Link: London talks Gophers, tomorrow's visit

Dominik is clearly high on the Gophers and I would look for a decision to come tomorrow. He goes pretty in-depth on his interest in Minnesota here and why Minnesota would be a good fit.

Clay Geary from Lakeville started practice with the team this week. Gives them some RB practice depth and maybe a ST player

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Received enough delegates to sew up the nomination...1238 as of now. Will the Repubeicans rally around him to help him get elected or will they spit in the face and will of the people ?

My take on this is that the only contracts that will be reviewed will be those in the AD department.

The Regents need to back off from this and let the AD and Kaler do their jobs. The Pitino buyout appears to be the main force behind this movement. I assume that Kaler gave Teague the nod of approval with RP's contract and the $7M buyout clause and, after the fact, some Regents have their undies in a buncle over it. Big bucks but this is the big time and the Regents need to understand that.

Large coaching contracts are the norm and have been for some time. The Regents are now taken back by this which has been paramount due to last year dismal season record and all the off court issues surrounding the men's hoops program. If those issues were not there, my guess is the Regents wouldn't even care about the details of RP's contract.

Get with the program Regents or drop out the BIG and go D2.

http://www.startribune.com/u-regents-table-coaching-contract-approval-proposal/382517181/

I always think backup QB at the college level is a crapshoot for even the best of teams.. Unless you had a situation like Ohio State had a year ago, most top football teams dont have an established backup.. If you have forced platooning and maybe a QB that came back from an injury or redshirt, then you can have some experienced depth. With 5 years in a program(including redshirt year) that is not much to establish time as a backup that sees action.

I will always be old school in my thinking as a Gopher fan.. Ideally, run the ball because it allows the o-line to get in sync, takes pressure off the QB, ideally keeps our own defense off the field, shortens the game, etc. The problem is that those safeties and LBs have gotten so much more athletic in today's game so you have to establish a passing threat to get those safeties off the line and LBs thinking more than normal instead of just reading/reacting to what is in front of them.

Obviously, we run a lot of safe passes with the 1 and 3 step drops where it is predetermined where the ball is going. The screens and the TE lags where it is timing or getting rid of the ball as soon as possible.. All good.. But there are times where we have to run those deeper drops to force those safeties back and guessing where the ball is going to go. That is where I feel a QB needs experience as it gives the QB and the receivers the ability to get in sync as well as help each other out by making plays. I am just wondering if Seth Green or Demry Croft are ready for that.. I know they practice and prepare but do they feel confident they can do it in a game situation against D1 opponents with superior athletes?? I am anxious to see the new offense and if they take a few more risks, anyways.. With Mitch, we have an experienced guy so we can do more things.. I am hoping that Demry or Seth can step in and provide playmaking ability. Maybe get a blowout win by the 4th quarter so those guys can relax without worrying that a mistake will cost the game. This will be an essential conversation next year but right now it is still possible that one of those guys is needed in a game. What do you guys think about our backup QB situation??

Definitely a challenging schedule thus far compared to our soft schedules in the past. We play at least five high major teams out of a possible 13 game non-conference schedule. Out of these five games, we need to win at least 3 to give ourselves a chance to go to the postseason entering big ten play. None of these teams are blue bloods, and we should definitely be able to compete in every match up. Let me know what you guys think!

1. St. John's at the Barn: Johnnies will be a lot like us next year, coming off a horrible season but a good young nucleus of talent arrives in back court studs Marcus Lovett and Shamorie Ponds who join stud Sophomore PG Frederico Mussini. This should be a good game as plenty of experts predict similar jumps this season in each of the Big East and Big Ten conferences from SJ and MN.

2. Arkansas: We may be catching them at a good time. Anthlon Bell has graduated and takes 15.7 ppg with him and Jimmy Whitt transferred out a couple months back. They have a so-so recruiting class coming in, but their top two players in Dusty Hannahs and Moses Kingsley are back. They'll need former big time recruit Anton Beard to take a big jump this season. Definitely a winnable game for MN, especially since its at home, and we may have more depth and overall talent.

3. @Florida State: This may be our toughest non-conference game. We have won three in a row against the Seminoles, but they are loaded with talent this year after a few solid recruiting coups in a row. Almost 30 ppg comes back in their backcourt with Dwayne Bacon and Xavier Rathan-Mayes returning. Florida State is loaded on the wing with Terrance Mann also coming back and top 10 recruit Jonathon Isaac entering the mix. Should be a very tough game for MN that could come down to forcing FSU into mistakes considering they really don't have a true point guard. Talent edge definitely goes to Florida State.

4. Vanderbilt @ Sanford Pentagon: Interesting game that the public has just heard about today. Vandy loses top two players in Wade Baldwin and Damian Jones to the NBA after they led the Commodores to the NCAA tourney last season. Were supposed to be a top 20 team last season but had a very disappointing season and barely snuck into the tourney before Wichita State blew them out by 20 in a play-in game. Riley LaChance is an efficient guard who will lead their attack this season. Big man shooter Luke Kornet returns as does swing man Joseph Toye. Two big losses for Vandy with Baldwin and Jones, Gophers could and should be the favorite when these two teams match up.

5. Two game preseason tourney, TBD.

This is important enough that it deserves it's own thread.

The Clinton Foundation is clearly a tax-exempt, pay-for-play scheme that trades appointments like Judge Gonzalo Curiel's, or in this case Raj Fernando's in exchange for cash or speaking engagements.

Raj Fernando, a wealthy Chicago commodities broker has been fundraising for the Democratic Party & the Clinton's for years. He's directly donated over a $1,000,000 to the Clinton Foundation. He has no experience of any type in National Security or nuclear planning. Yet, he was both added to the list of candidates (that he was not actually nominated for) and then won the appointment to the State Department's 'International Security Advisory Board' for which he was granted 'Top-Secret' access to National Security information and was responsible for helping plan 'US Nuclear Strategy'.

This goes beyond sleazy, beyond corrupt, beyond tax evasion, this is flat our irresponsible, reckless and dangerous.

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The focus series continues with Bakary.

https://minnesota.n.rivals.com/news/focus-on-16-17-bakary-konate

Can we all finally agree that the NBA, NFL, NCAA, etc.....there indeed ARE shenanigans taking place. Things are not 100% on the up-and-up. Too much money involved. The NFL does not officiate all games, especially certain playoff games, totally fairly. Scheduling is not 100% fair. In the NCAA, conferences tend to have favorable officiating for a team to stay in the national title picture. I could continue; many, many more examples.

And it's beyond any doubt that Dramond Green was only suspended in order to lengthen the playoffs. Plus controversy = ratings. I harped on this point a few times over the last couple of years regarding the NFL. Controversy sells. That's why the NFL doesn't go to replay on the important calls. They like bad officiating. Gets everyone worked-up.

in addition to the incoming FR and RS FR, we need some returning guys to stay healthy and take a step up

Damarius Travis and Ace Rogers have to stay healthy this year for the majority of the season. We missed their big play ability immensely last year. Travis has the ability to be the best DB Sawvel has produced

Injuries, adjustments, projects...

Gentry, can someone get him some healthy hamstrings? Love his shake and bake and no one is more dangerous with the ball in his hand

Gibson, will have had 8-9 months at DE. Can he bring a pass rush?

Moore, I think he would have been the talk of camp on the DL if not for Marek Jackson. He looked like a beast against a questionable OL

Weyler, hope he his knee is healthy as he looked real good in the spring game. Very nice kid and I'm rooting for him

Holland, he needs to catch before he runs. Kid has the talent to be productive, but needs to relax on the field

Fahning, Would have gotten first team reps if healthy in the spring game. Legit OL option or???

Kafo, can he force Sawvell to run more 4-3 or can he fit as a 3-4 DE?

Are they done?

Everett Williams seems to have been passed over, does he up his game?

Duke Anyanwu, can he get and stay healthy?

Ray Dixon, what happened to him? Had some nice pass rush plays 2 years ago

Can't wait for puck drop tonight! Time for some predictions for the Cup:
Stanley Cup: Wild vs Washington
Ovie finally gets a cup and Trotz finally admits that is actually a member of the KGB.

My kid is never sick. We were leaving for the black hills this morning at 7 of course he's puking this morning. Isn't that just the way it goes

is nearly complete.

Was a nice touch, wasn't it, 'encouraging' so many super delegates to 'declare' to the AP the day before the California primary in a transparent attempt to depress turnout.

The super delegates don't vote till July 25th, but screw it, let's all pretend like they already voted! Americans are too dumb to care, right?
Puerto Rico only had 1/3 of their polling places functional. That's similar to the extreme restrictions on voting locations in most of the other primaries. In 2008 many counties had twice or three times that many as they've had in 2016

2008: DNC 28 debates
2016: DNC 6 debates including 3 on weekend days one curiously timed for the Saturday before Christmas.

There was the time the DNC and Hillary colluded to keep the list of democratic voter rolls out of sanders' hands. Didn't hurt to have the media fawning over Clinton and dismissing sanders at every turn.

Last week, Golden State hosted game 7 of the western conference finals. A big deal, right? I know i watched all 7 games of that epic series.

Yet at the same time Bernie had a crowd of well over 50,000 people come out to see him in Oakland at the same time. Media ignored it as they always ignore Sanders.

Trump and Bernie have consistently drawn huge crowds throughout this process. Hillary's rallies struggle to fill a HS gymnasium. Hmmmm....

There have been reports in every state of scores of people mysteriously dropped from the ballot of their polling places.

Today, I was one of them. I checked my status repeatedly and even changed my party affiliation to Dem to vote Bernie. Yet when I showed up they didn't have a ballot for me. Worse, the poll workers were telling everybody in my position to vote by provisional ballot. Problem is, in Cali provisional ballots only count when the race is so close there's a recount. So I drove 50 miles round trip to the West Side in early morning rush hour traffic to fill out a ballot at the registrar's office.

I was able to vote because I have a car and cause I took today off to vote and canvass.

Most others weren't as fortunate. It's early so I can't vouch for this, but one local public radio station did some research including an online poll and found that roughly one out of three Bernie supporters were mysteriously dropped from the voting rolls even though all appear as active registered voters on the county website.

The use of so many SuperDelegates, the media bias, and the work of the DNC stacked the deck against Sanders at every turn.

And he still nearly won. The Democratic Party is a sham. I'm done picking the most likable person out of a lineup of wannabe oligarchs.

Hillary and Bill can burn in hell

but my subscription is up, and my interests are moving elsewhere.
I've enjoyed the banter on DT, not the vitriol.
I've gotten some good laughs from some of the characters here, but no more than from bradt42. Thanks for the laughs!
I post this here on DT b/c that's where I most posted, but I was a reader of the Gopher Report to find out what Gopher fans are thinking.
I am the parent of a former football player, but chose to remain anonymous and not post on things related to my son. I preferred the very limited interaction with other Gopher Report posters be as if they were just interacting with another fan.
From my perspective, a word of caution. The one most important fact, and it is a fact, that the Gopher Report forum is an opinion exchange and very, very sparse on facts. Most comments are shear speculation, and that's okay b/c it's an opinion forum. Just remember, you probably don't have most of the facts when you form your opinions.
I say this for those that are most confident in their opinions about Gopher sports b/c I found those posters to be the most off base with their opinions. Of course, being anonymous, I didn't often chose to challenge misguided opinions.
Circumstances and outcomes are complicated, and rarely simple to explain, but the forum is place where fans go to make sense of them. And, certainly those circumstances and outcomes are viewed quite differently depending on who is judging them.
Anyway, it's been entertaining and I've enjoyed the personalities.
Thanks!

Talked with Matt about AAU and Gophers. Matt is a man of few words but opened up pretty good for this article.

https://minnesota.n.rivals.com/news/matthew-hurt-is-one-of-the-nation-s-elite

And I threw a ton of numbers in there that I simply marvel at considering his age.

Gordie Howe, which, to me, was the greatest hockey player of all time passed away at the age of 88 today. Amazing player, local guy; played 5 decades in the NHL. The Gordie Howe hat trick is still proclaimed to this day and my favourite quote of his: "I’m really just a lucky old farm boy." - Gordie Howe
A picture from his birth place


RIP #9

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The Gophers offered Grant Ryerse back when he was a freshman, and he's now chosen Minnesota over offers from Cal and Northwestern.

He's the #15 kicker in the country according to ChrisSailerKicking.com. For some reason he's not ranked on Kohl's Kicking.

He's placed in every kicking competition he's been in, per National Camp Series:

• SUPER CAMP - 1st Place JV Punt - Super Camp IX 2/15/2015
• SUPER CAMP - 1st Place JV KO - Super Camp IX 2/15/2015
• SUPER CAMP - 1st Place Freshman Punt - Super Camp VIII 2/15/2014
• SUPER CAMP - 1st Place Freshman KO - Super Camp VIII 2/15/2014
• SUPER CAMP - 4th Place Freshman FG - Super Camp VIII 2/15/2014
• SUPER CAMP - 2nd Place Middle FG - Orlando 2/17/2013
• SUPER CAMP - 1st Place Middle KO - Orlando 2/17/2013
• SUPER CAMP - 1st Place Middle Punt - Orlando 2/17/2013

• 1st Place Upperclassman Punting - Little Rock 4/9/2016
• 1st Place Upperclassman KOs - Little Rock 4/9/2016
• 1st Place Upperclassman FGs - Minneapolis 5/7/2016
• 2nd Place Upperclassman FGs - Minneapolis 5/30/2015
• 1st Place Upperclassman Punting - Minneapolis 5/30/2015
• 1st Place Upperclassman KOs - Minneapolis 5/30/2015
• 1st Place Underclassman FGs - St. Paul 6/1/2014
• 1st Place Underclassman Punting - St. Paul 6/1/2014
• 1st Place Underclassman KOs - St. Paul 6/1/2014
• 1st Place Underclassman FGs - Minneapolis 12/21/2013

That gives us 8 total Academic AA's this year...second nationally only to Navy, which has 11!
Good work Gopher Athletes!!!


Five Gophers Earn Academic All-America Nods

The five at-large honorees raises Minnesota’s Academic All-America season total to eight – the most accolades in school history.

Gophersports.com
June 9, 2016

MINNEAPOLIS (GopherSports.com) – University of Minnesota student-athletes Lindsay Mable, Michael Kroells, Hannah Brandt, Lee Stecklein and Brett Pfarr have been named to the 2015-16 CoSIDA Academic All-America Division I At-Large Teams, the organization announced on Thursday.

The five at-large honorees raises Minnesota’s Academic All-America season total to eight – the most accolades in school history – with track & field/cross country honors still to come later this month. Only Navy has earned more Academic All-America honors this year with 11 while Minnesota already led the nation with a school-record 27 CoSIDA Academic All-District honors this academic year.

A member of the women’s gymnastics team, Lindsay Mable earned CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team honors after receiving Third Team merits one year ago. The Aurora, Colo., native earned the AAI Award, which is considered the Heisman Trophy in gymnastics, this season to close out her collegiate career. Mable was also named back-to-back Big Ten Gymnast of the Year. She boasts 18 career All-America accolades, including seven this season and won the All-Around and Beam individual titles at the Big Ten Championships. Mable is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and was named the female recipient of the Big Ten Wayne Duke Postgraduate Award. Over the course of her career at Minnesota, Mable accrued 96 individual event titles and 26 All-Around titles.

A member of the wrestling program, Michael Kroells was named CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team while continuing to maintain a near-perfect GPA as he works toward an aerospace engineering degree. In addition to his academic honors, which also include multiple awards from the Big Ten and the National Wrestling Coaches' Association, Kroells is coming off his most successful season on the mat for the Gophers. The Belle Plaine, Minn., native placed seventh in the NCAA tournament last spring, securing his second All-America season and becoming the 51st multiple-time All-American in program history. Kroells set several new career-highs last season, including wins (35) and major decisions (eight).

A member of the women’s hockey team, Hannah Brandt repeated as a CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team member this year. Brandt led the Gopher women's hockey team to the program's seventh national title in 2016. She was honored as a Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award finalist for the fourth-straight season along with receiving AHCA/CCM First Team All-American, All-USCHO, and All-WCHA honors. The Vadnais Heights, Minn., native is a three-time WCHA Scholar Athlete and WCHA All-Academic Team honoree and will graduate with a degree in health and wellness through the University of Minnesota's Inter-College Program.

Also a member of the women’s hockey program, Lee Stecklein picked up her first career CoSIDA Academic All-America nod with a Second Team honor. The Roseville, Minn., native is a two-time WCHA Scholar-Athlete and WCHA All-Academic Team honoree along with being a two-time AHCA/CCM Second Team All-American and All-WCHA First Team selection. She served as a co-captain with Brandt this season, leading the Gophers to their second-straight and seventh overall NCAA title. Stecklein posted a career-high 30 points, scoring eight goals and adding 22 assists. The junior is studying Entrepreneurial Management in the Carlson School of Management.

A member of the wrestling squad, Brett Pfarr also picked up his first CoSIDA Academic All-America accolade as a Third Team honoree. Pfarr spent much of the season ranked in the top-five at his weight nationally, finishing the season with a third-place performance at the NCAA championships to earn his first career All-America honor. On his way to the podium, Pfarr won 40 matches, becoming the first Gopher to reach that mark in nearly a decade, and finished undefeated in dual competition, including all of his conference matches. The Le Seuer Minn., native maintains a 3.78 GPA in agriculture and food business management.

2015-16 University of Minnesota CoSIDA Academic All-America Selections (8)
Lindsay Mable (Women’s Gymnastics, First Team)
Michael Kroells (Wrestling, First Team)
Brandon Lingen (Football, Second Team)
Paige Tapp (Volleyball, Second Team)
Matt Fiedler (Baseball, Second Team)
Hannah Brandt (Women’s Hockey, Second Team)
Lee Stecklein (Women’s Hockey, Second Team)
Brett Pfarr (Wrestling, Third Team)

Will be the chief operating officer of their athletic department. Good luck to her!

Yes, the ex-factor of the season and the guy I know the least about overall. I wrote about him in terms of what they need from him, what they need him to be, and looked at what needs to improve based on the past numbers.

https://minnesota.n.rivals.com/news/focus-on-16-17-davonte-fitzgerald

Or should I say Is Your Name on It ??
New ISIS ‘Kill’ List Claims To Target Thousands Of Americans
ISIS "kill" lists have called on ISIS loyalists to attack everyone from Minnesota cops to State Department employees and ordinary Americans
By Gilad Shiloach
Jun 08, 2016 at 9:21 AM ET
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Photo Illustration: Diana Quach
A pro-ISIS “hacking” group calling itself the United Cyber Caliphate distributed its latest “kill” list this week. The group claims the list includes names, addresses, and email addresses belonging to 8,318 people, making it one of the longest target lists ISIS-affiliated groups have distributed.

In a post Vocativ uncovered on the messaging app Telegram that was written in both English and Arabic, the United Cyber Caliphate called on its supporters to “follow” those listed and “kill them strongly to take revenge for Muslims.”

Pro-ISIS Hackers Post “Kill” List Of State Department Employees
Most of thenames and the accompanying addresses listed appear to belong to people in the United States, Australia, and Canada. Out of 7,848 people identified as being in the U.S. alone, 1,445 were listed as having addresses in California, 643 in Florida, 341 in Washington, 333 in Texas, 331 in Illinois, and 290 in New York. Another 312 names and addresses allegedly belong to people in Canada, while 69 allegedly belong to people in Australia. Another 39 are affiliated with the U.K. and the rest are listed with addresses in Belgium, Brazil, China, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, New Zealand, South Korea, Sweden and Trinidad and Tobago.

It is unclear, however, if the list, posted on Telegram on Monday, includes any new information or details that weren’t already accessible online. It’s also unclear why the specific names and addresses outlined were selected, and whether or not they’re in some way related. The group that posted the directory is also dubious. A recent study by Flashpoint, an intelligence firm, showed that the United Cyber Caliphate—a merger of pro-ISIS groups—is incompetent when it comes to hacking. Their highest-profile “hack” involved taking credit for others’ work, according to the study.

But the latest list shows how ISIS-linked groups claiming to be hackers persist with what has become a well-known—even if potentially superficial—tactic: posting “kill” lists calling on ISIS loyalists to attack everyone from Minnesota cops to State Department employees and ordinary Americans. Counterterrorism officials have been at odds over whether such lists are simply efforts to instill fear or instead truly threaten those listed, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The United Cyber Caliphate also published satellite images on its Telegram channel showing U.S air bases around the world on Monday. The same images can be found on Google Earth.


An image published alongside the "kill" list on Monday.

I realize that limiting this to 10 is impossible.. But I have a bias towards blues music so that influences my list..I like rock, country, and Christian music besides so that all goes into my list.. I think Jimi Hendrix is amazing but I have admit I have a bias against his stuff.. Here is my list of top 10. Really this is FAVORITE guitarists and not best as that is pretty subjective.

Eric Clapton - Simply awesome( the top 3 in this list all were with the Yardbirds)
Jimmy Page - known for Led Zeppelin but a blues background
Jeff Beck - great guitarist that introduced the world to Rod Stewart
Robert Johnson - one of the greatest Delta blues guitarists ever
BB King - See Robert Johnson
Duane Allman - My teacher in Georgia dated him.. She played his music when I was young and I was amazed
Phil Keaggy - best Christian guitarist ever.. Trust me, he can play with the big boys so check him out
Stevie Ray Vaughn - amazing riffs
Joe Bonnamassa - clean in his riffs
Roy Clark - best country guitarist I ever heard(apologies to Chet Atkins). His version of Malaguena is the best I have ever heard.

Here are the prospects who have confirmed they will attend Sunday's Senior One Day Camp. This camp will be much more high profile than this past weekend. These are 2017 prospects the staff are currently looking at or want to get a closer look of before going further in the recruiting process.

I'll start with the in-state recruits first and add out of state players throughout the week. 2017 Minnesota commit and offensive tackle Blaise Andries said he will not attend because it will conflict with a basketball tournament. QB Brock Boltmann said he may attend the QB/Big Man camp on Saturday.

Minnesota
Eric Abojei, OL Minnesota commit attended last week's showcase.
Jackson Martens, ATH. Attended this past weekend's showcase
Jermaine Johnson, DE. Will be on offer watch list
Luke Chuol, DE.
Sam Byrd, DT
Tanner Sundt, DE
Powers Warren, TE
Kolade Amusan, LB
Malik Lofton, DB. Another player on the offer watch list.
Nico Bolden, S: Three-star recruit Will be on offer watch list after this weekend.
Jeremiah Coddon, WR

Wisconsin
Noah Larson, OLB. One of Wisconsin's top rated recruit for 2017.

Iowa
Nate Wieland, QB. 6-3 slinger will probably get more looks after this weekend.

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Wallace Corker and Shakur Brown, teammates at Woodland High in Stockbridge, GA announced they were offered by the Gophers late last night.
Corker, a receiver has offers from Oregon State, West Virginia and Tennessee Tech. Did not find a Rivals profile for him.

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Brown, a defensive back, has power conference offers from Purdue, Colorado State, Kentucky and West Virginia

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