Offseason Goldy News and Thoughts

• Scout and Rivals have revealed their top 300 and 250 respectively for the football class of 2010 and the Gophers are off to a good start. Offensive lineman Jimmy Gjere is #161 overall on Rivals and a 4-star and #159 and a 4-star on Scout. Linebacker Konrad Zagzebski is #239 on Scout. Other notables Sentreal Henderson is #1 overall on both lists by a wide margin according to reports. Beau Allen is #247 on Scout.
• With Spring Football approaching the Daily Gopher noted that Brewster has started participating in the irritating fad that is Twitter. Here is his feed. Reading through this Brewster is devolving into just a characticture. Sometimes it is really hard to take him serious with the rah-rah nonsense that comes out of his mouth.
• Speaking of a character babbling non-sense Pat Reusse is at it again. Nothing gets me more annoyed than Pat Reusse taking potshots at the University of Minnesota. I don't know what the University did to him but he clearly hates the U. He writes an article about how every Gopher program this year was mediocre and collapsed and while it is true in some cases, he is stretching and bringing pessimism to a whole new level. He then ranks the disappointments in order of most disappointing.
• He claims the Volleyball team failed because it was ranked 10th nationally and lost at home in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Explain how to me that is a failure. The Washington Basketball team was ranked high and won the Pac-10 this year but lost in the second round in Portland to Purdue. Were they a failure? No, then why would the Volleyball team be one.
• Next is the Women's Hockey team that only won the WCHA crown, was ranked #1 for a lot of the year and lost in the Frozen Four to Mercyhurst. While it is disappointing they could not win, never is a trip to the Frozen Four a failure or a collapse. When it is one and done anything can happen.
• Wrestling came next. They were acknowledged to be in a down year and had a bad year but every powerhouse has a bad year as they finished 7th in the Big Ten tournament. I would take any bet that they will be a lot better next year.
• Then he had the balls to list the Men's Basketball team as a failure or collapse. He uses the excuse that the team was ranked #19 and was mediocre down the stretch. He claims that Damian Johnson regressed in Big Ten play and anyone who actually watched the team knows the opposite is true as he became our best player down the stretch. He doesn't dwell on the fact that this team won 9 games two years ago and still has 4 players from that team contributing. This team met or exceeded any rational expectations for this team heading into the season. I think Reusse would fit right in as a Kentucky Wildcat fan.
• He again thinks the Women's team failed for making the second round of the NCAA and beating a higher seed on its own home court. He was around when the Women were at the bottom and 100 people watched them in the Sports Pavilion and now being one of the top 32 teams isn't good enough.
• He then brings up the Gopher Football "collapse". What always is failed to be mentioned is that the Gophers never beat a bowl team the whole year. They did not collapse they just beat crappy teams early. People thought the Illinois and Purdue wins were impressive but they ended up not to be. The Gopher football team definitely has not been an overnight success but they did improve over 2007 and there is no reason to believe they won't improve on 2008 next year.
• Then finally he brings up the Hockey collapse. While I admit that it was a terrible collapse and this team had way too much talent to miss the NCAA tournament, he took it too far. Here is his quote about the hockey team "Don Lucia again turning his Yankees of college hockey into the St. Paul Saints". I don't even fully get the analogy and to say it is an overeaction is to put it mildly. They finished as the 15th best team in the nation and while they disappointed this year they certainly were not a minor league team.
• I'm sorry for the rant and it is probably hard to follow and read but I hate Reusse and I don't get why he feels necessary to rip the U. If Tubby wins the Big Ten next year, Reusse will either write an article about some old football coach talking about his playing days at Gustavus or he will take the day off and wait until they lose in the tournament and rip the failure of the program.
  

Covering the Bases

• I have always held the contention that I thought the Gophers need to win both home games. With Michigan's surprise win over Purdue, it is a fact now and not a thought. In Lunardi's latest bracketology, Minnesota is the first team out and Michigan is the last team in. We have to go 10-8 in conference or put on quite a show in the Big Ten tournament.
• Trevor Mbakwe has been named the FCAAA Southern Conference Player of the Year. While we have been lilted by other JUCO Player of the Years (Bostick), I am not expecting that to happen with Mbakwe. He isn't great offensively but he should come in and get 8 rebounds a game and 2-3 blocks. We should next year have one of the best interior defenses in the nation.
• Baseball America has an interview with Eric Decker. In it they describe him as one of the premier athletes in the 2009 draft class. In it Decker talks about how he doesn't have a favorite sport. His future is clearly in baseball and I think there is a slight chance he might not suit up for the Gophers in the fall. I think he would love to play his senior season, but if a team comes along and offers a big bonus it may be hard to pass up especially considering the beating he takes in football could hurt his baseball future. It depends on how he plays this year but I think there is at least a 20% chance he leaves. That would crush any hope the football team has for next year.
• Due to frustration with the current Gopher hockey team and because I am a masochistic I thought about what the hockey team would look like this year if no one left early. If you can stomach it here is what the team would look like:

Okposo (Jr.) Kessel (Sr.) Wheeler (Sr.)
Stoa (Jr.) Schroeder (Fr.) Barriball (Jr.)
Hoeffel (Soph.) O'Brien (Jr.) Flynn (Jr.)
Lucia (Jr.) Carman (Jr.) White (Soph.)

Johnson (Jr.) Fairchild (Soph.)
Ness (Fr.) Fischer (Jr.)
Bickel (Soph.) Anderson (Sr.)

Kangas (Soph.)
Frazee (Sr.)

It is safe to say I don't think that team would have trouble getting home ice and making the NCAA tournament.

• It is early but my choice of Danny Valencia as the #1 Twins prospect looks good so far. In two spring training games he is 4-4 with 4 singles and 1 rbi. Wilson Ramos also has showed off his potential by throwing out two Yankees in his only appearance so far. The Twins are 3-0 so far if that means anything.
  

Not the Best Weekend

The Gophers basketball team has lost back to back games and the hockey team has lost 4 in a row and is tumbling down the standings. That said the two teams have very different outlooks from here on.

The basketball team is now 6-5 in the conference in 5th place and will not be ranked next week. It doesn't look good but it isn't that significant. Both games they lost are not upsets. It would have been nice to win one but before the season looking at the schedule you would pick them to lose both games and I did pick them to lose both games. The good news is the schedule sets up very favorably. Only one game (at Illinois) looks hard to win but the rest are very winnable. It looks like they should be able to get to 11-7 fairly easily. They will get a nice bounce back game with 6-16 Indiana coming to the Barn.

The hockey team is in a free fall and needs to turn it around or they might miss the NCAA's. They have lost 4 in a row and have fallen from 1st place in the conference to 6th. I would say the schedule sets up favorably also but they were swept by Mankato so the opponent isn't an issue. The problem is very easy to point to - Alex Kangas. He has a save percentage on the year of 89.8% down from 93% last year. He is 9th in the WCHA in save percentage. The Gophers outplayed Wisconsin in both games and outshot Wisconsin 82-53 on the weekend yet lost both games. I can not remember him stopping a decent scoring chance all weekend. The difference was the Badgers scored on every decent and sometimes not even decent chances. I would look for Kent Patterson to start on Friday and might play both games next weekend. The need the goaltending if they are going to turn it around.

Stats of the Day

• 6-10: Blake Hoffarber from 3 in the Ohio State game. I would like to see him do it in back to back games before I declare him back in business. It was good to see and remember what he can provide for this team.
  
• 84% : Alex Kangas' save percentage in the last four games, all losses
• 36.3%: Paul Carter's shooting percentage for the season second worst on the team. That is not good for someone who plays down low and doesn't even shoot from the outside. He is very athletic and plays with great energy but he needs to improve his shot if he is going to make a serious contribution to this team. We give Damian Johnson a hard time for his ability to shoot but he is shooting 49.4%.
  

Weekend Recap

This week we saw a lot from the Gophers Basketball team. At Iowa, we saw what it looks like when they win ugly, and against Penn State we saw what it looks like when they win pretty with everything clicking. They shot almost doubled their shooting percentage from the Iowa game with 34% to 62.5% against Penn State. Devron Bostick was easily the star of the game with 19 points. Paul Carter also busted out the offense with 14 points. They both had made noticeable improvements in the games leading up to this getting more minutes and looking more comfortable, but no one would have predicted this type of breakout. I agree with the statement made by Myron Medcalf that the development of the two JUCO players is the difference between the Gophers making the tournament and making some noise in the tournament. The lastest AP Poll has the Gophers ranked 18th one spot ahead of Purdue. They have a big test heading to the Kohl Center to take on the Badgers.

I would like to know what Paul Carter's actual height is. He is listed at 6-8 and there is no way that is true. He is defintely smaller than DJ Swat. I think he is likely more around 6-5 than 6-8. Just like it was discovered that Colton Iverson is taller than 6-10 and at least 6-11 maybe 7-0.

If anyone wondered the affect Don Lucia has on the Gophers hockey team those questions were answered this weekend. That was one of the worst weekends of Gophers hockey ever as they were lambasted by North Dakota 6-3 and 6-1. They dropped to #8 in the USA Today Hockey Poll. They looked flat and seemed to have no interest in even competing or playing hockey this weekend. This team still has the talent and time to do some big things this year but they need to discover the fire and drive again and soon. One big problem is when the top line of Schroeder-Stoa-Barriball is in tact the rest of the team takes the game off. Schroeder or Stoa was involved in all four Gopher goals this weekend. Players like Carman, Hoeffel and White are going to need to start pulling their offensive weight if the Gophers are going to be a contender. On a positive note Lucia will be on the ice at practice today and plans to be their all week.

Bert Blyleven missed out on a trip to Cooperstown once again today. He finished fourth with 62.7% of the votes slightly up from 61.9% the previous year. The inductees are Ricky Henderson and Jim Rice. It is only a matter of time before he gets in but it might end up coming down to the Veterans Committee. Twinkie Town makes a good point in that the focus this year was on Ricky Henderson, and that next year with no stellar additions it might be a year they really push for Bert and get him elected to the Hall of Fame. He absoultely deserves to be in the Hall and it is a shame that he is not their already. Anyone who has ever watched a Twins game knows how much it would mean to him to be elected.

Stats of the Day

• 11-15: Devron Bostick shooting in the last three games. That is 73.3%.
• 9.0: Average steals per game for the Gophers. Purdue is second in conference with 7.8.
• 0: The highest +/- for a Gopher forward who has not played on the first line. It belongs to Mike Carman. Stoa is +12, Schroeder is +9 and Barriball is +3.
  

Reflections and Ponderances

• That folks is what it looks like to win ugly in the Big Ten. The Gophers shot 34% from the field but rallied from 13 down to beat Iowa 52-49. I am unable to type this myself so I had my brother write this sentence: Travis Busch was the player of the game. He contributed 10 points including some critical baskets down the edge. It goes to the theory that against nonathletic team Busch is a very solid player but he still brutal when we play teams with real division 1 players.
• That was not what everyone expected out of the National Championship game but the result was what I expected. Florida was able to slow the Oklahoma offense and they struggled to contain Percy Harvin. What the game came down to though was Oklahoma had the ball inside Florida's 10 twice and got 0 points. If they go into half up 21-7 it is an entirely different ball game.
• The Gopher hockey team returns to WCHA action this weekend with a rivalry series at North Dakota. We have the full lineup again as the WJC players return. It will be interesting to see how they play in a very hostile environment without the Don to help. North Dakota has been struggling this year due to a lack of scoring and inconsistent goalie. They have been known for prolific scorers from Parise to Toews to Oshie. Their leading scorers are Brad Miller and Chay Genoway. Not exactly fear-inducing. They are coming off sweeping Bemidji State but only by 4-3 both nights and Saturday's took overtime. The weekend before they lost to Michigan State and Michigan Tech. They always get up for the Gophers and are known for their hot second halves. I think the Gophers will tie Friday night and win on Saturday.
• The Gophers have announced what was seen coming with Kevin Cosgrove becoming the Defensive Coordinator, but with a twist. Ronnie Lee the Defensive Backs coach has been promoted to Co-Defensive Coordinator. This doesn't stir up the excitement in me but neither did the Ted Roof hiring. The problem was that Cosgrove failed in Nebraska and it has been attributed to his lack of defending the spread properly. That doesn't mean he hasn't in his time off figured out how to stop it but that is the future of College Football. I hope for a bigger impact from the Offensive Coordinator who should be announced in the next few days.
  

Stats of the Day

• 4-16: Blake Hoffarber's shooting in three Big Ten games. We will need him to turn it around if the Gophers are going to go places.
• 7: The number of assists by the Gophers team on Thursday night. The team average is 16.9.
• 7-4: The Gophers record at North Dakota since Ralph Englestad Arena opened in 2001. Have won 4 of the last 6 games.