Media – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

What to Know for Office Pool Bracket & U Run for the Crown

Posted on March 18, 2026March 18, 2026 by David Shama

There is a lot of “noise” out there about predicting the “Big Dance” winner. Why listen to this platform?

Well, I have never been wrong in an office pool. (Full disclosure: Never entered one, either.)

Credibility? I’ve been following college hoops for so long I remember when only the Big Ten champion was allowed to be in the 25-team field.

I recall when the Final Four wasn’t on TV. I listened to static-filled broadcasts from out-of-town radio stations and reception was so bad I often didn’t know the score.

Impressed yet? (Should I mention coaching a ninth-grade basketball team to the Minneapolis city title?)

Now that you’re on board, here we go:

Want a dark horse to emerge at the Final Four? While we learned in Minnesota that not all Pitinos are alike, Rick Pitino’s St. John’s Red Storm just might grind their way to the finals in Indianapolis.

To do that the Storm will have to upset Duke in the East Region. The risk-taking part of my brain says a Final Four of St. John’s, Arizona, Michigan and Florida. The Cinderella Pitinos, with their 73-year-old coach and full court maniacal defensive pressure, could bring the “Big Apple” a national championship before the Knicks can win their first NBA title since 1973.

The cautious side of my cranium says it will be Duke, Arizona, Michigan and Florida in the finals. The boys from the desert, those talented Wildcats from Tucson, win it all!

For support on that assertion, I turn to my friend Jim Dutcher. “They just have been the most consistent team all year,” the former Gopher coach said. “They’ve got great guard play and they’ve got good depth. Very good defensive team. …When they play any of the big teams, they still manage to win.”

What about St. John’s, Dutch? “Yeah, the way they came through and just killed UConn (in the Big East Tournament title game last Saturday). UConn is a good team. They beat them by 20. And, of course, Pitino is a good coach. He’s proven it at every level. …They’ve had a great year and they’re a dangerous team for sure.”

The authoritative Kenpom.com website has Duke, Arizona, Michigan and Florida with the four top net ratings among men’s college teams. The first three are above the gold standard of 35.00, with Florida coming in at 33.79. A team at 35 is expected to outscore an average team by 35 points per 100 possessions.

CBS college basketball guru Clark Kellogg has Purdue in his Final Four. Dutcher doesn’t see the Boilermakers going that far because their “outside shooting” isn’t good enough. He thinks Michigan has the best chance of the Big Ten’s nine tourney teams to make a long run. “It wouldn’t be a great surprise to see Michigan go all the way,” he said.

Wisconsin, a No. 5 seed in the West, has two of the better guards in the nation in Nick Boyd and John Blackwell. Boyd played previously for Dutcher’s son, Brian Dutcher, at San Diego State. The Aztecs made the Final Four in 2023 for the first time ever, but with the impact of NIL money in major college basketball now you can make the odds long of mid-majors causing a big splash in the tournament.

The divide between high majors and mid-majors is that considerable. There are reserves on high major teams earning six-figures, so be wary about picking “have nots” to win much in the tournament. “Money talks,” Jim said.

The Gophers, 15-17 overall and 8-12 in Big Ten regular season games, have accepted an invitation to the College Basketball Crown tournament in Las Vegas starting April 1. Other teams are Colorado, Creighton, Baylor, Oklahoma, Rutgers, Stanford, and West Virginia. The Gophers, No. 77 in Kenpom.com net rating, open against Baylor, No. 49, on April 1, with a 9:30 p.m. Minneapolis tip off time scheduled. The game will be televised by FS1.

In coach Niko Medved’s first season, playing with limited talent and virtually no depth because starters were sidelined with injuries, he far exceeded expectations. The Gophers upset three top 25 teams and in the regular season standings finished ahead of seven other schools in the 18-team Big Ten.

“He did an unbelievable job,” Dutcher said of Medved. “To go into a team (place) like Michigan and take them right down to the final wire. And see some of the other games, they were just unbelievable and had some great upsets.

“But then they lost to some teams like a Rutgers (and) that isn’t that good. So, they just don’t have the depth. But he did an outstanding job. It was good to see upwards of 8,000 people at Williams Arena again.”

What about Minnesota’s fate in the upcoming tournament?

“You can’t win a tournament with a six-player roster,” Dutcher said. “Sometimes five player roster. They just don’t have the depth. They’re capable, as we saw, of beating some really good teams, but you’ve gotta have more depth than they have to make a tournament run.”

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25 Years Calls for Remembering One Special Sports Story

Posted on December 19, 2025December 19, 2025 by David Shama

With calendar year 2025 coming to a close, I am asking what is your favorite Minnesota sports story for the first 25 years of the new millennium?

True, there haven’t been a ton of cherished times on the local sports scene since the year 2000. I once worked for the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce, so God forbid that I label this town as Loserville, but few will argue we excel in disappointing outcomes.

The Vikings haven’t been to the Super Bowl since 1977. The Vikings have almost made the big show several times since then, including 2010 when an overtime loss to the Saints in the NFC championship game spoiled their ambitions. The hero who had more to do with the Vikings getting that far was quarterback Brett Favre whose first season in Minnesota is my favorite story of the millennium.

For years I risked being charged with treason before Favre arrived in Purple Town. His long career and accomplishments with the Packers had my adulation, even though I kept a low profile about it. The Purple Faithful might have hung me in effigy at Winter Park if they had known my secret loyalty.

All that changed with the public, though, in the summer of 2009 when ill will was immediately forgotten by Viking fans and he was embraced like a long-lost son of Bud Grant.

At age 39 and after 16 seasons in Green Bay, and one lost season with the Jets, there had been speculation earlier in the year Favre might retire from the NFL. Nope, the old gunslinger had more football to play and agreed to lead Minnesota—the Packers hated division rival to the west.

On August 18, 2009, he arrived in St. Paul on a private jet. Throngs of media and fans deluged the Vikings training facility in Eden Prairie. Favre’s decision to play for the Vikings was worthy of front-page news and interrupting regularly scheduled TV programming.

The town was buzzing about the former Super Bowl winning quarterback who would be a sure first ballot hall of famer. The three-time NFL MVP changed expectations inside and outside of the locker room. The good old southern boy with the cocky attitude, powerful arm and knack for winning big games had arrived. The fans adored him and teammates responded to his leadership. They also poked fun of his age by putting a rocking chair in the locker room.

Favre and the Vikings had a magical ride in 2009 including the first regular season home game. He threw a miraculous 32-yard touchdown pass to Greg Lewis in the end zone to defeat the 49ers 27-24. The Vikings had trailed 24-20 in the fourth quarter when the 80-yard TD drive started. It ended with Favre’s laser to Lewis to win the game with two seconds remaining.

Upon arrival in Minnesota Favre made it clear his ambitions were the highest possible. His performance backed that up. He threw only seven interceptions, the best of his career as a starting NFL quarterback dating back to 1992. His passing rating of 107.2 was also a career best, and only three previous times did he ever total more than the 33 touchdown passes of the 2009 season.

Favre was the team’s MVP, and his No. 4 jersey was the best-selling that year in the NFL. The Vikings transformed into one of the NFL’s most watched and popular teams.

Minnesota finished 12-4 during the regular season, the team’s best record since 1998 when the Vikings were 15-1.

Brett Favre with former U great and Packer teammate Darrell Thompson

It was an ecstatic experience for Minnesotans to watch this aging quarterback (turned 40 that October) inject life into a struggling franchise and show he could still play some of the best football of his life. His appeal, too, went beyond the field and throwing impossible passes. He came off as a blue-collar country boy with a charismatic personality. Fans knew of his flaws, a struggling past of alcohol and drugs, but that was ignored by the public and no doubt some thought his mistakes made him even more endearing.

In the playoff opener after the regular season, Favre fever rolled on as he threw four touchdown passes in a home beat down of the Cowboys, 34-3. He threw three touchdown passes, had no picks and the defense was ferocious.

A week later in the NFC title game in New Orleans the Saints played like they were crazed —with defensive players diving at Favre’s legs and targeting him with rough antics. It was later confirmed that there was a payoff bounty to players for excessive play in the game and in other games the Saints played.

Favre managed to survive but the Vikings should have been the beneficiary of unnecessary roughness calls. It might well have made a difference in the outcome of a game the Vikings lost 31-28 in overtime.

A lot of Vikings could have played better, including Favre who had two interceptions and a fumble in the game. The superhero, playing in his last playoff game, turned out to be human but what a ride he took the town and franchise on from August of 2009 to late January of 2010!

We witnessed what greatness is all about.

Favre returned for one last season in the NFL and with the Vikings. In 2010 the preseason excitement of Favre playing one more year diminished in the reality of a losing season and declining performance by him as he threw more interceptions than touchdown passes.

But 2010 didn’t throw any shade on the marvelous ride of 2009!

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2025 Hoops Game Failed but Gophers-Tommies Still Teases

Posted on October 14, 2025October 14, 2025 by David Shama

Niko Medved, the new Golden Gophers men’s basketball coach, will put his team on the floor for home exhibition games this Thursday and October 25 against North Dakota State and North Dakota respectively. Back in June Medved quietly offered to have his exhibition schedule include a first ever matchup with St. Thomas at that team’s new home arena.

The Tommies (after leaving Division III) have competed at the Division I level since the fall of 2021 and some basketball fans are intrigued by the idea of the state’s two Division I teams playing each other. Asked by Sports Headliners on Saturday if he would make a future offer on a game with the Tommies, Medved said: “I don’t know. We’ll see. I mean hopefully at some point we will be able to do that.”

This is the first season Division I teams can play each other in exhibition games open to the public. Medved thought it would be “cool” to play the Tommies at their new Lee and Penny Anderson Arena.

The timing wasn’t right for the Tommies, though, who may have been surprised by the proposal. St. Thomas didn’t want the first ever game in the multi-use arena to be an exhibition and had agreed for more than a year to play Army on November 8. The UST women’s team will also play against the Cadets in a historic doubleheader.

Not so subtly, talk of matching up the Minneapolis-based Gophers and St. Paul-based Tommies has gone on for years. Sports Headliners is told Richard Pitino, the Gopher coach from 2013-2021, said he would play the D-III Tommies. Ben Johson, Pitino’s successor and head coach until last March, said no to the potential rivalry game.

At Medved’s introductory news conference in March he was asked about the Tommies. The two schools haven’t played each other in men’s basketball since 1934. He expressed interest in a game then and also noted his friendship with St. Thomas head coach John Tauer.

“I really like John,” Medved said Saturday. “He’s a great guy, a great coach. So, we have a lot of respect for him and what they do.”

From a St. Thomas perspective, where might things be headed for a future meeting between the two schools whose campuses are just a long walk away from each other?

“We’ve said for four years, and we continue to say, we’d love to play the Gophers either in a …game at their place or start a home and home series,” Tauer told Sports Headliners this summer. ”We’d love to play them in a regular season game and our (future) schedule) is wide open.”

Tauer isn’t interested in playing Minnesota in a future exhibition game. Medved isn’t interested at this time in a series of games.

Medved didn’t go into a lot of details, but he said there are many factors impacting Big Ten teams like his that go into the scheduling process. (These can include timing on the calendar, prior commitments with other teams, logistics, and finances.) It’s also no secret that who you play in non-conference games, and whether you win, can make or break an invite to the NCAA Tournament and March Madness. Medved acknowledged you schedule to make the tournament.

The Tommies, who won a Division III title under Tauer in 2016, are the preseason favorite in the Summit League poll to win the conference championship. Last winter the Tommies came within one victory of winning the league’s postseason title. This is the first season the Tommies will be eligible for the NCAA Tournament.

The Gophers are forecast to finish near the bottom of the 18-team Big Ten. Medved is rebuilding after Johnson’s last team missed the NCAA Tournament for a fourth consecutive year.

While the novice fan is intrigued by a Gophers-Tommies matchup, there is much more upside for St. Thomas. A mid-major program, the Tommies could flaunt their resume (including with state recruits) with a win over a team from the Power Four and prestigious Big Ten Conference.

Possible scenarios from a matchup could look like this:

A blow-out Minnesota win? The public conclusion: “What do you expect from a Big Ten team playing at home?”

A narrow Gopher victory? “See the Tommies could have won. They’re just as good as Minnesota.”

A St. Thomas triumph? “The Gophers can’t even beat a good mid-major program.”

It’s well-known among college basketball programs the Tommies are a risky booking and light years from being labeled a patsy by anyone. No Big Ten team is scheduling them this season or has any recent history with St. Thomas. The analytics and intuition tell Big Ten and other schedule makers not to play the Tommies who have talent starting with the head coach who is among the best in the country.

None of this is to say the Gophers are ducking the Tommies. A game at some point appears likely. Medved believes a matchup is a “great way to get everybody talking about local basketball.”

With a season tickets base expected to be similar in size to the 5,500-basketball capacity of the St. Thomas arena, the Gophers likely will play host to the first matchup in 14,625 seat Williams Arena. It’s believed the Tommies, who are challenged to find nonconference road games against prominent foes, would receive about a $100,000 guarantee to play at Williams Arena. The game could generate 2,500 to 5,000 additional single game ticket sales than normal for a home Minnesota nonleague game.

Gopher players, not having to be concerned about anything but competing against opponents, might welcome facing their neighbors. A small sampling of players last week was favorable about a UST game.

“I would love to play St. Thomas,” said B.J. Omot …”We’ll see who really runs the cities. So that would be pretty cool to play them.”

Guard Isaac Asuma is intrigued, too. “I think it’s slowly getting put into motion, so I am ready for it.”

A third native Minnesotan and Gopher, Grayson Grove, is on board. “That’d be really fun. I know a bunch of the St. Thomas guys. Good friends with a bunch of them, so I think it would be really fun to play against them.”

Gophers Notes

Medved’s team, which opens the regular season at home November 3 against Gardner- Webb, allowed fans into Williams Arena last Saturday to watch an intrasquad scrimmage. The team looked well drilled on fundamentals and effort was apparent.

Playing in front of fans may have prompted nervousness. Neither the maroon nor gold team scored until almost five minutes had elapsed. North Carolina transfer Cade Tyson’s two free throws took the goose eggs off the scoreboard.

Tyson played sparingly at Carolina last season after he transferred from Belmont where he averaged 15 points in 61 games. He told Sports Headliners last Friday his confidence “definitely took a hit” at Carolina where he played eight minutes per game.

Tyson, a 6-foot-7 guard-forward who could be the team’s best three-point shooter and scorer, said he’s “grateful” for lessons learned last year after a 2023-2024 season at Belmont where he was second in the nation in three-point conversion percentage at 46.5.

“I feel really good about my shot right now,” he said. “Honestly, I feel like I feel better about my shot when I am not thinking about it, too much. …Just let me go.”

Tyson is one of several mid-level transfers who are part of an almost totally new Gophers roster from last season. Another is Davidson transfer and forward Bobby Durkin who was asked about the low season expectations for Minnesota in the standings.

“I try not to think too much about that,” Durkin said. “Obviously, I saw it (the Big Ten media poll) and I think we’re not too worried about what that says. I think we have the belief in ourselves that if we can become the best that we’re able to, that we’ll have a great season.”

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