressions of a roster with two returning players from last season. That total of two comes with an asterisk. Senior redshirt forward Eric Curry, who has struggled through injuries during his college career, is back and available for limited playing time but junior forward Isaiah Ihnen is out for the 2021-2022 season with a knee injury.

This Gopher team is not only new to the fans but also to themselves. The arrival of 13 new players with different backgrounds, skill sets and personalities makes Johnson’s crew among the most transitional in the college basketball world.

This roster is loaded with players who before transferring to Dinkytown were members of mid-major and lower division college programs. The collective talent, judged by past performances, looks modest. As expected, media forecasts have Minnesota finishing last in the Big Ten standings.

For the Gophers to win games, Johnson preaches unselfishness to his players. They have to sacrifice on the court for one another. Do the little things and the most important ones to make the whole better than the parts. Be a unit that plays with a togetherness the opponent can’t match.

“We need to be a team of all teams,” Johnson said. “We need to lead the league in high fives and butt slaps.”

Johnson’s roster has eight seniors, two juniors, two sophomores and three freshmen. That maturity could result in a buy-in all season to what Johnson and his staff are teaching and asking of the players.

The coach knows his team must not only be selfless, but also imposing. “We’ve gotta be the toughest team, especially this year. We don’t have a lot of room for error. Our mental toughness, our physical toughness has got to be on point.”

If the players are to perform the way Johnson intends for them, it will help if they like one another. He said the “chemistry,” including off the court, is there. The players are bonding. “Their personalities all meshed,” he said.

Johnson and his assistants are determined to have both player and team development be core values in their program. They want to see and for fans to witness the improvement of the team and individuals.

Playing together, toughness and improvement are to be bedrocks of the new program. “When fans walk away from Williams Arena, we want them to know what Minnesota basketball is all about,” Johnson said.

Worth Noting

Johnson talking about assistant coach Dave Thorson: “He is going to have a heavy voice in what we do defensively.”

Lindy’s college basketball magazine is among the media predicting a slow start to the new Gopher basketball era. “Ben Johnson’s dream job in his hometown should come with some grace from the fans,” writes Lindsey Willhite.

Lindy’s top 100 prep seniors for the class of 2022 includes at No. 63 Gopher commit Braeden Carrington of Park Center. Other Minnesotans on the list are No. 15 Michigan State commit Tre Holloman from Cretin-Derham Hall and No. 96 Boston College commit Prince Aligbe from Minnehaha Academy.

A tweet yesterday responding to a GopherHole post that Johnson’s team isn’t ranked in the AP preseason top 25: “Also, water is wet.”

The 3-0 Wild has only nine players on its roster who were with the club at the beginning of the 2019 season, including Joel Eriksson Ek who had the winning goal last night in overtime against the Jets. GM Bill Guerin, hired before the 2019 season, has reshaped the team and apparently the culture.

Owner Craig Leipold credited the fans for the energy that helped the Wild to the 6-5 win in front of a raucous crowd. He said that’s “the best marketing” the club could have.

Leipold on whether his team can go undefeated in the 82-game regular season: “I don’t think so.”

The Timberwolves open their season tonight at Target Center against the Rockets and it looks like two overriding elements will determine whether Minnesota can make the playoffs for only the second time since 2004. The Wolves core players have to avoid long stretches without being sidelined. Second, this team must go from being one of the NBA’s worst defensively to at least mediocre.

Set the ceiling for wins at 45.

The public will take a wait-and-see approach. “They’re tackling people to come to games,” a sports executive said Monday.

From the Nobody Asked Department but. …James Franklin will be the next head football coach at USC. Joe Brady will take over at LSU.

Vikings QB Kirk Cousins passed for 373 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions for a 112.6 rating in Sunday’s 34-28 overtime win against the Panthers. He now has 20 career games with at least 300 passing yards, three touchdown throws and a passer rating of 110-or-better. That surpasses the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers (19 games) for the most such games by a QB in his first 10 NFL seasons.

Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen said his superb TD catch at the pylon Sunday was in the same space of the Carolina stadium end zone where he dropped a ball in 2017.

Amani Hooker, the Titans safety from Park Center, returned from the injured list to play in Monday night’s upset win over the Bills. The 2019 fourth round draft choice is considered a potential star in Nashville.

With Billy Beane and Theo Epstein reportedly turning down the opportunity to lead the Mets, have to wonder if Twins boss Derek Falvey will receive an inquiry.

Minnesota youth of the 1960s loved the Twins but many worshipped Mickey Mantle and rooted for him when the great center fielder came to Met Stadium with the Yankees. If still alive, the Mick would be 90 years old today.

Danny Olsen, a Huntington Bank communications leader, is also an assistant boys basketball coach at Eastview High School.

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Fleck: NIL Can Be Game-Changer for U

Posted on October 5, 2021October 6, 2021 by David Shama

The NCAA approved a policy last summer allowing current and incoming college athletes the opportunity to benefit from their names, images and likenesses. Already there are scattered reports from around the country of both large and minimal amounts of money being provided to student-athletes.

Research by Sports Headliners doesn’t substantiate a lot of activity benefiting University of Minnesota athletes. The school athletic department can help educate but not arrange potential NIL opportunities for its athletes. There doesn’t appear to be much response so far from the outside community including the 16 Fortune 500 companies based in the state of Minnesota.

There certainly is potential to create a reputation that the U is a desirable NIL destination for student-athletes. The Minneapolis-St. Paul area has long been known for its successful businesses of all sizes. Many of those businesses are owned or have staff with passion for Gophers athletics.

NIL is not to be used for “under the table” payments by boosters to reward athletes for performance, or as a recruiting inducement. NIL is also not a pay-for-play tool in the sense that athletes receive a salary from their schools, making them employees. However, word is getting out about schools where athletes are profiting.

For example, at Miami (Florida) a gym owner proposed an NIL deal rewarding everyone on the Hurricanes football team with $500 per month. A University of Michigan retailer reportedly is selling football jerseys with the names of players on the back and more than $10 per shirt goes to the athlete. Paige Bueckers, the former Hopkins superstar who was named 2021 college basketball Player of the Year in her freshman season at Connecticut, is rumored to be lining up more than $500,000 in NIL money. Gable Steveson, the Gopher and gold medal winning Olympic wrestler, is still competing for the U but has (presumably) a lucrative deal with pro wrestling’s WWE.

College athletes are allowed NIL advisors to find deals such as making personal appearances, doing TV commercials or utilizing their social media platforms. Those advisors can’t be coaches from the athletes’ schools, but leaders at the U certainly recognize the potential in this market place given the vitality of the business community.

“…We have a very, very unique location of where we are, and we need to be able to use that, and we need our community to want to use that,” Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck said. “Use our student athletes and really take this program to a different level, and I think we’re very, very capable of doing that.”

Fleck considers NIL to be another major change benefitting athletes, along with things like player safety and the transfer portal. He knows NIL could be a huge catalyst for recruiting, perhaps annually boosting the Gophers into the company of recruiting classes that rank among the top 20 in the nation—a change resulting in rosters with plenty of four-star players, and perhaps a few five-stars.

Fleck is clearly excited about NIL and how it can benefit Gopher football. “I think there is great potential here for what we can become. …We just have to be incredibly creative. We have to be able to use it like everyone else. To be able to use it (as) part of recruiting student athletes to come here.

“Again, not setting those things up, but when you look at where you are and where you’re located, what resources we have around here, this can be game-changing for the University of Minnesota. It can be game-changing for where we are going in the future.”

Notes: Vikes Miss on Second Half Points

The Minnesota Vikings’ offense has no second half touchdowns in the last three games (two losses). After Sunday’s home loss to the Seattle Seahawks, head coach Mike Zimmer surprisingly said on KFAN radio he hadn’t thought about the scoring drought in the last two periods. “I’ll have to look at what we’re doing offensively at halftime,” he said.

The offense produced a crisp opening game touchdown drive in the 14-7 loss to the Cleveland Browns Sunday. Former Vikings linebacker Ben Leber, also talking on the KFAN post game show, said the early game plans of rookie offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak impress but production stalls out.

“But as the game goes on, and you have to start calling plays based on game situations, and it seems like we’re just not as creative,” Leber said. “We’re not ahead of it where we should be, where we are in the early parts of the game. …”

Leber believes blitzes and line twists by the Browns frustrated Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins and his linemen. “We’ve seen Kirk where he gets in these games and he feels the pressure before it’s really there, and I think that really had an effect on him late in the game,” Leber said.

The one-win Vikings have lost three games by a total of 11 points. That’s part of why Zimmer keeps insisting he has a “good team” despite the record, while anticipating results will turn around as the season progresses.

Viking wide receiver Justin Jefferson had six receptions for 84 yards and the team’s lone touchdown Sunday. He has 114 receptions for 1,738 yards and 10 touchdowns in 20 career games. He and Odell Beckham Jr. and A.J. Green are the only NFL players in league history with at least 100 receptions, 1,500 receiving yards and 10 touchdown catches in their first 20 games.

Vikings veteran linebacker Anthony Barr (knee injury) has yet to play in the first four games but Zimmer is optimistic about a return to the field Sunday against the Detroit Lions at U.S. Bank Stadium. “I think he’ll play this week,” Zimmer said at his news conference yesterday.

The experience of the 29-year-old allows the Vikings to do things a younger player can’t, the coach said.

Zimmer also said the coaches are talking about how to keep 33-year-old defensive end Everson Griffen fresh for the balance of the season. He’s been effective in rushing the opposing quarterback, with two sacks in three games this season.

Single game tickets remain for the Minnesota Wild home opener against the Winnipeg Jets October 19. A promotional email Monday used this subject line: “Don’t Miss (Kirill) Kaprizov Opening Night.”

Starters for the Minnesota Timberwolves in their opening preseason game last night: center Karl-Anthony Towns, forward Jaden McDaniels, guards Josh Okogie, Anthony Edwards and D’Angelo Russell. Impressions: a skilled group capable of explosive offense and more than average defense, but not an adequate rebounding unit. Note to head coach Chris Finch: start Jarred Vanderbilt in place of McDaniels to improve the offensive and defensive rebounding.

Towns needs to be an alpha defender and rebounder all season. He also must cruise through a season without being sidelined with injuries (briefly missed time during the game last night).

The 20-year-old Edwards looks taller and stronger than during his rookie season last winter. Everyone knows about his offense but he’s going to be elite defensively. He had two blocks and two steals in his team’s 117-114 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

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USC Seems Right for Fleck, But

Posted on September 21, 2021 by David Shama

There is so much interest in whether P.J. Fleck will ultimately be offered and accept the USC head coaching job that he is a betting favorite of odds-makers.

I get it.

Before the season my analysis of Power Five coaching jobs that could open up in 2021 and be of interest to the Minnesota head coach placed USC at the top. No other school was even close. The Trojan job became available last week with the surprising dismissal of Clay Helton after just two games.

College football media guru Paul Finebaum lists USC, along with Alabama, Ohio State and Texas, as the best jobs in college football. At age 40 Fleck might want to make a long stay at USC where the school is strategically placed to recruit in the talent-rich state of California. A private school, USC is expected to make all kinds of resources available to its next coach with the intent of restoring the football program to its customary elite national status.

Do the Trojans want him? I’d wager a new keyboard USC athletic director Mike Bohn has Fleck on “radar” but hasn’t made him a target yet. It doesn’t require hiring an expensive search firm to place Fleck on a list of a dozen potential candidates. His impressive 11-2 season in 2019, Minnesota’s best showing since 1967, put Fleck’s name on the national coaching map and in the database of athletic directors from Power Five conferences.

However, Fleck needs a shiny record this fall to captivate the USC fan base and almost certainly to tantalize Bohn. Fleck, now in his fifth season at Minnesota, has an overall record of 28-20 and in Big Ten games is 15-20 (only one winning season). But his overall career winning percentage of .583 is the best at Minnesota in the last 50 years. And since the beginning of the 2019 season his overall record is 16-7.

Fleck earned his best Gopher career nonconference victory last Saturday against Colorado, winning 30-0. The Gophers this season are 2-1 including a conference loss to top-10 ranked Ohio State.

Would Fleck leave Minnesota for USC where he might one day draw national mention among the most successful coaches? It would not only be much easier to win football games at USC than Minnesota, but the Trojans are likely to offer superior compensation to Fleck and also his assistant coaches and support staff. If caught in a financial bidding war, don’t bet on the U.

Fleck will take his “Row the Boat” culture anywhere he goes. It resonates deep in his being and he would promote it in La La Land both internally and in the community. Some Minnesotans still haven’t warmed to the hyper-charged coach but maybe you have noticed the more he wins, the quieter his critics are. Same thing will happen in Hollywood. If the Trojans become elite, “Row the Boat” won’t sound very corny to the cynics.

After several seasons in Minneapolis, Fleck knows what he has for assets and what he is up against. He and athletic director Mark Coyle, the man who hired him at Minnesota, remain close. The relationship between a head football coach and his boss can mean everything in determining the success of both. Fleck is a power player in the athletic department and the U is committed to his future.

The Gopher job is a challenge, starting with the limited number of quality high school prospects in the state and region. For 20 years or so, many of the best preps in Minnesota have chosen programs other than the Gophers.

Recruiting could get a boost at Minnesota if businesses become responsive in rewarding Gopher players via Name, Image and Likeness deals. Fleck knows this could be a game changer in recruiting but so far I can’t detail much support at all, including any outside organizing group trying to make this work for the Gophers. Under NCAA rules, head coaches can’t orchestrate NIL and it will be a sad story if the business community Minnesotans like to brag about doesn’t get on board with NIL.

Fleck preaches “never let your circumstances dictate your behavior.” It’s interesting to think about that when considering things that might discourage him in Minnesota. As strong as his makeup is, Fleck has feelings and wants to be liked. He notices what is going on with NIL. He has heard the media and public naysayers who criticize his personality and coaching. In his fifth season he sees empty seats in Huntington Bank Stadium and knows fan support changes on a dime.

Things can add up over the years, and not just challenges, but also positives like quality of life experiences. Fleck is a Midwestern native and seems to have embraced life in Minnesota including summers on Lake Minnetonka. He and his wife Heather have devoted a lot of volunteer time to community causes. Their relationships with organizations and friends are meaningful.

Fleck has bonded with his players here and encouraged a culture of doing for others, including in the community. Sportscaster Mark Rosen wrote on Facebook that he received handwritten notes of condolences about the recent passing of his wife from every Gopher football player.

And then there is this: if Fleck wants his coaching legacy to be that he turned Minnesota into a Big Ten power and national force then he will stay here. The USC Trojans won their last national championship in 2004. In Los Angeles, Fleck would be the guy who reignited the flame. At Minnesota, without even a Big Ten title since 1967, Fleck could be the man who made the Gophers a 21st century legacy program.

Worth Noting

During the last 50 years only Lou Holtz among nine Gopher head coaches (Fleck included) has ever departed Minnesota for another school.

The estimated attendance of Gophers fans at the Colorado game includes over 10,000. It was possibly the largest regular season road total for the Gophers in a long time. “I’ve been to about 20 road games, not including bowl games…and this was by far the loudest and energized contingent I have seen,” said Minnesotan Steve Hunegs via email.

Greg Joseph’s missed field goal Sunday has produced a media frenzy and Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Zimmer responded yesterday to a reporter’s question by saying “…let’s give this kid a break, okay?”

Vikings radio network analyst Pete Bercich reacting to a fourth quarter holding penalty on maligned left tackle Rashod Hill during a running play to the other side of the offensive line: “Oh, my God!”

Trending: media predictions are that the Gopher men’s basketball team will finish at or near the bottom of the Big Ten standings next winter.

Former Minnesota Twins outfielder Eddie Rosario, now with the Atlanta Braves, hit for the cycle on just five total pitches Sunday.

Nick Anderson, the Crosby-born Minnesota native with the Tampa Bay Rays, had an elbow injury earlier this year that sidelined him but in three short relief appearances earlier this month he has given up only one run.

The Twin Cities Dunkers will have their largest live and silent auctions ever this week. All of the auction funds go to the athletic programs at Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools.

The Gopher women’s hockey program, with seven national championships, is celebrating 25 seasons in 2021-2022. First game this fall is October 1 at home against Ohio State.

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