MEGAN DAVIS: Hello Gopher fans. It’s Megan Davis.
ATTICUS MARSE: And Atticus Marse.
DAVIS: With the Minnesota Daily, and you’re listening to the Gold Standard, a podcast dedicated to the University of Minnesota sports. Women’s basketball as we speak, I believe is playing a game. But we can talk about their past two games against Manhattan and North Dakota.
Anyway, two really strong starts for them, Makena Christian in the first game against North Dakota led the team in scoring with 23 points, despite being a freshman. And this being her actually like first official game with the team. And I know that they were really excited when they recruited her, but just to have her show up this early was kind of really impressive.
I know these early games don’t feel like they mean a lot, but I think for freshmen, this is their time to prove themselves. Mara Braun had a little bit of a slow start. I think she only got five points against the Fighting Hawks. But in the second game against Manhattan she led the team with 17 points.
I don’t know, it was just two, like, really clean games by the Gophers. They were very good defensively. I think we’ll get a better sense of, you know, where this team is sitting right now against a more challenging component. And then the same is happening for the men’s basketball team as they play Missouri, but they’ll play them in Missouri on Wednesday night.
But similar thing with the men’s basketball, they had two very strong starts, but they still got, you know, a good participation from everyone. Cade Tyson continues to stand out.
MARSE: And Jalen Crocker-Johnson had two double doubles in a row.
DAVIS: Yeah, two consecutive ones, which is impressive. Considering that before this, he only had three ever, and so his fourth ever was his first game and then he did it again, and maybe he’ll do it again. And yeah, just as a refresher, he’s the one who followed Medved from Colorado State.
MARSE: Cade Tyson, again led the team in scoring for the third consecutive game against Alcorn State, 21 points. He’s been over 20 every game. 10 free throws out of his 21 points.
DAVIS: I mean, their points are points, so it doesn’t matter to me, but.
MARSE: Keep putting up points.
DAVIS: Keep putting up points. However way you can.
MARSE: We’re not gonna start seeing any real big, super competitive games towards, until like the start of December. It’s when Big Ten season starts getting underway. And then we’ll really see where this team’s at.
DAVIS: And their seasons are kind of running parallel at this point, except for the fact that the women’s basketball team didn’t do any sort of rebuild and the men’s did a complete one. There’s just a lot of really competitive schools in the Big Tens for the women’s, and then it’s the same for the men’s with Purdue. So they’re really gonna be pushed to the limits. We’ll see how they kind of overcome those.
MARSE: Now jumping across to Gopher wrestling here, they went to the Bison Open in North Dakota and absolutely dominated. They were able to actually get 13 titles across only 10 weight classes in several different divisions. The guys wrestling for first and second were both Gophers at the same weight class.
This tournament was kind of a season warmup for a lot of these guys. If I were to shout out every name in here that wrestled good, this would be a bit of a long bit here. But yeah, they’re just getting warm, getting ready for the season and the home opener for wrestling actually just got moved to Williams Arena instead of the Pav.
So they’re hoping for a big turnout. Unfortunately, it is November 26 and there may not be too many students on campus. But if you’re in town it’ll be a really good watch and hopefully a really full arena as well.
DAVIS: Gopher football recruiting from JUCOs, Junior Colleges.
MARSE: Yes.
DAVIS: They’ve added their third player from a junior college within the last week. They got the number one JUCO wide receiver in the country who verbally committed to Minnesota.
MARSE: Derrick Salley Jr.
DAVIS: I’ll be interested to kind of get to see like who these new players are and what they could possibly bring to the Minnesota team. Also because of a NCAA lawsuit or something the years spent at JUCOs don’t count towards NCAA eligibility. So all of these players will have a minimum of two years and up to four years.
This could obviously change. All rules at the NCAA level are changing all the time. But for right now it looks like it’s like they could spend their whole career there, which I think is like really great for them.
Just because it’s like, you’re not getting paid at a JUCO, but you can get a decent amount of money. Where this goes from now on, if this is kind of a trend that Minnesota is just adapting.
MARSE: With the ongoing lawsuit about JUCO years counting. I mean, then there’s no reason to not take a JUCO guy over a high school guy.
DAVIS: A hundred percent. Because they’re a more developed kind of.
MARSE: Yeah. I really respect the scouting and just to be like, “Hey, we don’t a hundred percent know this is gonna turn out but let’s take a a little risk here and go early.”
DAVIS: But they’ll play Oregon on the road in Eugene. Obviously they’re major underdogs after their sloppier performance against Michigan State.
MARSE: Don’t rule out the Gophers here. It’s too early. It’s not like it’s gonna be the same as when the Gophers played Ohio State, where it’s just like, they’re gonna get steamrolled. You know? I think Oregon’s more of a team where it’s like, I might just be holding out too much hope here. I think I am.
DAVIS: I’m, I’m a little bit of a pessimist, so I would say the best, in my opinion, I feel like sometimes the best thing that the Gophers have is that they are the underdog. Is that Oregon most likely will underestimate them.
However they’re gonna want to rebound from their sloppy play and like as they get close to the postseason. Because they will be a postseason team. There’s no more room for errors. And in college football there’s no more room for losses. It’s just not looking great. It’s not looking great. It’s gonna be a beautiful stroke of luck if they win.
MARSE: Shifting into men’s hockey. Good bounce back series for the Gophers. Thank goodness the Big Ten has a team like Notre Dame for the Gophers to beat up on.
DAVIS: Luca Di Pasquo, he started both games and it was one goal away from a shutout, but close enough in my book. Good job, great defense by the Gophers. They actually played all three periods it felt like this time. And I think now they get to move into a little bit of an easier slate of games. Their next will be at home versus Long Island. The Gophers have never played against Long Island before.
MARSE: They’ve only existed for like five years as a division one ice hockey team. And then, and then it’s after that, it’s Penn State at home. That’s gonna be fun.
DAVIS: That’ll be so fun to attend.
MARSE: Yeah. Great game too, I’m, I’m gonna be glad I’ll be down there for that one. That’ll be fun.
DAVIS: Women’s Hockey is on their bye week. However, Gophers played in the USA versus Canada series, the rivalry series. So former Gopher Taylor Heise, she was there and then along with Abby Murphy, who got a hat trick and won for team USA. So, she’s been having a great season with the Gophers.
And they’ll be coming back and they’ll be playing Bemidji State. For Gopher women’s hockey, their kind of toughest stretch has just passed after playing Ohio State and then splitting the games with Wisconsin, and then having to play Duluth like two weeks prior to that. So they’re gonna go into a few games where I think it’s just like easy wins.
Shout out cross country. They’re gonna be going to the regional meet. They qualified for that after the Big Ten championships where both the men and women placed seventh, and so they’ll be going to regionals. The women’s team isn’t looking as strong as it was last year without Ali Weimer in their lineup. She placed second at the regionals last year.
It’s always just fun to shout out cross country because they have been, especially the women’s side, have been talented for quite some years and I don’t think they get the kind of recognition they deserve sometimes because it’s running.
MARSE: And now it’s time for the pro sports corner. I’ve realized that I haven’t talked enough about the Minnesota Wild in the pro sports corner yet because they’re 7-7.
DAVIS: That was an improvement from last time we spoke. Where they were even worse.
MARSE: There’s still a sixth in the central division, which is not ideal. Hopefully they can pick it back up. The Timberwolves are 6-4 right now. Sixth in the Western Conference. They’re playing the Utah Jazz as we speak. They beat the Kings last night. Beat the Jazz in the NBA Cup group stage.
I don’t know how I feel about this NBA Cup stuff. The green court that the Timberwolves used for the NBA Cup games. Because each team has a different court surface for their NBA Cup games. The Timberwolves used a green court.
DAVIS: Love.
MARSE: I think it looks disgusting. That’s my take on the NBA Cup. I don’t like the custom courts. It’s a basketball court. It should just, just make it the color, put the logo in the middle.
DAVIS: I love how absurd it is that someone, because obviously this is the NBA, you know, this is gonna, this is gonna get signed off by a lot of people.
MARSE: Yeah.
DAVIS: That they were like you know, we have popular colors like navy blue, white, you know black, kind of a lighter blue. Let’s go with the neon green.
MARSE: Also like they have a beautiful forest green as well, like on those throwbacks.
DAVIS: Yeah. So I, I don’t know why they did that, but it’s hilarious.
MARSE: Timberwolves still having a solid start of the year. Hopefully they can keep the run going. Anthony Edwards is back, woohoo!
Minnesota United has taken the series against Seattle Sounders. Penalty merchants, that’s what the Loons are. First game, they win on penalties. Second game, they get smacked around. Third game, they win on penalties, and that game was the epitome of everything that playoff soccer is meant to be. Loons start off, they’re down 2-nil within 10 minutes, you’re like, “Oh, it’s over. It’s cooked.”
And then, claw back. Pereyra, crazy free kick goal. Diaz goal. Markanich goal. And then in the midst of all this, when they were 2-1 down, Joseph Rosales gets sent off. Minnesota United is down to 10 men. They still come back down a man and force penalties.
Because, I actually don’t like this, the MLS goes straight to pens instead of going extra time because it’s a three game series. Probably not the most fair way to determine the results but boy does it favor Minnesota United.
They take it 7-6 on penalties in one of the best shootouts I’ve ever seen. But they got through the first round. They play against San Diego on November 24 at 9:00 p.m. in the second round. But wow, come on you Loons, hop on the train. And then the Vikings.
DAVIS: They lost against the Ravens. Because Lamar Jackson’s back, you didn’t have the crazy performance against the Vikings, but.
MARSE: The Vikings just looked really mediocre that game.
DAVIS: I mean, not to be that person, but I feel like they’ve kind of looked mediocre all year.
MARSE: Yeah, they’ve looked kind of mediocre all year. And I mean, J.J. McCarthy returned to the “me” and I would say of mediocrity. I don’t know, two picks, a touchdown, 20-42, barely above 50%, 248 yards. I mean, he was also their leading rusher. A bright spot for the Vikings, Jalen Nailor, J.J. McCarthy combo was electric that game. They looked really good. They had a little, little connection going on.
DAVIS: And Justin Jefferson was there too. Shout out.
MARSE: He was drawing the eyes away.
DAVIS: Yeah. Vikings have just kind of, they’re in a weird, weird state and J.J. McCarthy’s exactly the quarterback I expected him to be. I mean, obviously this is their quarterback. They’re gonna have him for the next probably five years.
MARSE: What do you mean? Max Brosmer is the quarterback of the future.
DAVIS: This episode is by Megan Davis.
MARSE: And Atticus Marse.
DAVIS: And produced by Ceci Heinen.
MARSE: And Atticus Marse.
DAVIS: As always, we appreciate you listening in, and feel free to send a message to our email inbox at [email protected] with any questions, comments or concerns.
I’m Megan Davis.
MARSE: And I’m Atticus Marse.
DAVIS: And this has been the Gold Standard.
