Golden Gophers – Page 373 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Borton & U Need to Build on 2013

Posted on March 8, 2013March 8, 2013 by David Shama

Coach Pam Borton, finishing up her 11^th season at Minnesota, saw more than a 58-47 opening round Big Ten Tournament loss to Ohio State last night. The defeat almost for certain left Minnesota, with an overall 18-13 record, out of the women’s NCAA Tournament field to be announced later this month.

The Gophers haven’t been to the tournament since 2009. Borton’s Big Ten regular season records the last four seasons are 6-12, 4-12, 6-10 and 7-9 in 2013. Those results are in contrast to her early years at Minnesota when the Gophers had winning conference records, made two Sweet 16 appearances and one Final Four.

Along with a fall off in wins has also come a decline in home attendance. A program that once drew over 9,000 fans in Williams Arena for some games regularly announces crowds now of 2,500 to 5,000 and averaged 3,405 this season.

That means lost revenue for the athletic department, and among women’s sports Gophers basketball rates high among potential revenue generators. And there’s plenty of potential to make Gophers basketball — the state’s only Division I women’s program — much more significant financially.

New administrators in the athletic department have basketball expertise. They should be interested in improvement on the court and at the box office. Athletic director Norwood Teague built part of his reputation as AD at VCU on the hiring of men’s basketball coach Shaka Smart who made the Rams a national brand. Senior associate athletic director Mike Ellis is a former basketball coach and founder of the Villa 7 consortium that brings outstanding women’s and men’s assistant basketball coaches together with athletic directors for networking and career development.

Teague’s most recent hire is Beth Goetz who previously worked at Butler where men’s coach Brad Stevens praised her work in the school’s athletic department. Stevens and Smart are considered two of the best young coaches in the country. As a senior associate athletic director at Minnesota, Goetz’s responsibilities include overseeing women’s basketball.

Borton’s 2013 starters all have remaining eligibility. The group includes sophomore guard Rachel Banham, an All-Big Ten player who averaged 21 points per game and has been described as “the next Lindsay Whalen.” Another returnee is junior forward Micaella Riche who averaged 7.7 rebounds per game. And Borton has 6-5 Swedish center Amanda Zuhi ready to play for the first time next fall.

Next fall those players will create expectations for better results than either they or Borton have known in recent seasons.

Worth Noting

The Gophers’ hockey team probably played its worst game of the season in a 2-0 home loss to Denver last Friday night. The team’s radio play-by-play voice, Wally Shaver, told Sports Headliners the performance was criticized by the coaching staff, and then Minnesota had an impressive win over Denver on Saturday night and now looks to be in “playoff mode.”

The Gophers, all year ranked among the best teams in college hockey, finish their WCHA regular season schedule at Bemidji State tonight and tomorrow night. The second place Gophers could win the league title this weekend, although they are two points behind St. Cloud State in the standings. Shaver said he wouldn’t be surprised if Minnesota (14-7-5 WCHA record) wins both games against the Beavers (5-14-7).

Some might consider a second place finish a disappointment for the talented Gophers but not Shaver who said Minnesota is reaching for success in the NCAA Tournament and playing for a national title.

Defenseman Jonas Brodin is the youngest player on the Wild and although he’s only played in 19 games, he’s turning heads with his skills including skating. The 19-year-old Swede and other Wild newcomers including forwards Mikael Granlund and Jason Zucker were praised in a February 21 blog by David Staples writing for the Edmonton Journal. “This is a talented, aggressive, and skilled group of players and there’s enough of them to one day transform the Wild franchise.”

The list of college possibilities for Tyus Jones is at seven, according to his dad Rob Jones. The schools are: Baylor, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, Minnesota and Ohio State. The Apple Valley junior point guard is among the most highly recruited players in the country but his dad said no date for announcing a college choice has been determined.

Apple Valley is on everyone’s short list of favorites to win the Class 4A state title later this month. “I think any kid who plays high school basketball wants to reach the pinnacle,” Rob said. “God willing this wil be the year.”

The St. Thomas men’s basketball team is 15-0 at home this season and 40-3 since Schoenecker Arena opened three seasons ago. St. Thomas is 27-1 after defeating Aurora (Illinois) 91-62 in an opening Division III NCAA Tournament game last week. The Tommies play 21-6 Wheaton (Illinois) at home beginning at 7 p.m. tomorrow night.

Tommies coach John Tauer said Wheaton is a perennial Division III top 20 program and is a physical team that likely will start players “bigger than us at four positions.”

Junior forward Zach Riedeman was among the Tommies standouts in a game last Saturday where all 15 players got on the floor. Reidner led UST with 16 points and six assists. The former Forest Lake Area High School career scoring leader has 13 assists in his last two games.

“Zach has been playing great for us,” Tauer said. “He’s become far more than a scorer.”

Despite winning by 29 points last week, Tauer let his players know they were far from perfect. He said UST’s 16 turnovers were “horrendous for us.” While he was pleased with a field goal percentage of 56 percent, he wasn’t so happy with the Tommies making 54 percent of their free throws.

Former Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi leaves for China next week where he will talk about varsity sports at two Chinese universities. Jim Turman, University of Minnesota recreational sports director, will also be speaking at the Chinese universities.

Ted Mondale, executive director of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, speaks next Thursday at the C.O.R.E.S. luncheon in Bloomington. He will provide an update on the new Vikings stadium. Anyone interested in more information can contact Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. C.O.R.E.S. is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

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Eliason Nebraska Homecoming a Motivator

Posted on March 6, 2013March 7, 2013 by David Shama

Chadron, Nebraska native Elliott Eliason will have his own cheering section when the Gophers play the Cornhuskers in Lincoln tonight. Minnesota’s redshirt sophomore center told Sports Headliners he expects at least 24 friends and family at the game.

Chadron is a small town located in northwest Nebraska, about a six hour drive from Lincoln. Despite the distance, Eliason said students from his old high school may attend the game tonight where his rooting section will include mother Lorna and younger brother Spencer.

Eliason is excited about having the hometown support. “Yeah, it’s very cool. We’re (the Gophers) kind of rolling right now. Added to that, it’s a big motivator to win down there.”

Eliason said Nebraska was the second school to offer him a scholarship but his final college choices were Stanford and Minnesota. He enjoyed his recruiting visit to Minnesota and the Gophers “were the right fit.”

Although he has yet to average 3.0 points per game in two seasons with the Gophers, the 6-foot-11 Eliason has become a valuable contributor. His shot blocking, willingness to take fouls and consistent rebounding have contributed to a sometimes successful Gophers season.

Eliason, who has started 13 games this season, is frequently the first player off the bench. It was as a substitute last week in the upset win against No. 1 Indiana that he may have played his best game as a Gopher, scoring seven points with five rebounds, one block and one steal. In 14 minutes on the floor Eliason made three of four field goals and converted his only free throw. And playing with a cold and only for nine minutes last Saturday in a win over Penn State, Eliason came up with six rebounds.

A visitor suggested to Eliason he looked more comfortable on offense and defense last week. “It just happened in that Indiana game. Everything felt so good. It felt so comfortable. Kind of what I was used to in high school. Still not scoring like I used to back then. …”

As a high school senior Eliason averaged 17.7 points per game and 10.2 rebounds. He was twice chosen the Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year. But at Minnesota his struggles have included foul trouble and inability to create and make shots near the basket.

How Eliason plays tonight can certainly impact a game the Gophers (8-8 in the Big Ten) want to win and use to build momentum with their two-game winning streak. Minnesota defeated Nebraska in January at Williams Arena, 84-65.

The Cornhuskers are 4-12 in league games but Eliason said the Gophers need to be ready for a challenge. “They play a lot tougher down there. They really feed off the crowd. I think they’ll be ready to play. It will be a game you definitely can’t overlook. It will be tough.”

The Gophers, who had impressive wins at home over Indiana and Penn State last week, have only one road win in the Big Ten. Their last two Big Ten regular season games are away including Purdue on Saturday.

Eliason thinks the Gophers have found a “mental focus” he hopes can help sustain them if and when moments become difficult on the road. And at least in Lincoln tonight he knows there will be emotional support.

Worth Noting

Gophers senior reserve guard Julian Welch said the team has confidence. “We’re definitely in our eyes a Final Four caliber team.”

Welch started last Saturday’s game against Penn State because it was the last at Williams Arena for him and the other seniors. He has been both a shooting guard (2-guard) and point guard (1-guard) during his career at Minnesota. His preference?

“I mean it’s just nice to be out there on the court. If I had to pick, probably the 1, just because I like creating for guys.”

Gophers freshman guard Wally Ellenson grew up playing basketball one-on-one against his brothers. “We’d all try to make each other better. We’d play hard but every once in awhile it would end up in a fistfight. Pretty aggressive but it’s good.”

Ellenson, a native of Rice Lake, Wisconsin, has yet to decide on a major but is considering careers as a high school teacher or architect.

Think the Twins are spending more than a month in spring training just developing players and establishing their roster for the regular season schedule that opens on April 1? That’s part of the mission but the Twins are believed to have turned their spring training weeks in Florida into a profit center.

“It’s a very important economic engine,” a baseball source told Sports Headliners.

There are considerable expenses for the Twins and other teams in spring training. Years ago the endeavor wasn’t profitable but the source said the Twins may now even make a “mid six-figure profit” while in Florida.

Ticket prices for Twins games at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers are priced between $13 and $43 (premium games), according to the club’s website. Obviously, prices of $5 per game are long gone. The Twins frequently draw capacity crowds of about 7,500 at Hammond Stadium.

Merchandise sales in Florida contribute to the Twins’ economic success, too, and the source said the spring training games are a “marketing platform” for the club. All the games are broadcast on radio, and a few on TV, plus the Twins are major news back in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The spring training schedule provides a “jump start on ticket sales,” the source said.

The new radio home of the team is K-TWIN 96.3 FM which will broadcast today’s Twins game against the World Baseball Classic Puerto Rico team starting at 12:05 p.m. Minneapolis time. Fox Sports North will televise the Twins-Red Sox game on Friday beginning at 6 p.m. Both the Twins and K-TWIN are owned by the Pohlad family.

Bob Stein, the former Timberwolves president and 1967 Gophers All-American defensive end, is on the 2013 ballot for election into the College Football Hall of Fame. Also among the 77 former players being considered are ex-Viking running backs Ted Brown and Darrin Nelson who played respectively at North Carolina State and Stanford. Among the five coaches being considered is former Gopher assistant Billy Jack Murphy who is the winningest coach in Memphis history. Announcement of the 2013 class will be May 7.

Starting next Monday former Vikings and Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon will be joined by Bruce Murray on the SiriusXM Blitz show on Sirius radio. The program airs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Minneapolis time.

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Kill: No Starters Locked in Now

Posted on March 4, 2013March 4, 2013 by David Shama

Gophers football notes following a recent conversation with coach Jerry Kill.

Spring practice begins March 26 and no player, regardless of experience or ability, is a certain starter. The emphasis will be on competition and opportunity at all positions, with nothing guaranteed. “You’re going to put your best players out there (eventually),” Kill said.

The Gophers will have 15 practices including the annual spring game open to the public on April 27. For Kill and his assistants this will be the third spring practice but the coach’s perspective on the program is shaped by recruiting classes. Kill wasn’t hired until December of 2010 so his impact on the 2011 recruiting class was minimal.

“We need about three recruiting classes to get this thing turned around,” he said. “I think we’re moving in the right direction.”

The 2011 Gophers were 3-9 while last fall’s team was 6-7 and played in the program’s first bowl game since 2009. The most improvement was defensively where the Gophers went from allowing 31.7 points per game to 24.7.

The offense was often ineffective but in a Meineke Car Care Bowl loss to Texas Tech, Minnesota scored 31 points and had 368 yards total offense. To be better in 2013 than last fall, Kill said the offense needs to play like the bowl game performance.

Going into spring practice later this month Kill not only has most of his players returning, but the entire coaching staff. In the “musical chairs” world of head coaches and assistants changing jobs, that’s an indicator of the stability in the Minnesota program and a plus for the players who don’t have to adjust to new personalities and schemes.

Kill said other programs come after his assistants but he’s been able to keep his staff together at Minnesota. Not long ago another Gopher assistant turned down an opportunity to leave, Kill disclosed.

Today the Gophers are hosting Pro Day. Nine players who were seniors last fall are expected to work out for pro football talent evaluators: Michael Carter, Keanon Cooper, MarQueis Gray, Brandon Green, John Rabe, Mike Rallis, Spencer Reeves, Troy Stoudermire and Jordan Wettstein.

Gray could be the most likely player to be drafted by the NFL but even he might be left out when the league holds its three-day draft next month. The 6-foot-4, 240- pound Gray played quarterback and wide receiver at Minnesota with mixed results despite his athleticism.

While it may surprise fans, Kill said with the new found interest in the read option offense in the NFL some teams could have interest in Gray as a quarterback. NFL teams will consider Gray as a tight end or wide receiver prospect, too, perhaps signing him as a free agent.

Worth Noting

Gophers’ senior center Trevor Mbakwe said he’s been invited to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament April 10-13 in Portsmouth, Virginia. The tournament provides NBA scouts an opportunity to evaluate college seniors.

Mbakwe was named Big Ten Player of the Week this morning after his performances last week when he made 73.3 percent of his field goals and had two double-doubles in leading the Gophers to wins over No. 1 ranked Indiana and Penn State in his final game at Williams Arena.

Apparently Gophers’ coach Tubby Smith wasn’t planning to celebrate after Saturday’s 73-44 win over Penn State. He reported a sore throat at his news conference and was headed to bed.

A street ticket hawker claimed he sold tickets on Friday for the Penn State-Minnesota game for $125 each. He expected to sell $33 tickets on Saturday for about $65 or $70.

A different ticket peddler thought he could sell $35 tickets for around $60 each prior to Saturday night’s Gophers hockey game against Denver. That was Minnesota’s last ever WCHA regular season game at Mariucci Arena. Zach Budish had four points on two goals and two assists in Minnesota’s 5-1 win over Denver.

At Saturday’s Gophers-Penn State game the athletic department honored Jim Duffy who has been a season ticket holder for 68 years.

If Flip Saunders ends up being the Timberwolves general manager or coach this spring, it won’t be the first time that Gophers boosters will be disappointed he didn’t return to his alma mater as coach. I was told Saunders was approached about coaching the Gophers prior to Dan Monson being hired as Minnesota coach in 1999.

Saunders’ son Ryan, a former Gopher, is an assistant coach for the Wizards who play the Timberwolves at Target Center on Wednesday night.

Former Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi remains a fan of the school’s teams. Since last fall he’s attended all home football games, men’s basketball games, and men’s and women’s hockey games, and most women’s basketball games.

Maturi begins a three-year membership starting July 1 on the NCAA Infractions Committee. Also on the committee is former Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr.

When the Twins open their regular season schedule on April 1 at Target Field against the Tigers the starting pitcher might be Vance Worley, the 25-year-old who was acquired during the offseason from the Phillies. The Twins would enjoy seeing the right-hander repeat his April success of last season with the Phillies — 2-1 with a 1.97 ERA in five starts. The rookie pitcher had a 13 inning scoreless streak during the month and career high 11 strikeouts against the Padres.

The Twins and other major league franchises continue to put an emphasis on foreign-born players. In 2012, according to information in the Twins’ 2013 media guide, the organization had 119 foreign-born players including 50 from the Dominican Republic and 31 from Venezuela. In 2011 the total of foreign-born players was 104.

North American Soccer League commissioner Bill Peterson will be in Minneapolis tomorrow joining new Minnesota Stars owner Bill McGuire for a news conference, along with new team president Nick Rogers and coach Manny Lagos. Peterson will talk about the importance of having pro soccer in the state. The Stars will play five of their homes game this season at the Metrodome with the first on April 6 against San Antonio.

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