Author: jktrpp

Our Gophers pulled out a 5-set nail-biter at Illinois, 25-15, 16-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-13. And to make it even harder on an old guy, they did it at almost the exact same time as my second favorite team, the Vikings, pulled out their own nail-biter. My Gopher V-Ballers don’t generally play at the same time as the Vikings, and I don’t remember them ever finishing a close one at the same time. The llini tied the volleyball match at 2 sets apiece at almost the exact same time that the Vikes tied the Commanders at 17-all, late in the 4^th quarter.

Illinois is an aggressive serving team, one capable of exploiting the Gophers weakness at serve-receive; and also an aggressive hitting team, who tallied 68 total kills vs 54 by the Gophs. So it was a tough, hard-fought win for a Gopher squad still not at full-strength. Wooker was still in sweats, pulling Wenaas to Left-side and Crowl in the line-up at Opposite. Crowl did not impress, and Julie Hanson replaced her to start Set 3, but Hanson didn’t impress either and Crowl came back to finish the match. And for the 2^nd match in a row, McCutcheon played Arica Davis as the “other” Middle opposite Booth (7 kills, 6 blocks, and a dominate presence throughout), while Gros and Husemann, both apparently healthy, remained on the bench. Davis delivered another decent performance, with 6 kills and 5 blocks, so I don’t know if Gros is slightly injured, or in the doghouse, or if Davis has played her way into the line-up.

Landfair, as usual, led the Gophers with 19 kills, including at least 4 from the back-row. But she remains (frustrating to me) reluctant to attack a poor set. And without Wooker in the line-up, it feels, especially in a close, back & forth match, that the Gophers can get over-dependent on Landfair.

Fortunately, Wenaas, more comfortable I think hitting Left-side, picked up the slack, with 14 kills, including 5 back-row kills. (I can’t recall Wenaas ever getting more than 1 back-row kill in a match.) Wenaas got 2 of her back-row kills early in Set 1, leading the Gophs to an easy win over the apparently over-matched Illini. The Gophs hit .417 in Set 1, and I was thinking straight sets.

But the Illini completely flipped the switch in Set 2, serving at Landfair and blocking ferociously to shut down the Gopher offense. Down 5-10, the Gophs got back to within 1 at 10-11, but Illinois cruised to an easy win.

Illinois stayed hot to start Set 3, winning the first 3 points. But the Gopher offense came back to life with a 17-9 run for a 17-12 lead, and coasted to the win, again hitting around .400.

Set 4 involved trading runs. The Gophs led 6-2; the Illini tied it at 8. The Gophs led 15-11; the Illini tied it at 15. The Gophs led 20-16; the Illini tied it at 20. Tied at 23-23, I felt relatively confident that the Gophers would get the next 2 points; but it was Illinois that got the next 2 points.

There were no runs in Set 5. It was tied 2-2, 5-5, 7-7, 9-9 & 11-11 — before the Gophers finally took over; Wenaas getting the kill at match-point.

With the win, the Gophers advance to 10 & 4 in the Big Ten, retaining solo possession of 4^th place; and 15-7 overall. The Gophers spent the week ranked #9 in the country, and with wins over Michigan and Illinois, we should rank no lower than #9 when the new rankings come out tomorrow. I said that the Gophers needed to win 6 of their last 8 to lock-in a top 16 seed; they won the first two, so now it’s only 4 of 6.

NEXT UP: Maryland (Fri, 6:30, BTN+) and Indiana (Sun, 2:00, BTN+)  at the Pav. I haven’t seen much of either team, but their records suggest that both are almost as good as Illinois. The Gophers need to win both matches. It would be nice to have Wooker back.  

R.A. WRITES: Thx for heads-up on HS tourney.  Agree Booth was great, still needs to connect better with Shaffmaster, but she will certainly be a star.  I noticed (and worried) about Wooker’s absence during warmups.  Crowl settled in well after first shot into parking lot (kidding), nerves I suspected.

The Wolverines put up minimal resistance when we swept them in Ann Arbor a month ago, but they played us tougher tonight at the Pav. We got the sweep, 25-21, 25-20, 25-22, but as the scores indicate, the Gophers had to work for each set.

In Set 1, the Gophs trailed 9-12 before a 10-2 run put them ahead 19-14, and they traded side-outs from there. In Set 2, the Gophs took a 13-7 lead before Michigan went on a 4-9 run to pull within 17-16 before the Gophers took charge. In Set 3, Michigan started strong, the Gophers pulled even at 7-7, then Michigan 8-11 and 11-14 before a 5-point run (with Kilkelly serving ) put the Gophs ahead for good.

The Gopher swept Michigan despite missing two players I think of as starters:

• Naya Gross was benched mid-match in last week’s loss at Wisconsin, and replaced by Erica Davis who played well, and the switch carried over into this evening’s match. Davis, who has an explosive vertical played okay (I had her with 3 kills and 1 block) but not great. I didn’t see what Gros did to get benched in Madison, and obviously I am not at practice, but Gros seems to me a stronger Middle than Davis.
• And Wooker spent tonight on the bench in sweats, obviously unavailable for some reason. She was replaced by Lauren Crowl (Crowl is an Opposite, so this switch moved Wenaas to Left-side). Crowl and Wenaas were also okay, I had them with 4 kills and 1 block each. When I saw Wooker in sweats/not warming up, I thought we might see Julie Hanson instead of Crowl, but it was Crowl. I wonder if Hanson is red-shirting. (Crowl already used her red-shirt.)

Fortunately, Landfair, Booth and McGraw were enough to beat Michigan with okay-matches from Davis, Crowl and Wenaas. Landfair, had 21 kills, Booth had 11 kills and 4 blocks, and McGraw had 14 digs, a couple of them spectacular. For the record, I wasn’t counting, but Michigan saved about a dozen balls that looked like certain points.

Not long ago, Booth’s kills were coming exclusively off quicks (and opponents over-passes), but Booth tallied 4 slides this evening. And yet even with 11 kills, the timing between Shaffmaster and Booth is still a work-in-progress; I couldn’t tell if the problem was with Shaffmaster, Booth, or both. If they ever get their timing down, Booth is going to put up some big numbers one day soon. And if Booth sticks around, Booth is going to become a major star.

And speaking of “sticking around,” a Reader told me this evening that we have already seen fallout from Coach McCutcheon decision to move on. I forget her name, but the Gophers had received a commitment from the #1 Libero in the Class of ’23 – but now she says she’s going to Nebraska! McGraw is out of eligibility at season’s end, and I don’t think we have another high-quality Libero on this roster. Certainly not Kilkelly, who I thought had a hard time receiving serve again tonight. I’m guessing our best option will be to scour “The Portal.”

NEXT UP: Ilinois at Ilinois, Sunday 1:00, BTN+. I caught a lot of Ilinois’ loss to Wisconsin on Wed. Ilinois is a strong blocking team (as are the Gophs, so that should be interesting), but they don’t hit as well as the Gophers. But they are a very aggressive serving team, and receiving serve can be our Achilles’ Heel.

(I don’t always post it, but from time to time various Readers have commented on the physical attractiveness of certain players; these readers might want to watch Illinois Opposite, #9, Kayla Burbage.)

H. S. TOURNEY TIME

The Minnesota Girls High School Volleyball Tournament, one of the most fun sporting events of the year is upon us – with 32 teams, 8 each in 4 classes (based on size) descending on the Xcel Center. One admission is good for all-day, two matches at a time, and you can watch both. (You might get a sore neck.)

Naturally, the overall quality of play is stronger in Class AAAA than among the smaller schools. But by the time teams reach the State Tournament, and especially in the semis and championship rounds, there is strong play in every division. Wayzata, featuring the Gopher-bound Swenson Twins, and winners over #3-rated Champlin Park in the Region Finals, are the favorites, but there will be plenty of exciting matches.

The schedule;
AAAA: Quarterfinals Wed afternoon, Semifinals Thursday morning, Championship Saturday evening

AAA : Quarterfinals Wed evening, Semifinals Friday morning, Championship Saturday evening

AA: Quarterfinals Thursday afternoon,  Semifinals Friday evening, Championship Saturday afternoon

A: Quarterfinals Thursday evening, Semifinals Friday afternoon, Championship Saturday afternoon

If you spot a geezer with a crutch, that’s me; stop by and say hello.

And we would have if we had played just a little better. We lost in 4 sets, 20-25, 20-25, 25-16, 23-25, a total score of 88-91, so pretty close. Then again, we weren’t looking for a moral victory.

As expected, our main weakness was serve-receive, especially in Sets 1 & 2. If you watch a match at Madison on BTN, you have to put up with Grace Loberg doing the color. I don’t want to be too hard on Loberg, she’s only 10 mths removed from playing for the Badgers, so naturally she’s a little biased. But she raves and raves about how smart the Badger hitters, mostly her last-year’s teammates, are.

In reality, the Gophers hitters are clearly better than the Badger hitters. Sara Franklin is terrific, but Landfair is better. Julia Orzol  is a good volleyball player, but she wouldn’t start for the Gophers. And last Spring, during the exposition season, I predicted that Minnesota’s 6-7 Freshman Middle Booth would dominate Wisconsin’s 6-9  Sophomore Middle Smrek – as she did tonight. Naya Gros started and played okay in Set 1, and was replaced by Arica Davis. And Davis dominated.

Our hitters weren’t effective enough in Sets 1 & 2 because our serve-receiving was pathetic, leaving Shaffmaster at most one option, leading consistently to double-blocks. In Set 3, and late in Set 4, the Gopher passing was significantly better, giving Shaffmaster at least two options, sometimes four, leading to no double-blocks, leading to significantly more effective hitting.

The most frequent culprit of the poor passing was Landfair. Opponents have been serving at Landfair all season. I thought she received quite well Wednesday night against Michigan State, but Wisconsin serves harder than MSU. I wish I could tell you what adjustments the Gophers made that led to better receiving in Set 3, but dependent on BTN’s camera work, I don’t know.

Even in the loss, Booth had a great match. I had her with 7 kills & 7 blocks.. But that’s just the blocks for points; Booth must have had 30 “partial-blocks,” repeatedly sending Badger attacks back into the badger’s court – where they were dug up. There were times that the Badger hitters looked liked they were hitting into an impenetrable wall like you might while warming up. The 5-11 Davis is not nearly the blocker Booth is, but she hit great, picking up 8 kills in 3 sets.

WHERE FROM HERE?

At 8 & 4, 3 losses more than the 3 teams tied for first, the Gophers are out of contention for the Big Ten Title. Wisconsin will probably be #2 when the ratings come out on Monday, and the Gophers losing to them 88-91 at Madison suggests that the Gophs could have a plausible chance at a Final Four IF they could get better at serve-receive. But while 5 of their next 8 matches, at home against Michigan, Maryland and Indiana, and on the road against Illinois & Maryland, should be winnable. The other 3, on the road at Penn State, Ohio State and Nebraska, are going to be tough. The Gophers will probably need to win 6 of the 8 to get a Top 16 seed, without which reaching the Final Four will be difficult.

Our Gophers took down overmatched Michigan State in straight sets, 25-20, 25-14, 25-11. I always say that volleyball is a game of momentum, and tonight was a good example. MSU fought hard through most of Set 1, never trailing until the set was tied at 17. But then the Gophers ran 5 to take a 24-19 lead before exchanging side-outs for the win. In Set 2, MSU took an early lead at 3-7, and then the roof fell in, the air went out of the balloon, the Twins went to the bullpen, whatever – and the Gophers won 20 of the next 23 points. Set 3 was tied 7-7, and then the Gophs scored the next 9 points.

Much of this with Landfair serving. Taylor doesn’t get a ton of aces, but I think her serving has become pretty strong. And though targeted all night long as usual, I had her with zero receiving errors – to go with 13 kills in less than 3 sets; Julie Hanson came in late and got a kill for match point. Another strong match for Landfair.

And Wenaas bounced back from her off-night (as a hitter) vs Purdue, with 6 kills and 4 blocks, and a 5-pt service run in Set 2, playing with the intensity of an athlete that didn’t want to get benched again. Lauren Crowl, who subbed in for Wenaas so effectively against Purdue, did not get into the match.

Carter Booth was back in the line-up (still no explanation of her absence from the last two matches), and she was productive in the middle, with 8 kills & 4 blocks. Naya Gros contributed 2 & 2, and mid-Set 3, with MSU showing minimal fight, Arica Davis came in for Gros and  added 2 & 1. Ellie Husemann, who early in the season looked like our #1 Middle, seems to have dropped to #4 on the depth chart. But, collectively, the Gopher Middles racked up 12 kills & 7 blocks in 3 sets – there were times last year we would have died for those numbers.

C.C.McGraw was great at usual, and I thought the whole team dug well, especially covering our hitters (i.e., digging up balls the Spartans blocked).

One reason the Spartans have lost 10 of their 11 Big Ten Matches is the physical stature of their line-up. Tonight’s starting 6 (excluding Libero & D.S.) average 6 ft & 1/3 inches – vs the Gopher starting 6 (with Booth back in the line-up) at 6 ft 3 1/3 inches. I’ve played enough volleyball to know that the taller team doesn’t always win, but the Spartans being 3 inches shorter at every position didn’t help their cause.

Our Gophers started the Big Ten season by losing 2 of their first 3 matches, but now they have won 7 of the last 8 to run their conference record to 8 & 3. With Nebraska suffering their first loss this evening at Wisconsin in straight sets, the Gophers are only 2 sets out of first place as they head into the second half of the Big Ten season, beginning with a rematch with the Badgers on Sat (5:30 on BTN). Madison is a tough place to win, as the Huskers found out this evening, but the Gophers swept the Badgers at the Pav back in Sept, and we’re playing better now. If we could beat the Badgers on their court, we would be right back in contention for the Big Ten title!

Many of us were devastated, ten days ago, by the announcement that Coach McCutcheon would be leaving his position as Head Coach of our Gophers. And also frustrated by the secrecy about the reasons and McCutcheon’s plans. But yesterday, we learned the answer to the second question: McCutcheon will be taking a newly created position, as the Gophers “Assistant Athletic Director / Sport Development Coach.” (Quite a mouthful.) Note that the word “sport” is singular. What sport? Duh, Men’s volleyball.*

More importantly, perhaps, what does this mean for our beloved Gopher Women’s Volleyball Team?

1. It eliminates the possibility that McCutcheon will be “taking the team with him,” entirely possible under current transfer rules, to UCLA or anywhere else.
2. It reduces the prospects of losing our best current players (to the transfer portal), and our near-future recruits. Losing players to the portal is a fact of life these days, and we might still lose some, but yesterday’s news make a mass exodus less likely.
3. The key will be to quickly lock in a new coach, one that will inspire confidence in both current and recruited players.
4. Along with the announcement of McCutcheon’s “promotion,” was the announcement of the “Search Committee” for the new coach:

Julie Manning, Deputy AD/SWA (Committee Chair)
Tricia Budke, Director of HR/Chief of Staff
JT Bruett, Director of Lindahl Academic Center
Stephanie Davis, Associate AD / Event Management
Susan Goldstein, Associate Professor Carlson School of Management
Katie Harms, Living Spaces Specialist, Podcaster & U of M Benefactor
Melissa Maines, General Manager of Women’s Basketball
Tim McCleary, Sr. Associate AD/Business Operations / CFO
Peyton Owens III, St. Associate AD/Leadership & Inclusion

5. No disrespect intended for anyone on this list, but I assume, and hope, that, given yesterday’s news, that McCutcheon has his successor picked out already.

6. McCutcheon is known as “a class act,” and I assume the successor he has in mind will be “a class act.”

7. Hopefully, McCutcheon will be able to convince current and recruited players to stay here.

Many of us were devastated, ten days ago, by the announcement that Coach McCutcheon would be leaving his position as Head Coach of our Gophers. And frustrated by the secrecy about the reasons and his plans. But yesterday, we learned the answer to the second question: McCutcheon will be taking a newly created position, as the Gophers “Assistant Athletic Director / Sport Development Coach.” (Quite a mouthful.) Note that the word “sport” is singular. What sport? Duh, Men’s volleyball.*

More importantly, perhaps, what does this mean for our beloved Gopher Women’s Volleyball Team?

1. It eliminates the possibility that McCutcheon will be “taking the team with him,” entirely possible under current transfer rules, to UCLA or anywhere else.
2. It reduces the prospects of losing our best current players (to the transfer portal), and our near-future recruits. Losing players to the portal is a fact of life these days, and we might still lose some, but yesterday’s news make a mass exodus less likely.
3. The key will be to quickly lock in a new coach that will inspire confidence in both current and recruited players.
4. Along with the announcement of McCutcheon’s “promotion,” was the announcement of the “Search Committee” for the new coach:

Julie Manning, Deputy AD/SWA (Committee Chair)
Tricia Budke, Director of HR/Chief of Staff
JT Bruett, Director of Lindahl Academic Center
Stephanie Davis, Associate AD / Event Management
Susan Goldstein, Associate Professor Carlson School of Management
Katie Harms, Living Spaces Specialist, Podcaster & U of M Benefactor
Melissa Maines, General Manager of Women’s Basketball
Tim McCleary, Sr. Associate AD/Business Operations / CFO
Peyton Owens III, St. Associate AD/Leadership & Inclusion

• No disrespect intended for anyone on this list, but I assume, and hope, that, given yesterday’s news, that McCutcheon has his successor picked out already.
• McCutcheon is known as “a class act,” and I assume the successor he has in mind will be “a class act.”
• Hopefully, McCutcheon will be able to convince current and recruited players to stay here.

Reader B.W. writes: “Are you using Wooker versus Wucherer for a reason?”

JOHN: Yes, don’t know how good a reason, but yes. McKenna and her sister Miranda, a grad-transfer serving as the Gophers #3 Setter, spell their last name “Wucherer,” but they pronounce it “Wooker.” And I find it easier to maintain consistency between my oral and written communications.”   

Reader R.M. writes: “Thanks John, I like reading your perspective on the games, and was especially looking forward to this one.

I was surprised that Hugh put in players that we seldom see in such a critical game. But Wenaas was definitely not herself last night (I hope she is back on her game soon, I love watching her) and Crowl held her own, as did Davis. Landfair, McGraw and Shaffmaster were amazing. It always amazes me when a player can bring their best to every game. We all have days when we don’t feel well, didn’t sleep (especially during midterms and finals), get sick, etc. It’s remarkable that they can be as consistent as they are. 

Hopefully last night’s game was a one-off for Wenaas and Husemann,  and it gave some other players good playing experience — we need them for backup. They did quite an impressive job, which bodes well for future matches!”

Reader R.A. writes: “McKenna Wooker, playing mostly front-row, got 16 kills and hit .452, and she attacks every swing when others are tentative.  I would like to see her play the full 6-rotations vs MSU to see what she does; I groan every time she is removed. Landfair may have gotten 21 kills, but this was playing 6 rotations, and her 21 kills were offset by 9 attack errors (she hit 194), 2 service errors and 2 receiving errors. Wooker still makes freshman mistakes, but the best corrective for that is playing time.  Crowl, Gros and Davis all were admirable when they took over for Wenaas, Husemann and the missing Booth.”

JOHN: I assume that the number 1 recruit in the country has skills that go beyond hitting, and that Freshman Wooker is a good passer and an at least adequate server. Earlier in the season, I too was lobbying for her to play 6 rotations.

Then there was the recent match where McGraw got six-packed and had to sit out, shifting Kilkelly to Libero, and leaving Wooker to play all 6 rotations for a set. It was ugly! This doesn’t change my mind about Wooker becoming an effective 6 rotation player – but she is a freshman; McCutcheon didn’t play Wenaas or Landfair 6 rotations when they were freshmen either.

Other readers besides R.A. have been critical of sophomore Landfair. Her hitting % isn’t great and she has (officially*) shanked 18 serve receives. But

• Landfair ranks 12^th nationally in kills per set, .07 behind Purdue’s Eva Hudson, and .08 ahead of Texas’s Logan Eggleston. Only one of the 10 hitters above these three, Southern Cal’s Skyler Fields, plays in a power conference. So it is fair to say that these 4, Fields, Hudson, Landfair and Eggleston have been the most productive four hitters in D1 volleyball.
• Statistically, Landfair‘s serve receiving is right there with Kilkelly, whose primary job is serve-receive. (Interestingly, McGraw, who is responsible for at least one-third of the court on every Gopher serve-receive, ranks 4^th on the team in serve-receive opportunities — because opposing teams are afraid of her. Increasingly. for good reason, opposing teams are also afraid of Wenaas. So everybody picks on Landfair and Kilkelly.)
• Another reason McCutcheon plays Landfair in the back row is that, so far this season, Landfair has been our only back-row hitting threat.

* The official Gopher stats only count serve-receive-errors on balls shanked out of bounds; they don’t track “bad” serve-receives. So Landfair and Kilkelly hurt us worse than the official stats reveal.

MCCUTCHEON RUMOR OVERHEARD AT THE PAV:

Rumor: McCutcheon will be taking a job with USA Volleyball focused on promoting Boys/Mens volleyball.

For the 2^nd straight match (since Coach McCutcheon dropped his bombshell, let’s hope these two things are unrelated) freshman Middle Carter Booth was a literal no-show, nowhere to be seen. Senior Middle Ellie Husemann, who had dropped from top Middle on the Gopher depth chart to third-best Middle stepped in – and was unproductive, with 1 kill and 1 block through the first 2 sets – a virtual no-show. And usually reliable Jenna Wenaas, who I have proclaimed the best all-around player on the team, was another virtual no-show – as a hitter, with 3 kills and 5 hitting errors through the first 2 sets. (Wenaas played well, as usual, in the back row.)

And yet our Gophers beat the Boilermakers in 4 sets, 27-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-19.

A late comeback in Set 1 the key to the match. Infuriatingly, the Gophs trailed by 4 to 7 points all the way through Sets 1 and 2, before mounting furious late rallies. In Set 1, we trailed by 7 mid-set, by 17-22 and 21-24 – and I had visions of a repeat Purdue sweep. But 2 Landfair kills, a block by Naya Gros and 3 Boilermaker errors allowed the Gophs to win the first set. In Set 2, we trailed 5-10, 14-19, and 15-22 before another furious rally cut the lead to 23-24. Too little, too late, but it seemed to provide momentum into Set 3.

Husemann and Wenaas had both contributed to the Gophs falling behind in Sets 1 & 2. Generally, during his tenure as Gopher Coach, McCutcheon has show great loyalty to his first string players. But late in Set 2, he subbed Arcia Davis in for Husemann, and Lauren Crowl in for Wenaas at Opposite. It wasn’t obvious to me that Davis or Crowl were responsible for the late rally – but McCutcheon stuck with each in Set 3.

In Set 3, it was the Gophers who took early leads, by as much as 9 points, and at 18-11 – before the Boilermakers stormed back to within 23-21. But the Gophs held on.  Set 4 was tight most of the way, with the Gophs leading 10-8 and 15-14. But then the Gophs won 10 of the next 15 points.

And Davis and Crowl contributed significantly. Crowl ended up with 7 kills and 2 blocks, and Davis had 3 kills and 3 blocks, in both cases exceeding their previous season totals in just 2 sets. Another factor that made a big difference, at least in my mind, was that Shaffmaster started attacking. I have previously stated my goal of having her attack 2 balls per set, but she had zero attacks during Sets 1 & 2. Then she started swinging and got 3 kills on 5 swings over Sets 3 & 4. The 7 kills from Crowl, 3 from Davis and 3 from Shaffmaster, plus 8 from Naya Gros (spread across 4 sets) were enough to take the weight off of our left-side hitters Landfair and Wooker, who had 21 & 16, respectively.

In some sense, the match was a contest between Landfair and Purdue’s outstanding freshman Eva Hudson. Their personal kill contest see-sawed back and forth all night, ending up tied at 21 (both had several back-row kills as part of their totals). No Boilermaker got close to Wooker’s 16.

The natural favorite shot of most left-side hitters is the long-diagonal, but the Boilermakers were taking that away from Landfair most of the night. So Landfair switched to “sharp cuts” (balls hitting just inside the far sideline around the 10 ft line); she must have had 5 or 6 of those, and “line-shot” (balls hit straight down the near sideline) she must have had 3 or 4 of those.

No dinks for Landfair tonight – or any other Gopher. We tried dinks often, but I don’t think we scored on any. Meanwhile (I wasn’t counting them), it felt like the Boilermakers scored at least a dozen dinks against the Gophs. (An all-too familiar story.) But the Gophs outhit the Boilermakers overall, .263 to .160. The blocking ended up even, at 12 a piece. The Boilermakers had a slight advantage in serving, but neither aces or missed serves played a big factor. As expected, the Boilermakers targeted Landfair every chance they had, a total of 31 times. And Kilkelly second most at 20 times. No one who has read the scouting report wants to serve at McGraw or Wenaas if they can help it.

With the win, the Gophers, now 7 & 3 in the BigTen, push past the Boilermakers, now 6 & 4 into 4^th place. Someone on BTN recently sized up the BigTen as the Big Three (Nebraska at 10 & 0, Ohio State at 9 & 1, Wisconsin at 8 & 1) and 8 other teams fighting for NCAA bids. But if you imagine for a moment that it’s really the Big Four, including the Gophers, and look at the Big Four’s records against each other, the Gophers are 1 & 1, with a win over Wisconsin and a loss to Ohio State, the Buckeyes are also 1 & 1, with a win over Minnesota and a loss to Nebraska, and the Badgers are 0 & 1, the loss to the Gophs. The Huskers are 1 & 0, having beaten the Buckeyes –at Lincoln. But the big girls haven’t played each other much.

Unfortunately, the Gophers shot themselves in the foot by losing to Northwestern – at the Pav, no less! (I still haven’t figured out how that happened.) We finish the season with a grueling, back-to-back road-trip to Columbus and Lincoln. (Did the schedule-makers have a grudge against our Gophers?) It would be fun to fantasize about the Gophers finishing strong, but unless the Husker lose some matches between now and then, Nebraska could clinch the title before we get to Lincoln.

NEXT UP  for the Gophers: Michigan State (not very good) at the Pav on Wed (7:00, BTN+), then at Madison on Saturday. Rumor is, there might be some Halloween parties on State Street.

Two readers were quick to respond to recent posts; neither to my brilliant analysis of the Iowa match, but to Maureen’s speculation that McCutcheon or an immediate family member might have a serious health problem.

G.H. writes: “Let’s hope Maureen is wrong about a serious medical problem.  He is good guy and I’d hate to see that. BTW, the recent Strib article reminds us that Mike Hebert built a strong program, with almost as much success as Hugh, until he got Parkinson’s, which he eventually died from.” 

R.A. writes: “After your comment about health, I now HOPE Coach is going to UCLA, your reasonable speculation.  If he goes anywhere, I expect him to take McKenna Wooker, Carter Booth, maybe Julia Hanson, and Taylor Landfair if she becomes less tentative by season-end (she goes in fits and starts), depending on their willingness to transfer. But it’s LA and UCLA, so who wouldn’t. Also, all the Seliger sisters, in succession.  That would give him next season to coach them to be ready for Big10 by 2024. They played a fairly complete match vs. Iowa tonight.”

JOHN: There is little doubt that G.H. and R.A. are better human beings than I. In my view, McCutcheon taking the same job at UCLA or somewhere like that and stripping us of our best players would be the 3^rd worst explanation; the serious health problem would be the 2nd worst explanation, and becoming the Badgers Coach would be the worst thing possible.