The basketball Gophers may play an elite opponent next year at U.S. Bank Stadium—and the game perhaps could be part of a doubleheader.
The NCAA mandates that facilities who will be hosting a Final Four must stage a trial game as part of preparations. The 2019 men’s Final Four will be at U.S. Bank Stadium and the Gophers will play a nonconference game in the facility in December of 2017. Although the exact date isn’t determined, a Saturday on a weekend when the Vikings are out of town is likely.
The Gophers and the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority that runs the stadium are working together on details. It’s up to coach Richard Pitino and his staff to schedule the opponent. They are working on possibilities this fall and a famous basketball school like Duke, Kansas or Kentucky will no doubt be part of discussions.
The Blue Devils, Jayhawks and Wildcats have the reputations to attract a large crowd to U.S. Bank Stadium. The Gophers have never played Duke in Minneapolis. Minnesota hasn’t hosted a game against Kansas since 1921 and Kentucky was last here to play the Gophers in 1951.
Schools that frequently earn their way to the Final Four could see a visit to Minneapolis and the experience of playing at U.S. Bank Stadium as beneficial. Becoming familiar with the basketball environment in the stadium, and other details about the facility and the city, presents an opportunity to gain an advantage at the 2019 Final Four.
Another benefit for elite programs to consider when asked about playing here is recruiting. The state of Minnesota has gained a reputation for producing four and five-star high school players. Next year Minnesota’s best prep players will include Apple Valley senior point guard Tre Jones and Rochester John Marshall junior forward Matthew Hurt. Players like that will want to attend a game matching the Gophers against a program often playing in Final Fours.
The trial run at U.S. Bank Stadium possibly could offer two games—perhaps even three. A source close to the Gophers suggested a billing like this: Kentucky-Minnesota; Kansas-Wisconsin; and a women’s game with the Gophers and Iowa State.
The advantage of a tripleheader like the example above is attendance of 40,000 or more would be possible. Kansas and Wisconsin fans will follow their teams to Minneapolis in large numbers. If there is only one game it could attract 15,000 to 30,000, depending on who the opponent is for Minnesota and how much excitement there is locally about the 2017-2018 Gophers.
Few details, including budgets, have yet to be made public about college basketball coming to U.S. Bank Stadium. Nothing, for example, has been announced about ticket pricing, including if the game will be part of the Gophers season ticket package. It’s anticipated a major TV network will televise the game (or games), but no deals have been made.
Worth Noting
The football Gophers need confidence and momentum when they begin the Big Ten portion of their schedule a week from Saturday at Penn State. That should be mission accomplished tomorrow in a nonconference game against Colorado State. The Rams don’t appear as formidable as the team that lost 23-20 in overtime to Minnesota last season.
Minnesota and Penn State look like middle of the pack teams in the Big Ten. In my power rankings of league teams the Gophers are No. 7, the Nittany Lions No. 8.
The league looks top heavy with No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Michigan and No. 3 Michigan State clearly superior to the conference’s other 11 teams. Here is how I rank the rest of the league: No. 4 Nebraska; No. 5 Iowa; No. 6 Wisconsin; No. 7 Minnesota; No. 8 Penn State; No. 9 Indiana; No. 10 Northwestern; No. 11 Maryland; No. 12 Illinois; No. 13 Rutgers and No. 14 Purdue.
The 2-0 Gophers are more than a two touchdown favorite tomorrow against the 2-1 Rams who lost their opener to Colorado, 44-7. That seems reasonable but it’s curious Michigan State is less than a touchdown favorite over Wisconsin at East Lansing. Both teams are undefeated and nationally ranked, but the Badgers have injuries and may have been given too much credit for their opening win over SEC power but offense-challenged LSU.
Gophers coach Tracy Claeys will have news next week on players who will be redshirted. “After this game (Colorado State) I think we’ll have a good idea on that going into the conference,” he said.
Today is the 60th birthday of Eric Kaler, University of Minnesota president.
Vikings backup quarterback Shaun Hill spoke like he couldn’t be more impressed with Sam Bradford’s performance last Sunday against the Packers. Bradford, who didn’t join the Vikings until Labor Day weekend, completed 22 of 31 passes for two touchdowns. He not only was accurate, he completed high risk passes, and he consistently stayed in the pocket.
“This isn’t like just walking into a new baseball team, and you’re a pitcher and you just go out there and throw the ball,” Hill said. “This is different. It’s very hard to come in and do what he did. Very, very impressive.”
It might be too much to expect Bradford to play at such a high level Sunday against the Panthers in Charlotte but after another week with the Vikings he will have more experience with the playbook and his receivers. Former Viking Bob Lurtsema said there are all kinds of details that a quarterback learns over time including the playbook, route running habits of receivers and who “tires in the fourth quarter.”
Lurtsema talking about his own experience in learning the playbook as a defensive lineman: “I played 12 years and never got the playbook down, and it wasn’t very big.”
The most anticipated MIAC regular season game of the year is tomorrow when undefeated Division III football powers Saint John’s and St. Thomas play in Collegeville. The last 10 Tommie-Johnnie games have averaged 12,300 in attendance, a figure that tops almost all Division II and III programs. An overflow crowd of 17,327 watched last year’s game, also in Collegeville. The attendance set a Division III record for a football game.
Among the outstanding players in the game will be Tommies running back Jordan Roberts. The transfer from FCS South Dakota started playing for St. Thomas last year, and since then the Tommies are 17-1 while averaging 51.7 points per game.
Saint John’s freshman quarterback Jackson Erdmann has thrown 12 touchdown passes in the first three games this season. No Johnnies quarterback has ever done that.
St. Thomas has won three consecutive games in Collegeville. The only time the Tommies won four straight at Saint John’s was 1937, 1941, 1946 and 1949.
The Johnnies won 12 consecutive games in the series from 1998-2009, but St. Thomas has won five of the last seven.
Saint John’s head coach Gary Fasching will speak to the C.O.R.E.S. lunch group Thursday, November 10. Luncheons are held at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. C.O.R.E.S. is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.
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