Fisch described the Vikings’ Adrian Peterson as the best running back in the league and includes the defense among the NFL’s top five.

ESPN The Magazine’s April 6 issue includes the Gophers among seven potential surprise teams next fall who represent the BCS conferences.  The teams, including the Gophers in the Big Ten, “may bolt up the standings more than any league rival.”

The magazine predicted the surprise team in the Big East will be Syracuse, the Gophers’ opening opponent on September 5 at the Carrier Dome.

Former assistant Gophers basketball coach Jimmy Williams works in Houston with ex-NBA player and coach John Lucas where the two help develop young players.

Don’t be surprised if Tubby Smith’s incoming group of recruits this fall looks different than previously announced.  Neither seniors-to-be Travis Busch and Kevin Payton will return to the Gophers, opening up two scholarships for next season.

Fans voted the 1966 International Falls team and Roseau’s Neal Broten as the greatest team and player in Minnesota high school hockey history.  The 26-0 Broncos won their third straight state title in 1966.  Broten led Roseau to three consecutive state tournaments in the 1970s before winning the Hobey Baker award with the Gophers.  More at Fan Zone on the Minnesota Wild’s Website, www.wild.com.

The results of the NHL Draft Drawing can be watched on VERSUS starting at 7 p.m. CDT tomorrow night.  The drawing determines the first 14 selections for the June NHL Entry Draft.

Xcel Energy Center is the site of tomorrow night’s episode of “Project Xtreme” on DIY Network, airing at 9 p.m. local time. The show, which profiles interesting and demanding jobs that require extreme precision, uses tomorrow night’s segment to report on the conversion process from the Coldplay concert to a Wild hockey game last November. The episode will also be available online at www.diynetwork.com.  Here’s a preview: https://www.xcelenergycenter.com/videoplayer.jsp?IS_PLAY=Y&MM_FILE_ID=110.

Despite Francisco Liriano’s lack of major league experience and history of arm trouble, Twins president Dave St. Peter didn’t express surprise about the Sporting News Magazine’s prediction that the 25-year-old left hander will win the 2009 Cy Young award.

That’s a gutsy call since Liriano has yet to pitch a full season in the majors and never won more than 12 games.  Liriano had a phenomenal rookie season in 2006 and at times was even better than teammate Johan Santana who won the Cy Young award that year.  But before season’s end Liriano injured his elbow and off season surgery for ligament replacement kept him out of baseball in 2007.  Then the 2008 comeback season was characterized by early season frustration, a sentence to the minor leagues and a late season return during which he had a 1.23 ERA in August.

In the Twins opener on Monday Liriano gave up four runs on four hits in seven        innings as part of a 6-1 loss to Seattle.  Although he was the losing pitcher, St. Peter approved of his no walks, three strikeout performance and said the Sporting News prediction is “wonderful recognition for Francisco.”

What are the expectations for Liriano? “We think that he has a chance to be one of the best pitchers in the game,” St. Peter told Sports Headliners. “Certainly a guy who has the stuff.  I think he’s worked very closely with (pitching coach) Rick Anderson to become a better pitcher.  We’re very optimistic. ..  Again, it starts with his health.  I think that’s the thing we’re most excited about is that he’s healthy.  We think he’s 100 percent.  We expect that he’s going to have a big season.”

The surgery has compromised Liriano’s ability to throw consistently in the mid-90s and wisdom dictates he no longer pitch with the violent motion that produced a nasty slider.  But if he’s less a wonder child now, he has become more of a thinker.  “He still has the ability if he needs to throw those devastating sliders,” St. Peter said.  “I think he’s much more of a balanced pitcher in terms of fast ball, change up, slider.  …He’s  learned a lot since his big league debut.  I think he has a chance overall to have a very, very long successful career by just frankly being more balanced and not being so reliant on the slider.”

St. Peter praised Liriano for passing up a chance to play for his native Dominican Republic in this spring’s World Baseball Classic, making a commitment to the Twins a priority. “Francisco is a good man,” St. Peter said.  “He certainly is somebody that we believe we can count on.  We think he has the maturity to do that. …”

St. Peter said the franchise is making plans to honor former third baseman Corey Koskie with an on-field ceremony prior to a game this spring.

He also said details aren’t finalized for the last baseball game ever played in the Metrodome on September 20, but the club plans a celebration with Twins alumni and possibly removing home plate.

Former state senator Dean Johnson, who was a legislative leader for the new Twins’ ball park, believes the Vikings may ultimately accept a renovated Metrodome as the answer to the franchise’s stadium dilemma.  He also told Sports Headliners there might be a special session called later this year to address the stadium issue.

A Wild source who requested anonymity believes the franchise may yet sign Marian Gaborik to a short contract extension.  He said team president Doug Risebrough wants Gaborik here.  The source also said the relationship between Gaborik and coach Jacques Lemaire is okay.  There are knowledgeable observers who don’t believe the 63-year-old coach will return but the source said that after each season Lemaire reviews his situation and this year will be no different.

The Wild, frantically trying to make the playoffs, plays its last home game tomorrow night against Nashville.  A win and another victory on Saturday against Columbus would give the Wild its third straight 40 win-season.  The Wild is 5-0-4 in its last nine home games.

Carlos Gomez saved 16 runs for the Twins last season, the most of any big league center fielder and 20 more than his predecessor, Torii Hunter.  That’s according to last week’s baseball preview issue of Sports Illustrated which included an in-depth article on contemporary defensive statistics.

Referring to a defensive metric by a man named John Dewan, the magazine reported that the 33-year-old Hunter, perhaps once the game’s best center fielder, is average and below average in various defensive aspects.  Hunter, though, didn’t know about Dewan and others who scientifically crunch defensive numbers when interviewed for the article “Baseball’s Next Top Models” and when asked he wasn’t about to rate Gomez ahead of him.

“Dude is quick but he also goes from points A to B to C to D when he should be going A to B,” Hunter told the magazine.  “And he’s too aggressive with his throwing. Just look at his errors. (Gomez had eight).  I had none.  Zero.”