Golden Nugz - 3.5.13 - Snow Day Links

Anyone else excited to have to clear snow today? Yea, didn't think so.

Gopher Pro Day

- Joe C say's MarQueis Gray is still recovering from his ankle injury but lowered his 40 time to a 4.67. Also of note:

Keanon Cooper had the fastest 40-yard dash time of all the former Gophers working out Monday. The linebacker was clocked at 4.50 seconds, and that was with a sore hamstring.

Cornerback Troy Stoudermire was second at 4.51 seconds. Linebacker Mike Rallis and cornerback Michael Carter both were clocked at 4.69 seconds. Rallis impressed with a 38-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot, 4-inch broad jump.

- Gray hopes he opened some eyes in the the NFL. He talked with Bob Sansevere.

Gray is unsure where he would be asked to play if he were drafted by an NFL team or signed as a free agent. The options include quarterback, wide receiver and tight end.

While his 40 time of 4.67 seconds was faster than his best clocking at the NFL scouting combine last month, it still isn't speedy enough to play wide receiver in the NFL.

Gray claims to be recovering from an ankle injury that has slowed him. Healthy, he said, he could run a 4.5.

- Bill Musgrave of the Vikings says that NFL teams are trying to figure out where Gray fits.

- A WR from Northern Iowa ran a 4.19 40 yard dash at the Minnesota Pro Day yesterday.

- Pro Day video:

Football

- Kill follows spring tradition and says no starters are locked in yet.

- Did you know Kevin Cosgrove was suing the U? Neither did I. In any case, his claim against the U for a salary dispute was dismissed.

Former Gophers defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove's claim against the University of Minnesota for further payment on his salary following coach Tim Brewster's midseason firing in 2010 was dismissed in the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday, March 4.

Cosgrove, who worked for Brewster during the 2009 and 2010 seasons, and his attorneys argued that the U failed to timely pay wages owed to him as part of his original memorandum of agreement signed when Cosgrove was hired in 2009. His three-year salary was worth $305,000 annually.

The Minnesota State Supreme Court ruled that the district court did not have subject-matter jurisdiction in the case, reversing that court's June 2012 order.

Hockey

- Roman says this is the closest WCHA title race that The Don has ever seen. Roman runs us through some of the interesting details:

If two or more teams tie for first place, they are declared conference cochampions

Theoretically, as many as four teams could tie for first next weekend. Here is that scenario:

* St. Cloud State is swept at Wisconsin, so Huskies finish with 35 points

* Wisconsin, with sweep, also finishes with 35

* Gophers split at Bemidji State to finish with 35 pts.

* UND splits with Minnesota State to finish with 35

or

* Minnesota State Mankato could be that fourth team in the tie by sweeping UND, in which case North Dakota would not be among the teams sharing the MacNaughton Cup

"The top four teams are all on the road," Lucia said. Well, sort of. Veterans Memorial Coliseum, is more of a neutral site for the Badgers than a road game.

"Wisconsin has come out of nowhere," Lucia aid. "But if they win two games, they are ahead of St. Cloud," Lucia said.

He called the WCHA a great conference and "with the breakup, this is the way [this season] should be."

- The Gophers are #2 in both the Pairwise and polls.

- BSU is playing better just in time to face the Gophers (of course).

Basketball

- Amelia takes a look at the B1G tiebreakers and how they could affect Minnesota.

Currently the 6-9 standings look like this:

6. Minnesota 8-8
Illinois 8-8

7. Iowa 7-9
Purdue 7-9

Obviously if there ended up being any ties, head-to-head will be the first thing to give a team a lift. In the case of Illinois and Iowa, however, the Gophers have split the season series 1-1.

From there, the teams’ records against the No. 1 team in the conference would be looked at first, and then on down the line until one team separates itself.

Of course, both Illinois and Minnesota have had wins over Indiana – but the Illini played them just once, which means their record would ultimately trump the Gophers.

Illinois does have a much meatier final two games – at Iowa and at Ohio State – than the Gophers do, however.

A tie with Iowa – which has two home games against Illinois and Nebraska -- or Purdue -- which has Michigan and Minnesota -- would go in the Gophers' favor.

Depending on where the Gophers land they will either be playing Nebraska or Northwestern (the possible 10 and 11-seeds) or one of the other teams above who gets the 9 or 8-seed.

So essentially to finish 6th we need to win out and hope Illinois drops a game.

- Austin Hollins is doing all the little things, which is good since his shots still aren't falling.

Women's Basketball

- Rachel Banham was named 1st team All B1G by the coaches and 2nd team by the media.

After leading the Minnesota women’s basketball team to its best season in four years and claiming the Big Ten Conference regular-season scoring title, sophomore Rachel Banham was named to the All-Big Ten first team by the league’s head coaches, the conference announced Monday.

Banham also earned a spot on the All-Big Ten second team as picked by media voters, while fellow captain Micaëlla Riché was named honorable mention All-Big Ten by both coaches and media.

Rookie Shayne Mullaney was named to the Big Ten all-freshman team.

Banham was elevated to the first team this season after garnering second-team honors as a freshman. She is the seventh different Minnesota player to earn first-team All-Big Ten recognition and the first to be named to the first team since Emily Fox in 2008.

- The STrib editorial board goes after the U and Maturi (any surprised this a Maturi deal?) for their "secret" contract extension with Pam Borton.

Last week the Star Tribune reported that women’s basketball coach Pam Borton was quietly given a two-year contract extension by outgoing athletic director Joel Maturi before he packed up his office last year and moved into a one-year fundraising role at the U.

What makes this case particularly odd was that the university never announced the extension. No news conference. No press release. No photo with Goldy and the smiling coach, who will make a minimum of $485,000 annually for the next three years despite declining attendance, a mediocre won-loss record and no NCAA tournament appearances the past three years.

Whether or not Borton deserved the extension is a debate for talk radio and the sports pages. Even if their teams are struggling, Division I schools often extend contracts for coaches if they believe a turnaround is coming. Such votes of confidence can be important for recruiting and fundraising. But with programs as prominent as women’s basketball at the U, it’s extremely unusual for the news to be hush-hush.

Maturi has yet to offer an explanation.

Wrestling

- The Daily looks at the Gophers' #1 ranked 174 pounder, Logan Storely.

- The B1G has announced the seeds for the BTT. Black Shoe Diaries made some predictions just before they came out.

Baseball

- B1G coaches are floating an idea whereby teams in the north could play games in the fall that would count towards NCAA eligibility.

Big Ten coaches have voted to continue studying the idea proposed by Purdue's Doug Schreiber. Deputy commissioner Brad Traviolia said Monday the conference is in the process of explaining the concept to coaches across the country.

Traviolia said if the idea gains traction, the Big Ten would enter the proposal in the NCAA legislative process. He said he couldn't predict when that would happen, if ever.

B1G

- Nebraska president Harvey Perlman is in some funny YouTube videos:

My favorite is this one:

YOLO!

No idea...

YOUR MOVE NORTHWESTERN!

- Speaking of Nebby, their football team clearly didn't listen to Harvey's advice. Corn Nation breaks down the Spring Practice Harlem Shake.

- THAT ROWBOAT IN FRONT OF THE DANCING. WHERE ARE YOU GOING IN LAND LOCKED LINCOLN NEBRASKA?!?!

- What is Taylor and RK3 doing with that sign? And who is on that sign? I got a zebra, a question mark, Mr. Potato Head, and.... who else? I mean, if that's one that wants you to get hit to force a penalty, it could be Ed Cunningham I guess YEP, WENT THERE.

- There is a leopard doing unmentionables to a tackling dummy while someone in a dog's uniform dancing next to him. WHERE IS THIS A NORMAL THING TO DO? AND WHO LET CARL BACK INTO LINCOLN???

- Hey look more officials looking away as debauchery is going on. Must be Big 12 refs.

- MORE PAD ABUSE ON THE LEFT SIDE. PAD SAFETY ACTIVISTS HAVE TO BE RAGING OVER THIS.

- Basketball Power Rankings.

- Michigan trolled the MSU "floor slap" nonsense in their recent win.

College Football

- You know how we all made fun of Texas Tech fans' obsession with SWAGGA! Yea well...one of their boosters emailed the athletic dept a memo where they suggest that Kliff Klingsbury be branded as HC Swagger. You think I'm kidding?

Some of Spiegelberg's best suggestions:

• Get Kingsbury a nickname. Suggestions include "GQ," "Hollywood," and "Swagger."
• Get Kingsbury a professional stylist, specifically Fred Segal, who has apparently styled "Micheal" Jackson, Brad Pitt, Madonna, Ashley Olson, Bruce Willis, The Beatles, Carrie Underwood, and Adam Lambert. "The list goes on," boasts Spieglberg.
• Get Kingsbury on the "B-list," which will somehow lead to his being invited to the Oscars and Grammys. Also New York Fashion Week

Media

- Corn Nation has a nice piece on why the current trend in sports media rights is unsustainable and why it's the fans who suffer.

Uniforms

- Oregon State just unveiled both new uniforms and a new logo. I'm not sold on the new unis, but they do appear to include a color feature on the facemask that makes me wonder if they weren't trying to make people think of a beaver when they look at the players.

The Smorgasbord

- Do you know about the Golf Boys Crew? THEY'RE BACK!

- Stephen A. Smith talked (that is, SCREAMED) about the NHL and the Blackhawks. It went as poorly as you would think.

- WHO ARE THE MONSTERS WHO ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN!

Workers accidentally flushed around $750,000 worth of bulk whisky instead of the waste water they were supposed to dispose of at a bottling plant in Scotland this week.

According to reports from the BBC and Scottish Sun, the mix-up went down on Tuesday during a routine equipment cleaning. An "insider" says it happened in the middle of the night, and the bosses are "livid":

"It happened on a night-shift washout — that’s when the equipment is cleaned for a changeover between different products. Instead of draining the water and cleaning solution, they flushed out all the whisky. What’s even more shocking is no one noticed until 11am."