Timberwolves – Page 102 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Tamp Down Hype on Gophers Speedster

Posted on August 14, 2013August 14, 2013 by David Shama

Don’t get too excited too soon about Gophers freshman running back Berkley Edwards. The advice is targeted at the most rabid Gophers fans who are looking hard for players to be passionate about.

Edwards has for months been advertised as a breakaway runner and he provided the most electrifying play of the day in a recent scrimmage when he ran up the middle for a 70-yard touchdown. Coach Jerry Kill said on National Signing Day back in February that Edwards was one of the top track sprinters in the country and the type of runner the Gophers could hand the ball to and say, “Goodnight.”

But there are reasons to tamp down expectations for now about Edwards (not highly recruited by other Big Ten schools) and his first-season impact for Minnesota. While Kill likes Edwards’ toughness, the Novi, Michigan native doesn’t have big legs, or a lot of size at 5-9, 190 pounds. In last Saturday’s scrimmage he didn’t have much success moving tacklers when his holes were minimal.

The coaching staff is likely to use Edwards in spot situations. His breakaway speed is an effective contrast to last year’s top backs, Donnell Kirkwood and Rodrick Williams, both of whom are power runners figuring to play much more than Edwards.

Edwards might see the field in early games similar to how the Gophers sometimes used 5-10, 197-pound speedster KJ Maye last season when he was a freshman. Maye, now a full-time wide receiver, saw spot duty in the backfield during 2012. He had four carries against New Hampshire and six versus Syracuse during the nonconference season. Look for Edwards to far exceed the 17 total carries Maye had as both a receiver and running back last season.

The Gophers could make good use of Edwards’ speed on draw plays, pitchouts, swing passes and reverses. More limited duty of that kind will also give him time to better understand the responsibilities of a college running back that range from pass protecting to having the playbook down cold.

Kill is optimistic about the learning curve. “He’s a pretty quick learner,” Kill said.

Edwards is part of an intriguing class of newcomers that includes freshmen and junior college transfers. It’s only Kill’s second full recruiting class. “We got some good young talent. We just gotta develop them and coach them,” Kill said.

First impressions include the running ability of many in the group. Freshmen quarterbacks Chris Streveler and Donovahn Jones are athletic and fast enough to break off long runs. Either or both might have an opportunity to do that as wide receivers before they play quarterback in a game.

The speed factor is noticeable even in bigger players like 6-5, 251-pound defensive end Hendrick Ekpe. “Hank can really run but he’s just raw,” Kill said. “He’s done some good things. I am excited about seeing how he matures over the next couple weeks because he’s a big physical specimen.”

Worth Noting

Oddsshark.com has the Gophers as 14 point favorites to defeat UNLV on August 29 at TCF Bank Stadium.

That game begins at 6:07 p.m. on a weekday night and fans will encounter challenges with traffic and parking. School won’t be in session at the University but there will be the usual rush hour and construction hassles, plus the Vikings play that evening at Mall of America Field and the State Fair will be in day eight. The Twins have a game the afternoon of August 29 at Target Field, adding a third event within a short drive of TCF Bank Stadium.

Gophers athletic director Norwood Teague said on WCCO Radio’s Sid Hartman show this morning that his department is working on making a telecast of Minnesota’s game at New Mexico State on September 7 available in this market. As reported earlier by Sports Headliners, the game is already scheduled for airing in parts of the Southwest including New Mexico.

When Vince Taylor was an assistant coach to Tubby Smith with the Gophers, Taylor had a strong recruiting relationship with former Robbinsdale Cooper shooting guard Rashad Vaughn who will play his senior season for Findlay Prep in Las Vegas. Taylor is now an assistant to Smith at Texas Tech and a high school recruiting authority told Sports Headliners Taylor is recruiting Vaughn but doesn’t think the Minnesota native will sign with the Red Raiders.

The Gophers, with an average attendance of 12,580 per game, finished No. 23 in the nation and No. 7 in the Big Ten in college basketball attendance last season, according to figures recently made available by the NCAA.

Minnesota Mr. Basketball president Ken Lien emailed that Matt Fletcher, who has coached at Anoka High School and Bethel University, has accepted an assistant’s position at Upper Iowa University.

Timberwolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders welcomed new shooting guard Kevin Martin to town this week. Saunders said Martin is not only an outstanding three-point shooter but goes to the foul line “seven-plus times per game.”

Martin is admired for his professionalism, including how he trains. “He’s in phenomenal shape,” Saunders said.

Martin reached out to Shabazz Muhammad following the rookie’s incident where he reportedly had an unapproved female guest in his hotel room while attending an NBA seminar to teach new players proper behavior.

Saunders, a part owner in the Timberwolves, didn’t have an update on when the deal between the franchise and the city to renovate Target Center will be finished.

Saunders talking about ongoing contract negotiations with restricted free agent Wolves center Nikola Pekovic: “Every player, when you’re not signed, you want to be signed. You’re walking around without a contract. It’s like having a powerball in your pocket. You don’t want to throw your jeans in the washer and all of a sudden you don’t have it (powerball ticket) anymore.”

Stillwater-based Creative Charters is offering a five-day, four-night trip to London to watch the Vikings and Steelers in a regular season game on September 29. Former Viking Bob Lurtsema is the travel host. More at creativecharter.com.

Creative Charters is selling packages covering transportation, lodging and more but if you’re wondering what a bargain rate is just for a good hotel room in London, try $320 per night.

Francisco Liriano is tied for second in the National League for most wins with his 12-5 record with the Pirates. Traded by the Twins last season to the White Sox, Liriano’s success with the Pirates is an embarrassment to both Minnesota and Chicago. Liriano has reportedly changed his mix of two-seam and four-seam fast balls to help turn his career around.

Rookie center fielder Aaron Hicks, sent down by the Twins on August 1 to Triple-A Rochester after hitting .192 for the season, is only batting .209 in 12 games with the Red Wings. Pitcher Scott Diamond, also demoted to Rochester on August 1, is 1-0 with a 2.40 ERA.

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Shabazz Gets Musselman Endorsement

Posted on June 24, 2013June 24, 2013 by David Shama

Among the assumptions about Thursday night’s NBA Draft is the Timberwolves will select a shooting guard with their No. 9 pick in the first round. What might be far more clandestine is their interest in UCLA swingman Shabazz Muhammad.

While public conversation has frequently included the possibility of selecting Indiana’s Victor Oladipo, the Wolves almost certainly have to make a trade with another team and move up in the draft to obtain the Indiana junior shooting guard. There’s no guarantee the Wolves want to or can make such a move.

In the June 24 issue of Sports Illustrated the magazine predicts the Wolves will select Muhammad at No. 9 after Oladipo is chosen at No. 5 by the Suns. The publication includes a feature on Muhammad who played only as a freshman at UCLA, averaging 17.9 points per game and finishing his career in a 20 point first round NCAA Tournament loss to the Gophers last March.

Among Pac-12 rivals who watched Muhammad play was Arizona State associate head coach Eric Musselman, a friend of Timberwolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders. “If there were an NBA game tomorrow, you could put him in your rotation,” Musselman said in the magazine. “There are probably less than 10 guys in this draft you can say that about.”

While Muhammad is stereotyped as a shooter-scorer, a one dimensional player, Oladipo has all-around abilities including a stingy defensive skill set. The Wolves’ glaring need, though, is someone who can hit open jump shots while joining a team already built around forward Kevin Love and point guard Ricky Rubio.

Given that roster need, Jim Dutcher wouldn’t advise Saunders to move up in the draft to take Oladipo. “If you’re looking for a shooter I would say no,” said Dutcher. “He’s more of an all-around athlete than he is a pure stroker. He’s not like a Klay Thompson or those kind of players that can just knock down (shots). Stephen Curry, those great shooters.

“That’s one of the question marks. Is he (Oladipo) a quality outside shooter? And I am not sure. I think his better game is a penetrator, a guy who gets to the basket. One thing he does do is he finishes at the basket.”

Dutcher, the former Gophers’ coach whose players at Minnesota included Saunders, labels Oladipo a “great physical talent” with good character who will be a solid pro.

“The one thing that would be concerning to me is as you watched Indiana play, there were large periods where Oladipo kind of disappeared. He’s out there and then he would do something spectacular. And maybe it’s because Indiana had a balanced team. …I would be concerned that he wasn’t their go-to guy at the end of games. Sometimes he would be and a lot of times he wouldn’t be involved.”

Basketball fans in this town will be intrigued by Thursday night’s draft not just to see what the Wolves do with two first round picks and two second rounders. There will also be interest in the futures of former Gophers Trevor Mbakwe and Rodney Williams.

Mbakwe led the Big Ten in rebounding at 8.7 per game. His instincts for rebounding and physical strength at 6-8, 245 are NBA level but there are holes in his resume including a limited offensive game. Williams, 6-7, 205, can put himself on ESPN SportsCenter with world-class dunks, but it seems like there are almost as many questions about his overall skill set as inches he can jump.

“I think on Trevor you gotta evaluate where you are going to play him,” Dutcher said. “He’s strong around the basket but he does not have a refined inside game. If he can’t dunk it, he can’t make it a lot of times.

“He’s not big enough to play a full-time center in the NBA. You gotta be able to make that face-up jump shot and there were games that he did that, and he was probably the premier rebounder in the Big Ten Conference which says a lot, but everybody evaluates Trevor based on one game. The Indiana game where he out played (Cody) Zeller and the Gophers upset Indiana who was then the No. 1 team in the nation.

“But you gotta look at the whole picture where he got out played at Nebraska and Northwestern. Some of the lesser teams…where he didn’t have great games. The Michigan game here (facing a top 10 team) I thought he got badly outplayed by Michigan’s big men.”

Dutcher believes Mbakwe is probably a second round NBA draft choice at best. “He’s not a sure fire NBA player. Probably going to end up playing in Europe would be my guess unless somebody has a spot for a guy that can go in and get you a key rebound or two.

“He does have some down things. He’s older (24). His age is not in his favor. The off the court baggage, I think Trevor has dealt with that pretty well. I don’t think that is a major concern but…when they evaluate a player they evaluate everything.”

While Mbakwe had serious issues off the court during his college career, Williams won’t have to answer such questions from NBA teams. The signature question about Williams is how did he miss doing more with all his athleticism?

“People that watched Minnesota waited four years for Rodney to have a break-out year and he never did,” Dutcher said. “Not a consistent outside shooter. Not a great defender. He does the spectacular. He can go up there and dazzle you with a slam dunk but at the end of the year when you look at the stats he doesn’t average great scoring. He doesn’t average even great rebounding, and doesn’t have impressive statistics. But you gotta be impressed with his leaping ability. ….

“I doubt that he gets drafted. Somebody will take a chance on bringing him to (an NBA) camp or putting him in the D-League, or doing something just because of his physical jumping ability. But you evaluate the all around game and Rodney…is probably not an NBA player.”

Worth Noting

The year’s draft will feature more Big Ten players likely to be selected in the first round than any in recent memory. The list consists of Indiana’s Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller, Michigan’s Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr., and could include Ohio State’s Deshaun Thomas.

The Timberwolves will host a free draft party for fans at Target Center starting at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday night. The draft begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be telecast by ESPN. Wolves center Greg Stiemsma is scheduled to be in attendance for a portion of the party.

Former Gophers assistant coach Jimmy Williams is no longer an assistant at the University of Memphis and has interest in NBA coaching. Williams is living in Houston.

The Wild have eight picks in next Sunday’s NHL Entry Draft but none in the first round. A trade may change that. The draft begins at 2 p.m. Minnesota time and will be televised by the NBC Sports Network.

Miguel Sano, the super prospect who some observers think could be playing for the Twins as early as next year, is off to a slow start after being promoted from Class A Fort Myers to Class AA New Britain. In 11 games the 20-year-old third baseman is hitting .171 with two home runs and eight RBI.

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U Looks at Sand Volleyball Program

Posted on June 21, 2013June 22, 2013 by David Shama

The Gophers are showing interest in possibly adding sand volleyball to the roster of intercollegiate sports. “We’ve just had general discussions with the administration,” Gophers indoor volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon told Sports Headliners yesterday.

Although it is an Olympic sport, only 34 American colleges have “verified their commitment” to sand volleyball, according to Collegesand.org. The website said 40 programs are necessary to make sand volleyball a “championship sport.” The NCAA has given the activity emerging sport status.

Nebraska started a sand volleyball program this year and is the only Big Ten school competing in the sport. The Huskers’ schedule was limited to the month of March and included only road matches with opponents such as Florida State, Pepperdine and UCLA.

Nebraska, like Minnesota, has a winning tradition and strong fan support in women’s indoor volleyball. The Huskers and Gophers tied for second place in volleyball in the Big Ten last year with 15-5 records. Nebraska averaged 4,287 fans per home match, second best in the nation. The Gophers, who nearly qualified for the NCAA Final Four Tournament, averaged a national third best 3,316 fans at home.

Various factors about college sand volleyball are likely of interest to Gophers athletic department leaders as they contemplate bringing the sport to campus. To field a team the Gophers could use some of the same players from the indoor team that competes in the fall. College sand volleyball requires more minimal personnel with two players from each side competing against one another (indoor volleyball uses six players per side on the court).

Having a sand volleyball team might mean a recruiting advantage for the Gophers because they could offer competitive playing time to players beyond the indoor volleyball schedule. That factor would be particularly helpful while recruiting in a state like California where so many teenagers play sand volleyball.

At Nebraska indoor coach John Cook is also coaching the sand volleyball team. The Gophers’ sand volleyball coach would almost certainly be McCutcheon, a former men’s and women’s Olympic coach and a world renowned volleyball authority.

The athletic department is in the process of developing a master plan for athletic facilities and the review could include a potential outdoor sand volleyball court. That wouldn’t be a costly expense and fits into the economy of the sport involving scholarships, coaching and a limited schedule.

Sand volleyball here might eventually have revenue producing potential if late spring matches were offered. The indoor Gophers volleyball team with its average of 3,316 drew more fans than women’s basketball, 3,277.

While nothing is for sure yet about the future of sand volleyball at Minnesota, McCutheon sounded optimistic about how it could fit in here. “I think it could be very successful given that it’s such a strong sport in the state,” McCutcheon said.

The athletic department presently has 25 intercollegiate sports. Like other schools the Gophers are mandated by federal law to provide equal opportunities for men and women. The addition of sand volleyball would add to the list of women’s offerings at Minnesota that now includes basketball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, hockey, rowing, softball, soccer, swimming-diving, tennis, track and field, and indoor volleyball.

Worth Noting

East Ridge High School center J.C. Hassenauer, who has verbally committed to Alabama, can become the second Minnesota native ever to play football for the Crimson Tide, according to an Internet story Tuesday by Andrew Gribble on Al.com. Guard William Buckler from St. Paul played for Alabama in the 1920s.

Mark Dienhart, the former Gophers athletic director and more recently executive vice president and chief operating officer for St. Thomas, will now lead Best Buy founder Richard Schulze’s family foundation starting in July.

Former Gophers ticket manager Tom Swain and his wife Arlene had their 66^th wedding anniversary on Wednesday.

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier after being asked about starting third-year quarterback Christian Ponder’s accuracy: “I think he’s much better. He’s worked his tail off trying to improve his accuracy. Our coaches have put him through a bunch of different drills and through his hard work I think he’s improved in that area. Now we’ve got some things we’ve got to get done in training camp, but he’s put in the work to improve and we are seeing it.”

Ex-Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton is 6-foot and played at about 190 pounds. In the June 17 issue of Sports Illustrated Tarkenton recalled trying to block 6-5, 272-pound Hall of Fame defensive end Deacon Jones who was built like concrete and passed away earlier this month. “He just broke up laughing,” Tarkenton told the magazine.

The Minnesota High School All-Star Football Game will be played Saturday, June 30 at Husky Stadium in St. Cloud. This coming Sunday 93 players and 16 coaches report to training camp at St. John’s University in Collegeville.

The Timberwolves and the city of Minneapolis hope to soon finalize a $100 million deal to renovate Target Center. Both parties will be involved with financing on the project to further modernize the arena that opened in 1990. The original cost of the building was $104 million.

Look for the Timberwolves to build a new practice facility at a site to be determined. The project would include naming rights. The team now practices at Target Center.

In its mock draft NBAdraftnet.net predicts the Wolves will choose shooting guards Kentavious Coldwell-Pope and Ricardo Ledo with their No. 9 and 26 first round picks in next week’s NBA draft. Former Gophers forwards Trevor Mbakwe and Rodney Williams will be selected on the second round, with Mbawke going to the Grizzlies at No. 41 and Williams to the Suns at No. 57.

The Wolves host a workout session for potential NBA draft choices at Target Center today and among the players will be former Gophers center Colton Iverson who finished his college career at Colorado State. NBAdraft.net predicts Iverson will be drafted by the Magic at No. 51 in the second round.

TV commentator Bert Blyleven, who was born in the Netherlands, joking on Wednesday night’s Twins-White Sox game: “Not Dutch. Not much.”

Joe Mauer had his ninth three-hit game this season against the White Sox in the Twins’ 8-4 win yesterday at Target Field. Mauer is batting .424 in eight games against the White Sox this year.

The No. 4 best workplace among Minnesota large companies is the Minnesota Twins, according to a special section in last Sunday’s Star Tribune.

Gophers women’s basketball coach Pam Borton announced that Rachel Banham, one of the two top sophomore scorers in the NCAA last season with a 20.7 average, had successful patellar tendonitis surgery.

Cynopsis.com reported on Wednesday that last Monday’s Bruins-Blackhawks game was the most watched NHL game ever on the NBC Sports Network and had the most viewers of any Stanley Cup Finals game on cable TV in 11 years.

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