With the NHL on it's Olympic Break and the NBA on it's All-Star break, it was a quite week in the Minnesota sports world, but nonetheless let's get after it.
Gopher Women's Basketball
A common Minnesota sports insecurity is that the national media never takes us seriously and always favors the larger markets instead of little Minnesota. And another instance of that took place at the beginning of the week when the Gopher women's basketball team was left out of the AP Top-25, despite an 18-6 record, 9-4 conference record, and coming off a huge win over #10 Iowa on the road in Iowa City.
Despite the disrespect, the Gophers beat Nebraska and Wisconsin this week to earn their 20th overall win and get to 11-4 in the Big Ten. There are currently seven teams in the Big Ten ranked, which means three teams behind the fifth-place Gophers in the standings ranked in the Top-25.
How this team is not ranked in the Top-25 is beyond me, but as we all know being ranked in the Top-25 wins you nothing in March. The Gophers should for sure be ranked in the Top-25 later today and deservedly so. They are currently on track to make their first NCAA Tournament since 2018 and most projections have them somewhere between a 5-7 seed at the moment. It is setting up to be a fun March if you're a fan of Gopher women's basketball, and fun to have a relevant Gopher basketball team again.
Classic Twins signing
The Twins announced earlier in the week that they signed reliever and former three-time all-star Liam Hendriks to a minor league deal. It's hard to criticize the move on it's own, as it's a pretty low-risk, high reward move for the Twins. The problem is that this has become an all too familiar move by the Twins in recent seasons rather than spending money on guys in their prime.
Too often we see the Twins try to sign guys past their prime, hoping they still have a little left in the tank, or they sign the guy coming off a major injury hoping they can return to form. Remember Joey Gallo, CJ Cron, Dylan Bundy, Chris Archer, etc. It's okay to sign these guys and hope they can return to form, but too often the Twins sign guys like this to fill holes in their lineup. And while some work out (Danny Santana) it seems like too often these signings can't find their magic, only creating more issues for the Twins.
Please Pohlads, either commit to winning or sell the team.
Wild in the Olympics
Quinn Hughes currently has 4 assists, Matt Boldy has a goal, and Brock Faber has a goal and assist in three games for Team USA.
Filip Gustavsson has 2 wins for Sweden and Joel Erikkson-Ek has a goal and an assist.
And most importantly- no Wild injuries to report at the moment.
It's looking like Canada and the USA are on a collision course for the gold medal game. Although I hope the USA doesn't overlook Sweden if that is indeed who they play in their quarterfinal game.
Right now, I'm taking the Minnesota sports fan approach for Team USA the rest of the Olympics- hoping for the best, expecting the worst. If I had to bet, I think Canada takes home the Gold and USA brings home the silver. But I hope I am wrong.
Ant wins All-Star MVP
Anthony Edwards winning the all-star game MVP would have been cool if this were 20 years ago. I admit, I didn't watch much of the all-star game because, well, it's the NBA All-Star game and lately that has meant a bunch of really good basketball players playing zero defense and visibly not caring. But still, Ant joins KG as Wolves players winning All-Star MVP so that's cool, I guess?
The Wolves next play on Friday against the Mavericks. With 26 games left and currently sitting sit in the Western Conference standings, it's time for the Wolves to kick it into gear and move up in the standings to secure home court for their first round series.
My prediction? The Wolves go 16-10 in their last 26 games, finish 50-32, and end up as the fifth seed and a date with the Houston Rockets in the first round. And they win in 6 games.
Wolves to the Eastern Conference?
Lastly, there has been lots of talk in the NBA about potentially expanding to 32 teams by adding franchises in Las Vegas and Seattle. That would mean one team would have to move to the Eastern Conference, and the team being mentioned that makes the most logical sense to make that move? Yes, your Minnesota Timberwolves.
It would be weird to consider a Minnesota team as an "Eastern" team, but I do think it would benefit both the Wolves and the fans. For one, the Eastern Conference is not nearly as deep as the West, so in theory the Wolves would have an easier path to the Finals (assuming the balance of power doesn't shift by the time this would happen). But also the Wolves would likely end up in a division with teams like the Bucks, Bulls, Pistons, Cavaliers, Pacers, etc- teams that are closer and make more sense as division rivals. And, more eastern conference games means less late game times, which I think most fans would be in favor of (those 8:30pm playoff games on a work night are killers...).
Again, I think it would feel weird to be in the eastern conference but I'm going to root for it to happen because, why not?
Until next week.
Ben
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