Twins – Page 183 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

ESPN Analyst: U Not Clearing ‘Hurdle’

Posted on January 28, 2013January 28, 2013 by David Shama

ESPN college basketball analyst Dan Dakich told Sports Headliners the slumping Gophers can’t give up on their season but they need to elevate their play against the Big Ten’s best teams.

“You get to a point when making a move from (being) a good team to an upper echelon team, that you gotta expect to win,” Dakich said. “I think that’s the big hurdle for Minnesota to get over. Minnesota has certainly had its chances.”

In the last two weeks the Gophers have lost four consecutive Big Ten games after starting the conference schedule 3-0. Three defeats have been against some of the league’s best teams: Indiana and Michigan, both 6-1, and 5-2 Wisconsin.

How do the Gophers start winning games against the league’s better teams? Dakich said coach Tubby Smith’s team needs to continue “situation work” in practice. That means tasks such as simulating close games in the last few minutes.

With four losses in the first seven games, Dakich believes the Gophers are now an unlikely contender for the league title. But that doesn’t mean they can’t have an extraordinary season including a high finish in the standings and memorable NCAA tournament performance.

“They have enough ability, and (also) leadership from older guys,” said Dakich, a former Indiana Hoosier and head coach at Bowling Green.

Minnesota plays four of its next five games at home after just finishing a portion of the schedule that had the Gophers on the road for four of five games. Nebraska, 2-6, is at Williams Arena to play the Gophers tomorrow night.

Worth Noting

Jerry Kill told Sports Headliners his staff may now have been together longer than any other group in major college football coaching. Kill has the same core of assistants he hired after taking the Gophers job in late 2010.

Many assistants, including offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover and defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys, also worked for Kill at Northern Illinois where he was head coach from 2008-2010. Limegrover and Claeys have worked for Kill since the 1990s.

The longevity of Kill’s staff is impressive in the job-fragile world of head and assistant coaches. It’s not uncommon for head coaches to be dismissed within a couple of years. And dissatisfied head coaches—under extreme pressure to win now—routinely shake up their coaching staffs, including coordinators.

There were 30 FBS head coaching changes made in recent months, according to a January 7 listing by ESPN.com. But the loyalty between Kill and his assistants, and their longevity together, is a signature difference for Gophers’ football. The stability sends a message to potential recruits that it’s likely they will play for the same coaches throughout their careers. Players already in the program benefit from the continuity of not having to learn new systems and adjust to different personalities.

Gophers’ basketball coach Tubby Smith’s name has been rumored with the USC opening after the Trojans dismissed Kevin O’Neill earlier this month. Shaka Smart and Flip Saunders are names that keep coming up if the Gophers basketball job were to open. Smart, the VCU coach who worked for Gophers’ athletic director Norwood Teague when Teague was at that school, has a Midwest connection having lived in Wisconsin.

Saunders, the former Gophers guard, lives in suburban Minneapolis and is thought to be interested in coaching again after being with three NBA clubs including the Timberwolves. Although Saunders hasn’t coached collegiately since the 1980s, he would be a popular choice with Gophers’ basketball alums and donors.

Saunders was fired by the Wizards on January 24, 2012 with a 2-15 record. Today the Wizards have won 11 games so far this season, tied with the Bobcats for the fewest wins in the NBA.

College basketball needs to adopt the NBA approach of discouraging fouls called on offensive players when defenders flop. Bo Ryan’s Badgers use flopping theatrics as displayed in the last minute of Saturday’s Minnesota game in Madison when Gophers’ point guard Andre Hollins was called for charging when he made minimal contact with a Wisconsin defender.

At Sports Headliners’ request, prep basketball authority Ken Lien sent his rankings of state boys’ teams listed below.

Class 4A: Park Center, Apple Valley, Hopkins, Osseo, Minnetonka, Lakeville North, Roseville, Eden Prairie.

Class 3A: DeLaSalle, Austin, Delano, Waconia, Grand Rapids, Blake, Holy Angels, Hemantown.

Class 2A: Melrose, Hawley, Byron, St. Peter, Pelican Rapids, Litchfield, St. Cloud Cathedral, Hayfield.

Class 1A: Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa, Upsala, Southwest Minnesota Christian, Heritage Christian, Maranatha, Rushford-Peterson, West Lutheran, Browerville.

Lien e-mailed that Osseo’s Bridge Tusler, who had been interested in Northern Iowa, has committed to South Dakota State. He helped lead Osseo to the Class 4A state title last March.

Tyus Jones continues to have a bothersome back. The Apple Valley junior point guard is noncommittal about his college choice but it wouldn’t be surprising if a decision comes before next fall.

Word is national football power USC is very interested in DeLaSalle junior quarterback Reid Travis. He is also highly recruited in basketball.

Larry Fitzgerald Sr., the local newspaper and radio personality, is covering his 35^th Super Bowl in New Orleans this week.

Meaningless statistic for 2013 Super Bowl: the 49ers are 5-0 in previous games.

Ravens’ assistant head coach Jerry Rosburg was the secondary coach for the Gophers in 1996 under head coach Jim Wacker.

The Vikings had seven players selected for yesterday’s Pro Bowl including tight end Kyle Rudolph who won the MVP award playing for the victorious NFC team. Rudolph, Matt Kalil, and Blair Walsh are all 23 years old. The other Vikings selected were Jared Allen, 30; Jerome Felton, 26; Chad Greenway, 30; and Adrian Peterson, 27.

TwinsFest, the three day fan festival that ended yesterday, boosts the Twins’ image and showcases the personalities of the players. The roster has a lot of nice guys, from 2012 newcomers Scott Diamond and Josh Willingham to veterans Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau.

The Twins go to spring training next month with Morneau in the last year of his contract. At 31 and with a history of injuries, don’t expect to hear much about contract extensions for awhile.

The Twins will keep the advertising revenue on new radio home KTWN, 96.3 FM. The station has the same ownership as the Twins. The hope is that Twins broadcasts will improve KTWN’s minimal ratings, and FM broadcasts will provide a clear sound.

If the Twins are in contention for the AL Central title late in the season, that could drive attendance to near 3 million at Target Field. With a last place division team in 2012, the Twins drew 2,776,354, according to MLB attendance figures from ESPN.com. That was 12^th best among 30 franchises but poor performance on the field is reducing ticket buying interest including for season tickets.

Former reliever Eddie Guardado and ex-public relations director Tom Mee will be inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame during a pregame ceremony on June 14 at Target Field.

The MIAC had a record number of fall academic all-conference selections. The 329 total exceeded the 305 in 2009 and 2010.

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Stumbling Gophers Try Madison Next

Posted on January 25, 2013January 25, 2013 by David Shama

Embarrassing.

There’s not a better word to describe the Gophers’ 55-48 loss to Northwestern on Wednesday night in Evanston. The Wildcats have minimal talent and are playing out the season minus their best player, Drew Crawford. The Gophers have the personnel to dominate the dwarfs of the Big Ten like Northwestern, and to defeat any team in the league.

Northwestern coach Bill Carmody saw his team behind 27-24 at halftime, but he saved a half-court zone trap for the game’s last 20 minutes. The Gophers have faced the same defense for years and often have been ineffective versus the scheme. In Evanston, the Minnesota coaches and players looked baffled again.

Attempting to start the offense, the guards spent precious seconds trying to pass out of double teams. When the Gophers were able to advance toward the basket by dribbling or passing, they found multiple defenders again and couldn’t create scoring opportunities.

More decisive passing and better positioning of players on the floor could have attacked the trap more effectively. Instead Minnesota not only scored just 21 second half points, but also created baskets for Northwestern with turnovers.

The Gophers had 15 turnovers in the game, just about their average of 14.7, highest in the Big Ten. In Madison tomorrow the Gophers will play a Badgers team with the lowest average, 9.1. And while Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan has a team that annually plays virtually mistake free basketball, the Gophers have been talking about eliminating turnovers since last fall.

The Gophers have lost three consecutive games, the first two to top 10 ranked Indiana and Michigan. The dream of chasing a Big Ten championship looks dead seven weeks before the season ends. Minnesota is 3-3 in conference games with likely losses ahead in road games at Wisconsin, Michigan State and Ohio State. The way the Gophers performed against Northwestern—making 33.3 percent of their field goal attempts and 41.2 percent of their free throws—they could lose to a bunch more teams, on the road and at home.

“Unimaginable” was a word Gophers coach Tubby Smith used to describe the three game slide to obscurity. Smith made that comment on his post-game 1500 ESPN radio show on Wednesday night and also expressed frustration that his team wasn’t “mentally tough.”

Last Sunday on WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” he said the team (following the Indiana and Michigan losses) “should really be sitting here at 15-1.” Instead the Gophers are now 15-4 overall and will be plummeting in the A.P. national rankings from their No. 12 spot unless they defeat the Badgers.

Minnesota’s inability to beat the league’s best teams—and even the mediocre ones—is consistent with the Smith era. In five-plus seasons his record in regular season conference games is 41-55.

Last October Smith told Sports Headliners he has three potential NBA first round draft choices in guard Andre Hollins, center Trevor Mbakwe and forward Rodney Williams. But the Gophers are stumbling and a disgruntled fan made this prediction about how only one thing may change from Wednesday night to tomorrow:

“Look for a superstitious team to switch from gold uniforms to maroon.”

Worth Noting

TwinsFest at the Metrodome starts today and ends Sunday afternoon with announced attendance likely to be near 30,000.

With high fan interest and a unique venue to host the event, the annual attendance is the largest in MLB for fan festivals. Profits go to the Twins Community Fund, and this year’s contribution is likely to be $275,000 or more. Since the inception of TwinsFest in 1989 the Community Fund has received more than $4.2 million.

While players from other MLB teams are compensated for their time at similar fan festivals, Twins players are not. Expenses such as airfare are paid by the Twins.

More than 60 current and former Twins, including Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, are expected to participate during the three day event. TwinsFest opens today at 4 p.m.

The delay to the start of the Wild’s season was frustrating but the team is likely to make fans happy in the coming months, according to a Sports Headliners hockey source who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They have much more depth than they have ever had,” he said. “This is (also) the most talented team in club history. …I don’t see any major weaknesses.”

The Wild, 2-1, play at Detroit tonight and then in St. Louis on Sunday. The source said if the Wild can start 10-2 or 10-3, the club could then play .500 hockey the remainder of the regular schedule and still qualify for the playoffs “where anything can happen.”

He credited general manager Chuck Fletcher with exceptional work in rebuilding the feeder system and already adding outstanding players like Mikael Granlund. “They’ve done a marvelous job,” he said.

Fans are responding enthusiastically to the team, particularly because of adding star performers Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. Last Saturday’s season opener set a TV ratings record for a Wild game on FOX Sports North.

The Wild could sell a lot of season tickets for 2013-2014, although reaching the club’s record high of over 16,000 established several years ago will be a challenge.

St. Thomas men’s basketball coach Johnny Tauer teaches psychology classes so it’s not surprising he can see both aspects of the Tommies’ reputation. The Tommies entered this week ranked No. 1 in the country by D3hoops.com and are 84-9 in their last 93 MIAC games.

Those numbers can command the attention of opponents, even giving the Tommies an edge before the game starts. “Teams can think these guys (the Tommies) are really good,” Tauer said. “The flip side is we get everybody’s best shot.”

Tauer’s recollection is the other team “rushed the court” in celebrations after each of those nine St. Thomas losses. And that includes Monday night’s loss at Concordia, 54-52.

St. Thomas won on Wednesday night, though, defeating St. Mary’s 87-46 while building this season’s record to 17-1 overall and 12-1 in the MIAC. Tomorrow Hamline plays at St. Thomas.

Two years ago the Tommies won the Division III national title when Tauer was an assistant coach. The club featured a senior group, just like the 2013 Tommies. “That team played its best basketball at the end of the year, winning six straight and the national tournament,” Tauer said.

He likes the depth on this year’s team. Asked about a closer to finish out games, the coach said, “We really have eight or nine guys I would be comfortable with taking the shot.”

Gophers’ freshman Adam Wilcox (16-2-4 record) leads the WCHA in wins at 16, winning percentage at .818 and goals against average, 1.72 per game. He’s unbeaten in the last 10 games. The No. 1 ranked Gophers play Minnesota State at home tonight and in Mankato tomorrow night. The two teams split an earlier series this season.

Wild draft choice Erik Haula leads the Gophers in points with 29. Another Wild prospect, Louis Nanne, has 13 goals and 14 assists in 32 games playing for Penticton in Canada.

Golden Valley-based Buffalo Wild Wings has a partnership with the NCAA to be the “Official Hangout of March Madness,” according to a Wednesday email from Cynopsis: Sports.

Happy birthday to KSTP TV’s Darren Doogie Wolfson who was 33 on Sunday.

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Award Fate Rests with Peterson

Posted on December 14, 2012December 14, 2012 by David Shama

Adrian Peterson has three regular season games to break the NFL single season rushing record of 2,105 held by former Rams running back Eric Dickerson. If the Vikings monster rusher does that he should be a cinch for the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award.

Peterson has 1,600 yards rushing in 13 games and needs to average 169 yards per game the remainder of the season to break the record. He has run for a career best 100-plus yards in each of his last seven games, and for the season is averaging six yards per carry while gaining more total yards than most of the teams in the NFL. Peterson’s career high single season total is 1,760 yards in 2008.

Those are remarkable numbers, but within the context of recovering from reconstructive knee surgery earlier this year they are astounding. After ACL surgery most athletes hope for a return to previous form. The 27-year-old Peterson is having his best season, working his tail off to achieve the greatest numbers of his career and break a benchmark NFL record.

“Boy, it’s hard to imagine someone overcoming as much as he has,” Vikings coach Leslie Frazier told Sports Headliners. “He’d get my vote (for comeback award). He’s been incredible in every sense of the word. Just a terrific accomplishment when you consider how devastating an ACL injury can be on a player’s career. Not only comeback (award) but…an MVP candidate as well. He’s been terrific.”

Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, who missed last season because of his neck injury, is Peterson’s primary rival for comeback honors. Manning has led the Broncos to eight consecutive wins and the AFC West title. He has thrown 30 touchdown passes, second in the NFL only to Drew Brees, and his passer rating of 104 is right behind Tom Brady’s league leading 104.2. All of this despite having to adjust to new surroundings and football assignments during his first season in Denver.

“You can’t discount what Peyton’s overcome.” Frazier said. “Four neck surgeries. That’s pretty serious stuff to come back and play at the level he’s playing at.”

But Manning is surrounded by more offensive help than Peterson has in Minnesota. The Vikings’ limited passing game hasn’t done much to create opportunities when Peterson carries the ball. Even the casual fan knows Peterson is going to run the ball often in the team’s offense but waiting defenses still can’t stop him.

If Peterson not only breaks the league single season rushing record but carries the Vikings into the playoffs, his resume for NFL MVP will be loaded too. There’s a bias toward making a quarterback MVP in the pass-happy NFL but all the more reason to recognize a record breaking rusher if he’s beast enough to carry his otherwise subpar offense into the playoffs.

Worth Noting

Vikings radio analyst Pete Bercich said on a broadcast last month from Chicago that he rates the now deceased Walter Payton, who Bercich watched while growing up, an even greater runner than Peterson.

The Vikings, 7-6, have remaining games on the road against the 6-6-1 Rams and 11-2 Texans, and at home versus the 9-4 Packers. Based on the records of opponents in 2011, there are only seven teams in the NFL who have more difficult schedules than the Vikings in 2012.

What’s the key to the Vikings winning on Sunday in St. Louis? “For us, it seems when we travel we don’t do a good job of protecting the ball,” Frazier said. “Then we gotta execute our assignments across the board. But we gotta do a good job of protecting the ball and then trying to take the ball away.”

In six road games the Vikings have lost five fumbles and quarterback Christian Ponder has been intercepted six times.

The Vikings started five rookies against the Bears last Sunday, the most in one game in franchise history—safety Harrison Smith, cornerback Josh Robinson, offensive tackle Matt Kalil, fullback Rhett Ellison and wide receiver Jarius Wright.

Rookie kicker Blair Walsh is among the NFL leaders with 41 kickoff touchbacks, one more than the previous Vikings franchise record of 40.

Don’t be surprised if Darrell Bevell, the former Vikings offensive coordinator, is the next Badgers football coach. Bevell, who is now offensive coordinator with the Seahawks, has a high football IQ and is a quality person. He was Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez’s first Rose bowl quarterback when Alavarez was coaching and resurrecting the Badgers program.

Because of Jerry Kill’s history with seizures, the NCAA allows his wife Rebecca to accompany him on recruiting trips. Kill is committed to better understanding his condition, and despite the news media attention about the seizures they haven’t caused him to miss an entire game while coaching at Minnesota.

St. Thomas football coach Glenn Caruso was diagnosed with a life-threatening blood disorder when he was five years old. He credits the doctors at Yale-New Haven Cancer Center for helping save his life, and in appreciation he set up a living trust with the hospital as the beneficiary.

Caruso’s Tommies play Mount Union tonight in Salem,Virginia for the Division III national championship. The game begins at 6 p.m.Minnesota time and will be televised on ESPNU.

The championship game is another step during a remarkable head coaching career for Caruso that began in 2006 at Macalester where for two years his records were 2-7 and 4-5. At St. Thomas his teams have been 7-3, 11-2, 12-1, 13-1 and now 14-0.

Wild prospect Mikael Granlund returned to the Aeros lineup last week after missing 12 games with an ankle injury. Despite playing in fewer than half the team’s games, Granlund is tied for fourth in points with 13.

Aaron Hicks is only 23 but he might be able to make the jump from Double-A New Britain to starting center fielder for the Twins next spring. In search of a center field replacement for the traded Denard Span and Ben Revere, Hicks is a switch-hitter with potential power in the big leagues and the athleticism to chase down the ball. He hit .286 with 13 home runs and 61 RBI at New Britain last season.

TwinsFest will be January 25-27 at the Metrodome and tickets went on sale this week. Adult tickets are $9 each ($15 at the door) and tickets for children are $5 ($8 at the door).

The Gophers basketball team was No. 14 in national RPI ratings on Monday when the Big Ten Conference issued its weekly news release. Minnesota is ranked No. 13 in the country by the Associated Press.

Stats in the news release include the Gophers leading the Big Ten in steals at 9.8 per game and blocked shots at 7.2. Minnesota guard Andre Hollins is listed with the single game scoring high among conference players after his 41 points against Memphis last month.

Canterbury Park’s 2013 thoroughbred stakes schedule includes 26 races worth $1.76 million, an increase of more than 20 percent over this year. The 69-day 2013 race meet, the longest scheduled since 2006, begins May 17 and concludes September 14.

Canterbury and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community agreed to a cooperative marketing and purse enhancement deal this year that will put $75 million into the horsemen purse fund over 10 years.

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