Golden Gophers – Page 254 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Speculating on U Basketball at Dome

Posted on September 23, 2016September 23, 2016 by David Shama

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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Bison FBS Wins Draw Attention to U

Posted on September 21, 2016September 21, 2016 by David Shama

North Dakota State’s football team upset top-15 ranked Iowa in Iowa City last Saturday with a roster that includes 37 players from the state of Minnesota. The Bison have won five consecutive FCS national championships while going undefeated against FBS programs including the Gophers during that period.

The Gophers—who struggle every fall to win half of their Big Ten games—have 35 Minnesota natives on their roster. Do the Gophers need to recruit better and perhaps more players from Minnesota high schools?

Recruiting authority Ryan Burns annually evaluates Minnesota prep football players including when Gophers coaches look at prospective players during offseason camps. He doesn’t view the Bison’s success against FCS and FBS teams as reason to fault the Gophers for their home state recruiting. “Minnesota has made it a point to make sure they know of every kid in the state,” he told Sports Headliners.

NDSU has used Minnesota prep players in large numbers during its championship seasons and continues to do so. A lot of those players have provided depth, many have been starters, and a smaller number have been nationally recognized including junior defensive end Greg Menard who was an FCS All-American last season. He played for Lakeville North High School.

Burns, who has written extensively online about both the Bison and U programs, said many players who accept scholarships to North Dakota State aren’t offered by the Gophers. Minnesotans who become Bison may be judged a step slower, a couple inches shorter, or have less wingspan than what the Gophers and other Big Ten talent evaluators are searching for. North Dakota State coaches have repeatedly proven, though, they can take the “leftovers” and make them into players that now have the Bison ranked No. 27 in the Associated Press poll for FBS schools.

Burns said the Bison won last Saturday with 23 fewer scholarship players than the Hawkeyes. Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin reportedly earns $1.4 million—about three times more than Bison head coach Chris Klieman who has directed the last two NDSU national title teams. With fewer scholarship players and less money, the Bison defeat Power Five Conference teams, including two straight over Minnesota.

“They play with this big chip on their shoulders,” Burns said. “They know what they do well and try to play to their strengths.”

Burns said the Gophers didn’t think Menard was “explosive” enough when they evaluated him. Another Bison standout is safety Robbie Grimsley, a sophomore from Hutchinson. Burns described Grimsley as a player doing a “great job” as a Bison starter but the Gophers saw the former state Mr. Football as a little undersized at 6-feet.

Among the Gophers starters on their depth chart prior to their last game, only four were from Minnesota— safety Adekunle Ayinde, quarterback Mitch Leidner, offensive right tackle Jonah Pirsig and defensive tackle Andrew Stelter. Burns, though, points out the Gophers have since 2010 made a bigger commitment to recruiting Minnesota preps than previous coach Tim Brewster. He also said what contributes to a perception the Gophers haven’t received a lot of production from in-state players is that high profile recruits like running back Jeff Jones from Minneapolis and quarterback Phil Nelson from Mankato left the program early and without major success.

While talking about NDSU’s resume, Burns speculated that maybe the Gophers staff could take more chances on Minnesota preps. The conundrum, though, is if Gophers talent evaluators are convinced they have players from outside the state who are superior, they’re going to offer scholarships to them.

Over the years a lot of the Bison players, like Brainerd offensive tackle Joe Haeg who ended an All-American career last season, have come from outside the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Because players from small high schools don’t play against the same level of competition found in the metro area, there can be a perception and often a reality those players aren’t Big Ten worthy. But Burns insisted the Gophers coaches are looking for players even in the rural areas.

“Just because they’re from out of state, I don’t think there is a bias towards them at all,” Burns said. “If anything, they (the Gophers) want them more because they want to make sure they’re covering this entire state.”

Tracy Claeys was named Gophers head coach last November. Going back to 2011 he was Jerry Kill’s defensive coordinator. Claeys isn’t second-guessing Minnesota’s commitment to high school players in the state.

“I think we’ve done a good job evaluating kids since we’ve been here, and more and more have chosen to stay home,” Claeys said. “I don’t think you’ll ever bat a thousand and get everybody because there’s some kids that for whatever reason want to get away from home, or whatever.”

After North Dakota State’s six consecutive wins against FBS teams—including the last second 23-21 victory over then No. 13 ranked Iowa last Saturday—it’s legitimate speculation that the Bison could win the Big Ten West Division. What is fair to question, though, is whether the Bison have the roster depth to sustain success playing a more physical schedule than NDSU has in the Missouri Valley Conference.

NDSU has proven that in a small sample size the Bison can defeat Power Five conference teams. But playing week after week against FBS schools isn’t an opportunity coming to Fargo anytime soon.

Worth Noting

NFL.com is reporting Vikings running back Adrian Peterson will be out for an indefinite period after expected meniscus surgery later this week. Offensive tackle Matt Kalil has been placed on the injured reserve list because of a hip injury.

Variety’s website reported Monday that the Emmy’s had an all-time TV ratings low Sunday evening while matched against the national telecast of the Vikings-Packers game. NBC’s Sunday night NFL games are consistently the most watched weekly programming in the fall.

Tre Roberson, the former Indiana quarterback now on the Vikings practice squad as a cornerback, has never played defensive back in organized football including on the youth level.

Former Vikings wide receiver Mike Wallace, now with the Ravens, already has three touchdown receptions in two games and is averaging 18.9 yards per catch. In 16 games with the Vikings last season he had two touchdown catches and averaged 12.1 yards per reception.

NBC and the Golf Channel will provide about 25 hours of live coverage later this month for the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska.

As of last week the Minnesota Wild had renewed approximately 93 percent of its season tickets. The club sold about 15,000 season tickets in 2015-2016.

The late Herb Brooks enjoyed drinking a Moscow Mule cocktail. Promoters of Herbie’s On The Park claim the vodka-based drink was the famous hockey coach’s favorite adult beverage. The Moscow Mule is part of the offerings at Herbie’s On The Park, the new restaurant and bar opening Saturday in the historic Minnesota Club at 317 Washington Street in Saint Paul. Herbie’s will be open to the public seven days per week serving lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. More at Herbiesonthepark.com.

The Wild will hold a free, open practice from 9:45 to 11:15 a.m. at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday. Fans can enter through Gate 1 and concessions will be available.

Local author and historian Frank White speaks Thursday night starting at 7:30 p.m. for the Washington County Historical Society. At the Water Street Inn in Stillwater White will talk about his new book, “They Played for the Love of the Game—Untold Stories of Black Baseball in Minnesota.” Reservations available on the WCHS website.

Minneapolis-based Buffalo Wild Wings has renewed its partnership with the NCAA as the “Official Hangout for NCAA Sports.” This means marketing, media and activation rights involving 90 NCAA Championships (24 sports), including the men’s and women’s basketball Final Fours.

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No Need to Panic over Peterson Injury

Posted on September 19, 2016September 19, 2016 by David Shama

Adrian Peterson’s right knee injury and possible absence for future games seems unlikely to derail the Vikings’ goal of winning a second consecutive NFC North Division championship.

Adrian Peterson (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

Peterson had to leave last night’s Vikings-Packers game because of what has been diagnosed as a torn meniscus. Head coach Mike Zimmer said this afternoon more evaluation about Peterson is ahead including determining whether he can practice this week and if he will miss games next Sunday and beyond.

The Vikings won a 17-14 game over their primary division rival with Peterson rushing for only 19 yards. The Vikings, now 2-0, won their opening game against the Titans with Peterson rushing for 31 yards. Defenses have been crowding the line of scrimmage and while runs have been mostly unsuccessful, sometimes Peterson’s presence creates opportunities for the passing game.

In today’s NFL emphasizing pass defenders, quarterbacks and receivers, even future Hall of Famer runners like the 31-year-old Peterson can see their importance lessened. The Vikings probably have at least four players more vital to winning another division title and advancing in the playoffs than Peterson.

Those players are defensive end Everson Griffen, safety Harrison Smith, quarterback Sam Bradford and wide receiver Stefon Diggs. Griffen, Smith and Diggs were known as high impact players going into last night’s game, while Bradford, in his first game for the Vikings since being acquired earlier this month from the Eagles, joined the group.

Bradford held his ground in the pocket and was impressive completing passes, including what looked like low percentage touchdown throws to Diggs and tight end Kyle Rudolph. His passing may have been the most eye-catching by a Vikings quarterback since Brett Favre was here several years ago.

Bradford’s potential continued success, of course, is huge for the Vikings because starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is out for the season. The Vikings hope that Bradford, 29, can not only perform but stay healthy with only 36-year-old reserve Shaun Hill in reserve.

Vikings defensive back Captain Munnerlyn told Sports Headliners he regards Peterson as the best runner in the league but the team expects to keep winning when it loses players. “We’re not a one-man show. It’s a team thing,” he said.

The Vikings defense has been extraordinary in two wins so far—even creating turnovers and scoring points while encouraging the notion that few other units in the NFL are better. Defensive end Brian Robison said the defense is ready to help if the Vikings are without Peterson.

“Us as a defense, we’re gonna put it on our shoulders and we’re gonna make sure that we do whatever we can do in order to put the offense in a good position,” Robison said. “Hopefully keep creating turnovers and get them in good field position. …”

Worth Noting

Bradford talking about the noisy fan support last night at U.S. Bank Stadium: “That’s one of the best atmospheres I’ve probably every played in. …They (the Packers) were having a hard time communicating. I think there were times we were having a hard time communicating because it was so loud in there.

“It’s fun when you get to play in an atmosphere like that. It’s not an every-week thing. You don’t get to play in front of crowds like that all the time, so when you do it’s really special.”

The five giant pivoting doors were open for last night’s debut regular season game at U.S. Bank Stadium because it was important to the Vikings management, according to a stadium source. The announced temperature inside the stadium at kickoff was 77 degrees, about five degrees more than if the doors were closed and the air conditioning didn’t have to contend so much with outside heat and humidity.

The Super Bowl quality halftime show that included the Minnesota Orchestra required about 200 people including support personnel. Twelve minutes was allocated for total time.

The Vikings are now 6-11 against Aaron Rodgers when he is the starting quarterback for the Packers. He has thrown 36 touchdown passes in those games.

The Packers opened the season at Jacksonville, then came to Minneapolis for last night’s game. It’s the first time since 1924 the Packers have played their first two regular season games on the road.

Right now it looks like Moritz Bohringer, the 22-year-old wide receiver from Aalen, Germany who never played college football, is probably a long shot to develop an NFL career. He is on the Vikings’ practice squad but there is no guarantee he will keep his spot, or be activated to the playing roster.

Former Vikings kicker Fred Cox will (for a fee) sign memorabilia and pose for photos on Saturday from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Southtown Shopping Center in Bloomington. His appearance is part of the two-day Saturday-Sunday Triple Crown Sports Collectibles show. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Big Ten schools, including Minnesota, receive equal shares of conference TV revenues. A new TV deal is expected to give the Gophers and the other 13 schools $45 to $50 million each on an annual basis.

However, there are big differences between schools in revenues such as ticket receipts. A Big Ten source told Sports Headliners Ohio State had $45.5 million in football ticket revenues last year, while the Gophers generated $12.5 million. Ohio State’s radio rights partner pays the Buckeyes $14 million, while the Gophers receive $7.5 million.

The Korn Ferry firm working on the Twins search for an executive to lead its baseball operations is headquartered in Los Angeles but has an office in Minneapolis. A former search industry leader praised Korn Ferry in an email to Sports Headliners.

“(The) Twins have hired one of the best firms to handle the search for their top baseball job,” he wrote. “Korn Ferry is often used to find CEOs for the largest companies in the nation. …”

“A search firm brings objectivity and confidentiality to the search that other means don’t offer. Relying on referrals and contacts from the baseball fraternity misses both of those important points. Finding an exec who will manage from ‘30,000 feet’ and is not part of the baseball family may be what this franchise needs. Traditional businesses often hire outside of their industry to bring in executive management skills that are transferable.”

It is expensive to use a high profile search firm. “A typical search usually costs 30 percent of the total first year compensation (of the person hired), including a signing bonus, plus all direct related expenses,” the source wrote in his email.

Twins curator Clyde Doepner, an expert on the franchise’s memorabilia, will speak to the “Breakfast with Leroy” group Saturday at the Bloomington Knights of Columbus, 1114 American Blvd West. A breakfast buffet starting at 9 a.m. precedes Doepner’s remarks. The public is invited with more information available by contacting Pat Rickert at 612-861-3981.

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