Preps – Page 67 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Football Coaches Make a Hit on Cancer

Posted on April 8, 2018April 9, 2018 by David Shama

A Sunday notes column leading off with news from the weekend Minnesota Football Coaches Clinic.

Randy Shaver thanked Minnesota football coaches on Friday night for raising $1.3 million since the Tackle Cancer initiative began in 2012. “You’re changing people’s lives,” the KARE 11 newscaster told coaches at the clinic.

Minnetonka football coach Dave Nelson contacted Shaver six years ago with the idea of having the state’s prep coaches raise money for the Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund. Since then not only high school coaches but also the Vikings and college programs including the Gophers have raised monies for the Tackle Cancer effort. In 2017 a record $311,475 dollars was generated.

Shaver told the audience that in June it will be 20 years since he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s. As a cancer survivor he has helped fund a range of issues related to the disease including prevention, research and treatment.

Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck told clinic attendees about research on college and NFL games between 1950 and 2017 that supports the old adage “most games are lost, not won.” The research showed 78 percent of the time teams with the fewest turnovers and those with fewer than six missed tackles won their games. “The margin for error is so small,” Fleck said.

Talking about how the game of football is under attack, former Vikings center Matt Birk said the sport ranks fourth in causing concussions, and that it is not an activity for everybody. “I think we need to stop apologizing for football,” Birk said at the clinic.

Birk, who played at Harvard and also in the NFL, said the most fun he experienced in football was in high school competing for Cretin-Derham Hall.

Former Gopher assistant coach Dan O’Brien is leaving his position at Sun Country Airlines and starts full time April 30 at St. Thomas Academy where he will work in administration and be the new head football coach.

A recent visitor to Fleck’s new football complex needed directions from a Gopher player who not only was helpful but wished the outsider an “elite day.”

There are no remaining spring practices open to the public so the last opportunity to see Fleck’s Gophers will be Saturday’s annual Spring Game starting at noon in TCF Bank Stadium. Admission is free.

Illinois and Michigan State held their Spring Games yesterday. The other 12 Big Ten teams will stage their games by end of day next Saturday.

The Gophers open their schedule at home against New Mexico State on Thursday, August 30 but that game won’t command the attention of most Big Ten fans. Instead of playing nonconference opponents, Big Ten teams Northwestern and Purdue will meet in West Lafayette that same night Minnesota opens its season.

The Gophers will play a rare Friday night game October 26 at home against Indiana.

Fleck will speak at the Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge Minneapolis Gala May 4 at the Hilton Minneapolis.

The Minnesota Football Coaches Association (MFCA) inducted five individuals into the high school division of its Hall of Fame Saturday night: Mike Belseth, Breckenridge; Steve Fedie, Orono; Doug Torgerson, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City; Ray Tri, Eden Valley-Watkins; and Terry Turek, LeSeuer-Henderson. Inducted into the citation division was Mike Bialka from Brainerd.

Leo Pohlkamp of Pierz is the 2017 MFCA Coach of the Year. Pohlkamp, who was presented with the award Saturday night, coached Pierz to the Class 3A state title last November. His 2015 Pierz team also won the 3A championship.

Jamal James of Minneapolis headlines a boxing card at the Minneapolis Armory on Friday night in a welterweight match against Abel Ramos from Casa Grande, Arizona. James, 22-1, is ranked No. 4 in the world by the World Boxing Association.

The fight will be televised by FS-1 and is the first pro boxing at the renovated Armory in 45 years.

Ryan Larson, the competitive point guard from Cretin-Derham Hall who Gopher fans have been hoping makes his way to Dinkytown, has received a scholarship offer from Northern Iowa.

Transfer watch: Will freshman guard Jamir Harris, who the Gophers announced is transferring, end up at Connecticut? With the Huskies he could rejoin assistant coach Kimani Young, the ex-Minnesota staffer who recruited Harris to the Gophers.

It is good news for Apple Valley’s Tre Jones that Duke freshman point guard Trevon Duval declared for the NBA Draft last week—despite some unimpressive numbers. The departure makes more certain Jones, the acclaimed local point guard and 2018 Minnesota Mr. Basketball, will start for the Blue Devils next season.

Duval started 34 of 37 games for last season, averaging 10.3 points per game while making 43 percent of his field goals (29 percent of threes) and converting 60 percent of his free throws. Duval, who averaged almost six assists per game, is projected to be a late first round draft choice by Nbadraftt.net.

The website projects former Apple Valley star Gary Trent Jr. will be drafted No. 16 in the first round. Trent announced yesterday he also will be leaving Duke after one season. He was third on the team in scoring at 14.5 points per game. The shooting guard made an impressive .402 percent of his three point attempts.

Best score reported from last Thursday’s Sports Headliners Twins Trivia Quiz was 20 of 25 correct.

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Twins Likely to Avoid Final 4 Conflict

Posted on April 3, 2018April 4, 2018 by David Shama

A Tuesday notes column leading off with Twins news.

The Twins have requested they not be scheduled for home games at Target Field during the April 6-8, 2019 Final Four in Minneapolis. Club president Dave St. Peter said after consulting with Final Four organizers and considering potential issues with hotel rooms, traffic and other concerns the Twins have requested that Major League Baseball schedule the team on the road during that early period in April.

The club has yet to receive the 2019 MLB schedule but it sounds like their request will be honored. “It will be very likely that we will be on the road during the Final Four next year,” St. Peter told Sports Headliners yesterday.

Because of the request to avoid the early April dates, the Twins’ 2019 regular season opening could begin at home outdoors in March. St. Peter said MLB teams may open the schedule on March 28. Since the opening of Target Field on 2010, the Twins have been scheduled at home to start the season just once.

St. Peter also said suspended starting shortstop Jorge Polanco is at the Twins’ complex in Fort Myers where he is playing in what’s called “extended spring training games.” Polanco and others in the Twins system who have yet to be assigned to a specific team in the minor leagues play against similar competition from other organizations.

St. Peter said Polanco, who is suspended for using a performance-enhancing substance, will play for one or more Twins minor league teams starting 20 days out from the end of his 80 game suspension.

Gophers 1968-1969 basketball captain Al Nuness arranged a trip in 2010 with cousins Tyus and Tre Jones to the Final Four in Indianapolis. At that time Tyus was in eighth grade and Tre was a grade schooler. Back then no one could have predicted the basketball success the Jones brothers have achieved eight years later.

Tre, a senior now at Apple Valley, was named the state’s Mr. Basketball last week and played in the prestigious McDonald’s All-American Game featuring the best prep players in the nation. Those are two honors Tyus earned in 2014. The Mr. Basketball Award dates back to the 1970s, and Tre and Tyus are the only brothers to win the award.

Tyus and Tre led Apple Valley to Class 4A state championships playing for the Eagles. Tyus was named the 2015 Final Four most outstanding player when Duke won the national championship and a few months later found himself on the roster of his hometown NBA Timberwolves. Next fall Tre joins a loaded with talent Duke team that could be consensus preseason favorites to win the 2019 Final Four in Minneapolis.

So it looks like Nuness, who took his young cousins to Indy eight years ago to inspire them, might be able to witness another headline moment in 2019. He saw in Indy how the two youngsters studied the Final Four players in 2010 and the trip certainly made an impression. “We went to practices and they wouldn’t leave,” Nuness has said.

Tyus, who turns 22 next month, is one of only six players who were on the Wolves’ roster in April of last year. The club has nine new players including injured forward Jimmy Butler who the Wolves hope will return soon from his knee surgery and at least be available for the playoffs if Minnesota can qualify.

The Wolves have sold out 15 games at Target Center this season, the most since 2003-2004 when they last qualified for the postseason.

The Pirates’ Jameson Taillon, who overcame testicular cancer last year, earned his first win this season after starting against the Twins yesterday. Taillon, 8-7 with a 4.44 ERA last season, was the second MLB overall draft choice in 2010 and debuted with the Pirates in 2016.

The Twins haven’t had success bringing over high profile players from Japan but it looks like a different story for the Angels and rookie pitcher-DH Shohei Ohtani. He won his MLB pitching debut Sunday against the Angels, showing off a 100-miles per hour fast ball, according to NBC Sports California who reported 240 Japanese media were at the game in Oakland against the A’s.

It’s a good guess former Gopher coach Tubby Smith’s salary at his new position with High Point University in North Carolina is paying him less than $200,000 annually. A financial report on athletics from the University for school year June 1, 2013 through May 31, 2014 listed head basketball coach Scott Cherry’s compensation at $89,601. The same report listed basketball revenues during that period at about $1.9 million and operating expenses of approximately $1.6 million.

Smith, who played at High Point, is at his third school since being fired by the Gophers in March of 2013. Smith earned seven-figure compensation while coaching at Minnesota, Texas Tech and Memphis where he was dismissed last month and reportedly received a settlement of over $9 million.

The Gophers are offering discounted season tickets for football and men’s basketball and hockey to U alums who have graduated within the last five years. Pricing per ticket is $199 for football, $249 for basketball and $399 for hockey.

Fans can scout Minnesota Wild unsigned draft picks Nicholas Boka (Michigan), Avery Peterson (UMD) and Nick Swaney (UMD) in the NCAA Frozen Four April 5-7 at Xcel Energy Center. UMD plays Ohio State in the first semifinal the evening of April 5, while Michigan meets Notre Dame in the other semifinal. Both games will be televised on ESPN2. The championship game the night of April 7 will be seen on ESPN.

The Wild, who qualified for the playoffs last night, are one of only two NHL teams (Pittsburgh is the other) that has made the postseason six consecutive years.

Gopher baseball coach John Anderson, who labels Indiana as the favorite for the Big Ten title but sees his team as a contender, speaks to the CORES lunch group May 10 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. More information is available by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

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Wolves Owner Fine with Wiggins

Posted on March 18, 2018March 18, 2018 by David Shama

After reading news media reports this month about Andrew Wiggins, Timberwolves fans might be wondering about both the past and future of the team’s high-potential 23-year-old guard-forward.

Multiple websites last week reported Wiggins is unhappy about being a “third option” on the team after forward Jimmy Butler and center Karl-Anthony Towns. Until Butler was injured and sidelined in February, Wiggins was less a part of the offense than in the past when Butler was playing in Chicago for the Bulls. Speculation Wiggins might ask for a trade next summer is part of the “third option” story.

Wolves’ owner Glen Taylor spoke to Sports Headliners Friday about Wiggins. “He said he didn’t say it, and that’s the end of it for me,” Taylor said.

1500 ESPN reported on the “third option” story, and also earlier this month said there was reason to believe Taylor wouldn’t allow Wiggins to be included in the 2017 trade that sent Butler to the Wolves for Minnesota’s first round draft choice and guards Kris Dunn and Zach LaVine. Station talk show hosts were critical of the possibility the owner overruled his basketball authorities in not allowing Wiggins to be included in trade discussions.

Taylor said he didn’t “recall” Wiggins’ name came up in conversations with Chicago. “If they asked for Wiggins, it probably never even got to me,” Taylor said.

Taylor has owned the Wolves since 1995 and watched a lot of basketball. He has his opinions about players. Would he nix a trade, or other potential personnel move the front office is promoting?

“Yeah, and I have in the past,” Taylor said. “…Sometimes coaches and GMs (general managers) fall in love with a guy and we really don’t need that guy.” (As an example, Taylor said there have been instances where he differed in acquiring a player because the skill set didn’t match the roster’s future needs.)

Wiggins is in his fourth season with the Wolves. A former overall No. 1 NBA draft pick, he is often targeted for criticism by media and fans who question the consistency of his effort during games, but not his talent. “I want him to play as hard as he can.” Taylor said. “Do I think that he can play better? I certainly do. He’s got a lot of potential. My expectation is he should do that (play hard) during the whole game.”

Taylor, though, didn’t single out Wiggins when first asked about effort, and he spoke about how coach Tom Thibodeau talks about the need for better work ethic by all his players throughout games. “It appears sometimes that they rest a little bit, they’re tired or something,” Taylor said. “If you’re going to be an elite player, there’s very little time to do that during the game. It’s kind of between games that you’re going to do that (rest).”

There’s opinion throughout the Wolves organization and elsewhere in the NBA that Wiggins’ basketball skills are so exceptional it’s difficult to define his limits. He is an extraordinary athlete and capable of becoming an all-star offensively and defensively.

Wiggins is averaging 17.9 points per game, third best on the team. He is often guarded closely and Taylor believes that creates the possibility of more offensive efficiency, emphasizing that his young star should drive more to the hoop. “I’d rather see him go to the basket and kind of open up that space,” Taylor said.

The Timberwolves made a mega commitment to Wiggins last offseason with a contract extension reported as five-years, $148 million.

Worth Noting

Butler had meniscus surgery on his right knee February 25. He was the team’s best all-around player, and fourth quarter closer, before injured. There are 12 games remaining on the Wolves’ regular season schedule and the team is trying to make the payoffs for the first time since 2004. When will Butler return?

“I don’t think I have anyone on the medical staff who has given me a date,” Taylor said.

Nemanja Bjelica, Butler’s replacement, has at times been impressive including 13 fourth quarter points in last week’s win against the Wizards. Bjelica becomes a restricted free agent in the offseason. Taylor is an admirer of the Serbian, but cautions, “We only have so much money, and we know we have Karl coming up,” he said.

Center Karl-Anthony Towns becomes a restricted free agent during the 2019 offseason. A potential top five player in the NBA, Towns will command a mega contract.

That was former Timberwolves assistant coach Eric Musselman, now head coach of Nevada, on live TV using the f-word in the locker room in celebrating his team’s opening NCAA Tournament win over Texas Friday afternoon.

Isaiah Washington (photo courtesy of Minnesota Athletic Communications)

It seems likely Gophers coach Richard Pitino will use his one remaining scholarship on a point guard. Theoretically that person could be a graduate transfer, junior college or high school player. Heading into next season Isaiah Washington is the replacement for Nate Mason at point guard, but Washington was unsteady as a freshman. Even if Washington improves, the Gophers need depth at the position.

It’s timely to follow Courtney Ramey, the Scout.com five-star prep point guard from Missouri who decommitted from Louisville earlier this winter. He had been recruited by Pitino’s father, former Louisville coach Rick Pitino, and could be interested in the Gophers.

Gopher women’s basketball coach Marlene Stollings can achieve the biggest win in her four years at Minnesota tonight if the Gophers can upset Oregon in their second round NCAA Tournament game on the Ducks’ home floor. Minnesota is seeded No. 10 in the Spokane Region, Oregon No. 2. The Gophers have never won a second NCAA Tournament game under Stollings.

Stollings once told Sports Headliners she had simple tastes in celebrating a Gopher win: A trip to Taco Bell and a Mountain Dew.

Good news for the Shake Shack location at Mall of America? New Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins reportedly had a postgame win ritual of stopping at a Shake Shack in the Washington D.C. area, according to Vikings.com.

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