RICHARD PITINO – Page 17 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

NCAA Tourney Looks Iffy for U Now

Posted on February 7, 2019February 7, 2019 by David Shama

Today’s column analyzes the Golden Gophers’ likelihood of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament, and also reports on how things are coming together for the 2019 Minneapolis Final Four.

Coach Richard Pitino’s Gophers are 16-7 overall and 6-6 in Big Ten games after losing last night to No. 19 ranked Wisconsin. Now it’s iffy whether Minnesota will earn its way into the field of 68 for the NCAA Tournament. With eight regular season games remaining, plus at least one in next month’s Big Ten Tournament, the Gophers probably have to hope media authorities who have been speculating that eight, nine or even 10 Big Ten teams will make the tournament are correct.

Kenpom.com now ranks Minnesota No. 52 in the country, a nod of optimism for making the NCAA field from the college basketball expert. The Gophers sit in seventh place in the Big Ten standings, a bit of a positive, too, regarding tournament hopes. The Gophers have played some quality games this season including wins over top 20 ranked teams, but at a minimum they probably need to win five more games.

Even winning a few more games will be challenging. Minnesota is 1-4 so far in league road games, and five of the remaining eight regular season games are away from Williams Arena. Three of the last four are out of town including at Maryland versus a Terps team that could be the league’s most talented.

With a cautious perspective, where do five more wins come from? Well, defeat Indiana at home on February 16, get road wins at Rutgers and Northwestern later in the month, and win two neutral court games in the Big Ten Tournament. Rutgers and Northwestern are conference bottom feeders with records of 4-8 and 3-8.

That speculative path to the NCAA field would give Minnesota a 21-13 final record. Good enough? Perhaps, but 22-12 sounds better so maybe the Gophers can pull off a big upset against teams now ahead of them in the league standings, or win at Nebraska next week against a Cornhuskers group that has been a big disappointment to their fans.

The Gophers have their strengths including double-double machine and senior forward Jordan Murphy. Freshman center Daniel Oturu has been developing in multiple ways and will probably be a star by next season. Junior guard-forward Amir Coffey is among the league’s most versatile players and when at his best can carry the team.

But Minnesota struggles to score points. Consecutive losses this week to Big Ten powers Purdue and against Wisconsin showed that yet again, with totals of 63 and 51 against the Boilermakers and Badgers.

The most evident flaw offensively is the team’s woeful three-point shooting. Last night Minnesota made one of 13 three-point attempts. Senior guard Dupree McBrayer exemplifies the frustration. He converted one of nine field goal attempts, including zero of four three-pointers, against Wisconsin. His season three-point percentage is 29.

For the season Minnesota is making 30 percent of its three-point attempts. The Gophers rank last among Big Ten teams in total three-point shots made with 119. If the Gophers can dramatically improve their three point shooting, the prediction here of just three more wins will ratchet upward.

Want to work as a volunteer for activities involved with the 2019 Minneapolis Final Four? Well, 3,000 other potential helpers are already on a wait list for volunteer assignments.

Kate Mortenson, the executive responsible for executing things for the Minneapolis Final Four Local Organizing Committee, told Sports Headliners that 2,000 volunteer jobs were filled in one day back in December. To Mortenson, that speaks to the can-do spirit of Minnesotans. She said it seems like “everyone” asks how they can help. The attitude exemplifies the commitment of local residents to make sure things happen the right way.

Mortenson has been paid to lead the Minneapolis Final Four effort since January of 2015. The 2019 NCAA men’s basketball title game will be on Monday, April 8 at U.S. Bank Stadium. Two days earlier four teams matchup in semi-final games to determine the championship entrants.

Mortenson describes the Final Four as a multiple days event and emphasizes there is a lot more going on besides the games. The day before the semifinals the public will be admitted without charge to U.S. Bank Stadium to watch the teams practice. A fanfest takes place at the Minneapolis Convention Center from Friday through Monday. There will be interactive basketball games and clinics, a batting cage, climbing wall and other attractions, with kids 12 and under admitted free. The Minneapolis Armory will be turned into a music venue and the Nicollet Mall will feature entertainment to help celebrate the Final Four which is returning to the city for the fourth time and first time since 2001.

Mortenson has attended four previous Final Fours and she is a convert to the family atmosphere and fun surrounding college basketball’s showcase weekend. “Now I understand why people go every year,” she said.

Talk to Mortenson for a few minutes and you hear not only the professionalism with which she approaches her work, but also the enthusiasm for the Final Four experience. “The student-athlete and the collegiate feel is undeniable, and infectious,” she said. “It is paired with a coach’s convention of coaches from all over the country, from middle school through college, D-I, D-II, D-III coaches.

“So you’ve got thousands of them (coaches) walking around downtown Minneapolis, mixed in with groups of students (and) with graduates of those (Final) Four institutions who have come back for the world’s biggest college reunion feel. …”

A consulting company estimates 94,000 visitors will be in town for the Final Four. A visitor is defined as a person who comes through the MSP Airport, or travels more than an hour by car and stays in local hotels. The 2019 Final Four has a projected economic impact of $142 million. Mortenson said the figure includes $23 million in taxes and doesn’t include consumer spending that otherwise occurs during the time of the Final Four.

Economic impact estimates of major sports events are frequently viewed with skepticism. Mortenson acknowledged that, and then provided her perspective. “I feel like at that time in April, (regardless) if it’s $150 million, or if it’s $50 million, it’s $50 million more than would be there otherwise.”

Mortenson worked in news for Hubbard Broadcasting before first taking the assignment to coordinate the Minneapolis bid to the NCAA to host the Final Four, and then later being named president and CEO for the local committee’s effort to stage the mega event. She and her 14 member staff have had their share of challenges along the way in counting down to championship Monday (she can tell you it’s 59 days away), but it’s also been a rewarding experience and impressive addition to her resume.

What’s next for Mortenson after April 8? “I am going to get to know my husband again,” she said. “I am going to see one of my kids graduate from high school, and one of my kids graduate from college. We’ll have a nice respite and then—I am kind of an antsy person—there’ll be something else, I think, at some point, too.”

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Hoiberg Return Here Makes Sense

Posted on January 9, 2019January 9, 2019 by David Shama

Fred Hoiberg could have a future in Minneapolis, and perhaps not with the Timberwolves like most everyone is speculating.

If Golden Gophers coach Richard Pitino moved on after this season, it doesn’t require much imagination to think athletic director Mark Coyle has Hoiberg’s name on a list of potential candidates who interest him. Coyle, who didn’t hire Pitino, has shown a willingness to change coaches in his department since taking over as Minnesota’s AD in the spring of 2016.

Pitino, 36, has a 33-61 Big Ten record in five-plus seasons, and one NCAA Tournament appearance. Going into this season basketball media considered him a coach on the “hot seat.” Minnesota’s overall record this season is 12-3 and 2-2 in conference games after last night’s home loss to Maryland.

In past years rumors had other schools pursuing Pitino for head coaching jobs. He has East Coast roots and maybe it’s possible an impressive season this winter by the Gophers will prompt a job opening that interests him more than Minnesota.

It’s common policy for athletic directors to maintain lists of potential replacements for coaches leaving their positions. Hoiberg’s qualifications make him a “layup” for the job at Minnesota, if it opens and he is interested.

Hoiberg’s name is known throughout this state for his playing career with the Timberwolves and front office work with the franchise. His first entry into coaching was a huge success at Iowa State, where he made the team a Big-12 power with an up-tempo offense led by transfers from other schools including ex-Gopher Royce White. While at Iowa State, Hoiberg’s name was prominently connected to the Gophers’ coaching opening in 2013 but apparently he wasn’t interested at that time in leaving the Cyclones.

Iowa State was a homecoming for the Ames native who had been a legendary player for the Cyclones. He won about two-thirds of his games (115-56) in five seasons before leaving for the NBA’s Bulls. He never got the Bulls into the playoffs and in December was terminated because the club was playing so poorly. His supporters argue he never had the personnel to turn the Bulls into a winner.

Hoiberg told ESPN on Monday he prefers to pursue college or pro coaching opportunities, rather than work in an NBA front office. Zach Lowe wrote that Hoiberg’s passion is with coaching, and that he isn’t prioritizing either the NBA or college coaching for his next stop.

Hoiberg also has the name recognition, appearance, charm and communication skills to be a TV basketball authority. At 46, he has considerable hoops experience and yet he is young enough to be attractive to potential employers.

“The Mayor,” as he is known in Ames, has options and they’re not in politics. Last I heard he still had connections to Minnesota including a lake cabin in the state. My impression years ago was that he and his family liked living here—a lot. While there are rumors UCLA wants him for its basketball opening, the Midwest seems like home for the “one of us” Hoiberg.

The Gopher job (if it becomes available) is attractive because the state is almost oozing with talented high school players. Keep most of them home and the Gophers could just about be Big Ten title contenders each year. The decades ahead might be special for the program.

At Iowa State Hoiberg had to fight off Iowa and other nearby programs for talent. The Gophers, though, are the only Division I basketball program in the state of Minnesota. That means a leg up in recruiting and support from the public including ticket buyers and donors. The program has a high ceiling in every way including an iconic arena and state-of-the-art practice facility.

Think of the recruiting pitch Hoiberg could make to recruits if he returns to a college program. He can talk about his own playing career, success in college coaching and extensive experience in the NBA. Known for his expertise in player development, Hoiberg could convincingly tell recruits he knows the formula for getting them to the NBA.

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor may have deliberately taken a proactive step regarding Hoiberg when he fired coach Tom Thibodeau on Sunday. Taylor has known Hoiberg for about 15 years and I am sure likes him. Both are gentlemen and it’s easy to see how strong their bond could be in working together.

Taylor has to know admirers are already lining up at Hoiberg’s doorstep. It could be the two have already had conversations about a Hoiberg role with the organization. It’s easy to imagine the comfort level and rapport they might have.

Coming back to Minneapolis to work for Taylor and the Wolves is likely appealing to Hoiberg, who would be an expensive hire. He reportedly had a five year, $25 million deal with the Bulls so he’s already established a potential market price on his next job. In either a coaching or front office position with the Wolves, he will need to earn his money and that will be challenging because the team is far from being an NBA champion.

The roster has one future title level piece on the roster in 23-year-old center Karl-Anthony Towns. With his versatile skills at both ends of the court, including outside shooting, he seems like a perfect fit in a running, free flowing offense like Hoiberg would be expected to use.

Hoiberg won’t take a job with the Timberwolves without assurances regarding his authority. He might not have dual titles like Thibodeau had as coach and president of basketball operations, but there is no doubt his word on personnel decisions would be considerable. However, if Hoiberg is coaching he can only do so much, and current general manager Scott Layden, another likeable fellow, might be someone Taylor and Hoiberg want around.

Thibodeau was the Bulls coach before Hoiberg succeeded him in 2015. Now it seems like a strong possibility Hoiberg will again follow Thibodeau’s path, and perhaps soon.

That might be the direction Hoiberg wants to follow, but it appears he could more easily establish a winning team in college basketball where he can identify and recruit talent, rather than being in the NBA system of drafting players, and trying to sign and retain free agents. UCLA or other college programs should make that pitch.

As of this week 32-year-old Ryan Saunders is the Wolves interim coach. Despite his youth and inexperience (Wolves Summer League team was his only previous head job), Saunders has been respected in the organization for years and viewed as an ascending talent. He could turn out to be a “players’ coach” and if he can improve the club’s defensive performances he might get another title, too: “Genius.”

Much to the delight of his supportive players, Saunders won his debut game last night against the Thunder, 119-117.

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Don’t Get Down on a Road Trip

Posted on January 6, 2019January 6, 2019 by David Shama

Never get discouraged while preparing for a road trip.

I followed my own advice late last week. Prior to leaving for Madison, Wisconsin, a friend texted that the Golden Gophers were 10 point underdogs for Thursday night’s game against the Badgers. This didn’t put a frown on my face—perhaps because a few days earlier Jim Dutcher (the ex-Gopher coach) predicted a Minnesota win over Wisconsin in Sports Headliners.

If I was searching for discouragement I needed to go no further than the Gophers basketball record book. A Gopher team hadn’t won in Madison since 2009, although Minnesota prompted cardiac arrest among the most emotional U fans last year by taking the Badgers into overtime at the Kohl Center.

I wasn’t that concerned about history when I set out for Madison with a friend last Thursday morning. Nope, and I didn’t get upset when traffic on interstates 90 and 94 resembled Crosstown 62 in Minneapolis. “Left lane hogs” clogging traffic on the interstates in Wisconsin would have fit right in back home.

During the drive my friend and I dissected the Minnesota sports scene, commenting at length on the Gophers, Timberwolves, Twins, Vikings and Wild. We covered enough detail for three or four Sports Headliners columns, but here’s a tease of minutia:

· Disagreement about what team holds the most promise in 2019, with my vote going to the Vikings and my friend leaning toward (gasp!) Gophers football.

· Consensus that the five greatest all-time Twins are (in order): Kirby Puckett, Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Tony Oliva and Joe Mauer.

· Lamenting the length of baseball games and how the duration and tediousness is eating at the interest among even the most passionate MLB fans. One possible solution (multiple are needed) is declaring a batter out after a half dozen or so pitches are fouled off.

A first clue that happiness awaited in Madison could have been the balmy and sunny early January weather. It was warm enough to wear a light jacket and a Madisonian was spotted wearing shorts. (Not sure if beer was involved but word is it does powerful things to the mind and body.)

A first time visit to the Kohl Center was part of the fun in making the trip. I am forever curious about stadiums and arenas. I try to visit as many as possible when travelling—regardless of whether there are games going on.

The Kohl Center was built in 1998, making it one of the newer arenas in major college basketball. It’s a comfortable and impressive place. Think of Target Center on a budget.

The building seats 17,287 for basketball, more for concerts and less for Wisconsin hockey. The Badgers had 143 consecutive basketball sellouts from 2003-2011, and UW has been leading the Big Ten in basketball attendance this winter.

“Bucky” does a great job of paying tribute to past UW sports heroes in the building. The concourses are filled with display cases where you might read about football immortal Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch, or Bud Foster who coached the Badgers to their only NCAA men’s basketball title in 1941. Frank “the Tank” Kaminsky, who led the Badgers to consecutive Final Four appearances, has his No. 44 enshrined in the rafters.

Want more name-dropping? Well, what’s a Badger game—in Minneapolis or Madison—without an Andy North sighting. The silver-haired golf guru is still offering his words of wisdom on TV, and showing up to support his beloved Badgers.

Before tipoff a University of Minnesota employee approached us at our seats (provided by a good friend and UW alum). “I still like Williams Arena more,” he said.

His opinion about Minnesota’s iconic building nearing a 100th anniversary certainly didn’t surprise, but he offered something else that I quickly categorized as a good omen about the game’s possible outcome. The Gophers, he said, travelled to Madison by bus—the same mode of transportation the football team used in late November when they won at Wisconsin for the first time since 1994.

The basketball Gophers not only hadn’t won in Madison for nine years but had also lost eight consecutive games to Wisconsin going into Thursday’s get together. I was looking for signs of better things to come, and I received encouragement early in the game.

Minnesota’s players looked prepared from the beginning, mentally focused and playing better defense than sometimes executed by Pitino teams. The Badgers, because of Minnesota’s defense and their own poor shooting, got stuck on six points for a long stretch in the first half in front of a reported crowd of 16,687.

Coffey photo courtesy of Minnesota Athletic Communications

By halftime the Gophers held a 29-14 lead. Junior guard-forward Amir Coffey had been terrific, making field goals, slashing to the basket for scores and playmaking. He looked, as Dutcher said earlier in the week, like one of the Big Ten’s most versatile players.

During halftime I turned to my friend and predicted the first several minutes after intermission would tell a lot about whether the Badgers came back in the game. Well, once in awhile I am right. Within a few minutes the Gophers put themselves in foul trouble and the Badgers reduced the lead to single digits.

Minnesota, though, never let Wisconsin get closer than four points while earning a significant 59-52 road win that made the Gophers 2-1 in the Big Ten, and left the top 25 ranked Badgers with the same record. While Coffey scored just six points in the second half, and season leading rebounder and scorer Jordan Murphy fouled out of the game, the Gophers got some heroics from guards Brock Stull and Dupree McBrayer.

Stull, a senior transfer who has mostly played limited minutes this season with minimal production, made consecutive three pointers in the second half. Those unexpected six points had Pitino exhilarated on the sidelines and helped turn back a Badger run.

McBrayer, also a senior, turned two consecutive loose balls by the Badgers into points for the Gophers near the game’s end. Those points pretty much did in “Bucky,” although the Badgers still had a chance to tie or win even with 25 seconds to play.

In the closing minutes a lot of Badgers fans vacated their seats and headed for the exits. That was surprising, and so, too, were the boos that reined down on the Badger players and coaches during parts of the game. Maybe some Wisconsin fans are spoiled after so many Big Ten titles and trips to the NCAA Tournament during the last 20 years.

I am not encouraging booing college athletes but the frustration of Badger fans was understandable. Their Badgers made only seven of 17 free throws during a night their fans could have pleaded, “Is their shot doctor in the house?”

The Gophers held Wisconsin to an uncharacteristically low 22.7 percent on three pointers. The Badgers made just five of 22 attempts. D’Mitrik Trice, who entered the game converting more than 50 percent of his three point shots, made two of seven. Badgers star center Ethan Happ bedeviled Gophers defenders with his low post moves and shots but made just one of seven free throws on a night when he scored 17 points.

Guard Brad Davison and forward Nate Reuvers, both Minnesota natives, played 30 and 32 minutes respectively. Davison, whose image was on the game tickets, had an off night, scoring four points with two assists. Reuvers, whose photo was on the game program, helped lead the Wisconsin second half comeback. He scored 12 points with five rebounds.

Badgers fan don’t like losing to their “border rival” but none uttered a negative word to us as we made our way out of the Kohl Center and to the parking ramp. Not even my companion’s Gopher jacket could prompt a look of disdain or curt remark from our border neighbors.

In return I offer my red outfitted friends the following advice: Don’t get discouraged either at home or on the road. “Bucky” will be back.

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