Marilyn Dutcher, wife of former Gophers basketball coach Jim Dutcher, passed away on Monday.  Condolences to the Dutcher family.  https://www.edenprairienews.com/news/deaths/funeral-notice-marilyn-r-dutcher-108

Twins home attendance has increased a major league best 37.1 percent through August, according to MLB.com’s Baseball Daily News.  The Twins, playing their first season at Target Field, averaged 100.6 percent of capacity through games ending August 31.

The Twins won 18 games in August, the most in the American League.  More of the same in September might enable them to finish with the best overall record in the league and earn home field advantage in the playoffs.  The Twins will need that kind of edge against better teams like the Yankees and Rays.

Among the reasons the Twins have to be thinking about bringing back 40-year-old Jim Thome next season is he’s hitting .280 (7-25) as a pinch-hitter.

Twins third baseman Danny Valencia is hitting .446 in games at Target Field.  He has hit safely in 24 of 28 games there during his rookie season.

Although St. John’s has won the last three MIAC titles and been the conference’s marquee football name for decades, it’s St. Thomas that received the most votes from league coaches in a preseason poll. The Tommies received seven of nine first place votes and 63 total points to lead the preseason poll followed by Saint John’s, Bethel, Concordia (Moorhead), St. Olaf, Gustavus Adolphus, Augsburg, Carleton and Hamline.

St. Thomas third-year coach Glenn Caruso has three All-Americans back from last year including wide receiver Fritz Waldvogel, the MIAC’s 2009 MVP.  The others are center Josh Ostrue and running back Ben Wartman.

 

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The journey to the Gophers best basketball season in more than a decade might begin tomorrow night in British Columbia when Minnesota plays the first of three late summer exhibition games.

Last season the Gophers were 21-14 overall, 9-9 during the Big Ten season, and won three of four in the conference tournament to earn their way into the NCAA tourney for a second consecutive year under coach Tubby Smith.  Off-season news included the transfers of guard Justin Cobbs and forwards Paul Carter and Royce White to other schools but the return of two talented ineligible players last winter has shifted momentum to the positive for 2010-11.

Senior point guard Al Nolen and junior power forward Trevor Mbakwe have skills that are the envy of many college players.  Nolen’s on-the-ball defense could make him one of the nation’s leaders in steals, while Mbakwe brings shot blocking, interior defense and rebounding that will draw attention next winter.

A long time ago legendary Marquette coach Al McGuire said: “You win with your seniors.”  The Gophers are likely to have two senior starters in Nolen, 21, and forward Blake Hoffarber, 22.  Mbakwe, a junior college transfer who started his post-high school career at Marquette, is 21 and a mature player.  Nolen was a regular last season before becoming academically ineligible and along with Hoffarber, junior guard Devoe Joseph and junior centers Ralph Sampson III and Colton Iverson, the Gophers have five experienced players who have been starters at Minnesota.

Smith spoke about experience recently on the Gophers website.  “We’ve got a good nucleus of veteran players that I think can compete with anybody in the country,” he said in a web interview. https://www.gophersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8400&ATCLID=204980619

The Gophers haven’t won an NCAA tournament game since the 1997 team went to the Final Four.  The 2010-11 team will be experienced and accomplished defensively.  Smith said in the web interview he will be looking for improved rebounding and passing on the trip to Canada.  The Gophers have games tomorrow night, Friday evening and Sunday against Canadian university teams.

The NCAA allows a program to make a foreign trip every four years and the Gophers have been given 10 days of practice they otherwise wouldn’t have received in the summer.  The three games, along with the practices, are a bonus for a team that could be headed for a big season.

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In April, the NCAA changed a rule regarding foreign trips to allow incoming freshmen to participate.  Minnesota has eight new players on its 2010-11 roster, six of whom will be making the trip to Vancouver, British Columbia: guards Maverick Ahanmisi, Austin Hollins and Eric Stark, forwards Trevor Mbakwe and Mo Walker and center Elliott Eliason.

After the Canadian trip, the Gophers don’t play again until they have home exhibitions November 2 and 8 against Northeastern State and Winona State.

Former Timberwolves player and front office executive Fred Hoiberg is making national news with four transfers coming into his program as the new basketball coach at Iowa State.  Those transfers not only include former Gopher and Minnesota Mr. Basketball Royce White, but also ex-Michigan State starter Chris Allen.  Both White, a forward, and Allen, a shooting guard, are considered pro prospects.

Here’s what you can believe about a proposed new stadium for the Vikings: the facility is unlikely to have a retractable roof because that adds about $200 million to the total cost of an open air stadium.  But a fixed roof stadium would be less expensive than a retractable roof and will satisfy the Vikings and also serve the community as a venue for other spectator attractions like a Final Four, and offer a site for amateur events and recreational activities.

It has been proposed in the past that the Vikings owners be responsible for about $222 million of the cost but in the coming legislative process that figure is likely to be negotiated up.  There is more political interest in making the stadium a reality than in the past and given the franchise’s enormous popularity it’s a big political risk for any of the three gubernatorial candidates to oppose legislation for the facility.

Determining the public funding will be controversial and various ideas are likely to be offered including a seven county metro area lodging surtax.  The stadium site seems almost certain to be where Mall of America Field is now.

It will be interesting to see if the Vikings are improved at catching passes tomorrow night in their final preseason game.  Last Saturday night there were too many balls thrown by quarterback Brett Favre that should have been caught.  That raised questions about whether this team has one or two high quality receivers who offer the speed and exceptional catching ability that’s missing with best receiver Sidney Rice sidelined for perhaps half the season.  As for running the ball, in three preseason games the Vikings have rushed for 101.3 yards per game.

Denver will be the opponent tomorrow night at Mall of America Field with a roster that includes former Gopher wide receiver Eric Decker who has caught six passes for 69 yards and one touchdown in preseason.

The Vikings and other NFL teams must reduce their rosters to the season limit of 53 on Saturday.

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