Wild – Page 21 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Vikings QB Process: No Need to Panic

Posted on April 19, 2023April 19, 2023 by David Shama

There is endless speculation about when and how the Vikings will find their next quarterback to replace 34-year-old Kirk Cousins. No need to overthink the process.

The Vikings are highly likely to find their guy sometime in the next 12 months or so. They may acquire a quarterback via trade or free agency within that period. Of course, next week’s NFL Draft will be an opportunity, too, and so will the 2024 draft.

To find a coveted prospect in the opening round of the 2023 draft, the Vikings will have to move up from their No. 23 position in the first round. While that could happen, chances are more likely the Vikings will move down from No. 23, trading that selection to acquire more picks in draft. Minnesota has just two draft spots in the top 100 and only five total in the seven round draft that starts April 27 and continues through April 29.

GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, head coach Kevin O’Connell and others in the organization have spent a lot of time looking at quarterback prospects who will be in the draft, including those who will go in the later rounds. While Minnesota has been linked to likely first rounders Will Levis (Kentucky) and Hendon Hooker (Tennessee), the Vikings seem more likely to end up with second or third round quarterbacks. Possibilities could include Tanner McKee (Stanford) and Dorian Thompson-Robinson (UCLA), prospects the Vikings could develop during the coming season and not rush into game action.

Cousins, who turns 35 in August, is in the last year of his contract. If he and the Vikings push far into the playoffs, O’Connell and the front office are all but certain to want Cousins to return for the 2024 season. The Vikings, though, need a major upgrade to their defensive personnel to be a team that gets deep into the postseason.

The possibility is Minnesota could have a losing season and for next year’s draft have a top 15 or better draft position in the first round. Next year’s draft looks quarterback friendly, too, starting with big names Caleb Williams (USC) and Drake Maye (North Carolina)

Clearly there is time and options for the Viking quarterback scenario to play out.

Worth Noting

Minnesota sports hero Joe Mauer’s 40^th birthday is today. It’s a noteworthy year for the three-time American League batting champion who retired in 2018 and will be inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame August 5.

The Wild might be on a run of good fortune after winning Monday night’s two-overtime thriller in Dallas against the Stars, 3-2. The Wild haven’t won an opening round playoff series since 2015 and that was the last time Minnesota was victorious in the first game.

Hot goalies always weigh heavily in determining postseason success and Minnesota’s Filip Gustavsson was superb Monday night and entered the game with an impressive regular season goals against average of 2.10 and 22-9-7 record. Marc-Andre Fleury, the Wild’s 38-year-old backup goalie, struggled as the starter in the team’s opening playoff series a year ago when the Blues eliminated Minnesota in six games, but Gustavsson was brilliant Monday night with a franchise record 51 saves.

The Wild likely caught a break, too, in facing the Stars instead of the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche. Colorado struggled with injuries and performance much of the season but came on late to win the Central Division, with the Stars finishing second and the Wild third. The Avalanche are gritty and talented.

Word is Wild GM Bill Guerin has a new contract, with an established hockey source telling Sports Headliners it’s probably worth $1.5 to $2 million per year.

The Wild announced this morning the club has recalled forward Sammy Walker from Iowa. The former Gopher led the Iowa Wild in goals with 27.

The Athletics’ poll results of NBA players have Wolves’ forward Jaden McDaniels voted the fifth most underrated player in the league, with teammate and guard Anthony Edwards No. 8. McDaniels is also No. 7 as the league’s best defender.

The poll, asking players questions in various categories while providing anonymity, has Wolves center Rudy Gobert ranked as the fifth most overrated player (tied with Jarren Jackson Jr. from the Grizzlies). Former Wolves’ head coach Tom Thibodeau, now leading the Knicks, is the No. 1 coach players don’t want to play for.

The Minnetonka girls’ basketball team could be the best girls prep team in the state next season. The Skippers will take on another power, Providence Academy, in a January 27 game at St. Michael-Albertville. Players to watch include Minnetonka guard Tori McKinney and Providence Academy’s Maddyn Greenway, daughter of former Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway, who as a freshman last winter gave notice she will be a special player.

McKinney, a senior next school year, is likely a recruiting target of new Gopher women’s head coach Dawn Plitzuweit. Word is the new coach has made a more than favorable impression on her players, displaying basketball leadership and likeability.

Minneapolis-based attorney and journalist Marshall Tanick wrote an informative article about Minnesota baseball-related litigation for Minnesota Lawyer. https://minnlawyer.com/2023/04/06/perspectives-new-saints-recall-old-

Congratulations to Ron Stolski, Jim Dotseth and other leaders of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association on the success of their recent clinic that registered 1,542 attendees. That’s the most ever for the popular annual clinic.

The MFCA will sponsor both a recruiting fair and combine for players May 6 at the Vikings’ complex in Eagan. High school coaches will meet with college coaches to discuss prospects at the fair. Players in eighth through 11^th grades will be tested for skills in a variety of categories. https://www.mnfootballcoaches.com/recruit

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Wolves & Denver Looks Like Mismatch

Posted on April 17, 2023April 17, 2023 by David Shama

There was a significant discrepancy in talent, scrap and performance between the Nuggets and Timberwolves last night. It’s just one game in a potential seven game series, but based on what happened in Denver late Sunday night and the season long reputation of the two teams it appears this playoff matchup could end soon.

Denver, the No. 1 seed in the NBA Western Conference, encountered little resistance from No. 8 seed Minnesota in winning 109-80. The Nuggets, led by two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, finished with a regular season record of 53-29. The Wolves, who prompt a lot of head scratching to figure out their team MVP, were 42-40.

The Wolves look like a team that has regressed from a year ago when they opened the playoffs by defeating a solid Grizzlies team in Memphis after finishing the regular season with a 46-36 record. The 2023 team looks dysfunctional too much of the time including in last night’s game that saw the Wolves out scored 32-14 in the third quarter after trailing 55-44 at halftime.

Even at the intermission the Wolves were drawing criticism from TNT analyst Charles Barkley. Targeting the Wolves’ Twin Towers of 7-foot Karl-Anthony Towns and 7-1 Rudy Gobert, Barkley said “Minnesota’s biggest problem” is the combo isn’t effective enough on offense to justify playing them together.

Gobert, acquired in a controversial trade last summer with the Jazz, scored eight points, while Towns, picking up some late points in the meaningless fourth quarter, had 11. And it wasn’t just scoring where the Wolves’ bigs were lacking. In plus-minus stats that measure a player’s contribution on the floor, Gobert was a team-high -28 while Towns was -11.

The Wolves used 13 players last night and Wendell Moore Jr., who played for two minutes, was the only individual with a plus rating (two).

Denver coach Mike Malone wanted his team to be more aggressive and disciplined than the Wolves for the playoff opener. Combine those elements with better talent, the result is what happened last night.

Worth Noting

Because of national TV scheduling the game had an absurd start time of 10:51 p.m. Eastern, 9:51 Central. The next game is Wednesday (also in Denver) with a scheduled tipoff at about 9 p.m. Central.

Walker Kessler, among five players and multiple draft choices the Timberwolves gave up in the trade to obtain Gobert, is one of three finalists for NBA Rookie of the Year. The 7-foot Jazz center averaged 9.2 points and 8.4 rebounds in his first professional season.

Only three other NBA players bettered Kessler’s 2.3 blocks per game. The other finalists for Rookie of the Year are Paolo Banchero of the Magic and Jalen Williams of the Thunder.

Former Wolves star Jimmy Butler, now with the Heat, is a finalist, along with De’Aaron Fox of the Kings and DeMar DeRozan of the Bulls, for NBA Clutch Player of the Year.

The Wild-Stars playoff series opens tonight in Dallas with possibly seven games needed to decide the winner. The two teams played a combined 55 overtime games during the regular season. Both franchises have recent histories of scoring droughts in the playoffs. The Wild hasn’t advanced out of the first round since 2015.

The Wild was 7-2-3 when star scorer Kirill Kaprizov was injured and unable to play late in the season. Minnesota had balanced scoring during that stretch and must continue that with forwards Matt Boldy, Ryan Hartman and Mats Zuccarello needed to step up on the playoffs.

The Stars franchise, known as the Minnesota North Stars until relocating to Dallas in 1993, might never have moved if the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission had funded a major renovation of Met Center in the late 1980s.

The Frozen Four championship game April 8 on ESPN 2 between the Gophers and Quinnipiac averaged 808,000 viewers, a 100 percent increase over the 2022 title game, per Front Office Sports.

St. Paul native Bill Robertson, commissioner of the USHL, said there were 80 alums of his league playing in the Frozen Four that also included Boston University and Michigan. Twenty-three of those players were from the state of Michigan and 22 from Minnesota.

Since 2017 the Twins are 4-18 at Yankee Stadium in regular season games. That record includes wins Thursday and Friday that ended up giving Minnesota a series split over the weekend.

Minnesota’s Sonny Gray, 2-0 with a gaudy 0.53 ERA, will start Tuesday night in Boston when the Twins open a three-game series against the Red Sox. The Twins’ starting staff, all of whom were acquired from other teams, has been leading MLB in multiple statistical categories including ERA and batting average against.

Happy 90^th Birthday today to former Gophers’ head basketball coach Jim Dutcher. Articulate and sharp as ever, Dutcher has always been a great family man and travelled to Houston this spring to watch son Brian’s San Diego State men’s team finish second in the Final Four.

Joe Salem, who was the Gophers’ head football coach when Jim Dutcher’s 1982 team won the Big Ten title, will be 85 on May 1. He told Sports Headliners via email his health is “okay,” but wife Sue has dementia and is in memory care in Sioux Falls. He spends much of his time following football and literally has a family coaching tree.

Sons Tim (a former Gopher quarterback) and Brad coach tight ends at Pittsburgh and Memphis State respectively. Both programs won their most recent bowl games. Brad’s son Eli is a reserve quarterback at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois and the team won the Division III national championship Stagg Bowl last year. Jeremiah is a freshman quarterback at Eastern Michigan, 2022 winners of the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

“The family was 4-0 in bowl games last fall,” Joe Salem wrote. “Not bad.”

Son Wade sells motivational programs to school athletic teams while son Brent, a former college football coach, is an insurance executive in the Twin Cities.

The Capital Club’s next breakfast program at Mendakota Country Club is April 27. Charles Adams III, head coach of the North Community High School Polars football team and a recently retired Minneapolis police officer, will help lead an “important conversation about life, death, humanity and how sports can bring people and communities together,” according to an email from club organizer Patrick Klinger. Former Gopher football star Darrell Thompson, president of the Bolder Options mentoring program, will be the program moderator. More information about the Capital Club is available from Klinger, patrick@agilemarketingco.com

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Time Expired on Whalen Experiment

Posted on March 3, 2023March 3, 2023 by David Shama

Lindsay Whalen and Mark Coyle announced the right decision yesterday regarding Whalen stepping down as the University of Minnesota women’s basketball coach. Whalen had five seasons to make winning progress with the program and she was unable to do so.

On the street and among media there was a common view that Whalen was going to receive one more year to show she was the right coach for Minnesota. But Coyle is justified in moving on now from Whalen who had never coached before accepting the job at her alma mater.

The women’s program is capable of not only more on court success but coming closer financially to operating in the black. The program has never paid its own way, and now the disastrous season by the men’s basketball program has resulted in revenues being far less than the potential for that cash cow. Maybe Coyle, who waited too long to part ways with former men’s coach Richard Pitino and made an iffy hire in Ben Johnson, wanted to move on from Whalen and not wait a year when he could be dealing with change in the men’s program, too.

Whalen remains one of the most revered sports heroes in state history for her on-court play for the Gophers, Lynx and U.S. Olympic teams. The Hutchinson native had an emotional day yesterday and understandably chose at the last minute not to participate in a news conference with Coyle who described the departure of his coach as a mutual decision.

Maybe not. Whalen posted this on Twitter last night: “I will be ‘appearing’ and ‘showing up’ for a press conference in the near future. My sincere apologies for not being there today as I was overcome with emotion in the elevator on my way to the press conference. I am a human being.”

The season ended with a thud Wednesday afternoon. Playing in the opening game of the Big Ten Tournament—a home environment in front of supporters at Target Center—Whalen’s team lost to Penn State, another bottom feeder in the league who the Gophers had defeated twice earlier in the season.

It wasn’t a pretty loss. The Gophers trailed by as many as 18 points and struggled against a full court press. Minnesota rallied late in the fourth quarter before losing, 72-67, and the team received obligatory praise for its efforts from Whalen.

The Gophers finished the season with a record of 11-19. Their regular season conference record was 4-14. That landed Whalen’s fifth Gopher team in next to last place in the Big Ten.

Not an uplifting way to recognize 50 years of women’s basketball at the U.

Since taking over the Gophers Whalen’s teams never finished above .500 in the Big Ten, with the best showing 9-9 her first season. A legendary Final Four player for the Gophers, she never coached her team to the NCAA Tournament. Whalen’s three predecessors this millennium have all been more successful by far than she has been.

Whalen will stay with the department as a special assistant to the AD through April 12, 2025. That is the date her five-year coaching contract ends. It’s not known what her compensation will be in the new role.

Starting in contract year four (was to begin next month) her base salary was to be $574,761. Most recently she earned $547,391.

Worth Noting

St. Thomas is fast earning respect and attention for its success in Division I sports. With wealthy alums and admirers, it wouldn’t be surprising to see NIL become a bigger success with the Tommies than the Gophers.

The No. 1 ranked U men’s hockey team has a talented line for the ages in freshmen Logan Cooley and Jimmy Snuggerud, and sophomore Matthew Knies, but all three could be gone to the pros next season. Cooley might be the most likely returnee, with chances greatest that Snuggerud and Knies will leave.

Former MLB umpire and St. Paul native Tim Tschida speaks to the Capital Club March 8 at Mendakota Country Club. More information about the club is available from Patrick Klinger, patrick@agilemarketingco.com

Burl Oaks Golf Club is the Minnesota Golf Association’s Club of the Year for 2022. The Minnetrista course hosted the MGA Players’ Championship last year.

Minikahda pro Jeff Sorenson recently won the Pebble Beach ProAm at Pebble Beach and Spyglass, earning his 157^th career win in harsh conditions including cold, wind and snow.

Kaat, Carew & Oliva. Photo contributed by Marshall Tanick.

Rod Carew, Jim Kaat and Tony Oliva, a trio of Cooperstown Hall of Famers, entertained a recent crowd of about 500 at a Minnesota Breakfast Club gathering in Naples, Florida. The former Twins all played together including on the West Division championship teams of 1969 and 1970. Baseball’s efforts to speed up the game is welcome news to Carew who said he has lost interest.

Players earn a lot more now than when Carew, Kaat and Oliva played. MLB player salaries averaged a record high $4.2 million last season, per Front Office Sports.

Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell will give a video presentation at the 2023 Minnesota Football Coaches Association Clinic. The nationally admired annual clinic will again feature Gopher coaches including P.J. Fleck. Clinic dates are March 30, 31 and April 1 with more information available at https://www.mnfootballcoaches.com/

The U Athletic Department has suites available for the upcoming football season starting at $4,500 per game. The home schedule is attractive with games that include Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

Elite Ink is promoting a Kirill Kaprizov memorabilia sale that includes a signed $890 white jersey.

Taylor Heise and Grace Zumwinkle, Gopher forwards and native Minnesotans, are two of 10 finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award given annually to the top player in Division I women’s college hockey.

Former Gopher Jamal Mashburn Jr., now at New Mexico, leads the Mountain West in scoring at 19.4 points per game. The Lobos, led by coach Richard Pitino, are 21-9 overall but only 8-9 in league games and are questionable to make the NCAA Tournament.

Former Viking Herschel Walker is 61 today.

I am speaking to the CORES lunch group about my column and career Thursday, March 9 at the Bloomington Event Center. Reservations can be made by emailing Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

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