The second 1 seed to fall victim to a 16-seed

Farleigh Dickinson with the historic win

Hiring Keegan Cook for volleyball and Dawn Plitzuweit for women's basketball are excellent hires. YES, we have to see the results first but no one ever hired as coach had an administration with a crystal ball in front of them at the time of hire to see those future results.

Both have histories as winning head coaches in programs that have to be towards the top of revenue sports for women at Minnesota. Coyle has shown that he wants to win at Minnesota so I have perfect confidence in that. Both seem to be high character people in their history so that is another essential that the "box has been checked".

In volleyball, although Hugh McCutcheon will be employed on campus, I am SURE THAT HE WONT MEDDLE in the volleyball program with Cook in charge. BUT, it is nice for Cook to be able to set up an appointment with a coach of McCutcheon's caliber and character for consultation purposes, if the situation so arose where that was needed. And for the most part, Cook has been able to keep the core of the team together so far and added some nice pieces for next year.

Plitzuweit has got a core of good young instate players to build the team. I sure wish Rose Micheaux would have stayed but I understand why she wants to leave. I dont see a situation where Whalen would meddle in the program now but again, it is nice that she is around in case Plitzuweit would want to bounce off ideas or check relationships with players in some way.

Coyle did a good job with these hires.. I do think he stuck his neck out when hiring Ben Johnson but again, I understand that Ben checked off a lot of boxes for the university in his hire. He knows the local recruiting scene, I am sure it is a benefit that he is a young black coach for the politically correct, and he was a former player here. I still think it was a stretch to hire him but that is water under the bridge, now.


GET READY TO BE PISSED OFF AT ME!!! I can't stand political correctness. I think hiring someone just because they are female is as prejudicial as hiring just because they are a man. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND the importance of hiring a woman as the basketball coach of the women's program when that same criteria was not applied to the women's volleyball position. QUITE FRANKLY, I THINK THAT CRITERIA IS STUPID!!!!!!!! Though I am well aware that key entities at Minnesota see things differently. Bring in the best candidate if you want a winning program, regardless of gender or race. Otherwise it is nonsense!!

The final newcomer profile for the 2023 signees is finally here, and it's only right to end it with an in-state signee ⬇️


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I cant imagine taking a team to the NCAA tournament 25 years in a row. Not too many programs can make that claim. Tom Izzo is one of my heroes of coaching. Then, the Big Ten had the uncomfortable position of having so many teams seeded 7 through 10 in their respective regions. That is like a curse to get through the first weekend.

Why?? Because you are basically playing a team equal to you in the first round. Then, if you win the 8/9 game, it is highly likely you will play the top seed in the next round.. The winner of the 7/10 game will likely play the number 2 seed in the next round. I think the Big Ten had 6 teams seeded in that 7-10 range and Michigan State came out of it.. Tom Izzo is a great coach, for sure.

Kudos to Michigan State and hoping that Indiana can win to send 2 Big Ten teams to the Sweet 16..... The SEC and Big 12 clearly were the 2 best basketball conferences this year, IMO.

Going to do individual posts for bigger news pieces as well but will also be posting smaller tweets, links, updates, etc in here.

Chat about the NCAA Tournament here if you'd like, today's slate of games include...

• No. 5 San Diego State vs. No. 13 Furman | 12:10 p.m. | CBS
• No. 4 Tennessee vs. No. 5 Duke | 2:40 p.m. | CBS
• No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 8 Arkansas | 5:15 p.m. | CBS
• No. 7 Missouri vs. No. 15 Princeton | 6:10 p.m. | TNT
• No. 1 Houston vs. No. 9 Auburn | 7:10 p.m. | TBS
• No. 2 Texas vs. No. 10 Penn State | 7:45 p.m. | CBS
• No. 2 UCLA vs. No. 7 Northwestern | 8:40 p.m. | TNT
• No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 8 Maryland | 9:40 p.m. | TBS

Frankfort (IL) linebacker Matt Kingsbury was one of the final pieces to Minnesota's 2023 recruiting class. We take a look at how his recruitment unfolded and what he brings to the Gophers in todays newcomer profile.


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Gophers rack up with postseason awards. Minnesota is currently ranked No. 1 with a 26-8-1 record on the season and in the midst of the Big Ten Tournament. They will play Michigan (No. 4) at home on Saturday for a chance to win the Big Ten Title.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Matthew Knies, So., F, MINN

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Brock Faber, Jr., D, MINN

COACH OF THE YEAR:
Bob Motzko, MINN

CO-SCORING CHAMPIONS:
Logan Cooley, Fr., F, MINN (36 points)
Jimmy Snuggerud, Fr., F, MINN (36 points)

All-BIG TEN – FIRST TEAM
Adam Fantilli, Fr., F, MICH
Logan Cooley, Fr., F, MINN
Matthew Knies, So., F, MINN
Luke Hughes, So., D, MICH
Brock Faber, Jr., D, MINN
Ryan Bischel, Sr., G, ND

ALL-BIG TEN – SECOND TEAM
Mackie Samoskevich, So., F, MICH
Jimmy Snuggerud, Fr., F, MINN
Jake Wise, 5th, F, OSU
Jackson LaCombe, Sr., D, MINN
Mason Lohrei, So., D, OSU
Justen Close, Sr., G, MINN

ALL-BIG TEN – HONORABLE MENTION
Gavin Brindley, Fr., F, MICH
T.J. Hughes, Fr., F, MICH
Jagger Joshua, Sr., F, MSU
Stephen Halliday, Fr., F, OSU
Connor MacEachern, Sr., F, PSU
Kevin Wall, Sr., F, PSU
Ryan Johnson, Sr., D, MINN
Nick Leivermann, Gr., D, ND
Corson Ceulemans, So., D, WIS
Dylan St. Cyr, Gr., G, MSU
Jakub Dobeš, So., G, OSU

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM:
Adam Fantilli, Fr., F, MICH *
Logan Cooley, Fr., F, MINN
Jimmy Snuggerud, Fr., F, MINN
Seamus Casey, Fr., D, MICH
Luke Mittelstadt, Fr., D, MINN
(no goaltender)

SPORTSMANSHIP AWARDS:
Jay Keranen, Sr., D, MICH
Dylan St. Cyr, Gr., G, MSU
Ryan Johnson, Sr., D, MINN
Landon Slaggert, Jr., F, ND
Jake Wise, 5th, F, OSU
Paul DeNaples, Sr., D, PSU
Brock Caufield, Gr., F, WIS

Big Ten is 5-4 through the first round of the NCAA Tournament

W's include:

Penn State over Texas A&M 76-59
Northwestern over Boise State 75-67
Maryland over West Virginia 67-65
Michigan State over USC 72-62
Indiana over Kent State 71-60


L's include:

Auburn over Iowa 83-75
Arkansas over Illinois 73-63
Farleigh Dickinson over Purdue 63-58 (2nd 16 seed to upset a 1 seed)

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Purdue with something to hang their hat on tonight. @Unlimited424 - how big of an upset is this?

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WR target in town on Monday

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Confirmed both are officially in the transfer portal

Will get pro evaluation, enter transfer portal

I love Spann-Ford's potential this year but if he were to go down with an injury, I'm not sure there's anybody who could step up and even replace a quarter of his production.

A moot point since Gophs got their 2024 QB commitment from Aaron Philo, but Kaelin, whom Gophs had offered before Philo, has committed to Missouri.

Minnesota added three defensive linemen in their 2023 class, one of them being Theorin Randle. We take a closer look at Randle's recruitment and what he brings to the Gophers in todays Newcomer Profile.


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Potts to Kent St? Follow Coach Burns?

Not unexpected ....

I used to be much more active on checking recruiting on here and loved to "project" what the future is like. That is all gone now. No one stays, recruiting is for 1 year at a time. That's it. The gophers don't have a substantial NIL program so our basketball team will be dust and Fleck is doing his best to combat it but even that will at some point certain game changers to turn away....

I have barely watched college basketball this year because I can't possibly track anyone anymore. It's an absolute mess of who goes where each year, it used to be watch the McDonalds AA game and then you can see who is going where ON TOP of what is already there..... now it's turnover like crazy each and every year and I can't keep up anymore. I've lost interest FAST

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This one isn’t surprising either. A tall player that showed no inside game and struggled shooting