Game, Player, Coach of the Day Dec. 21-31, 2013

Game of the "Week"

Hopkins boys 78 St. Paul Johnson 69

Team of the "Week"

Apple Valley boys

Player of the "Week"

Tyus Jones, Apple Valley

Coach of the "Week"

Chris VanderHyde, Park Center girls, and Brian Schnettler, Rosemount boys

Sat., Dec. 21--Minnesota State Mankato women 80 Concordia (St. Paul) 67

Mankato took a 43-28 lead late in the first half as Ali Wilkinson scored 18 first half points. The Bears got within 8 before the Mavs pulled away again to the win. 

Player of the Day: Wilkinson finished with 29 points and 9 rebounds. Coach of the Day: Annette Wiles, UMD, who surprised St. Cloud State 75-66.

Sun., Dec. 22--Los Angeles Clippers 120 Minnesota Timberwolves 116 (OT)

The T-Wolves continued a season-long trend of last-minute melt-downs, blowing a 114-112 lead at 0:46 of OT. Kevin Love, Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Martin scored 95 points. The other 2 starters scored 3 and the rest of the team scored 21. 

Player of the Day: Love 45 points, 19 rebounds, 6 assists. Coach of the Day: Pam Borton, Minnesota Gopher women, who defeated Auburn 67-54.

Mon., Dec. 23--Faribault Bethlehem 69 Zumbrota-Mazeppa 65

One of only two games in the state of Minnesota. Player of the Day: Joe Matecjek scored 17 points for FBA. Coach of the Day: Franz Boelter, FBA, who recently won his 600th game.

Thurs., Dec. 26--Thief River Falls girls 77 Richfield 57

Player of the Day: Sydney Lamberty, Park, scored 30 its in a 67-58 loss to Bloomington Kennedy. Coach of the Day: Myron Glass, Rochester Lourdes, the only winner among the four Rochester teams at the local Rotary Classic. Lourdes beat Red Wing 63-51. 

Fri., Dec. 27--Apple Valley boys 112 Roseville 81

The Eagles and Tyus Jones routed top ten-rated Roseville as Jones scored 34 points and 9 other players got into double figures. Player of the Day: Tyus Jones. Coach of the Day: Chris VanderHyde, Park Center girls, who defeated Lakeville North 73-63.

Sat., Dec. 28--Eastview girls 65 Park Center 61

Player of the Day: J.P. Macura, Lakeville North boys, scored 33 in an 84-81 win over Shakopee. Coach of the Day: Brian Schnettler, Rosemount boys, who defeated Cretin 72-62 at St. Thomas

Sun., Dec. 29--Hamline men 104 Otterbein 99 (OT)

Player of the Day: Dior Ford, Hamline men, 38 pts, 10 reb, 4 asts

Coach of the Day: Jim Hayes, Hamline men

Mon., Dec. 30--Hopkins boys 78 St. Paul Johnson 69

#2AAAA vs. #1AAA at Augsburg tournament. #2 wins.

Player of the Day: Monica Burich, Roseville girls, scored 22 points and shut down Haydn Becker, Andover's leading scorer, in a 57-43 win. Coach of the Day: Kenny Novak, Hopkins boys.

Tues., Dec. 31--Eden Prairie boys 78 DeLaSalle 65

The Eagles roared back from a 35-26 halftime deficit. Player of the Day: Grantham Gillard, Eden Prairie, 23 points. Coach of the Day: David Flom, Eden Prairie boys.

Game, Player and Coach of the Day--December 14-20, 2013

Fri., Dec. 20--UCLA women 58 Minnesota Gophers 55

The Gophers shot 37 percent in losing to UCLA at home. Rachel Banham and Amanda Zahui scored 40 points between 'em, but the rest of the team shot 6-of-19. Player of the Day: Courtney Fredrickson, Minnetonka, 30 pts in 63-55 win at St. Michael-Albertville. Coach of the Day: Shawn Naas, Mountain Lake boys, who defeated defending state Class A champ Southwest Christian 63-52 to get to 7-0.

Thurs., Dec. 19--Hopkins girls 72 Centennial 38

Hopkins had lost two straight and a third wasn't going to happen. Player of the Day: Molly O'Toole, Hopkins, took it to Centennial with 7 offensive rebounds in the 1st half alone. She finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Coach of the Day: Robb Belschner, Andover girls, who defeated Blaine 77-67 to get to 5-1 on the year.

Wed., Dec. 18--Minnesota Timberwolves 120 Portland Trailblazers 109

The inconsistent Wolves came up big against the league's best team. Player of the Day--Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves 29 points 15 board 9 assists. Coach of the Day--Steve Burton, Robbinsdale Cooper, who edged Columbia Heights 71-67

Tues., Dec. 17--St. Paul Johnson boys 84 Eden Prairie 79

The visitors pulled away late as Jalen Mobley scored 35 points. Player of the Day--Mobley. Coach of the Day--Vern Simmons, St. Paul Johnson boys.

Mon., Dec. 16--Edina girls 55 Duluth East 34

The Hornets break away early and lead 31-18 at the half. Player of the Day--Charlie Koontz, Holy Angels, scored 27 in a 61-50 win over Minnehaha. Coach of the Day--Angie Iverson-Ohnstad, Lakeville South, who defeated Red Wing 41-34.

Sun., Dec. 15--Minnesota Timberwolves 101 Memphis Grizzlies 93

The Wolves took an early lead and held on. Player of the Day--Kevin Love led the Wolves with 30 points, 9 boards and 4 assists. Coach of the Day--Rick Adelman, Minnesota Timberwolves.

Sat., Dec. 14--Hopkins 89 Lakeville North 84 at Breakdown Boys Tipoff at Minnetonka

Player of the Day--J. P. Macura of Lakeville North, 48 points. Coach of the Day--Dave Thorson, DeLaSalle, who beat Osseo 56-35 at the Tip-Off. 

Game of the Day January 2014

Happy New Year! Wow, December got away from us! But we haven't given up! For those of you who are new visitors to this site, the purpose of our Game of the Day selections (including Player of the Day, Coach of the Day, etc.) is to generate candidates for our Player, Team and Coach of the Month, and Player, Team and Coach of the Year selections later on.

Week of Jan. 8-14

Wed., Jan. 8--Minnesota Gopher women @ Iowa

The Gophers are already in desperate shape in the Big Ten at 0-1 with a 25-point home loss to an apparent also-ran.

Thurs., Jan. 9--Kenyon-Wanamingo girls @ New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva

If NRHEG is going to lose to anybody, it is probably #3-rated Kenyon. Not that NRHEG is going to lose, just, you know, "if they were."

Fri., Jan. 10--Mankato State women @ Northern State

Both are 6-2 in the conference, only Wayne State is better at 7-1.

Sat., Jan. 11--Minnesota Gopher men @ Michigan State

A very tough assignment here.

Sun., Jan. 12--Northwestern women @ Minnesota Gophers

Say hello to Hopkins' Nia Coffey, now a NU freshman and Big 10 freshman of the week more than once.

Mon., Jan. 13--St. Thomas men @ Bethel, and Bethel women @ St. Thomas

St. Thomas is, as almost always, a prohibitive have to win both the men's and women's conference titles. Bethel is the only MIAC school that is contending in both genders.

Tues., Jan. 14--East Ridge boys @ Cretin-Derham Hall

East Ridge is #10, Cretin has Sam Neumann.


Week of Jan. 1-7

Wed., Jan. 1--Minnesota Timberwolves 124 New Orleans Pelicans 112 

Player of the Day: Nikola Pekovic, Timberwolves, 22 pts, 7 rebounds Coach of the Day: Rick Adelman, Timberwolves

Thurs., Jan. 2--St. Mary's men 67 Macalester 51

Player of the Day: Evan Peterson, St. Mary's, guard 29 pts Coach of the Day: Jamison Rusthoven, St. Mary's, in his first year as coach. The Cards are just 2-8 but have an MIAC win under their belt.

Fri., Jan. 3--Winona State men 87 Bemidji State 86 (OT)

Winona led by as many as 13 in the 1st half, but Bemidji came back within 1 and trailed by 4 at intermission. Winona again pulled away to a 9 point lead in the 2nd half, but Bemidji caught up at 7:26 and led by as many as 4. Taylor Cameron tied it up at 0:06 with a FT for Winona. Bemidji again led by as many as 4 in OT, but Cameron scored on a layup at 0:15 for Winona's first and only lead of OT. Bemidji missed a jumper at the buzzer.

Player of the Day: Kellen Taylor, Winona State, scored 16 points with 16 boards. Coach of the Day: Mike Boschee, Bemidji State. No offense to Winona coach Mike Leaf, or to Bemidji State. But I am always amazed that Bemidji can compete with teams like Mankato and Winona. I mean, the frozen north and all of that.

Sat., Jan. 4--Apple Valley boys 72 Blue Valley Northwest (KA) 59

The Eagles used a 19-0 2nd half run to defeat national power Blue Valley at the Timberwolves Shootout.

Player of the Day: Sam Neumann, Cretin-Derham Hall, scored 39 in a 71-66 loss to Bettendorf, IA, at the Shootout. Coach of the Day: Dave Thorson, DeLaSalle boys, who beat St. Rita (Chicago, IL) 59-53 despite the continuing absence of Reid Travis.

Sun., Jan. 5--no games that I know of

Mon., Jan. 6--Minnesota Timberwolves 126 Philadelphia 76ers 95

Player of the Day: Kevin Love, Timberwolves, 26 pts in rout the 76ers. Coach of the Day: Rick Adelman, Timberwolves.

Tues., Jan. 7--Sauk Centre girls @ Albany

This and many other games were ppd due to the cold weather. So the Game of the Day was Edina girls 66 #4 Chaska 58.

Player of the Day: Grace Coughlin, Benilde-St. Margaret's, senior, guard with 32 points in a 78-68 win at Irondale. Coach of the Day: Edina's Mat Nilsen.

Game of the Week--Apple Valley boys 72 Blue Valley Northwest (KA) 59

Player of the Week--Sam Neumann, Cretin-Derham Hall, junior, forward

Coach of the Week--Mike Boschee, Bemidji State men


Week of Jan. 15-21

Wed., Jan. 15--Sacramento Kings @ Minnesota Timberwolves

Thurs., Jan. 16--Bloomington Kennedy girls @ Eastview

Fri., Jan. 17--Winona State men @ Southwest Minnesota State

Sat., Jan. 18--Mpls. Washburn girls vs. New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva @ Owatonna

Sun., Jan. 19--Minnesota Gopher men @ Iowa

Mon., Jan. 20--New London-Spicer boys @ Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa

Tues., Jan. 21--Apple Valley boys @ Rosemount

Wed., Jan. 22--Wisconsin men @ Minnesota Gophers

Thurs., Jan. 23--Wisconsin women @ Minnesota Gophers

Fri., Jan. 24--Mankato State men @ Winona State

Sat., Jan. 25--Sauk Centre girls @ Alexandria

Sun., Jan. 26--Minnesota Gopher men @ Nebraska

Mon., Jan. 27--Minnesota Timberwolves @ Chicago Bulls

Tues., Jan. 28--Staples-Motley girls @ Fergus Falls

Wed., Jan. 29--Iowa women @ Minnesota Gophers

Thurs., Jan. 30--Champlin Park boys @ Osseo

Fri., Jan. 31--Heritage Christian boys @ Maranatha

Game, Player and Coach of the Day December 7-13, 2013

Fri., Dec. 13--Eastview girls 56 Hopkins 54

#2 beats #1, and they did it on the road and without a field goal from leading scorer Madi Guebert, who scored 10 points on 10-of-10 FT. Kari Opatz scored 15 to lead the Lightning.

Player of the Day--Kenisha Bell, Bloomington Kennedy, scored 29 points as the Eagles weathered the Storm of Chanhassan 79-66. Coach of the Day--Melissa Guebert, Eastview girls.

Thurs., Dec. 12--Eden Prairie girls 48 Lakeville North 41

This turned out to be the only high school game of the night, boys or girls, matched two rated teams. North led 22-16 at the half, but the Eagles came out and owned the second half. Lakeville's Polly Sjoberg led all scorers, however, with 17.

Player of the Day--Joey Witthus, Chanhassan boys, scored 36 points in a 75-66 win over Mound-Westonka. Coach of the Day--Chris Carr, Eden Prairie girls.

Wed., Dec. 11--Carleton men 76 Bethel 74

The Carls knock Bethel out of the MIAC lead. Each team now has 1 loss. Mitch Biewen scored 6 points inside of 2 minutes as Carleton wiped out a 4-point Bethel lead.

Player of the Day--Jordyn Sammons, Hamline women, 28 points in a losing cause, 85-58 to St. Thomas. Coach of the Day--Mark Hanson, Gustavus men, and John Herbrechtsmeyer, Bethel women, each of whom won to go 4-0 and take 1st place in the MIAC.

Tues., Dec. 10--Apple Valley boys 96 Hopkins 90

Tyus Jones scored 34 points to lead #1 Apple Valley to another tough win.

Player of the Day--But the PoD is Minnesota Gopher Austin Hollins who scored 20 points with 14 rebounds and 5 assists, to go over the 1,000 point mark for his career and lead the Gophers to a 75-59 win over South Dakota State. Coach of the Day--Rick Adelman of the Minnesota Timberwolves who won a surprisingly easy win at Detroit, 121-94.

Mon., Dec. 9--Mpls. Washburn girls 79 Tartan 71

Tia Elbert of Tartan outscored Chase Coley of Washburn 37-29 in the individual battle between 2 of the top 5 seniors in the state, though Coley added 21 boards and 9 blocks.

Player of the Day--Coley. Coach of the Day--Brian Harris of the Dover-Eyota girls who shocked #4-rated Plainview-Elgin-Millville 102-70 to go 5-0 themselves.

Sun., Dec. 8--Minnesota Gopher women 46 North Dakota 44

How much does Rachel Banham mean to the Gopher women? Well, play without her, even against one of the weakest opponents of the year and the Gophers are never more than a step away from disaster.

Player of the Day--And it would have been a disaster but for Gopher post Amanda Zahui who scored 25 with 10 rebounds and 4 blocks.

Sat., Dec. 7--Apple Valley boys 73 DeLaSalle 63

The game of the decade or of the century proved to be somewhat less than that as DeLaSalle stud Travis Reid was unable to play due to a stress fracture in a foot. And so Tyus Jones and Apple Valley won, well, not with ease exactly, but the outcome was not in doubt from late in the 1st half, which ended with the Eagles up 36-28.

Player of the Day--Tyus Jones with 29 points 11 assists and 7 rebounds. I'll say this, once Tyus Jones gets it in his mind to go to the rim from 20 or 30 or 40 feet, say, nobody gets there quicker. Coach of the Day--Greg Amundson, Centennial girls, who knocked off Minnetonka 61-49 at the Breakdown Tip-Off.

Game, Player, Coach of the Day November 29-December 6, 2013

Fri., Dec. 6--Hopkins girls 67 Bloomington Kennedy 57

Hopkins defeated Kennedy in a replay of last year's state title game, though with a twist. Hopkins' best player, T.T. Starks, was unavailable due to an injury, but Jasmyn Martin has transferred from Kennedy to Hopkins. Martin scored 12 points and Molly O'Toole 14. Kenisha Bell scored 16 for Kennedy.

Player of the Day--Bryanna Fernstrom, Chisago Lakes, 40 its and 17 rebounds as the Lakers defeated Duluth Denfeld 80-52. Coach of the Day--Brian Cosgriff, Hopkins girls

Thurs., Dec. 5--Minnesota Gopher women 74 Miami (Fla.) 67

The Gophers ran out to a 38-13 lead early and it's a good thing. Miami roared back with a 23-4 run including 13-0 to open the 2nd half. Four times in the 2nd half the Hurricanes got within 6 starting with 42-36 at 15:32. Three times Minnesota pushed the lead back up to 10. Rachel Banham made 9-of-10 FT and scored 12 of her 27 points in those four spurts. Micaella Riche scored 8 of her 15 points in those four spurts, while Shayne Mullaney and Sari Noga each had 3 assists.

Player of the Day--Rachel Banham, Minnesota Gopher women with 27 pts. Coach of the Day--Justin Morris, Lyle/Austin Pacelli girls, who defeated #6 rated Blooming Prairie by the unlikely score of 58-19.

Wed., Dec. 4--St. Thomas men 71 Augsburg 53

The Tommies have now made a mockery of the MIAC title race, hammering the previously unbeaten Auggies who were picked to finish #2 in the MIAC. It was 37-27 at the half.

Player of the Day--Marcus Alipate, St. Thomas 22 points. Coach of the Day--Sean Pinkerton, St. Kate's. The Kates shocked St. Ben's 70-69 for their 1st win over the Blazers since 2007. Trailing by as many as 12 in the 2nd half, the Kates took the lead for good with just 23 seconds remaining.

Tues., Dec. 3--Minnesota Gopher men 71 Florida State 61

The Gopher continue to play well under coach Richard Pitino.

Player of the Day--Andre Hollins and Austin Hollins, Minnesota Gopher men. Andre had 21 points, 4 assists, 2 steals. Austin 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Coach of the Day--Richard Pitino, Minnesota Gopher men.

Mon., Dec. 2--Park Center girls 67 St. Paul Como Park 27

What was expected to be a competitive game turned out not to be. The #2-rated 2014 Cayla McMorris scored 15 for the winners, and Park Center was able to hold the #2 2016, Andrayah Adams of Como, to 10 points.

Player of the Day--Kory Deadrick, Esko, scored 31 points but his #1-rated Eskomos were upset by Hermantown 77-70. Coach of the Day--Joe Schmitz, Hermantown.

Sun., Dec. 1--Oklahoma City Thunder 113 Minnesota Timberwolves 103

The T-wolves stayed with OKC for 3 periods but the Thunder dominated the 4th. If the Wolves played this well everyday, however, they would probably have 2 more wins on the season. As it is, they're now out of the playoffs by a substantial margin.

Player of the Day--Rachel Banham, Minnesota Gopher women, scored 24 points but could not prevent the Gophers from losing to Hawaii 77-71 in OT. She hit a shot with 4 seconds remaining to put Minnesota ahead, but a desperation shot tied it up at the buzzer. Banham was named tournament MVP. Coach of the Day--Pam Borton, Minnesota Gopher women.

Sat., Nov. 30--Minnesota State Mankato women 87 Concordia St. Paul 63

#17 Mankato def. #14 Concordia at Concordia, as they drained 9 3s in the 1st half alone. A 20-0 run put the Mavs up 30-17 at the 6 minute mark and Concordia was never able to challenge.

Player of the Day--Ali  Wilkinson, Minnesota State Mankato women 16 points, 3 assists, 3 steals. Coach of the Day--Emilee Thiesse, Minnesota State Mankato women.

Fri., Nov. 29--Minnesota Gopher women 63 Chatanooga 62 @Wahini Showdown. 

A win is a win, they say. The Gophers led by 14 in the 1st half, but neither team led by more than 4 in the 2nd. Chat missed a possible game-tying FT in the waning seconds.

Player of the Day--Rachel Banham, Minnesota Gopher women 36 points. Coach of the Day--Brian Cosgriff, Hopkins girls, who defeated Tartan 92-53 with two of their best players on the sidelines.

Game of the Day, December 2013

Sun., Dec. 1--Minnesota Timberwolves at Oklahoma City Thunder.

Mon., Dec. 2--Park Center girls at St. Paul Como Park.

Tues., Dec. 3--Florida State men at Minnesota Gophers.

Wed., Dec. 4--St. Thomas men at Augsburg. MIAC play gets underway.

Thurs., Dec. 5--Miami (Fla.) women at Minnesota Gophers. The ACC-Big 10 challenge.

Fri., Dec. 6--Hopkins girls at Bloomington Kennedy.

Sat., Dec. 7--Girls Breakdown Tip-Off at Hopkins Lindbergh. Everybody who is anybody is playing, including three boys games, including Apple Valley and Tyus Jones vs. DeLaSalle and Reid Travis. New Richland-Hartland--Ellendale-Geneva vs. Mountain Iron-Buhl is among the girls features.

Sun., Dec. 8--North Dakota women at Minnesota Gophers.

Mon., Dec. 9--Tartan girls at Mpls. Washburn. Tia Elbert vs. Chase Coley.

Tues., Dec. 10--Apple Valley boys at Hopkins.

Wed., Dec. 11--Philadephia 76ers at Minnesota Timberwolves.

Thurs., Dec. 12--Double your fun, or double trouble? Lakeville South boys at Lakeville North, and Lakeville South girls at Hopkins.

Fri., Dec. 13--Eastview girls at Hopkins. 

Sat., Dec. 14--Boys Breakdown Tip-Off at Minnetonka. Osseo vs. DeLaSalle would seem to be the feature game.

Sun., Dec. 15--Minnesota Timberwolves at Memphis Grizzlies.

Mon., Dec. 16--Duluth East girls at Edina.

Tues., Dec. 17--St. Paul Johnson boys at Eden Prairie.

Wed., Dec. 18--Portland Trailblazers at Minnesota Timberwolves.

Thurs., Dec. 19--Mahtomedi girls at Tartan.

Fri., Dec. 20--UCLA Bruins women at Minnesota Gophers.

Sat., Dec. 21--Concordia (St. Paul) men and women at Minnesota State Mankato.

Sun., Dec. 22--Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angeles Clippers.

Mon., Dec. 23--Barnum boys at Proctor. Only game in the state of Minnesota.

Thurs., Dec. 26--Dick's Sporting Good Holiday Classic (for girls), at Hopkins. Key match-up is Anoka vs. Forest Lake in a replay of last March's OT sectional final.

Fri., Dec. 27--Washington Wizards at Minnesota Timberwolves.

Sat., Dec. 28--Minnesota Timberwolves at Milwaukee Bucks.

Sun., Dec. 29--Oakland women at Minnesota  Gophers.

Mon., Dec. 30--Dallas Mavericks at Minnesota Timberwolves.

Tuesd., Dec. 31--DeLaSalle boys at Eden Prairie.

What About Those Timberwolves?

The Minnesota Timberwolves started out smartly, hammering Oklahoma City 100-81 in their second game and winning in New York 109-100 in their third. But the Knicks turned out to be a terrible team, 3-9 now, and things have pretty much gone downhill for Minnesota since. After starting out 3-0, 5-2 and 6-3, they've lost 4 of 6 to drop to 8-7.

If the playoffs started today, they'd be missing out. This is not how things were supposed to be.

The Timberwolves score enough to win. But they simply cannot stop good offensive teams, or mediocre offensive teams, for that matter. They gave up 117 points at Denver, 104 to Washington, 112 at Houston, all losses.

They're 2-2 at home against teams with winning records, 0-2 on the road against teams with winning records, and 1-2 against teams with losing records on the road. It is only a schedule that has given them 4 home games against teams with losing records already that has kept them over .500.

And they don't play a team with a losing record at home again until Dec. 11. In the meantime there are 4, count 'em, 4 road games against teams with winning records starting Tuesday night in Indiana.

The way they're playing, 2-5 in their next 7 seems like a best guess, meaning they'll be 10-12 and further out of the playoffs by Dec. 11.