Vikings – Page 112 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Wolves Owner Praises Wiggins Effort

Posted on September 19, 2019September 19, 2019 by David Shama

Enjoy a Thursday notes column with a focus on Minnesota’s professional basketball franchises.

For many observers the Minnesota Timberwolves player to watch in preseason and beyond this fall will be enigmatic 24-year-old forward-guard Andrew Wiggins. The franchise opens training camp October 1, and in this town the five-year veteran’s name is synonymous with unfulfilled potential.

So flashy his nicknames have included Junior Jordan, Wiggins can prompt gasps from spectators because of his athleticism. He has a career scoring average of 19.4 and that is exceptional by NBA standards. The rest of his stat line, though, is pretty blah and his numbers in categories like assists (2.2 per game) and rebounding (4.3) hint at Wiggins not being a player who makes teammates more productive. His many critics see a high potential player who lacks the focus and intensity to be a star on both offense and defense.

Waiting on Wiggins to consistently perform at a high level seems like part of the franchise DNA. This season he gets a fresh start with new instructors, a revised coaching staff led by Ryan Saunders in his first full season as head coach. Directing from the top is Gersson Rosas, the new president of basketball operations.

How Wiggins prepared for this season may provide a clue as to things could go in the coming months. Team owner Glen Taylor told Sports Headliners he likes the approach of Wiggins who he rewarded with a five-year contract in 2017 that reportedly approaches $150 million. He said Wiggins has invested more effort this offseason than in at least a couple of years.

“Everything has really been positive,” Taylor said. “He’s stayed around (Minneapolis and) worked. Done everything we’ve asked him to do. He’s working on the things that we thought were important.

“If he has a tough year (in 2020), or a good year…he has put in the effort. That was the first big step. If he didn’t put in the effort we would really be concerned. Now we’ve gotta see, does that effort translate into results?”

When Rosas was hired last spring many Wolves fans assumed general manager Scott Layden would move on. Layden had been hired by Tom Thibodeau in 2016 when he took over as president of basketball operations and head coach. Speculation was Layden might leave, or be asked to exit, months after Thibodeau’s firing in January of this year.

After hiring Rosas, Taylor told him that Layden was under contract and to decide about his future. Rosas said he had worked with Layden in the past and respected him. “He said, ‘I got no reason to push him out. If he finds another job, if he wants to do something else he thinks would be better, I am okay with that, too.’ “

Layden remains with the Wolves with responsibilities that include evaluating personnel.

The Wolves will train in Taylor’s hometown of Mankato for the first time since 2014. Taylor’s wife Becky will prepare a lasagna dinner and the two will host a team party at their home for players and staff.

Although most media who cover the NBA don’t predict a spot in the playoffs for the Wolves, Taylor is upbeat because of new leadership with Rosas and Saunders, and promising young players like rookie guard Jarrett Culver joining Karl-Anthony Towns, one of the league’s premier centers.

Taylor was elated over the 2019 regular season performance of his other basketball franchise, the WNBA Lynx. Despite a roster reshuffle after losing star players following the 2018 season, the team made the playoffs.

The Lynx are four-time WNBA champions, with the last title coming in 2017. During the past offseason, coach and front office decision maker Cheryl Reeve asked Taylor how to approach the 2019 season, with options that included rebuilding. Taylor had seen Reeve’s past skills to acquire talent and coach the team to high performances. He didn’t want a rebuild.

Taylor told her: “…Cheryl, I got you (to do things). I’d just as soon go for it (not rebuild). I am betting on you. Let’s go for it, and we’ll help.”

Taylor got involved with “recruiting” players to Minneapolis but he downplays the importance of what he did. He told players the Lynx has a culture that distinguishes the franchise from other WNBA organizations. “So you know I did the pitch,” Taylor recalled. “It helped her but I am not implying anybody came because of me.”

It was announced yesterday that Reeve was voted by her peers WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year for her work as the Lynx’s general manager.

Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen led the team in receptions and receiving yards against Green Bay last Sunday, with five catches for 75 yards. He holds the franchise record for most receptions against the Packers, coming up with 12 in two different games.

Thielen, a Minnesota native, was asked if his focus or intent is different in the rivalry games against the Packers. “No, no, not at all,” he told Sports Headliners. “It’s the National Football League. If your emotions aren’t the same for every game, you got a problem. You only have 16 games. You gotta bring it every week.”

Thielen has 212 receptions since 2007, tied for fourth most in the NFL.

The Vikings, 1-1 after their loss to the Packers, play the Oakland Raiders Sunday in Minneapolis. The two franchises met in Super Bowl XI, with the Raiders winning 32-14, and giving the Vikings one of their four Super Bowl losses. Ten individuals associated with that Raiders team, including owner Al Davis and coach John Madden, have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Defending WCHA regular season and playoff champion Minnesota State is the favorite to repeat as league champions in the 10 member conference, receiving nine first-place votes in the eighth annual Mankato Free Press WCHA Preseason Coaches’ Poll and all 10 votes in the WCHA Preseason Media Poll.

Minnesota Twins Luis Arraez and Mitch Garver appear at the Fan HQ Ridgedale store on September 21 and 22 respectively. The Minnesota Wild’s Zach Parise is scheduled there September 30. Details on celebrity appearances at Fanhqstore.com.

The 3-0 football Gophers, who are one of five Big Ten teams with byes this weekend, rank No. 13 in the country in average of time possession at 34:36. Wisconsin is No. 1 at 37:13.

CollegeAD.com reported that through Sunday tickets sold on Vivid averaged $611 for next Saturday’s Georgia-Notre Dame game in Athens. That’s the most expensive college ticket this season, CollegeAd said on Wednesday. By contrast the average for the Wisconsin-Michigan game coming up in Ann Arbor is $184.

September birthdays: Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino turned 37 Monday, and former University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler will be 63 next Monday.

Prep football coaching milestones: Jay Loven, Upsala/Swanville Area, and Tim Kirk, Mountain Lake Area, won their 100th career games last Friday. Loven’s career record is 100-55 in 16 seasons as a head coach at Upsala/Swanville. Kirk is now 100-71 in 17 seasons as a head coach at Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin and Mountain Lake Area.

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Vikings’ Cook Already Chasing A.P.

Posted on September 16, 2019September 16, 2019 by David Shama

A Monday notes column with a football focus after a weekend that saw the Vikings lose and Golden Gophers win.

The Vikings’ Dalvin Cook ran for 154 yards and had 37 yards in pass receptions in Sunday’s 21-16 loss to the Packers in Green Bay. With an ineffective passing game (Kirk Cousins 14 of 32), the Vikings were a one-dimensional offense running the football and relying on Cook. He had the Packers defense on edge for the whole game, breaking tackles, eluding defenders and running away from them. His best moment was a 75-yard second quarter touchdown run that gave the Vikings some life after falling behind 21-0.

Cook ran for 111 yards in the season opener a week ago Sunday against the Falcons. Minnesota was one-dimensional in that game, too, but the result was better with a 28-12 win over Atlanta. Cook now has 265 yards rushing in two games, averaging 132.5 yards. Over 16 games that 132.5 multiplies to 2,120 yards.

Adrian Peterson holds the franchise single season rushing record with 2,097 yards. Cook, healthy for the first time in his three-season career with the Vikings, is a long shot to reach the lofty level of 2,000 yards but he will receive a lot of carries in an offense committed to run the football. He is one of the NFL’s elite rushers and if he stays healthy is a lock to be the franchise’s first 1,000 yard rusher since Peterson ran for 1,485 in 2015.

Dalvin Cook (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

Peterson led the team in rushing eight times. His second highest single season total was 1,760 yards, a figure that is also the second best ever for a Viking. At age 24, Cook could chase 1,760 yards this fall and in the seasons ahead.

The Packers started fast in the game, with their offense keeping the Vikings off balance and looking confused. Green Bay’s best receiver, Davante Adams, got away from Minnesota’s best cover man Xavier Rhodes, including for a 39-yard reception on the game’s first play. Adams had seven receptions for 106 yards.

Rhodes had been anticipating the matchup last week. “It’s like a one-on-one rivalry almost,” he told Sports Headliners. “We look forward to playing against each other. He’s a great player, and I am a great player.”

Don Beebe, who played for the Packers and whose son Chad Beebe is the Vikings punt returner and reserve wide receiver, planned to attend Sunday’s game. Would Don cheer for the Packers? “No, not any more,” Chad said with a chuckle.

The 5-foot-9 Beebe, in his second season with the Vikings, is the lightest player on the roster at 183 pounds.

Vikings starting offensive tackle Brian O’Neill, also in his second season with the team, had his 24th birthday Sunday.

Since 2007 the Packers have the second best home record in the NFL, 72-23-2. The Patriots are first at 85-12, while the Vikings are tied for sixth with the Saints at 65-32.

Radio station WTMJ in Milwaukee has been airing Packer games since November of 1929. Viking games have been on KFAN in Minneapolis since 2001.

A lengthy bio about Packers GM Brian Gutekunst on Packers.com includes no reference to his dad John Gutekunst who was the Gophers head coach from 1986-1991.

Despite all their warts in the first three games, the 2019 Gophers are 3-0 after defeating South Dakota State, Fresno State and Georgia Southern by a total of 13 points. Those three programs have solid pedigrees and each won 10 games or more last season.

Concerns, though, are multiple for the Gophers including the offensive line that during the offseason was hyped but struggled to both run and pass block against Southern last Saturday. The run game was diminished, too, playing without four injured running backs, Shannon Brooks, Mohamed Ibrahim, Rodney Smith and Cam Wiley. Smith and Wiley were injured during Saturday’s game and didn’t return.

Minnesota gifted Southern with four scores, including a fumble return and blocked field goal attempt resulting in touchdowns. Gopher coach P.J. Fleck also set up one of two short scoring drives for the Eagles when late in the second quarter his offense was stopped trying for a first down at the Gopher 34-yard line. A poor decision by Fleck, and one that caused Minnesota’s lead to shrink from 21-13 to 21-20 in the closing minute of the first half.

The Gophers rallied in the last four minutes of the game to overcome a 32-28 Southern lead and win, 35-32. It was the third consecutive game Minnesota came from behind in the fourth quarter, and the comebacks make a statement about the program’s culture. The program that preaches “Row the Boat,” also says, “Yes, we can.”

The Gophers have a bye week before playing at Purdue September 28. Fleck said on WCCO Radio Sunday morning Ibrahim, Smith and Wiley will be ready to play, and Brooks, who has missed the first three games, should be available too.

Minnesota wide receiver Tyler Johnson, who had 140 yards in receptions and caught the winning touchdown pass Saturday in the victory over Southern, was announced this morning (Monday) as the Big Ten Co-offensive Player of the Week with Ohio State’s J.K. Dobbins.

After three weekends of college football, here are Sports Headliners’ power rankings of Big Ten teams: Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Nebraska, Maryland, Minnesota, Purdue, Indiana, Illinois and Rutgers.

Minnesota native and former state Mr. Basketball Tre Jones told Spun.com recently that he passed on the 2019 NBA Draft and returned for his sophomore season at Duke to win a national championship, and that “there’s a lot of things” he can improve on including his jump shot.

The Twins, short on starting pitching with Michael Pineda suspended, need improvement from veteran Kyle Gibson who in his last six starts since August 8 has a 7.80 ERA, giving up 26 earned runs in 31 innings pitched. From June 25 thru August 3, he was 4-0 with a 3.74 ERA (18 earned runs in 43.1 innings).

Among NCAA schools, the Gopher hockey program has the most alums, 33, attending 2019 NHL training camps. The Minnesota Wild has the most former Gophers with five: Kyle Rau, Tyler Sheehy, Jack Sadek, Nick Seeler and Mat Robson.

Popular former Gophers athletic trainer Roger Schipper, a native of Worthington, Minnesota, was inducted into the Worthington High School Hall of Fame Friday night.

Mike McGee, the Gophers’ offensive line coach in the late 1960s who went on to become athletic director at USC and South Carolina, died last month at age 80. He was a key assistant on Minnesota’s 1967 Big Ten championship team.

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Kirk Cousins Gets Run Help He Needs

Posted on September 10, 2019September 10, 2019 by David Shama

With a $84 million contract Kirk Cousins is among the best compensated players in the NFL, but his on field performance during eight seasons says he deserves a middle of the pack ranking among pro quarterbacks. The Vikings learned that last year when their pass-heavy offense was part of the story why the team came up with a disappointing 8-7-1 record and missed the playoffs after almost qualifying for the Super Bowl the season prior with Case Keenum as quarterback.

Cousins, in his first season with the Vikings last fall, struggled against teams with winning records as he had done with the Redskins. Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman vowed during the offseason to make the offense more balanced between the run and pass.

In the team’s first regular season game on Sunday, a 28-12 win over the Falcons, the plan was implemented more extremely than anyone anticipated. Cousins attempted a career low 10 passes and completed eight. “Never had a game like this,” Cousins said on KFAN Radio’s postgame show. “First time for me, but I would take every one like this. That’s just fine by me.”

The offensive line was impressive and running back Dalvin Cook was elusive, gaining 111 yards as part of the team rushing total of 172 (98 yards passing). “…Dalvin is special. When he gets the ball in his hands he can really go, and I think our offensive coaches did a great job scheming some of the runs they had today,” Zimmer said on the radio show.

Cousins even ran six times, including a quarterback sneak for a touchdown. The Vikings frequently used two and sometimes three tight ends as part of their commitment to the run and taking pressure off their quarterback who should be better in his second season in Minneapolis because he has more familiarity with his receivers.

It helps, too, having the opposing defense guessing how the Vikings will line up with their personnel and whether the pass or run is coming. “Once you have a running team, the (opposing) defensive line becomes less aggressive,” former Vikings defensive lineman Bob Lurtsema told Sports Headliners.

Cousins, who fumbled twice in the game to increase his total to 42 fumbles dating back to 2015, can’t carry a team but his skills and experience are solid enough to give the Vikings a passing game that complements the run. The Vikings won’t have the success against every opponent like they did with the Falcons, but expect them to stay committed to at least something like a 50-50 run-pass ratio.

Speaking of a quarterback who can carry a franchise, the Vikings are at Green Bay next Sunday. Aaron Rodgers is a Houdini who is particularly adept at performing late game magic. With the Packers 1-0 after a road win in Chicago, they play five of their next six games at home. The Vikings have three of their next five away from Minneapolis.

Minnesota Wild & More

The Wild opens training camp Friday, plays its first preseason game September 17, and the regular season opener is October 3. Team owner Craig Leipold is upbeat, despite his club missing the playoffs last spring for the first time in seven years. “I am more excited about this year coming up than I have been in a number of years,” he told Sports Headliners.

The roster won’t be dramatically different but Leipold expects the leadership from newly hired general manager Bill Guerin to be impactful. Guerin comes from a winning background as an NHL player and front office decision maker. Already Leipold sees how his players relate differently to Guerin than they did to former GM Paul Fenton. “These guys listen to Billy,” Leipold said.

Leipold, who has owned the franchise since 2008, made it clear during a telephone interview that the word rebuilding is not one he will use to label his team. “Do we think we need to get better? Yes. Are we going to chop the tree down and replant it? The answer is absolutely no.”

Providing Leipold with confidence about the roster’s personnel was the feedback he received this summer while interviewing general manager candidates. “We think we have really good pieces (on the roster), and particularly after going through the process that we just did and asking all of our candidates to grade our players. Yeah, you could say, well, they wanted to grade them high, but if we thought they missed the target, then that wasn’t going to help them. Virtually every candidate who came in said that, hey, we’re a playoff team.”

Leipold acknowledged the frustration of fans with last season’s team, and that the absence from the playoffs has an “affect” on season tickets for 2019-2020. That affect can also impact single game sales.

“We’re down a little bit (season tickets) from where we have historically been, but we’re still in a position that probably 20 or 25 other (NHL) teams would love to be in,” Leipold said. “….This year will be more of a challenge (for selling tickets). We hope to get off to a good start, and if we do we’re gonna be fine.”

Leipold didn’t say how many season tickets the club sold last year but was asked if the total this fall could be 12,000. “We will be well north of 12,000,” he said. “Oh, yeah. Way north of 12,000.”

The Front Office Sports newsletter of September 6 reported this: “More than 38 million Americans, or 15% of the U.S. population, are planning to bet on NFL games this season, according to the American Gaming Association.”

Glen Taylor, the 78-year-old billionaire whose companies include the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx, likes to garden at his Mankato home. “…It’s just different from my other job, so I just need some of that time,” he told Sports Headliners.

Taylor has flower and vegetable gardens, plus fruit trees on the grounds of his property. He and his wife Becky do late summer canning. “I love the food that comes out of a garden,” he said.

The Saturday announcement of Michael Pineda’s 60-day suspension for a violation of MLB’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment program is among the most upsetting news the Twins could experience as they try to win the Central Division and qualify for the postseason. He was closing the season impressively, and his recent productivity has been more efficient than Jose Berrios, considered the staff ace earlier in the year.

Pineda pitched six innings, allowed just one run and stuck out a season high 10 batters in Friday night’s game against the Indians. He now has 13 quality starts, second best in his career to 19 in 2011, his rookie season. He made a recent argument out of whether he or Jake Odorizzi is the staff’s No. 1 starter.

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