Golden Nugz for 06-29-09
by GopherNation on Jun 29, 2009 3:00 AM CDT
in Golden Nuggets
16 comments
The big news of the weekend concerning Gopher sports (one of the big items, at least) is the expansion of the WCHA (Boston Globe covering the expansion). Bemidji State becomes the fifth team in the state of Minnesota in the WCHA and Nebrasak-Omaha has also been aproved to expand the league to 12 teams. For Bemidji the move makes all the sense in the world. I would imagine that this wil greatly help with in-state recruiting battles and they should be able to capitalize in natural in-state rivalries with Minnesota, Duluth, St. Cloud and Mankato. And ultimately they'll see their revenue jump up.
For UNO the choice was also pretty obvious, the Omaha World-Heralds summed it up like this...
Start with 58 years of history and tradition. Add 36 national championships. Throw in overwhelming attendance figures at attractive arenas, and revenue potential from the conference tournament and other sources from a passionate fan base. Then consider that UNO sits squarely within the league's geographic footprint, giving it the opportunity to develop regional rivalries, save money on travel costs and capitalize on recruiting players within the same region — not to mention providing fans the chance to attend road games more easily.
2010-11 is when the new 12-team league will face off, should be interesting.
- Gopher football landed another verbal out of the state of Wisconsin. Matt Eggen is a big lineman out of LaCrosse who is going to play for the Golden Gophers in the fall of 2010. Rivals has Eggen as a three-star with no other significant offers at this point other than Indiana. But at 6-5 and 285 Eggen has the size and strength to develop into very good lineman at this level.
- I love seeing that everyone thinks they are in the Seantrell Henderson sweepstakes. Although he has never formally announced his top few schools I'll be shocked if he ends up anywhere other than USC, Michigan or Minnesota.
- The U's Jordan Schroeder was taken 22nd overall by the Canucks in the NHL Draft. He fell a bit due to his lack of size but congrats on being a first round pick.
- Finally I'd like to say that I am 100% on board with and excited about Ricky Rubio being a Minnesota Timberwolf. There is a lot of negativity around whether or not he'll play this year or if we'll trade him to New York, but we can wait a year and New York does not have enough attractive pieces to pull off a deal. La Pistola is going to be a star and he'll make a great combo with Al Jefferson. I like that pick a LOT.
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Henderson
Replace Michigan with Notre Dame and you’ve got the 3 places where I think he’s going to land.
by WhiteSpeedReceiver on Jun 29, 2009 8:41 AM CDT reply actions
I don't think so
most Notre Dame outlets are saying he has eliminated ND. I understand the thought that a CDH player is almost a sure thing for the Irish, but I think in this case they are on the outside looking in.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
by GopherNation on Jun 29, 2009 10:48 AM CDT up reply actions
I think his top five right now would be:
(1) Minnesota
(2) USC
(3) Michigan
(4) Little Brother
(5) Notre Dame
that's the impression I'm getting
I might even move Mich ahead of USC since I think they’ll end up offering JD a scholly as well.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
by GopherNation on Jun 29, 2009 11:28 AM CDT up reply actions
JD
may get a scholarship offer from Eastern Michigan (about 10 miles away). Michigan already has 2 QB commits (Devin Gardner – #6 dual threat QB in nation, and Cornelius Jones), although as I’ve mentioned before, if offering JD means getting Seantrel, JD may find a future playing defensive back.
that's is it
he’ll get a scholly as an athlete. I don’t think he is QB material anywhere at the D1 level.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
by GopherNation on Jun 30, 2009 8:19 AM CDT up reply actions
The T-Wolves screwed up.
They drafted a guy who never will play here.
They should have drafted Curry instead of Rubio and kept Lawson. They would have had the backcourt of the reigning national champs, who have played ball together for 3 years and would have brought that experience and cohesiveness to Minnesota (instead they give Lawson to a division rival, real smart).
This backcourt – Curry, Lawson, Flynn and Ellington – would have had the right mix of scoring, speed, leadership and point guard flexibility.
Kahn messed up bigtime when he had the chance to make a big positive move. He’ll get fired over this Rubio mess in three years time, the kid will play in Spain and then force a trade to New York to play with LeBron next year. Mark my words.
JG
sometimes we are in complete agreement and others we are in total opposition! :) Although I completely agree we should have hung on to Lawson (or traded him outside of our division), I love that we drafted RR.
We still hold the cards in the Rubio situation. If the kid wants to play in the NBA (which he badly wants to do) then he’ll have to come to terms that we own his rights. Right now this is a New York media driven story as they believe RR has some “right” to play in the NY market. They don’t have the pieces to trade for him. I don’t buy the notion that since we are a smaller market team we should avoid drafting the best players for fear they won’t want to play here.
And don’t buy into the Curry hype, the kid can shoot but we’ll see how well he can manage the speed of the NBA game. When moving up a level (HS to college or college to pros) the hardest thing to gauge is whether or not the kid can continue to develop and be effective when the game they are used starts moving much faster. Some guys can do it, others cannot. I’m not convinced Curry will make that transition. He is savvy and a very good shooter but the NBA is a whole other level.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
by GopherNation on Jun 29, 2009 10:08 AM CDT up reply actions
Curry's dad
seemed to do alright in the league and I don’t think I ever saw him run. If Curry can make a shot, he’ll be fine. I can’t say the same for Rubio.
As for Rubio, think back to the Yi Jianling (sp?) situation. Stated outright he would never play for Milwaukee. Wanted to go big market. China was dictating where he’d play.
Well, he played in Milwaukee one year. Where is he now? New Jersey.
It’s not just the teams behind this. David Stern has a vested interest in expanding the scope of his league internationally, since so many teams are in financial trouble. Think about the Pau Gasol trade – Memphis basically gave him to LA for a bag of basketballs and Tyrone Lue. Why? Because (1) Kobe needed a complimentary piece, (2) LA is a glamour team, and (3) having a marquee Spanish player on a big-market team is good for business.
Look at the best foreign players in the league. Where are they? By and large, in big markets or on winning teams (Nowitzki, Barbosa, Dalembert, Gasol, Parker, Ginobli, Duncan).
Now, Stern wants to expand his marketing and sales reach into Europe. He wants to get Spain and other nations excited about the NBA. Can he better do that with Rubio in NY, playing with LeBron, or with Minnesota?
Believe me, New York doesn’t need the pieces to trade for Rubio. If Stern wants him there, ‘cash considerations’ will magically appear in Glen Taylor’s checking account.
I know you think I’m cynical, but think back over time and the power brokers always are manipulating people, whether in government or in sports, for financial interests (Patrick Ewing and the cold envelope, the entire BCS setup to screw little schools, Tim Donaghy prosecuted while no other refs are implicated, baseball sweeping the whole steroid scandal under the rug in order to make money off McGwire, Sosa and Bonds).
Think to Rubio’s comments at the draft night – “I’m excited to get drafted, but Timberwolves, at number 5, I think too high….” Either he meant he thought he’d get drafted higher, or he thought he might slip to NY, which is what he wanted. And it’s what Stern wants, so it’s what will happen. I’ll bet you a ticket to a 2010 home Gopher football game that it happens (not USC).
I'm not saying it WON'T happen
I’m just saying that the notion we have to give him up because we are a small market team is insulting. The NBA has great international players all over the league. Parker/Ginobli in San Antonio (28th largest media market), Kiralinko in Utah (30th), Yao in Houston (11th). The NBA has a worldwide presence without having to have Rubio in New York. I’m not denying that there is a power struggle here, but RR does not hold all of the cards.
Overall if Minnesota isn’t going to be allowed to have great players because it will be better for the NBA to have them in New York then why bother having franchises in small markets? Don’t assume that just because we are Minnesota it just can’t happen. Convince RR that he has a nice nucleus with AJ and Love, they have tons of cap space to add missing pieces in a year and that they are capable of winning soon.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
by GopherNation on Jun 29, 2009 11:46 AM CDT up reply actions
I hope you're right
but more often than not, when players make these power plays (Steve Francis, Stephon Marbury, even John Elway and Eli Manning), the player gets his way.
that's just it
is RR making this big power play? It seems to me like it is driven by New York wanting him. The headline on ESPN the next day was that Knicks GM was going to contact MN about Rubio. Like that is even news. He was going to give Kahn a call. He hasn’t been warm and fuzzy about Minny but I’ve never seen a quote that he desires NY.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
by GopherNation on Jun 30, 2009 8:19 AM CDT up reply actions
After draft night....
….it seems pretty clear that his agent has told Rubio to shut up and wait for the next move.
maybe
but he still hasn’t demanded anything.
And let’s also not treat Rubio like he is the next Oscar Roberston just yet. He did fall to the 5th pick which again takes away some of his leverage. I have no doubt in my mind that he badly wants to play in the NBA and staying in Spain for a few years might get him to a better market but it will be wasted seasons when that second NBA contract is the one that will get him PAID.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
by GopherNation on Jun 30, 2009 1:43 PM CDT up reply actions
WCHA expansion
What are your guys’ thoughts on the 12 team setup? Do you think that the addition of another MN WCHA team is going to hurt the Gophers recruiting? Personally I think the Gophers will still generally get the best players, but we shall see. It seems that the smaller schools are getting the players that aren’t quite good enough to go pro, but stay for 4 years, and the Gophers get some of those same guys mixed in with elite talent that leaves after 1-2 years.
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