Well, with football having an underwhelming season, and basketball historically bad, all of my attention has shifted to the blue line.

Hockey had under-performed horribly to start the season, but are currently on a nice 5 game winning streak. This weekend is the big North Star Cup where they'll play Bemidji St then either Kato or St Cloud. This is their last non-big10 games of the year, and will be HUGE for the Pairwise, and trying to make the NCAA without winning the big10 tourney. It would be a shame to miss the tourney, especially since the X is the site for the west regional s.

With the citypages garbage article, it could either validate their crap agenda, or throw it in their face after this weekend. GO GOPHERS! #PrideOnIce!

Speaking of concussions did anybody read the article about how medical folks are studying woodpeckers to see how they can avoid brain damage when they bang their heads all day long? I think it said they have muscles in their necks that constrict blood flow to the brain and then the brain doesn't bounce around so much. I have lots of woodpeckers around my house and they really do bang their heads hard when they are hunting insects. And you ought to see the pileated woordpeckers feed their fledglings. Talk about ramming the food down their throats.

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This is a solid 18 minute interview with everyone's favorite dooooooooooogie

http://kstp.com/news/stories/s4025930.shtml

(not sure how to link it but if you copy it you can get there)

Please for the sake of your pets, secure their heads.

Arrowhead (Wis.) kicker John Mack, who holds a preferred walk-on offer, will take an official visit to Minnesota this weekend. He's a five-star kicker and the #12 kicker in the nation according to Kohl's Kicking. You can watch his Hudl here.

Here is my preview. I talked a lot today.

https://minnesota.n.rivals.com/news/michigan-pregame-1

I was asked some Qs from the Michigan site and here are those answers in addition to what I wrote for this site

What are the primary reasons behind Minnesota’s struggles so far this season?

Minnesota is a young team who has recently been starting three freshman and two sophomores. One of those starters (Ahmad Gilbert) is out 3-4 weeks with a hand injury so the Gophers will try yet another new line-up tonight. Minnesota's issue is that they are young and playing a lot of inexperienced players, they have only three upperclassmen and two of them don't play like matured upperclassmen, plus the entire team struggles defensively regardless if the team is in man to man or playing zone. Quality wings have been putting up big numbers on Minnesota all season long. When they play with energy they compete well (like they did at home against Michigan State and Indiana), when they play without energy and confidence they get beat like they did at home against Northwestern and on the road at Nebraska.
What are the strengths of this Gopher team?

Minnesota's strengths.

They have some young talent. Freshman power forward Jordan Murphy is a regular double-double guy, sophomore point guard Nate Mason is a controlled playmaker, freshman shooting guard Dupree McBrayer and sophomore center Bakary Konate are starting to become more consistent, and senior Joey King is one of three players in the nation (along with Oklahoma's Buddy Hield and Gonzaga's Kyle Wiltjer) who are shooting 90 percent or above from the foul line and 40 plus percent from the arc. King has been inconsistent lately but is always a three point threat.


Who are some perhaps under the radar players Michigan fans should watch out for?

With Minnesota being young and struggling, they are all pretty much under the radar. Dupree McBrayer is a guy that is starting to turn the corner. He is a freshman that had a terrible start to the year shooting but now he's starting and has been shooting a lot more consistently plus his court IQ on both ends of the floor is way higher than expected as a first year player. Freshman Jordan Murphy is a quick leaping, explosive finishing frosh that has Minnesota excited for the future. He's a double double guy when he is out of foul trouble.


Minnesota will pull off the upset if…

They play with the same energy they had against Indiana on Saturday and if they find a rhythm offensively which would include few turnovers and even fewer bad shots plus they will need Joey King to have another big game (17-22 points) and for Murphy to stay out of foul trouble. And they would need some luck.


Michigan will win the game if…

They simply come out and compete with energy and don't overlook the Gophers. If the Wolverines start the game with a focus, compete as a team like they have been most of the year, they will eventually break a young and fragile Gopher squad.

Aquinas (Ga.) defensive end Will Evans, who was recently offered, told me this: "I'm not considering [Minnesota] because they are so far away." So what's next? Well, the Gophers are working hard on Watts and Fant, and Moye just visited. Louisiana Tech commit Eric Kendzior has heard from Minnesota a little bit as has South Alabama commit Bryce Huff. I'm working to find out more defensive lineman targets right now.

Would this be targeting under current rule? Just because it was brutal I am sure today the knee jerk would be to throw the flag. Login to view embedded media

Time to put a pile of points up on both the Border Battle babies and on the rest of the Big Six, ummm Ten, ummm BIG...

Both Cedar Ridge (Texas) cornerback Ian Peterson and Baker (Ala.) cornerback Bobby Flott heard from Minnesota over the past few days. Peterson is committed to Kansas, and Flott is committed to South Alabama. You can watch Peterson's Hudl here, and Flott's here.

I am hearing conflicting things from very good sources. After I was told I could release the names of the visitors, someone else told me later that day that Gilliam did not have his official set up yet. I was told again yesterday that Gilliam was not on campus this weekend, and that's the last update I've received. However, AZJ's source is adamant that Gilliam was on campus this weekend. So there's a lot of ambiguity with Gilliam right now.

4:06 Update: I'm told for a third time that Gilliam did not visit, and I'll now take that for fact. Tobias Gilliam did not visit Minnesota this weekend.

Of course overall numbers of fans could affect recruiting. But in the case of the Gophers and GI, this is what I want to do a poll of. Do you think that if a few more posters get 'negative'....or post some 'questionable' stuff....do you think that could affect recruiting?

I say 'no'. The way my popularity has been lately, this might prompt some to vote 'yes' lol. But seriously, tell me what you really think.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Southern Miss head coach Todd Monken has joined the Bucs as offensive coordinator / wide receivers coach, as first reported by the Tampa Bay Times. Read more here.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Vanderbilt cornerbacks Brett Maxie will join the Bucs staff as a defensive backs coach, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Maxie has spent the past two years at Vanderbilt and spent the previous 16 as an NFL assistant.

Both southern miss and Vandy schools we recruit against.

Link: Williams is high on the Gophers

I think DeMarcus Williams will be a Gopher, and he spoke with me about his recruitment inside.

I would be like a tall Mean Gene Okerlund interviewing him and Burnsie before the loser leave town match.

Did I hear correctly that he is transferring to St. Thomas?

A full ride scholarship has been offered to Connor roda, interesting to me as I don't think he has played at all, maybe once but that's it

This was brought up in another thread, but I thought I'd address it with its own thread. Ko Kieft was visited by Iowa tight end coach LaVar Woods recently. Kieft grew up going to Woods' camps. On the visit, Woods told Kieft that they screwed up by not getting him. Iowa would like him, but doesn't have room for a tight end. His dad told me: "They did not offer nor do I think they will. I am sure they would like him to walk-on or greyshirt -- he won't." When I asked Ko after the official visit if he was hearing from other schools, he told me no. So I think we can say Kieft is solid to Minnesota.

Minn up 42-30 at the half. Banham having an off day so far, but others picking it up. Defense is still an issue

Funny thing about the recruiting business is everyone has different sources. Sometimes those sources are conflicting and we get different information. This weekend happens to be one of those instances. My sources have confirmed that Jimmy Lowery, Kobe McCrary, Tyrez Lindsey, Stephen Moye and Tobias Gilliam are all on official visits to the University of Minnesota this weekend. I will stand by my source. However, as I mentioned on Thursday night, the main reason I didn't post the names of Moye and Gilliam is because they are currently committed to other schools and, unlike Lindsey, those other schools may have tried to block the visit.

Asked around about Amir Watts and here's what @Josh Helmholdt and I have to report... Minnesota and Indiana are both doing very well right now. He visited Indiana last weekend and visits Pitt this weekend. It will be Missouri (they offered yesterday) or Penn State for the last official visit, but he may be done after his official to Pitt this weekend. The consensus is that Iowa State is now out of the running (they were once the team he was supposed to visit next weekend).