A quick, late-morning Nugz.
Yahoo Sports breaks down the baseball NCAA Tournament and while it may not mean much, Kendall Rogers does say that Minnesota is the best of all the #4 seeds.
Best No. 4 seed: Minnesota
Some will look at the Golden Gophers’ 30-28 overall record and assume they’re not a very good team. That isn’t the case. The Gophers played bad baseball much of the season, but when the lights were on, the Gophers rose to the occasion. Minnesota has a trio of solid weekend starters and a stout bullpen. Don’t be surprised if Minnesota plays Cal State Fullerton for the regional title.
Like I said, it may not mean much to be the best of the lousiest but it this team is playing very well. They play great defense, their pitching has been good all season and since the start of the Big Ten season their bats have really come around as well.
- Fangraphs likes the fact that we have two very solid draft prospects on our team and that may help us an awful lot. They pick Fullerton to win the Regional though.
- Speaking of draft prospects. Keith Law's top 100 includes two Golden Gophers. Catcher/outfielder Michael Kvasnicka is the 49th overall prospect and pitcher Seth Rosin sneaks into the top 100 at #96.
- Basketball...Trevor Mbakwe's June trial is going to be pushed back yet again. This kid is getting screwed all over the place. I was on board with holding him out this past season while the wheels of justice turned. But since justice is moving ever so slowly I'd love to see Maturi come out stating that Mbakwe is getting a raw deal and the University of Minnesota is going to let him get on with his life until it is proven otherwise.
- Recruiting rules are changing. Gary Parish has a great article outlining how the new rule prohibiting teams from hiring high school or AAU coaches who represent significant recruits will impact college coaching.
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