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Victory GIFs? VICTORY GIFS!
Basketball
- JUST GOING TO LEAVE THESE HERE:
- Black Shoe Diaries recapped the fun.
- Did Julian Welch buy himself more minutes on Saturday?
- Amelia's postgame notes.
- Nate Sandell says the Gophers responded with the intensity they needed.
Hockey
- ALL THE PLAYOFF SCENARIOS. Read this. Like, now. The options for the coming weekend's results are just wild.
- Speaking of which, JBSU could have clinched a share of the title over the weekend and choked. Roman does his own breakdown of the wild weekend to come.
Women's Hockey
- The Gophers continued to expand on their records with a dominating sweep of BSU.
- Which records fell (or were extended)?
The Gophers extended their winning streak to 44 games and cemented their spot in the WCHA Final Face-off next weekend.
Senior goaltender Noora Räty also broke the NCAA Division I career shutout record Friday and season shutout record Saturday. She now has 41 career shutouts and 15 this season.
Minnesota head coach Brad Frost said the shutout records seemed out of reach at the start of the season. But the seasoned goaltender proved him wrong.
Football
- A raise will bring Coach Kill's salary out of the B1G cellar.
"We want to work hard in that area," Teague said. "It is going to be an issue going forward, because he's the lowest paid by several thousand dollars. I don't know if we're always solid on what that number is, because you have bonuses and other elements that go into other coaches' salaries. But we've got to get him up. When you're in the bottom of the league, and at the bottom by far from the 11th place coach, that's an issue. So we've got to work hard to do that. Jerry feels good. He knows that I'll help him in those areas moving forward because it's important."
Teague said it's just as important to keep the salaries of Kill's assistants and staff competitive with the rest of the Big Ten.
"We're working in those areas, too, because it's a free market," he said. "People leave and get paid more."
- JOE C PLAYER CAPSULES: Defensive end Michael Amaefula, linebacker James Manuel, and defensive back Derrick Wells.
Women's Basketball
- With their win over Indiana the women have clinched the #8 seed in the BTT and will face #9 Ohio State.
- Teague has confirmed Pam Borton's rumored but unpublished extension.
Gophers Facilities
- Norwood talked a lot about the facilities plans last week. Fuller excerpts:
Norwood Teague said during a news conference Thursday, Feb. 28, that a master facilities plan for projects, including the basketball practice facility, would be solidified in mid-April.
"We want to do it simultaneously," Teague said, "then we'd like to go around the state. And we already have a caravan planned or a tour planned to unveil that, and really go around and shake hands to renew and rejuvenate pride in Gophers athletics."
Teague said the entire plan could cost between $80 million and $125 million. The projects are expected to be funded primarily by private donations.
"We've got to be smart about it," he said. "If it's too expensive, we've got to cut back in some areas. Right now, with construction costs being pretty favorable, it's different than it was five years ago. We need to get what we need and be smart about that. We don't want to go crazy and spend in a way that is going to be unwise. The next month is going to be key in kind of bringing that together."
A primary need, echoed by Coach Tubby Smith, is a men’s basketball practice facility, Teague said.
Five Big Ten schools – Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska and Purdue – have added one since 2010 and Ohio State plans to open its $13.7 million practice facility in June. Nebraska’s Hendricks Training Complex cost $18.7 million when it was built two years ago.
"That’s not a want. That’s a need," Teague said about a practice facility at Minnesota. "It’ll happen. It’s just a matter of when."
Breaking down the total project into costs for individual pieces, like the practice facility, will come down the road. But for now, Teague estimated that the full facilities plan could cost in the $80 million to $125 million range. Teague has said in the past that the full plan could include a basketball practice facility, a new football building, a women's gymnastics facility, a wrestling facility, office enhancements and a center for student-athlete academics and dining.
The university is still looking at exactly where all the money will come from – how much they can feasibly raise privately and where the rest would come from.
"Money doesn’t grow on trees, and I know with the state budgets and things like that, we want to be very smart about what we do," Teague said. "If it’s too expensive, we’ll have to cut back in areas. But right now with construction costs being pretty favorable, it’s different than it was five years ago, so you’ve got to go in and evaluate it. We need to get what we need and be smart about that. We don’t want to go crazy and spend in a way that’s going to be unwise."
In that regard, Teague noted that the facilities don’t have to be extravagant, as seems to be the trend in college athletics – not just building something functional, but something with an overload of "flash" as Teague called it, and luxurious amenities.
"We’ve traveled around to a lot of facilities that maybe are a little over the top, and I don’t know if we need to do that," Teague said. "I think you need to get what you need and have it done in a first-class way, and then after that, your people make all the difference. And if you have great people, combined with the facilities that you need, I think then you’re rolling."
During Thursday morning's media gathering with "U" athletic director Norwood Teague, the topic of private money for a basketball practice facility came up.
"I feel like we're in good shape there," Teague said. "But it's not easy and it's not going to just be a matter of calling people on the phone. It's a matter of cultivating and selling what we're doing. Fundraising takes time. I feel good about where we are."
He should.
A Gophers source tells "The Scoops" that Teague had a productive meeting last weekend in Arizona with potential big-time donor T. Denny Sanford.
He's the billionaire who pledged $6 million in 2009 to helped build TCF Bank Stadium.
Years prior, the 1958 Minnesota graduate tried to make a much larger contribution, but negotiations fell through.
If Teague gets his way, Sanford will soon be cutting a very large check.
On potential changes to the 85-year-old Williams Arena, home to the men's and women's basketball teams: "I think we would like to add on amenities there. I don't feel like we have to do a whole lot to the inner bowl. I just think it is too classic and it's too historical, it's too much a part of the state. I've seen when you move arenas and you leave your classic place, it hurts in many ways. I can name many ways — your crowd, your feel of the arena. We'll do some touch-ups on Williams, but I don't think we need to blow up the inner bowl. There's a lot of great things that are there.
We've looked at that, but I don't think we'd play with that. Years ago, there were times that they put 20,000 people in there. I still don't know how we did that. The fire marshal would have me in jail. I think it's pretty good where it is. You've got to be careful nowadays. I think we did a great job with TCF in building it at the level that it's at. You don't want to build anything too big because sometimes if it is too big it's sometimes more of an negative than being too small. If the demand is there and it feels like a treat to get in, that helps. … As far as basketball is concerned, obviously the other night (against Indiana), the Barn was as good as I've seen it, and obviously I've been here a short period of time. I get a lot of emails and comments about bringing the Barn back to the way it used to be. I hear everybody loud and clear. It shows that that place is as any place in college basketball. I know it is older, but it's classic. We need to get that thing back to when it's consistent like that on a regular basis because it was absolutely fantastic."
B1G
- SPARTY HIRES THE WALRUS. For those who don't know, Michigan State has hired former OSU o-coordinator Jim Bollman. This unleashed a torrent of ridicule, as Jim was the guy who thought Joe Bauserman was a better option at QB than Braxton Miller. Leading off the fun is OSU Blog Eleven Warriors with Sparty Doesn't Know (to the tune of Scotty Doesn't Know). Here's the original song (from the horrid movie EuroTrip or Euro Road Trip or who the hell cares) and an except of the OSU version...
Sparty doesn't know,
That Jim Bollman and me,
Did it in the Shoe every Saturday.We couldn't block,
And we couldn't throw,
And we couldn't score, and...Sparty doesn't know, oh.
Sparty doesn't know-oh.
So don't tell Sparty!
Sparty doesn't know,
Sparty doesn't know.
SO DON'T TELL Sparty!Dantonio says they'll start winning,
But walrusball will have him spinning,Cause Sparty doesn't know,
Sparty doesn't know,
Sparty doesn't know,
Sparty doesn't know.
So don't tell Sparty.
Sparty doesn't knoooooow....
DON'T TELL SPARTY!I can't believe Coach D's trusting,
While Jim's right behind him tuskin',Sparty's got ten yards to go,
so Bollman dials up a throw.
It's a three-man rush,
and they get noth-ing.
NOTHING!!!
The move also inspired an LSUfreek GIF...
Comparisons to Al Borges...and the return of these...
- BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Ryan Evans is shooting jump shot free throws now.
- Nebraska may have hit the high end of their ticket sales base for football. That's a good problem to have.
- I made fun of Iowa when the word came out that the weren't recruiting Florida anymore. Black Heart Gold Pants did some actual analysis and critical thinking and came up with some reasons why it might not be a bad idea.
- You need proof that IU bball fans are nuts? Just look at how many comments went on this Crimson Quarry post about how nice it is that the Hoosiers didn't get stupid Adidas alternate uniforms.
College Football
- Brent Musburger is still pretty creepy.
- WWE WRASSLIN' COACHES. #4? Will Muschamp. #3? Mike Leach. #2? Les Miles. #1? Woody Hayes.
- How to recruit an 8th grader. SB Nation writers explain what it would have taken to recruit their 8th grade selves.
- High school scrub player makes funny highlight video of himself that includes things like him standing on the sidelines.
- Are college coaches making players slower? A 40 yard dash time analysis has some shocking revelations.
- Lane Kiffin is still an idiot.
College Basketball
- Another example of why the arbitrary rulemaking in college sports sucks.
- This was linked to in the comments last week, but here is a story on the rise of BIG HEADS in college student sections.
via l3.yimg.com
College Hockey
- College hockey players are proving more valuable in the NHL.
- Hobey Baker watch.
- Cool infographic that showed the possible finishing spots (prior to this past weekend) for all of college hockey's teams (by conference).
College Wrestling:
- BHGP says the national duals are broken and wonders if they can be fixed.
Uniforms
- Sweet new uniforms for the Colorado Rapids.
That's an attractive kit. The horizontal piping is a good way to break up the flat burgundy that's characterised the Rapids for several years, and they haven't done anything absurd to ruin the rest of the design. A little too much white on the shoulders, perhaps, but other than that, a solid effort and a big improvement on anything we've seen so far out of Color... wait, hold on.
Those are words! Names, in fact. The Rapids have included the names of every single season ticket holder (granted, there aren't that many of them, and they've had to use a good amount of filler) on their home kit. Names on jerseys aren't a brand-new innovation -- both Bayern Munich and Arsenal have done it before -- but that Adidas have managed to pull this off while keeping the shirt as a whole looking great is incredible.
- Die in a tire fire Adidas.
- Illinois tries its hand at alternate uniforms:
- Go home Arizona State, you're drunk (and your mascot is high).
Facilities
- Illinois' plans for Assembly Hall get a video.
The Smorgasbord
- I'm guessing a lot of you may have seen this already, but it's too nice of a feel good story not to post.
- Science!
- Cool infographic that shows the careers of NBA players by "Snowflake Chart."
- Ricky Rubio seems to have watched that great Super Bowl commercial...
- MAKE THIS HAPPEN BILL MURRAY!
The St. Paul Saints minor league baseball team is known for its crazy promotions. Jose Canseco wants in on the fun.
Canseco, the 48-year-old former Major League slugger who has admitted to steroids use, campaigned on Twitter throughout the day Friday for the Saints to give him a look.
Canseco (@JoseCanseco) sent several tweets to his nearly half million followers, including: "the @stpaulsaints are world class marketeers. Help me come up with some other promo nights that can help them draw. ideas? #cansainto."
- Can someone please get LeBron to be in the dunk contest already?
- Oh children...
- And last but not least, BOURBON BOURBON BOURBON from EDSBS.