Gopher Sports 2007-08 Recap

Chances are pretty good that if you read this blog then you are already aware how the football, basketball and hockey teams fared this year. (Ugly, improved, disappointing in case you didn't know). But lets take a moment to recap all of the 23 Golden Gopher sports...

Big Ten Champions
Women's Cross Country
Women's Swimming and Diving
Women's Indoor Track & Field

I guess it was a better year for the women's side of the athletic department but here is a brief sport-by-sport run down.

Fall Sports

Football (1-11) - Tim Brewster's first season was highlited by his recruiting class while we suffered through a season as bad as any in memory. The football team has received enough coverage so we'll leave well enough alone.

Volleyball (18-13) - 11-9 which was good enough to be tied for third in the Big Ten. A streaky season for the Golden Gophers who started out 12-3, went on a seven game losing streak, split their next two and then finished the conference season winning five of their last six. Minnesota was the only team in the country to face all four participants of the Final Four (Cal, Stanford and the National Champs from Penn State). Heading into next year we return two very talented freshmen (Brook Dieter and Lauren Gibbemeyer) and currently sit as the 9th winningest volleyball program in the country.

W Cross Country (finished 12th at NCAA Championships) - Big Ten Champs (five runners in top 17) and NCAA Midwest Region Champs highlited a rather successful season for the women runners. SO-Jamie Cheever was the highest finisher at the NCAA meet finishing 33rd overall. We do return six of our top seven runners so 2008 could be another highly successful season for the women long distance runners.

M Cross Country (finished 8th at NCAA Championships) - JR-Chris Rombaugh finished 29th and FR-Hassan Mean finished 43rd to lead the Gophers. Mead and Rombaugh finished 2nd and 4th respectively in the Big Ten Championships as the Gophers finished 2nd to Wisconsin. We return three of the top five runners for next year.

Women's Soccer (9-8-2) - The season was nothing special but did manage to pull off the biggest upset in the program's history when the Gopher women knocked off nationally ranked (#8) Penn State 1-0 in double OT. The team finished 6th in conference and lost to Illinois in the first round of the B10 Tourney. With their sophomore and freshmen classes ranking top 50 nationally when they were recruited, it would appear that the next couple seasons could be improved.

Winter Sports

Men's Basketball (20-14) - again well chronicled on this particular blog. Much improved, incredible recruiting class and some new coach who given time just might make a name for himself.

Women's Basketball (20-12) - 11-7 was good enough for 3rd in the Big Ten. More importantly the women earned a their 5th bid into the NCAA Tournament in coach Pam Borton's six seasons. They return their best player in cup stacking champion, PG, Emily Fox who earned First team All-Big Ten honors in her junior season.

Men's Gymnastics - finished 5th (out of 6) in Big Ten Championships. SR-Mitchel Mays claimed an individual title on the vault. Mays was actually the heavy favorite to win an NCAA title on the vault but he "landed short on his Tsukahara double pike for a score of 15.625 and an eighth-place finish."

Women's Gymnastics - finished 6th in Big Ten Championships, but managed to finish the season with a #16 national ranking. Apparently the Big Ten was loaded as seven teams finished in the top 30 (6 in top 20).

Men's Hockey (19-17-9) - a disappointing season as the Gophers began the season with hopes of a Frozen four appearance but reality brought them down to a 9-12-7 WCHA record (7th place). Freshman Goalie, Alex Kangas, went on an unbelievable run during the WCHA tournament and Minnesota fell just short of their 15th conference tournament championship. The Gophers did manage an at large bid into the NCAA's but lost in their first round match up at Boston College.

Women's Hockey (27-7-4) - a more successful regular season than the men ended in much the same fashion. After finishing 2nd in the WCHA to Wisconsin, the Gopher women advanced to the championship game but lost to Wisconsin. They did of course make the NCAA tournament and were given the opportunity to avenge their previous 3 losses to Wisconsin but once again they lost to the Badgers to end the Gopher season.

Men's Swimming and Diving (3rd in Big Ten) - continued their streak of a Big Ten top 3 finish each and every season since 1989. The men scored more points this year in the NCAAs than they did a year ago when they finished 10th, but the added points this year were enough to garner an 11th place finish.

Women's Swimming and Diving (Big Ten Champs) - setting 14 team records and five events the women swimmers (and divers) won their third conference championship. The women continued their successful season and went on to finish 13th at the NCAA meet. Jillian Tyler earned Big Ten freshman of the year.

Wrestling - The Gopher grapplers followed up their 2007 National Championship season with their worst finish in the NCAA meet since 1996 finishing 10th. Not so bad, right? But when you have standards set as high as the Gophers', who have finished top 3 in nine of the last 11 seasons, 10th isn't exactly something to write home about. Second in the Big Ten, their best wrestler returning and the nation's top recruiting class on it's way there is no reason to believe the Gophers will not be back to their usual top three finish.

Spring

Baseball (20-35) - the baseball team is likely the biggest disappointment of the Minnesota athletic department. A decent showing in the non-conference season beating Tulane, Pepperdine and Missouri (all NCAA Tourney participants) turned out to be fools gold as the Gophers struggled mightily and finished last in the Big Ten. I'm planning to cover this in more detail soon, but it was their worst season since 1950. A very young pitching staff and much of their lineup potentially returning (depending on draftee decisions) should mean the Gophers will return to the top of the Big Ten soon.

Softball (29-16) - 4th place finish in the Big Ten. This was the highest Big Ten finish since 1999 and with only four seniors on the team 2009 could be a very successful season for the softball team.

Rowing - With the finest facilities around and a breakthrough season in 207, the women's rowing team finished 4th at the Big Ten Championships and 6th in the Central Region.

Men's Tennis (7-17) - 16 of their 17 losses came to ranked opponents and this young squad finished 4-6 in the Big Ten to cap their season. They will return 3 of their top 4 singles players and should be in fine shape to return to the NCAA tournament where they have been 13 of the last 15 years.

Women's Tennis (15-11) - a winning season and much of their roster returning this may have been a learning season. #1 singles was freshman Alessandra Ferrazzi from Brescia, Italy who will anchor the team in the next few seasons. Looking at the roster you see that the women's tennis team hails from exotic locations all over the world as Italy, Russia, Brazil, Australia and Neenah, Wisconsin are all represented. Bonus points to anyone who is actually reading this and can guess which of those locations I have actually been to.

Men's Track & Field - 5th place in Big Ten Indoor and Outdoor Championships. The premier outdoor event, the 100m, was won by a Gopher for just the second time as Ibrahim Kabia established himself as the fastest man in the Big Ten (would have been 8th in SEC for those of you keeping track). Three other men won individual titles. Five Gophers will participate in the NCAA Meet (June 11-15 in Des Moines, IA). All five are underclassmen.

Women's Track & Field - This may be the most successful team in Gopher athletics this season. Big Ten Indoor Champs and 3rd place in Outdoor Championships. Eight individuals will be participating in the NCAA Meet next week.

Men's Golf - Big Ten runner ups to Michigan State with two golfers finishing in the top 10. JR-Victor Almstrom finished tied for 5th and SR-Clayton Rask finished 10th. Like several other sports this team was young and will return four of their top five golfers. Rask and Almstrom also participated in the NCAA Central Region Tournament finishing 11th and 41st respectively.

Women's Golf - While young squads has been a theme here, the women's golf team is the youngest of them all. The Gopher women finished 8th in the Big Ten (shooting their second lowest B10 score in team history) and the team was led by two freshman. Teresa Puga finished sixth individually at the Big Ten Tourney and Mary Narsizi finished 23rd. Essentially the entire roster returns (one senior who was not usually within the top 5), while this does not guarantee success they will have every opportunity to improve.

That covers all 23 sports that you can support in Gopher Athletics. As a group the University of Minnesota athletics finished 22nd nationally in the NACDA Director's Cup Standings. I do not believe that all of the spring sports are included in the most recent rankings so I would expect a little drop depending on how well our track athletes perform. A year ago we finished 20th but with the poor showing by football and baseball, coupled with slightly down years in hockey and wrestling the drop cannot be all that unexpected. How Notre Dame could even think about hiring away an athletic director from a team not in the top 20 of the Director's Cup Standings is beyond me.

Directors Cup Standings
Big Ten Teams
2	Michigan
3	Ohio State
4	Penn State
18	Wisconsin
22	Minnesota
23	Purdue
25	Michigan St.
29	Illinois
30	Indiana
32	Northwestern
50	Iowa

Take that Iowa!

Gopher Baseball wins DQ Classic

Over the weekend the Gophers won their first DQ Classic since 2004. Minnesota finished 2-1 and was one strike away from going undefeated against some very good competition. Those who follow college baseball more closely than I do figured the Gophers had a chance to maybe win a game. Winning two or even winning the Classic was unreachable but John Anderson's Gophers took the momentum from their Tulane victory and defeated Pepperdine to win the tourney.

Friday Game 1
TCU - 7
Minn - 4
Box Score

Minnesota had a 1 run lead in the bottom of the ninth but gave up the tying run eventually to lose in the 12th. Heading into the tourney this appeared to be the most winable game of the three but the game was lost late and dropped the Gophers to 0-4 on the season.

Saturday Game 2
#18 Tulane - 5
Minnesota - 7
Box Score

I was fortunate enough to attend this game. Tulane was a solid team that had capable hitters throughout the lineup. I was planning on being able to head home early since Minnesota was 0-4 (getting killed by #4 Ole Miss) and Tulane is a top 20 team with aspirations of making the College World Series.

The Gophers had their chances getting guys on base early in most of the innings. But a couple pick offs and a general inability to get runners moved over killed their chances to put up that big inning.

Tulane got six solid innings from starter Aaron Loup who gave up 4 hits, 2 runs and 6 strikeouts. But the bullpen didn't fare as well and that was when Minnesota pounced. Josh Zeid entered in the 7th inning giving up one run and working out of a jam. The 8th is when it all fell apart. Zeid was unable to get an out facing three batters then Preston Clairborne came into face three batters as well but also was unable to record an out. Nick Pepitone was the third pitcher of the inning and got the big outs, but the damage was done.

On the flip side, Minnesota's inexperienced bullpen pitched great in the last 4 2/3 innings giving up 1 run, 3 hits and 6 strikeouts.

Freshman Mike Kvasnicka hit his first collegiate HR when he tied the game with a 2-run blast in the 8th.

CF - Matt Nohelty was 2/5 with 3 RBIs
LF - Eric Decker was a late inning PH and finished 1/1 with a walk and 2 runs scored.


Sunday Game 3
#30 Pepperdine - 2
Minnesota - 5
Box Score

I think most fans would have been pleased with the Tulane win, but the Gophers had their sights on actually winning their own tournament. Pepperdine is a solid club with some very strong hitters in the middle of their lineup. But starter Dustin Brabender combined with freshman Phil Isaksson (and 2/3 of an inning from Scott Fern) to give up only 4 hits, 2 runs with 8 strikeouts and Minnesota beat their second nationally recognized program in as many games.

Pepperdine has been picked to finish second in the West Coast Conference and will very likely be an NCAA Tournament team with a legit shot at the College World Series. Minnesota was fortunate to not have to face preseason All-American pitcher Brett Hunter, but this was a great win none the less.

Additional Thoughts...

** Eric Decker (#30 pictured below) was a difference maker in Saturday's win over Tulane. It is my opinion that once he gets some at bats and his timing down Decker will be our everyday LF.

** I think we have a future stud in Mike Kvasnicka (#9 pictured below). The kid hits the ball hard, but is clearly adjusting to collegiate pitching. The fact that he can play RF and C is a huge plus and will ensure him many innings this season. Kvasnicka had four RBIs and two home runs this weekend, one from each side of the plate.

** While the starting pitching is OK, the bullpen has been very impressive (and they are YOUNG).

• Phil Isaksson - true freshman. 4 Ks, 3.2 innings, no hits, no runs vs. Pepperdine. Retired 9 straight batters.
• Chauncy Handran - JUCO transfer, throws HARD. 4 Ks, 2.2 innings, 1 run allowed
• Seth Rosin - freshman looked impressive in his save vs. Tulane
• Scott Matyas - freshman putting up good numbers all year

There are more but those kids have stood out to me

** Positions that are locked down. Currently 3B, SS, 2B and CF are solidified by guys who will start nearly every game.

** Positions waiting to be earned. 1B, LF, RF and C are all kind of platoon positions. I think by the time we hit Big Ten play Decker will lock down LF and Kvasnicka will own RF to give the entire lineup more stability.

** CF-Matt Nohelty was tournament MVP as he hit .467 with 5 RBIs.

** The wins over Tulane and Pepperdine should go a long towards an NCAA Tournament at large bid. Getting killed by Ole Miss was bad, but beating two teams who will likely be participants in the NCAAs will be huge.

Photos from my trip to the DQ Classic.






















If you get a chance to go watch the Gophers play, I highly recommend it. I have never been to a college baseball game and I am here to report that it is a lot of fun. You are close to the action and you watch players who really enjoy what they are doing.

Dairy Queen Baseball Classic

Friday afternoon will begin this year's Dairy Queen Classic. The Gopher baseball team annually hosts this nationally competitive tournament in the Metrodome. This year's talent is as good as it gets. (And stay tuned as I tie the Dairy Queen Classic to Pamela Anderson.)

Pepperdine
TCU
#18-Tulane
Minnesota

All but Tulane were NCAA Tournament participants a year ago and they are undefeated this season and #18 in the Baseball America poll. Pepperdine is ranked in some polls and TCU is among the teams on the verge of being ranked. Since my knowledge of Gopher baseball is limited at best and I know even less about the participating teams, I have called a new friend to Gopher Nation. Brian at the College Baseball Blog was kind enough to give us a little insight into the participating teams and a little about the Gopher's chances this year.

1. Before we get to looking ahead let's look back. Minnesota walked into what we all knew would be a tough 3-game series with #4 Mississippi, but I don't think anybody expected it to be quite as bad as it was (losing a combined 45-10). How good is Mississippi and should this series really be used as an accurate barometer?

tCBB - Ole Miss is picked to finish by the coaches of the SEC to grab the Western Division title over Mississippi State. Lance Lynn is one of the top pitchers in the nation in 2008 and should be a first round pick barring any major injuries. The results should be looked at by Gopher baseball fans as a barometer that this team needs to step up their game to be a National contender again.

2. Now let's just pretend that series didn't happen. Coming into the lion's den that is the HHH Metrodome are three very good teams. #30-Pepperdine, TCU were both NCAA Tournament teams a year ago and #18-Tulane is having a very good season. The first question is, can Minnesota get a win out of this weekend?

tCBB - Minnesota can always get a win out of this weekend as they can catch a pitcher on an off-day or just hit great on that day. It is baseball and anything can happen. Do I expect them to sweep those three schools? Absolutely not and would be surprised if they won 2 games in the tourney.

3. If fans head down to the Dome to watch some quality college baseball who are some players that we should pay attention to for the visiting teams?

tCBB - The best player in the tournament this weekend is Brett Hunter out of Pepperdine. He is a 6-4 right handed pitcher who has been throwing high 90's during spring workouts and should be a contender for National Pitcher of the Year awards. He is the real deal and when he is expected to start is a must see for the Gopher fans even if the Gophers are not playing in that game. TCU is expected to continue to dominate the Mountain West conference and Tulane has become a national power in Conference USA. TCU is coming off a series against Cal-State Fullerton in which they lost 2 out of 3 but picked up a victory on Tuesday over Dallas Baptist University to even their record at 2-2. Tulane enters with a perfect 4-0 record with a 3 game sweep over UIC and a single game victory over SE Louisiana.

4. As Minnesota gets into the Big Ten season, where do you see them finishing? Can they compete with Michigan or is it a fight for second place?

tCBB - Second place for Minnesota? I don't think so. I see Minnesota in a battle for third place in the Big Ten. Ohio State and Michigan are on a separate tier when compared to the rest of the conference. Ohio State had one of the best recruiting classes in the country in the last few years and the student athletes are starting to get involved in the everyday lineup. Purdue went down to Baylor and gave them a run for the money with three straight one run games.

5. Based on your expertise, is this an NCAA Tournament team? Would a second place Big Ten finish and an 8th consecutive appearance in the B10 Tourney title game be enough to get them into the Field?

tCBB - This Minnesota team is about a year away from competing for a conference title. Michigan just played the Mets on Tuesday where they tied 4-4. We don't even have to bring up the fact that Michigan qualified for a Super Regional last year and Ohio State had an excellent team which qualified for the Texas AM Regional.

6. I know the staff at The College Baseball Blog get out and see a lot of games throughout the season, can we expect to see you visiting Seibert Field? Maybe May 9-11 when we host Michigan?

tCBB - I would love to come out for that series but we are trying to develop some great advertising on my site to make this a full-time job for me. I will see what I can do about making that big series in frigid Minnesota.

----------

** If that isn't enough to get you to go, there is a chance that you may catch a Pamela Anderson sighting at the Dome this weekend. You read it right, apparently Pam is a huge supporter of the Waves.

** What I want to know is why did we invite TCU? We have the Waves of Pepperdine, the Green Wave from Tulane and then the Horned Frogs? No, no, no, we should cancel their flight and bring in Florida Atlantic and the Blue Wave! Now THAT would have made for a tournament.

** HERE is the GopherSports.com preview of the participating teams.

** To get your Tulane fix, check out Wave Sports.

** Finally, I'd like to make a motion that the tournament be moved to Pepperdine. The Barn is cool, the Dome is functional, but playing baseball with palm trees just beyond the fences and a view of the Pacific in left field? Wow!

I think I broke my ERA Coach

Gopher baseball post #2.

Gopher have lost two straight to #4 Ole Miss, which isn't surprising but game 1 and game 2 have been brutal.

Game 1
Minnesota - 1
Ole Miss - 8

** 21 gopher batters struck out including the first 8 batters.
** freshman Mike Kvasnicka with the Gopher's only RBI

Game 2
Minnesota - 5
Ole Miss - 22

** 22 runs given up requires no further notes. There were 4 errors so ONLY 17 of those runs were earned.
** McCallum 2 hits and Nohelty with 2 stolen bases.

Game 3 on Sunday

** we've got'em right where we want 'em.
** coming into game 3, MN team ERA is 12.38

This isn't unexpected as Ole Miss is VERY good. How good? Well I don't have any clue but they are ranked #4 and that means something. Giving up 22 runs is alarming but there is no need to get carried away here.

There were some position battles heading into the season and I'm going to assume the game 1 lineup should be your typical line up

(line up changes from game 2 in parenthesis)

1. Nohelty - CF
2. Chlan - 2B
3. McCallum - SS
4. Hanson - 3B
5. DeSmidt - DH (Handran in game 2)
6. Knudsen - C
7. Kvasnicka - RF
8. Hummel - LF (Decker in game 2)
9. Steidel - 1B (Maciej in game 2)

Game 1 SP - Buske
Game 2 SP - Carr

Gopher Baseball - 2008

Gopher baseball does not get the recognition it deserves in this market. They are a classic example of how U of M programs can get left in the shadow of the four major pro teams in this market. But what coach John Anderson has quietly done is maintain what has been consistently a Big Ten power for decades. The fact that the Gophers have been a participant in the Big Ten Championship game for seven consecutive seasons is incredible. Even after seasons finishing 6th or 4th, they still manage to make their way into the championship game every year.

After a 41 win season the Gophers are looking to continue to keep pace in the Big Ten. Michigan is the unanimous favorite to win the conference. After that Minnesota will be one of the teams battling for second.

The Gophers return the bulk of their infield and much of their starting pitching. What they lost was most of their OF, 1B, C and their bullpen. Here is an educated guess at the lineup.

Position Players - the line up consists of 3 rock solid players who will vie for All Big Ten awards (SS, 3B, CF), 2 experienced seniors (C, 2B) and then a handful of position battles with question marks.

C - Jeff DeSmidt (Sr) - made 27 starts last season while backing up senior Kevin Carlson. DeSmidt will be a solid back stop, Kyle Knudson should get plenty of time as well spelling DeSmidt.

1B - Tom Steidl (Sr) - this position will be a battle between Steidl and Joe Maciej (Sr). Both players played sparingly last season. As last season ended this position looked to be in good hands with junior Bryan Jost expected back, but he was drafted by the Cubs and is no longer a Golden Gopher. Maciej was a successful hitter in his first couple seasons, but was given only 11 at bats as a junior. Neither player should get Gopher Nation too excited but it will be manned by experience.

2B - Jeremy Chlan (Sr) - very good fielder who adds speed when he gets on base. Chlan had a game winning RBI in the Big Ten tournament last season sending the Gophers to the championship game.

SS - Derek McCallum (So) - played 2B primarily as a freshman but moves to SS with the departure of Dan Lyons. McCallum batted .340 as a freshman and will be one of the key players for this year's Gophers.

3B - Nate Hanson (Jr) - Hanson (pictured right) is probably the Gopher's best player and a returning All Big Ten player. As a sophomore Hanson hit .330, 10 HRs, 50 RBIs. The 10 HRs was the most by a Gopher since 2004, he will be a starter in nearly every game batting cleanup.

CF - Matt Nohelty (Jr) - leadoff hitter, very good fielder and is an anchor on this team (along with Hanson and McCallum). Nohelty batted .367 as leadoff and led the team with 24 stolen bases.

LF - Jeff Engle (Sr) - this will be another position battle, but Engle is the likely candidate. Engle transfered from Iowa and took a redshirt year last season because of the glut of talented outfielders we had. Started 24 games as a junior at Iowa and batted .352 in Big Ten games. Engle could be a difference maker who moves the Gophers from 3rd or 4th best in the Big Ten to the clear #2. If anyone takes at bats from Engle it will be Eric Decker (yes the WR) who is giving baseball a shot this year. Decker could end up playing in the field while Engle gets at bats as DH.

RF - Michael Kvasnicka (Fr) - Player of the Year in Minnesota last year and is listed as physically capable of playing right away. Kvasnicka could get at bats as catcher or DH as well.

DH - Jon Hummel (Jr) - Hummell has not seen a lot of at bats in his first two season but gophersports.com says he has good power and is capable of playing 1B or 3B. In my opinion Hummel is another key player who could make or break this season.


Pitchers - Minnesota will give the ball to a group of experienced and talented starters, but will have to rely on youth to replace nearly all of their relief pitching staff.

Starter #1 - Dustin Brabender (Sr) - got better as his junior season wore on and gives the Gophers a solid starter to lead the rotation. 5-2 last year, 1st in innings pitched and 2nd in strikeouts. Brabender's junior season was highlighted by out dueling San Diego's All-American Brian Matusz in the NCAA Regoinal. That outing saw Brabender walk 1, strike out 5 in 8 shutout innings.

Starter #2 - Tom Buske (Jr) - If Brabender is starter #1 then Buske is #1-a. Buske gives the Gophers another talented and experienced starter at the top of the rotation. 5-2 as a sophomore and led all starters in ERA.

Starter #3 - Kyle Carr (Jr) - the only LHP in the starter group was a closer and one of two reliable relief pitchers as a sophomore and is expected to move to the #3 starter role this year. Last season he picked up his first win against #16 Ole Miss and pitched 2.2 shutout innings to get his second win against #9 Pepperdine. I don't think that moving from RP to SP in college is a huge deal and I expect Carr will be a reliable and viable third starter.

Starter #4 - Tyler Oakes (Jr) - made only 2 starts as a sophomore but finished the season with a 3-2 record. Oakes (the son of pitching coach Todd Oakes) will do his best to hold onto the fourth starting spot.

RP - Chauncey Handran (Jr) - JUCO transfer who should help bring some stability and reliability to the RP staff. Handran was 5-1 last season with a 1.37 ERA and held opponents to a .106 batting average as he helped lead his team to the Junior College World Series. Handran also hit 6 home runs last year in a wood bat league.

RP - Allen Bechstein (So) - 2-0 as a freshman with 26 innings pitched, including four starts. Should Carr or Oakes struggle as a starter Bechstein is the likely next starter.

RP - Phil Isaksson (Fr) - LHP - one of the Gophers top pitching recruits this season and should get a chance to pitch this year. May get a spot start in the non-conference season but will probably see most of his innings out of the bullpen.

RP - Scott Matyas (rFr) - was a dominant high school pitcher earning All State honors for three seasons, after his junior season Matyas had Tommy-John surgery. The hope is that he has regained his arm strength by now and is ready to help the Gophers this season. Matyas could end up seeing time as the closer.

RP - Tim Ryan (rFr) - son of former Twins GM Terry Ryan. Will see innings but not likely to be counted on in most key situations.

Closer - Seth Rosin (Fr) - power pitcher who hits 90 mph and was drafted by the Twins out of high school. Rosin was fortunate to play in the Little League World Series as a 14 year old. But he is my pick to land the closer role as a freshman.

Schedule - as usual the baseball team faces an incredibly tough non-conference schedule (football and basketball should take note). They begin the season on Friday with a three game series against #4 Mississippi. Then next weekend they host the Dairy Queen Classic which brings in #29 Pepperdine, Tulane and TCU all of which were NCAA Tournament teams a year ago. Those are your first 6 games to start the season!

This should be a fun season and one where the Gophers should steadily improve heading into the Big Ten Tournament. Ultimately 2008 might be setting the table for 2009 as we will bring back all major pitchers except 1 and we bring back our 3 best position players along with a year of experience for some talented young position players.

GopherSports.com season preview
Big Ten Hardball season preview
Rivals.com preseason NCAA Tourney projections - Gophers in as 3 seed in UCLA regional
Rivals.com season preview
TNABACG season preview - also gives a good rundown of the key NCAA rule changes

Gopher Nation quick hitters

File under the NOT Good News folder - Dom Jones arrested this afternoon on probably cause of criminal sexual conduct. Dom Jones' name was not connected with the original charges so this is a curious turn of events. I generally hesitate to comment on off the field issues such as this. I enjoy the gopher football program for what they do on Saturday afternoons. I find it unfortunate that high profile athletes often are not held to the same standards that the rest of the general population his held to. That is frustrating but it is what we've come to expect. As far as the impact this will have on the gopher defense? Well Jones is a 2-year starter, excellent kick returner and someone this defense was counting on to improve on last year's team.

Basketball Ast. Coach Vince Taylor is interviewed on gophersports.com - "Our main goal is to be better than we were last year and to make an imprint in the Big Ten. Our goal is to win the Big Ten this year. I think it is very possible." Decent interview, coach Taylor talks about how hard the guys are working this offseason. I believe this class has talent and they are capable of winning, we'll see come November.

Nate Hanson, 3B for the Gopher Baseball team earned MVP honors of the Northwoods League All-Star Game. Nate hit a 2-run single to give his team a 3-1 lead which was enough to hold off the South team as the North won 3-2.

Former Gopher QB Mike Hohensee has had a LONG career in the AFL. As a Gopher Hohensee was the U's athlete of the year in 1981 and '82. He participated in the first AFL game 20 years ago and is currently the head coach of the Chicago Rush (defending AFL Champs).

Gopher Nation quick hitters

It has been a slow blogging week. I'd REALLY like to put together a comprehensive football recruiting list but I haven't had the time to put that together yet. Basketball is MUCH easier as they only have a handful of scholarship offers out there. The future of Gopher Football on the other hand has 100 scholarhip offers out there (give or take a dozen). So this is a much more daunting list. To get the blog rolling again here are a few tid bits from around Gopher Nation...

Baseball Recruting - the recent Big Ten runner ups have announced the signing of lefthanded pitcher from Phil Isaksson to a letter of intent. We stole him from the Badgers (oh wait, Title IX has left them without a baseball team). Isaksson is from Eau Claire and thus far in his Sr. season he is 6-0 with a 0.29 ERA (2 ER on the season) with 80 Ks in 47 innings. For his career Isaksson is 23-2 and was third-team all state as a junior. I'm assuming he'll pitch for the Golden Gophers but he is also batting .400 with 4 HRs this season. I don't know how high school stats translate into college level success but Isaksson seems to be pretty solid, we'll find out.

Tim Brewster Football Camps - Began this this past week. These camps seem to be more and more of a recruiting tool more than anything else. Some of Coach Brewster's top recruits were amoung the 430 kids here for the camps as well as some of the coaches of other recruits came to MN for the camps. Getting the kids here as well as getting their coaches here is an opportunity for the staff to land a handful of upper-tier talent that they are coveting. Players who were here either this week or will be here this weekend for 1-day camps include...

• DE - Will Mobley from Eden Prairie, 4-star according to Rivals.
• WR - Brandon Green from Chicago
• High School coach Art Walker who is the offensive coordinator and father of WR Deion Walker. Art was here coaching the camps, Deion was not but according to Rivals Art says they will be back for an official visit.
• QB - Matt Scott from Corona, CA.
  
• QB - Darron Thomas from Aldine, TX. Thomas is a 3-star QB but has offers from the likes of Miami, LSU and Nebraska.
• OLB - Anthony Lewis (Aldine, TX) - teammate of Thomas.
  
• RB - Jonas Gray from Michigan. Gray is a big time RB who will likely be here next weekend for an unnofficial visit.

A top notch Gopher Blog, Pagin Jim Shikenjanski has a nice 2 part post giving a point / counter point on Tubby Smith. Myths and Realities of Tubby Smith and Countering Tubby's Buddy.



Kyle Okposo is returing to the frozen pond for the Gophers this winter. I'm not going to pretend I know anything about hockey but this seems to be a good thing.



I hope to get out Part 2 of my 8 part series on The NEW Golden Gopher Era. Part 2 will discuss What can we define as success for the 2007 Football season. You can read part 1 HERE.

Gopher Baseball

It has been a busy week at work which means slow posting. But I feel the need to congratulate the Gopher baseball team on a great season. Here is a brief rundown and link list of what happened at last weekend's San Diego Regional...

• Gophers ousted the #1 seed (#8 overall) and host San Diego (W 6-5). The Gophers were 3 outs from a shutout win before the Toreros score 5 quick runs to tie it and send it to extra innings. But freshman 2B, Derek McCallum delivered the game winning hit in the bottom of the 10th to extend the season.
• Minnesota was unable to get the clutch hit and they allowed a couple BIG innings in losses to Cal State Fullerton (L 1-7) and Fresno State (L 6-11).
• All-Regional team included
• 2B - Derek McCallum (Fr)
• 1B - Bryan Jost (So)
• SS - Dan Lyons (Sr)

Here are some of the highlites of a very good season for these Gophers...

• Record 41-18, most wins since 1999, 2nd place in the Big Ten
  
• Defeated 3 teams ranked in the top 10 nationally
• Mike Mee...
  
• Set Golden Gopher record for games played
  
• highest season batting average (.392) since Sam Steidl in 2001
• ended 3rd all time on gopher hit list
• 7th consecutive season playing in the Big Ten Tournament Championship game

So it was a fine season, but what does the roster initially look like for 2008? Here is what is returning for players with 75+ at bats in 2007.


GONE

• OF/1B/DH - Mike Mee - unanimous selection to All-Big Ten, team MVP, team batting champ. Mee batted 3rd in the order and will clearly be missed.
• SS - Dan Lyons - .315 hitter with 9 HRs (2nd on team). Lyons was SS but he had 20 errors which seems high to me (but I'm not familiar enough to know if that is high or not for a college SS).
• RF - Kyle Baran - .330 hitter who was also solid in the OF. Only 1 HR
• LF - Tijl Vanderwege - .266 hitter, I would imagine that we can find somebody to replace Vanderwege without much of a drop off. Started about 1/2 of the games this year.
• C - Kevin Carlson - the teams primary catcher starting 32/50 games. Likely to be replaced by combo of (Jr) Jeff DeSmidt and (Fr) Kyle Knutson. His numbers were not great (.279)but often a reliable catcher can be a team leader.
• SP - Marcus McKenzie - 7-1, started 10 games but finished with an ERA of 6.61. #3 starter.
• Closer - Josh Oslin - 11 saves and was one of the better closers in the Big Ten, Oslin's numbers and reliability will be difficult to replace.
• RP - Bill Johnson - 2.27 ERA, 4-0 in 23 relief appearances, Johnson was as good as it got in the relief role.
  

KEY RETURNERS

• OF - Matt Nohelty (So) - leadoff batter and CF. Nohely was 2nd on the team in hitting , 2nd in runs scored and led the team with 24 SBs in 30 attempts. Nohelty will be heavily counted upon next year at the plate.
• 3B - Nate Hanson (So) - lead team in HRs and RBIs with 10 and 51 respectively, also batted .338. Hanson was usually cleanup and will also be key for next year's club. Started all 59 games for the team this year
  
• 1B - Bryan Jost (So) - .303 hitter, 4th on team in slugging % and 6 HRs. Jost is solid and actually had a very good Regional tournament.
  
• 2B/SS - Derek McCallum (Fr) - the freshman was 3rd on the team with a .340 average. His numbers indicate that he'll be a valued player over the next 3 seasons.
• SP - Tom Buske (So) - team's #1 starter. 5-2 with 3.43 ERA.
  
• SP - Gary Perinar (Jr) - 4-6, 5.75 ERA team's #2 starter by the end of the Big Ten season.
• SP - Dustin Brabender (Jr) - 5-1 in 14 starts
• RPs - Kyle Carr (So) and Ethan Vogt (Jr) - solid seasons mostly in relief roles (Vogt did have 6 starts), both will be given the opportunity to eat more innings and contribute more next season.

Here is my VERY uneducated guess at a projected lineup for 2008...

CF - Nohelty
SS - McCallum
1B - Jost
3B - Hanson
DH - ?
OF - Tom Steidl (?)
C - DeSmidt
2B - Jeremy Chlan (?)
OF - ?

SP - Buske
SP - Perinar
SP - Brabender
SP - Vogt
RP - Carr
RP - others

I see a solid nucleus of 4 returning position players (CF, 3B, 1B, SS), and really all 4 starters should be solid in 2008 as well. Then we should be able to replace the hitting numbers of C and LF. That leaves holes to fill at RF and 2B. Next year's team looks poised to build on the success of 2007 and get 45+ wins next year.

Bad Day...Better Day

Friday was not such a good day for Gophers competing at the national level.

Men's Golf - entered Friday morning sitting 1 stroke behind the tournament leader Stanford (MN was -6 through those 2 rounds). What did this group of Golden Gophers do on Friday? Well they went +14 and dropping from 2nd to 8th and essentially nullified any chance of winning the tournament.

Baseball - the baseball team opened their NCAA Regional against traditional power Cal-State Fullerton. It wasn't pretty for Minnesota as Cal-State cruised to a 7-1 victory. CSF's Wes Roemer had the Gophers guessing all day as he went 9 innings allowing 1 earned run and recording 7 strikeouts. A 5-run 4th inning for CSF really put MN in a hole that they just couldn't get out of.

Saturday was a better day...

Men's Golf - the team actually dropped 1 position in the standings but it was a much more respectable day as they shot +5 and finished in the top 10 for the second consecutive year. Soph. Victor Almstrom was the top Gopher finisher at 15th overall. Of the 5 Golden Gophers 2 will be graduating so there is a decent nucleus returning. But congratulations to Brad James and his golfers for another fine season.

Baseball - Things looked ominous for the Gophers as the #1 seed was upset yesterday and thus had a date with Minnesota today. This game was interesting but Minnesota managed to sneak out the win and bounce the host San Diego Toreros from the tournament. Minnesota took a 5-0 lead into the 9th inning. Put that game in the bag right? Wrong. San Diego knocked in 5 runs on 4 hits before Oslin came in to pitch and get the remaining 2 outs. Fortunately Minnesota came through in the 10th inning as freshman Derek McCallum singled with the bases loaded to give MN the W. Tomorrow they will face the loser of Fresno State and Cal-State Fullerton. It looks to be a tough day for Minnesota as they will need to win 3 games tomorrow to advance through the Regionals to next weekend's Super Regionals.

Golden Gophers at the National level...

Baseball - Time for Gopher Nation to get on a plane for San Diego. After finishing 2nd in the Big Ten regular standings then losing to Ohio State in the B10 Tournament championship game, Minnesota earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. Minnesota is a #3 seed in the 4-team San Diego regional, they will face perennial power Cal-State Fullerton on Friday. This appears to be a difficult regional but the Gophers advancing to the Super Regionals is not out of the question.

• #1-San Diego (43-16) - ranked #4 in the country according to Baseball America and is seeded 8th overall in the NCAA tournament.
• #2-Cal State Fullerton (33-23) - finished 5th in the Big West at 10-11, but don't let that fool you as they are in a very competitive conference and this will be a good test for the Gophers. I'll look deeper into CSF with a minor preview later this week.
• #3-Minnesota (40-16) - 2nd in the Big Ten and played in their 7th consecutive Big Ten conference Championship game.
• #4-Fresno State (36-27) - back to back WAC Tournament Champs.

Gopher Golf in Virginia - if you can't make it to San Diego (or if you are just waiting for Omaha) you can represent Gopher Nation in Williamsburg, Virginia to watch the Golden Gopher Men's golf team compete in the NCAA Championships. After winning a playoff over Texas A&M at the regionals the golden golfers advanced to the NCAA Championships for the 27th time in team history. The 2002 NCAA Champs and after a 3rd place finish in 2006 they will have some ground to make up after finishing 10th in the regional, but stranger things have happened.

Men's and Women's Track athletes who have earned automatic berths into the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Sacramento (June 6-9). At large berths will be announces later this week...


Derek Gearman - Triple Jump
Adam Schnaible - Shot Put

Ruby Radocaj - Javelin
Heather Dornidin - 800M - set Regional record
Emily Brown - 3000M Steeplechase
Liz Podominick - Discus
Liz Alabi - Shot Put

Congrats to the Golden Gopher rowing squad for their 6th place finish at the NCAA Championships.

Gopher Baseball to Ann Arbor

The Golden Gopher baseball team's regular season is officially over, but their 2nd season is hopefully just beginning. The conference tournament is set and Minnesota has a bye and is the #2 seed set to face the highest remaining seed after Wednesdays first round games.

1. Michigan (bye and host)
2. Minnesota (bye)
3. Penn State
4. Iowa
5. Illinois
6. Ohio State

Personally I feel fortunate that we are guranteed to not face Ohio State in our first game. I like their chances to upset Penn State in round 1 as they will put Cory Luebke (7-1, 1.94 ERA) on the mound. It'd be nice if they could throw Luebke again to face Michigan in round 2, but let's take this 1 round at a time.

I like our chances against Iowa or Illinois (assuming my OSU upset), getting that first win on Thursday looks to loom large. If you drop that game you are forced to 2 games just to get back to the Championship game where you have to beat the undefeated team twice. Even losing Friday isn't quite as daunting. Win Thursday then let's have fun taking on Michigan for a Championship game birth.

Good luck to Coach Anderson and all of his boys. We have a 6 year Championship game streak on the line so lets take care of business, get to the Championship game then win it and take the Omaha trip out of the committee's hands.

CSTV.com's Extra Innings interview with John Anderson.

I'm learning a lot about Gopher baseball these last couple months so this is all new to me, but Coach Anderson was a player on the 1977 National Championship team. He started the season as a pitcher but was injured, became student manager and soaked up everything he could from then coach Dick "Cheif" Seibert. This is what led to his coaching career but here is a rather interesting story from the Q & A.

Coach Anderson:
In fact, interesting story, we were coming back from Iowa after winning the Big 10 on the last weekend of the season and I'm in the back of the bus playing cards and Chief calls me up to the front of the bus. He tells me that we have to have a vote for the team MVP. So he has me hand out slips of paper to everybody on the bus. I go back and collect them and hand them to Chief. A few minutes later he stands up in front of everybody and says, "Dammit, you guys get serious here! You just voted our student manager as MVP. Quit screwing around and vote again." So I passed the pieces of paper out again, they all voted and I got one more vote that time than I did before.

Coach Anderson stats of note...

942 careers wins
17th among active coaches
1 season of fewer than 30 wins (his 2nd season with 27 wins)
6 straight Big Ten title game appearances

CSTV.com at the Gopher/Buckeye baseball game

Eric Sorenson of CSTV.com made a stop at Seibert Field over the weekend. HERE is what he had to say about the Gophers, the Buckeyes, Minneapolis/Minnesota and Northwest Airlines.

He mentions an interview with coach John Anderson, when he posts that I'll be sure to link you.

Gopher Baseball

This was a weekend of good news / bad news for gopher baseball.

Good new was that Michigan lost 3 of 4 to Penn State, the bad news was that we managed a 2-2 split with Ohio State. (TNABACG reactions to the game)
Good news is that we are only 1.5 out of first place, bad news is that there are only 4 games remaining and making up 2 games will be tough to do.
Good news is that we play Indiana (6-21), bad news is that we are on the road.

Here is the skinny....

6 teams make the Big Ten Tournament (check)
2 teams get a 1st round bye (currently in 2nd and up 1.5 gms over Penn State)
Big Ten Regular season champ is the host school (down 1.5 to Michigan)

• Michigan travels to 4th place Iowa - a split is possible
  
• Minnesota travels to 9th place Indiana - a sweep is a MUST if you want a shot at the title and a split is needed to maintian the bye.
  

Things are rather tight but MN is sitting in a nice position to make a tournament run even if it is in Ann Arbor.

Baseball - Minnesota vs. Ohio State

After a disappointing split with Big Ten cellar dweller Northwestern last weekend, the Golden Gophers take on Ohio State at home this weekend. Prior to the Big Ten season, Ohio State was widely considered to be the clear #2 team in the conference. Since the injury to pitcher Dan DeLucia they have floundered to 12-8 in conference play but this will no doubt be an important series for Big Ten tourney seedings. Here is what little info I can muster up on this weekend's series.

Game 1 Friday Night - Ohio State is very good on Friday nights going 4-1 losing only to Michigan in extra innings. They will put one of the Big Ten's best pitchers on the mound in Cory Luebke who is 7-0 with a 1.91 ERA. Minnesota's Friday night pitcher will be sophomore Tom Buske (1-2, 3.13 ERA). This looks to be a bad matchup and we'll rely on the bats to get to Luebke which appears to be a difficult task.

Game 2 - MN will put out Jr. Gary Perinar who has been solid leading the gophers to 4 straight Game 2 wins. Ohio State will pitch Jake Hale (1-2, 5.45 ERA and 10 saves). This is should be our best opportunity for a W.

Game 3 - Sr. Marcus McKenzie will take his 7-0 record (5.44 ERA) against the Buckeyes in this big game 3. This appears to be the most closely matched pitching matchup as Ohio State goes with reigning Big Ten Freshman of the year JB Shuck (3-2, 4.19 ERA). Minnesota is undefeated this Big Ten season in Game 3s (5-0).

Sunday Game 4 - Jr. Dustin Brabender (5-1, 4.53 ERA) will throw for the gophers and I'm guessing this will be to take 3 of 4 or split (if we lose).

Hitters of note...

Mike Mee is putting up some of the best numbers in the Big Ten hitting .423, 42 RBIs and 4 HRs. He'll need to keep a hot bat and let others use it this weekend.

JB Shuck (gm 3 starter) is also very good at the plate (.415, 31 RBIs, 1 HR).

This weekend Michigan is taking on a decent Penn State team. If Minnesota wants any chance of a Big Ten title they have to sweep Ohio State and hope for some help. Michigan losing 3 games over the next 2 weekends isn't too far fetched to believe, but that means Minnesota has to go 8-0. Should be a fun weekend and great weather to get Gopher Nation out to Seibert Field for the last home stand of the season.

Gopher Baseball coach John Anderson

Star Trib interview with #14 (coach John Anderson). Here are a couple of interesting points...

• 935 career wins and counting

• coach Anderson talks about the coming rule changes in 2008. These rule changes should significantly help to close the gap between Northern/Midwest teams vs. Southern/West Coast teams.

Gopher Baseball Bandwagon

I'm officially on the bandwagon and calling all citizens of Gopher Nation to jump on!

Baseball in midwest and northern schools is very often ignored and treated like the red-head step children of the southern and western schools. National attention to a Big Ten school or the conference is very rare, but HERE is a blog post by Aaron Fitt on Baseball America concerning the Golden Gophers and HERE is a link talking about the Big Ten as the IT conference from Eric Sorenson of CSTV.com.

One of (in not THE) biggest challenges to midwest and northern schools is of course the weather. While southern schools have been able to practice and play outside for months we have been experienceing predictable-unpredictable and usually cold/rainy weather during that time. This makes it tough to get better and more importantly it makes it tough to recruit. So of course teams from up here always spend the early part of their schedules heading south and west.

Anyway, back to the gophers. They too made a trip south and a trip west. And they did very well beating some very good teams in Virginia Tech, The Citadel, Pepperdine and UC Santa Barbara. They also hosted 2 ranked teams at home and split with both Arkansas and Mississippi. All of this adds up to a 26-7 season and a few people around the nation starting to notice the always good but rarely great Golden Gopher program.

Only 4 weekend series left, a favorable schedule, a chance to win the Big Ten and a chance to get an at large berth in the NCAA tournament should they not capture the Big Ten Tourney.

Calling on Gopher Nation to take notice!

Gopher Baseball

Since basketball is in it's lull season and football is in a down time for a couple months I am going to focus a little bit on baseball as the golden gophers are having a very nice season. After a 4 game sweep of Michigan State the gophers are 26-7 (9-2) and have won 16 of their last 18 games. Most of us know very little about the baseball team or that they even exist until the end of May and Sid tells us how they too need a new stadium and by the way they won the Big Ten tourney again. I too know very little about this team so here is a little bit of info that you should know...

• Minnesota is currently 2nd in the Big Ten behind Michigan (11-1). Prior to this weekend's games Michigan ranked 1st in conference in hitting, pitching and fielding % so on paper they appear to be a very good team. Minnesota ranked 6th, 2nd and 3rd respectively in hitting, pitching and fielding.
  
• Michigan and Minnesota did not play yet this season because their series was cancelled due to inclimate weather. I do not know if any of those games will be made up or if they won't see each other until the Big Ten tourney.
• They have wins so far this year over 3 ranked teams currently #4-Arkansas, #16-Pepperdine and #23-Mississippi.
• Most respected (and not respected) publications/blogs picked the Gophers to finish 3rd (and as low as 6th) in the Big Ten behing Michigan and Ohio State. Official season preview here and Big Ten Hardball's preview here.

The golden gophers seem to have a nice mix of veterans (12 seniors) and youth in their lineup. Just from looking at box scores here is what I think would be their typical lineup...

1. CF - Matt Nohelty (Soph) - batting .367, 14 Stolen bases and a .444 OB%
2. SS - Dan Lyons (Sr) - JUCO transfer who is solid and leads team in HRs
3. LF - Mike Mee (Sr) - currently batting .448 with .608 slugggin%!! Candidate for Big10 POY
4. 3B - Nate Hanson (Soph) - had very good freshman season that was shortened due to injury, clean up and very good Soph!
5. RF - Kyle Baran (Sr) - hitting .284 with 1.00 fielding % as regular RF
6. 2B - Derrek McCallum (Fr) - hitting .351 as a true freshman, Twins 50th rnd draft pick out of high school
7. 1B - Bryan Jost (Soph) - .319 hitter and anchor at 1B, batted higher earlier in the season
8. C - Kevin Carlson (Sr) or Kyle Knutson (Fr) - Carlson is hitting .365
9. P / DH

Key Bench players
OF -Tijl Vanderweg (Sr) - .291
C - Jeff DeSmidt (Jr) - .259
OF - Sean Kommerstad (Sr) - .192
2B - Jeremy Chlan (Jr) - .152

Pitching - In conference play the teams play 1 game on Friday, a double-header on Saturday then game 4 on Sunday. So you have a basic 4 man rotation. I "think" that teams usually put their best pitcher on Friday, but I don't know if they set it up as their best to their 4th best or if teams mix it up a little in the 2,3,4 spots. Anybody with knowledge of this is welcome to let me know how it actually works.
Friday. Tom Buske (Soph) - 2.63 ERA, 2-0, the last 2 series have seen Buske as the Friday Starter
Sat Gm 1. Gary Perinar (Jr) - 2-3 and 3.95 ERA
Sat Gm 2. Marcus McKenzie (Sr, transfer) - 6-0 with 5.05 ERA
Sunday. Dustin Brabender (Jr) - 4-1 and 3.54 ERA, pro prospect

SP/RP - Ethan Vogt (Jr) - 1.91 ERA with 2-1 record for the occasional starter
RP - Kyle Carr (Soph) - 6'5" LHP, 4 saves, 3-1 record and 4.57 ERA
Closer - Josh Oslin (Sr) - 0.68 ERA with 9 saves

The pitching staff has been very good this year and returns most of they innings eaters from this season. So we can expect to have an even better pitching staff in the 2008 season, but let's see how far they can take us this year.

Remaining Big Ten series over the next 4 weekends...

@ Illinois - .500 team overall and in Big Ten, big road series if you want to win the league, this is pretty huge.



Northwestern - last in Big Ten a sweep should be expected



Ohio State - preseason favorite to compete with Michigan for title, being at home should help, but this is a big one. Buy your tickets now and take your kid to watch some good outdoor baseball!


@ Indiana - 2nd to last in Big Ten, should be a sweep if you want to win the league.

So far a season of greater success than 2006 and one that surpassed expectations. We are very close and stealing a Big Ten title would be sweet.