Here’s a prediction on the Gophers’ starting lineup for next season: guards Al Nolen and Devoe Joseph, center Ralph Sampson III, and forwards Blake Hoffarber and Trevor Mbakwe. If Mbakwe isn’t available because of his legal situation, then Rodney Williams starts.
The Gophers host Virginia on Monday, November 29 in the opening game of the 12th annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The other challenge games are November 30 and December 1.
The Gophers haven’t announced their schedule for next season but season ticket holders paid for tickets last month.
Congratulations to Jay Pivec on being named the new men’s basketball coach at Dakota County Technical College. He will be starting the basketball program at the Rosemount-based school after making a national reputation for excellence at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.
“Hiring Jay to lead our new basketball program was the obvious choice,” said Cam Stoltz, DCTC’s athletic coordinator. “He has an unsurpassed track record of mentoring his players and pointing them in the right direction. …”
The University of Minnesota Athletic Department sent out a mass email offering two-game home ticket packages for Gophers football. The Maroon package consists of the South Dakota and Northwestern games while the Gold package offers Northern Illinois and Penn State.
The Big Ten Network will provide live coverage of the news conferences next Monday for all 11 Big Ten football coaches. Programming begins at 9 a.m. Minneapolis time as the network previews the upcoming Big Ten football season.
The Wild might have been able to trade backup goalie Josh Harding during another offseason when there weren’t so many NHL goalies available. But a league source told Sports Headliners the team was interested in keeping Harding, too, to see what kind of a beginning to the season starting goalie Niklas Backstrom experiences.
Harding, 26, played in 25 games last season and had nine wins, the second highest totals of his career. Backstrom, 32, has played better in the past than he did last season.
The 6th annual Cully’s Kids Celebrity Weekend fundraiser held July 16-17 in Fargo generated over $385,000. The Cullen Children’s Foundation was founded in 2003 by Moorhead native and Wild center Matt Cullen. The foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing financial resources to organizations that support children’s healthcare needs.
Concordia University, St. Paul has seven 2010 inductees for its Athletics Hall of Fame. They are: Renae (Brehmer) Fox (women’s basketball), Dennis Hilken (football/baseball/basketball), Scott Hollingsworth (baseball), John Hunter ( football/baseball), David Johnson (baseball), Roger Lind (baseball/football) and Howard Patten (basketball/track & field/golf).