Gophers Basketball – Page 179 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Worth Noting

Posted on November 30, 2011December 29, 2011 by David Shama

NBADraft.net last week projected Gophers forward Trevor Mbakwe to be the No. 16 pick in the 2012 NBA draft. A Gophers official emailed that it’s “unknown at this point” whether Mbakwe could be granted a medical redshirt by the NCAA and play next season for Minnesota.

Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi will be in New York next week to attend the College Football Hall of Fame event recognizing former Gophers All-American quarterback Sandy Stephens and others.

Don’t be surprised if Paul Chryst’s name comes up for the Illinois head coaching job. Chryst, the Wisconsin offensive coordinator, drew speculation as a candidate to coach the Gophers in 2007 and 2010.

Big Ten football games drew 6,008,814 fans for an average of 71,534 in 84 games (39 sellouts). The Gophers averaged 47,713 per home game, the lowest in the three year history of TCF Bank Stadium. Minnesota’s attendance exceeded Purdue, Indiana and Northwestern.

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier talking about his 2-9 team and what he wants to see accomplished in the remaining five games: “Well, you’d like to see improvement across the board, and we have lots of room for improvement in a lot of areas. You’re trying to continue to evaluate players along the way. …Really get some momentum, get some wins and see some improvement along the way.”

Percy Harvin, who had a 104 yard kickoff return for the Vikings against Atlanta last Sunday, returned kicks for 95 yards last season and 101 in 2009. He’s the only athlete in Virginia prep history to win five gold medals at the state track meet.

Gophers marketing executive Jason LaFrenz said there’s no remaining inventory for men’s hockey season tickets. Single game tickets are available for all games.

New Twin Jamey Carroll, who could be the team’s starting shortstop and No. 2 hitter in the batting order, has a career on base percentage of .359. That’s a positive for a No. 2 hitter and a lot better than the on base percentage for last year’s shortstop, Tsuyoshi Nishioka’s .278.

The Wild play in Edmonton tonight and Minnesota already has two wins in three games against the Oilers this season. Goalie Niklas Backstrom has won both games.

The Big Ten Network provides its most extensive coverage ever of Big Ten wrestling this season with 43 regular-season dual-meets, the 2011 Midlands Championships and the 2012 Big Ten Championships. All will be broadcast on the network or streamed online. Thirty-nine events will be shown live either online or on the network.

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Worth Noting

Posted on November 28, 2011December 29, 2011 by David Shama

Among the Gophers completing eligibility on Saturday was Minnesota native and safety Kim Royston who started his career at Wisconsin. He left Madison after the 2007 season to be near his grandmother who was ill and has since past away. “I don’t have any regrets about transferring,” he said. Royston was involved with 13 tackles in the game Saturday.

Sophomore Dan Orseske has to be the most inconsistent Gophers punter in memory. He’s had punts of fewer than 10 yards and undoubtedly faces off-season competition for his job.

Ed Cohen, who keeps statistics in the press box for home games, completed his 55^th season working for the Gophers last Saturday. His longevity exceeds everyone else on the Minnesota game day crew.

One-sided score: Hopkins led Minneapolis North 80-0 at halftime in girls basketball Friday night on the way to a 94-14 win.

It’s been a busy seven days for Gophers broadcaster Mike Grimm. Last Monday night he did the play-by-play of the Minnesota-Mount St. Mary’s basketball game at Williams Arena. He also called the Gophers basketball games Thursday and Friday in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando. He then flew back to Minneapolis, arriving after midnight on Saturday so he could do the play-by-play on the Minnesota-Illinois football game. And yesterday morning he caught an early morning flight back to Orlando to call the Gophers Old Spice title game against Dayton on Sunday night, an 86-70 Minnesota loss.

It’s not well-known in Minnesota yet but the basketball Gophers will be one of the teams playing in the 2013 Maui Invitational. The field, including the Gophers, was announced last week at the tournament.

Here are Sports Headliners’ final rankings of Big Ten Football teams: Wisconsin, Michigan State, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana.

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier’s career record is now 5-12 including six games as interim coach last year. On the Vikings radio network following yesterday’s 24-14 loss to Atlanta he criticized his closing minutes play call when Minnesota was on the Falcons’ one-yard line. The fourth down play was unsuccessful while a touchdown would have made the score 24-21 Atlanta.

Jared Allen was a long snapper for Kansas City in 2005. Yesterday he filled in for injured Vikings long snapper Cullen Loeffler. As a defensive end, Allen has 13.5 sacks this season. He and the late Reggie White are the only players in NFL history to have 14.5+ sacks in three consecutive seasons.

By joining the Texas Rangers, former Twins closer Joe Nathan will no longer have to face one of the American League teams that was most effective against him. Nathan’s career ERA against the Rangers is 3.60, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Only Tampa Bay at 3.80 and New York at 3.71 had higher ERA’s against Nathan.

The Minnesota Golf Show will be February 17-19 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

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Worth Noting

Posted on November 15, 2011December 28, 2011 by David Shama

Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst, who twice since 2007 has been rumored to be a candidate for the Gophers job, is head coaching material, said Barry Alvarez. The Badgers athletic director told Sports Headliners he’s received inquiries about Chryst and coaching jobs this fall.

Vikings reserve quarterback Joe Webb said although he hasn’t been asked by the coaching staff, he‘s willing to become a wide receiver. Webb played both positions in college and his experience could help him get open and catch the ball. He has the size (6-4) and speed (4.4) to be an intriguing wide receiver prospect.

The Oakland Raiders, now in first place in the AFC West with a 5-4 record, play the Vikings on Sunday at Mall of America Field and the franchise has a historic tie to this area. In 1960 Minneapolis was going to be one of the founding franchises in the new AFL but preferred an invitation to join the established NFL. Oakland accepted the franchise opening caused by the Minneapolis decision.

Vikings :30 and :60 second TV commercials advocating for a stadium in Arden Hills can be seen on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imCQC_Yd2Wg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnQaKCzUyGo

Former Gopher Royce White scored 25 points in his first regular season game for Iowa State, making nine of 15 field goals and seven of nine free throws last week. The Cyclones play at Drake tonight.

In its college basketball issue distributed last week, Sports Illustrated doesn’t include the Gophers among teams predicted to make the NCAA tournament. Ohio State is ranked No. 3 in the country, and also among the top 20 teams is No. 13 Wisconsin. Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue and Northwestern are other Big Ten teams predicted to qualify for the tournament.

Minneapolis native Larry Fitzgerald finished first in an NFL players poll about “who has the best fashion sense off the field,” according to S.I.’s November 14 issue.

St. Thomas received the most votes in a poll of league coaches to determine the preseason favorite to win the MIAC basketball championship. Former Gophers quarterback John Nance is expected to be among the Tommies’ key players. The other three MIAC teams receiving the most votes were St. Olaf, Augsburg and Carleton.

St. Thomas also received the most votes in the women’s coaches poll followed by Gustavus, Saint Benedict and Concordia.

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