Jon Laging, Sports Talk

Pam Borton’s Minnesota basketball women have lost most of their members either through defections or graduation.

I’ve never seen such a quick turnaround in a college program. It compares with Florida’s sell-off after a World Series win a few years ago. That, at least, was done for money which was not the case with our non-professional Gophers.

It looks like some of the players feel, and at least one Dad is saying, it’s because Coach Borton is harsh and critical and doesn’t encourage her athletes. Outside observers are wondering about her substitution pattern. It appears that unless players toe the Borton line 100 percent their playing time will suffer. Many of us less than full time observers didn’t see this coming and were shocked at the disintegration of the team.

We might offer this explanation of the Borton meltdown: First of all there is a tremendous amount of pressure on a big time coach. They have to drive 14 egos toward the same goal. In addition they have to please the fans, alumni, administration and the media, not to even mention the players and their relatives. All of whom are willing to second guess them. This doesn’t even count the pressure they put on themselves.

They are rewarded handsomely, but it is certainly understandable why some coaches stick with high schools or teams such as Hamline or St. Olaf in the small college world.

It could be that Pam Borton will come out of this wiser, but player poorer. She will undoubtedly soften her Bobby Knight approach to the game to a softer and gentler method of reaching her athletes. It’s not hard to understand that as the pressure mounts a coach can blow his or her top, particularly after a player makes the same mistake time after time. However, it does appear that coach Borton needs to move toward the Dan Monson school of coaching. The pat on the back approach. Perhaps if each coach would move toward the other’s coaching style, the results would benefit both.

Speaking of basketball, the Minnesota Timberwolves are continuing their downward spiral and even the occasional outbursts of Garnett being Garnett, 20 rebounds, 25 points don’t seem to be able to stop the plunge of the team. Coach Casey, under orders, is not playing Garnett or Davis to any degree in order to build toward the future. That would be understandable if he had some building blocks to work with. He doesn’t. It’s beginning to look like the Wolves want to lose in order to qualify for the draft lottery.

The McHale trade has given the team what many thought it would. Not very much. Ricky Davis, McHale’s favorite, has turned out to be a second rate Latrell Sprewell, a good slasher to the basket, fair shot and a bad attitude. Sprewell when playing put the team first, but I haven’t seen this from Davis. Marcus Banks has been unable to grasp the rudiments of being a point guard. You would think that after three years the light would come on. Center Mark Blount continues to play like a tall substitute shooting guard. It’s time something is done. Even patient Kevin Garnett has given up and implied that he might wish to leave the team. Many people understand this and would not be averse to his being given a chance at the title with another team.

Garnett deserves more than to be a footnote alongside Ernie Banks of the Cubs.