RICHARD PITINO – Page 21 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

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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Gopher Basketball Collapse Historic

Posted on February 25, 2018February 25, 2018 by David Shama

Coach Richard Pitino’s University of Minnesota basketball team is headed to perhaps the most disappointing ending to a basketball or football season in school history. After being in preseason discussions for a Big Ten basketball title, the Golden Gophers have seen their dream season collapse since an early January suspension of center Reggie Lynch and the injury to forward Amir Coffey that has sidelined him for most of the conference season.

Minnesota is 2-12 since Lynch, the Big Ten’s best shot blocker, was told by the University he violated the school’s sexual misconduct policy. Coffey, another potential all-conference player prior to the season, has missed 12 of the last 14 games going into today’s Big Ten regular season finale at Purdue.

It will be an upset for the ages if Minnesota defeats national power Purdue. At best the Gophers might pick up a single win in the Big Ten Tournament later this week. A scenario with one more win before putting 2017-2018 to rest would leave the Gophers with a 16-17 final overall record including 4-14 in regular season league games. Those totals would be the third worst in more than 10 years with the 2016 team having records of 8-22 and 2-16, and the 2007 team with totals of 9-22 and 3-13.

Coffey photo courtesy of Minnesota Athletic Communications

It’s been a deflating couple of months for Gophers fans, most of whom realized last year how potentially special the 2017-2018 team appeared to be. Minnesota got off to a 7-0 nonconference start and was ranked as high as No. 12 in the nation during the early success. Although it was clear from the beginning Pitino’s bench players were subpar, the starting five of Lynch, Coffey, Nate Mason, Dupree McBrayer and Jordan Murphy was potentially the program’s best since the 1997 team that went to the Final Four.

In the high profile sports of basketball and football, it’s been awhile since a Gopher season filled with such hope came crashing down like the stock market on a horrific February day. Tubby Smith’s 2010-2011 team started 16-4 and was ranked No. 16 when things fell apart. Starting point guard Al Nolen broke his foot in late December and shortly after Devoe Joseph, his replacement, left the program. Minnesota lost 10 of its last 11 games including one in the Big Ten Tournament. Hopes of a high finish in the Big Ten and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament were gone with a final overall record of 17-14 and league total of 6-12.

A Gopher historian researched back to 1957 to find a disappointing season similar to this year. Minnesota was coming off a near Rose Bowl invitation in 1956 when national media ranked the football Gophers among the powerhouse teams in America. Minnesota even had a magazine cover boy quarterback in Bobby Cox, a possible All-American and Heisman Trophy winner.

Minnesota, ranked as high as third in the country, started the season 3-0. Included in the wins were 46-7 and 41-6 victories over Washington and Northwestern. The state “smelled” Big Ten title and the program’s first Rose Bowl trip. From Austin to Warroad, fans were locked into the Golden Gophers on football Saturdays. They listened to games on radios at home, in backyards and even duck blinds. Fans cheered at Memorial Stadium including a crowd of more than 64,000 that watched Minnesota’s opening conference win over Purdue.

Then on October 19, 1957 in Champaign-Urbana, the collapse began. Minnesota, ranked No. 4 in the nation, not only reportedly had injuries and illness going into that game but faced a fast and inspired Illinois team that received a pep talk from Illini legend Red Grange, The Galloping Ghost. The final score of the nationally televised game wasn’t even close, with the Illini winning 34-13.

The Gophers won one of their last six games, finishing the season 4-5 overall and 3-5 in the league. Rumors swirled about team dissension and injuries. There was no doubting the team’s lack of team speed got exposed by opponents. Whatever, and however, the season collapse was a classic tailspin that old-timers still remember.

Coach Murray Warmath struggled the next two seasons, with a combined record of 3-15, and he almost was fired in the process. In 1960 he recovered in dramatic fashion winning Big Ten and national titles.

Pitino will need a bounce back season in 2018-2019 to quiet critics. If the Gophers finish with overall 16-17 and 4-14 Big Ten records this winter, that will bring his five seasons totals to 91-78 and 31-59. After five seasons, Dan Monson—picking up the pieces and limitations imposed by the coach Clem Haskins scandal—had records of 79-55 and 29-51. After five years as Minnesota coach Smith’s total were 103-68 and 38-52. In 10 fewer conference games Monson had almost as many wins at the five-year mark as Pitino. Smith won nine more games.

Pitino’s history at Minnesota includes player suspensions and transfers that has slowed progress. Players with issues include Lynch, Mason, McBrayer and long departed Kevin Dorsey, Daquein McNeil and Carlos Morris who all made early exits from the program. A major future off court player incident—whether alleged or not—will turn up the heat on Pitino from school administrators and the public.

Next season the Gophers will likely return three starters with current underclassmen forwards Coffey and Murphy, and McBrayer, a junior guard who has played through injury this year. Part-time point guard Isaiah Washington, a regular off the bench, will likely be another quality starter as might forward Eric Curry who missed his entire sophomore season after September knee surgery. With senior centers Lynch, Bakary Konate and Gaston Diedhiou using up their eligibility, Minnesota will welcome new front court size from Louisville transfer Matz Stockman and incoming freshmen Jarvis Omersa and Daniel Oturu.

Without Lynch and Coffey this winter, and Konate and Gaston frequently ineffective, Pitino has often used a smaller lineup, but interior defense and rebounding have mostly been inadequate. The Gophers, who frequently haven’t defended well on the perimeter either, have given up 80 points or more eight times since Lynch was suspended.

Maybe next season will be as much of a surprise as this one has been disappointing. The program standards are low. The 1997 Final Four and Big Ten championship season was vacated because of academic fraud. Since 2000 the Gophers have only three times finished with a winning record in regular season Big Ten games.

Last off-season the Athletic Department sold a few thousand more season tickets than for 2016-2017. Prior to January 1 of this year there were two nonconference sellouts, and there was the likelihood of several more during the Big Ten home schedule in January and February. The fan base was coming back to Williams Arena, with the promise of making the old place loud and fun again.

There’s no doubt ticket buyers will pack the arena if they are ever treated to a consistent winner, a top 25 program that contends for Big Ten titles. For right now, though, there is a hurt in Dinkytown that perhaps hasn’t been this painful since ’57.

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Jim Dutcher Upbeat on Gophers

Posted on January 7, 2018January 7, 2018 by David Shama

It’s been a difficult couple of days for the Golden Gophers basketball program after losing two starters indefinitely, but Jim Dutcher is keeping an optimistic perspective for now. News came late last week that senior center Reggie Lynch is suspended from games and sophomore forward Amir Coffey is unable to play because of a shoulder injury.

If Coffey can play again after a short absence Dutcher believes Minnesota could pull off a fourth place final finish in the Big Ten. A return before long by Lynch, too, may result in third place, according to Dutcher who was the Gopher head coach from 1975-1986.

The Gophers struggled last night without Coffey and Lynch, losing to Indiana 75-71. The defeat left Minnesota with a 2-2 Big Ten record, with 14 more games remaining on the conference schedule. “They still got a lot to play for,” Dutcher told Sports Headliners.

Dutcher, though, acknowledges “all bets are off” if the Gophers must play without Lynch and Coffey for several weeks. Lynch is appealing a decision by the University of Minnesota to ban him from campus for more than two years for violating the school’s sexual misconduct policy. Athletic director Mark Coyle announced a suspension of Lynch from playing in games on Friday. Although Lynch is practicing with the Gophers, it might be likely he will never play for Minnesota again. Even if the University reversed itself after appeal, Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino could decide Lynch doesn’t meet his standards for being on the team.

Pitino isn’t creating any specific timeline for the return of either Lynch or Coffey, whose shoulder injury apparently is significant enough to cause speculation he could be out for many weeks. Challenging, too, is the schedule ahead that has the Gophers playing five road games between now and February 4. During that period Minnesota plays twice at home and also has a neutral court game on January 20 in New York City against Ohio State.

Senior Bakary Konate replaced Lynch at center last night, while sophomore Michael Hurt had Coffey’s forward spot. Lynch was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year last season and entered the Indiana game with about three times more blocked shots than any other Gopher. Coffey, a Big Ten all-freshman last season, is Minnesota’s third leading scorer and perhaps the team’s most versatile and unselfish player.

Konate scored two points against Indiana in 27 minutes. He had four rebounds and blocked three shots. Hurt, in 31 minutes, took one shot and didn’t score. He had four rebounds, all of them in the first half.

Late last summer Minnesota lost its best bench player for the season. Promising sophomore forward-center Eric Curry is sidelined following knee surgery. Now with Lynch and Coffey out, the Gophers are without three of their top six players.

“They went from having a Big Ten championship as a goal, to (now) trying to qualify for the (NCAA) Tournament as a goal,” Dutcher said. “They’re not going to win the Big Ten championship.”

Worth Noting

Dutcher believes Michigan State, Purdue and Michigan will finish one, two and three in the final Big Ten standings. MSU is not only the league favorite but could win the school’s first national championship since 2000.

The Los Angeles Lakers continue to promote the old Minneapolis Lakers jerseys, and the team wore them in a game last week at Target Center against the Timberwolves. The popular MPLS jerseys prompted a telephone call to Bob Stein, the Timberwolves first president, to ask if franchise ownership and management considered naming the team Minneapolis instead of Minnesota back in the late 1980s. Stein didn’t recall serious discussion about using the city’s name, noting the franchise wanted to represent the larger Minnesota market despite the history of the state’s first NBA team being named Minneapolis.

Regarding the choice of Timberwolves as the nickname, Stein said a naming contest open to the public generated many suggestions including the Minnesota Mosquitoes. Others that drew amusement from the team’s front office were:

Minnesota Taxes$; Minnesota Fats; Minnesota Uff Da’s; Minnesota Loona-Ticks; and Minnesota Yumpin’ Yacks.

Timberwolves was a fan favorite but Stein said the organization’s inner circle “winked” on the final tabulation of voting by the public. The outcome, he suggested, was not unlike some “alleged political elections.”

SI.com’s famous NFL writer Peter King, writing last Thursday, predicted the Vikings will win Super Bowl 52 in Minneapolis with a 27-23 victory over the Patriots.

SI.com announced its NFL individual award winners last week including Coach of the Year. Sean McVay from the Rams won the award, while the Vikings’ Mike Zimmer was runner-up finishing 25 points behind in voting.

Patrick Mader, the Northfield-based author who wrote the book Minnesota Gold detailing the lives of many Minnesota Olympians, emailed this historical note to Sports Headliners: “In the late 1940s, a young, energetic, and politically ambitious American city mayor was on an Olympic Committee bidding to host the 1952 Summer Games which ended being runner-up to Helsinki, Finland. The mayor was Hubert Humphrey and the runner-up city (tied) was Minneapolis.”

Next month’s Winter Olympics will be in South Korea. Mader predicted Jessie Diggins, a graduate of Stillwater High School who is from Afton, has “a good chance” to win the first Olympic medal in cross-country skiing ever by an American woman. A 2014 Olympian who has an outstanding World Cup record, the 26-year-old is expected to be named to the 2018 Olympic team later this month.

When the Twins go to spring training it will be interesting to see if Brian Dozier is finally moved out of the leadoff spot in the batting order. The team’s power hitting second baseman has led the club in home runs (76) the last two seasons but has batted leadoff because Minnesota didn’t have anyone more suited for the spot that requires foot speed and consistency at the plate. With center fielder Byron Buxton hitting around .300 for part of last season and showing extraordinary speed, it appears the fourth-year Twin could be the new leadoff man, with Dozier moving down to third or fourth in the batting order.

Carl Pohlad, the deceased Twins owner who passed away in early January of 2009, would be pleased his farm system developed most of the franchise’s promising core of position players that includes Buxton, Dozier, third baseman Miguel Sano, left fielder Eddie Rosario, right fielder Max Kepler and shortstop Jorge Polanco.

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