David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Ex-U Coach Previews Gophers-Badgers

Posted on December 30, 2020December 31, 2020 by David Shama

The University of Minnesota basketball team, playing at home, has defeated No. 4 ranked Iowa and No. 17 Michigan State in the last several days, but the Gophers must prove they can win big games on the road starting Thursday afternoon in Madison against Wisconsin, according to Jim Dutcher.

The 9-1 Gophers have played once on the road this season, experiencing a beat down at Illinois, 92-65. Since then Minnesota has home wins against St. Louis in a nonconference game and the Big Ten Conference victories over Iowa and Michigan State. The Gophers’ surprising success has landed them at No. 21 in the latest AP ranking of the nation’s best teams.

Wisconsin, 8-2 and ranked No. 6 by the AP, lost to Maryland Monday night in Madison. Dutcher, who coached the Gophers to a Big Ten title in 1982, remains a close follower of college basketball, and is optimistic about a Minnesota win in Madison if his former team shows up defensively.

“At home your offense will carry you,” Dutcher told Sports Headliners. “On the road your defense has to carry you. Those three-pointers that you make at home don’t go down quite as easy on the road. Defense travels, offense doesn’t always travel, so I think just clamp down (Thursday). I don’t think Wisconsin is that hard to guard. Their big guys are more perimeter big guys than post up.”

Even with their undefeated record at home, the Gophers have experienced breakdowns defensively keeping opponents in games and certainly did against then No. 13 ranked Illinois. “Can they (the Gophers) bend their knees and stop somebody when they have to?” Dutcher asked. “Because a lot of conference games are going to come down to the last two minutes. Those are the games they didn’t win last year. Those are the games I think they can win this year.”

Minnesota, 8-12 in league games in 2019-2020, lost 71-69 to the Badgers in Madison last March when Wisconsin was on its way to a Big Ten championship. Earlier in the season, playing at Williams Arena, the Gophers defeated the Badgers 70-52, holding Wisconsin to under 30 percent field goal shooting. The Gophers made more than 40 percent of their field goals, including three-pointers.

The Badgers, as usual, are among the elite defensive teams in the country. They are giving up the fewest points per game among Big Ten teams at 60.6, while the Minnesota average is 73.9. Dutcher, though, offered a strategy for Thursday’s game:

“They (the Badgers) got beat inside by Maryland pretty soundly, and our center (Liam) Robbins is playing really good now so I think rather than start the offense at the three-point range, start the offense in the post. I just feel they (the Gophers) got a great chance to go and beat Wisconsin.”

Dutcher believes the Gophers are capable of being Big Ten title contenders but to do it they have to be better offensively in road games than they were at Illinois. Against the Illini, the Gophers made only 27.5 percent of their field goals including 25 percent on three pointers. That’s a different offense than Minnesota has shown at home scoring 90 points or more four times and topping 80 in seven games.

“They’re a great shooting team in Williams Arena,” Dutcher said. “They weren’t a great shooting team in Illinois. Hopefully they can get on somebody else’s floor and take their offense with them, but they’ve been impressive (this season).”

Minnesota’s nine victories are the most in the Big Ten. The Gophers, 2-1 in the Big Ten, have overtime wins against a good St. Louis team and highly ranked Iowa. In the Iowa game if a Hawkeye hadn’t missed two free throws in the closing minutes of regulation, Gopher junior point guard Marcus Carr wouldn’t have had the opportunity to send the game into overtime with a three-pointer with five seconds remaining. It was also Carr who made a three-pointer with 31 seconds left in the game to pull Minnesota within 81-78 of Iowa.

And it was Carr who made the winning basket in an early season 67-64 win over Loyola Marymount. Carr is averaging 24 points per game (third best in the Big Ten) and leading the league in assists per outing at 6.1. Dutcher believes the Canadian native, who had 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists in his last visit to Madison, could some day be remembered among Minnesota’s best guards in program history.

“He’s not one dimensional,” Dutcher said. “It’s not just the three; he can really penetrate and finish at the rim. So he’s definitely an all-conference player and maybe even more than that.”

Badgers point guard Brad Davison, the Maple Grove native, is likely to guard Carr and Dutcher acknowledges he is a capable defender. But the retired coach said Carr is difficult to handle and is complemented by senior forward Brandon Johnson’s outside shooting and the inside and outside threat of Robbins. “Minnesota gives you a lot of problems defensively,” Dutcher said.

The Gophers’ offense, averaging 84.3 points per game, would be even more effective if junior guard Gabe Kalscheur hadn’t been in a long shooting slump from three-point distance (.188 conversion percentage). Dutcher, though, offered at least a partial explanation. “He’s probably been their best defensive player. When you’re really concentrating, playing tough defense, sometimes it affects your offense. …”

Minnesota will need defensive help against the Badgers, including on the perimeter. Wisconsin’s key to winning the game is using its trademark assets of solid defense, minimal turnovers and hitting three-point shots. “…They gotta make some threes to beat Minnesota,” Dutcher said.

Maybe, though, it will be Carr and the Gophers who again find good fortune and win the game with a three-pointer. “He’s really hit some big shots, right when they needed them,” Dutcher said.

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Start Watching Gophers QB Roster

Posted on December 28, 2020December 28, 2020 by David Shama

An offseason storyline to follow with the University of Minnesota football program is whether the quarterback roster remains unchanged between now and kickoff next summer against Ohio State in the Gophers’ first game of the 2021 season.

Minnesota will have five scholarship quarterbacks on next season’s roster unless one or more transfer, or (unlikely) give up football. That’s a high total for a major college football program, and the most in memory for the Gophers.

The quarterback scholarship parade is led by Tanner Morgan who started and played every minute at the position this fall. He will be a redshirt junior in 2021 with more than two seasons of starting experience. The other scholarship quarterbacks for next year are: Zack Annexstad, redshirt sophomore; Jacob Clark, redshirt freshman; Cole Kramer, redshirt freshman, and Athan Kaliakmanis, freshman. The QB depth even includes non-scholarship players at the position.

No one is questioning the loyalty of the five scholarship quarterbacks to the Gophers but they all want to compete in games as collegians. With plenty of eligibility remaining, Annexstad, Clark and Kramer might be contemplating their futures now. Morgan is the established starter and Kaliakmanis hasn’t even suited up for his first practice, so those two are all but certain to be Gophers in 2021.

As a walk-on, Annexstad was the Minnesota starter at the beginning of the 2018 season and stayed at No. 1 for seven games. Injuries set him back in late 2018 and all of 2019. A scholarship player for awhile now, he hasn’t seen game action for two seasons. He wanted so much to be a Gopher, the former Mankato West QB reportedly turned down other major college offers, but could a place like North Dakota State interest him now? The powerhouse Bison will have opportunities at QB next year and beyond.

Clark came to Minnesota as a four-star recruit from Texas and Rivals ranked him the No. 13 pro style passer in the class of 2019. The Dallas Morning News, in a June 2018 story, reported Clark had 16 college offers including California, Iowa, TCU and Purdue. It is surprising that Clark, Annexstad and Kramer didn’t receive even a minute of playing time this fall despite opportunities for a reserve quarterback in one-sided games. If Clark enters the NCAA football transfer portal, he will draw immediate interest from major programs.

If anyone is taking bets on Annexstad, Clark or Kramer moving on, the latter seems least likely to change schools. The former Eden Prairie quarterback has the moxie of a winner and the quality hasn’t gone unnoticed at the U. His affection for the school is genuine, having grown up influenced by relatives who are prominent former Gophers including Carter Coughlin and Tom Moe. Kramer played briefly in three games as a true freshman in 2019.

None of the quarterbacks, by the way, need to move on to other schools because of academic challenges at Minnesota. Annexstad, Clark and Kramer were all honored as Academic All-Big Ten players in 2020. Morgan earned the designation in 2018 and 2019.

With the Gophers coming off a challenging and disappointing 3-4 season in 2020, head coach P.J. Fleck could voice a public challenge to all players that every position is open for competition during spring football practices. That could be done at quarterback without sending the message the coaching staff doesn’t want Morgan to be the starter. An effective message is that offseason competition is an asset for all concerned, pushing individuals and the team to improve. That kind of communication influences players including reserve quarterbacks.

Morgan’s passing regressed in 2020 after making second team All-Big Ten in 2019. He had too many throws off target including a killer interception in the end zone against Wisconsin that cost Minnesota the game and the return of Paul Bunyan’s Axe. To be fair, though, he didn’t quite have the same quality of receivers this fall as he did in 2019, and the Gophers played with a reshuffled offensive line that could be ineffective in pass protection. He was also working with a new quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator in Mike Sanford Jr.

The coaches know they have a special asset in Morgan who is an exceptional and experienced game manager who can consistently throw with accuracy (school record 18 consecutive games with a touchdown pass between 2018 and 2020). He is a eye-catching 17-7 as Minnesota’s starting quarterback. He turns 22 years old in April and as a “geezer” could finish his career at the U as a five-year starter!

Worth Noting

Gophers running back Mohamed Ibrahim was named Third Team All-America by the Associated Press today. He led the Big Ten in rushing attempts (201), rushing yards (1,076), rushing yards per game (153.7), rushing touchdowns (15), scoring (90), points per game (12.9) and all-purpose yards per game (168.4). He was third in the nation in rushing yards per game, fourth in points per game, fifth in rushing touchdowns, sixth in all-purpose yards per game and eighth in rushing yards.

George Paton, the Vikings assistant GM, is a regular on the annual SI.com list of potential NFL general managers. He made the latest rankings published last Friday and his name is rumored for a position with the Chicago Bears front office, while finishing up his 14th year with the Vikings.

Words of praise last week from Andrew Simon writing on Mlb.com about the Twins’ Byron Buxton: “Buxton finished with a stellar 124 OPS+ over 135 plate appearances but how he got there was…unorthodox. This was pretty much the definition of ‘all or nothing.’ Buxton struck out 36 times against his two walks, and 13 of his 33 hits were homers.

“Never before had a player posted an OBP below .280 and a slugging percentage above .550 in a season with at least 100 PA. Buxton also set a record by having 35% of his total times reaching base safely come via the home run ball.”

The Gophers’ men’s basketball team is ranked No. 21 in today’s Associated Press poll. It’s the first time the Gophers have been nationally ranked since Dec. 10, 2017. Nine Big Ten teams are ranked in the AP’s top 25 including No. 17 Michigan State who the Gophers play tonight at home.

Former Gophers basketball public address announcer Dick Jonckowski has cancer, with more specifics to be known this week after meeting with his oncologist. Several years ago he beat stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

St. Thomas men’s basketball coach John Tauer posted these appreciative words on Facebook last week about wife Chancey Anderson Tauer and her battle with breast cancer: “…conclusion of 8 grueling months of chemo, surgery, and radiation, all while supporting and inspiring her family, and pouring her heart into her passion, Prodeo Academy.”

Award winning singer John Legend, uncle of Gophers wide receiver Mike Brown-Stephens, turns 42 today.

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U Regent Wants to Revive Programs

Posted on December 16, 2020December 16, 2020 by David Shama

Board of regent member Michael Hsu proposes giving about $1.2 million in University of Minnesota borrowed money next year to the Gopher men’s gymnastics, tennis, and indoor track and field programs, allowing them to continue for the 2021-2022 school year.

The regents received a report stating the U likely needs to borrow about $82 million sometime next year because of the pandemic and its adverse effects on revenues. Hsu suggested at a recent regents meeting that the $82 million be increased to $83.2 million, with the additional sum providing a short term fix for the above mentioned sports. “Give everybody a chance to kind of figure things out and see if there is any way to continue these sports using outside money,” Hsu told Sports Headliners.

In October the regents voted 7-5 to eliminate the three sports at the end of the fiscal year in June as a cost savings to the Gopher Athletic Department. Critics have scoffed at the less than $2 million amount in annual savings that will be realized, but athletic director Mark Coyle has said Title IX issues also dictated the decision. Program boosters have held protests, generated fundraising ideas and used the media to plead their case, with gymnastics coach Mike Burns even appearing nationally on the “60 Minutes” TV program.

Hsu was planting an idea with the suggestion to provide funding for the programs facing elimination. “I am not expecting a (University system) loan amount to be known until May or June timeframe, but we have several meetings before that and it may come up in some fashion. …I don’t think we’ll be acting on any loan until closer to the end of the fiscal year,” Hsu said.

Hsu also said it’s anticipated U is facing about $166 million in budget shortfall by fiscal year end. Therefore, there would be a need to source outside money via a loan, or perhaps sale of bonds, to make up for a lot of the shortfall. Hsu and others predict a significant portion of an $82 million loan would be given to the Gophers’ Athletic Department.

Earlier in the year Coyle projected a worse case revenue shortfall of $75 million for this school year. Since then one major development has been that despite the pandemic, Big Ten teams including the Gophers have been able to play a fall season and generate significant TV revenues.

Hsu doesn’t have the figures on TV revenue, or other current specific athletic department revenue and expense data, but he guesstimates the Gophers’ Athletic Department may need $40 million of the U’s borrowed money. “Let’s be clear. That is a Michael Hsu estimate—that is likely not to be right.”

Worth Noting

St. Paul Saints owner Mike Veeck told Sports Headliners he expects ticket and concession prices to remain the same next season, despite his franchise losing $1 million this year and elevating from Independent to Triple-A status in 2021.

The Saints will be a farm club of the Minnesota Twins, with officials of the big league team assuring the creative Veeck his franchise can continue its famous promotions that characterized the fan experience in St. Paul for more than 25 years. Veeck also said he will be interested to see the direction of Independent Baseball in coming years and could be interested in acquiring a franchise.

A financial victim of the pandemic, the Harold’s Cabin restaurant in Charleston owned by Veeck has closed.

Gophers football fans were wondering who No. 48 was last Saturday when Minnesota defeated Nebraska, 24-21. Redshirt senior Anders Gelecinskyj from Bloomington Kennedy, by way of Minnesota State, kicked one field goal and three extra points in his Gopher debut while subbing for regular kicker Michael Lantz who is out for the season.

On the KFAN Radio post game show Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck acknowledged his new kicker, who despite being on the team for two-plus seasons had never appeared in a game. Then Fleck told a story about Gelecinskyj giving him a gift awhile ago that is popular in the Gelecinskyj family. On Fleck’s desk sits a hollowed out egg painted in German colors.

Fleck talking about his defense that played its best game of the season in defeating Nebraska: “We knew we were going to be younger on defense, and nobody predicted COVID. Then you don’t get the spring ball and summer to develop them (young players). They’re thrown into play with a few weeks of preparation.”

Avante Dickerson, the Omaha cornerback who was the 247Sports composite top ranked Gopher verbal commit, will not sign with Minnesota today on National Signing Day and is delaying his National Letter of Intent commitment until February.

Much maligned Kirk Cousins has thrown 83 touchdown passes since joining the Vikings in 2018. That is tied for fourth best in the NFL with Tom Brady, and trailing Patrick Mahomes (109), Russell Wilson (104) and Aaron Rodgers (90).

Saint John’s coach Gary Fasching told Sports Headliners he is hopeful MIAC football teams will play a spring schedule starting in April. He said it’s likely a four-game Johnnies schedule will include a game against historic rival St. Thomas before the Tommies depart the MIAC next fall for the Pioneer Football League. The matchup was scheduled last fall for U.S. Bank Stadium where Fasching was told the attendance might reach 50,000.

A game next spring with the Tommies would likely be hosted by Saint John’s without spectators. The Johnnies have made a MIAC record six consecutive NCAA playoff appearances dating back to 2014.

Fasching reported that offensive tackle Ben Bartch, the former Saint John’s star drafted in the fourth round this spring by the Jacksonville Jaguars, made his first NFL start last Sunday. “He graded out very well,” Fasching said. “They are really excited with him.”

SI.com points out the Timberwolves Ricky Rubio, playing last year for the Phoenix Suns, made the top 10 in “ESPN’s real plus-minus statistic for point guards.” He is a top 100 player in the NBA, according to SI.com, which ranks him No. 82.

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