Gophers Basketball – Page 101 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Stakes Jump for Bradford, Vikings

Posted on September 17, 2017September 17, 2017 by David Shama

Less than a week after an impressive opening game win over the Saints, the Vikings embarrassed themselves today in a penalty-infested 26-9 loss to the Steelers. The outlook for a big season also seems more in doubt then it was last Monday night.

Quarterback Sam Bradford, named NFC Offensive Player of the Week after his performance against the Saints, never saw the field. Bradford wasn’t allowed to play because of a sore left knee—with the Vikings hoping there won’t be a long-term problem. “He couldn’t play; there really was no (other) decision,” head coach Mike Zimmer said on the Vikings Radio Network after the game.

A concern is that Bradford has injured the knee in the past including 2014 when he had ACL surgery. The Vikings aren’t likely to make the playoffs without Bradford, who perhaps will play as soon as next Sunday against the Bucs, one of the NFC’s best teams. The 29-year-old could be in line for a big contract with the Vikings after this season but that won’t happen if he misses a lot of games and under performs.

The Vikings are among the NFC preseason favorites to make the playoffs. With the club not having won a playoff game since 2010—and an extraordinary opportunity waiting if the Vikings could play in the 2018 Minneapolis Super Bowl—there are high expectations for this team. That pressure extends to longtime general manager Rick Spielman and Zimmer who is in his fourth season.

Today in Pittsburgh, Minnesota players made too many mistakes that don’t characterize playoff teams. Case Keenum, filling in for Bradford, was sometimes slow in his progressions and inaccurate with throws. While not having Bradford’s skill as a passer, he was the victim of an offensive line that often didn’t protect him. In addition, multiple linemen had penalties during the game.

The Steelers scored a touchdown in the first quarter after an off-side penalty on defensive end Brian Robison, and a pass interference call on Xavier Rhodes kept a drive alive. In the second quarter a pass interference call on Trae Waynes gave Pittsburgh a first down near the goal line, setting up a second touchdown.

Early in the third quarter it looked like the Vikings, trailing 14-3, had avoided a Steeler field goal when Pittsburgh’s Chris Boswell missed on a long attempt. A penalty on the Vikings, though, moved the ball close to the goalposts and Boswell made the score 17-3.

Other penalties also factored in the game’s outcome. For the day the Vikings were penalized 11 times for 131 yards.

Kicker Kai Forbath missed an extra point in the game, his second this season for the 1-1 Vikings. “It’s disheartening,” Zimmer said on the radio. “You go down and score, and then you miss an extra point and it kind of deflates you a little bit.”

Worth Noting

A Vikings spokesman said via email the NFL has not yet determined how many seats will be sold for Super Bowl LII in U.S. Bank Stadium, nor has the league determined the allotment for each NFL team. If the Vikings are one of the teams in the Super Bowl, the organization can offer a ticket lottery to season ticket holders. The two participating teams receive more tickets than the other 30 NFL franchises.

Gophers basketball sophomore forward Eric Curry will have surgery on his left knee this week. Late last month the key reserve was playing in a pickup game when the Gophers reported he tore his anterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament and meniscus. Curry will miss the upcoming season.

Coach Richard Pitino and his team begin regular practices September 29.

P.J. Fleck might be the most media-prominent Gophers football coach ever. Fox 9 airs the P.J. Fleck show Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. and the Gopher pregame program at 8:30 a.m. Saturdays. Fleck’s KFAN Radio show is at 11:30 a.m. Thursdays and he is also a regular on WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” program Sundays.

Casey O’Brien, son of former Gophers defensive backfield coach Dan O’Brien, is a freshman walk-on holder for Minnesota. When Gopher senior quarterback Conor Rhoda was playing at Cretin-Derham Hall, Casey was the football team’s ball boy. Casey, who has beaten cancer twice in his teen years, was a holder and golfer at Cretin-Derham Hall.

Twins president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners attendance could exceed 37,000 for Saturday’s 1 p.m. first-ever football game at Target Field between host St. Thomas and traditional rival Saint John’s. The Twins won’t be back in town until September 29 and St. Peter is confident there will be no negative impact on the grass field. The game will set a national record for Division III attendance.

Target Field will also be the site of the August 31, 2019 game between host North Dakota State and Butler. St. Peter said there have been preliminary discussions about other football games at Target Field. He promised, though, games will never be played on a conflicting date with the Gophers, or involve FBS teams.

“That was a commitment I made to (former athletic director) Norwood Teague and now to (present AD) Mark Coyle and P.J. Fleck,” St. Peter said. (The Gophers have a bye on their schedule this Saturday and don’t play on August 31, 2019).

The Twins hit four home runs today, with Eddie Rosario hitting two, and Byron Buxton and Joe Mauer also homering, including his first grand slam since 2012 in a 13-7 win over the Blue Jays. Mauer is hitting .400 since August 10, the second best average in Major League Baseball.

The Twins’ Brian Dozier, with 46 home runs, has homered more times than any player in Major League Baseball since the 2016 All-Star Break.

Popular Shakopee-based emcee and speaker Dick Jonckowski is booking events for fall and winter (952-261-3013). As usual, Jonckowski emceed last Thursday’s CORES program in Bloomington where speaker Matt Birk told stories about his football career and drew an audience of 175.

Jonckowski is a fan of the Lynx, and asked what Lindsay Whalen and former Timberwolf Ricky Rubio have in common? Both are point guards with pro career highs in points of 33 each.

Birk, the former Viking center and Cretin-Derham Hall alum, is living in the Twin Cities area and works as a youth football consultant for the NFL. He has eight children including five sons he encourages to play football if they are interested.

Birk and others including former Minnesota prep coach Jim Dotseth believe fear about concussions from playing football is overhyped. They cite statistics showing other sports, starting with soccer, cause more concussions. “I don’t think I ever had a kid with a concussion,” Dotseth said about his 30 years as a head coach.

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Basketball Ticket Sales Increase at U

Posted on August 13, 2017August 13, 2017 by David Shama

The University of Minnesota Athletic Department has sold almost 500 more public season tickets for men’s basketball than in early August of 2016. Totals in several public season tickets categories as of August 3 of this year showed increases over 2016, according to figures provided by the department to Sports Headliners.

The Gophers reported 251 new public season accounts and 594 new tickets. Those totals on August 3, 2016 were 63 new accounts and 102 tickets.

The public season tickets total provided was 6,848, compared to 6,141 last year. (No student season tickets figures are published here because the sales campaign doesn’t start until September.)

Although the athletic department is still selling season tickets for the home 2017-2018 schedule, the renewal deadline for past ticket holders was May 31. The department reported 97.8 percent of tickets were renewed, compared with 82.7 percent a year ago.

The “box office” trend isn’t surprising given the unexpected success of last season’s 11-7 Big Ten team and national media optimism about the 2017-2018 Gophers who Sportingnews.com ranked No. 10 in the country. The public season ticket totals will increase between now and the team’s first games in November, and student sales seem likely to surpass those for 2016-2017.

That’s good news for an athletic department which has seen a decline in public season tickets since 2000. There has also been a drop off in individual game tickets sold. In recent seasons sellout crowds have been the exception at historic 14,625 seat Williams Arena.

Minnesota ranked 11th in average attendance last season in the 14-member Big Ten Conference. The Gophers averaged 10,308 fans per game and ranked No. 37 in the nation. By comparison, Wisconsin led the Big Ten with a per game average of 17,286 and ranked sixth nationally.

For years the Gophers basketball product has often been disappointing fans including the 2-16 Big Ten record in 2015-2016. Last season’s 11-7 record was just the third time since 2000 that Minnesota has finished with a winning record in league games.

Coach Richard Pitino, who will begin his fifth season at Minnesota in the fall, has the program trending upward now with all but one of his key players returning for next season. He also has promising newcomers on the 2017-2018 roster led by flashy New York City point guard Isaiah Washington. There appears to be more good news coming with what might be a national top 10 recruiting class in 2018.

A run next winter at a Big Ten title and a couple of wins in the NCAA Tournament could really make ticket numbers jump in the next 12 months. That would be a welcome addition for a season ticket base whose core features aging customers who have been supporting the program for a long time.

Worth Noting

One player who likely won’t be in Pitino’s 2018 class is Tre Jones. The Apple Valley High School senior point guard will announce his college choice later today and basketball recruiting authorities will be stunned if he doesn’t select Duke. (Every predictor on 247Sports, for example, says Duke).

The Blue Devils have been on his short list and the successful experience of older brother Tyus Jones at Duke seems like an important factor. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski might be the best basketball coach on any level in the world and has produced a long list of pros.

The Saint John’s-St. Thomas football game at Target Field on September 23 is one of the college games for the 2017 season featured in the current issue of Sports Illustrated. S.I. said: “This one promises to be a thrill for those seeking the purity of ye-olde game: no national scholarships, no national-TV cameras, no football-player only dorms, no leaving early for the draft. It’s just two teams filled with mostly local kids pounding away for bragging rights.”

That was former Timberwolves broadcaster Kevin Harlan and ex-Vikings quarterback Rich Gannon working Thursday night’s Packers-Eagles game from Green Bay on the Packers TV Network. Harlan said the network, including stations in Alaska and Hawaii, is the “third largest” in the NFL.

During Friday night’s Twins-Tigers telecast, analyst Torii Hunter asked broadcast partner Dick Bremer if he will be wearing his Speedo swimsuit Monday. The Twins will have an off day then and Bremer plans to be at his lake place. Bremer’s Monday plans prompted Hunter’s question, and a quick no from the veteran broadcaster.

Hunter’s son, Torii Jr., was drafted in the 23rd round last year by the Angels and is playing center field for the Orem Owlz in the Pioneer League where he is hitting .317 with one home run and 11 RBI in 32 games. The 22-year-old was better known for football at Notre Dame where he was a wide receiver.

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Ex-coach Likes U Big Ten Title Chances

Posted on July 27, 2017July 27, 2017 by David Shama

A Thursday notes column including summer optimism about Gophers basketball.

Count former Gophers Big Ten championship coach Jim Dutcher among those who expect a memorable 2017-2018 basketball season for Minnesota. “At a minimum they’re an NCAA (Tournament) team, with a great chance to win the league,” Dutcher told Sports Headliners.

Minnesota returns all but one key player (guard Akeem Springs) from last season’s surprise team. The Gophers, who had a 2-16 league record in 2016, won 11 of 18 conference games last winter. Dutcher looks at a roster that includes 2017 All-Big Ten guard Nate Mason, Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Reggie Lynch, and Amir Coffey, who was named to the All-Freshman team, and sees an improved win total next year.

“I would think they gotta be in the 12, 13 range in minimum wins, and could even be better than that,” Dutcher said.

National media have the Gophers included in top 25 rankings for next season. Sportingnews.com put Minnesota at No. 10 in a listing in the spring, and that’s not too high for Dutcher who sees the Gophers and Michigan State as the favorites to win the Big Ten championship. The Spartans are a consensus top five team heading into next season.

It might be over 20 years since offseason optimism has been so high about Gophers’ basketball. In the summer of 1996 Minnesota returned all five starters, including all-time great guard Bobby Jackson. Minnesota won the Big Ten title during the 1996-1997 season and advanced to the Final Four—with those achievements and others later erased by the NCAA after an investigation involving academic fraud.

Summer optimism about coach Richard Pitino’s program also extends to recruiting for his class of 2018. Three high profile state of Minnesota high school seniors have committed to Pitino—DeLaSalle’s Gabe Kalscheur, Cretin-Derham Hall’s Daniel Oturu and Orono’s Jarvis Thomas. Dutcher believes landing Coffey, who starred at Hopkins, was a “breakthrough” for the Gophers in state recruiting. Another factor in play is Minnesota’s new basketball practice facility that is expected to open in 2018.

Minnesota’s 2018 class is No. 5 nationally in the composite rankings by 247Sports. That’s one of the highest rankings in program history. Dutcher’s five-player 1978 freshman class was recognized as No. 1 in the nation. The class formed the core of his 1982 conference title team.

Indigo Thompson, the daughter of Gophers all-time leading football rusher Darrell Thompson, is a junior volleyball player at San Diego State. She started her college career at Virginia Commonwealth.

It wouldn’t be surprising if she has talked with her brother Race Thompson about playing basketball at San Diego State. Race, a senior at Robbinsdale Armstrong High School and among the state’s high profile prospects, has verbally committed to Indiana.

Gophers’ offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover was dismissed by head coach Tracy Claeys after the 2015 season but Penn State has turned out to be “Happy Valley” for him. Limegrover is in State College, Pennsylvania preparing for his second season as the Nittany Lions’ offensive line coach where he will have one of the best “o-line” units in the Big Ten. Running back Saquon Barkley, a Heisman Trophy favorite, will make Limegrover and the blockers look good on a Penn State team that could repeat as Big Ten champs.

The Vikings are holding their 52nd and last training camp in Mankato this summer before relocating to their new training facility in Eagan. The absence of the NFL team in Mankato is sure to have an economic impact on the city, with sources as far back as 2010 estimating the annual figure at $5 million.

A July, 2010 Mankato Free Press story reported that in 2009 an estimated additional $5 million in local revenue resulted from Vikings training camp, with more than 50,000 visitors coming to Mankato. Those figures have likely increased in the years since, but multiple media reports this summer have still estimated the economic impact at $5 million.

Fans can attend practices between now and the close of camp on August 9, but players have off days August 1 and 8. The Vikings’ first preseason game is August 10 against the Bills in Buffalo. Fox 9 will televise the game that starts at 6 p.m. Minneapolis time.

Dalvin Cook (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

Although much anticipated Dalvin Cook is a rookie, he isn’t that young for a first-year player. Cook, who declared for the NFL Draft after three seasons at Florida State, turns 23 on August 8. The Vikings know he could be their replacement for Adrian Peterson after making him the third overall running back chosen in the draft.

Vikings single game home tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. today via Ticketmaster.com only. Included was the Green Bay game on October 15.

Controversial baseball umpire Joe West, whose confrontations include the Twins, is featured in a seven-page story in the July 24-31 issue of Sports Illustrated. Peter Thamel writes that West once ejected Ron Gardenhire before the Twins manager could open his mouth.

Hale Irwin, who will be in town to compete in the 3M Championship next week, will speak to the Twin Cities Dunkers group next Thursday morning. Irwin is the all-time leader on the Champions Tour in earnings with over $27 million and tournament wins at 45.

Originally known as the Minneapolis Dunkers, the group had its first meeting in October of 1948. The most famous names in Minnesota sports history have spoken to members over the years—plus some national speakers such as Bobby Knight, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Brokaw and Thomas Friedman.

Minneapolis restaurateur Wayne Kostroski, who founded the Taste of the NFL in Minneapolis for the 1992 Super Bowl, was featured in the July 17-23 Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal. Kostroski, who has started similar events for other high profile sports, comes full circle next year with the Minneapolis Super Bowl.

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