So far, only shooting guard [autotag]Cole Certa[/autotag] has committed to Notre Dame’s 2024 recruiting class. That might soon change with four-star power forward and Minneapolis native Jackson McAndrew. Joe Tipton of On3 has learned from McAndrew that he has picked the Irish as one of four finalists for his services along with Wisconsin, Xavier and Creighton. He also had an offer from Illinois, but that option now appears to be off the table.
Previously, when asked to comment about the Irish, McAndrew, widely considered the top 2024 recruit in Minnesota, had this to say:
“I really like what Coach (Micah) Shrewsberry and the rest of the coaching staff are doing with the program. I think they are taking it in a really good direction. The school is also very good and cool. I think that I can be utilized very well with my versatility in the system they play offensively and defensively.”
Scouts mainly like McAndrew’s shooting, and the Irish will need plenty of that once the tide begins to turn for them. Whether or not McAndrew picks the Irish, Shrewsberry will have to find two, preferably three, pure shooters over the next couple of recruiting classes. You simply need those in today’s college basketball, and Shrewsberry surely recognizes that. Why else would the Irish trust him with a new direction?
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Notre Dame fans remember Robert Blanton as a standout cornerback early in the Brian Kelly years. Blanton played for the Irish from 2008-2011, during which he intercepted eight passes in 50 career games before being drafted by the Minnesota Vikings and playing in the NFL for six seasons.
Blanton’s football playing days are over; he owns a day care center in the Minneapolis suburbs. It was there this week that Blanton stopped a carjacking, helping a woman fend off would-be carjackers.
Video of the story and an interview with Blanton can be seen below courtesy of CBS Minneapolis.
The new course will feature six par 3s, eight par 4s and four par 5s for a total par of 70.
Windsong Farm Golf Club in Independence, Minnesota, has hired architect John Fought to design a second course at the club just west of Minneapolis.
The original course at Windsong Farm – also designed by Fought and opened in partnership with Tom Lehman, then renovated by Fought in 2015 – ranks No. 6 on Golfweek’s Best list of private courses in Minnesota. It ties for No. 140 on the list of all modern courses built in the U.S. since 1960.
“I generally don’t like to do the same thing with my projects, so this one will be really different from any of my other courses,” Fought said in a media release announcing the new course. “It’s a unique piece of land with lake views and rolling terrain, and we will be doing what it allows us without having to move a lot of dirt. It will be the perfect complement to Windsong Farm Golf Club.”
Plans for the new course to be built at Windsong Farm Golf Club in Minnesota (Courtesy of Windsong Farm)
Plans are for Fought and course-building company Duininck Golf to break ground as soon as the ground thaws out this spring, with an opening planned for summer of 2024. The second course will make Windsong Farm the lone 36-hole private facility in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro market.
The new course will feature six par 3s, eight par 4s and four par 5s for a total par of 70. Thirteen of the holes will have views of Fox Lake, and the entire course will play shorter than its 7,550-yard predecessor at the club but, Fought said, not necessarily much easier.
“This second course will play tougher than people might think as length is not the only factor in determining difficulty,” Fought said. “Playing strategies will very much come into play here. Plus, the 18th will be a ‘Cape’hole — a long, 483-yard par 4 that plays around the lake.”
The original course at Windsong Farm Golf Club in Minnesota (Courtesy of Windsong Farm)
Fought said he took inspiration for the new course, which will include several famous template holes, from Seth Raynor’s Shoreacres Golf Club near Chicago.
“This will be like creating a course from the early 1900s but with a modern infrastructure,” Fought said. “This is open, rolling land with natural, native areas that are fescue and gives us the opportunity to integrate several old-style holes into the mix. I’m thrilled to be working with the talented teams at Windsong Farm and Duininck Golf on what promises to be an exciting addition to the Minnesota golf scene.”
“This is really exciting for our members because they’ll be able to play two completely different, high-quality golf courses,” Jon Dailing, superintendent at Windsong Farm, said in the media release. “John knows this entire property so well and has done a great job studying where the new course will be built. He’s very creative and there will be a lot of history built into his design.”
Besides the one involving the Irish, which game most interests you?
Few things draw more excitement during the early part of the college basketball season than the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Every team from one power conference matches up against one from the other. Whether the opponent is good or bad, it also is nice for these teams to see how well they do against a similar level of competition. It definitely is one of the major tuneups for when the conference schedule begins.
The 2022 matchups have been announced, and the ACC would like to change its luck. The conference won this series, which began in 1999, in each of its first 10 seasons. Since then, its only wins have come in 2016 and 2017, the latter of which saw it post a series-best 11-3 record. The Big Ten has had the upper hand in each of the past three years, so a changing of the guard is overdue.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The third-ranked Notre Dame baseball team put together another strong performance on the mound Friday afternoon in its 6-1 win over Illinois at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The trio of Aidan Tyrell, Alex Rao and Jack Brannigan kept the Illini (2-5) at bay at the plate and allowed just one run. At the plate for the Irish (6-1), Brooks Coetzee III and TJ Williams both hit solo home runs while Jared Miller and Spencer Myers added 2-RBI singles. That was more than enough offense as the staff gave up two runs or less for the fourth-straight game.
How It Happened
The Irish got on the board first in the third inning after back-to-back hits from the bottom of the lineup. Coetzee III and David LaManna both singled to start the inning and ended up in scoring position thanks to an error by the shortstop after LaManna’s hit. Miller stepped up with the bases loaded and roped the first pitch to right field for a single where Coetzee III and LaManna both scored.
Notre Dame tallied two more runs in the next inning. Williams and Zack Prajzner got into scoring position with two outs in the frame. Facing a 1-2 count, Myers laced a single up the middle to score Williams and Prajzner and extended the Irish lead to 4-0.
Illinois got one run back in the bottom half of the fourth and the Irish lead stood at 4-1 after four.
Tyrell closed his outing after a scoreless frame in the fifth. He ended the day with 5.0 innings pitched with five strikeouts, no walks and only one run scored.
The Irish kept the offense going at the plate in the sixth, scoring another run with two outs. Coetzee III turned on a 2-0 fastball and drove it over the wall in left for a solo home run. It was his team-leading third home run of the season and gave the Irish a 5-1 advantage.
After gunning down a runner for a double play to end the seventh, Williams added to the Irish lead at the plate the very next inning. He crushed a solo home run to left for his first career home run and extended the Irish lead to 6-1.
Rao had three strong innings out of the pen as he struck out three and did not allow a run to score. Brannigan closed the door in the ninth after the first two runners reached base. He put down the next three batters to close out the win for the Irish.
Up Next
The Irish will be back in action at U.S. Bank Stadium on Saturday as they face their second of three Big 10 teams this weekend. Notre Dame will square off with Michigan State for the first of three matchups throughout this season. The Irish and Spartans are set for a Noon ET first pitch and it will be broadcast on Big 10 Network Plus.
See who’s playing who in this year’s edition of the exciting event.
One of the biggest events of the college basketball season, at least in certain parts of the country, is the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. This is when teams from two of the nation’s power conferences get together to see which of the conferences is better. Historically, the ACC has the upper hand with a 12-7-3 advantage in the series and a 138-113 record. The Big Ten won’t be able to catch up in either category this year’s event, but maybe it can make up some ground with these matchups:
See who’s playing who in this year’s edition of the exciting event.
One of the biggest events of the college basketball season, at least in certain parts of the country, is the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. This is when teams from two of the nation’s power conferences get together to see which of the conferences is better. Historically, the ACC has the upper hand with a 12-7-3 advantage in the series and a 138-113 record. The Big Ten won’t be able to catch up in either category this year’s event, but maybe it can make up some ground with these matchups:
Notre Dame landed their 12th commitment to 2021 recruiting class on Monday as Joe Alt gave his pledge to Brian Kelly and the Fighting Irish.
He won’t be following in his father’s footsteps after all.
Joe Alt, the son of former Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle John, has committed to Notre Dame, making him the 12th player to give a verbal commitment to Brian Kelly’s 2021 class.
Alt plays tight end at Totino-Grace North Oaks High School in Minneapolis but will transition to offensive tackle in college. 247Sports ranks Alt as a three-star talent and a top 35 tackle in the 2021 class, nationally.
Alt chose Notre Dame over the likes of Iowa, where his father attended, Minnesota, Northwestern and a few others who had offered.
The Seattle Seahawks are among the NFL teams cancelling their team meetings on Thursday in honor of the George Floyd memorial, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler and later confirmed by Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times.
The memorial is taking place on Thursday, June 4 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Floyd was killed by Derek Chauvin, a police officer who held his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes while Floyd, in handcuffs, cried for help and exclaimed that he could not breathe.
The incident has caused peaceful protests around the country, reigniting the Black Lives Matter movement in a way that has not been seen since Colin Kaepernick first knelt during the national anthem in order to protest police brutality against people of color.
Many Seahawks players and coaches, including Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner, have spoken up about the racial injustice in this country, and the way the team has worked together to have open and honest conversations amongst each other.
“I’m grateful we have an organization that understands,” Wagner told Seattle media on Monday. “It’s hard for me to focus on football or focus on anything other than what’s going on. If you looked up from whatever you were doing, you saw what was happening.”
The Seahawks will resume their regular virtual team meetings on Friday, with the aim of getting onto the practice field for training camp sometime in July.
