You know that song “All I do is Win” by DJ Khaled?
It starts with these lyrics: “All I do is win, win, win no matter what.”
The Timberwolves, Wild and Gopher men’s basketball team must be collaborating a remix of the song called “All we do is Lose.” The three teams, all in action Tuesday night, have combined to lose a mind-numbing (as if the cold wasn’t enough) 24 games in a row.
Sid Hartman called it the worst stretch he’s seen in 70 years at the Star Tribune. Hartman, to be fair, also included the Gopher men’s hockey team, which plummeted in the national polls after being swept at Michigan.
Timberwolves: 15 straight losses
The streak started Dec. 12 with a 111-92 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder and it’s gained momentum with 14 additional losses. A loss Tuesday night at Indiana would tie the second longest losing streak in franchise history. According to the Wolves’ media guide, they also lost 16 straight in 1992, 1994 and 2010. The franchise record is 18 straight, which occurred when they lost their final 15 games of the 2010-11 season and their first three games of the 2011-12 season.
Upcoming schedule: at Phoenix, at Denver, at Charlotte
Wild: 5 straight losses
The streak started Jan. 3 with a 7-1 blowout loss in Dallas. The five straight defeats are the peak, thus far anyway, of a stretch of losing that has seen the Wild drop 11 of its past 13 games.
The Wild is now eight points out of the Western Conference playoff race as they ride a five-game skid into Tuesday’s meeting with the Penguins in the Steel City. Michael Rand notes that if they don’t beat the Penguins, they’ll have a pretty good shot to pick up a W Thursday against the lowly Buffalo Sabres.
But the season isn’t buried six-feet under just yet. Check out the back-and-forth Chad Graff of the Pioneer Press and Wild TV voice Anthony LaPanta had on Twitter on Monday.
The current pace for the eighth seed in the West is 94 points. To get there, the #MNWild would have to go 25-13-3 the rest of the way.
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) January 12, 2015
Consider this: the record you state represents 53pts. Last year went 23-10-7 after NYE. 53 pts in 1 fewer game. @ChadGraff @realtalkwando
— Anthony LaPanta (@AnthonyLaPanta) January 12, 2015
Upcoming schedule: at Buffalo, vs. Arizona, vs. Columbus
Gophers: 4 straight losses
Year two under head coach Richard Pitino has not gone well. The Gophers have dropped four straight to start the Big Ten season. History suggests starting 0-4 in the conference is very bad for Minnesota’s NCAA Tournament hopes.
The #Gophers have never made the NCAA Tournament when starting 0-4 in the Big Ten (started 0-4 nine times since tourney started in 1939).
— Tyler Mason (@tylermason21) January 12, 2015
Obviously, Tuesday’s home game against the Iowa Hawkeyes has “desperate for a win” written all over it. The good news is that Minnesota, according to its athletics department, has won five of six against Iowa at “The Barn.”
Pitino indicated on Monday that there could be some changes to the starting lineup. Read about that right here.
Upcoming schedule: vs. Rutgers, at Nebraska, vs. Illinois
