Gophers Basketball – Page 108 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

U Looks for Top Opponent at Dome

Posted on April 19, 2017April 19, 2017 by David Shama

Notes on the Gophers, Twins, Vikings and Wild:

John Cunningham, the athletic department administrator who oversees University of Minnesota basketball, said the Gophers don’t know the opponent they will be able to schedule for their December of 2018 game at U.S. Bank Stadium, but he is aiming high. “We’re going to get the best opponent that we can get,” he told Sports Headliners.

Coach Richard Pitino’s team is participating in the trial run game for the April 2019 Final Four scheduled for the new stadium. Minnesota is the host school for the 2019 Final Four and in December of next year they will play the first college game at U.S. Bank Stadium. Local and out of town NCAA representatives will observe and critique the setup for the U.S. Bank Stadium game that will preview by only a few months the 2019 Final Four to determine the men’s national champion.

For awhile the plan was to stage the Gophers game in December of 2017 but Cunningham said it became apparent the timeline for scheduling was too tight. “We felt like we could get a better opponent by moving it back one year,” he said.

U.S. Bank Stadium will also be the site of the 2020 NCAA wrestling championship, the first time the event has ever been staged at a non-arena venue.

Cunningham reported via email today the Gophers have sold over 400 new season tickets for men’s basketball. “Well above where we were last year at this time,” he wrote.

There are various basketball top 25 rankings for next season and they are paying attention to the Gophers. Athlonsports.com put out a top 25 and among Big Ten schools, only Michigan State at No. 13 was ahead of No. 17 Minnesota in the website’s rankings last Wednesday.

Lou Nanne endorses the evaluations of other authorities regarding former Eden Prairie star Casey Mittelstadt who is the state’s 2017 Mr. Hockey and will play for the Gophers next season. Nanne believes the talented forward will be selected among the first 22 players in the June NHL Draft, perhaps going in the top 15. He projects Mittelstadt as some day being an “excellent pro” but sees him maturing in college for a couple of seasons.

Dick Jonckowski, who finished his 31st and final season last month as Gopher basketball public address announcer, will be roasted by the Minnesota Minute Men starting at noon Friday, May 5 at Jax Café. Scheduled roasters include Vikings executive Lester Bagley, former Gophers football star Jim Carter and WCHA men’s commissioner Bill Robertson. More information is available by calling Terry Sullivan, 952-451-2104, or at Minnesotaminutemen.com.

Gene Taylor’s name was mentioned over a year ago as a possible candidate for the Gophers athletic director vacancy. Taylor, the former North Dakota State AD who was deputy athletics director at Iowa, has been hired to run Kansas State’s athletic department at a starting salary of $450,000 per year, according to an online story Monday by the Topeka Capital-Journal. That’s $400,000 less than Gophers AD Mark Coyle earns.

Word is fundraising for the Gophers Athletes Village now under construction is over $100 million. The projected cost is $166 million.

Don’t bet the title to your lake home but it’s difficult to believe the Wild won’t win tonight’s Game 4 against the Blues in St. Louis. Coach Bruce Boudreau’s Minnesota team trails 0-3 in the best of seven series but could have won any of three close games. Odds now seem to favor the Wild.

Home ice is no guarantee of victory in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Wild is 0-2 at home in the Blues series and last season lost two of three games at Xcel Energy Center in a playoff series the Stars won 4-2.

Three of the 20 highest paid NHL players are in the Wild-Blues series, according to Spotrac.com. Ryan Suter and Zach Parise from the Wild each earn $7,538,642 and are tied for the 17th highest salaries this season. Vladimir Tarasenko of the Blues, who earns $7,500,000, is tied for 19th with two other players.

Vikings defensive end Brian Robison, who turns 34 on April 27 and is saying he may retire after the 2018 season, is married to Jayme Miller, an accomplished rodeo barrel racer. She attended college on a rodeo scholarship.

J.D. Spielman, son of Vikings general manager Rick Spielman, caught a touchdown pass in the Nebraska spring game last weekend and could be an impact player as a receiver for the Cornhuskers next fall after redshirting as a freshman in 2016.

The Vikings Miller Lite DraftFest will be at U.S. Bank Stadium on Saturday, April 29. The tailgate-themed event is from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will provide fans the opportunity to meet Vikings players and alumni, while watching rounds four through six of the NFL Draft.

Vikings scheduled to appear throughout the day are linebacker Kentrell Brothers, wide receivers Stefon Diggs and Isaac Fruechte, defensive end Everson Griffen and tight end David Morgan. Ex-Vikings running back Chuck Foreman and safety Paul Krause also plan to attend. A complete schedule of player appearances can be found at Vikings.com closer to the event, which requires paid admissions for adults and teens.

After last night’s win by the Indians over the Twins, Minnesota has now lost three consecutive games for the first time this season. The Twins, 7-7, have lost six of their last eight and are mostly drawing crowds of under 20,000 at Target Field.

Twins third baseman Miguel Sano hit his fourth home run of the season last night. He hasn’t gone more than four games this year without homering.

Malagacy, whose sister Classy Shackles is a Minnesota bred racehorse, has qualified for the 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby May 7. Advance wagering on the Derby at Canterbury Park starts May 4.

Comments Welcome

Whiffs Pileup for Byron Buxton

Posted on April 14, 2017April 14, 2017 by David Shama

Notes on the Twins, Gophers, MIAC and horse racing:

Byron Buxton, the Twins 23-year-old centerfielder who has failed as a hitter in parts of two previous years with the Twins, is striking out at an alarming rate during the first two weeks of the season.

Buxton has struck out 19 times in 34 plate appearances—an eye-catching 56 percent of his at bats. He has three hits and a batting average of .088.

In 298 at bats last season he struck out almost 40 percent of the time while hitting .225. In 2015 it was 34 percent of his plate appearances, along with an average of .209.

Buxton looks overmatched by big league pitching, frequently not able to make solid contact when his bat does put the ball in play. If he receives enough plate appearances he could threaten Miguel Sano’s team record for striking out the most times in one season, 178. While Sano struck out 40 percent of the time last year, he also hit 25 home runs with 66 RBI as part of his .236 average.

Buxton has never approached that kind of production with the Twins, but his fielding has often been spectacular. He has already made plays this season that have both teammates and fans applauding. He hasn’t been producing runs but he has been saving them.

Buxton is an asset running the bases, too, but his dismal hitting performance will have to improve if manager Paul Molitor is going to start him everyday. It’s understandable that a young hitter like Buxton will struggle early in his career but it’s difficult to remember a player looking as feeble as Buxton who then went on to stardom. Such a future has long been predicted for the Georgia native who the Twins made the second player selected in the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft.

Buxton was one of nine players who had at least one hit yesterday when the Twins had their most productive run scoring of the season, winning 11-5 against the Tigers. Buxton had a bunt single in five at bats, including two strikeouts, as the Twins continued their impressive start to the season. Minnesota, 6-3, plays the White Sox at Target Field tonight.

The Gophers spring football game at TCF Bank Stadium starts at noon Saturday, and will be telecast later by the Big Ten Network beginning at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free for the game which is expected to last about two hours. Then, head coach P.J. Fleck and players will sign autographs on the field for 30 minutes.

Former Gophers football star Jim Carter told Sports Headliners that Wake Forest defensive coordinator Jay Sawvell has reached out to Mike Sherels for input. Sawvell was the Gophers defensive coordinator last season when Sherels worked for him as linebackers coach. Sherels dealt with life-threatening health issues in 2016.

The defensive preparation by the Gophers and the upset win over heavily favored Washington State in the Holiday Bowl last December represents one of the great coaching jobs in U history. My opinion is the 17-12 win over the Cougars was the second best Gophers bowl win ever—with only the 1962 Rose Bowl victory against UCLA more impressive.

For the 15th time in 16 years, Saint John’s led Division III football schools in average attendance per game, 7,787. Bethel finished 11th nationally in per game attendance at 4,201. The MIAC, for the sixth consecutive year, led Division III conferences in average, 3,193.

The Gophers basketball team is being mentioned for preseason top 25 rankings and possibly a Big Ten championship in 2018. Minnesota coach Richard Pitino acknowledged that in his April 6 blog on Gophersports.com.

“Expectations will be sky-high going into next season,” he wrote.

Pitino is looking forward to coaching Texas A&M transfer Davonte Fitzgerald who missed last season with the Gophers because of a torn ACL. “When healthy, he shows flashes of being our best player,” Pitino wrote about the 6-8 forward. “There were times last year that he blocked just as many shots as (center) Reggie (Lynch). He’s getting healthy and working hard in his rehab. Will look at him at the 3 and the 4 next season. Great versatility!”

Former Gophers playing pro basketball overseas include Andre Hollins, Braunschweig (Germany); DeAndre Mathieu, Valga (Estonia); Trevor Mbakwe, Zenit (Russia); Carlos Morris, Oliveirense (Portugal); and Maurice Walker, Worcester (Great Britain).

Collegehockeyinc.com reported Wednesday that a record 307 players from NCAA schools—or 32 percent—appeared in NHL games during the 2016-2017 season. The Gophers have 18 alums: Nick Bjugstad, Alex Goligoski, Seth Helgeson, Hudson Fasching, Eric Haula, Eric Johnson, Phil Kessel, Nick Leddy, Paul Martin, Aaron Ness, Kyle Okposo, Kyle Rau, Mike Reilly, Nate Schmidt, Jordan Schroeder, Brady Skjei, Thomas Vanek and Blake Wheeler.

Arizona State’s hockey program appears likely to make a commitment to the WCHA this summer, with league games starting in the 2018-2019 season.

Canterbury Park opens its live horse racing season on May 5 and will also have racing May 6—the same day as the 143rd Kentucky Derby. This will be the first time since 2008 the Shakopee racetrack has offered live racing on Derby Day which annually attracts more wagering dollars than any other day at Canterbury. Combined wagering, including from various simulcast sites and live racing at Canterbury, is expected to exceed $1.5 million this year. Advance wagering at Canterbury for the Kentucky Derby starts May 4.

Comments Welcome

Number of State Hoopsters Surprises

Posted on March 24, 2017March 24, 2017 by David Shama

A Creative Charters fan bus had taken Gene Lindahl and others to Milwaukee for the Gophers opening NCAA Tournament game against Middle Tennessee State earlier this month. On the ride home a passenger near Lindahl wondered out loud what states all the basketball players from the NCAA Tournament teams come from.

“…Nobody took him seriously that anybody would actually be dumb enough to sit and do that (calculate the answer),” Lindahl said with amusement. “I got home and started thinking about it.”

“Hell, I can do that,” Lindahl told himself. “You just go to all the teams’ websites, and copy and paste (names and hometowns).”

Lindahl lives near Faribault and is a retired high school basketball coach. It required eight to 10 hours to come up with the origins of players from not only the 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament, but also the 32 NIT teams. He researched 1,319 players.

Any surprises? “I was surprised that (the state of) Minnesota had as many (players) as they did,” Lindahl said.

There were 31 Minnesotans on various teams, and Minnesota’s total ranked behind only 12 other states. Minnesota finished ahead of neighboring Wisconsin (No. 29 with 14 players) and Iowa (No. 30, 13 players). Minnesota also had more players than more populous states like No. 15 New Jersey (30 players), No. 16 Pennsylvania (29 players) and No. 27 Washington (16 players). At No. 13, Minnesota trailed these states and their totals of players:

1. California, 119

2. Texas, 111

3. Illinois, 86

4. Florida, 75

5. North Carolina, 70

6. Ohio, 69

7. Georgia, 68

8. Indiana, 60

9. New York, 53

10. Virginia, 52

11. Maryland, 46

12. Michigan, 38

The Gophers’ roster has six Minnesotans, including starters Amir Coffey and Reggie Lynch. Jarvis Johnson is a scholarship player from the state who didn’t play last season, but could be counted as a seventh Minnesotan.

North Dakota’s roster has five Minnesotans including starting guards Geno Crandall and Quinton Hooker. They played prominent roles for their team as did some other Minnesotans including guard/forward Sanjay Lumpkin at Northwestern and guard J.P. Macura with Xavier.

After searching over 150 team websites, Lindahl also compiled a breakdown of countries. In addition to the United States, 56 other nations were represented by 178 players on the 100 teams. Only four of those countries had double-digit totals of players—Canada, 29; Australia, 23; Nigeria, 13; and Senegal, 10.

Lindahl shared his findings with Creative Charters who distributed the information via email to those who made the trip to watch the Gophers. The research and email came as a surprise but was appreciated.

“Nobody would expect somebody to be as stupid as I am,” Lindahl repeated.

Worth Noting

Collegead.com reported on Monday the current “NCAA Tournament is the most-watched in 24 years through the first Sunday (March 19), with an average of 9,325,000 million viewers, up 10% from 2016 (8,513,000).”

Horse racing enthusiast Steve Erban emailed that Malagacy, a top 10 contender for this year’s Kentucky Derby, has a sister who is a Minnesota bred racehorse. Classy Shackles sold for $26,500 in a Minnesota thoroughbred yearling sale last year, Erban wrote.

Erban’s Creative Charters, based in Stillwater, annually offers a trip to the Kentucky Derby. He said this year’s trip to the May 6 Derby in Louisville is sold out.

The Star Tribune named its All-Metro boys basketball teams this week and the first team included Maple Grove guard Brad Davison and Lakeville North forward Nathan Reuvers. Both will play for Wisconsin next season and are high potential college players. The Gophers could be second-guessed about their recruiting if the next few seasons are successful for Davison, Reuvers and the Badgers. Wisconsin, a program that hasn’t finished below fourth in the Big Ten standings since 2001, has a history of using Minnesota-raised talent in its starting lineup.

Jerry Krause, the legendary general manager who shaped the rosters of the Chicago Bulls NBA title teams in the 1990s, died this week at age 77. I met Krause at Met Center when he brought the Bulls to Minnesota for an exhibition game I helped arrange. He was all business and demanded the Bulls’ fee before tipoff—or the team wasn’t taking the court.

Jacob Isaia, a highly regarded offensive lineman from Bishop Gorman High School in Nevada, has offers from the Gophers and many other colleges including Michigan State, UCLA and Utah, according to a Tuesday online story from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Isaia is originally from Hawaii and is the grandson of Bob Apisa, the starting fullback on the 1966 national champion Michigan State team. A senior in high school next fall, Isaia has 13 college offers and is being nationally recruited, according to the Review-Journal story.

Cordarrelle Patterson (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

With Cordarrelle Patterson leaving the Vikings via free agency to the Raiders, Laquon Treadwell has more opportunity to figure in Minnesota’s plans for its wide receivers. Treadwell, the team’s first round draft choice in 2016, wasn’t ready to play last season and caught only one pass for 15 yards. Former Vikings wide receivers coach George Stewart told Sports Headliners this week that Treadwell can become a “fine player.” Treadwell doesn’t turn 22 until June 14.

The Gopher hockey team will try to win the Northeast Regional this weekend, and advance to the Frozen Four and compete for the NCAA title. Minnesota has a NCAA-best 37 national tournament appearances, but what frustrates many fans is the Gophers have won just two national championships since 1980. The Gophers were NCAA champions in 1974, 1976, 1979, 2002 and 2003.

Jason Shaver, the Apple Valley High School alum and son of Gophers radio play-by-play man Wally Shaver, is the TV voice of the American Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves. Jason’s grandfather is the legendary radio voice of the North Stars, 89-year-old Al Shaver who is retired and living on Vancouver Island.

White Bear Lake’s Phil Bonin, a well-known hockey name, passed away from cancer on Monday. Phil was a youth hockey supporter and father of Brian Bonin, the former Gopher hockey player and 1996 Hobey Baker Award winner. Condolences to family and friends.

Comments Welcome