Believe it or not Gopher baseball begins their season TODAY. Hard to believe that anyone could be playing baseball on February 17th, but today is day 1 of the Big Ten / Big East Challenge.

You can listen to the game for free HERE.

Minnesota will face Louisville this morning at 9:00 am CST. The Cardinals were picked by the conference coaches to finish 2nd in the league with RHP-Justin Amlung being selected as the preseason pitcher of the year. Amlung is the probably L'ville starter and the Gophers are likely to counter with T.J. Oakes.

On Saturday they will face St. Johns, who is the preseason #1 team in the Big East. Outfielder Jeremy Baltz is the preseason player of the year. Then on Sunday the Gophers will face USF (#4 preseason). This should be a very challenging weekend for the Gophers who recently were pegged as the 3rd best team in the Big Ten by the coaches.

• If you don't get a chance to come watch the Gophers live, you can catch them on the Big Ten Network four times this season.
  
• Gopher Hockey is ready to face Bemidji State this weekend. The Beavers are 8th in the WCHA and the Gophers are hoping to hang on to 1st place, a well-played Friday night would be a good start.
• Trevor Mbakwe's legal issues appear to be over. This week he pleaded no contest in the assault case and will serve one year probation and pay a small fine. Nothing will appear on his record.
• Rivals.com ranked the Big Ten recruiting classes by position groups. Kind of interesting for something that has no real value.
• The MN Daily has an article on Rodney Williams and Ralph Sampson co-existing in the frontcourt this season.