The other day I was looking at a game story I wrote on a Timberwolves
14-point win over the Lakers in November 2005.  Among other things,
Lakers coach Phil Jackson was critical of the officials in the game:

"We didn't get the calls," said Jackson in regard to the few trips
they made to the line, "but you can't expect to get calls on the
road." . . .  He [Jackson] was more pointed in his criticism when
asked about center Chris Mihm's performance. Mihm had a hook shot
over Michael Olowokandi to give Los Angeles a 4-2 lead in the opening
minutes of the game. However, Jackson went back to an offensive foul
called on Mihm only 22 seconds into the game. "When the first thing
they do is call an offensive foul on him, a non-existent foul, you
know that this kid does not have a chance, you know that he's
got 'shit' written across the front of his jersey, and that's the way
they treat him and the referees just give him nothing out there. It's
embarrassing."

What's kind of interesting about this is that the officiating crew
for that game was Steve Javie, Eli Roe, and Tim Donaghy.  The 2005-06
season is when Donaghy allegedly started betting on games.  There is
probably no way to go back and tell which official called the foul on
Mihm 22 seconds into the game, but if it was Donaghy, it may have
been a game that he had bet on.

Or maybe it had nothing to do with that.  Or maybe it was a good
call, not a "non-existent foul," as Jackson called it.  But it is
kind of interesting to read this and then discover that Donaghy was
one of the officials.

Stew

--- In mnbuckets@yahoogroups.com, marc hugunin <marc@...> wrote:
>
> The Eidenschenk name is familiar but we didn�t know Ken. Her mom and
sister
> would have known him, I would think, but neither of them is here to
ask
> anymore. In fact, we will be burying Alice�s mom today.
>
> Marc
>

Sorry to hear that.  Hope you're still having a happy Christmas.  How
did your holiday shindig go?  I take it that the weather may have
interfered a bit.

Ho ho ho.

Stew

 

--- In mnbuckets@yahoogroups.com <mailto:mnbuckets%40yahoogroups.com> , marc hugunin <marc@...> wrote:
>
> Last night I met Gerald Ruda who was my wife's high school geography
teacher
> in Long Prairie.

Did your wife know Ken Eidenshenk (probably the wrong spelling), the
owner of the radio station in Long Prairie?  He just died in the last
year or so.

Stew

 
    

Was Olson in his first year
at Edgerton in '60? I forget now.

Then in ‘63 of course Bloomington came in as the prohibitive favorite. Somebody probably remembers who they beat in the old Region 5 final, was that the year Delano made it to the final?

--- In mnbuckets@yahoogroups.com, marc hugunin <marc@...> wrote:
>
> Last night I met Gerald Ruda who was my wife's high school geography
teacher
> in Long Prairie.

Did your wife know Ken Eidenshenk (probably the wrong spelling), the
owner of the radio station in Long Prairie?  He just died in the last
year or so.

Stew

Last night I met Gerald Ruda who was my wife's high school geography teacher
in Long Prairie. He is a big guy, at least 6-6, and I knew that one of his
sons had played for Long Prairie in the 1998 state tournament when Long
Prairie lost to DeLaSalle 53-52 in the AA final. In fact, he had 4 sons who
played high school ball and 2 played in the state tournament (1991 was the
other, when they lost to Becker and Justin Hegna, more recently the Becker
girls coach, in the first round).

Anyway, it turns out that Ruda is from Edgerton, class of 1961, and he saw
all 6 of Edgerton's state tournament games in person in 1960 and 1961. He
also told me that there's a new book out about the 1960 season. It's written
by the Edgerton coach who preceded Richie Olson. Was Olson in his first year
at Edgerton in '60? I forget now.

Marc

 

Obit in today's Strib for Don Snyder.  He coached 2 schools to State Tourney in the one-class format, Winona in 1956 and Bloomingon in 1963.  He was 91 years old.

Paul R.

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--- In mnbuckets@yahoogroups.com, Rittfam4@... wrote:
>
> Obit in today's Strib for Don Snyder.? He coached 2 schools to State
Tourney in the one-class format, Winona in 1956 and Bloomingon in
1963.? He was 91 years old.
>
> Paul R.
>
I remember the name Don Snyder when he was the district athletic
director for the Bloomington high schools.  He was replaced by Sonny
Carlson after he retired.

Howard

--- In mnbuckets@yahoogroups.com, Rittfam4@... wrote:
>
> Obit in today's Strib for Don Snyder.? He coached 2 schools to State
Tourney in the one-class format, Winona in 1956 and Bloomingon in
1963.? He was 91 years old.
>
> Paul R.
>

Did you have him?

--- In mnbuckets@yahoogroups.com, marc hugunin <marc@...> wrote:
>
> Kika Greenlee of the SLP girls is the #2 scorer metro. You know who
is #1.
>

I filled in on a girls' game last week and saw her.  Greenlee is the
point guard for Park.  I think she had 28 in a one-point loss to
Irondale while Jolene Blood of Irondale had 27 (or it was 28 for Blood
and 27 for Greenlee).

 

--- In mnbuckets@yahoogroups.com <mailto:mnbuckets%40yahoogroups.com> , marc hugunin <marc@...> wrote:
>
> Here’s a good one. Hopkins played at Mpls. Roosevelt last night
(this is the
> GIRLS). One of the officials was the father of a Roosevelt player.
>
> Marc
>

Who was the ref?

Paul can probably add more to this, but on a sort-of related topic a
lot of schools are opting for two officials instead of three to save
money.  I think it's up to each school, not the conference.

Meanwhile, between weather and mixups within the Capital City
officials association, we had some scrambling to do for officials for
the JV/B games at St. Louis Park this week.  I did the official
scoring on the B game between St. Louis Park and Austin Thursday
night, filling in after the regular official scorer had quit, walking
out during a game Tuesday after getting barked at by the SLP JV
coach.  The official for the SLP-Austin game was Kevin Whalen, son of
Pat (who was the referee yesterday in the Division III football title
game), who is a friend of Paul and mine.  Apparently there was a
mixup within the officials association.  Kevin did a great job.  I
asked him at halftime if he just tried to stay in a trail position
and call the game from behind.  He said there are no mechanics for
working a game alone.  He just did what seemed to be the best way to
do it.  Late in the game another official arrived, so they worked the
final few minutes with two officials.

It was an interesting week at Park, which lost all three of its games
at home.  It has won a couple of road games, at least.

Stew   

 
    

--- In mnbuckets@yahoogroups.com, marc hugunin <marc@...> wrote:
>
> Here�s a good one. Hopkins played at Mpls. Roosevelt last night
(this is the
> GIRLS). One of the officials was the father of a Roosevelt player.
>
> Marc
>

Who was the ref?

Paul can probably add more to this, but on a sort-of related topic a
lot of schools are opting for two officials instead of three to save
money.  I think it's up to each school, not the conference.

Meanwhile, between weather and mixups within the Capital City
officials association, we had some scrambling to do for officials for
the JV/B games at St. Louis Park this week.  I did the official
scoring on the B game between St. Louis Park and Austin Thursday
night, filling in after the regular official scorer had quit, walking
out during a game Tuesday after getting barked at by the SLP JV
coach.  The official for the SLP-Austin game was Kevin Whalen, son of
Pat (who was the referee yesterday in the Division III football title
game), who is a friend of Paul and mine.  Apparently there was a
mixup within the officials association.  Kevin did a great job.  I
asked him at halftime if he just tried to stay in a trail position
and call the game from behind.  He said there are no mechanics for
working a game alone.  He just did what seemed to be the best way to
do it.  Late in the game another official arrived, so they worked the
final few minutes with two officials.

It was an interesting week at Park, which lost all three of its games
at home.  It has won a couple of road games, at least.

Stew

 

 
Even with half the day's games yet to be played, quite a bit of news.
 
It seems the Gophers might be for real.  Now they are definitely going to the NCAA tournament if they can play .500 ball (or better -- let's aim high!) in the Big Ten.  Their top three scorers for the game were all home grown guards -- Nolen, Hoffarber, and walk-on Travis Busch.  I imagine they will be ranked when the next polls come out.
 
NDSU, led by 17 from Winkelman and 14 from Woodside, almost beat USC on the road.
 
Urule Igbavboa led Valparaiso with 16 against North Carolina and Tyler Hansbrough.
 
Darren Kent led Kansas State with 24.
 
Cole Aldrich had another double double for Kansas.
 
Noah Dahlman had a double double as Wofford lost at the buzzer to Georgia.
 
Freshman Lucas Kuipers led Rice with 16.
 
Ryan Wittman had 18 as Cornell beat LaSalle.
 
Anthony Tucker is playing again for Iowa.
 
And the Big Ten did OK, with Minnesota and Michigan State both beating top 10 teams.

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Even with half the day's games yet to be played, quite a bit of news.
 
It seems the Gophers might be for real.  Now they are definitely going to the NCAA tournament if they can play .500 ball (or better -- let's aim high!) in the Big Ten.  Their top three scorers for the game were all home grown guards -- Nolen, Hoffarber, and walk-on Travis Busch.  I imagine they will be ranked when the next polls come out.
 
NDSU, led by 17 from Winkelman and 14 from Woodside, almost beat USC on the road.
 
Urule Igbavboa led Valparaiso with 16 against North Carolina and Tyler Hansbrough.
 
Darren Kent led Kansas State with 24.
 
Cole Aldrich had another double double for Kansas.
 
Noah Dahlman had a double double as Wofford lost at the buzzer to Georgia.
 
Freshman Lucas Kuipers led Rice with 16.
 
Ryan Wittman had 18 as Cornell beat LaSalle.
 
Anthony Tucker is playing again for Iowa.
 
And the Big Ten did OK, with Minnesota and Michigan State both beating top 10 teams.

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Last season, LeBron James scored 45 points in the Cavaliers' only
trip to Minnesota, but tonight he was even more fun to watch.  He had
32 points and 6 rebounds, but what stood out was his passing, even
though he had only three assists.  His teammates missed a lot of
shots after taking his passes.  They usually weren't passes inside -
a lot of cross-court stuff so it's excusable to miss some outside
shots, but they were missing a lot of them or he could have had a
bunch more assists.  I know that's always the way it is with assists,
but his total doesn't come close to reflecting how much he passed.
He is so graceful and fluid with his movements, and that's the way it
was with his passes.  He had a couple of no-look passes.  His best
pass, in the fourth quarter which got him his third and final assist,
was a hard two-handed backhanded pass to Anderson Varejao underneath
the basket.

James made 14 of 20 from the field.  He took 9 shots in the fourth
quarter when he finally quit passing and did more shooting, scoring
14 in the quarter.  This is why I like going to the Timberwolves,
even if they aren't doing that well, to see great players like
James.  In the past, David Robinson was always my favorite player to
watch, but James is just as enjoyable.  The fans enjoyed him, too,
giving him a nice hand, which he acknowleged with a wave, when he
left the game. Maybe he'll end up with a Western team next year so we
can see him more than once a year.

The game moved fast.  Only 34 fouls and 29 free throws total.  Only
23 turnovers combined, so there were long stretches without
deadballs.  In fact, in the first quarter, TV got hosed out of a
timeout because the mandatory timeout that would have been assessed
to Cleveland at the first dead ball under 3 minutes never happened as
the teams played the final 3:03 of the quarter without a dead ball.

Stew

 

Who is the Wolves GM right now?  McHale was relieved of GM duties when he was sentenced to coach the team, right?  Taylor said he wanted him concentrating totally on coaching. Or is McHale still GM until a replacement is named?

Paul R.


-----Original Message-----
From: marc hugunin <marc@...>
To: mnbuckets@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:40 am
Subject: Re: [mnbuckets] McHale

On 12/16/08 3:26 AM, "Alan Holst" <alanholst@...> wrote:

Why do we have to live with Kevin McHale as GM?
 

He’s got photos of Glen Taylor?

Reading your email makes me grateful that the Wolves lost those 4 1st round draft picks in the Joe Smith “deal.”

Actually of all of his bad draft picks, if we could only have Roy and Mayo back and forgive all the rest,=2 0how much better off would we be? I mean, we’ve got options in the front court (i.e. You wouldn’t have Kevin Love). But you’ve got no options in the back court otherwise. Or, as I say, there are options, but all of them are bad.

Marc
 

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--- In mnbuckets@yahoogroups.com, Rittfam4@... wrote:
>
> Who is the Wolves GM right now?  McHale was relieved of GM duties
when he was sentenced to coach the team, right?  Taylor said he
wanted him concentrating totally on coaching. Or is McHale still GM
until a replacement is named?
>
> Paul R.
>
>

Hoiberg and Jim Stack.  Not sure who's doing what.

 

I think it's interesting that, unlike the North Dakota schools, the SDSU women do not rely heavily on Minnesota girls.  Maria Boever, their #3 scorer, is from Worthington, and their #6, 7 and 8 scorers are also from Minnesota.  But four of their top five scorers are homegrown, South Dakota products.
 
I would agree that if the Gophers can manage a .500 conference record and 1 conference tournament win they are a shoo-in for the NCAA tournament.  I think if they play .500 ball in conference, that, coupled with 20 wins (they would need to lost at home to Southeastern Louisiana or High Point to fall short of 20 wins if they break even in the Big Ten) would probably get them in even without a win in the conference tournament.  And if they fall short of .500 in conference I don't see them getting in unless they beat Louisville and/or make a big run in the conference tournament.  So the key is to avoid a losing record in the Big Ten.  If the Gophers can do that, they should be playing in the NCAA tournament.     

---

To: mnbuckets@yahoogroups.com
From: marc@...
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:13:06 -0600
Subject: [mnbuckets] Go Gophers


Congrats to Gopher backers. The Gophers have been unranked by the AP and USA Today, but have been ranked in the second 10 in the Yahoo User Ratings--today 13th. This does not happen by accident. Rather there is a concerted effort to get Gopher fans to vote. It is working.

Meanwhile....

NSIC Men

I don’t know if it’s wide open. I think Mankato is still the favorite. But, still. Concordia and St. Cloud are 4-0, Northern and UMD are 3-1, Mankato and Augustana are 2-1. Mankato lost at Northern on Saturday, and Winona (2-2) gave UMD their first conference loss at UMD. How big is that. A Winona loss makes them 1-3.

NSIC Women

Moorhead just completed a historic weekend, winning two road games against two unbeatens (in the conference) in St. Cloud and Concordia. Moorhead is 4-0, Mankato State is 3-0, St. Cloud and Concordia are 3-1 and Wayne State is 2-1. I think Mankato remains the favorite but Moorhead clearly is right there.

MIAC Men

St. Thomas and St. John’s are unbeaten, but the Tommies are 4-0, 7-0 and #6 in the nation while the Johnnies are 3-0, 4-3 and unranked. Big difference. Bethel is 3-1, 7-1, Hamline 3-1, 4-3. Carleton is 2-1, 5-1. But this is a one-team race.

MIAC Women

Same old, same old. Gustavus and St. Ben’s 4-0, St. Thomas 4-1, Concordia 3-1. But wait. Macalester at 3-1? Three years ago they suspended their program for 3/4 of a season due to a lack of warm bodies. This is a pretty spectacular recovery. And Carleton, which has had a great run going back to 2000, appears to be way down this year (1-3, 2-5 so far). Still it will come down to the usual suspects.

Gopher Women

The Big Ten is a mess! The best records so far are recent also-rans Wisconsin 10-1 and Indiana 7-2. And I could add Minnesota 8-2. But of course there’s Ohio State at 7-2. But Michigan 8-4? Meanwhile two of the three favorites (along with Ohio State), Michigan State is 6-3 and Purdue 6-4. Defending regular season champs Iowa are 6-4. I still think it will be Ohio State and Purdue in the end, but not Michigan State. The Gophers could finish anywhere from 3rd to 8th, though the likelihood is closer to 3rd than 8th. Emily Fox has been stopped by a bunch of teams this year. When the defense is focused on her, Katie Ohm better be hitting some 3s. If yes, they’ll be OK. If not, they’ll be in big trouble, as with South Dakota State, which is now 3-0 in the Big Ten. How big is it, historically, to think that South Dakota State could contend for a Big Ten title? I think they could. Based on a 12 or 13 point win (I forget exactly) at the Barn, you’d have to think they’re at least a 3rd place team.

Gopher Men

Returning to the men, they (9-0) and Ohio State (6-0) are the last unbeatens in the Big Ten. Illinois 9-1, Northwestern 8-1, Iowa and Penn State 9-2, Purdue and Wisconsin 8-2, Michigan 7-2 and Michigan State 6-2 are all looking OK. Only Indiana at 5-4 looks shaky. They won’t finish last, however. But who will finish first. Wow. Hard to tell. I guess I’d say Purdue, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Ohio State are the top 4, but in what order? The Gophers could be anywhere from 5th to 8th, hopefully closer to 5th. The good news is Tubby’s got a lot of players, a lot of buttons to push. If it ain’t workin,’ he can go big, he can go small, he can go inside, he can go outside. I think in the end a .500 record in the Big Ten is realistic, and combined with the current 9-0 and maybe 1 win in the conference tournament, makes for an obvious NCAA tournament bid. Any less than .500 and 1 win in the tournament, however, and you’re on the bubble.

Ben Woodside

And finally, Ben followed his 60 point game with 31 against Georgia Southern, a 98-77 win for NDSU. Stephen Curry had at least his 3rd 40 point game of the year, but he also had that incredible goose egg. Wonder who’s leading the country in scoring?
 

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Why do we have to live with Kevin McHale as GM?
 

Kevin Anderson at kjasr.com has picked section winners and forecast the
state tournament seeds. Here are his projected match-ups (1 vs. 8, 4 vs. 5,
etc.), interspersed with my comments. I might try to forecast the boys
match-ups later on.

AAAA
#1. Hopkins 6
#2. Centennial 5
#3. St. Paul Central 4
#4. Lakeville North 3
#5. Bloomington Kennedy 2
#6. Forest Lake 7
#7. Bemidji 8
#8. Rochester JM 1

Hopkins and Mpls. South are in the same section.

AAA
#1 Totino-Grace 3
#2 New Prague 1
#3 Minnehaha 4
#4 DeLaSalle 6
#5 Worthington 2
#6 Grand Rapids 7
#7 St. Michael-Albertville 5
#8 Detroit Lakes 8

I prefer New Prague and Minnehaha to Totino Grace (or Pizza High, as they
say).

AA
#1 Jordan 4
#2 East Grand Forks 8
#3 New London-Spicer 6
#4 Rochester Lourdes 1
#5 Pipestone 3
#6 HLWW 5
#7 Hayfield 2
#8 Esko 7

I think Hayfield is substantially better than this, maybe #2. Wouldn't want
to call the New London Spicer-Howard Lake Winsted Waverly game for
broadcast. I figure HLWW should win that one about 3-2 though.

A
#1 Barnum 5
#2 New Life 4
#3 Ada-Borup 6
#4 Adrian 3
#5 Bigfork 7
#6 GHEC 2
#7 Red Lake Co Central 8
#8 LeRoy-Ostrander 1

Here I like Ada and New Life with Barnum #3. They were the top 3 last year,
too. Adrian beat a good Fulda team 80-59 so they're for real.