Golden Gophers – Page 399 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Worth Noting

Posted on May 18, 2012May 18, 2012 by David Shama

Maturi said the Gophers will receive a maximum of $300,000 from the Vikings for each of the NFL team’s games played at TCF Bank Stadium. The Gophers will charge rent and receive a share of certain revenues including concessions.

He also said seating expansion of TCF Bank Stadium will include but not necessarily be limited to adding bleacher seats in the west end zone. While the Vikings will be able to play games in the Metrodome during coming seasons, it’s already clear they will sometimes have to host games at TCF Bank Stadium while their new facility is constructed near the dome.

Monster Energy AMA Supercross has booked the Metrodome for April 13, 2013, returning to Minneapolis after a five year absence. The best attended AMA Supercross event at the dome was 60,049 in 1997.

Former Wolves All-Star Kevin Garnett, whose Celtics team leads the Sixers 2-1 in the NBA Eastern Conference playoffs, will be 36 tomorrow.

Ex-Vikings coach Bud Grant, still active with travelling, hunting and fishing, celebrates his 85^th birthday on Sunday.

The Vikings report to training camp for a 47^th consecutive year in Mankato on July 26 with the first team practice the next day. The Vikings will break camp on August 16.

Gophers football players will report for the coming season on August 2 and practice begins August 3. The Gophers open the schedule at UNLV on August 30.

Prep basketball authority Ken Lien emailed that Henry Ellenson, the Rice Lake, Wisconsin high school freshman, was offered a scholarship this week by the Gophers. His older brother, Wally, will be on scholarship as a college freshman this fall for the Gophers.

With this week’s announcement by major league baseball that the 2013 All-Star game will be awarded to the Mets, it sets up further speculation Target Field will host the 2014 game.

Twins rookie shortstop Brian Dozier has only one error in 11 games since his recall from Class AAA Rochester. He’s hitting .298 with two home runs and five RBI.

The Twins projected starting pitchers for the three game series against the Brewers that opens tonight in Milwaukee: Carl Pavano, 2-3, 5.14 ERA; Scott Diamond, 2-0, 0.00 ERA; Jason Marquis, 2-3, 6.68 ERA.

Close followers of the Twins organization will be surprised if super prospect Miguel Sano won’t be playing for Minnesota in two years. Sano, the 19-year-old Beloit Snappers third baseman, leads the Midwest League in home runs with 11.

Canterbury Park opens its live racing season tonight. The Shakopee track will have racing every weekend through Labor Day. Special promotions will include ostrich and camel racing on July 21.

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Saunders Not Sure about College Coaching

Posted on May 16, 2012May 17, 2012 by David Shama

Flip Saunders, let go earlier this year by the Wizards, remains interested in coaching again. He’s had NBA head coaching jobs since 1995 with the Timberwolves, Pistons and Wizards, directing four teams to the conference finals in the last eight years.

Saunders, 57, told Sports Headliners the “right situation, right ownership” could put him back in the NBA. He fondly remembers working for Glen Taylor, using the Timberwolves boss as the kind of owner experience he values.

What about college basketball for Saunders who lives with his family in the Minneapolis area? “I don’t know. My name is always brought up at Minnesota just because I am here,” Saunders said.

“Do I think I would be a good college coach? Yeah, I say that because when I talk to (Michigan State coach) Tom Izzo, Izzo always tells me you’d be unbelievable in college because he sees when (and how) I talk to players, and be able to recruit players and do those type of things.

“Partly coaching, too is a lot (about) having knowledge. When you’ve been an NBA coach and you’ve coached and you’re at 1,500 or 2,000 games, you’ve been through just about every situation.

“Again, it would have to be the right situation (college). You just don’t jump in as far as anywhere. I think right now I am more geared to being a pro coach.”

Saunders played for the Gophers and was later an assistant coach on Minnesota’s 1982 Big Ten championship team. He was also an assistant at Tulsa and coached junior college basketball in Minnesota. Speculation about him coaching the Gophers occurs when rumors start about Minnesota coach Tubby Smith being targeted for other college jobs.

When asked about the Wolves, Saunders believes the franchise’s priority should be to acquire or develop a guard who is a “flat-out shooter.” He also said there’s probably not such a “game changer” on the free agent market this summer and the Wolves may instead need to develop two-year veteran Wesley Johnson, a player who averaged six points per game and made .389 percent of his field goal attempts last season.

Last year the NBA labor dispute delayed training camps and shortened preparations for the season. Not a good thing for young players like Johnson. “You’re hoping Wesley Johnson improves,” Saunders said. “He shows signs. You gotta judge him where he’s going to be after he goes through a training camp with Rick (Adelman). ”

The Wolves missed the playoffs last season and stumbled badly in the closing months after Ricky Rubio was injured. Saunders said the team could improve in the near future but still not make the playoffs. “Who you going to jump over?” he asked and then listed several strong teams in the Western Conference. “They might get better—significantly—and they might be in the same spot they’re in, or maybe move up one or two spots.”

Saunders cautioned about expecting too fast a return to elite performance by Rubio who tore his ACL in the left knee. It’s even too soon to predict when the 21-year-old point guard will play again. Saunders is experienced with players who have severe injuries to their legs and shoulders. “What I usually say is that when a guy comes back and starts playing, you’re going to know how he is a year from that time,” Saunders said.

Last season was Kevin Love’s fourth in the NBA and the Wolves forward established himself among the league’s best players, even finishing sixth in the MVP voting. But Saunders won’t include Love among the league’s five best players yet. Saunders quickly listed Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, then said Dwight Howard is probably his fifth player among the five best.

“I am never going to put a guy in the top five if he’s not in the playoffs,” Saunders said. “I vote guys if their team wins. There has to be something said for winning. No matter what you have to do. What he’s doing (Love) is he’s putting up top five numbers. He’s putting up top 10 numbers. He’s one of the top players in the world.

“When you talk top five, that’s a pretty elite group right now. You’re talking guys that not only are they putting up numbers and that, but their teams are winning and usually winning pretty big.”

Saunders is working with the Celtics as an adviser during the playoffs. He’s reunited with Kevin Garnett who he coached 10 seasons in Minneapolis. He regards the 7-foot Garnett as probably the most versatile player in basketball history.

Because of his association with the Celtics, Saunders wouldn’t predict who will emerge as Eastern Conference champions but he picks the Lakers to win the Western Conference.

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Worth Noting

Posted on May 16, 2012May 16, 2012 by David Shama

Saunders coached the Wolves to the 2004 Western Conference Finals. He also coached the Pistons to three consecutive Eastern Conference Finals. He had an NBA worst 2-15 record when the Wizards fired him last January. “One thing the NBA will do is bring you humility,” he said.

There are no Gophers recruits or Minnesota natives among Rivals.com’s top 150 high school basketball seniors. Listed from Wisconsin and Iowa are No. 13 Sam Dekker, Sheboygan, Wisconsin (college choice: Wisconsin); No. 34 Marcus Paige, Marion, Iowa (North Carolina); No. 45 J.P. Tokoto, Menomonee, Wisconsin (North Carolina); No. 50 Adam Woodbury, Sioux City, Iowa (Iowa); No. 100 Mike Gesell, Sioux City, Iowa (Iowa); No. 118 Phillip Nolan, Milwaukee (Connecticut); and No. 135 Kale Abrahmson, West De Moines, Iowa (Northwestern).

The Gophers are ranked No. 25 in ESPN.com’s preseason top 25 for college basketball teams. Andy Katz predicts the Gophers can be a contender for a “top-four finish in the Big Ten.”

The Gophers play at Florida State on November 27 in the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

The Big Ten looks like a basketball (not football) league in 2012-13. Katz has Indiana No. 1 in the country with No. 5 Michigan, No. 8 Ohio State and No. 9 Michigan State also in his top 10. Meanwhile Sports Illustrated’s online post-spring practice national top 10 lists only two Big Ten football teams, Wisconsin at No. 6 and Michigan State, No. 10.

Third baseman Danny Valencia, demoted by the Twins to Class AAA Rochester last week, is hitting .125 in 16 at bats for the Red Wings.

The Twins play only their fifth game of the season against a Central Division team when they meet the Tigers in Detroit tonight. The Twins, who lost a two-game series to the Indians on Monday and Tuesday, are playing back-to-back series against Central Division teams for the first time this season. Minnesota plays about 50 percent of its remaining 2012 games against division teams.

Vikings All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson talking about wanting to be the best: “It’s just the way I’m wired. I’ve been this way since I was young, since I started playing this game at age seven. I always wanted to be the best at whatever I did, whether it was sprints, lifting, whatever.”

The Tapemark Charity Pro-Am, known as the longest running charity golf event in the Upper Midwest, announced a new Women’s Pro-Am and Women’s Professional Championship earlier this year. The women’s golf will be June 5 and 10, while the annual men’s Pro-Am will take place June 8-10. www.tapemarkgolf.org

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