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.