Golden Gophers – Page 405 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

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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New U A.D. to Start Work Early

Posted on May 9, 2012May 9, 2012 by David Shama

President Eric Kaler told Sports Headliners his new athletic director, Norwood Teague, will begin work in the Gophers athletic department two weeks earlier than planned.

Teague, who was announced as the successor to Joel Maturi in late April, was scheduled to begin duties July 1. Instead, he will be working full-time for the Gophers on June 18.

Teague was able to leave his duties as athletic director at Virginia Commonwealth University earlier than expected. “He’s eager to get going,” Kaler said. “I think Joel is ready to make his transition, so it just seemed like a good thing to do.”

Teague will spend considerable time developing relationships inside and outside Gophers athletics. He is expected to have a vision for University athletics that will include a business plan with major components such as renovation and development of facilities. “I think that sort of vision setting, as he gets a chance to settle in, will be an important part of his first year work plan,” Kaler said.

Kaler also said that after two months searching for a new athletic director Teague was definitely the person he wanted to hire. “He was absolutely our first choice,” he said.

Sports Headliners asked Kaler to clarify if a long anticipated contract extension for basketball coach Tubby Smith was certain. “The correct takeaway is that we’re in negotiations with Tubby about a possible extension,” Kaler said.

Kaler also said “his own personal prejudice” is to renovate Williams Arena when the time is right rather than replace the 84-year-old building. “It’s such an iconic building. That building holds so many memories for so many people I would really like that we wouldn’t tear it down. …We don’t have anything immediately going on with it. It will be one of the many things that Norwood will have to dig into when he arrives.”

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Worth Noting

Posted on May 4, 2012May 4, 2012 by David Shama

Adam Weber said he’s being given an equal opportunity in Denver to demonstrate his value as a backup quarterback to Peyton Manning. The former Gophers quarterback is starting his second season with the Broncos and is confident in his abilities.

“I do know what I am doing,” Weber told Sports Headliners when asked to describe his strengths. “I am a smart quarterback, can move the ball and create plays when they break down. I am trying to be the best I can be.”

Weber, who signed last season with Denver as a free agent, worked while in college at a passing camp headlined by Manning. He describes Manning as one of the first players to practice, last to leave, and a “good person.”

Weber said that with Manning’s pass-first approach and determination to throw long, this could be a “big season” for former Gophers wide receiver Eric Decker. This will be Manning’s first season with Denver and Decker’s third. “I think all the wide receivers are excited,” Weber said.

Peyton’s brother, quarterback Eli Manning of the Super Bowl champion Giants, hosts NBC TV’s Saturday Night Live this Saturday night. Peyton has also hosted SNL.

Sports industry experts might be startled by the lack of knowledge some Minnesota legislators have displayed during the Vikings stadium debate this spring. What’s also alarming is you can be certain some legislators aren’t too savvy on other issues that also involve policy making.

Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners he understands his replacement, Norwood Teague, will be on campus for a “couple of visits” before taking over full time in early July. Teague’s pre-July work is expected to include meetings with Maturi and Gophers associate athletic directors, and also major donors and backers of the program.

Maturi said he has no announcement yet on a major Gophers home basketball game for the 2012 nonconference season. Nor is there any final word on coach Tubby Smith’s possible contract extension. “You know as much as I do,” Maturi said.

In a group email sent by Maturi this week to Gophers supporters, he reported that 413 Gophers student-athletes have been honored for maintaining a 3.0 cumulative GPA during their careers.

If you keep a Big Ten football calendar, circle Saturday, September 1 for the game in Arlington, Texas between defending national champion Alabama and Michigan. Other Big Ten nonconference games that day include Boise State at Michigan State, and Iowa at Northern Illinois (Soldier Field, Chicago). The Gophers open their schedule on August 30 at UNLV.

The Big Ten has announced kickoff times for two of the Gophers conference games. The September 29 game at Iowa starts at 11 a.m. Minneapolis time. The October 13 game at home against Northwestern also begins at 11 a.m.

The Twins have the No. 2 pick in next month’s MLB amateur draft. Mark Appel, a junior pitcher at Stanford, has to be one of the prospects the Twins have under review. He’s 6-1 this year with a 2.73 ERA and struck out 81 batters in 79 innings.

Not only do the Twins have the worst record in Major League Baseball at 6-18 but their Rochester Triple-A farm team is off to a slow start at 10-16.

Second baseman Tsuyoshi Nishioka continues to struggle at Rochester hitting .203 with no home runs and three RBI. Joe Benson, considered one of the organization’s better outfield prospects, is hitting .186. Starting pitcher Scott Diamond is 4-1 with a 2.84 ERA. He’s tied for the league lead in wins.

Drew Butera, who the Twins recalled from Rochester this week, led all Twins catchers in games caught last year, 93. He threw out 20 base stealers last season, ninth most in the American League.

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