February 2008

« January 2008 | Main | March 2008 »

College Counseling

Filed under: Gophers

Last time we spoke, I mentioned Gophers’ fifth-year senior forward Dan Coleman’s verifiable on-court struggles and hypothetical off-court struggles. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea here: I was trying to be a little funny—inasmuch as the existential anguish of all college seniors is a little bit funny in its outsized, melodramatic way—but I really wasn’t trying to make light of whatever the guy is going through. Actually, I was kind of trying to allude to the sad fact that we, as fans, are pretty good at marginalizing the outside (i.e. “real”) lives and inner worlds of the athletes we follow. In general, we pay attention only to the extent that those lives/worlds can be turned into consumable tidbits—“his father taught him the meaning of hard work”; “his brother helped him keep things in perspective”—and lose interest after that. Recall, please, that life is pretty hard and that pain is real—even if you can do things like shoot a basketball or blow out birthday candles perched ten feet above the ground. Think of yourself at age 22 and then maybe have a little sympathy.

I am happy to report that Coleman showed much more spark in the Gophers’ home win against Penn State and road loss to Purdue. He didn’t shoot well in either game—4-12 and 4-11 respectively—and he made some amazing mistakes against Penn State (like fouling a three point shooter late) that, Coach Tubby fumed “almost cost us the game,” but I’m honestly happy to see him work up the gumption to put shots up at all. What’s more, he pulled down seven rebounds against Penn State and thirteen (along with three blocked shots) against the Boilermakers. So, Coleman's mercurial temperament will remain something of a mystery. I'm just glad he doesn't look quite so sad and lonely.

The Best Defense is a Good Defense

Actually, Coleman’s performances in those two games could stand in for those of the entire team. Energetic, but inconsistent; prone to spells of inspiring basketball and also jaw-dropping mistakes. Good enough to beat a Penn State team that was mediocre even before losing their best player for the season; not nearly good enough on the road against 16h-ranked Purdue.

In both games, the Gophers found themselves down early after indulging in their habitual problem of leaving three-point shooters wide open. And in both games, they were able to mount comebacks by bearing down on defense—playing more aggressively on screens, and rotating with better anticipation—and moving the ball on offense. The biggest difference was that, after Minnesota’s initial comeback, Penn State continued to allow the Gophers’ to execute their offense, while Purdue swallowed them up.

The Boilermakers revealed, by stark comparison, many of the shortcomings and inconsistencies of the Gophers’ own defense. They consistently and aggressively hedged screens (something the Gophers do only intermittently), preventing ballhandlers from making headway into the lane and forcing them to regroup. When the Gophers’ guards were able to penetrate the lane, the Boilermakers’ help defense swarmed to the ball. And if the Gophers managed to find a shooter left open by the collapsing D, Purdue recovered and rotated, preventing the open look. Purdue forced the Gophers to play at a frantic tempo, completely disrupting their offense; the U managed only three points in the first nine minutes of the second half. While Purdue had their own troubles scoring during this stretch, their defensive effort was enough to stake them to a double-digit lead, which they never relinquished.

Math Rock

Backup center Jonathan Williams has shown pretty impressive improvement over the past few weeks—so much so that I think it’s worth wondering if he should be taking some more of Spencer Tollackson’s minutes. Tollackson is the starter because he is a senior and because he is a decent scorer, averaging just over ten points per game in 23.9 minutes. Furthermore, for much of the season Williams was a liability on offense, showing no touch whatsoever around the rim in shooting 46.1% (which, for a big man, is not so good). But, as I’ve pointed out, Tollackson is a below average defender and a terrible rebounder—he averages only 3.87 boards per game in conference play, and has at least that many ripped out of his hands each game. The far more athletic Williams, on the other hand, can be a pretty fierce defender and rebounder; this month, he has averaged 4.8 rebounds in only 13 minutes per game. That’s one more board than Tollackson, in just over half the minutes. And, recently, Williams has shown much more confidence around the basket. Earlier in the season would receive a pass, dribble the ball as if waiting for a defender to challenge his shot and then offer up a timid layup attempt. In recent games, though, he has been much more decisive, converting many of those same situations into dunks and free throws.

Now, Tollackson’s shoots 53.3% from the floor, which would put him in the top ten in the conference. Here’s the thing, though: he doesn’t take nearly enough shots to even qualify for the ranking—the cutoff is five made shots per game, and Tollackson gets only 4.4 in Big Ten play. This means that, despite the disparity in shooting percentage between Williams and Tollackson, we’re talking about a difference of—maybe—one made basket per game. Put that up against Williams’s huge edge in rebounding and defense (the latter being not so statistically clear but plainly obvious to the naked eye) and…well, we’re talking about a lot of wasted possessions.

I realize that was totally nerdy and probably boring and I promise to never again use a calculator in any writing of any kind, especially in engaging in a thorough discussion of which mediocre center should get more minutes for a non-NCAA tournament-bound college basketball team. But: the Gophers have been solidly out-rebounded by good teams all year. They have some huge games coming up (plus the Big Ten tournament) if they hold out any hope for postseason play of any kind. Every little bit helps, is alls I’m saying.

Posted by Benjamin Polk at February 28, 2008 6:09 PM | Comments (0)

 

Shoot Like the Wind

After their disheartening loss at Wisconsin last Saturday, the Gophers’ veterans called a players-only meeting. There, they reportedly discussed playing with greater toughness, more poise and more confidence at the end of games. Well, the response was a 69-60 victory over Michigan on Thursday but it didn’t seem to have anything to do with the rather ephemeral things discussed at the meeting. They actually played a bit listlessly for much of the game; the teams exchanged leads for much of the game and the Gophers seemed reluctant to finish the lesser team at home. They won because Lawrence McKenzie went completely bonkers, scoring 26 points on 9-14 shooting and breaking the Wolverines’ backs with three after ridiculous three. Throughout the year, McKenzie has shown flashes of such swag but never for an entire game and never quite this brazenly. He made an amazing 7 of 11 from behind the arc, many of them off the dribble with a hand in his face; the very best was a desperate, closely guarded, turnaround fade with the shot clock expiring that made the score 61-54 with six minutes left.

Wolverine Dream

Coach Tubby made this explosion possible partially by going with a three-guard lineup for much of the game (usually some combination of McKenzie, Al Nolen, Lawrence Westbrook and Blake Hoffarber). This move accomplished two things. First, it freed McKenzie and Westbrook from ballhandling duties (though somehow, McKenzie managed to turn it over four times). Both players score better off the ball; this three-man backcourt created mismatches and gave them some room to look for their own shots. Second, three-point defense has been one of the Gophers’ weaknesses and the smaller lineup allowed them to better contest Michigan’s long range shooting. Evidently, the move paid off: McKenzie scored his career high and, at least from the perspective of field-goal percentage, the Gophers had one of their better defensive games of the year. They did a much better job of rotating and closing out shooters and Michigan made only 31.4% of their shots and only five of their 26 threes (a grodily bad 19.2%).

With such awful offensive stats, one might wonder how the game was ever even close in the first place. Well, the big drawback to small lineups is rebounding. Michigan missed more shots (48) than the Gophers even took (47), and then rebounded 23 of those misses. That’s the equivalent of 23 extra possessions, which Michigan turned into 22 points and used to stay in the game almost until the end.

Lowlands

I mentioned that, apart from McKenzie, the team seemed a bit listless and lost (particularly on offense—they turned it over 18 times) for much of the game. From the warm-ups to the final horn, Dan Coleman wore a lonely, somewhat sickly expression, his eyes wandering far into the distance. The look suggested that he had lost either his desire to play or all confidence in his ability to do so. And who knows? Maybe he’s tortured by unrequited love, or grieving a death in the family, or undergoing a deep crisis of faith; or maybe, as befits a college senior, it is dawning on him that this particular moment in his young life is coming to an end, that it maybe meant a bit less than he thought and that the future seems like some uncharted, open-ended expanse of endless, crushing possibility? In any case, the 6’9” Coleman has not scored more than ten points in any game since January and has gathered more than four rebounds only once in that stretch. Recent weeks have been even harsher; he has taken only ten shots and gotten only five boards in the last three games combined. Against Michigan, he took only four shots (and no free throws) in 25 minutes and pulled down exactly one rebound. Passes slipped through his fingers; rebounds were ripped out of his hands; he passed up open shots; he showed no fire on defense (a meaningless block in the final seconds notwithstanding). For a senior co-captain who is arguably the Gophers’ most talented all-around player, it is a sign that something is re

Posted by Benjamin Polk at February 22, 2008 9:19 PM | Comments (0)

 

Delusional jackasses successfully woo MLS franchise

Filed under: Soccer

Philadelphia will be joining Major League Soccer in 2010. An anouncement is slated for next week. This is great news for the Sons of Ben, the not-yet-existent team's supporters group that basically willed the franchise into existence. The Guardian's Steven Wells has a hilarious little piece on their jackassery.

Posted by Paul Demko at February 22, 2008 1:22 PM | Comments (2)

 

Emo-tion

Filed under: College

This is a pretty cool SI article about Memphis's incredibly high-scoring Dribble-Drive Motion offense, as it's known, which is based on the radical notions that players should be more than just automatons and that basketball should be fun to play. The article is pretty good, for Sports Illustrated (not too much about what John Calipari's Mom taught him about commitment or whatever, more about basketball) and the discussion of the offense is really interesting if you like that kind of stuff. Calipari seems pretty slimy and Pitino-esque to me, but I'm intrigued by the notion of him voluntary relinquishing power to his players. This is the money quote:

In fact, Calipari says he now does far more coaching in practice than during games, when he used to bark out play calls nearly every trip down the court. "The biggest strength of this offense," Walberg says, "is I feel we're teaching kids how to play basketball instead of how to run plays."

How to play basketball, huh? Imagine that!

Posted by Benjamin Polk at February 18, 2008 11:15 PM | Comments (0)

 

The final sixteen

Filed under: Soccer

Champions League action returns tomorrow
This week's matches should be riveting: Arsenal v. Milan, Roma v. Real Madrid, Celtic v. Barcelona, Liverpool v. Inter. And those are just the games that can be seen on ESPN over the next two days. Gabriele Marcotti has a nice primer on the round of sixteen over at SI. Barcelona's lethal striker Samuel Eto'o might see some action after missing recent matches with a thigh injury. That means Frank Rijkaard could have his full complement of offensive weapons available for the first time since August. Real Madrid magician Robinho is likely out owing to a torn stomach muscle. Rafa Benitez might need another deep run in Europe to keep his job at Liverpool after Saturday's hilarious home defeat to lower division Barnsley in the FA Cup.

Likewise Arsenal will be looking to make amends for the team's humiliating 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Manchester United. I'd barely tucked into my hashbrowns at The Local on Saturday before Nani, Anderson, Rooney and company had run the visitors off the field. Sir Alex Ferguson's side will try to keep the good times rolling at Lyon on Wednesday. Here's the highlights from the Manchester pasting:

Posted by Paul Demko at February 18, 2008 9:27 PM | Comments (2)

 

You're Still Our Dunk Champ, Gerald

Filed under: Timberwolves

In case you missed it, the NBA held its annual Slam Dunk Contest this weekend, along with a bunch of other time-fillers. Our very own Gerald Green--last year's dunk champion--was a participant.

Now, because life is not fair, and also because the NBA has decided (with reason) to anoint Dwight Howard as one of its new superstars, Gerald did not win this year. But there was some real beauty, as well as some impressively channeled melancholy, in his performance.

Oh, and an all-business Rashad McCants was there, even if Charles Barkley didn't recognize him.

Free Darko, as ever, has a good take.

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at February 18, 2008 8:49 PM | Comments (0)

 

R-Jeff's Naughty Night out in Minneapolis

Filed under: Timberwolves

Richard Jefferson, the falsetto-voiced, goody-goody star of the New Jersey Nets, has been accused of choking a club-goer right here in Minneapolis. The alleged incident happened at Infinity, just down the block from Target Center, the night a couple weeks back when the T-Wolves came from behind to hand the Nets their ninth straight loss.

The weird thing about this is that Jefferson is not one of the league's bad boys. He even donated $3.5 million recently to build a new gym at Arizona U, his alma mater. Courtesy of TMZ, which also links the incident report.

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at February 14, 2008 11:05 AM | Comments (0)

 

Home Invasion

Filed under: Gophers

Here are some things Tubby Smith said in the press conference following Tuesday's game against Illinois: "pathetic defensively"; "didn't show toughness"; "lacked aggressiveness". In case you were wondering, the Gophers did not win. I find that Tubby is usually a bit hard in his team's defensive effort. It's true that they often give up open jumpers but they often make up for it with their aggressive ball pressure, creating turnovers in the backcourt and generally disrupting their opponent's execution. But boy, they sure didn't do any of that stuff against Illinois who, with a 2-9 conference record, was sitting in a tie for ninth in the Big Ten.

Trouble started early when it became very clear that Illinois center Shaun Pruitt was much, much to quick for the Gophers' Spencer Tollackson, easily beating him with a succession of baseline pivot moves. Tubby adjusted by switching to a 2-3 zone but this was even less successful; the Illini busted the zone with good three-point shooting while also managing to find open looks inside, the supposed strong point of that defense. Now, the hallmark of the Gophers' defense thus far has been aggression (rather than, say, poise or presence of mind) but, in this game, they were even less disciplined than normal. The Gophers (particularly Dan Coleman and Spencer Tollackson) repeatedly over-committed to ballhandlers and then compounded the problem by rotating poorly to open players. To their credit, Illinois executed their offense extremely well, baffling the Gophers with crisp motion and screens. They also finished with authority, shooting a remarkable 59% from the floor (including 7-13 from three). But the U's help defense was a step slow all night, resulting in many open shots, fouls and three point plays. It is often said that bad defense stymies a team's own offense and this was true for the Gophers in one concrete way, in particular. Lawrence McKenzie, the team's best pure scorer, fouled out after playing only 17 minutes; three of those fouls were committed at the basket as he was covering for out-of-position teammates.

Soul and Fire

Occasionally--very occasionally--a team can overcome such lack of defensive effort and wherewithal by shooting well themselves. Well, the Gophers were just as bad on offense as they were on defense. They struggled all night to get good shots and then missed the ones they did get. Their best offensive players--McKenzie and Coleman--took only five shots between them and in the second half, when the game was really decided, the team made a staggeringly awful 20.5% of their shots. Pretty hot stuff, fellas. Probably the most troubling thing about it was that when they got near the basket they looked tentative. The shied from contact; they faded away; they weekly pushed the ball at the hoop. I have occasionally wondered, with some sympathy, what it must be like for those unlucky folks at the Y who catch glimpses of me playing one-on-one. I wonder no longer.

For his part, Tubby seems a bit perplexed by this bunch he's inherited. He's remarked before on the team's unpredictable temperament. They are an unselfish, "mature" group (his words). They want to win terribly and get extremely fired up for games--and yet their effort is pretty uneven and they don't always fight hard for victories. Its hard to know why this happens. I do know, from extended experience playing on many averagely talented but very bad teams, that there is a certain cold-hearted meanness (which the teams I was on never had) required to win consistently. It's that kind of scary pride that, rather than asking after the sources of bad fortune, takes a vengeful offense at it. I think its probably part of what makes so many great athletes such terrible assholes. In any case, many signs--Dan Coleman taking only two shots in the game; Spencer Tollackson grabbing a whopping zero rebounds in the first half; getting crushed at home by one of the worst teams in the conference--suggest that these Gophers don't have it.

King Me, Baby

Just one more thing. I know I've harped on coaches before (and Tubby in particular) but I have a request for anybody who plans on going to a U of M men's basketball game this year (or any time I guess). Please, please resist the urge to give Tubby a worshipful, full-throated standing ovation when you've only tepidly applauded the Gophers' starting lineup. Tubby is a nice guy and a good coach but he's not Winston Churchill. He's not even Walter Mondale. He is the coach. Of a sports team. He doesn't even play in the game. The players, remember them? They're the ones who donate their bodies and most of their lives that we can feel some fleeting pride in our state, so that we can enjoy ourselves for an evening.

It's not just my own home state's coach-worship that's burning me. You may know that Bobby Knight resigned last week and I haven't been this grossed out by revisionist fawning since Reagan died. In what world is this vile dude honestly considered a teacher, or anything other than an abusive boor? Where do we get this romance with authority? Do we take some kind of vicarious satisfaction in seeing middle-aged men enforce their notions of structure and discipline on their seemingly wild, outrageously physically gifted charges? Though we idolize the players' young, potent bodies, do we resent the ease and freedom they bestow? And do we secretly enjoy seeing those athletic young guys submit to an enforced system, as if it might somehow justify our own circumscribed lives? Our own dying bodies?

Posted by Benjamin Polk at February 13, 2008 5:49 PM | Comments (0)

 

Thunder sign veteran striker Alen Marcina

Filed under: Thunder

The Minnesota Thunder have signed Canadian forward Alen Marcina. The 28-year-old striker split time with three USL First Division clubs last season, scoring three goals. In 2006 he struck the back of the net 13 times (including three tallies against the Thunder) for the Puerto Rico Islanders, earning him second team All-League honors.

Marcina is the Thunder's second significant off-season signing. Last month the club announced that it had finalized a three-year deal with playmaker Luchi Gonzalez. The former MLS first-round pick spent last season with Miami FC, notching four goals and two assists.

The team's new ownership group, headed by Belgium-based developers Dean Johnson and Henk Habers, has promised to significantly increase Coach Amos Magee's player budget. The Thunder have missed the playoffs for three straight seasons.

Posted by Paul Demko at February 12, 2008 4:25 PM | Comments (0)

 

Getting "Blast"ed for kids

Filed under: Vikings

Click here for a slideshow of Arctic Blast.

Arctic Blast XIII
February 9-10, 2008
Lake Mille Lacs

“949… 459,” announced the pear shaped man sporting a Miller Lite “Field Crew” vest and standing atop the Buzzie’s at the Bay bar. Next to him stood a woman wearing a similar pink vest and holding a Minnesota Vikings sweatshirt. It was one of many such raffles during this 13th annual event held on Minnesota’s second largest lake. “Woooooo,” screamed the blatantly intoxicated man in the crowd with a vacant stare whose insulated bibs and jeans had accomplished the seemingly impossible feat of teaming up to bare his ass crack to the rest of the bar’s patrons. He hadn’t won. He probably didn’t even have a raffle ticket, or if he did it was probably wallowing in the massive puddle of spilt $3 Miller Lites pooling at his feet. This man was the exception though. The Viking’s Arctic Blast is about two things: one, fans young and old from out-state Minnesota getting a chance to get up-close to larger-than-life professional football players; and two, raising money for the Viking’s Children Fund while providing a shot in the arm for the local watering holes and businesses during the off-peak winter months.

Drink Miller and everyone wins!

According to the team’s website, the Vikings' Children Fund is the way players, coaches and executives address the many needs of children in the upper Midwest. The fund focuses on family services such as shelters for homeless families and education resources for troubled youth in the community. The fund also provides funding opportunities for researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Department of Pediatrics.

Of course many of us remember how five years ago the Arctic Blast was anything but charitable. During the 8th Annual Blast, two incidents reportedly occurred involving former and active players and female attendees of the event. Two players were accused of sexual assault: former back-up quarterback Todd Bouman, who was never charged, and former running back Ted Brown, who now faces first- and third-degree sexual assault charges. This was two years before the team further tarnished its name on another body of water during the Love Boat scandal.

Todd has very few fans on Mille Lacs

Charity or debauchery? Child welfare or felonies? The question I had before heading north was, “What kind of “Blast” will this year’s be?”

Photographer in tow, our day began at the now infamous Eddy’s Resort. About 150-250 people gathered in the banquet room to gear up in every conceivable shade of neon coat for the day of snowmobiling. As in every Minnesotan gathering, the weather is a favorite topic. It made sense given the forecast of plummeting temperatures and winds of 40 mph+. In the interest of full disclosure, we did not snowmobile. We were happy just to bar hop from each “Official Blast Point” to the next following the Vikings as they traversed clockwise this 60 mile-in-circumference beast of a frozen lake. A quick walk around the room made it pretty clear that the player participation record was safe. Given the scheduling conflict with the Pro-bowl (it is still unclear whether or not the planners just assumed no Vikings would actually make the Pro-bowl) it was safe to assume beforehand that the most popular Vikings would be half a world away, both literally and climatically, in Honolulu. The lineup of current and former players included backup quarterback, Wisconsin native Brooks Bollinger, rookie wide receiver Aundrae Allison, punter Chris Kluwe (more on him in a moment), Hall of Fame members Carl Eller and Paul Krause, and former linebacker Scott Studwell. Local resident Mike Warden was somewhat disappointed with this year’s turnout, but stressed that the weather probably had a lot to do with it.

Ronnie Holt could never be disappointed with any Vikings event

Vikings Fun Fact: a quick Wikipedia search reveals that not only is Chris Kluwe amongst the 10 highest paid punters in the league, but he’s also an avid World of Warcraft player and a member of its Flying Hellfish Guild maintaining a level 70 Rogue on the Kil’Jaeden server.

Whatever that means.

How does he fend off the swirlies in the locker-room?

After departing Eddy’s, the next stop was the Blue Goose Inn located in the small town of Garrison. The Blue Goose décor caters to local fisherman’s ultimate fantasies: a three and a half foot muskie graces the wall next to a fake eight foot marlin. It was only noon, but with Miller Lites only $3 today, few could afford not to tip one back. The Goose was the first Blast point raffling off signed version of everything from baseball hats to bicycles. Our seat by the window afforded us a view of Scott Studwell, now director of college scouting for the Vikes, conversing with some fellow snowmobilers before firing up a cigar in front of this somewhat confusing sign:

The only clear message is that you can eat many, many ribs for not a lot of money

One of the most amazing parts of this event were how many wide-eyed kids were in attendance and clutching a hat, t-shirt, or football ready for the signature of someone that they might not even recognize but are nevertheless in awe.

After the Goose we were off to Buzzie’s on the Bay, a spirited joint with a lively raffle. As the Vikes came in off the lake the fatigue was noticeable. The wind had really picked up and everything had become more difficult. I sat down with Carl Eller to ask him his thoughts of the event. “The event overall is great. It’s well staged, you get a chance to make all of these stops in different communities and everyone welcomes you. It’s really a nice deal.” The hall of famer was one of the most popular Vikings in attendance as evident by the long lines of autograph seekers at each blast point. He was admittedly not an avid snowmobiler, but this was not his first Blast. “Oh, it’s cold man, my fingers were froze. My thumb… it was supposed to have a heater but my thumb was like, frozen. I couldn’t move it off the throttle, maybe that’s why I was going so fast.”

I should have asked Carl if riding a snowmobile reminds him of his time riding a motorcycle in the Black 6.

Before leaving Buzzie’s Scott Studwell approached our table, which happened to be near his helmet and coat. This led to the following exchange:

Scott: What time does the sunset up here?
Us: Oh, about 5:30 or 6. Where do you live these days?
Scott: Eden Prairie.

Our day ended at the final “Official Blast Point,” the Bayview Bar. The sun had set, (although maybe not in Eden Prairie, we’re not sure) and the wind was unbearable resulting in near whiteout conditions on the lake. KFAN’s Dave Allen was heard making plans to drive a car back to the resort. Off in the corner of the bar, a couple of white PVC troughs were filled with water and a Miller Lite banner advertised minnow races, with proceeds benefiting the Children’s Fund. The young brunette working the races convinced Chris Kluwe and Carl Eller to try their hand at racing bait. In the end, Carl Eller was victorious beating the punter and two other participants. A local observer bought him a celebratory eggnog shot at the bar.

Who says Carl Eller and Chris Kluwe have nothing in common?

The 13th Annual Arctic Blast fortunately won’t be remembered for any inappropriateness but rather for the bitter cold that made the snowmobiling difficult. The kids who attended will remember those who signed their t-shirts, the bar owners will remember the added business and an untold number of needy children will remember the help made possible through this event.

Posted by Eric Refsland at February 11, 2008 8:45 PM | Comments (0)

 

Shit Hitting Fan for Sprewell

Filed under: Timberwolves

Latrell Sprewell is $500,000 in the hole even after selling his yacht at a huge loss at auction. He is also facing foreclosure on his house, the AP reports. On the plus side, prosecutors in New York last week dropped charges against the former T-Wolf alleging he'd beaten his girlfriend in front of their children.

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at February 11, 2008 7:43 PM | Comments (2)

 

A Month of Sundays

Things continue apace for this year's Gophs. They lost big against one really good team and then handily beat two bad ones. In years (or maybe decades) past, such resolutely .500 conference play by a Big Ten team could maybe land you an eight or nine-seed in the NCAA tournament. In past years, the fact that the conference’s seventh best team could beat one of it’s top teams (as Iowa did earlier to Michigan St.) would have been a sign of depth. Not this year, though. This year, it’s a sign that the conference sucks and that it’s supposedly best teams—Michigan St., Indiana—well, they’re not so good. What I’m saying here is, unless the Gophers beat either Wisconsin or Indiana on the road (which would…not be easy) and win every other game, let’s be thinking NIT. That could be fun too. Hey, lets recap some games!

Taste the Boredom

Last Sunday, the Gophers faced Wisconsin, who turned out to be the deepest, most polished team they’d played all year. That is to say, the best at basketball. I was expecting that the energy of the rivalry (I enjoyed the “Better Dead than Red” signs—is this a subtly ironic reference to McCarthyism? the white 50’s aesthetic of which is nicely embodied in Wisconsin’s very…wholesome, plainly reactionary squad? Let’s hope) and the Gophers’ desperate need for a galvanizing win against a quality team would spur one of those noisy, franticly competitive games that Williams Arena is known for. Well, the U did show lots of effort and energy, but they were not very competitive. Wisconsin calmly exploited all of the Gophers’ weaknesses: they hit open threes when the Minnesota rotated poorly on defense and they pressured the Gophers’ guards, forcing turnovers and bad shots. Simply put, the Gophers had a terrible offensive game. They shot 36%, which is not good, not good at all. There was a moment in the second half, when the Gophers began forcing turnovers and missed shots and seemed poised to make a run. Wisconsin’s defense had begun to lose its intensity, too, and the U suddenly began getting open looks at the hoop. But they missed them all.

Since the U were so handily and blandly defeated, my favorite part of the game was the flinty, probably alcoholic (I don’t know that at all) Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan’s postgame press conference. Ryan is so weathered and sick-of-it-all he seemed unable to conceal his boredom at the routinely lame questions from the press corps. When asked about the importance of the Badgers’ quick start, for instance, Ryan paused and then wearily responded: “Oh…I’d like to start well, finish well and end well.” That makes sense to me.

Such Hawks, Such Hounds

Tubby responded to this poor showing by shaking up his starting lineup for the games against Northwestern and Iowa. Blake Hoffarber and Jamal Abu-Shamala replaced Lawrence McKenzie and Damian Johnson; Hoffarber even ran the point with that first unit. During that time the offense flowed pretty well and he was even able to find some open looks of his own—color me intrigued. This change partially resulted in two authoritative wins for the Gophers. The Gophers had their best offensive showing of the year in their 20-point win at Northwestern, scoring 92 points on 57% shooting; they followed this up with one of their better defensive games, a 63-50 home win over Iowa this Saturday.

Despite forcing 21 Iowa turnovers, the Gophers were never really able to get a commanding lead and even found themselves down 42-41 with 11:16 remaining. Basically, there were two reasons for this. First, the U continued their pesky habit of leaving three-point shooters wide open. Second, the Gophers struggled to score, missing lots and lots of open shots, particularly inside (nothing new there). Coach Tubby (sounds like a dance hall reggae DJ) finally contained Iowa’s hot shooting and put some points up by employing his smallest lineup of the season—Nolen, Hoffarber and McKenzie in the backcourt, Coleman and Johnson at the forward spots—for much of the first half and the final nine minutes of the second. I think that small lineups are generally awesome—all that running and jumping and shooting—and this one seemed to work both aesthetically and practically. It allowed Tubby to play his two best defensive players (Nolen and Johnson) and also his most dangerous shooters (McKenzie and Hoffarber). And he could get away with this because, despite having some size, Iowa scores inside even less inside than the Gophers. From that point on, the Gophers clamped down on Iowa’s shooters and also generated their smoothest offense.

The Gophers outscored the Hawkeyes 21-9 in the time after Iowa briefly took the lead and Al Nolen was probably the biggest reason. Nolen broke out of his little injury-induced slump and had probably his best, most complete game of the year. He scored 11 points on 4-6 shooting, including two huge late threes. He dished out eight assists against only two turnovers, making better decisions with the ball than in any other game so far. He was customarily frenetic on defense; he had three steals and four defensive rebounds and his aggressive ball denial played a big part in two Iowa shot-clock violations. When asked, after the game, about the techniques that allow him to so disrupt opposing ballhandlers (and inspire Tubby to call him possibly the best ball defender he’d ever coached), Nolen said simply, “I watch the waist and wait for ‘em to cross over.” Sounds pretty easy right? I think it also probably helps to be blindingly quick but, y’know, Al was being modest.

Posted by Benjamin Polk at February 9, 2008 7:23 PM | Comments (0)

 

Ghana goes down

Filed under: Soccer

Ghana has been walking a tightrope through the African Cup of Nations. The home squad, among the favorites to win it all, has never looked particularly convincing. They needed a late crackerjack volley from Suley Muntari in the opening match to secure three points against Guinea. Then they went a goal down to Nigeria in the quarterfinals before rallying courtesy of a Junior Agogo gamewinner. (Don't miss this touching Agogo marriage proposal. Cribbed from du nord.)

Today the string ran out. The Black Stars fell to Cameroon, 1-0, on the strength of an Alain Nkong goal. The former Colorado Rapids striker was making just his second international appearance for the Indomitable Lions.

Cameroon will take on the winner of today's other semifinal in Sunday's championship match. Egypt currently holds a 3-1 lead over Ivory Coast with less than 30 minutes to play.

UPDATE: Egypt romps over the Elephants, 4-1.

Posted by Paul Demko at February 7, 2008 3:43 PM | Comments (1)

 

U.S.-Mexico renew rivalry tonight

Filed under: Soccer

The U.S. men's national team has owned Mexico in recent years. Since 2000, they've compiled a 9-2-1 record against their southern rivals, dramatically reversing decades of suffering at the feet of the Mexicans. The results have been even more stark on U.S. soil, with the yanks going 8-0-1 and running up a 15-1 scoring advantage. Most recently, Benny Feilhaber sent the Mexicans to defeat in the finals of the Gold Cup with a stunning gamewinner. This string of ugly results is driving Hugo Sanchez's side loopy with anger.

The bitter rivalry continues tonight in Houston. Both squads have called in some of their big guns from Europe. The Mexico roster features stalwarts Rafa Marquez (Barcelona) and Pavel Pardo (Stuttgart), along with youngsters Carlos Vela (Osasuna) and Giovanni dos Santos (Barcelona). The U.S. will likely count on Michael Bradley (Herenveen), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), and Landon Donovan (L.A. Galaxy) to pace the attack, while the kids Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bull) and Freddy Adu (Benfica) could provide a spark off the bench.

Kickoff is 8 p.m. CST from Reliant Stadium. More than 55,000 tickets have been sold. ESPN2 and Univision will both be carrying the match live. Folks will be gathering to watch locally at the Sweetwater. Join us. My pal Andy is promising free yank swag courtesy of the American Outlaws.

Here's Feilhaber's wonderstrike:

Posted by Paul Demko at February 6, 2008 11:34 AM | Comments (0)

 

More Signs of Life

Filed under: Timberwolves

Rockets 92, Timberwolves 86
Season Record: 10-37

The Houston Rockets came into town as winners of seven straight road games. The Wolves were defending a four-game home winning streak. Something would have to give. And while it was the Wolves who flinched first, the game was hardly a head-hanger.

First, a few plaudits: Sebastian Telfair looked downright effective all throughout the game. His numbers, as they say, speak for themselves: 12 assists, zero turnovers. He also took only seven shots, hitting three. “He did the simple things,” Wittman remarked after the game. Although he missed the one that mattered most. But we’ll get to that.

Shaddy, despite getting a bit mouthy during a timeout huddle in the second quarter, was the offensive shot in the arm the Wolves need him to be off the bench. He’s hitting 42 percent of his threes this year, good for 16th in the league. On Monday, he was 3-6 from downtown and 6-14 overall for 15 points. And yet, though he played tight defense against Tracy McGrady down the stretch, it wasn't enough. We'll get to that, too.

And then there was Al Jefferson. The degree to which the team’s offensive game is now revolving around the big man is remarkable. It has been more and more the case of late, but last night’s game is a particularly good example. Jefferson took 26 of the team’s 77 shots, hitting 14 of them—a dizzying array of 15-footers, up-and-unders, floaters in the lane, and dunks. He was hitting from everywhere. He also pulled down 16 boards and had three stuffs.

And he was doing all this while guarded by Yao Ming, who at 7’6” has eight inches on him. On at least three occasions with Yao on him, Jefferson, about 15 feet from the basket, turned to face it. On each occasion, Yao, not wanting let Jefferson blow by him, dared him to shoot. And on each occasion, Al drained the jumper. It was tantalizing stuff, the kind of thing that shows that Jefferson, on nights like these when he’s on, is pretty much unstoppable.

And yet. The game went in the loss column.

Here’s how it ended: With just over two minutes left, Jefferson hit one of those “I dare you” jumpers over Yao to give the Wolves an 86-85 lead. On the return trip down the floor, Carl Landry, the Rockets’ backup power forward who gave the Wolves fits all night long, was stuffed by Jefferson. But as Ryan Gomes took the ball up the court, he stumbled, took an extra step, and got called for traveling. His first turnover of the night, and one of only two for the Wolves in the fourth quarter.

On the return trip, with McCants’ hand blocking his view of the basket, McGrady nailed a 17-footer. 87-86. And after Telfair missed a tentative jumpshot on the return trip that would have given the Wolves a one-point lead, McGrady again got the ball, and again, with those half-sleepy eyes shielded from the basket by McCants’ hand, drilled the shit out of his jumpshot. This time it was a three, the Rockets were up 90-86 with half a minute left, and the game was over.

Future Game Notes:
This Friday is supposed to mark Kevin Garnett’s return to the Target Center, as the Celtics make their lone appearance in Minneapolis this season. But a gimpy abdomen seems likely to keep Garnett out of the game. Which is a shame, of course, because it’s the most anticipated Wolves game of the season, and their only game airing on ESPN.

Jefferson, asked after the game about the possibility of KG sitting out Friday, said it was probably the right thing to do. “This isn’t the biggest game of the year for them at all,” he said. “It’s not like it’s a playoff game.”

As a player, of course, he’s right. But as a fan, we're hoping the Big Ticket will give us our money’s worth on Friday.

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at February 5, 2008 12:14 PM | Comments (0)

 

Nothing says "Super Bowl Win" like Waterford crystal

Filed under: NFL

What do you get for the football fan who has everything? Why not celebrate the underdog's victory with a Waterford crystal football featuring an embedded Giants logo?

On the scale of "weird Super Bowl memorabilia," this ranks five notches above the nesting dolls. I've been to a lot of Super Bowl parties, and I've never seen anything made by Waterford at any one of them. Salsa just seems wrong inside a high-quality crystal bowl, like it should have diamond dust on top of it or something.

Yet we're not talking about bowls here. Crystal bowls would at least be functional. Instead, these are gaudy and useless trinkets that clutter up the interior landscape in homes where people have too much stuff anyway.

It doesn't stop there. Waterford also makes a replica crystal helmet for each Super Bowl-winning team. This thing would only be useful if they made Eli Manning play in it next year. Then I might watch more NFL games.

On second thought, maybe I will buy one of those crystal footballs. Keep it for a few years, and maybe I can even sell it on eBay at a markup.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at February 4, 2008 6:11 PM | Comments (0)

 

Ann Arbor Rock City

Filed under: Gophers

Well, the last two weeks have been pretty instructive for the Gophers. First, they gave both Indiana and Michigan State scares at home. Then they looked fairly awful in a 76-60 road loss to a pretty good (but by no means great) Ohio State team. Then, just when they desperately needed a win, they came through with a good all-around performance on the road at Michigan. The unevenness of their play might make the Gophers seem a touch enigmatic but really, there is no mystery here. The fact is the Gophers are a very average basketball team. They do what average teams do: they lose to good teams and beat bad teams. When they play very well, it can almost look like they are almost as good as somebody who is actually good. When they don’t, they look pretty bad. This is totally ok.

Begger's Banquet

The Gophers’ effort on Thursday night was refreshing. They played with an intensity and sense of purpose befitting a team with veteran leaders and one that was desperate for a victory. The team has played with tremendous defensive energy all season but that energy was at a new high against Michigan, especially in the first half. Their ball pressure completely suffocated the Wolverines, creating turnovers, blocking shots and denying them any quality looks (Michigan shot only 37% and turned the ball over 17 times). Now, Michigan is a pretty bad basketball team. If it weren’t for their freshman star Manny Harris (who led all scorers with 19 points on Thursday, on 6-14 shooting) they would be pretty hopeless. Still, the Gophers did what you are supposed to do with bad teams—smother them early and give them no reason to hope. Michigan’s furious late rally notwithstanding, the Gophers were dominant.

That said, the Gophers’ essential mediocrity shone through in a number of ways, most noticeably on offense. They did shoot an amazing 59% from the field but negated much of their own defensive success with 17 turnovers. And although they did play extremely aggressive defense—or perhaps as a by-product of that aggressiveness—they committed some bad fouls in the process, sending the Wolverines to the line 24 times.

I’ve also noticed that the Gophers’ defensive pressure doesn’t always translate into easy baskets. It was strange to watch them completely dominate Michigan and yet hold only eight to10 point leads for much of the game. They never put together that really commanding run that would cement the game. This has been true in their losses to Indiana and Michigan as well; even in stretches in which they were turning the other team over with regularity, they weren’t always scoring well off of that pressure. Against Michigan, the Gophers did get some baskets in transition but just as often they seemed out of control on the break, turning the ball over and forcing shots. I know this all probably seems like quibbling and that one shouldn’t really complain about a double-digit Big Ten road win. But…I mean, Michigan is terrible and the Gophers owned them the whole night. But their execution on offense was pretty shaky for large stretches and they never could manage to turn a big lead into a blowout.

Reform, Not Revolution

As promised, we are starting to see the Gophers’ rotation thin out a bit. Rather than the two-tiered platoon system we’ve gotten used to, against Michigan it looked much more like the traditional arrangement of a starting five with a few key subs. Probably in response to the team’s poor offensive showing against Ohio State, Tubby chose to leave his most consistent scorers on the floor for more minutes—at the expense of Jamal Abu-Shamala and Blake Hoffarber, in particular. This strategy seems to have paid off pretty well as the Gophers saw better production from Coleman and McKenzie and a huge boost in the team’s shooting percentage (although, I have to say, I’m not sure way Hoffarber, the team’s best three-point shooter, only saw two minutes of playing time. Maybe Tubby has finally decided that his one-dimensional game has become a hindrance). And Damian Johnson’s increased minutes mean that the team doesn’t lose much on the defensive end. But while this seemed to give the Gophers more continuity on offense, it didn’t really seem the cure them of their weird sloppiness with the ball.

The fact is, the Gophers have something of a void at point guard. It’s not that they have bad players at that position—in fact, Al Nolen and McKenzie could be great contributors on any team in the conference. But none of their backcourt players are true ball-handling/distributing point guards. Lawrence Westbrook and Nolen are both terrific defensive players (and Westbrook had a nice 15 points on 6-10 against Michigan), but neither one is really ready to run an offense. And McKenzie is really more of a scorer and tends to make mistakes when asked to shoulder the ballhandling duties (five of those turnovers on Thursday were his).

McKenzie is a pretty interesting player actually. He is the Gophers’ only truly dangerous one-on-one player. He has shown the ability—against Michigan and Michigan State—to carry the offense with his array of threes, nasty step-back jumpers and drives. If he were four inches taller and could play the two, he would probably be one of the better scorers in the country. But his small size means that he is a point-guard, a position that exposes many of his weaknesses (his average passing skills, his mistake-prone ball-handling). And—possibly because he is out of position, possibly because he consciously defers to his teammates, possibly because his focus wavers throughout a game—he tends to disappear for long stretches of games. At home against Michigan State, for instance, he single-handedly kept Minnesota in the game with his second half scoring, finishing with 20 points. The thing is, all of those points came in the second half; in fact, he only took one shot in the first twenty minutes and didn’t actually score his first points until the 14:37 mark of the second half. Weird, right?

Posted by Benjamin Polk at February 2, 2008 12:15 PM | Comments (0)

 

« January 2008 | Main | March 2008 »