RICHARD PITINO – Page 33 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

U Needs Bowl Rally Starting January 1

Posted on December 8, 2014December 8, 2014 by David Shama

Talk about incentives.

The Golden Gophers can “exorcise a lot of demons” if they defeat Missouri in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl on January 1. Coach Jerry Kill’s team learned yesterday they have an invitation to that prestigious New Year’s Day bowl.

A source told Sports Headliners last week the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida was Minnesota’s preferred bowl destination. The Citrus is the highest ranking bowl game the Gophers could have been invited to and provides Minnesota with its first New Year’s Day matchup since 1962. The Citrus is the Big Ten’s second-oldest current bowl partner behind only the Rose Bowl. Big Ten teams have played in 24 Citrus Bowls, including each of the last 22 seasons.

The Gophers have lost six consecutive bowl games. All, of course, have been disappointing but some were particularly bitter defeats including last December’s loss in the Texas Bowl to a mediocre Syracuse team. To this day the Gophers will shake their collective heads over their effort and performance.

The Gophers don’t want to lug yet another bowl loss into their offseason workouts and spring practice. The program picked up momentum this season with a 5-3 Big Ten record, Minnesota’s best since 2003. Wins included trophy game triumphs over Michigan and Iowa. A season-ending loss to Wisconsin, along with a defeat in the bowl game, will take some shine off this year.

The flip side, though, is the Gophers cannot only put themselves in good spirits during the off-season but also put more juice into the fan base. More ticket sales and interest in the program are for sure if the Gophers defeat Missouri, a team that is among the best in the SEC—America’s top college football league.

The Tigers, 10-3, won the SEC’s East Division and are No. 16 nationally in the College Football Playoff rankings. The Gophers, 8-4, are ranked No. 25.

The Tigers are perceived as the team with the better personnel and figure to be a wagering favorite, at least by a touchdown. The Gophers, though, will embrace the underdog role they have played throughout the season. Last summer virtually no one predicted Minnesota would contend for the Big Ten’s West Division title but the Gophers went into the last game of the regular season with a chance to advance to the conference championship matchup with East Division champ Ohio State.

The Gophers cannot only help their own image by winning on New Year’s Day against an SEC team. They can help pump life into the Big Ten brand. Dating back to 2000, conference teams have only twice won more bowl games than they lost. The last four years the Big Ten record in postseason is 10 wins, 21 losses.

The national exposure on New Year’s Day can help Minnesota’s recruiting which is already on an upswing because of this season. The Gophers target recruiting high school players in the Southeastern part of the country, so playing in a major bowl game in Florida for the first time since 2000 is valuable.

Minnesota players who have been injured will have extra time to heal before the Citrus Bowl. An earlier bowl date meant, for example, that wide receiver Drew Wolitarsky would have less chance of recovering from his high ankle sprain. A starter in the Illinois game when he was injured, Wolitarsky would be a welcome returnee for quarterback Mitch Leidner who has played on a bad knee.

Like other bowl teams, the Gophers will receive 15 extra practices. That’s an incentive for a lot of players to improve and impress the coaches.

There’s that incentive word again.

Worth Noting

The Vikings have won consecutive cold weather games the last two Sundays at home. Yesterday the temperature was 32 with a wind chill of 21. A week ago Sunday the temp was 12 and the wind chill at minus seven. Vikings running back Ben Tate said players stiffen up in the cold. “You feel like you’re running in slow motion,” he told Sports Headliners.

The Vikings have one home game remaining, December 28 against the Bears, and then next year more outdoor football before moving into their new enclosed stadium in 2016. When it’s miserably cold at TCF Bank Stadium can a bad team that is losing to the Vikings by a big score give up? Tate thinks so. “In a climate like this, probably pack it in and just want to get the game over. I definitely think that’s an advantage for us playing in the cold weather.”

Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen is in his first season as a starter. The team’s other starting end, Brian Robison, believes Griffen has been playing at an All-Pro level. “I absolutely think so,” Robison told Sports Headliners last week. “The guy’s been playing out of his mind this year. To have 11 sacks (12 after yesterday) at this point in the season is huge. I think he’s done a lot more things than that (too)…so I think the guy is playing on a tremendous level right now.”

The Pro Bowl will be played January 25 in Glendale, Arizona and Griffen could be among the players selected. Pro Bowlers are determined by voting from fans, players and coaches. “I would think it would be a shame if he didn’t make the Pro Bowl for sure,” Robison said.

Former Gopher Simoni Lawrence, now a linebacker for Hamilton in the CFL, started all three playoff games for the Tiger-Cats including their Grey Cup loss to Calgary.

TwinsFest tickets—$20 for adults and $10 ages 14 and younger—go on sale to the general public on Thursday. Twins president Dave St. Peter said in the past all players on the 40-man roster have usually made appearances at TwinsFest, and for 2015 that means fans will likely be able to meet top prospects like Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario and Miguel Sano. The event, January 23-25, will be at Target Field for a second consecutive year and attendance could total a capacity maximum of 15,000, or about half the size for some TwinsFests at the Metrodome.

St. Peter said new manager Paul Molitor has “made contact” with players and will do more off-season communications at TwinsFest. Molitor’s contacts have been made with players here in town, not out of Minnesota.

Baseball’s winter meetings began yesterday in San Diego and are a catalyst to rumors about free agent signings. St. Peter said the Twins are shopping for pitching but wouldn’t predict how soon the club might have an announcement about acquisitions. “It could play out over 60 to 90 days,” he told Sports Headliners.

The North Dakota basketball team that plays the 6-2 Gophers tonight at Williams Arena has a 3-4 record including a 37 point loss to Utah and 12 point defeat against Northern Iowa. The North Dakota roster has six Minnesotans including sophomore guard Quinton Hooker, the 2013 Minnesota Mr. Basketball from Brooklyn Park, who is averaging 9.6 points—third best on the team—and leads in assists with 17.

Gophers basketball and baseball public address announcer Dick Jonckowski is recovering from non-Hodgkin lymphoma; and his last chemotherapy session is tomorrow.

If the Gophers season is to be a success, junior college transfer Carlos Morris needs to be a leading contributor. Morris was important to Minnesota before the season began, but is even more vital now with fellow small forward Daquein McNeil off the team indefinitely after being arrested for an off-court incident. Morris’ athleticism has been impressive including on Friday night when the Gophers defeated West Carolina, but coach Richard Pitino expects a lot from the 6-5, 175-pound junior.

“You can’t play 32 minutes at the small forward spot and only get two rebounds (Friday),” Pitino said. “He did a lot of good things—16 points, four assists, three steals—but you gotta rebound the ball at that spot.”

Pitino doesn’t plan to be overly patient with Morris who is the team’s second leading scorer at 11.6 points per game. He wants consistent effort and versatile production from Morris. “A lot of times with jucos it takes them a year,” Pitino said. “We don’t have a year with him. Just like we didn’t have a year with DeAndre Mathieu (juco point guard transfer in 2013).

“He’s gotta figure it out right now because he’s our only true small forward in the program. He’s gotta figure out a lot of things quickly which is normally difficult, but he’s got the talent which is good.”

The Gophers will wear black uniforms for their January 6 Big Ten home opener against Ohio State. The “Barn Blackout” game will encourage fans to wear black clothing.

Former Gophers golfer and New York Times bestselling author Harvey Mackay will ring a bell for the Salvation Army from 2 to 4 p.m. on Wednesday at Byerly’s in St. Louis Park. This will be Mackay’s 12th consecutive year helping with the organization’s holiday fundraising effort. Mackay usually tells WCCO Radio listeners if they make a contribution to his kettle they will receive one of his books for free.

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Gophers Recruiting Commitments ‘Solid’

Posted on November 10, 2014November 10, 2014 by David Shama

High school basketball recruiting authority Ryan James told Sports Headliners he expects all four players who have made verbal commitments to the Gophers to sign National Letters of Intent during the early signing period that begins Wednesday and continues through November 19. “I would say they’re (the commitments) as solid as you’re ever going to get,” said James who writes for Gopherillustrated.com.

Verbally committed and expected to accept scholarships are point guards Kevin Dorsey and Jarvis Johnson, shooting guard Dupree McBrayer and power forward Jonathan Nwankwo. James said Dorsey’s style is a “perfect fit” for Minnesota coach Richard Pitino who likes to speed up play offensively and pressure defensively all over the court. James also said Johnson has favored the Gophers for awhile and the coaches “got in early on” recruiting McBrayer and Nwankwo. “There’s been no rumors whatsoever to them (all) not signing,” James said.

He expects the foursome to be a top 20 to 25 recruiting class when the national rankings come out after the early signing period, and for Minnesota’s group to be higher rated than those from border rivals Iowa and Wisconsin.

He believes the class will compare favorably to the Gophers’ best recruiting groups of the last 20 years except for what coach Clem Haskins achieved in 1995. The Haskins class included Bobby Jackson, Courtney James and Quincy Lewis—key contributors to the Gophers’ 1997 Final Four team. “That’s the best class that I have seen,” said James.

Dorsey is a 5-11, 160-pound four-star prospect from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, according to Rivals.com. “This is a guy who pushes the pace at all times,” James said. “He makes a 60, 70 point game (into) a 90 point game. His defense is game changing.”

Dorsey’s profile on Rival.com includes an impressive list of basketball schools that offered scholarships including Creighton, Maryland, Memphis, SMU and VCU.

Minnesota’s other three recruits are three-star players, according to Rivals but there are often different opinions about ratings. “Dupree McBrayer—some people have him four—most people have him three. I believe he’s a four-star kid,” James said. “As a guy who sees national talent (during) all the live periods, goes to all these tournaments, (I think) he’s better than a lot of guys that are ranked in front of him.”

McBrayer, from Bel Aire, Kansas, is 6-4, 175. “He’s a very skilled, very explosive long winged (player). He can play three positions,” James said. “He has so much potential, it’s amazing. He’s just starting to reach it.”

Johnson is the hometown kid, the DeLaSalle High School star who local prep fans have been watching for awhile. The 6-1, 175-pound Johnson turned down offers from the likes of Iowa State, Michigan State, Wisconsin and UCLA to stay home, according to Rivals.com. The decision was influenced, James said, by a “tight, tight, family.”

“Athletically he’s on another level,” James said about Johnson. “He can physically do things that other people just can’t and he’s been well taught at DeLaSalle.”

Johnson draws attention with his speed and James said the young point guard is “ferocious” in driving to the basket. And Johnson impresses with his hustle and effort on defense, too. “I’ve never seen him not dive for a loose ball. I’ve never seen him not play hard in a game. He plays for (coach) Dave Thorson; when you’re playing for Dave Thorson, you’re playing defense.”

Nwankwo is a player James is familiar with but wants to see more of. However, he has seen and knows enough to like the potential of the 6-9, 245-pound Nwankwo who is from Mount Vernon, New York.

“His body is like a Marvel cartoon character,” James said. “He’s a beast. He’s very coachable and willing to do whatever. Great size—he’s willing to defend.”

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2 Pitino Teams, 1 Airplane for Trip

Posted on November 9, 2014November 9, 2014 by David Shama

The Gophers and Louisville basketball players will be able to size each other up before the two teams compete in the Armed Forces Classic in Puerto Rico on Friday night. Minnesota and the Cardinals will fly together to the game.

Two college basketball teams using the same airplane is unusual. “I have never heard of that before,” Gophers center Elliott Eliason told Sports Headliners. “I guess when you’re father-son you kind of work those things out.”

The coaches, of course, are Louisville legend Rick Pitino and Gophers second-year coach Richard Pitino. The father and son, who talk frequently by telephone, agreed that to save money the two programs will charter from Louisville to Puerto Rico on Wednesday. The Gophers will fly to Louisville on Tuesday and have a practice there before joining the Cardinals on the flight to Puerto Rico.

“I guess I haven’t heard of it (same airplane),” said former Gophers coach Jim Dutcher. “I certainly didn’t ever experience that in 30 years of college where we flew with the opposing team.”

Eliason is curious what the seating arrangement will be on the airplane. “I am sure they’re a bunch of good guys so…it won’t be a problem, but it is kind of interesting. But it will be a good time.”

Will players from both teams socialize on the plane? “I’ll probably throw the old earphones on,” Eliason said. “Maybe take a nap, fall asleep. We’ll see. After the game we can talk all you want.”

Actually, get-togethers involving the Cardinals and Gophers are planned in Puerto Rico as part of festivities leading up to the game. The Armed Forces Classic is part of ESPN’s America’s Heroes: A Salute to Our Veterans programming, and each year a different branch of the military hosts the game. This year it’s the Coast Guard’s turn and the game will be played in a hangar in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. The Classic will be played in front of military personnel with no admission cost and televised nationally by ESPN starting at 6:30 p.m. Minneapolis time.

The game–the third annual–is owned by ESPN Regional Television. “It’s honestly a huge honor,” Eliason said. “It’s going to be an amazing game. I couldn’t be more excited about it. You watch those other teams play in it every year so it’s so exciting to be part of that this year.”

The Cardinals are among the royalty of college basketball. Louisville won the NCAA championship in 2013 and is a contender for the 2015 title. The Cardinals are probably a top 20 team in every preseason poll, while the Gophers, who won the NIT last April after not qualifying for the NCAA Tournament, are trying to become a nationally-ranked program. “It’s a bigger opportunity for Minnesota than it is for Louisville,” Dutcher said.

Louisville has forward Montrezl Harrell and guard Terry Rozier, two players who are projected as NBA draft choices next June by NBAdraft.net. The Cardinals also have Pitino who has won national championships while coaching at Kentucky and Louisville. The Cardinals are ranked No. 8 in the AP preseason poll. “There’s a lot more pressure on Louisville than there is on Minnesota,” Dutcher said.

Dutcher recalled that ex-coach Tubby Smith’s Gophers defeated Louisville in an early nonconference game in 2008. The Cardinals were rated No. 9 nationally, while the Gophers were unranked. It was a signature win for Minnesota and one that influenced the NCAA selection committee when they started handing out invitations to the tournament and the Gophers were included in the field of teams.

Richard Pitino is 32 years old and the consultation he receives from his dad is a plus for the Gophers’ program—something that goes beyond saving money on an airplane trip to Puerto Rico. “I think it’s definitely an asset,” Dutcher said. “I talk to my son Brian all the time about San Diego State games. He sent me the tape of their scrimmage the other day with Stanford and said, ‘What do you think?’ ”

For the younger Pitino to know that his father is just a telephone call away means a lot. “Every coach has somebody they want to talk to other than their staff and their players—particularly when things aren’t going well,” Dutcher said. “That’s when they kind of need some guidance and some help and some encouragement. I am sure he (Richard) gets that.”

Conversations between the Pitinos likely include potential recruits, and that’s another asset for Minnesota’s program. “That goes on between coaches who are just friends, not even family—there’s a kid that we can’t take but I think he would really fit into your program,” Dutcher said. “All coaches network, even with other coaches in different conferences. I am sure he (Richard) benefits from the success and the experience that his father has.”

Of course on Friday night the son would like nothing better than to take some of that success away from dad—even if they did hitch a ride together to Puerto Rico and back.

Gophers Football Notes

Even mascot Goldy Gopher—symbolically the biggest Golden Gophers loyalist on the planet—wouldn’t have predicted a 51-14 domination of Iowa on Saturday. The doomsday feeling hanging over Dinkytown for two weeks after Minnesota’s loss to lowly Illinois on October 25 evaporated by halftime on Saturday when the Gophers followed up an opening touchdown by Iowa with 35 unanswered points.

The win demonstrated again that the unexpected can be anticipated in college football where there is plenty of parity in talent among teams. Iowa had beaten up on Northwestern a week ago Saturday, winning 48-7, but what proved more valuable was Minnesota’s bye in the schedule that gave the Gophers an extra week of preparation.

The Gophers, now 7-2 overall and 4-1 in the Big Ten, improved their chances of an invitation to a good bowl game, enhanced the possibility of a sellout at TCF Bank Stadium next Saturday against Ohio State and won “Floyd of Rosedale” for the third time in five years. Representatives from the Holiday Bowl (December 27, San Diego) and Fiesta Bowl (December 31, Glendale, Arizona) were at the game.

The Gophers’ Maxx Williams, who had three touchdown receptions, showed again why he is on the midseason watch list for the John Mackey Award recognizing the nation’s best tight end. He is a redshirt sophomore eligible for next year’s NFL Draft.

The game wasn’t a happy homecoming for Iowa athletics director Gary Barta who was born in Minneapolis and attended Burnsville High School. Barta still has more than a dozen relatives in this area.

Zach Johnson of Gopherillustrated.com said the Gophers had high school players Colton Beebe, Jonathan Femi-Cole and Jaylen Waters at the game. Beebe is a Rivals.com two-star linebacker from Kansas City, Kansas. Femi-Cole is a three-star running back from Vaughan, Ontario while Waters is a three star linebacker from Copperas Cove, Texas. Beebe hasn’t verbally committed to the Gophers but Femi-Cole and Waters have, according to G.I.

Here are Sports Headliners’ power rankings of Big Ten teams after Saturday: 1. Ohio State; 2. Michigan State; 3. Wisconsin; 4. Nebraska; 5. Minnesota; 6. Maryland; 7. Iowa; 8. Michigan; 9. Penn State; 10. Northwestern; 11. Rutgers; 12. Purdue; 13. Illinois 14. Indiana.

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