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11/15/2002
Wrestling: Going for Three While it is clear that Minnesota has become the top college wrestling program in the nation, head coach J Robinson’s quest to supplant Iowa as a wrestling dynasty will reach a critical point this season. The two-time defending NCAA champions have several top performers back but have several question marks as well. "The key for us this year is to develop our four open weight classes," Robinson says. "When we won the national title the first time [in 2000], the key was not getting all 10 guys to be all-Americans, it was getting our three freshmen to be all-Americans. This year, it won’t be our six good starters, it will be the other four weight classes." The Gophers have more than good starters at six spots. They return two NCAA champions and three other all-Americans. Seniors Jared Lawrence, a 149-pounder from Sandpoint, Idaho, and Luke Becker, 157 pounds, from Cambridge, Minnesota, are the defending champions. "I don’t want to call them defending champions," Robinson says. "You don’t get anything this year for having won it last year. You have to fear the guys below you trying to knock you off. You have to do more than you think you need to do to make sure they don’t." Senior Ryan Lewis of Vernal, Utah, was second at 133 after losing a controversial title match and is hungrier than ever, Robinson says. Junior 184-pounder Damion Hahn of Lakewood, New Jersey, and junior heavyweight Garrett Lowney of Freedom, Wisconsin, were each fifth in the NCAA tournament last year. At 165, last year’s starter, sophomore Nate Baker of Lakefield, Minnesota, will be challenged by Jacob Volkmann, a junior from Henning, Minnesota, who started at 174. "Whoever takes that spot is going to be solid," Robinson says. The remaining four classes feature transfers, freshmen, and experienced backups competing for starting roles. "There are promising guys at every spot, but it’s hard to tell without seeing them in competition," Robinson says. In September, he and his coaches were working contenders hard to see who would emerge. "I like the saying ‘the more you hammer steel the harder it gets.’ We need guys to set their sights at being an all-American. If they shoot for that level, making the team takes care of itself. "I’m excited about this year. This is going to be challenging for us as coaches," Robinson continues. "We have a big recruiting year set up for next year, so this is a very important season for us to keep ourselves on top." Men’s Hockey: Going for
It took 23 years, but the 2002 Gopher men’s hockey team finally won the big one: the NCAA title, its fourth in team history. Although head coach Don Lucia had been at Minnesota only three years, he’d already felt the strain of the jinx-like drought. The team made 18 trips to the NCAA tournament, including eight times in the Frozen Four, before the Gophers won again. "It was a process, that’s for sure," Lucia says of a team whose seniors experienced a losing season as freshmen, only the program’s second losing season in 25 years. "This team went from a tough couple of years to a national championship. They had great character, great leaders, [and] great team camaraderie, as good as I’ve ever seen," he continues. "Everybody got along and everybody shared in the glory. Now the guys on this team will always be linked together as national champions." But three top scorers are gone, along with their four-year starting goalie. Still, Lucia has high expectations. "I think we’ll be a team that gets better as the year goes along. At the end of the year we’ll be a factor," he predicts. "We only have two seniors, so how quickly the young guys fit in to the team and adapt to this level of play will have a lot to do with how soon we start making our mark." Fellow coaches and the media don’t think it will take the Gophers long to hit their stride. The Gophers were ranked first in preseason national polls, although second to Denver in the conference poll. Once again, almost the entire team is from Minnesota. In goal, the Gophers have two sophomores who showed great potential last year. Travis Weber of Hibbing went 6–2, including wins over North Dakota and Denver. Justin Johnson of Ham Lake was 3–0, including a shutout. "We have a large number of question marks, starting with who is going to be our number-one goaltender," Lucia says. "We’ll see if one of them seizes it or if we do it by committee." Despite losing defender and college player of the year Jordan Leopold, Lucia says, "I think our corps of defenders is very strong." Junior Paul Martin of Elk River, a second-team all-WCHA selection from Elk River, likely will step up to the first unit with hard-nosed senior Matt DeMarchi from Bemidji. WCHA all-rookie team defender Keith Ballard of Baudette, and junior Joey Martin of Rogers, the biggest player on the team, provide experienced depth. The Gophers "will have to be more of a team offensively," Lucia says. "We’ll have different guys score every night." Returners include two juniors who were on the 2000–01 all-conference freshman
Lucia thinks Denver is one of the best teams in the WCHA and the nation this year, while Colorado College, North Dakota, and St. Cloud State are right behind. In addition, teams like Minnesota-Duluth and Anchorage that were at the bottom of the league should be significantly better. "I’ve always said that if we can be one of the better teams in this league, we’ll be one of the better teams in the country and a factor at the end of the year," Lucia says. Matt DeMarchi is counting on it. "Everybody wants to win it again. It’s a great feeling," he says. "We have great recruits coming in and everyone has worked really hard in the weight room this summer. Everything that happened was so cool, why wouldn’t you want to do it again?" Women’s Basketball: New Coach, Hungry Team Pam Borton, 37, was named Gopher women’s basketball coach on May 24. She had been an assistant for five years at Boston College and head coach at Vermont for five years before that. Borton took the job despite uncertainties that dissuaded two other candidates: the combining of men’s and women’s athletic departments and an NCAA investigation into violations committed more than two years earlier. But Borton takes over a team that last year had a 22–8 record, earned a top-20 ranking, reached the second round of the NCAA tournament, and drew huge crowds. And the Gophers return all five starters and their two top-scoring reserves from last year’s squad. Junior guard Lindsey Whalen of Hutchinson, Minnesota, was the 2002 Big Ten Player of the Year and sophomore center Janelle McCarville of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, was the 2002 Big Ten Freshman of the Year. In addition, sophomore forward Tanisha Gilbert of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, a high school all-American, is expected to return from injury and academic problems, and two highly regarded freshmen join the squad. In a wide-ranging discussion in September, Borton touched on several subjects. On the NCAA sanctions (a week delay in starting practice this year, loss of a scholarship for two years, and a reduction of campus recruiting visits for two years) for violations under a previous coach: "The
"We also have our on-campus visits down to seven [from the usual 12]. That forces us to recruit more aggressively and try to get verbal commitments early on. It is important for us to get at least two verbal commitments before September." (Borton has received verbal commitments for 2003–04 from the three players regarded as the top Minnesota high school seniors.) On her on-court philosophy: "Teaching these kids to play defense is going back to square one for some of them. They didn’t play a lot of man-to-man defense last year, and that is our system. I don’t want to be giving up 74 points a game like they did last year. I love to score points, but you can only make it so far as a team if you are giving up 74 points a game. To get farther than the first couple of rounds in the NCAA tournament, you have to play good team defense. Our kids want to run, they want to play an up-tempo style, but what creates that is an aggressive defense, getting steals and tips. I think they’ll really enjoy playing this type of defense. "[On offense] I like to play an up-tempo style, so that’s going to be our first option. But you also have to be able to execute in the half-court and we are going to be very team-oriented. Whalen is Whalen and she’s going to get her shots and create her shots. We’ll create some things inside for Janelle with some screens. I think we can have a real well-balanced team this year. I’ve got shooters, I’ve got kids who can penetrate, kids who can create, great post players who can score. Coming into a program brand new you don’t expect to have this kind of talent." On her expectations for the season: "I expect us to win a Big Ten championship this year. We’re not going into this expecting anything less. The Big Ten is very balanced this year, there isn’t one team that stands above the others and I know our kids really want it. "A lot of people have said, ‘Pam, you could win fewer games this year and have a better season.’ Some teams came in here last year thinking this was an easy win. This year that isn’t going to happen; we’ll have a bull’s-eye on the back of our head. We could win fewer games but have a better season and get farther in the NCAA tournament. "I really think we will have a better season.
"The biggest thing we need is for everybody to buy into the system this year. I think once they learn this defense it’s going to be amazing to watch them play. It will be, ‘My gosh, they’re still scoring 75 points a game and they are holding other teams to 60.’" Men’s Basketball: Stronger and Deeper The upward trend should continue this season for the Gopher men’s basketball team. Steady progress has marked the three years under coach Dan Monson, with last year’s squad seemingly on the verge of breaking through. This season the team gets stronger and deeper, led by four Minnesotans in the front court. Big Ten Freshman of the Year Rick Rickert of Duluth returns for his second season at forward, as does forward-center Jerry Holman of St. Paul, a junior college transfer in his final year. Both worked hard in the weight room this summer. Junior Michael Bauer, a strong-shooting small forward from Hastings, is enjoying his longest injury-free stretch. Sophomore center Jeff Hagen of Minnetonka spent a redshirt year improving his game and adding muscle, and is expected to surprise. The back court will be anchored by senior Kevin Burleson of Seattle, a part-time starter for three years. Several others provide depth and options at guard. "We have more guys [with experience] at the college level," says Monson, whose challenge will be to make the parts into a team. "How well they do," says Monson, "will be a question of how quickly we can all mesh together." Time Out with Rick Rickert Minnesota caught up with sophomore forward Rick Rickert of Duluth, last year’s Big Ten Freshman of the Year, for a few minutes between workouts in late September. Q: Last year, as a true freshman, did things go as well as you’d hoped on the court? A: For me personally, I attained my goal of being [Big Ten] freshman of the year, but as for the team goals I had in my mind, we didn’t reach those goals [getting to the NCAA tournament]. But we’ll justify that this year. Q: What about off the court? A: It’s not as hard as you’d think. You just have to use time management. Don’t miss any classes, don’t miss any meetings, know where you are supposed to be and what you need to be doing and you’ll be fine. Q: What did you do this summer to prepare? A: I lifted a lot in the weight room [he’s added 15 pounds or more this year]. I went
Q: You always look like you are having fun on the court. A: Yeah, but don’t let the face fool you. The intensity is still there. You have to go out there with more of a mindset than a game face. Q: What do you think of the team this year? A: I think we are going to be great. We’re looking to go to the NCAA tournament and we’re looking to win the Big Ten. That’s square one. We’re looking to really play well together and have some fun. Women’s Hockey Last year the Gopher women’s hockey team had few expectations. But work ethic, chemistry, and a dose of fun combined to help the Gophers win both the WCHA regular season and playoff titles and take third in the NCAA tournament. This year, the expectations are markedly different. "Our players are very aware of the fact that we have a lot of talent this year," says head coach Laura Halldorson. "If we can combine those things that we were good at last year with our added talent, we have potential to do great things this season." The Gophers feature an all-star defensive first team from Roseville, Minnesota: junior Ronda Curtain, the 2002 WCHA Player of the Year and a first-team all-American, and senior Winny Brodt, the 2000 WCHA Defensive Player of the Year, who returns after stints with U.S. national teams. They’ll be joined by four other returning letter winners and four top Minnesota freshmen including Ashley Albrecht of South St. Paul, the 2002 Ms. Hockey Minnesota. At forward, the Gophers return junior LaToya Clarke of Pickering, Ontario, a 2001 all-conference honoree and three other top scorers. They will be joined by two of the most talented players in the nation: U.S. Olympians Natalie Darwitz of Eagan, Minnesota, and Krissy Wendell of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. In goal, sophomores Jody Horak of Blaine, Minnesota, and Brenda Reinen of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, had stellar freshman campaigns and both will see time in the net. Finally, the Gophers have a new home in Ridder Arena, the only facility built for women’s hockey at a U.S. college. The 3,400-capacity arena will give fans a better experience and enable the women’s program to build their own traditions there. Chris Coughlan-Smith (B.A. ’86) is senior editor of Minnesota. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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