Stadiums – Page 31 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Gophers No Cinch for NIT Return

Posted on February 6, 2015February 6, 2015 by David Shama

The possibility draws a yawn from Gophers basketball fans but the team that once had NCAA Tournament goals is now more realistically competing for a spot in the National Invitation Tournament.

The Gophers, 14-9 overall and 3-7 in the Big Ten, have eight remaining regular season conference games including four at home against Purdue, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Penn State. The Gophers must play Iowa, Indiana, Michigan State and Wisconsin on the road. Of those seven opponents, only Northwestern, 1-8, and Penn State, 2-8, have losing records in the Big Ten. The other five teams are a combined 33-15 in league games.

Let’s say the Gophers win four of their final eight regular season games—leaving them at 18-13 overall and 7-11 in league games going into the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago March 11-15. That resume won’t interest the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. To qualify for the “Big Dance” the Gophers probably would need to win all their games in Chicago, earning automatic entry into the NCAA field of teams as the Big Ten Tournament champion. The chances of winning the league tourney are minimal because several conference teams have superior personnel.

If the Gophers win one Big Ten Tournament game before losing a second, the team’s overall record could be 19-14. That probably earns a place in the NIT, the postseason tournament for second level teams.

But what if the Gophers only win three more games? If they went 3-5 in their remaining regular season games and then lost the Big Ten Tournament opener, Minnesota’s record would be 17-15. Last year Indiana finished 17-15 and was left out of the NIT’s 32-team field. A record around .500 is no sure thing to win the approval of the NIT Selection Committee which must include Division I teams that won their regular season league titles but weren’t invited to the NCAA Tournament.

The Gophers have participated in the NIT 14 times and won three championships, although the 1998 title was later vacated because of NCAA violations. Minnesota’s record in 2013-2014 was 25-13, including five consecutive victories in the NIT to win the tourney. With four starters returning, the Gophers looked like a team that could finish among the top six in the Big Ten standings and be selected for the NCAA Tournament. Minnesota breezed through a mostly unchallenging nonconference schedule, playing 10 games at home and compiling an 11-2 record with impressive team numbers in steals and assists.

But the Gophers haven’t recovered from a slow start in the Big Ten with a schedule that had them playing three of their first four games on the road. Minnesota also lost its first two home games on the way to a 0-5 start.

Despite the disappointing record to date of 3-7 in the Big Ten, the Gophers have played competitively. Minnesota has lost six conference games by a total of 21 points.

What’s the problem? The Gophers need to be better defensively. They rank ninth among conference teams in points given up per game (league play only) at 66.3 points per game.

A major issue is defensive stops when needed, particularly late in games. That’s not just on the defense because other teams get second and third shots by out rebounding Minnesota. The Gophers rank 13th out of 14 teams in defensive rebounding.

The Gophers have created problems for themselves, too, with excessive fouling and giving opponents free throws. Also, Minnesota’s free throw percentage of .665 ranks 11th in the league.

Despite the struggles, coach Richard Pitino likes his team’s attitude. Since the 0-5 start, the Gophers are 3-2, with home wins over Rutgers, Illinois and Nebraska. “They’ve never really felt sorry for themselves, and just found a way to win,” Pitino said. “That’s the way it’s gotta be with our guys.”

Gophers senior point guard DeAndre Mathieu said if the team becomes better defensively they can beat anybody. “We definitely aren’t down on ourselves. We feel like we can win a few games.”

The Gophers played last Saturday against Nebraska and for the first time this winter don’t have a midweek Big Ten game. The rest is welcome during a long season when fatigue and nuisance injuries can pile up. “These guys are banged up,” Pitino said. “It’s never been a question of effort, so they need that break because we don’t have a lot of depth right now.”

The Gophers play a physical Purdue team tomorrow led by twin-monsters Isaac Haas (7-foot-2) and A.J. Hammons (7-feet). In the season opener at Purdue Hammons hurt the Gophers the most, with 11 points and nine rebounds in the Boilermakers’ 72-68 win.

The Gophers need different results tomorrow, because—strange as it is to write on February 6—this team is playing for an NIT invite more than anything else right now.

Worth Noting

Timberwolves Rookie of the Year candidate Andrew Wiggins and Gophers center Mo Walker, both natives of Canada, know each other. “We’re pretty cool,” Walker said. “Like if I see him, I’ll say, ‘What’s up?’ He’ll say, ‘What’s up?’ He knows who I am and I know who he is.”

The Gophers football team opens its 2015 schedule on Thursday, September 3 against national championship contender TCU, but Michigan and Wisconsin have interesting first weekend games, too. The Wolverines will have a rare road opener at Utah on September 3 in a game sure to draw a boisterous crowd in Salt Lake City. The Badgers play Alabama, another national title hopeful, on Saturday, September 5 at neutral site AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

A hockey source told Sports Headliners he believes the Wild will “make several million” dollars from the outdoor game (NHL Stadium Series) scheduled for next winter at TCF Bank Stadium. The February 21 game against the Blackhawks—the Wild’s first outdoor game at home—can be a revenue stimulus for ticket sales and other income sources.

The source said the game represents a tryout for the Wild to one day host the prestigious and even more lucrative Winter Classic outdoor game held annually in a host NHL city during early January. The NHL’s Stadium Series and the Winter Classic are national TV attractions, generating revenues for the league and NBC TV.

The Wild has won four consecutive games. New goalie Devan Dubnyk has given up only four goals in the last five games. After a slow start before the NHL All-Star Game break, the Wild are trying to recover and make the playoffs. “They’ve got a lot of ground to make up,” the source said.

Minnesota State University, Mankato is the No. 1 ranked men’s college hockey team in the polls. Coach Mike Hastings might be the hottest college hockey coaching name in the country now. During the next couple years the Mavericks may have to fight to keep Hastings who reportedly annually earns $225,000. He is considered an outstanding communicator who relates effectively to players and others.

The Minnesota Minute Men announced the 10 candidates (high school seniors only) for the 31st Annual Mr. Hockey Award: Jack Achcan (Burnsville), Will Borgen (Moorhead), Dixon Bowen (East Grand Forks), Jake Jaremko (Elk River), Dylan Malmquist (Edina), Jack Poehling (Lakeville North), Nick Poehling (Lakeville North), Jack Sadek (Lakeville North), Peter Tufto (Saint Thomas Academy) and Christiano Versich (Saint Thomas Academy). Stephen Headrick (Breck) and Dyllan Lubbesmeyer (Burnsville) are the finalists for The Frank Brimsek Award in recognition of the state’s top senior goaltender. The 31st annual Mr. Hockey Awards Banquet will be held at noon on Sunday, March 8 at the Grand Ballroom at RiverCentre.

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Minneapolis Looking at College Title Game

Posted on December 12, 2014December 12, 2014 by David Shama

Local representatives of the new downtown Vikings stadium will meet leaders from the College Football Playoff next month in Texas with the intent of some day bringing the championship game to Minneapolis.

Michele Kelm-Helgen, chair of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, told Sports Headliners yesterday she will be going to the Dallas area where the first ever College Football Playoff title game is scheduled for January 12 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. She said playoff officials have already expressed interest in the Minneapolis stadium scheduled to open in 2016.

Kelm-Helgen and other stadium representatives—including Meet Minneapolis executive Melvin Tennant who will also go to Texas—have already secured the 2018 Super Bowl and 2019 Final Four for Minnesota. Next up on the priority list is the College Football Playoff Game that annually determines the Division I champion.

Kelm-Helgen said nothing is in place yet to attract the Big Ten Football Championship Game but conversations could develop in 2015. Already discussions have begun with the University of Minnesota regarding a basketball game—or perhaps a tournament—at the $1 billion-plus enclosed stadium.

The stadium project is more than 25 percent complete. With its innovative design, including the huge partially transparent roof, the stadium is expected to be among the most talked about facilities in North America when it opens.

Worth Noting

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer on rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater developing as a leader: “There are so many different types of leaders. I just want him to be himself. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a rah-rah guy, or grab somebody by the throat kind of guy.”

Cordarrelle Patterson has lost his starting assignment and Zimmer said the second-year big play wide receiver must become more consistent. “It’s being in the right place, doing the right things, running the right routes, blocking the right people, lining up in the right place. I don’t know when it’ll happen, and I’m hoping like crazy it does because I want him to be a great player.”

Forty-eight hours prior to games, NFL teams must announce the probability of injured players participating. Fans hear that players are “out” (not scheduled to play); “doubtful” (approximately 25% chance of playing); “questionable” (approximately a 50% chance); “probable” (likely to start).

Former Viking Bob Lurtsema will speak at the January 8 CORES luncheon at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. Bob Gustafson, from Grandma’s Marathon, will speak at the March 12 lunch. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans. Reservations for the January 8 program can be made by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.

Ex-Viking Joe Webb has a more prominent role with the Panthers now as a backup quarterback following Cam Newton’s injuries from a car accident this week. Derek Anderson will replace Newton as the starter with Webb in reserve. Webb, who played both quarterback and wide receiver for the Vikings before joining the Panthers this year, hasn’t played enough to complete a pass.

Darrin Nelson, the former Viking and Stanford running back, was inducted into the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday night.

Zach Zenner, the ex-Eagan High School football player and record-breaking running back at South Dakota State, was awarded an $18,000.00 postgraduate scholarship by the National Football Foundation. A biology major, Zenner has a 3.87 GPA. He is the first player in FCS history to rush for 2,000 yards in each of three seasons.

CollegeFootballNews.com predicted earlier this week the Gophers will defeat Missouri, 34-20, in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl on January 1 in Orlando. The Tigers are about a touchdown favorite to win the game.

Friends are extending best wishes to former Gophers and Detroit Lions tight end Charlie Sanders after cancer surgery on his knee. Sanders was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2007.ame.

Paige Tapp, a pre-major Carlson School of Management student at the University of Minnesota, is one of five Big Ten Conference volleyball players who maintain a 4.0 GPA. Earlier this week the sophomore from Stewartville, Minnesota ranked fourth in the country with 1.55 blocks per set.

The Gophers basketball team, 8-2, doesn’t play a game again until December 19 because of semester exams. Coach Richard Pitino has to hope the time off will help redshirt sophomore forward Charles Buggs with his continued recovery from offseason knee injury. Pitino needs Buggs as a key reserve off the bench. Buggs is averaging 4.2 points and two rebounds per game.

Talk about annoying conflicts: The Timberwolves and Gophers men’s basketball team played home games on the same nights of December 5, 8 and 10.

Jared Nuness, the former Hopkins High School basketball player and now an assistant coach for Baylor, will evaluate prep players on Saturday at the Tip Off Classic tournament at Minnetonka High School. Nuness, former Park Center and Bloomington Kennedy head coach, has many recruiting contacts in Minnesota. Tip Off games will include a matchup between two of the best high school teams in the state, Apple Valley and DeLaSalle.

The grand opening of the Minnesota Wild restaurant at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport was Wednesday. The venue is located in Terminal 2 and promotes “gourmet food, live hockey and hockey sticks everywhere.” It is a joint venture between HMS Host and the Wild.

“Restaurants like the new Minnesota Wild venue introduce visitors to Minnesota’s vibrant culture and help differentiate Minneapolis-St. Paul International from other airports,” said Jeff Hamiel, executive director and CEO of the Metropolitan Airports Commission.

Short-fused John McEnroe—along with James Blake, Michael Chang and Andy Roddick—is scheduled to play in the PowerShare Series Tennis Champions Shootout at Target Center on April 29. Minneapolis is part of a 12-city tour next year involving former ATP Tour stars. In each city there are three one-set matches (semifinals and finals) to determine a winner and accumulate points.

At age 55, McEnroe is the senior member of the group coming to Minneapolis but he is still more than a competent player. He won the PowerShare Series points championship this year with 1,600 points and four tournament titles. Blake, who finished No. 2 in the PowerShare standings, said “McEnroe is still playing great.”

McEnroe has long been known as a volatile competitor whose scorn can quickly place a “dark cloud” over a tennis court. “Johnny Mac just doesn’t like to lose,” said Jim Courier who is another player participating on the PowerShare circuit.

Tickets for the event at Target Center range in cost from $37 to $252.

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Twins Trend: Home Box Office Decline

Posted on August 1, 2014August 1, 2014 by David Shama

As the Twins move toward the close of another disappointing season on the field, club officials are concerned about more than losing 90 games again. They wonder about next year’s Target Field attendance.

General manager Terry Ryan was on WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” last Sunday saying the Twins need to put a better “product” on the field. He expressed concern about losing the attention of fans like in the 1990s when home attendance slipped to averages of under 18,000 per game from 1995 thru 2000 with a low of 13,093.

After winning Central Division titles in 2009 and 2010, the Twins lost 99 games in 2011, then 96 each of the last two seasons. The 2014 club has a 48-59 record compared with 45-59 a year ago.

The Twins ended an embarrassing 3-7 homestand last Sunday when their problematic play included falling behind early in games. That was a characteristic of last year’s Twins and something club officials like team president Dave St. Peter wanted to see left in the past.

St. Peter was also a guest on WCCO’s “Sports Huddle” on Sunday and was asked if attendance could be a problem next season. “Any time you go through four straight challenging seasons it’s going to impact your business…it’s going to impact your ticket sales,” St. Peter answered. “We understand that. We’re going to need to re-establish, and frankly regain, that trust with our fan base and credibility.

“Ultimately at the end of the day that comes down to putting a team on the field that’s exciting and that fans want to come watch. We’ve had that going at times this year but never consistently enough, and then this homestand has been a struggle.

“It’s going to get better. There’s no doubt in my mind that the minor league system that we have today is going to produce a number of high quality players that are going to be a big part of turning this thing around. The question is when is that going to happen? I know our fans want and deserve it to happen sooner versus later.”

The Twins are averaging 28,267 fans per home game, according to Espn.com. That is fewer fans per game than the club averaged during its last season in the much disparaged Metrdome. In that final 2009 season at the dome the Twins averaged 29,466 fans per game. Then came the move to outdoor baseball and beautiful Target Field where attendance jumped to 39,798 in 2010 but has declined every year since with averages of 39,112, 34,512 and 30,588.

Going into this year the Twins had the luxury of renewing season ticket holders by offering the perk of priority for MLB All-Star Game seats. That won’t be on the table in 2015 and a season ticket base believed to total 18,000 at the most will likely decline. “From a season ticket perspective, I think it’s only reasonable to expect that they’ll probably suffer some level of decline,” a former sports executive with knowledge of the Twins operation told Sports Headliners.

The source, who has marketing expertise and didn’t want to be identified, predicts there is a bottom to how far attendance will fall. “I would be surprised if they went below 2 million fans (any time). What is great about Target Field (the environment and many amenities) will keep people coming out simply because of the experience of it all. Do they (fans) want to see a winner? Absolutely. Does winning make it easier to draw people to the ballpark? Of course it does.”

The Twins drew a Target Field low of 2,477,644 last year. The club’s last five seasons in the dome attendance was always 2 million or more, although from 1994 thru 2004 the Twins never hit the 2 million mark in home attendance.

This year’s attendance could total 200,000 or so less than last year, although the team does have attractive games remaining at Target Field against the Tigers and Angels with superstars Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout, and the Athletics who have the best record in baseball.

It doesn’t seem likely the Twins, lacking talent almost everywhere, will suddenly become such a gate attraction that fans can’t ignore them between now and when the season ends in late September. And the Twins know that declining attendance can impact other parts of the club’s business including corporate sponsorships, merchandise sales and concession revenues.

The source referred to earlier describes attendance as the “lifeblood of pro sports.” He added, “Everything else is built on the foundation of attendance.”

Whether the Twins can significantly improve their on-field product between now and next season will have everything to do with how many season ticket holder accounts are renewed, the total number of fans that are in the stands and whether fans tune in games on radio and TV. The source is a supporter of Jim Pohlad and said the Twins owner is frustrated with losing, and willing to spend money on players.

“The truth of the matter is Jim desperately wants to win,” the source said. “He does care very much about the team and its success. He’s a fan. He’s at virtually every game. I think the Pohlads truly do get a bum wrap sometimes that they’re cheap. The reality is that Jim trusts people inside the organization—always has—to do their jobs. If they (Twins executives) come to him and say, ‘We should sign this guy, he can help us,’ I have every belief that Jim would say, ‘Go for it.’ “

Worth Noting

It’s been a rough few months for Dick Jonckowski, the Shakopee-based sports emcee and Gophers public address announcer. In April he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and in June the basement in his home was heavily damaged by water. In early July he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and is receiving chemotherapy.

Jonckowski’s niece, Michelle Beisner, is married to Joe Buck, the Fox baseball play-by-play announcer, who invited Jonckowski to join him in the broadcast booth for the MLB All-Star Game in Minneapolis last month. Jonckowski couldn’t accept the invitation because he was in the hospital but Buck extended best wishes during the telecast.

Jonckowski told Sports Headliners his cancer is curable, and he appreciates the support he’s received from friends. “I’ve heard from people from all over the country,” Jonckowski said. “I should be fine.”

The basement at his house is being remodeled after the water damage and Jonckowski is planning to sell about 60 percent of his extensive sports memorabilia collection that for years has been kept at his home. He has about 80 boxes of memorabilia and likely will have a sale in late August.

No one has ever won the 3M Championship in consecutive years but 2013 champ Tom Pernice Jr. is optimistic he can change that. “My game is in a good place,” he told Sports Headliners yesterday. “My putting is in good shape and you need to putt well this week because you need to shoot low.”

Pernice said he is playing as well or better now than last year at this time. He finished tied for third in the recent Senior British Open, a tournament won by Bernhard Langer who will also be here for the 3M Championship that starts today and concludes on Sunday at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine. Langer has twice won the 3M.

Why hasn’t anyone won consecutively in the senior tour event here? “You know I have no idea,” Pernice said with a laugh. “Golf is really a funny game. Several players have won more than one time (but) it’s just the way it goes.”

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer after being asked yesterday to evaluate the coverage work of rookie linebacker Anthony Barr: “Coverage is great. He moves well. He’s got a good idea. Somebody was telling me that he takes copious notes in the meetings. He’s got pages and pages of them…so he’s very, very into trying to learn what we’re trying to do and teach.

“He’s got a lot of raw, athletic ability that helps in the coverage aspect of things. There’s times when he may pull off of somebody a little bit too soon…he’s got to do better at (that).”

The Jefferson Football Golf Classic is today at Dwan Golf Club in Bloomington. In 13 years the event has raised about $45,000 to assist 39 former Bloomington Jefferson High School football players with college expenses. Event organizers are Rich Bird, Dennis Kane, Stan Skjei and Larry Swartout.

Nate Hanson, the 27-year-old Chanhassen native and former Gopher, is a first baseman with the Twins AAA Red Wings farm club. He is hitting .247 with two home runs and 11 RBI in 77 at bats.

Josmil Pinto, who could well be the successor to Kurt Suzuki as the Twins starting catcher, needs work behind the plate and is only hitting .250 with five home runs and 18 RBI in 96 at bats with the Red Wings. Unlike Hanson, the 25-year old Pinto is on the Twins’ 40-man roster.

Writing for the July 30 Gopherillustrated.com, Ryan James reported that highly recruited DeLaSalle guard Jarvis Johnson lists Minnesota, Baylor, Michigan State, Maryland, UNLV, Wichita State, and Wisconsin as schools he has heard from the most this summer.

The Minnesota Senior Games begin today at the University of St. Thomas with about 1,500 athletes ages 50 and over participating. The games go through August 9 and events include 5k and 10k races, archery, badminton, basketball, billiards, bowling, cycling, disc golf, golf, horseshoes, pickleball, racquetball, shuffleboard, softball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, track and field and volleyball. Events will be held at sites in Bloomington, Eagan, Minneapolis and St. Paul. Athletes can qualify for the 2015 National Senior Games that will be held in Minnesota July 3-16.

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