Already off to interesting start as Titans trade first pick to Rams

Rams trade their:

- '16 1st round pick (15th)
- '16 2nd round pick (43)
- '16 2nd round pick (45)
- '16 3rd round pick (76)
- '17 1st round pick
- '17 3rd round pick

Rams get
1st overall pick in 2016
4th rounder in 2016 (#113)
6th rounder in 2016 (#177)

So not necessarily partisan, but wanted some thoughts on this. There has been a lot of buzz/furor over Time's recent cover piece on the national debt. It is an alarmist piece to be sure, but the furor from the left leaning "media", Slate etc. has been fierce, arguing that the this issue should not even be a consideration and that any concern about the debt is silly. I will say that personally, the backlash by the big government folk is telling for a number of reasons. But that is not really the point of my post.

The post is how our debt relates to other international issues despite our own solvency. The other current news piece that has me interested is the fight over the bi-partisan bill to allow the Saudi government to face civil liability for possible involvement in 9/11. Again whether they are indeed liable is again an issue for another day, but the link for these two issues is the Sauds threat to sell off nearly 1 Trillion is U.S. assets if we allow this to move forward. This would be partly to avoid these from being frozen, but mostly to create instability in the dollar.

So the point I am trying to make is what influence over our foreign policy dose our debt have? If we are concerned by what would happen if the Saudis sold their trillion, then how much leverage do we lose if the Chinese threaten to sell off their 5 trillion?

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14561465/windhorst-minnesota-long-cold-basketball-winter

The NBA should just pull the plug on this cesspool

The Warriors have won 36 of their last 38. The Timberwolves have won 36 of their last 138.

Press release:
The University of Minnesota baseball program is ranked 25th in the latest D1Baseball.com poll, the website and NCAA announced on Monday. The ranking marks the first time since June 29, 2009 the Gophers have been placed in the top 25.

Minnesota was on the cusp of national prominence as it was up for discussion in last week’s poll. After a 3-1 week, including a series victory against Maryland, the Gophers found their way into the poll for the first time in seven years.

With an overall record 21-11, the Maroon and Gold have captured series wins against the No. 1, 2 and 4 preseason Big Ten favorites, including No. 25 Michigan on the road. Minnesota also left No. 23 Missouri State with two wins back in March.

The Gophers carry the torch for the Big Ten Conference as they are the only club to be placed inside the top 25. Michigan and Michigan State sit just on the outside and are receiving votes.

Minnesota plays host to North Dakota State tomorrow night at 6 p.m. at Siebert Field before traveling to Big Ten foe Northwestern for a three-game series, April 22-24.

Didn't see it posted here so I thought I'd post and link to the article.

Should be a benefit to Minnesota given our location.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/r...-guardians-accompany-recruits-official-visits

I said earlier the staff would be looking at two possible targets in Florida that attend Plant City H.S., and now a third is confirmed.

Dual-threat quarterback Corey King said someone on staff will watch him during practice and will stay to watch him for the spring game. King is currently committed to South Alabama, but you'd have to think that's just to have something in place.

King is more dangerous running with the football and has the tools to develop into a solid passer, but decision making and accuracy are things he needs to work on.

Other D-I prospects for Plant City are receiver Antoine Thompson and linebacker Steven Olgletree.

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Login to view embedded media New turf going in...no maroon!!!!

Only 3 hitters hitting above .192(Escobar, Mauer, Nunez). Bad innings cost us. Its awfully early but when you see Sano, Buxton, Dozier, Plouffe, and co. struggling so bad at the start..I realize that we are really young and people are comparing us to KC before they made their run. SO gotta be patient. I know people will say it cant get any worse so it can only look up.. But this is a discouraging start. For those who know the Twins, do we have too many holes in our bats for a competitive lineup?? What do you think??

Ryan James is the guru of Minnesota prep hoops but I am excited as a Gopher fan in a different state. Been doing some reading about players and talking to some guys, outside of the ones on this board and outside the state of Minnesota... There are some impressive HS hoops players when you put the list together.. And this does not even touch the guys that could explode onto the scene and surprise or rise above the rest.
THE STATE OF MINNESOTA HAS A BIT OF EVERYTHING TO OFFER....Speed, size, skill, shooting ability, rebounding, defense, good court awareness... AND OUT-OF-STATE PROGRAMS EVERYWHERE HAVE TAKEN NOTICE!!..........Look at this list of players as its impressive as to how the state of Minnesota has improved and expanded the talent in the hoops game.. Actually, it has for a long time but more programs outside the state have paid attention. The run of strong classes in Minnesota started years back but this is what is coming up, as far as future high majors.

BIGS: Nathan Reuvers-2017
Theo John - 2017
Jericho Sims - 2017
Adam Trapp - 2018
Daniel Oturu - 2018
Matthew Hurt - 2019

WINGS: Gary Trent - 2017
Goanar Mar - 2017
Gabe Kalscheur - 2018
Race Thompson - 2018

PGs - McKinley Wright - 2017
Brad Davison -2017
Tre Jones - 2018

That is an impressive list.. And I am not mentioning a ton of other guys that could/should be in this conversation!!!!(maybe Hedstrom, Bickham, Thomas, etc) NO MORE IS MINNESOTA JUST A STATE OF PLAYERS 6-9 and above who are rugged rebounders and defenders. CMON GOPHERS, LETS GET SOME OF THESE GUYS!!!

Skill players and defensive lineman make up the bulk of the prospects the coaching staff considered high priority targets in Illinois. The recruiting pool, however, grew a little more competitive with Lovie Smith becoming the new head coach at Illinois.

From Illinois, the staff has offered 4-star WR Isaiah Robertson, who is committed to Notre Dame, Chicago-based receiver Ricky Smalling, offensive tackle Kevin Jarvis, who is committed to Michigan State, defensive ends Izayah Green-May, Jacub Panasiuk and Olalere Oladipo and linebacker Micah Awodiran.

Oladipo is the most recent player from Illinois to get an offer. In an earlier interview, he said he wanted to visit the campus. Awodiran and Oladipo visited Illinois this past weekend while Smalling visited Illinois the prior week. Panasiuk said Minnesota coaches will be visiting him sometime this week. He is supposedly going to ne visiting Michigan State this weekend.

During this evaluation period, here are some other prospects the staff will look at:

Chris Katrenick, QB, Jacobs HS. Three-star QB ranked 24th best QB in the country by Rivals. Only P5 offer is from Virginia.

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Isaac Hawn, OL, St. Charles North. Hawn is likely the next Illinois prospect to get an offer from Minnesota. A three-star recruit with about 14 offers (Illinois, Northern Illinois, W. Michigan, Princeton, Cornell, Harvard to name a few), Hawn made an unofficial visit to Minnesota on March 22.

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Marcus Hayes, Safety, Lutheran H.S. Hayes is already committed to Western Michigan, but that could change.

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Dalton Wagner, OL, Burton H.S. 6-foot-8, 291 tackle. Virginia, Illinois, Arkansas, Louisville among the big offers. From his first play of his film, you can tell he's going to be a starter from some program.

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Kendall Smith, receiver, Bolingbrook HS. 11 offers to date for the three-star receiver, including Illinois.

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Also, Cameron Thomas, a QB from Marian Catholic, recently visited Minnesota for the spring game. He doesn't own an offer but has interest from nine schools.

6'1" Whitney Tinjum will transfer from Bradley and play her senior season for the Gophers. A grad transfer, she will be eligible immediately.
The Stacy, MN native and Chisago Lakes HS
graduate was Bradley's second leading scorer
averaging 9.2 points a game and 4.2 rebounds a game. She scored in double figures 14 times and shot 75 % from the freethrow line. She will join former Chisago Lakes teammate Bryanna Fernstrom who transfered from Iowa State
The scouting report on her is that she has great court awareness and a high basketball IQ. She can play both inside and outside and is very tough defensively. She originally committed to Wisconsin, but changed her mind after a coaching change This gives Stollings two tough defensive players in Tinjum and Fernstrom. Stollings indicated they may add one more player to replace Daniel Garvin who transfered out.

The Big Ten Conference is poised to shift much of its media rights from ESPN to Fox.

An industry source on Tuesday confirmed a Sports Business Daily report that a pending six-year deal would give Fox Sports and Fox Sports 1 about 25 football games and 50 men’s basketball games per season starting in the fall of 2017.

The deal could be worth as much as $250 million per year — and that’s for only half of the Big Ten’s inventory. ESPN, which has been broadcasting Big Ten football and basketball games for decades, has been paying $100 million per year.

Each Big Ten school, save for recent additions Maryland and Rutgers, is expected to receive $40 million to $45 million a year in media rights once the new deals kick in. That figure was $20 million in 2009-10.

The Big Ten will return to market to solicit bids on the second half of the package, according to the report. Among the potential interested parties are ESPN/ABC, CBS, NBC and Turner Sports.

ESPN had first negotiation rights to renew, but the network is in cost-cutting mode after losing about 7 million subscribers from 2014 to ’16 as so-called “cord cutters” opt for slimmed-down TV packages...

http://www.startribune.com/fox-preparing-for-big-move-on-big-ten/376298051/

2017-2018

PG
Nate Mason Sr.
McKinley Wright Fr.

SG
Amir Coffey Soph.
Dupree McBrayer Jr.

SF
Davonte Fitzgerald Sr.
Michael Hurt Soph.
Ahmad Gilbert Jr. .

PF
Jordan Murphy Jr.
Eric Curry Soph.
Jericho Sims Fr.

C
Reggie Lynch Sr.
Theo John Fr.
Bakary Konate Sr.

2018-2019

PG
McKinley Wright Soph.
Tre Jones/Other 2018 PG (Fr.)

SG
Amir Coffey Jr.
Dupree McBrayer Sr.

SF
Michael Hurt Jr.
Gabe Kalscheur Fr.
Ahmad Gilbert Sr.

PF
Jordan Murphy Sr.
Eric Curry Jr.
Jericho Sims Soph.

C
Theo John Soph.
Race Thompson Fr.
Daniel Oturo Fr.

The 2017-2018 classes of Minnesota prospects are absolutely loaded. If we can keep bringing in Minnesota players for the next few years we really shouldn't need to recruit too many out of state players except for maybe a can't miss type prospect or a grad transfer or something. Just so much high major talent here. Think the future could be very bright and talent should not be the issue here. Just purely speculation, but maybe potential roster situations for the next couple of years here.

A couple of weeks ago Todd McShay selected BBC for the Seahawks in the third round. He did not have Eric Murray in his "three round mock draft".

Today, Mel Kiper released his "three round mock draft" and he selects Eric Murray for the Titans in the third rounds. This time it's BBC that is left out.

After last year, OL was at the top of the list of things to fix. Coach Miller was tasked by Claeys to get the the job done and get more guys that were "badass". On Saturday many of us got our first looks, although with unique lineups. White team had projected starters Connor Mayes at LG, Tyler Moore at C and JUCO transfer Garrison Wright at LT. Bronson Dovich got the start at RG and Ted Stieber at RT, Noah Kuehn filled in at a few spots. I thought this OL would look better than what we saw. (Full disclosure to all parents and OL experts, I didn't know the plays or line calls.) Gold team lined up projected starters Vincent Calhoun at RG & RT Jonah Pirsig, filling out the starting 5 was LT Nick Connely, LG Jared Weyler and C Matt Leidner. Weyler also got snaps at C and Quinn Oseland replaced Weyler at LG, Luke Rasmussen got some reps at LT. Chad Fahning was held out with an injury, reportedly not serious.

Thank the Lord that the coaches were able to bring in the 2 JUCOs, without them the OL would be tremendously week. Both patchwork lines had some great plays, but a few OL stood out to me on more than a few plays. Calhoun was a beast on a couple of pulls and helped blow open some huge holes. Calhoun is has B1G size and looks to move quite well in pass pro. Pirsig looked solid to me as well, though he did struggle with some speed rushes. Weyler and Oseland looked good in the run game and opened some big holes for Smith and JJ. Moore did a good job on Jackson when they battled one on one. Facing those DTs will really make the interior line better.

IMO we have 7 solid OL right now and assuming Fahning comes back healthy, that would be 8. Seemed like we played over 10 guys along the OL last year, so a few more need to be found. After the Spring Game, here would be my 2 deeps. But, we still might get a late transfer or JUCO player to add some depth.

LT: Wright, Fahning/Connely
LG: Mayes, Weyler/Oseland
C: Moore, Weyler
RG: Calhoun, Weyler/Dovich
RT: Pirsig, Fahning

Jericho is a quiet kid but I was able to speak with him a bit about the recent offer.

https://minnesota.n.rivals.com/news/gophers-after-another-sims

minnesota just offered McKinley Wright after watching him miss a triple double by a couple assists.

He was great this weekend again and the offer came.

I'm hearing it's highly likely there will be an in-state commitment today. Stay tuned...

Evan Flood just posted that MN was in final 4 for another UWM transfer, a 6-6 SF named Austin Arian. It's not true. I just got confirmed that they called on him awhile ago but once they got Springs they were done with him and all other wings for 2016. So when you see it on Twitter you can ignore it

The secret, from Urban Meyer: They're using proceeds from the spring game to help underprivileged young people. Minnesota needs some of that innovative thinking for their spring game.

Nico Bolden took a visit to Wisconsin today.

https://wisconsin.n.rivals.com/news/badgers-host-three-star-junior-from-minnesota

Brahms, the U.S Army All-American offensive tackle from Navarre, FL, said coaches from Minnesota will visit him on campus during the open period.

Brahms sparked a relationship with Bart Miller when they first spoke. To add, Miller was on staff at Florida Atlantic when that program was one of the first to really recruit Brahms.

Poore and JJ are out now to find a QB. As always, a key position. Will be interesting to see if they set the bar "high" and go after one with a lot of big time offers, or go after a "under the radar" type. Minny will only sign one, plus most of the other B10 teams already got their key QB verbal already

Per Joe C at the Strib...Strevy on his way out.

http://m.startribune.com/chris-stre...r-to-another-school/375858321/?section=sports

Another example of the failed QB recruiting under Kill-Limey-Z.

Another example of why this team is headed in the right direction. It is impressive what the defensive side of the ball was able to do despite complete failure to recruit the most important position in sports.