Tubby Smith’sGophers will play Miami in Coral Gables, Florida on Wednesday, December 2 as part of the 11th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge.  Michigan State with a 5-4 record is the only Big Ten team with a winning record in the challenge.  Minnesota and Wisconsin, 4-6, are next best among Big Ten teams while ACC power Duke is 10-0.

This isn’t exactly playoff country.  In the last five years the Twins, Vikings and Wild have made the playoffs twice, the Wolves once.

The record isn’t much better historically, according to Forbes.com.  The Web site recently rated Minneapolis-St. Paul No. 9 among America’s 10 “most miserable sports cities.”  The Forbes criteria: “Our purpose is to identify those cities that have historically led the sports world in the close-but-no-cigar category–good enough to tease their fans with lots of playoff appearances, including Super Bowls, World Series, NBA finals or NHL finals, only to let them down in the end.”  More at  https://www.forbes.com/2009/04/13/americas-most-miserable-sports-cities-business-sports_slide_12.html?thisSpeed=15000.

Harmon Killebrew will host the 6^th Annual Kwik Trip Harmon Killebrew Classic on May 31 and June 1 to benefit the Twins Community Fund and the Miracle League of Minnesota, a charitable organization providing children with mental and/or physical challenges an opportunity to play baseball on a team in an organized league.  More information on dinner, auction and golf at www.harmonkillebrewfoundation.org, or call 612-414-4506.

The Vikings have the 22nd overall pick in the first round of Saturday’s NFL Draft and have six total selections this weekend, including three in the top 86. The first and second rounds will be held on Saturday beginning at 3 p.m. Minneapolis time and ending around 9 p.m. The Vikings are expected to make their first round pick about 6:30 p.m.

The draft concludes Sunday with rounds three through seven and begins at 9 a.m. The time allocated for each selection in the first round will be 10 minutes while the second round will be seven minutes. Teams will have five minutes for each selection in the remaining rounds.  The Vikings have no picks in the fourth and sixth rounds, with two choices in the seventh.

Former Gophers Keith Ballard, Kyle Okposo and Thomas Vanek have been selected to participate in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships in Switzerland April 24-May 10. Ballard, a 26-year-old defenseman with Florida in the NHL, is the most experienced international player on the United States roster, making his fourth appearance in the world championships, including his third straight.  Okposo, 21, has been selected to the U.S. squad for the first time.  He finished second on the New York Islanders in scoring with 18 goals and 21 assists for 39 points, despite missing 17 games due to a mid-season injury.  Vanek, 25, will play for the Austrian team for the third time in his career and first since 2005.  Playing for Buffalo, he led the NHL with 20 power play goals last season and ranked fifth overall with 40 goals scored, despite missing nine games due to injury.

Congratulations to Gustavus men’s tennis coach Steve Wilkinson.  He’s retiring at the end of this school year after 923 wins, a men’s college tennis record.  He coached at Gustavus for 39 years and was also one of the best tennis players to ever play in Minnesota.

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference announced that two students from Concordia University – St. Paul have earned special academic-athletic recognition.   Kirk Ingram is the Dr. William Britton Scholar-Athlete Award winner and Mary Slinger is the Willis R. Kelly Scholar-Athlete Award recipient. The Britton Scholar-Athlete Award for Academic Excellence, in its 25th year, recognizes the NSIC’s top male student-athlete, while the Kelly Scholar-Athlete Award, in its 24th year, is presented to the NSIC’s top female student-athlete.

Comments Welcome

If it was his decision, Dean Dalton might take a cornerback with the No. 22 pick in Saturday’s NFL draft.  The former Vikings’ assistant coach, who will be talking about the draft next Saturday morning on his weekly Sirius Satellite Radio show, said Ohio State’s Malcolm Jenkins or Illinois’ Vontae Davis could be impact corners for Minnesota.

Dalton likes the secondary players on the Vikings’ roster but sees a need in the draft. “They could never have enough corners,” he told Sports Headliners.  “I think a kid with a talent to become a cover corner would be a huge asset to add to the (defensive) package and give (coordinator) Leslie Frazier the ability to really completely use a blitz package. …”

As the defending NFC North champion and likely 2009 playoff contender, Dalton said it’s important for the Vikings to improve themselves in this draft. The first two rounds are where the Vikings must take the best player available, adding impact players to the offense and/or defense.  In the later rounds the goal is to take players who can make the roster and add depth, something that separates teams once they’re in the playoffs, according to Dalton.

“Absolutely. Without a doubt I think in both the first and second rounds, you need to draft strictly the best value, the most talented player by your evaluations,” he said.  “…If you can match a value and a need that’s a perfect world scenario, the perfect storm.”

Dalton described the overall upcoming draft as “unique” because of the depth at a number of positions including offensive tackle, another Vikings need.  He said there’s no agreement on how the first round will go as to who is drafted and when.  “There’s no real natural slotting,” he said.

In addition to cornerback, speculation is the Vikings might draft a right tackle like Eben Britton from Arizona or a wide receiver such as Percy Harvin from Florida on the first round.  The Vikings seem unlikely to pick a quarterback because of their commitment to Tarvaris Jackson, 25, and Sage Rosenfels, 31.  That could also true because Dalton said this isn’t a good draft for quarterbacks.  He said junior eligibles Matthew Stafford from Georgia and Mark Sanchez from USC will go among the first 12 picks but both would have benefited from another year in college.

Comments Welcome

It didn’t take much time for new Gophers offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch to become an admirer of quarterback Adam Weber.  Fisch was hired in January and he told Sports Headliners earlier this month what he thinks of Minnesota’s redshirt junior quarterback who has been a starter for two seasons, set school records and will be on a watch list of the nation’s better quarterbacks in the fall.

How talented is Adam?  “I think Adam is really good,” Fisch said.  “Really good with the potential to get great.  The ability to have him for two (more) years is really exciting.”

All-American?  “Yeah, I think he can,” Fisch said.  “I think Adam can be anything Adam wants to be.  Right now Adam’s want to is enormous.  Right now Adam’s ability to soak up information is awesome, and his effort level is great.  So when Adam continues to work together with me on how to become a great quarterback I think that Adam will become a great quarterback, an NFL quarterback.”

Although Weber had off-season surgery on his left shoulder, coach Tim Brewster told Sports Headliners on Friday that his quarterback has recovered faster than anticipated and will run the first team offense in Saturday’s annual spring game (1:30 p.m. kickoff, University of St. Thomas).   Weber has practiced this spring but has worn a red jersey, meaning nobody hits him.

None of the quarterbacks in the spring game can be tackled, Brewster said.  MarQueis Gray and John Nance, both without college game experience, are the Gophers’ second and third team quarterbacks.

Field goals and kickoffs were a concern going into spring practice because last season’s kicker, Joel Monroe, used up his eligibility.  Brewster said he “couldn’t be more pleased with Eric Ellestad,” a sophomore from Armstrong High School.  He likes the way Ellestad has been responding to pressure on field goals in practice and said his exceptionally strong leg can put kickoffs into the end zone.

Comments Welcome